Hi everyone, I placed this commentary on Witness in Palestine, on the forum after I went to a presentation hosted by Anna. I decided I should also place it here, for all to read.
Hi everyone, I just renamed this thread, which was named to draw attention to the movie, Iraq for Sale, that I saw. I have finally managed to find local resources and people who put on events to enlighten the people of my region. I had spent a lot of time trying to find something substantive through google searches, and had almost concluded that Denver was "dead" to the problems of this world. Such is not the case, there are groups and as I find new opportunities I add my name to more email lists.
I have much needed to get out into the world more, in a positive way, and be around people of like mind physically in addition to the Internet, and I am finding that way finally. So I also moved the thread to Candace's Corner, because that is where it needs to be. I will possibly move some of my other posts that have been around my journeys, such as the trip to LA to this thread.
Last night I attended an event, called "Witness in Palestine" presented by a wonderful lady who spent several months in Palestine, getting the real picture. She went there after having her world, as an American Jew shattered about what Israel is. She grew up believing it was a wonderful place for Jews to call their own. Her name is Anna Baltzer.
I bought her book, and a DVD of her presentation. She is on tour around the United States. She is 27 years old. Her book, titled "Witness in Palestine" also, is a journal of her experiences there, evidently more than once, from November 2003 through April 2005. When she left in April 2005, she had spent a total of 5 months living in Palestine, (The West Bank) apparently in 3 different intervals, from her book. She works with a women's group called "Internation Women's Peace Service," and her job was to live with and document the human rights abuses, and support nonviolent resistance.
Her presentation opened my eyes quite a bit. We don't see good coverage in America of what is going on. She gave in the early part of her presentation a story about Newsweek, which publishes versions in other countries that don't match the ones we get here. I dropped Newsweek long ago, because tis coverage shifted greatly. Articles which are written in international editions, are often totally removed from the editions Americans get.
That wall is 25 feet tall, ugly concrete. On the Israel side of the wall, it is bermed with soil and planted with stuff, so it looks like hills and not a wall. It is NOT a barrier between Israel and the West Bank. It goes into the West Bank and around villiages, creating future separation of the Palestinian peoples from each other, in addition to separating them from Israel.
The borders have changed greatly over the many years, she supplied maps. What happens, is that Palestine is taken over piece meal by " Israeli settlers" who are given financial bonuses to do so. They just move in a few trailer homes over night, and then build up the settlement from that, quietly invading the whole of the West Bank. The road blocks and check points set up by Israel are everywhere in the West Bank, and not just at the borders, making going to work, getting emergency care, and visiting ones friends a very uncomfortable and time consuming experience. It can take hours to go 30 miles. As an example she asked how long it takes one to go to Boulder from Denver. I am about 30 miles ( or less) from Boulder, I think, and it takes me about 1/2 hour, depending on traffic. Many can spend 3 to 8 hours going this distance.
Israeli soldiers have big guns. Weapons for self defense are rocks, for the Palestinians, and the kids get months in jail if they get caught defending themselves against big guns, with rocks. We did see some coverage of this on the news quite some time ago now, a few years, I think.
These are a people invaded, the determining date set up to take "Israel" by the Zionist organization in 1897. Any Palestinians living within the border of Israel have lessor rights to everything. Any Palestinians, living in Palestine, have no rights whatsoever. They are a completely occupied country. I now have a new bumper sticker about this on my car, that I acquired last night. Speaking of the bumper stickers, I found a note on my car, when I came out of my health food store yesterday, complimenting my bumper sticker education system! When I first started this, I got little positive attention to them. I get attention, usually positive, much more often now, which proves to me in a small way, that more people are becoming aware.
After her presentation, which is about waking up America to what is going on there, I made a statement about how American churches are brought into supporting the Zionist idea, and that many Americans, irregardless of their religious upbringing, have bought into the concept that God gave Israel to the Jews. I also discussed the Khazars, as hijacking the religion, and my comments got a lot of support from the small audience. It was held at Denver University in a good sized lecture auditorium, and only a couple students showed up. It was very poorly advertized on this Zionist backed university campus.
Most of the two dozen attendees were there, because they are on the list I joined the night I saw "Iraq for Sale." That is how I found out about the event, in an email from this local organization that has screenings of films and related activities. I plan on seeing a couple more this month, so will post of my experiences of them and other events I participate in, in this thread.
Last night was very eye opening. I look forward to reading this young woman's book. She is very motivated to do what is right and participate in the exposure of what is going on there. She actually lived in homes of people while there and experienced all of their hardships. She has a website and I haven't visited it yet this morning.
She is a good speaker, and her presentation insightful, with good pictures that demonstate the difficulties of living in this place. Reminds me a little of how America was "colonized." The Geneva Convention, which Bush is taking us away from, does not allow this type of invasive colonization, which has been the tool of the dark for eons on this planet. Israel has repeatedly broken it and the various UN resolutions. In fact this planet has been colonized outside of universal laws on several occasions.
There are few weapons used by the Palestinians, and these are used in self defense. That the world, especially the USA is taught that Israel has to defend itself via a wall from terrorists is a blatant lie, similar to the one we hear daily on our MSM about the insurgents in Iraq, and about Hezbollah in the recent Lebanese war. These are resistance movements, resisting the take over of their countries by the US and by Israel. Israel considers the Palestinian lands as existing as a greater area than just Israel, and they feel entitled to it all.
Anna said there is considerable resistance by Israel citizens to this now. Many are standing against the acquision of the Palestinian lands, and desire peaceful co existance. It is my idea, that since most living in the region, were born there, and thus in a way not responsible for the actions of those that came before them, that they should all put down the weapons, and live peacefully, in unity consciousness, together. Anna believes also the solution is to live together, with equal democratic rights, is how she put it. I do believe the Israel government that is doing this gross injustice and occupying the Palestinian lands deserve to be found guilty and put in jail.
As per all soldiers everywhere, including ours in Iraq, they do what they are told, rather than what is right. These Israel border and check point guards simply tell the Palestinians they are following orders, even if they don't agree. We would not be in Iraq today, if our military chose to not follow orders. It was basically the Viet Nam war vets that rallied together and greatly assisted our getting out of there, and this needs to occur on a larger scale now with Iraq.
The big diffence between these two wars however, is that during Viet Nam we had the draft and people resented being in the military. Todays recruits, are recruits, coming in by choice for the most part. Of course, in a way they are drafted, because many come from areas of huge unemployment in this country, and feel have no other solutions. But also drawn, are those that love war games. The mililtary does a lot of lying about benefits and education provided, to encourage enlistment.
Anna's website is:
www.annainthemiddleeast.com.
She also provided another website, I haven't visited yet either:
www.ifamericansknew.org.
Also a reminder from the first post, in this thread. Check out this website to find screenings of new and information video's near you:
http://bravenewtheaters.com/