Dear Friend,
FPI - Holland group should plan to trip to GR Monday and/or Tuesday March 14 and 15 to hear Mazin Qumsiyeh.
A well respected professor in the US, he moved back to Palestine to join with forces seeking Palestinian empowerment. He previously taught in Tennesee, but is now teaching in Bethlehem and at Bier Zeit in the West Bank.
Monday, March 14, at 7:00 p.m., Calvin College is sponsoring his appearance at the Calvin College Chapel.
Tuesday, March 15, at 5:45, he will speak at the Micah Center (Hope Ref. Church in GR).
Tuesday, March 15, at 7:00, he will speak at Raybrook Center
Professor Qumsiyeh has written a book, POPULAR RESISTANCE IN PALESTINE: a History of Hope and Empowerment, which summarizes and analyzes over 130 years of history.
What is happening in Isr/Pal is a classic case of confrontation between the forces of those who through the centuries have argued that to "conquer" a land and people gives you the right to settle and rule it as you see fit, only grudgingly giving rights to the conquered people; and the conquered people seeking their own rule on land now "occupied" by the conqueror. It is made more unique because it is historically true that Jews were living on that land 2000 years ago, under Roman occupation, seeking their own "right to rule" and then dispersed for centuries among all the countries of the known world, now wanting to re-congregate back there once again.
The situation in Israel is further compounded by a more and more vocal religious establishment claiming that "GOD" has given the right to rule all the land to the racial/ethnic descendants of Abraham and Sarah, not sharing rule with any of the conquered people. (The original Zionist ideal was secular, but religious forces now make Israel a quasi religious/racial/ethnic NATION STATE to die for.
It is to be known as a "Jewish Democracy", a democracy for Jews, whom "God" has finally restored to "Their Land" after 2000 years of exile, with staunch support from supposedly millions of "Christian" Zionists in the US of A.
And what is more, this rule has received the unflinching support of the world's greatest democracy, the US of A, while at the same time decrying the "Theocracy" of Iran and would-be fanatics who want to rule the world in the name of "ALLAH".
Most of the developed democracies are consistently opposed to the colonization of "conquered" territory in Palestine and are opposed to "settlements" in that conquered territory. The US is at best, ambivalent about it; at worst, it supports Israel's claim to all the territory (as seen by our veto of the UN Security Council effort to declare Israeli settlements "illegal" according to international norms).
Our FPI - Holland/Zeeland/South Haven group (40 on the list) has a chance to interact with Professor Qumsiyeh on Monday and/or Tuesday, March 14, 15. Mark it on your calendar NOW and plan on attending. Unfortunately, I will still be in Texas at the Tex/Mex border where we are wintering as usual. JRK
