Jennifer Lemire's blog

It is hard not to be skeptical about Annapolis. As author and activist Alice Rothchild noted in a recent article, "Perhaps a more honest name for the current madness is not the realization of the Road Map, but rather the steady creation of Road Blocks that are rapidly crushing the hopes for a viable two-state solution." A lame duck Bush Administration (in any case not known for its diplomatic efforts) is, after 7 long years of neglect, trying to jump start peace in the Middle East.

The official tally is in, and this month's Global Call to Action Against Poverty mobilization set a new world record for largest international mobilization, with 43.7 million activists participating in coordinated events around the world. Our partners and allies in Palestine took part in the action, with nearly a million people in the Occupied Territories participating in demonstrations, meetings and cultural events designed to call attention to the problems of poverty in Gaza and the West Bank and around the world.

 Our thanks and congratulations go out to all who took part in this record-breaking action. 

The Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), one of Grassroots International's newest partners in Palestine, is organizing an olive harvest campaign directed at bringing internationals in to help Palestinian families access their lands and pick their olives during the upcoming harvest season. This is a great way to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and support their right to stay on the land. Here is the flyer we received from UAWC:

The first ever Boston Palestine Film Festival starts on September 29th and runs through October 7th. The festival, organized by Tawassul, an organization committed to sharing and celebrating Palestinian arts and culture, will feature more than 40 films, Q&As with visiting directors and an opening and closing celebration.

Tawassul has pulled together an impressive line up of documentaries, dramatic features, rare early works (1969-1980) and films by emerging artists. Many of these films depict vividly the hard life ordinary Palestinians, including members of Grassroots International's partner organizations live and the challenges they confront daily under Israeli occupation.

We received word last night from our friends at Rebuilding Alliance that Husam El Nounou from Grassroots International’s partner, the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, has returned safely to his home in Gaza.

Husam, like thousands of other Palestinians, had been stuck in Egypt after having been denied entry back into Gaza as Israel had sealed Gaza's borders following the Hamas takeover of the Strip and the dismissal of the unity government by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Amid yesterday's celebrations of election victories in the U.S., it would have been easy to miss the news of the pre-dawn shelling of several homes in Gaza by the Israeli military. This latest indiscriminate attack killed 18 civilians, including women, children and 11 members of the same family.

Dare we hope that the latest power shift in the U.S. will give the Palestinians cause for hope and a way out of nearly 40 years of brutal occupation?

The Gaza Strip doesn't make the news much these days despite being in the throws of a humanitarian crisis. Following the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier on June 25th, Israel began a military "recovery mission" in Gaza that has had devastating consequences for the people and basic physical infrastructure of Gaza.

I generally graze throughout the day - snacking every 20-45 minutes, derive immense joy from sampling oozy, foul smelling cheese, could talk for hours about the braised eggplant with basil at Taiwan Cafe (easily the best eggplant dish in the greater Boston area with only the velvety eggplant appetizer at Lala Rokh coming close), would drive across town in rush hour traffic to get a pork floss bun and a bubble tea from my favorite Korean bakery in Brighton and am frequent reader and occasional poster on www.chowhound.com (the website of all websites for food dorks). Given all of this, sustaining myself on $2/day proved to be an enormous challenge.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, of which GRI is a member, has learned that the House of Representatives will vote on Tuesday, May 9 on HR4681, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006. This bill imposes draconian economic and diplomatic sanctions against the Palestinian people for exercising their democratic rights.