From Baltimore to East Jerusalem

"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."--Paulo Freire

Greetings,

My good friend and brother, Pastor Heber Brown, III, has been traveling throughout Palestine and Israel. He has been keeping us posted by writing a daily journal which you can read below or on our site at www.Kineticnet.org.

Please pray for our dear brother and for peace in the region.

In love & service,

Jamye Wooten
Kinetics

info@kineticnet.org

www.Kineticnet.org

443.415.7974

... You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. (Isaiah. 58:12)

From Baltimore to East Jerusalem Day 1

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

By Heber Brown, III

As I type this, I'm sitting on the roof of a hostel in the breeze of a cool Jerusalem night. My group has recently retired for the evening after a long two days of travel. I'm here in East Jerusalem with a delegation from Interfaith Peace Builders - an organization that focuses on education advocacy for the Middle East. The purpose of this group is to learn more about the occupation from people who are directly impacted by it. When I say the occupation - I'm referencing the systemic oppression of Palestinian people by the Israeli government. Palestinians have been forcefully removed from their land, piled up in refugee camps, and are generally harassed every day as official policy of the state.

I joined this group, with the support of so many, because I was tired of being a sympathetic, yet inactive observer to the unrest here in the Middle East. I felt that I had to do something more than just sympathize. I had to do something more than just write blog articles about what's going on here. I had to do more than just repeat that catchy, but all too easily stated phrase:"Peace in the Middle East."

By Heber Brown, III

The Israeli Apartheid Wall

Today was an extremely full day that started bright and early at 8AM. Well, for me the day started at 5:00AM. After going to bed at about 11PM the night before, I found myself lying in bed staring at the ceiling at 5. I tried to force myself back to sleep, but I couldn't do it. After showering and getting dressed, I made my way to the roof of the hostel. And in the pre-dawn hours of a beautiful Jerusalem morning I shared in conversation with a fellow delegate and we watched the sunrise in this beautiful place.

The beauty of the sunrise, however, was quickly eclipsed by the facts on the ground which we learned about during a tour with a amazing guide named Miya from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. She's an extremely passionate 20-something Israeli female who gave us a crash course on the modern history of this complex conflict. After sharing stats, facts, and maps from Jeff Halper's lastest book, Obstacles to Peace, we left the lecture hall and piled up in our bus to take a tour of East Jerusalem.

by Heber Brown

Wailing Wall and Dome of the Rock
Today, the morning started with a call home...as it does most mornings. While I'm so thankful for this wonderful experience being in Palestine/Israel; I must confess that I miss home. I miss my wife, sons, and extended family members the most. There's nothing in particular that I miss as it is the rhythm of life that I have become accustomed to which involves their presence. In so many ways, I know who I am because of them. Dr. Naim Akbar would describe this as a part of the African World View: There is no "me" without "we." My family provides for me a sense of identity.

My Palestine/Israel Diary - Friday, May 28

By Heber Brown, III
Erez Crossing at the Gaza Strip

What if a military force came to your neighborhood built walls all around your block and refused to allow you to go and come as you please. How would you feel about that? What if they decided to attack your walled-in neighborhood from the sky and sent troops in to kill people too. How would you feel?

Those are two of the questions that I had to wrestle with while standing at the walls of one of the world's biggest prisons. It's called the Gaza Strip and has 1.5 million Palestinians as its prisoners. In the name of security, the Israeli Government decides who comes and who goes. It decides what is allowed in and what is not.

My Palestine/Israel Diary - Monday, May 31

By Heber Brown, III

Memorial Day took on a totally new meaning today for me. For the past many years, it has been a day to gather with family at my Aunt Mary's House for a cookout that has been a staple for 30+ years. We get together to catch up on family news, sing songs that feed our souls, and celebrate each other's accomplishments.

However, this year, Memorial Day has meant a day of mourning and focused anger. Humanitarians from Turkey and other parts of the world set sail in a grouping of ships to deliver 10,000 tons of aid to Palestinians who are trapped behind the concrete walls of an Israeli blockade.

As many in the world know by now, as the ships, known as the Freedom Flotilla approached the coast of Gaza, the Israeli Military attacked. Initial reports indicated that nearly 20 people were killed and many more were wounded by the assault by the Israeli soldiers. This brazen act of murder on the sea invited condemnation by many in the world.

For the Children of Gaza

This is the short version of For the Children of Gaza for review by Maurice Jacobsen. The full version is now here-
http://vimeo.com/11677817

Obama Must Join Global Condemnation of Israeli Flotilla Assault

by Madea Benjamin

SleptOn.com

Just one day after Israeli commandos stormed civilian boats that were bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza, leaving nine dead, a group of Nobel Peace prize winners put out a statement condemning the attack. South African president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose lives have been indelibly shaped by a cruel apartheid system, were joined by other Nobel laureates, including former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, former US president Jimmy Carter and detained Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi. They called Israel's three-year blockade of Gaza illegal under international law and "one of the world's greatest human rights violations."

Conspicuously absent from the Nobel Peace prize signees was President Barack Obama. Instead of expressing outrage at an attack on civilian ships in international waters, Obama issued a tepid statement saying he "deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained."

Norman Finkelstein & Huwaida Arraf: Israel's Attack

GritTV.org

On Monday, Israeli commandoes boarded ships in the "Freedom Flotilla" attempting to bring humanitarian aid to residents of still-blockaded Gaza. The aggressive response by Israel turned deadly, with at least nine activists killed. The international community has reacted with shock and outrage; protests have erupted around the world outside Israeli embassies, with protesters even teargassed in Paris. Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a long awaited meeting surrounding peace talks with President Obama and headed back to Israel to do damage control, and Turkey, from where the flotilla departed, has recalled its ambassador and issued a travel warning to its citizens.

Huwaida Arraf was on one of the ships; she joins us via phone from Ramallah, along with Norman Finkelstein, to tell us what happened to her and offer some analysis on the situation.