[Inl: 25th day]

[<fubarat@tin.it>]

>
> Da: "Noah Salameh" <salamehn@hotmail.com>
> Data: 2002/04/28 Sun PM 09:16:19 CEST
> A: gallo@di.unipi.it
> cc: forechair@gn.apc.org, frances@DCCI.Unipi.IT, FrancesHHoward@aol.com,
>fshabs@hotmail.com, fubarat@tin.it, gabi_gueron@yahoo.com,
>gab.zanini@libero.it, galtung@transcend.org, georgemathew@vsnl.net,
>giocarosone@tiscalinet.iut, giocarosone@tiscalinet.it, gleon@simail.it,
>glopez@nd.edu, goss-mayr@telering.at, d.grant@ifor.org
> Oggetto: 25th day
>
>



Dear friends,

this is attachment from Bethlehem

This is the 25th day under curfew and closure, and we try to find some
thing which may give us more Hope and some windows to the world. So I put
my feeling and some of what I live in in your hands to share with you our
pain and our difficult time hoping that some day we share with you better
experiences and better memries.Yours in Peace & Reconciliation

Noah Salameh


The Center for Conflict Resolution


     and Reconciliation - CCRR


P.O.Box 861


Bethlehem - Palestine


Telfax: 972-2-2745475


Tel: 972-2-2767745


Email: ccrr@palnet.com /salamehn@hotmail.com








Today is the 25th day in the Israeli curfew on Bethlehem area, I'm sitting
in my room and reading books about Conflict Resolution,(CR), Peace Studies
and Human Rights. I read the words and return back to read them again,
trying to find some material in Human Rights laws, principles, ideologies
or religion verses, or even any philosophy, which may have some explanation
of the situation I'm living in, or justifying what is going in my country
against my people, or even to explain the meaning of these seven tanks
roaring around my house and passing every hour they go for two miles and
come back shooting without any reason, because there is no resistance
neither violence nor nonviolence resistance, my children run quickly every
time and hide crying, after the tank disappear, and they begin to tell
stories about that and what scare me are the words that I hear from the
children like, (The Jewish want to kill us) The soldiers killed the child
Muhammad and they want to kill more children), Š..etc., Honestly I can't
explain or correct these phrases, because I don't know how to do that, and
what skills in CR if there is any to do that in a situation like ours and
with children of 4 or 5 years old when they see pictures of killed children
and destroyed houses like the ones coming from Jenin Refugee Camp.
This is in my home, and I hope that I can pass this situation and re-clean
these words after these tanks disappear from our streets. What is more
complicated in my life is the contradiction of what I'm learning, teaching
and believing and advocating in my life for peace and Reconciliation. It is
a lot easy for me if I don't believe of peace, justice, reconciliation and
the human values, so some times I ask myself a question, Why I selected the
difficult pass ????? May be this is stronger than me, and now I don't think
that I can change that because these values became part from my character
and my mission in life.
I remember when I was studying in Notre Dame University, I was very
difficult student because I questioned every thing and every teacher, Š.Why
, How, when,Šetc.
I explained that to myself , that I questioned things because, If I want to
adopt something I have to believe of that and to struggle for that very
hard and very strong. So since that time, I struggled and I will continue
to struggle in my home land and out, with my people and with all peoples
for peace, justice, freedom and reconciliation, even I faced difficulties
with my community and from the other side, and I still have these
difficulties, but this will not prevent me from work for peace and justice,
because my mission for peace is more important than my personal life or
security, and I will be happy to face all kind of difficulties if this may
help to contribute to peace, justice and reconciliation between our peoples
in the Holy Land.
May you understand me as peace activists and peace lovers, because most or
may all my mailing list are the world peace movement, so may you understand
why I write to you in this 25th day of the curfew on our peaceful city
Bethlehem. The most democratic army of Israel allowed us today to leave our
homes for two hours, so I took myself to walk in what remain of Bethlehem
streets, if I can call them streets after the Israeli tanks destroyed all
the asphalt and the pavements, destroying the sewage and the dirty water
flow between the passers, the wires of electricity and telephones in the
streets, more than half of the city doesn't have electricity, water or
telephones, because the army refused to allow the technicians to move to
prepare these services. So I ask myself because I can't ask the army, Is
all this damage done for peace or against terror,Š.may be..Š.!!!!!!!,Šso I
went to see some buildings, I walked and found that most of the doors of
the shops are broken, most than 500 cars are damaged by the tanks, the army
broke in all Palestinian ministries offices and damaged all the equipment's
and the files, even education ministry, transportation, tourism, every
ministry. I'm asking you, and ask every logical person, that Israeli
government claim that they fight against terror and to build peace. Is
damaging all Palestinian infra-structure and all ministries offices and
broke in all NGO's offices from human rights organizations to civil
society, and civic education institutions and took and damage all the
equipment's , are all these actions are against terror, are the streets,
the sewage system are terror and dangerous on Israeli securityŠ? Or may be
the peace education institutions, or the schools or the hospitals are
dangerous and all of them are terrorists.
The damage in the Palestinian areas is more than any imagination, or any
expectations, I can say that all Palestinian official buildings, documents,
infra-structure are damaged, every Palestinian affected young, old, child,
man, womanŠ.every one is hurt and every office need to re-build, Why? A lot
of work, a lot of human efforts, and a lot of waste money.
Just for your information, since this army invasion which is until now 25
days, nearly 800 Palestinian are killed, at least 150 children from them,
more than 5000 Palestinian arrested and put under administration detention
for a period between 6 months to one year, This law is the British
Emergency Laws from 1945, may I mentioned it before in my emails
(administration detention means that to put some one in prison without
court or any accusation from the occupation army, which is called "military
orders" )
These all things mentioned before were done in the name of peace process
and to build peace, the Israeli army killed, arrested, and damaged all
these things in the name of peaceŠŠ..and fighting terror. I'm writing this
and feel of heavy load on my shoulders, I hate to write about all this
suffering, and all this pain, the word peace became the most mystic word,
every governor, every general, dictator every army, every occupier, is
doing for peace, and justify his actions of the work for peace, how violent
they are, what arms they use, what crimes they do, how much dirty they are
from killing children to destroy hospitals and schools are all for
peaceŠŠŠŠŠ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 All this come to my mind when I was walking in Bethlehem (streets), I look
to the damage houses, and imagine how much work to re-build this and the
most difficult how much hatred and anger this damage createŠ!!!!, and how
much work and efforts from people like you and like me needed to spend to
bring all this hatred and anger downŠ!!1??? When I see all these scenes
from Bethlehem streets and the worst which are the pictures coming from
Jenin Refugee Camp, I doubt if we are human, how can we damage, kill, hate
and stole and keep call ourselves human. I think that killing for any
reason or cause is a crime, Why we have to live in insulation, humiliation,
ignorance, discrimination and occupation, in the name of peace and
democracy, like some people who say that Israel is the only democracy the
in the Middle East, so we can't criticize her violation of Human Rights,
What contradiction Š??? Democratic country don't occupy other people, don't
use military orders, don't use administration detention, don't use
collective punishments, don't close schools and kindergarten, don't a whole
people under curfew for a month, don't use tanks and arms against
civiliansŠŠ.All these things are done under the value of democratic country
and the work for peaceŠŠ!!!
I know that this short article will go to many people from many nations,
colors, races, and religions, so I would like to Appeal to all of you to
have a clear position from this very long occupation, which destroy all
human values, and the human relation between the two peoples. I would like
also to Appeal specially for my American friends to do all the efforts to
stop and change the one side position from your government and your
congress, which uses two values in looking to our conflict like saying, "
The Israelis are super human and deserve all the support and respect what
ever they do, and Palestinians are savage and inhuman don't deserve any
thing what ever they do", It is not easy for me to explain this policy to
my people and to my students and my children, it is not looking neither to
the human side of our life nor to the political rights as a people who have
the rights of self determination. The most country defending and advocating
human rights is USA, and the most violation of Human Rights is against our
people from Israel, "Mary Robenson asked for investigation committee" and
USA don't comment or criticized any violationŠWHY??? In all measures our
Human Rights are violated, every day, every moment, our children are
prevented from going to school , our workers don't allowed to go to work,
we are under military orders, discrimination in law, discrimination in the
level of life of education, of every thingŠ..and all this is against all
Human Rights if the congress consider us Human, so Why they don't see
thatŠŠ.?????? The first article in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights is " All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and right.
They are endowed with reasons and conscience and should act towards one
another in a spirit of brotherhood"  I didn't born equal,..! I'm born as a
refugee in a tent and without any rights and I still don't have equal
rights like my Jewish neighbors. The present like the past, the same, we
have no rights, we have no state, we still living under military laws, even
under curfew for 25 days,ŠŠNO respect for Human Rights. I think it is
enough today, hoping that next time I can write to you in a better
situation. I still Hope and the comes from you who have  Human Values and
struggle to make it Universals.