loveandpeace3

www.oasisofpeace.org

www.bsst.org.uk

 http://jfjfp.com

https://interfaith2010.naz.edu/

www.jnews.org.uk

Israel (Hebrew: יÖשÖׂרÖאÖל‎, YisrÄ’el; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيلُ‎, IsrÄ’Äl), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מÖדÖינÖת יÖשÖׂרÖאÖל (help·info), MedÄnat YisrÄ’el; Arabic: دَوْلَةُ إِسْرَائِيلَ‎, Dawlat IsrÄ’Äl), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, the Gaza Strip and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is the world’s only predominantly Jewish state, with a population estimated in May 2010 to be 7,602,400 people,of whom 6,051,000 are Jews. Arab citizens of Israel form the country’s second-largest ethnic group, which includes Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Samaritans. According to the May 2010 population estimate these people number 1,551,400, including nearly 300,000 non-Citizens living in East Jerusalem. Read more: >HERE <

Palestine (Greek: Παλαιστίνη, PalaistinÄ; Latin: Palaestina; the Hebrew name Peleshet (פלשת Pəléshseth); also פלשׂתינה, Palestina; Arabic: فلسطين‎FilasṭÄn, FalasṭÄn, FilisṭÄn) is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands. As a geographic term, Palestine can refer to „ancient Palestine,“ an area that today includes Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, as well as part of Jordan, and some of both Lebanon and Syria.In classical or contemporary terms, it is also the common name for the area west of the Jordan River. The boundaries of two new states were laid down within the territory of the British Mandate, Palestine and Transjordan.Other terms for the same area include Canaan, Zion, the Land of Israel, and the Holy Land. Read More: > HERE <

The Bedouin (from the Arabic badawÄ (بدوي), pl. badū) are a part of the predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group, where Arab Ethnicity is divided into three lifestyles, of the Urban, rural and Nomad people. Bedouins traditionally had strong honor codes, and traditional systems of justice dispensation in Bedouin society typically revolved around such codes. The bisha’a, or ordeal by fire, is a well-known Bedouin practice of lie detection. See also: Honor codes of the Bedouin, Bedouin systems of justice. Bedouins are well known for practicing folk music, folk dance and folk poetry. See also: Bedouin music, Ardha, Ghinnawa. Read More: > HERE <

The British Shalom-Salaam Trust (BSST) is a Jewish grant-giving initiative created in response to the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. BSST supports projects both within Israel’s 1967 borders (the ‘Green Line’) and the Occupied Territories. We work closely with Palestinians and Israeli Jews committed to a just resolution of the conflict in Israel/Palestine based on equality and mutual respect.

During the financial year 2009-10, BSST gave financial support to 27 very varied organisations, including to the St John’s Eye Hospital in Jerusalem for emergency detached retina surgery for patients injured in the assault on Gaza; Bustan Qaraaqa, a grassroots environmental movement in the Palestinian territories which addresses the problem of water shortage, food insecurity and waste management; Jama’ah Leadership Development and Community Empowerment group; the Jenin Cultural centre; Sadaka-Reut community in Action Programme; and the Villages Group school transportation for children of the South Hebron Area.

The projects and the activists especially the women in health and development work that we support represent a roll call of hope. They remind us that, even in these devastating times, there are still many in Israel and Palestine striving to find ways to build bridges, to live peacefully and productively in a shared humanity.

JNews promotes understanding and stimulates critical debate about Israel and Palestine among British Jews and the broader public as a contribution to promoting peace with justice for all in the region.

  • JNews believes that disseminating a range of viewpoints broader than that offered by most Jewish and Israeli organizations will benefit Palestinians and Israelis.
  • JNews supports the human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians and believes the two are intertwined.
  • JNews believes in the application of the universal principles of social justice and human rights as the path to a just and comprehensive solution to the conflict.

Small but hopeful: Israeli-Palestinian projects in the southern Hebron hills. Israeli and Palestinian volunteers create concrete alternatives for education and energy

The separation barrier and the proximity of settlements to Palestinian villages cause serious disruptions to the daily lives of Palestinians.  The situation is particularly acute for schoolchildren, who have to negotiate long circuitous routes to school as well as suffering settler violence. Many schoolchildren have stopped attending school because of these problems.

The Villages Group, a group of Jewish Israeli volunteers and Palestinian partners, decided to set up a school transportation system for children attending a new elementary school, Al-Massafer, belonging to the Palestinian community of Al-Fakhiet in the southern Hebron hills on the occupied West Bank.

The aim of the volunteers was to enable schoolchildren to reach school and return home safely, while also providing employment for a driver. In January, after a fundraising campaign, the community secured the funds to purchase an improvised school ‘bus’ – only to have it promptly confiscated by Israeli army units in the area, who abandoned it in a neighboring valley where it was found two days later. The community and volunteers didn’t give up: local activist Hamed Qawasmeh appealed worldwide for funds, and a ‘new’ vehicle was put to immediate use.The Villages Group runs several other projects in the southern Hebron hills and in the area of Nablus. Their motto is ‘performing deeds of peace.’

Energy alternatives – In March, another joint grassroots project was completed in the southern Hebron hills. The Comet-ME team, a group of Israeli and Palestinian activists including a physicist, an environmentalist and a software developer, creates energy solutions for communities in the area.

After connecting Palestinian families in the village of Sussiya to electricity by installing solar and wind systems, the founding team, encouraged by their success, moved on to neighboring communities.

These semi-nomadic communities suffer from constant harassment by hardline Jewish settlers in the area, who vandalize their property, disrupt their seasonal agricultural activities, and attempt to drive them from their homes – simple cave-dwellings in the southern Hebron hills.

The team joined forces with a Palestinian volunteer from Hebron and fifteen local Palestinian electronic engineering students (including two from Sussiya) to install wind turbines and solar cells in four cave-dwelling communities – upper Sfai, lower Sfai, Mrier al-Abid and Tuba, as well as among the Bedouin families of Umm al-Kheir, adjacent to the Jewish settlement Carmel.

 

www.comet-me.org  / INTERVIEW:  www.justvision.org

Installing Solar Cells in Tuba – They were helped by residents of all the Palestinian communities in the area.

“Small but hopeful: Israeli-Palestinian projects in the southern Hebron hills”

BSST are proud to say that we were one of the funders who helped to kick start COMET-ME www.comet-me.org , an organisation which aims to bring sustainable energy to Palestinian villages.
 
The British Shalom-Salaam Trust – One of the supporters of projects in the southern Hebron hills is a British-Jewish charity called the British Shalom-Salaam Trust (BSST).

A small grant-giving charity founded in 2004, BSST supports mainly community-based, informal projects that involve practical collaboration between communities in Israel and Palestine.

Other initiatives they support include Orthodox Media Watch, a project combating racism in Jewish-Orthodox media; Sindyanna, an Arab women’s fair-trade organization in the Galilee; an educational project on torture run by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI); and direct medical assistance to Gaza provided by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) during and after the war of 2008-9.

The British Shalom-Salaam Trust – One of the supporters of projects in the southern Hebron hills is a British-Jewish charity called the British Shalom-Salaam Trust (BSST).

A small grant-giving charity founded in 2004, BSST supports mainly community-based, informal projects that involve practical collaboration between communities in Israel and Palestine.

Other initiatives they support include Orthodox Media Watch, a project combating racism in Jewish Orthodox media; Sindyanna, an Arab women’s fair-trade organization , in the Galilee www.sindyanna.com ; an educational project on torture run by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI); and direct medical assistance to Gaza provided by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) during and after the war of 2008-9.