No more charity for Palestinians!!

Natwest, a British bank has withdrawn banking facilities from Interpal a UK based charity focused on alleviating poverty among Palestinians. Having been a target by the Zionist lobby, they have been investigated twice (1996 & 2003) by the UKs charity commission, which has effectively given them a clean bill of health. Now this.

 Now we learn that NatWest has withdrawn banking facilities from Interpal. We spoke to one of the trustees of Interpal and he believed that this decision was linked to a US court ruling that the families of Israeli victims of suicide bombings could sue the bankers of those alleged to have links with Hamas. Talk about long shots! (MPACUK website)

shocking, isnt it? USA decides a Palestinian charity are bad guys, Britain disagrees, but the British bank that holds the charities account is forced to withdraw banking facilities.

like i said shocking …

How to help Palestine..

a comprehensive guide to action abroad

walking through university today, my path was blocked by students lying on the pavement, with the names of countries taped to their bodies… Palestine and Indonesia jumped out from among these names… and a young man was gathering signatures for his petitions, apparently BAE (British Aerospace Engineering) invests in my university and also holds recruitment events to hire graduates. They export to the state of Israel… so I signed.

I only stopped becuase I felt empathy for the guy standing in the freezing cold trying to get people’s attention, it isnt exactly an easy task, and can be quite demoralising, especially as some people lower their and walk faster pretending not to have seen you 😛 It wasnt that I thought that this would have any impact… so what does have an impact? what can we do? why its ok to be a pest in the west, and why the international (UK and USA mainly) should care I will outline in another post.

How we can help Palestine (target audience: UK residents):

Direct campaigning:

• be clued up on what the conflict is all about , and be aware of the zionist stance, dismissing them as having no legitimate argument is correct but will only serve to make you look ignorant, and unwilling to engage in discussion. How to handle a zionist confrontation appears in a previos post.

• put your knowledge into action, write to your MP outlining the situation (keep it short and be polite!), and why it is of British concern. Focusing on specific issues, such as arm deals, or Israels bid to gain norwegian like status with the EU or requesting more import of Palestinian goods, is preferrable, as it gives your MP something tangible to work with.

• keep abreast of the media, if the news reports something biased or factually incorrect, complain.

• circulate a petition… yes they seem like a waste of time, but they are easier than getting people to write to their MPs, youcan include your petition with the letter, in a ‘see how many voters in your constituency care’.

So we have established that other supporters are necessary, but how can people know about the situation? lets not forget that there is practically a media blackout in Gaza… and very little information is given with whatever news clips get shown… and people are often lazy to follow up or simply do not see it as something that concerns them. This brings us to our second main point…

Raising awarness:

• first rule of thumb: do not go around shoving palestine down people’s throats, nor is an overly emotional ‘argument’ effective.

• keep your ears open, palestine IS in the news, it WILL come up in conversation, be prepared to engage with people.

• stick with facts… they cannotbe argued with.

• some emotion is good, as the issue has a massive humanitarian effect… children are in jail, white phosphorus is being used, 1000s of people lost their houses in Gaza, unemployment is through the roof, and aid has been witheld for nearly a year now. It is not good.

• organise film showings and advertise them well (posters, leafleting, word of mouth, newspapers, emails and email groups).

• organise talks, scholars of the issue, Palestinians who lived in Palestine, or local activists who have visited.

• have informational leaflets ready (here, here, here, make your own, or collect them at national rallys) and collect names + contact details… you may want to organise more events, and more people may wish to be involved.

• ensure meetings/talks do not go on too long, you dont want people feeling that this will take over their lives…

• hold rallys, have a weekend stall in town, do something eyecatching… hold a Dabke dance in town (you will need town council permission though!).

• at events if possible show pictures… have a political photo timeline and show pictures of palestine and the people/culture… somehow, seeing the personal side of Palestine and Palestinians makes their plight even more real… people can connect with them on a personal level.

• advertise books on Palestine and not just technical books, but fictional/biographical ones (“I saw Ramallah”, “In Search of Fatima”, “Sharon and my Mother in Law”)

Not so politicky things:

here is where I add some more ideas on how we could ‘help’, that do not involve campaigning or politics… simple straight forward help:

• give to charity (this one is a no-brainer)

• support Palestinian goods (Palestinian olive oil: Zaytoun , Embroidery: Hadeel ,ethical tourism: olive co-op )

and last but not least, do NOT allow yourself to sink into despair… it will only turn into apathy, and that is the LAST thing that is needed.

Budget Meals for One

Thought I would share some of the easy recipes I used during my uni days, many rely on frozen foods and rice. Meat can be replaces/not used, and extra veggies can be added to suit palate/what is in fridge.

Chicken peas and rice

Can be made vegetarian: no chicken, and swap chicken stock with vegetable stock cubes

Ingrediants:

1. 1/2 onion.
2. 1 chicken breat
3. 1 chicken stock dissolved in 1/2 pint hot water.
4. 1 tin chopped tomatoes
5. salt
6. allspcie
7. oil
8. 2 cups frozen peas
9. 1/2 cup basmati or long grain rice.

Method (sauce):

1. chop chicken into cubes
2. chop onion into small pieces
3. heat oil in pan and add onions
4. stir till tender.
5. add chicken and stir till it all changes colour.
6. add tin of tomatoes
7. add salt and allspice
8. add stock mixture
9. when boiling switch to low heat and add peas.
10. will be ready in 1/2 hour in the meantime make the rice.

Method (rice):

1. chuck rice in small pan
2. cover with 1 cup cold water
3. sprinkle a bit of salt
4. put onto a moderate flame
5. cover
6. should be ready in 15 min.

Toast mana2eesh

Ingredients:

1. 2 slices of toast
2. olive oil
3. za3tar

Method:

1. preheat grill to maximum
2. smear oil onto pieces of bread
3. generously add the za3tar
4. put under gril for 2 to 3 min.

Pitta Pizza:

Ingredients:

1. 2 pieces of pitta bread
2. ketchup
3. cheap pitted black olives, 6
4. 2 mushrooms
5. 1/2 green pepper
6. oregano
7. grated cheese… mozeralla or cheap cheddar

Method:

1. preheat oven to 200 celcius
2. smear ketchup onto both pieces of bread
3. finely chop mushrooms and pepper
4. halve the olives
5. add mushrooms, olives and pepper to bread
6. sprinkle oregano
7. cover in cheese
8. put in oven for 20 min

Ma2loobi:
Ma’loobi is a traditional middle eastern dish, and is thus desgined to feed a million people, getting it to taste ‘right’ when making it in small quantities took some work 🙂

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 aubergine (cubed) or some cauliflower
2. 3 pieces of lamb, or 1 chopped chicken breast (or 2 chicken legs)
3. allspice, and salt
4. oil
5. 1 cup of rice (basmati/long grain)

Method:

1. Heat oil in small pan
2. fry the aubergine/cauliflour in pan (not frying), remove from pan and set aside.
3. in same panfry the meat/chicken till COOKED, may need to fillet them (i.e. bash them withwooden spoon till flattish), remove and set aside
4. we’re sticking with the same pan (lazy guide too!), sprinkle some rice onto the botton, then chuck in veggie and meat, add rest of rice.
5. In jug, dissolve stock cube in 1 pint water, then add to pan.
6. add the salt and allspice too.
7. put onto moderate heat and cook for 20 min. If rice is cooked, eat and enjoy.

best served with yoghurt and a salad.

The Durham Palestine Educational Trust

Just wanted to share the latest email I recieved from everyclick. If you look at my side bar you will see an icon for the everyclick web search site, this link automatically selects the Durham Palestine Educational Trust (www.dpet.org.uk) as your chosen charity, and all the searches you make through this will result in everclick donating to the dpet.

In 2006 you helped us raise UK £1,280 from everyclick.com, the search engine that gives 50% of its turnover to charities. This is over 6% of our annual income.

Durham Palestine Educational Trust (Charity No. 1085097) aids Palestinian development through Masters scholarships at Durham University. More info. at http://www.dpet.org.uk

The Durham Palestine Educational trust pays for the tuition and living expenses for Palestinian students to do a masters in Durham University, one of top five universities in the United Kingdom. This Trust is a testement to what can be achieved by a small group of activists if they put their midn to it, and believe me it is a small group, Durham is one of the smallest cities in England 🙂 .