Hanthala Palestine: Initial Ideas

What we had in mind is a network of Palestinians all over the world, without having to define the term itself. We all know where is Palestine and who are the Palestinians. We have to try to find ways to get these Palestinians together. The information-period we're now in provides us with more new ways of communicating, which might be extremely helpful in accomplishing our aims. We can even discuss about what our aims are, but let's suggest for the time being that basic human rights would cover most of our problems today. We could even argue that the whole Palestine Question is just one major human rights violation on all levels, including the right to self-determination.

We need to focus on the fact that what is happening in Palestine is one huge human rights violation after another, perhaps to address each issue under a specific human rights violation and list the violations. This aspect of the conflict, the fact that there is no human dignity left and that the defense of Palestinians basic rights is somehow being lost in this mess.

There are already some ideas and suggestions. Until this moment we have to figure out how to translate these ideas and suggestions into practice. I don't think this would take much time. We can make it as big or as small as you like. All small steps help. Non-alignment would be necessary, a criterium for this could be basic human rights.

To start, gathering information on a specific topic, distributing it on e-mail and creating a resource website. But we need to focus on particular topics, such as closure, etc. that are relevant to now, and then bring in the issues that are highlighted below, the forgetfullness of memory.

Some ideas have already been articulated. One was establishing a map, with the original names of the Arab villages and places, to educate ourselves and others. We all now know that the jewish colony "Har Homa" is established on Jabel Abu Ghneim. You might know that "Tel Aviv" is established on Tel-ar-Rabi'i and that "Netanya" has been build on Um Khaled. But what about the other jewish colonies ? On which mountain is "Ariel" build. We could focus then that "Israel" is build on the dispossession and expulsion of Palestine and its inhabitants just by mentioning the places on which it has been build. Another idea was to inform the 'outside' (Palestinians and friends) about what's going 'inside' which is sometimes hard to figure out, since the media is not that objective (as we know). Vice versa to inform the 'inside' what's going on 'inside' based on some foreign sources, since there is no freedom of expression. Basically this goes for domestic issues. Another idea was having a kind of FAQ-sheet which would enable us to present our case very clearly in discussions about Palestine. You do not have to memorize the whole history, but we could make a general list with the most frequently asked questions, myths, and lies, and present counter arguments, and the truth.