PAX Palestine Podcast Pax for Peace

This is the third and last part of a trilogy about the 'Civil Society for Dignity' project, a project by MEND, PCR, PCPD and PAX for Peace, supported by the European Union. This project aims to bridge the gap between the Palestinian civil society and the local governments.

In this last episode Anwaar, who works for MEND and is the media and outreach coordinator for this project and journalist Hayat Hamdan tell us more about an important part of the Civil Society for Dignity project: the media training. This training helps young Palestinians to brainstorm about and to vocalize what they would like to change in their societies and it teaches them the skills and tools to create media content that can be used to communicate their wishes for change. This is an important skill that can be used in civil society participation on the political level.

Partners in this joined project are:

MEND stands for Middle East Non Violence and Democracy. MEND promotes active nonviolence and encourages alternatives to violence among youth and adults throughout Palestine. MEND employs innovative methods, especially with the media, and is widely respected for working with authenticity, professionalism
 and courage.

PCR is the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between people.  PCR works to bridge the gap between Palestinians and peoples from all around the world, informing the public about the reality in Palestine, and empowering the community through nonviolent direct action.

PCPD is the Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy. They were established to promote a just peace based on the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of 1988 and relevant United Nations Resolutions towards a two state solution, in which democracy and social justice are guaranteed.

PAX for Peace is based in the Netherlands and works together with committed citizens and partners to protect civilians against acts of war, to end armed violence, and to build a just peace.  In Palestine PAX supports local partners in building resilient communities, promoting human security and equality in the political, cultural and social domain, and in fighting the injustices resulting from the protracted occupation.

 If you want to know more about the work of Pax for Peace you can visit their website https://paxforpeace.nl

MEND: https://www.mend-online.org/
PCR: https://www.pcr.ps
PCPD: https://pcpd.ps

This is the second part of a trilogy about the 'Civil Society for Dignity' project, a project by MEND, PCR, PCPD and PAX for Peace, supported by the European Union. This project aims to bridge the gap between the Palestinian civil society and the local governments.

In this episode you will learn more about the project 'Civil Society for Dignity' itself. Muna Rishmawi, the project manager, talks about the aims of the project, the cooperation between the different organizations that are involved and how the project is being implemented. One of the young female participants, Aseel, tells us about her personal experiences and what her participation meant to her personal development. We conclude with Yara, who carried out a research and shares her findings with us.

Partners in this joined project are:

MEND stands for Middle East Non Violence and Democracy. MEND promotes active nonviolence and encourages alternatives to violence among youth and adults throughout Palestine. MEND employs innovative methods, especially with the media, and is widely respected for working with authenticity, professionalism
 and courage.

PCR is the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between people.  PCR works to bridge the gap between Palestinians and peoples from all around the world, informing the public about the reality in Palestine, and empowering the community through nonviolent direct action.

PCPD is the Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy. They were established to promote a just peace based on the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of 1988 and relevant United Nations Resolutions towards a two state solution, in which democracy and social justice are guaranteed.

PAX for Peace is based in the Netherlands and works together with committed citizens and partners to protect civilians against acts of war, to end armed violence, and to build a just peace.  In Palestine PAX supports local partners in building resilient communities, promoting human security and equality in the political, cultural and social domain, and in fighting the injustices resulting from the protracted occupation.

 If you want to know more about the work of Pax for Peace you can visit their website https://paxforpeace.nl

MEND: https://www.mend-online.org/
PCR: https://www.pcr.ps
PCPD: https://pcpd.ps

This is the first part of a trilogy about the 'Civil Society for Dignity' project, a project by MEND, PCR, PCPD and PAX for Peace, supported by the European Union. This project aims to bridge the gap between the Palestinian civil society and the local governments.

In this first episode you will learn more about the political reality for Palestinians under military rule and the civil society landscape of Palestine, in an interview with George Rishmawi, Director of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement of people.

Partners in this joined project are:

MEND stands for Middle East Non Violence and Democracy. MEND promotes active nonviolence and encourages alternatives to violence among youth and adults throughout Palestine. MEND employs innovative methods, especially with the media, and is widely respected for working with authenticity, professionalism
 and courage.

PCR is the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between people.  PCR works to bridge the gap between Palestinians and peoples from all around the world, informing the public about the reality in Palestine, and empowering the community through nonviolent direct action.

PCPD is the Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy. They were established to promote a just peace based on the Palestinian Declaration of Independence of 1988 and relevant United Nations Resolutions towards a two state solution, in which democracy and social justice are guaranteed.

PAX for Peace is based in the Netherlands and works together with committed citizens and partners to protect civilians against acts of war, to end armed violence, and to build a just peace.  In Palestine PAX supports local partners in building resilient communities, promoting human security and equality in the political, cultural and social domain, and in fighting the injustices resulting from the protracted occupation.

 If you want to know more about the work of Pax for Peace you can visit their website https://paxforpeace.nl

MEND: https://www.mend-online.org/
PCR: https://www.pcr.ps
PCPD: https://pcpd.ps

In the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Israeli settlers are in the process of taking over many Palestinian houses, there is an archive where Palestinians can store their photos, diaries, posters and other tangible documents. It is the first Palestinian run archive that is trying to collect memories, history AND documents that are produced TODAY, to store them for future generations.

The initiative is called 'Khazaeen', the Arabic word for 'cabinets'. Each Palestinian that brings documents to Khazaeen, gets its own box, its own cabinet, to store the documents.  Through interviews, stories are collected and published on the blog of Khazaeen's website and on social media. The items are digitized and the owner can decide to take them home or to leave them in the cabinet. In the process of collecting and bringing documents to Khazaeen, many Palestinians have learned about the life and circumstances of their own ancestors. Often this has helped them to understand their own family history and the generational trauma that has been passed on, especially through the experiences of the Nakba in 1948 and the Naksa in 1967.

"It is very important to write our own history and to collect our own archive, rather than having our history stored in the colonial archives of the State of Israel", says Eman Alyan.
 
"It is also important to collect brochures, pamphlets, posters, photos and art work of today, so we can save it for the future. "

If you want to visit the website of Khazaeen you can use this link: https://khazaaen.org/en

 In 1999 Al-Quds University created the “Community Action Center” (“CAC”), a semi autonomous association, which aims to empower the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem.

The CAC aims to empower the disadvantaged Palestinians of East Jerusalem to access their rights and entitlements and negotiate the complex bureaucratic procedures that control the flow of these rights.

Most Palestinian inhabitants of East Jerusalem are residents and not citizens of Israel. They have to prove that the center of their life is actually in Jerusalem, otherwise they will lose their residency. As Palestinians can’t leave East Jerusalem as they will lose their residency, they need to build new homes for their children in East Jerusalem. But they barely get the permits needed to build new houses, even on their own land property. When they decide to build without a permit, there is a chance to receive a demolition order. They have to demolish their own house. If they don't do it, the authorities will come, do it for them and present them with a huge bill of around a hundred thousand dollars.

The Israeli policies in Jerusalem are made to increase the number of Jewish inhabitants and reduce the number of Palestinians.

Many Palestinians do not know what their rights are, how to deal with the authorities and where to find support. The CAC gives legal assistance, advice and works on advocacy to get the international community involved.

In this episode you can hear General Director Mounir Nuseibeh and Advocacy Officer Munir Marjieh.

To learn more about the CAC you can visit their website https://cac.alquds.edu/en/

PAX supports the work of 7amleh (pronounce Hamleh but the first H from the lower part of your throat). In this episode you can hear Nadim Nashif and Mona Shtaya who both work for the advancement of social media and digital rights in the Palestinian context.
 
We talk about several aspects of their work. For example how social media is censoring Palestinians and others with a pro-Palestinian message. Many Palestinians have their social media profiles shut down without a valid reason and it is often hard to counter that.
 
Another issue that 7amleh works on is digital security and the use of Israeli spyware on Palestinians and beyond. Recently there was a scandal when it was discovered that Pegasus malware, produced by the Israeli NSO group, was found on devices of human rights defenders, journalists and state representatives.
 
Other topics we discuss are PayPal, that doesn't have integration for Palestinians to use with their local bank accounts, and Google Maps that does not show Palestinian cities and towns in the Westbank on their maps, while it does show clear details of illegal Israeli settlements.
 
Furthermore, we discussed a recent campaign to counter Hate Speech online. The campaign targets Palestinians to raise awareness about abusive language on social media and how to recognize it.

From 17 until 19 May they organize the online Digital Activism Forum that you can sign up for if you click HERE

This is the website of 7amleh: https://7amleh.org/
(There is a small tab with the letters EN to click to switch to English language)

If you want to listen to episodes of Stories from Palestine podcast you can visit the linktree: https://linktr.ee/storiesfrompalestine