“9 Star Hotel” A movie that opens your eyes

If someone stole your house, knocked it down, threw you out of the city, build a huge wall so that you couldn’t come back in and then hired you to build their lofty house on your land (as cheap labor) if you could sneak back into the city somehow, would you work for them? 

This is what some Palestinians have had to resort too.  For us living in a land of luxury, the idea might seem funny or idiotic.  I mean, why would you help your enemies take your own land?  But this is not funny to the Palestinians who are in a life and death situation.   

I was looking through the DVD section at our local public library and found a documentary called “9 Star Hotel”.  I was surprised to see that almost for the first time, there was something out there that actually was accurate to a portion of the Palestinian situation and the most intriguing part of this award-winning film was that it was directed by an Israeli.

The documentary doesn’t really mention religion apart from the fact that the people in the film happen to be Muslims but it told the story of Palestinian youth who sneak into new Israeli areas – a.k.a. Palestinian areas illegally taken over by Israelis – in order to desperately find work to feed their huge families. 

To put things into perspective, the average Palestinian makes about $1-2 per day when meat might cost up to $6 or more per pound.  A family of five children is considered a small family. It’s usual for electricity to get cut out eight hours per day.  You usually only get water once per week.  You cannot go for work many times because of the checkpoints every few miles. The borders are closed.  No one comes in.  No one goes out.  You have to build tunnels just to get food and medical supplies to come in.  Bombs are being detonated on mothers, children and men while the rest of the world pretends not to see.  Your citizenship cards expire with no chance of renewal.  People in Palestine most likely will never be able to see Jerusalem.  Many children have to go through two or more checkpoints to and from school, if they can make it to school.  The only way to succeed in this kind of life is to get an education but how can you pay for a decent university degree if you have no money and your schools get bombed?

Now you can get a better idea of why some have to build the settlements of their enemies on their own land.

Watch the movie.  You’ll be intrigued.

 

(Note: You might be able to rent the DVD at your local library or rental store. 

 Here it is at Blockbuster.)

 

Abbas sought to abort conference in Athens

Source:  AlJazeera.net (AlQuds Press)

(Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά.  قراءة العربية)

According to Greek sources
Abbas has sought to abort the Jerusalem Conference in Athens

Greek political source said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas intervened to frustrate the holding of the solidarity of Jerusalem and the conference in the Greek capital Athens, he used strong pressure to limit the attendance, although the conference was successful at the end.

The congress was held on June 22 in Athens  in the form of an international symposium titled “Jerusalem, the capital of Arab culture 2009 - Europe for Jerusalem and Gaza.”  This event was organized by the Hellenic-Palestinian Friendship & Europeans for Jerusalem with the participation of eminent personalities from Greece, Europe and Palestine, including politicians, parliamentarians, religious leaders and thinkers, intellectuals and representatives of civil society institutions.

However, sources in the Greek Socialist Party revealed the accurate information described, that communications are carried out by the Palestinian president in order to “encircle and reduce the participation in the conference as much as possible.”

The source added that Abbas had contacted George Papandreou personally, President of the PASOK Greek Socialist Party, and asked him to put pressure on his party’s parliamentarians and officials and to get them not to attend the conference “so that the level of political presence, to be low as much as possible.” Abbas also held communications to leaders of other political parties in Greece for the same goal, as assurances of the source.

The source said that “the arguments advanced by Mr. Abbas to put pressure on the politicians was that the Greek organizers of the conference, mostly are close to the government of Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and do not agree with the views of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority to adopt a negotiating approach in dealing with Israel.”

According to the sources, Abbas has also expressed dismay about the increasing activity of groups advocating the right of return for the lifting of the siege of Gaza in Greece, called on “all that is related to the movement of Palestinians should be done through the PLO and its ambassadors and representations abroad exclusively.”

June 22: Jerusalem event in Athens

Ιερουσαλήμ, Πρωτεύουσα
του Αραβικού Πολιτισμού 2009
H Ευρώπη για την Ιερουσαλήμ και τη Γάζα
Αθήνα 22 Ιουνίου 2009, ώρα 18:30
Ξενοδοχείο Caravel (Β. Αλεξάνδρου 2)

 

Jerusalem the Capital of Arab Culture 2009
Europe for Jerusalem and Gaza
Athens, 22 June 2009, 18:30
Hotel Caravel (2, V. Alexandrou Str.)

Διεθνές Συμπόσιο – International Symposium
Ελληνοπαλαιστινιακή Φιλία – HelenicPalistinian Friendship
Ευρωπαίοι για τα Ιεροσόλυμα – Europeans for Jerusalem

 

For more details about the programme,

download the flyer.