PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS

As the October War enters its second year, 101 Israeli hostages are still being kept captive in appalling conditions.

And for non-combatant Gazans the endless misery of destruction and deprivation continues without end. Gazans have lost everything.

We welcome two voices for peace – leading Palestinian peace activist John Aziz and French imam Sheikh Mahammad Mehdizade – who join us as valued Friends.

There is always hope and miraculously the designated Children of Peace School in Rafah is still standing as footage from Gaza shows.

Our Israel correspondent Rolene Marks looks at the impact a seven-front war is having on Israelis.

Our Gaza correspondent Omar al-Najjar writes about the ingenuity of the Gazan people in the face of shortages.

Richard Martin FRSA, President and Founder.

“Blind hatred leads only to a much darker place.”

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CONCERT FOR PEACE 

30 November 2024, doors open 6.30pm,
Parish Hall, 28 London Road,
Whitchurch, Hampshire RG28 7LQ
07787 056 580

A concert in aid of Children of Peace, featuring Keith Bell, Simon Maggs and People like Us, and Kalopsia. Whitchurch is off the A34, midway between Andover and Basingstoke, whitchurchparishhall@outlook.com
£5.00 minimum entry, all profits to Children of Peace. Bring your own drinks.

Children of Peace is extremely grateful to the musicians and the town of Whitchurch. If you can, please support this concert.

NEWS – NOVEMBER 2024

NEW CHILDREN OF PEACE FRIENDS

Children of Peace’s Richard Martin writes…

We are delighted and honoured to welcome two leading peace activists who play an important part in building trust, reconciliation and peace between all faiths and all communities affected by the challenges facing the Middle East.

SHEIKH MAHAMMAD MEHDIZADE

I support the important work of Children of Peace because it is one of the greatest supporters of peace that challenges extremism, anti-Semitism, Islamism and hatred.

We as spiritual leaders, must support Children of Peace in their important work for peace and humanity.

Sheikh Mahammad Mehdizade

Sheikh Mahammad Mehdizade was born in 1996 in the city of Lankaran, in the south of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He tells his story…

“When I reached the age of 12 and was in high school, I started Islamic studies at the seminary in my city. After four years of study, I started teaching beginners in our Islamic seminary while continuing my studies until the age of 18.

After that, I went to Iran to complete Islamic studies in higher level, and after a year of studies in Iran, I decided to settle in Najaf Al-Ashraf in Iraq to pursue higher studies. I stayed there until the end of 2019, after which I moved to Turkey to share and teach the voice of Islam in the city of Istanbul, and my first activity was teaching science.

Then I was an imam in the Mohammadiyyah Mosque in the Istanbul region. During those years, when I was in Istanbul, I received the invitation from a Partner of Children of Peace, the Global Imams Council to join them as an advisor. Then I joined as an official in the Azerbaijan and Caucasus region in general.

In 2022, I moved to France and started preaching and sharing Islam in Paris. I became the director and official of the Global Imams Council in France and Europe in general, and have activities within the state and government levels in order to spread peace and true Islam.

Years ago, during my research, I became acquainted with ‘Children of Peace’. I continued to follow your projects. The name of the organization gives the idea of ​​peace, obviously to ensure peace for future generations we must start with children, because they are our future.

Even more we can also say that the difference between us in religions never means hatred, but rather gives us the idea of ​​coexistence and brotherhood.”

JOHN AZIZ

I believe the work of Children of Peace is incredibly important because every child matters, regardless of whether you are Israeli or Palestinian. We have to provide them with the resources for a good childhood, because if people are growing up in squalor and lacking economic and educational opportunities then that is going to mean a harder life.

To resolve the conflict we have to listen to each other and treat all of the people as equal human beings with a right to a safe and secure childhood. The pathway to peace is not an easy road in a long and complex conflict like this, but we have to have the courage to put one foot in front of the next.

John Aziz

John Aziz is a British-Palestinian musician and writer, specialising on Middle Eastern history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a focus on ending the conflict and trying to live together in peace.

His writing has appeared in the Atlantic, Quillette, Newsweek, The Dispatch, Foreign Policy, and the Jewish Chronicle.

GAZANS ADAPTING TO THE REALITY OF WAR

​As the Gaza War enters its second year many face acute deprivation, medical and food shortages alongside the imminent fear of death or destruction.

  • Already four hundred days since the beginning of the war.
  • Already people have got used to living in tents.
  • Already rats and mice are residents with us consuming food and water like any family member.
  • Already six months of closing all Gaza crossings.
  • Already US$8 for four potatoes, US$10 for six tomatoes, US$15 for 1 litre of cooking oil, US$50 for a bag of wheat flour.

Not to forget, that the vast majority of people in Gaza have lost their jobs, so who knows how they are dealing with the cost of essential needs?

Here, our Gaza correspondent Omar al-Najjar outlines how Gazans are coping and adapting to this new reality…

Don’t forget, the vast majority of people in Gaza lost their jobs with the war, so who knows how they are dealing with the cost of essential needs?

Over the last 18 years, Gaza have been under siege, goods that comes in are the only ones accepted by the non-Palestinian decision makers. This made it difficult for people to open a business or be creative, true, but not for Palestinians and especially the people of Gaza.

Gazans took this challenge as an opportunity to create and innovate…

Children have their self-made toys, adults bring their ideas to reality, and wise old people are consultants for the communities. It sounds like a documentary movie of humans in the early centuries, but it is the truth.

Gazans entered most scientific, political, and literary fields, and their inventions benefited humanity. Like the most delicate heart surgeries, creating artificial limbs, the youngest doctor, a minster or a parliament member of other countries, or creating new farming styles. Despite everything.

In my residential area, many houses and properties have been bulldozed, and there are now large areas of empty land. Many families are using the land next to them to grow some vegetables to help them survive in light of the high prices, scarcity of food in the markets, and the halt in the flow of aid.

Vegetable seeds and waste are used for germinating many plants. Because of my father’s experience my family are able to grow basil, pepper, molokhia, tomato, mint, dill, eggplant, radish, sage, arugula, pomegranate, thyme, mango, grapes, figs, orange, guava, and luffa.

The Palestinians take a historical pride in the fact that if what is happening to them had happened to another people, they would have been scattered, or they couldn’t survive. It is important to recognize the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the support organizations. They are working to improve food security, sustainable agriculture, and health system.

We should all stand together for an immediate ceasefire, for children, for humanity and for the earth.

A DAY AWAY FROM DAILY TROUBLES

Every year our Israeli Partners Humans Without Borders have brought landlocked vulnerable, sick, disabled West Bank Palestinian children and their families out to enjoy a day away from daily cares. This last summer, there was a group trip to the Murad resort.

Here Amy Yourman Director of Humans Without Borders tells us more:

“On Friday, 23 August 2024, Humans Without Borders held its annual excursion for the Palestinian families from the West Bank. We assist them throughout the year with transportation to access medical care in Jerusalem for their children with serious medical conditions.

We invited families of the children who we have hosted in the past year, including the parents, and siblings up to age 20. This year 266 people participated, representing 44 Palestinian families. This was the largest group we have ever hosted. There were about 170 children participating. Approximately 24 families from the Hebron area, ten from Bethlehem and the surrounding area and another ten from various places in the north, in the area of Ramallah and Nablus.

Since the beginning of the October war in there are now severe travel restrictions in place for Palestinians in the West Bank. They cannot come into Israel other than for medical care and even travel within the West Bank is complicated. It was particularly important that the families be able to enjoy a day off under these circumstances.

The excursion was held this year, as it has been on a number of occasions in the past, at the Murad Resort in Beit Sahur, near Bethlehem. We invited the children and their immediate families and this year there was a record number of participants.

We had buses pick up the families in Hebron, Ramallah and Bethlehem. Upon arrival, the families were greeted by a beautiful buffet breakfast, including salads, breads, falafel, fruit and hot and cold drinks. Afterwards, the children and their fathers enjoyed the spacious outdoor swimming pool, while the mothers enjoyed some respite from the commotion in the indoor spa and pool.

With the swimming and general running around, all were ready for the sumptuous lunch served, which included maklouba (a festive rice), a chicken and vegetable dish, salads, bread, fruit, pastries, coffee and tea. Following the lunch, there was a performance by two clowns, which was greatly enjoyed by all.

We received many notes of appreciation from the children’s parents. They talked of a beautiful and wonderful day and many thanked us for putting smiles on the children’s faces. An eighteen year-old cancer patient wrote to say how much she enjoyed the day spent with friends and family. All were appreciative of the hospitality extended by the Murad family and the efforts we undertook to arrange and fund the day.

Humans Without Borders is greatly appreciative of the annual grant provided by Children of Peace to help finance this undertaking.

OUR COALITION OF PEACE

… is a unique peace network with affiliates on every continent, and especially in Gaza, Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco.

Voices from Israel

Our Israeli correspondent Rolene Marks focuses on the existential threat Israelis face from a multi-front war.

Rolene Marks

Israel is fighting on nine fronts. This is unprecedented. For Israelis, this is not a media story – this is a fight for our survival.

Israelis are used to the sounds of wailing air-raid sirens warning us of incoming projectiles. These could be rockets, ballistic missiles or drones. The ominous droning alerting us to get to safety is a daily occurrence, in some parts of the country a lot more than others.

Sitting in the shelters, crouching in open spaces, hoping desperately for no shrapnel from an interception – or worse a direct impact, we ask ourselves, “where is this from? Is it Hamas? Hezbollah? The Houthis? Who is it this time?” On a daily basis, Israel’s first responders report civilians injured – or killed because of rocket impact or shrapnel. This goes unreported by the global media and there are no condemnations from world leaders, the United Nations or “human rights” organisations.

Since 7 October, Israel has been fighting a war on multiple fronts, following the attack by Hamas. Following Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel where the terror organization murdered over 1200 and took over 250 hostages, Israel launched Operation Swords of Iron with the aim of dismantling Hamas and returning the hostages. As of writing this, 101 hostages remain captive in the tunnels of Gaza. On 8 October, Iranian-proxy Hezbollah started firing thousands of rockets, anti-tank missiles and drones into northern Israel, burning acres of valuable farmland and nature reserves.

To date, over 60 000 Israelis remain evacuated from their homes in the north, many of which destroyed by Hezbollah rockets. In recent months, Israel’s war cabinet made the safe return of northern citizens to their homes another priority and the IDF have pushed into southern Lebanon in order to push Hezbollah north of the Litani River. In 2006, following the second Lebanon war, the UN Security Council agreed on Resolution 1701 which states that not only must Hezbollah be demilitarized, they must remain north of the Litani – a mandate that UNIFIL troops and the international community have failed to enforce.

It is not just the Iranian terror proxies that are attacking Israel. On a near daily basis, terror attacks from the West Bank are attempted. Stabbings, car ramming and shootings are both attempted and carried out by members of terror squads. On 1 October, minutes before Iran rained 200 ballistic missiles on Israeli cities, seven were murdered as they headed to safety on the light rail in Tel Aviv. One victim, a young mother, managed to shield her baby who a passerby took to the nearest hospital.

The Iranian attack of 1 October was the second from their soil into our cities. As Israelis huddled for shelter, the sirens wailed constantly, the booms rocked the sky and the buildings. The first Iranian attack on 13 April used drones as well as ballistic missiles but this one was far bigger – and terrifying.

The damage was marginal, this is a regime that not only terrorizes its own citizens and sponsors terror factions holding both Palestinians and Israelis in their grip – but has repeatedly threatened the annihilation of Israel.

Houthi rebels from Yemen have also entered the fray, firing long range ballistic missiles towards Israeli cities and disrupting shipping lanes in the Red Sea which not only affects the Jewish state, but the global community as well. USA and British forces have been striking Houthi targets in response.

Opportunistic terror groups in Iraq and Syria also launch missiles at Israeli targets.

Israel is fighting a kinetic war on seven fronts but is also fighting on two other fronts. Rampant antisemitism around the world has many Jews around the world feeling that history is repeating itself. We know how this ends if it is not stopped. The war on the Jewish state is also fought in the courtrooms with accusations like “genocide” – despite the evidence and testimony that prove otherwise.

War is horrific – there are countless examples around the world but genocide is an intent and many forget that.

CHILDREN OF PEACE SCHOOL, RAFAH, GAZA

SCHOOL BUILDING, SUMMER 2023

SCHOOL BUILDING, NOVEMBER 2024

Prior to the terrible attack on Israeli communities on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and the relentless ground invasion in Gaza that followed, Children of Peace was planning to help develop a Children of Peace School.

This was for children with special needs in Rafah, Gaza and was founded by our Regional Liaison Ola Shalayel and her husband Dr Mohamed Fougou.

Now, displaced people have been sheltering in the building and we have provided water tanks to ensure they could access fresh water.

Miraculously the school is still standing despite the devastation surrounding it.

There’s recent video evidence, tap or click below…

Rebuilding Lives

The violence against Israelis and Palestinians hurts children in both communities – with an increase in post-traumatic stress, morbidity, nightmares. Children of Peace carries out urgent work with our partners – protecting and supporting children. Please support our work and help the #childrenofconflict.

Photo credit: Lyle Hastie - Unsplash

FOOTNOTES

In her latest news update, Professor Sarah Brown reviews key events in the region.

What does Trump’s victory mean for Israel and Palestine?

Relations between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu cooled after the Israeli Prime Minister accepted Biden’s victory back in 2020. But they share concerns over Iran, particularly since news broke of an alleged assassination attempt against Trump by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to call the President elect following his recent victory.

Trump has also talked with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and is reported to have confirmed his commitment to ending the war in Gaza. Massad Boulos, Trump’s Lebanese-American son-in-law, may have helped foster warmer relations with Abbas.

However, the President elect’s cabinet picks – such as former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee – indicate the continuation of a staunchly pro-Israel foreign policy.

Violence in Amsterdam

On 7 November violence broke out in Amsterdam after a football match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and AFC Ajax. Following inflammatory social media posts, Israeli supporters were targeted deliberately by mobs. Violent physical assaults led to many Israeli fans being seriously injured. Rescue flights had to be organised in order to ensure the Maccabi supporters’ safe return to Israel. Earlier, in the buildup to the match, Israeli fans had also stoked tensions, pulling down Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Arab slogans.

The violent antisemitic attacks were widely condemned, as was the racist behaviour and acts of vandalism committed by Israeli fans. The following week, a delegation of European Imams and Rabbis visited Amsterdam to lay white roses at the Anne Frank House and call for reconciliation and peaceful co-existence.

You can read more here.

 

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant fired

At the beginning of November, President Netanyahu fired his Defence Minister in the wake of several policy disagreements. Netanyahu cited a ‘crisis of trust’ between him and Gallant – the two men had often been at odd over the conduct of the war in Gaza, as Gallant was strongly in favour of securing a deal to release the hostages. The experienced and independent-mind Gallant has much support in Israel. Back in March, widespread protests helped prevent an earlier attempt to sack him.

Gallant also faced opposition over the contentious question of whether ultra-Orthodox Haredi students who choose to study full-time in religious seminaries should be drafted into the IDF. The new Defence Minister, Israel Katz, has not cancelled draft notices issued by Gallant shortly before he was fired.

Photo credits.

Rolene’s article: (Troops) Timon Studler, (Golan) Robert Bye, (Gaza border) Levi Meir Clancy – Unsplash.

Footnotes images from Wikipedia.

Other images were supplied by the subjects.

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