CITIZEN JOURNALISM FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

Crowdfunding???

2007-04-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Here I sit in my apartment in J-Town (Jerusalem). My HD camera's on the desk ready to start shooting Webisode Three. Money makes the world go round....There's a new very cool community-based fundraising tool we're using, check it out here. You might want to adapt it to your projects too. Fund your new tofu shawarma stand!

Webisode 2 - PALESTINE BIKE RACE

2007-04-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

It was quite an amazing day—my friend Daniel, who works for
All for Peace radio (http://www.allforpeace.org) told me about a bike
ride coming up in the West Bank (which in case you don't know, is only
a couple kilometers from much of Jerusalem, on the other side of the
infamous "Wall", visible from many high points in the city).

The goal of the bike ride, sponsored by the East Jerusalem YMCA, was
to see if a large group of bicyclists of all ages could successfully
ride from Ramallah (the de factor capital of the Palestinian state) to
Jericho, a total of about 15 miles. Problem is, there are many
checkpoints between the two cities.

We all met in a large field in Ramallah and took off from there. About
350 people of all ages took part – 80% Palestinian, and the rest
Israelis and foreigners. The Y had rented over 200 bikes. The rest
showed up with their own bikes.

Check out the webisode to see what happened. It was an incredible
group experience. Every trip to the West Bank is a glimpse of life
under military occupation, and of a world that's only a few kilometers
away, but very different from Israeli life.

By the way, the next webisode will definitely focus on an Israeli
subject. I've said before that I (try to) see all sides on the issues
in this very complex area of the world. There are many creative, cool,
open-minded Israelis here - it's just the government (which reminds me
a lot of Bush, Inc., these days) that is hooked on arrogance and
aggression as a solution to all problems.

"Khaled – He Opened the First Holocaust Museum in the Arab World"

2007-02-21T07:09:00.000-08:00

Welcome to HolyLandTV, citizen journalism from the Middle East, direct
and totally independent. Me and my HD videocamera are currently based
in Jerusalem, and HolyLandTV will hunt for unforgettable stories, in a
land of unforgettable stories.

Khaled Mahamid is a Palestinian-Israeli (20% of the citizens of the
state of Israel are Arab) living in Nazareth, about two hours north of
Jerusalem. Khaled told me that, when he was 18, he was studying at
Hebrew University. He asked his (Jewish) tutor to study the Jewish
people during the time of Hitler. "What does an Arab have to do with
the Holocaust?" was the tutor's reaction.

Two years ago, Khaled founded the first Holocaust Museum designed
especially for Arab visitors, "The Arab Institute for Holocaust
Research and Education." The 1-room museum is located in the building
where he has his law office.

Here's Khaled's website: http://www.alkaritha.org/holocaust/modules/news/
If Arabic is your thing, you can post threats (which he's gotten
plenty of, from fundamentalist-leaning Arabs) or compliments—that
Khaled will definitely respond to.

Khaled's got balls—last December, he tried to get invited to the
recent Holocaust Conference in Tehran, Iran. He wanted to debunk the
holocaust deniers, like Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Check out
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3338472,00.html
and
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/789142.html
for details.

By the way, I'm Jewish (check out my Aleph tattoo sometime). I believe
that us Jews should have a secure state of Israel. I've walked past
stores on Jaffa Street here that only hours before were destroyed by a
suicide bomber.

But I also think the Palestinians should have a secure, independent
state of their own too--not just a ghettoized collection of towns
patrolled constantly by Israeli soldiers.

Both sides are right, both sides have blood on their hands. What do
you want me to ask Khaled when I interview him again next week? Is he
on the right track for peace? Or is he just saying the Nakba (the
"disaster" in 1948, when thousands of Palestinians became refugees,
kicked out of their houses by the victorious Israeli soldiers) and the
Jewish Holocaust are equivalent!?