Beit-Sahour Blog

"I am devoted to all people who experience injustice.
That is why I will
come from Holland to play the piano in front of the
army bulldozers in
Bil'in" says the pianist Jacob Allegro, Dutch
Holocaust survivor and a
supporter of the Israeli Gush Shalom movement.

Allegro will participate on September 16 in the weekly
protest against the
"Separation Wall" which cuts off more than half the
lands of Bil'in
Village, so as to facilitate growth of the Modi'in
Illit (Kiryat Sefer)
settlement. The piano of the Israeli actor Yossi
Polak and his wife Tami
already arrived in Bil'in. The village's Popular
Committee Against The Wall
intends to mount it on a small truck which will take
it at noon on the 16th
to the site where army bulldozers tear down the
Bil'in olive groves, and it
will serve as a stage from which Allegro will play
pieces by Chopin,
Schubert and Beethoven.

"Perhaps the army, which has become more and more
aggressive to non-violent
protests at Bil'in, will show some respect towards a
protest concert" says
Beate Zilversmidt, Gush Shalom activist who is
originally from Holland and
had known Allegro for many years.

Jakob Allegro is one of those whose first language is
music.
He was born in Amsterdam under Nazi occupation in
January 1943, to a family
from the city's old Portuguese Jewish Community. In
February of the same
year the Nazi-collaborating police raided the house
and his parents were
deported to Auschwitz. Just before that, however, the
parents had managed
to smuggle their new-born baby out of the house and
into the hands of the
Dutch Resistance, which hid him until the end of the
war and saved his life.

He studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory. In his
twenties he immigrated to
Israel and started his musical career as a horn
player in the Israeli Radio
Philharmonic Orchestra (now Jerusalem Broadcasting
Authority Orchestra).
After several years he went back to Holland, feeling
unease with the way the
Israeli society was developing in a direction of
increasing nationalism and
intolerance.

In the 1970s he graduated as concert-pianist, and
performed in the Amsterdam
Concert Gebouw and in different halls throughout
Holland. Through the years
he got invitations to Austria, France, Spain and
Germany where he regularly
performs in the Zwickau Schumann House. During his
present visit he offers
his music as an act of solidarity with all who suffer
and are in need of
peace and justice.

The Coalition Against The wall, which organizes the
weekly protests at
Bil'in and other villages, includes The Popular
Committees Against the Wall
and the Settlements, Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush, The
Women's Coalition for
Peace, ICAHD (Committee Against House Demolitions) and
Anarchists Against
the Wall.

Jakob Allegro can be reached in Holland at: phone/fax
+31-20-6837006
email: jallegrowegloop@yahoo.com.

During his stay in Israel and Palestine (Sept. 16 to
22) he can be
contacted via Beate Zilversmidt 03-5590321,
054-2098882, or via Adam Keller
03-5565804, 0506-709603.

Documentary film-maker Nir Kenan, who is in the
process of making a film
about Allegro and his family, would make sections of
that film available
to interested media (contact 054-4225837,
n.keinan@bezeqint.net).

For info on anti-Wall demonstrations at Bil'in and
elsewhere, call Yonathan
Pollak 064-6327736, Einat Pdhorni 052-3554815

"I am devoted to all people who experience injustice.
That is why I will
come from Holland to play the piano in front of the
army bulldozers in
Bil'in" says the pianist Jacob Allegro, Dutch
Holocaust survivor and a
supporter of the Israeli Gush Shalom movement.

Allegro will participate on September 16 in the weekly
protest against the
"Separation Wall" which cuts off more than half the
lands of Bil'in
Village, so as to facilitate growth of the Modi'in
Illit (Kiryat Sefer)
settlement. The piano of the Israeli actor Yossi
Polak and his wife Tami
already arrived in Bil'in. The village's Popular
Committee Against The Wall
intends to mount it on a small truck which will take
it at noon on the 16th
to the site where army bulldozers tear down the
Bil'in olive groves, and it
will serve as a stage from which Allegro will play
pieces by Chopin,
Schubert and Beethoven.

"Perhaps the army, which has become more and more
aggressive to non-violent
protests at Bil'in, will show some respect towards a
protest concert" says
Beate Zilversmidt, Gush Shalom activist who is
originally from Holland and
had known Allegro for many years.

Jakob Allegro is one of those whose first language is
music.
He was born in Amsterdam under Nazi occupation in
January 1943, to a family
from the city's old Portuguese Jewish Community. In
February of the same
year the Nazi-collaborating police raided the house
and his parents were
deported to Auschwitz. Just before that, however, the
parents had managed
to smuggle their new-born baby out of the house and
into the hands of the
Dutch Resistance, which hid him until the end of the
war and saved his life.

He studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory. In his
twenties he immigrated to
Israel and started his musical career as a horn
player in the Israeli Radio
Philharmonic Orchestra (now Jerusalem Broadcasting
Authority Orchestra).
After several years he went back to Holland, feeling
unease with the way the
Israeli society was developing in a direction of
increasing nationalism and
intolerance.

In the 1970s he graduated as concert-pianist, and
performed in the Amsterdam
Concert Gebouw and in different halls throughout
Holland. Through the years
he got invitations to Austria, France, Spain and
Germany where he regularly
performs in the Zwickau Schumann House. During his
present visit he offers
his music as an act of solidarity with all who suffer
and are in need of
peace and justice.

The Coalition Against The wall, which organizes the
weekly protests at
Bil'in and other villages, includes The Popular
Committees Against the Wall
and the Settlements, Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush, The
Women's Coalition for
Peace, ICAHD (Committee Against House Demolitions) and
Anarchists Against
the Wall.

Jakob Allegro can be reached in Holland at: phone/fax
+31-20-6837006
email: jallegrowegloop@yahoo.com.

During his stay in Israel and Palestine (Sept. 16 to
22) he can be
contacted via Beate Zilversmidt 03-5590321,
054-2098882, or via Adam Keller
03-5565804, 0506-709603.

Documentary film-maker Nir Kenan, who is in the
process of making a film
about Allegro and his family, would make sections of
that film available
to interested media (contact 054-4225837,
n.keinan@bezeqint.net).

For info on anti-Wall demonstrations at Bil'in and
elsewhere, call Yonathan
Pollak 064-6327736, Einat Pdhorni 052-3554815

On May 15th, 1948, Palestine was drenched in blood and injustice as the Zionist state of "Israel" was
declared officially before the eyes of the world. The rape of Palestine had been a systematic effort by the Zionist
movement since the end of the nineteenth century, undertaken through the use of three complementary means: the force
of violence, the force of money, and the force of international relations, especially with colonial powers like Britain.

But on May 15th, 1948, the 5.6% of the land of Palestine that the Zionists managed to get hold of, over fifty years,
became a foothold from which military operations were waged to control most of the rest of Palestine. In the process,
hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs were forcibly evicted from their land and property, tens of thousands of
Palestinians were killed or wounded, and three thousand and five hundred volunteers from neighboring Arab states died on
Palestinian soil.

Thus the tragedy of the refugees was born.

It is imperative to see then that the refugee problem is the direct result of the occupation of the land of Palestine,
and the declaration of the State of "Israel" on May 15th fifty-seven years ago. Hence, the refugee problem can not be about
the right of return of individual refugees to live under occupation. It is about a people, the Palestinian Arab people, whose
land has been occupied, and whose identity has been denied. The solution of the refugee problem, therefore, cannot be about
obtaining "Israeli" passports or financial compensation, but about removing the cause which created it in the first place,
i.e., the occupation of Palestine. The liberation of Palestine then is the solution of the refugee problem. For one cannot solve
the refugee problem without addressing the context within which it was created in the first place, the context of the
Zionist occupation.

Has that occupation ceased to exist for us to stop worrying about it? Has it ceased to confiscate land,
demolish homes, uproot trees, and to oppress Palestinians? Has it ceased to build settlements and by-pass
roads in the West Bank? Has it ceased to implement plans to transform direct military control of Arab lands
into economic, political, and cultural hegemony in the Arab World at large?

The answers to all the questions above are: no, no, no, and no!

Therefore we can safely say that the Zionist occupation is not old news,
but a current reality, a living breathing monster that is growing larger
every day. We can run from it, but we cannot hide.

On this anniversary of the ongoing rape of Palestine, let's declare
again to the world that we will not forget Palestine. Let's renew our pledge
to future generations that no matter how much time elapses, we will not forget.
And let's renew our vow to work everyday for the liberation of Palestine.

Long Live the people who will never forget their land and identity!

Long Live the activists and the freedom fighters who give up their
personal ambitions and their lives so our cause may live!

Long Live the prisoners of conscience in Zionist jails, and the children
in the slums of the refugee camps, as living symbols of our cause!

Long Live those who remain steadfast, those who do not buckle under
pressure or change with the changing winds.

Long Live Palestine!

Long Live Palestine

 

 

After the meeting on Wednesday Sep.14^th.2005 with all the organization we agreed on following procedures for the selection of the participants.

 

- First we will send an Invitation for the organization to nominate 5 participants and one leader for environment work shop without mentioning the trip to Italy and anything about the project (Salento 2006)

 

- Second we'll start with a workshop titled under the Water in Palestine

· Resources

· Pollution

· Recycle

And another workshop under the name of The Environment in Palestine

 

- Third step is the White selection to have 15-16 persons depends on

· Commitment of the Participants

· Knowledge

· Character

· English Language -Any other language that will support this project will be useful

And then we will continue with the workshops to strength their knowledge about the subject mentioned above.

In this step we will inform the Participants about the Salento project

 

- Fourth step Name selection, in this step we will have the Names that they will be participating on the Salento 2006 project