Palestine Think Tank

Paint the Skies of Occupied Al-Quds Black

By Mary Rizzo • May 13th, 2008 at 10:20 • Category: Children's Corner, Grassroots Activism, Ideas and Projects, Nakba and Right of Return, Palestine, Resistance

Participate in painting the skies of Occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem) with black 21,915 (365 days x 60 years) black balloons

Please read and ask your friends to help. It will be a great show of support for a fighting, oppressed and 60 years suffering people.

Lutuf

Dear Beloved Friends,

Many thanks to our friend, Dr Ahmad Kamal, who passed this info. I'm now

contacting you from Nablus, Palestine. I've just called the phone number

below & talked to Huwayda Arraf, who advised me that they are a group of

young people (like me !!) who had the idea & are enthusiastic to make it

come true. They expect some difficulties, especially in Jeruslaem, but they

are adamant, like all Palestinians (with the exception of the Ramalla gang,

of course!). The idea is great. At least we all can put on BLACK clothes on

the 15th May. I shall do it, please do it & ask your friends to do it. When I go

back to Amman, I'll see if we can at Al-Muntada Al-Arabi or at the

Syndicates' complex fly black balloons, together with wearing clothes.

Wherever you are, please do someting.

Please read the following details &, for more info, you can click on the site below or call the phone number & the lovely voice of Huwayda will answer you. The whole world must know that our right in Palestine shall never be forgotten until the WHOLE of Palestine is restored to its Arab people. Palestine is Arab. Palestine, the whole of it, is OURS!

Love from……………Bassam

Pls forward and donate if u can.

21,915 BLACK BALLOONS OVER JERUSALEM 21,915 black days in Al-Quds

To celebrate 60 years of independence, Israel is planning a large-scale birthday bash with events taking place in many different countries around the world. In Jerusalem, a 3-day conference, under the title "Facing Tomorrow" is planned from May 13 – 15, to which many world leaders, such as U.S. President Bush, and French President Sarkozy, and celebrities such as Barbara Streisand and Steven Spielberg have been invited and plan to attend.

It is wrong to celebrate and we need to do something BIG to make the world, and those gathered to celebrate Israel, see and hear us. We have this idea and we need your help to make it happen! On May 15, we will launch 21,915 (365 days x 60 years) black balloons over the skies of Jerusalem. We aim to turn the skies over Israel's celebrations black to let people know that there is another side of the story, a side of heartache, suffering and dispossession. At the same time, each balloon will carry a letter from a Palestinian child expressing his/her hope for the future, to let the world know that we believe in and dream of justice.

Please help us make this happen by buying a balloon! $1.00 will help us cover the cost of 3 balloons. Please buy 3, 6, or 9 balloons (or more!) and be part of our action. Donation information below.

Other things that you can do:
(1) On May 15, we are asking everyone, wherever he or she is, to wear black. PLEASE WEAR BLACK!

(2) WRITE LETTERS, or help collect letters from Palestinian children. You can email us the letters and we will print them out and attach to the balloons that we will launch;

(3) If you are in Palestine, volunteer to help us inflate and LAUNCH the balloons on May 15;

(4) Wherever you are, consider doing an action in SOLIDARITY with

our action (in addition to whatever else you may be planning). For

example, you can launch your own balloons, fly black kites, march with

black banners, etc.

To donate to the cost of the balloons, you can:

Use paypal: Donate online at www.60yearsofnakba.org or at www.paypal.com and list the beneficiary as balloons@60yearsofnakba.org

Make a bank transfer:

HSBC Bank — Ramallah

Account name: Palestinian Strategic Initiative

Acct No: 011-026630-087

Swift Code: BBMEPS22

Contact Number: +970-599-130-426

Tagged as: black balloons, Jerusalem, paint the skies of al quds black, Palestine, solidarity

Mary Rizzo is an art restorer, translator and writer living in Italy. Editor and co-founder of Palestine Think Tank, co-founder of Tlaxcala translations collective. Her personal blog is Peacepalestine.
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