Save the Date: Join MECA at our 10th Annual Holiday Bazaar

If you will not be in the Bay Area, you can still get many of these items through MECA's online store!

Beautiful Palestinian Hand-Crafted Gifts Bazaar
Saturday and Sunday, December 1 & 2 Only — 10  AM - 5PM
at MECA Office, 1101 Eighth Street, Berkeley (near Gilman and San Pablo with lots of parking)

Come shop at this popular annual sale of beautifully crafted items from across the Middle East:  
First Cold Press Extra-Virgin Olive Oil from the West Bank, Pure Olive Oil Soap, Beautiful Scarves & Shawls (new styles!), Traditional Palestinian Embroidery, Hand-blown Glassware from Hebron, Colorful Hand woven rugs, Painted Ceramics from Jerusalem & Gaza, Cookbooks, Children’s books, Calendars, Honey, Jewelry, Children’s clothing, Dolls from Gaza, Palestinian Dead Sea products, food items and much more!

This is a great opportunity to buy something quite special -- and also support cooperative unions and crafts people living under Israeli Occupation.

Bring your friends! Grab a bite of delicious Arabic food and coffee.

Thank you from Joining Hands and the Middle East Children’s Alliance.
For info: meca@mecaforpeace.org, 510-548-0542

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News & Opinions

May 16, 2013
Infographic Marks 65 Years of Nakba

May 15th marks the 65th anniversary of the Nakba - when 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from the territory that became Israel. In 1948, more than 50% of the entire Palestinian population was ethnically cleansed. In commemoration of the Nakba, and the displacement that continues today, Visualizing Palestine released 'An Ongoing Displacement'. The new visual quantitatively catalogues the multiple dimensions of Palestinian displacement and loss of land.

May 8, 2013
Renowned Scientist Stephen Hawking Joins Academic Boycott of Israel

Confirmed reports reveal that treatment of Palestinians, not health concerns, are behind decision to forgo presidential conference

Apr 17, 2013
The Intentional Under-Exposure of UNICEF Report on Children in Israeli Detention

UNICEF's self-censorship prevents them for honestly advocating for the rights of Palestinian children. 

Apr 17, 2013
Israel subjects Palestinian minors to solitary confinement

Since January 2013, Israeli authorities have held at least seven Palestinian youths, ages 16 to 17, in solitary confinement for periods ranging from 2 to 21 days, according to DCI-Palestine research.

Apr 13, 2013
The politics of water: Palestinians bracing for another dry summer

On average, West Bank Palestinians have access to about 70 liters of water a day per person; inside the Green Line, communities use about 300 liters per person.

Apr 10, 2013
Report Uncovers 'Water-Apartheid' in the Occupied West Bank

Study of Israel's discriminatory practices links water grab to settlement expansions in occupied Palestinian territory

Apr 3, 2013
‘The soldiers answered his screams with laughter and then shot more bullets’

Omsiyat used to love drawing landscapes, but today she only draws scenes of death and destruction. “I can see no beauty around me and I am no good at drawing anything but warplanes, tanks, and funerals. I used to love drawing landscapes. All I drew in my paintings were flowers, butterflies, and trees. Now, when I intend to draw a flower, I automatically draw a tank, a tent, or a destroyed house.”

Mar 30, 2013
Aged eight, wearing a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt, and placed in Israeli custody

Eight-year-old Ahmed Abu Rimaileh was not the youngest of the children, schoolbags on their backs, that Israel Defense Forces soldiers took into custody early on Wednesday, last week: His friend, Abdel Rahim, who was arrested with him, is only 7, and in first grade.

Mar 28, 2013
Fleeing Syria - The Refugee Children of Shatila, Beirut

Shatila is a refugee camp in Beirut which has been receiving hundreds upon hundreds of Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria. Kulsoom Rizvi writes of her recent visit there.

Mar 27, 2013
VIDEO: Syrian Palestinian Refugee Children in Beirut, Lebanon

Cousins Maya, Marwa, and Maya are recent refugees from the war in Syria. They are Palestinian and grew up in a camp in Syria but have fled to another Palestinian camp, Shatila, in Beirut. Here they tell us how different life in the camps is and how Shatila lives up to its reputation of having 'horrible living conditions' according to the UN. They now live as 'double-refugees' in Lebanon. They are 11-13 years old.