AHMAD FAIZAL'S PHOTOGRAPHY

Occupation 101

2009-01-05T23:31:00.003+08:00

From http://www.occupation101.org/ website:

"Synopsis

A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict -- 'Occupation 101' presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions.

The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets.

The film covers a wide range of topics -- which include -- the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880's, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion, the role of the United States Government, the second Intifada of 2000, the separation barrier and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as many heart wrenching testimonials from victims of this tragedy. "

This is the video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2451908450811690589

List of interviewees here at http://www.occupation101.com/interviewees.html

Dr. Albert Aghazarian
Director of Public Relations at Bier Ziet University. He is the most prominent Palestinian Armenian figure -- Headed press centre during Madrid conference.

Ambassador James Akins
Former (1963-1965) Attache at the US Embassy in Baghdad; Former (1973-1975) US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman
Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights - an organization of Israeli rabbis committed to defending the human rights of all people in Israel and in the territories under Israeli control.

Dr. William Baker
Former Professor of Ancient History and Biblical studies. Founder of Christians and Muslims for Peace.

Bishop Allen Bartlett, Jr.
Assisting Bishop (2001-2004) of the Diocese of Washington. The Episcopal Diocese of Washington comprises 93 Episcopal congregations in the District of Columbia and the Maryland counties of Montgomery, Prince George's, Charles and Saint Mary's.

Phyllis Bennis
Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. An author, analyst, and activist on Middle East and UN issues. Helped found and co-chairs the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation.

Peter Boukaert
Director of Emergencies at Human Rights Watch -- the largest human rights organization based in the United States. He has conducted extensive fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in the West Bank (Israeli Occupied Territory).

Sharon Burke
Former Advocacy Director with Amnesty International -- a Nobel Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with over 1.8 million members worldwide. Amnesty International undertakes research and action focused on preventing and ending grave human rights abuses worldwide.

Noam Chomsky
Institute Professor Emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An Author and Analyst of Global Affairs including, US foreign Policy, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Author of "The fateful triangle: the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians."

Father Drew Christiansen
Former director of the Office of International Justice and Peace, United States Catholic Conference (91-98) and served as counselor on international affairs from (98-04). He traveled to the Holy Land numerous times to investigate the on-the-ground reality facing the Palestinian Christian community.

Cindy and Craig Corrie
Parents of late peace activist Rachel Corrie -- who was killed by an Israeli Bulldozer while protesting the destruction of a Palestinian doctor's home. Founders of the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.

Douglas Dicks
Visitor Outreach program director Catholic Relief Services in Jerusalem. His work brings him in direct contact with patriarchs and priests as well as with elected government officials, human rights groups, and prominent members of both Palestinian and Israeli societies

Richard Falk
Served on the United Nations Human Rights Fact-finding Commission (2001) to investigate international law violations and human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza. Author and former Professor of International Law at Princeton University.

Paul Findley
United States Congressman (1961-1983). Founder and Chairman of the Council for the National Interest. Author of "They Dare to Speak Out" and other books.

Thomas Getman
He served as director of World Vision's programs in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (1997-2001). Currently, he is director of humanitarian affairs and international relations -- and is responsible for diplomatic relations with UN government member missions in Geneva.

Neta Golan
Israeli peace activist and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. A peace movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles.

Jeff Halper
Co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and a Professor of Anthropology at Ben Gurion University. He has researched and written extensively on Israeli society and Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.

Amira Hass
Israeli Journalist living and working in the occupied territories, she writes for Ha'aretz -- an Israeli daily newspaper. She is the author of "Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land under Siege."

Doug Hostetter
He worked as an Interfaith Peacebuilder for the Fellowship of Reconciliation and took part in delegations to Israel/Palestine to learn from Palestinian and Israeli peace activists and experience directly the situation of Palestinians living under military occupation.

Kathy Kamphoefner
She worked with the Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron (West Bank) -- which embraces the vision of unarmed intervention waged by committed peacemakers ready to risk injury and death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through nonviolent means.

Adam Keller
Spokesperson of Gush Shalom -- an Israeli Peace Group which has played a leading role in determining the moral and political agenda of the peace forces in Israel, as well as in breaking the so-called "national consensus" based on misinformation.

Hava Keller
Israeli peace activist and founder of Women's Organization for Political Prisoners -- established with the objective of helping female political prisoners who struggle against Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory. She was also a soldier who served during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Rashid Khalidi
Director of the Middle East Institute - School of International and Public Affairs/Columbia University. Author of "Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness" and "British Policy towards Syria and Palestine" -- among other books.

Peretz Kidron
Spokesperson of Yush Gvul -- an Israeli peace group campaigning against the occupation by backing soldiers who refuse duties of a repressive or aggressive nature. He is an Israeli peace activist, freelance journalist, and author of "Refusenik!: Israel's Soldiers of Conscience."

Rabbi Michael Lerner
Rabbi of Beyt Tikkun and editor of TIKKUN magazine -- A Bimonthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture and Society. In 2002, He founded The Tikkun Community which brought hundreds of people to Washington, D.C. to a Teach-In to Congress on Middle East Peace.

Rabbi Rebecca Lillian
The spiritual leader of Temple Beth Or in Miami, FL. She was previously co-chair of the Jewish Peace Forum and, under its auspices, organized Jewish peace delegations to Israel and the West Bank. She is currently on the Rabbinic Cabinet of the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace.

Roger Normand
Roger Normand is co-founder and executive director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights in New York, and has led recent human rights missions to Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel and Palestine.

Allegra Pacheco
She is an American-born Israeli attorney who works on the front lines and defends Palestinians in Israeli courts against house demolitions, land confiscations, torture, and illegal detentions. Her litigation won an Israeli Supreme Court banning certain torture methods in Israel.

Ilan Pappe
An Israeli-born lecturer from Haifa University. Through his life experiences and scholarly research he came to challenge the common historical narrative of his state. He is one of the so called 'New Historians' who in the late 1980s exposed the 1948 ethnic cleansing Israel carried out in Palestine.

Dr. Iyad Sarraj
A prominent Palestinian psychiatrist who has undergone extensive research about the mental health condition of children living and Gaza. He is the director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program.

Yael Stien
Research director of B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group -- established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories.

Gila Svirsky
An Israeli peace campaigner for more than 15 years, lives in Jerusalem. She is a founding member of the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace, a grouping of eight Israeli and Palestinian women's peace organizations.

Ambassador Edward Walker
His diplomatic career includes positions as US Ambassador to Israel (1997-1999), the Arab Republic of Egypt (1994-1997), and the United Arab Emirates (1989-1992). He also served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs under the Clinton administration.

Alison Weir
American freelance journalist who has traveled independently throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She founded If Americans Knew and frequently lectures throughout the United States to misinformed and uninformed citizens on one of the most significant issues affecting them today.

Thanks and salaam

Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land: U.S. Media & the Israel-Palestine Conflict

2009-01-05T23:02:00.005+08:00

Copied from google video web page:

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.

and here is the link http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565

I urged all to watch, think and act after watching this video.
What is happening in Palestine is not just Muslim problems, it is more than just that.

You don't call "to defend Israelis from terrorists, we need to retaliate back" on an occupied land of Palestine!

2008-10-12T08:34:00.002+08:00

First time i was in Kenyir. The weather was good and the cool breeze greeted us. What an great place to be!

Then off to Setiu for boat painting event.

Then a round of anchovies drying in Setiu the next day.

Terengganu...whataplacetobe!

Kelantan International Kite Festival held in June 2008.

2008-09-24T08:46:00.009+08:00

The process of making Malaysia traditional kite. It takes a lot of patience and perseverance to complete one.

...and they flew gracefully up in the sky...

This wau bulan can be as wide as 20-feet and still managed to be flown.

Such art slowly dying.

City of Entertainment

2008-07-11T11:19:00.001+08:00

Genting - City of Entertainment

from Cheras.

Terengganu Indah

2008-07-08T15:37:00.003+08:00

Took these on my way back from Terengganu. Never get tired of these!

SuperGT Round 4 Malaysia

2008-06-25T11:13:00.004+08:00

Used to be known as JapanGT, somehow they changed to SuperGT.

Loads of cars pics, but one pic above summs it all...

Fuel price hike protest

2008-06-18T19:19:00.003+08:00

More here http://www.flickr.com/photos/afaizal/sets/72157605607430021/

Intercontinental Cup U23 - Soccer (Stadium Cheras)

2008-06-10T15:05:00.005+08:00

Okonko Chibuzo Augustine (L) of Nigeria and Leonardo Saaveda of Chile fight for ball. Nigeria won 2-1.

Felipe Seymour (L) of Chile and Okorowanta Bernard of Nigeria. Semifinal Nigeria vs Chile (2-1)

David Elebert (L) of Ireland and Matthew Simon of Australia. Australia won 3-1.

Rest of the pics here http://flickr.com/photos/afaizal/sets/72157605534760971/

Jambu Bongkok, Terengganu II

2008-06-08T00:38:00.007+08:00

"I don't care what people say about me. Kids kept on teasing me. The heck with them. These chicks must be fed. Life has to go on."

Reminds me of a part of Streets of London lyrics by Ralph McTell and Mary Hopkin.

Have you seen the old man, in the closed-down market
kicking up the papers, with his worn-out shoes?
In his eyes you'd see no pride, hand held loosely by his side
yesterday's papers, telling yesterday's news

So how can you tell me, you're lonely
and say for you the sun won't shine?
Let me take you by the hand,
and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something, to make you change your mind

...Dem, been listening to too much 70s songs....haih....

Nikon D200 | 1/80s | f/9.0 | Sigma 10-20 at 10.0mm | ISO160 |
Terengganu, Malaysia

Jambu Bongkok, Terengganu

2008-06-06T18:51:00.004+08:00

Jambu Bongkok, Terengganu again. I'm not sure how many times i have stepped in this place. Such a wonder to be in this area. So many things to shoot and so many things to experience. Each visit is special. And finally I managed to see the legendary Pok Mey Tuli. Such an honour to be finally see him in person. Read it here

Nikon D200 | 1/80s | f/11.0 | Sigma 10-20 at 10.0mm | ISO160 |
Terengganu, Malaysia

Redang Island, Terengganu, Malaysia

2008-06-04T15:32:00.006+08:00

Redang Island, Terengganu, Malaysia

Nikon D200 | Sigma10-20 | ISO100 | f32 | 1/1.6s | -1/3 EV | B+W Slim CPL

Seawater splash - Redang Island, Terengganu, Malaysia

2008-06-04T07:49:00.004+08:00

Redang Island, Terengganu, Malaysia
Nikon D200 | Nikkor 17-35/2.8 | ISO100 | f22 | 1/10s| B+W Slim CPL

my first blog!!

2006-05-25T11:32:00.003+08:00

heh eh heh...
cant believe i'm writing my own blog! hahaha...
don't talk much, so i just let my photos do the talking here http://www.pbase.com/afaizal and here as well at http://www.flickr.com/photos/afaizal

anyway, welcome to my blog!