pace of peace, POP, the seeds of hope.

hello all.

i's like to bring to your attention an animated film called "pace of peace", made by Israel high school students, arab and jewish, in collaboration with some very fine Italina animators.

the story was conceived by the kids, and i had the pleasure of writing and performing the theme song. gil dor did the prodcution. i asked Rim Banna, palestinian/israeli singer songwriter, to join...and the result is before you.

the film was made a few years ago, and won several prizes. much has happened since, but nothing has really changed, so it remains highly relevant in my eyes...

in troubled times lke these, all i can do to keep sane is spread seeds of hope and pray the winds of good will carry them as far as they can go.

to see the film please go to YOUTUBE and search for "Pace of Peace" . it's the anumated film right on top. i tried to put in alink but something went wrong.

thanks and enjoy.

love

noa

hello all,

here is my ' fim debut', the trailer from a film called "the Golden Pomegranate"!

the film is visually beautiful and historically very interesting. the story of one strong Jewish Yemenite woman's struggle for survival and independence against all odds.

i play a tiny part and i'm basically playing myslef so no need to hold your breath for an oscar any time this century, Penelope can relax, but it's a start! LOL :-) (Almodovar here i come!!)

check it out.
love
noa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AxtshXZddk

as the new year approaches

hello everbody.
The two videos below are really amazing. I got them from different people over time, you may have seen them already, but if you haven’t , this is DEFINALTELY worth the couple of minutes it takes.
It’s a wow. Believe me :-)
As we approach a new year, good to know where we’re headed, or rather, to understand we have NO IDEA where we’re headed!
My conclusion?
“ all we need is love” .
Hope you got lots of it this year and all of those to come.
Hug
achiNOAam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY&feature=fvst

And the last update:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

hunger

hello all,
a few years ago i was chosen to be good will ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. i am very proud to be able to contribute to the important work done by the good people there.
this is a 15 second video i would ask you to watch. and read on, if your heart leads you to....
warmly,
noa
http://www.1billionhungry.org/

and watch this, you must:
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

once again in the name of balance

Dear friends,
The link below is a speech made in the UN human rights council by the president of the ‘UN watch’ group.
I think it is worth your time. Especially interesting the reaction of the chairman at the end. I listened to the speech several times and could not under any circumstances understand why the chairman asked to remove the speech from the protocol….is it not the job of UN watch to criticize UN activity? If there is no such freedom of speech, what legitimacy does this respectable organization have?
I am sending you this under the slogan of ‘there is no black and white’. The slogan so important for us all to remember.
I will also say, for the sake of balance, that I believe Israel should be looking seriously into all the points mentioned in the Goldstone report. I think my country has the responsibility of checking and rechecking it’s actions and it is my duty as a citizen to call for this action to take place, as I have on my blog and every other forum. Our worst enemy is self-righteousness. I want to make it clear that I am not a spokesman for Israeli foreign policy. On the contrary, I am very critical of it.
BUT, at the same time, I will not tolerate the racism, hypocrisy and bigotry against Israel displayed in almost every international forum including, sadly, the UN, as the speaker below summarizes so well.
If you care about forming a balanced, intelligent opinion, I think hope you should take the time to see this. The speech is in English.

Sincerely,
Achinoam (noa)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhWgZu6tcZU

this is the UN watch site, many interesting things here, mostly not about the middle east.

www.unwatch.org

goldstone and a plan for the future

about the goldstone report..

i have not read it all, but i do want to express a general opinion.
if there is to be any criticism of military behaviour, it has to be equally on both sides (of course, if we're talking real fairness, then lets look into every military conflict in human history, shall we? or is it only this one we're interested in, and why? every semi intelligent person should be asking themselves that question).
if anything, both sides should be looking carefully into their methods/actions/policies.
the IDF has done this many times in the past. when fault has been found, proper measures have been taken.
in fact, i as a citizen demand do know what my army is doing. i am the first to criticize them when they go wrong, and that has happened in the past. it infuriates me.
do the palestinians want to know what hamas has done? i hope so. will they be infuriated as i am when atrocius behaviour is uncovered? i sure hope so.
can hamas inspect themselves? will they? and if they do, how credible will it be? what infrastructure do they have to survey them, what 'objective observer'? i would like to know.
war is ugly. and so much of what is going on is ridden with propaganda, prejudice, manipulation and outright lies.

something to watch:


http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=7536409


so what should be done?

recognize, apologize , share

and:

1. israel, stop the building in the settlements
2. all, go back to the negotiating table immediately!!
3. palestine, give up the right of return and swap it for something more feasible (some sort of compensation)
4. draw permanent borders for palestine and israel
5. israel, talk to syria and find the solution there, which is clear cut and has been for years.
6.all arab countries, recognize israel's right to exist and agree to live peacefully with that fact.
7. work out jerusalem. it's not impossible, many good plans have been drawn already
8. commit to an the end of the conflict!!

politicians, get to work. you've wasted too much time and sacrificed too much human life on arrogance, fear, self-righteaousness, and stupid pride. enough!!!

our ordeal in Barcelona

About 3 months ago, Gil Dor and myself recieved an invitation to perform in the ‘Diada’ in Barcelona, the most important celebration in Catalunya, that takes place on their national day, september 11th (it is actually the day they lost their independence and were forced to join the Spanish union). I was asked to sing a song called “el cant del ocells”, the song of the birds. It is an old Catalan song that was resurrected by Pau Casals, the world famous cellist (from Catalunya), who made it into a national symbol of peace and dreams yet to be fulfilled. It is one of the most important and well loved songs in catalunya. The organizers asked me to collaborate on this song with the Arab Orchestra of Barcelona, with whom I happily agreed to join forces. It was also planned that I sing the theme song from ‘life is beautiful’ in Catalan as well. The invitation was a huge honor for us.

A few days before the concert, a group called “Palestinian Solidarity Group” in Barcelona called to Boycott me and my performance, claiming that since I had “justified the bombing of gaza” in my open letter to the Palestinians during the gaza war, I could not sing for peace in Barcelona. The radical left wing party, ICV, who are ironically also in the government and so responsible for inviting me to begin with, joined this group in calling for the cancellation of my concert, a boycott on me personally and on Israel as a whole.

The newspapers were full of this story, it was on the front page everywhere in Spain and especially in Catlunya as the Diada is a hugely important event for them, and I am very famous in Spain. A large internet campaign was launched as well.

Gil Dor and myself decided to fight back, with a major retaliation against this indomitable propaganda. We got prime space in all the newspapers, tv and radio. Our point was, that the situation in the middle east is much too complex to be judged by such childish, simplistic terms. We are people with a long history of peace activity. Condemning Hamas does not mean going against the Palestinian people, the opposite is true. We believed during the Gaza war and still believe the Palestinian population in Gaza are being held hostage by hamas and their fanataic views, who are willing to sacrifice innocent victims on the altar of their death-loving ideology. At the same time, we continue to support Abu Mazen’s strategy of dialogue, co-existence, and a two-state solution. We support dialogue and compromise above all else. Our well known peace plan, “recognize, apologize, share” is the flag we bear proudly (read more details on earlier blog posts, especially 'politics, first step'). The Israeli embassy in Spain, the Spanish foreign ministry (Miguel Moratinos and his staff, who were visiting Israel at the time), our Israeli and Spanish management and promoters all came to our assistance. Mira Awad was also interviewed, and expressed strong support for our cause and our message.

This message came across clearly in all the media, and in Friday morning’s headlines the tide was clearly changing in our favor.

During the concert, there were about 50 people in the front rows form this organization, waving Palestinian flags, blowing whistles, yelling “boycott Israel! Boycott Israel”! they tried as hard as they could to get me off stage, to make me stop singing, to make sure nobody could hear me.
But they failed!
Even though my heart was breaking inside, I decided not to surrender to this ‘violent’ minority and to respect the event and the people of Catalunya who invited me.

I sang the lovely song ‘el cant dels ocells’ with the Arab orchestra, who played beautifully. It must be said to their credit, that despite the fact that they were attacked by the Palestinian organization constantly and urged to cancel their performance with me, they refused, preferring to stand on stage together and convey this message of peace for all to see.

Then I spoke. I read a speech I had written, translated into Catalan. In this speech, I said that I was honored to perform in Catalunya and that I admire how, despite all the dreams they have yet to fulfill (referring to ther dream of independence), they cultivate peace and brotherhood on their lands. We in the middle east, I said, have many dreams too, but our road is a bloody one. we look to the west and take inspiration from a continent that was once drenched in blood and has found somehow a way to live in unity and solidarity. That is our wish too.
Then I said that it is my dream to sing in the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Palestine.

I got a huge standing ovation from the audience, and when I sang “life is beautiful”, there was perfect silence.

you can see the video here, our performance is 27 minutes into the ceremony
http://www.tv3.cat/videos/1483099
the song 'beautiful that way' here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCFugd5WOK0


The next day, the newspapers were full of compliments, saying “victory for Noa, star of Diada”. The media condemned the behavior of the demonstrators, and the ICV radical left party , who initiated the boycott, claimed they had never meant to do it and they were misunderstood …! Now they want to collaborate with us!

It is important to state that this victory was not only ours, it was a victory for Israel, and for all people everywhere who believe peace is not only a dream but can be a reality of we work for it!! In days when Israel’s image is being so ruthlessly and diabolically distorted everywhere, I feel this incident is a real ray of light.