A.LOEWENSTEIN ONLINE NEWSLETTER

• Return To Gaza documentary
• Iran is allowed to examine its nuclear options
• An anti-war tabloid press would be just lovely
• The Church should embrace all kinds of sex and enjoy it

Return To Gaza documentary Posted: 25 Jul 2010 This is a documentary that is finally finished and soon to be screened in Australia and globally. I was interviewed a number of years ago and remain pleased it’ll see the light of see. The Palestinian story told in the first person: ‘Return To Gaza’ is a personal insight into the Middle East Conflict through the eyes of a Palestinian Australian, born on a refugee camp in Jordan, who wants to return to Gaza with his family. This 53 minute documentary covers the difficult journey of Fetah Sabawi, a successful Melbourne musician whose dreams of peace takes him from Australia to Gaza through Egypt, Israel & the West Bank. With his wife, Ola and their two children, Sabawi plans to move to Gaza to head-up a project, funded by UN, to teach music to children. A new life for a rock star going into a war zone. Sabawi’s amazing journey coincides with the first Palestinian elections since the beginning of Gaza and the West Bank’s occupation and the subsequent election of Hamas. In this film, we discover with our protagonist the Israeli invasion of Gaza and the response from the West. His journey and fate are punctuated by the dramatic events of the Middle East and the involvement of world’s leaders as we see statements from Palestinian President Abbas, US Vice President Biden and US Secretary of State Clinton. Including interviews with the former Ambassador to Egypt, Monzer Eldajani, the elected Hamas member Dr Yusuf al-Shrafi, the acclaimed Australian author Antony Loewenstein and Israeli Peace activists, the film provides a revealing insight into the political minefield of the Palestinian — Israeli conflict and it’s effect on their daily lives amongst the huge walls, check-points and constant military presence. ‘Return to Gaza’ is a poignant story of personal discovery, about a determined westerner and musician facing unbearable issues, with the hope of living in peace one day in his ancestral home in Gaza.

Iran is allowed to examine its nuclear options Posted: 25 Jul 2010 This is how demonised Iran has become in the global media. Tehran announces a small development and tiny outlay ($8 million is change) and it’s lead story in the Jerusalem Post (with its URL under “Iranian Threat”): Iran’s nuclear agency began studies Saturday to build an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, something that has yet to be achieved by any nation. Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who also heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told a conference on the new research program that his agency has set an initial budget of $8 million to conduct “serious” research in the area of nuclear fusion. Asghar Sediqzadeh, the head of the new fusion research center said Iran will take two years to complete these studies and then another decade to design and build a reactor. “The scientific phase of the project effectively began today. We have already hired 50 experts for this purpose,” he told state TV. Iran is not known to have carried out anything but basic fusion research, but does have a nuclear fission program that the US and its allies believe is a front to build weapons which Teheran denies. The United States, the European Union, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea signed an accord in 2006 to build a $12.8 billion experimental fusion reactor at Cadarache, southern France, aimed at revolutionizing global energy use for future generations.

An anti-war tabloid press would be just lovely Posted: 25 Jul 2010 Name more than one leading Western corporate newspaper that actively works against wars and occupation? There aren’t too many and the ones that do should be celebrated.

The Church should embrace all kinds of sex and enjoy it Posted: 24 Jul 2010 Perhaps headline of the week: Catholic church embarrassed by gay priests revelations