Bayt Fajjar - بيت فجّار: Bayt Fajjar: events and activities in foreign languages

1. ISRAEL Y LOS NIرOS PALESTINOS (2-01-2007)
traductor Mohammad Thawabteh
؟El ejército israelي ha secuestrado a 11 hombres palestinos en invasiones a varias partes de Cisjordania el martes al amanecer. Las fuerzas israelيes invadieron, buscaron y saquearon hogares de los residentes del campo de refugiados de Aida en la ciudad Cisjordana de Belén y de la aldea prَxima de Beit Fajjar.
إسرائيل والأطفال الفلسطينيون
إسرائيل تعتقل احد عشر فلسطينيا أمس الأول بتاريخ 2/1/2007
اعتقل الجيش الإسرائيلي احد عشر فلسطينيا في اقتحام عدد من المناطق الفلسطينية يوم الخميس إذ اقتحمت القوات الإسرائيلية بحثا عن مطلوبين في مخيم عايدة للاجئين في مدينة بيت لحم وكذلك في بيت فجار
2. A New Community Center for Beit Fajjar (July 31 , 2007)
A New Community Center for Beit Fajjar
Under the USAID-Funded Local Democratic Reform Program
Beit Fajjar, West Bank ؟ The mayor of Beit Fajjar, Mr. Omar Takatka, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) West Bank and Gaza Mission Director, Dr. Howard Sumka, laid the cornerstone for a new community center in a ceremony today in Beit Fajjar, a town north of the city of Hebron. USAID will fund the construction under the Local Democratic Reform Program, which is being implemented by the non-governmental organization CHF International
Local residents of Beit Fajjar underscored the importance of the new project, saying it reflected the local community؟s needs and priorities. Dr. Sumka reiterated in his remarks America؟s commitment to the Palestinian people, pointing to USAID؟s work to build the capacity of local councils to effectively and competently serve citizens. ؟The most sustainable projects are identified and then prioritized in a participatory manner between the citizens and their elected local council representatives,؟ Dr. Sumka added. ؟This approach is encouraged under the Local Democratic Reform program.
3.[Source:Jerusalem Post-Jerusalem;Author:Ben Lynfield; Date:Nov 5, 1999;
Start Page:02.B; Section:Features;
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/results.html?QryTxt=Beit%20Fajjar]
Almost half the stones cut in Beit Fajjar are sent to Jewish settlements, which the Palestinian town's residents feel are built on land that belongs to them. Ben Lynfield talked to both sides about their expectations of the future.
For the Palestinian town of Beit Fajjar, which has witnessed Gush Etzion grow over the last three decades, Jewish settlements are at once an enemy and a major market.
A share of the stone currently used to expand West Bank settlements originates among the 130 stone-cutting factories that line Beit Fajjar, which is next to Kibbutz Migdal Oz and close to the Gush Etzion Regional Council.
Rice Confers US ؟Award for Courage؟ on Palestinian Woman
Nibal Thawabteh Recognized with Int؟l Woman of Courage Award
4. [Source: http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=1570]
12/03/2008


U.S. secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, conferred on March 10 an award for courage on a Palestinian woman who advocates for women's rights.

Nibal Thawabteh, the first woman elected to the municipal council of Beit Fajjar, a conservative village near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, was recognized with the International Woman of Courage Award.

Thawabteh addresses issues such as honor killings and polygamy in a magazine she founded and on television, the State Department said in a news release Monday announcing the awardees.

She was among eight women cited by Rice. It is the second year the State Department has given the courage award, which is timed for International Women's Day.
5. [SOURCE: http://www.america.gov/st/hr-english/2008/March/20080310114345ajesrom0.3168146.html]
Trailblazer Opens Doors for Palestinian Women
Nibal Thawabteh demonstrates life is full of possibilities
By Jane Morse
Staff Writer



Washington -- By having the courage to be a trailblazer, Nibal Thawabteh has shown Palestinian women that life has possibilities beyond their limited dreams.

She fought hard to overcome rejection by council members of the very conservative Bethlehem village to run for a seat on the Beit Fajjar Village Council. She appeared on radio and television talk shows, wrote articles in the papers and visited ministries. She felt it was her duty to persevere to avoid ؟closing the door to every Palestinian woman.؟

After a year of intensive campaigning, she won her struggle. She was accepted as a council member by her colleagues and served for seven years.

To make similar achievements easier for other women, Thawabteh developed a training manual and spent more than 200 hours teaching Palestinian women how to campaign for elected office. The effort paid off: Nine women in her town ran for seats on the municipal council in the 2005 elections and three were elected.

Three years ago Thawabteh founded Al Hal (The Situation), a monthly newspaper at the Bir Zeit University Media Institute. She is both editor in chief and a major contributor. Each issue of Al Hal features 15 opinion articles and 30 investigative reports addressing political and social issues, including many topics -- incest, polygamy, honor killings, illegal marriages, lesbianism and the plight of the poor -- that often are hidden from public view in Palestinian society.

In addition, her paper routinely reports on sensitive political subjects, including Israeli settlements and the activities of Hamas, and these reports have triggered threats of physical violence against Thawabteh. Nonetheless, she perseveres, because the investigative reports, which name names and make Palestinian society aware of issues and injustices, generate positive change.

Thawabteh has written a number of television screenplays dealing with local social issues, such as the plight of illiterate women in villages who are tricked into selling their land because they cannot read. She also has written and produced documentaries on topics such as the separation wall (between Israel and the lands controlled by the Palestinian Authority), Palestinian cities and suicide among Palestinian women.

To encourage others to follow her lead, Thawabteh has taught investigative reporting and creative writing at Bir Zeit for five years and soon will be teaching investigative reporting at Bethlehem University.

Like any trailblazer, Thawabteh has had to overcome numerous obstacles and harsh criticism, but her example has given courage to many and advanced the cause and image of Palestinian women.

On March 10 she was honored with the International Women of Courage Award. In its second year, the award is the result of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice؟s desire to recognize women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in promoting women؟s rights and advancement.

Thawabteh was joined by seven other women who received this award at a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State. The other awardees, drawn from Fiji, Kosovo, Somalia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Iraq and Afghanistan, were selected from 93 nominees submitted by U.S. embassies worldwide.

6. [source: http://www.infopal.it/testidet.php?id=7869]
Betlemme - Infopal

Fonti palestinesi hanno riferito che l؟esercito di occupazione israeliana, la notte scorsa, ha arrestato tre cittadini palestinesi residenti a Beit Fajjar, a sud di Betlemme, in Cisgiordania, dopo averli ferito.

Le fonti hanno riferito che le forze speciale dell؟occupazione israeliane, hanno invaso la cittadina e hanno sparato all؟impazzata contro i civili palestinesi ferendone quattro.

E hanno aggiunto che le forze di occupazione hanno arrestato tre dei feriti: Ahmad Abu Yaqub, ferito al fianco in maniera molto grave, Mahmud Thawabteh, e Imad Taqatmah.
E' stato ferito anche il cittadino Mohammad Mahmud Taqatmah, le cui condizioni sono molto gravi.

Le forze di occupazione che hanno circondato la cittadina chiudendo tutti gli ingressi: truppe israeliane scorrazzano per le vie sparando all؟impazzata.
Translated by Dr. MOHAMMAD THAWABTEH
Bethlehem -

Palestinian sources reported , last night, that the Israeli occupation army arrested three Palestinian citizens from Beit Fajjar, to south of Bethlehem, in West Bank, after they have been injured.

The sources reported that Special Isreali Forces entered the small town and shot the youths.

The sources added that the forces arrested three of the injured: Ahmad Abu Yaqub, seriously injured in the hips, Mahmud Thawabteh, and Imad Taqatmah. Mohammad Mahmud Taqatqa has also been seriously injured .

The forces of occupation surrounded the small town closing all the entrances