Dear friends,
While the attention of the world is focused on the USA attack of Iraq, the situation in Palestine is coming to a head. The statement of Sharon on the occasion of the elections of last January, and the approval of the USA, have increased the Israeli efforts of destroying Palestinian villages and cities, having in mind the physical elimination of Arafat and of the PNA and his replacement before the war against Iraq. The recent demolition in the Gaza Strip, with dozens of dead persons, marks the end of any means of dialogue, and it emphasises the attempt of a complete destruction of any residual self-government. Bombing Gaza, that is already destroyed by previous bombardments and cannot start a reconstruction, means that Palestinians are deprived (in an area with a very high population density) of the essential services for their survival, such as water, hospitals and, most of all, a roof under which they can live (in the latest weeks it has been snowing very often). With the passing of time the Israeli-Palestinian question has gained not only in the Middle East and in the Arabian countries, but also all over the world, the symbolic dimension of a paradigm of the new imperialism, of the hatred that radicalises the positions and fosters the integralism, and of the lack of communication. This situation obliges us all to shoulder an individual and collective responsibility towards the resolution of the conflict and towards the beginning of a gradual democratisation, or rather, of the assertion of the universality of human rights, starting from the right of self-determination of peoples and individuals.
In these circumstances the assumption of a GLBT peace initiative in Palestine takes on even greater importance and it invites us all to be even more involved and to shoulder all the needed efforts in order to make it possible that the initiative of June and the setting up of an international GLBT committee against the occupation and all wars (following the example of the women well represented by the world-movement of the “Women in Black”) become real.
The project is evidently very hard, not only for a geographical difficulty, but also and most of all, for the political difficulty that the policies of liberation will encounter in a militarised society which is threatened by the advancing of the fundamentalist organisations.
And yet, the undeniable success of the policy of reconciliation carried on by the women is a positive signal that make us hope.

Explanations on the initiative
All over the last month there have been little progresses and some adhesions to the initiative, that nevertheless have not been formalised yet by the vast majority of the groups involved.
Although some people take for granted the adhesion of all GLBT groups which were present at the ESF in Florence, it would be much better if each group discussed it within itself and declared its availability indicating a referent for the project.

Proposals
T here are several proposals under discussion for the development of the initiative. Some of them depend on the availability of Palestinians (for example the meeting with the representatives of the Palestinians NGO in Ramallah; for this reason Luisa Morgantini has been asked to deal with the human rights organisations. Furthermore a letter has been written to Mustafà Bargouthi, co-ordinator of NGO and in charge of HDIP, but also brother of Marwan, a Palestinian leader arrested last April, asking him an official meeting), some others, from us. We have proposed to take part to the Jerusalem Pride that will take place on 14th June, even if the Jerusalem Open House has launched a financial alarm after the cut of the funds imposed by the new mayor. The Black Loundry have also proposed to take part to the procession of the women (that may take place on 7th June to recall 38 years of occupation) so that the collaboration between women and GLBT is more concrete. Another proposal is an international conference on human rights and on the relationship between sexuality and religion, or anyway a moment of public discussion that can involve the city and the internationals. Then, a closed workshop on homosexuality to which even Palestinian gays and lesbians can take part, given that it is impossible for them to participate in public moments.
At last we have thought about some tours of the Palestinian reality, by organising a coach to Gaza (that drives along all the strip) and another one to Ramallah: two places very different from one another in various aspects, but that can represent very well the Palestinian situation ( I do not think that a tour through the refugee camps of Jenin or Nabulus would be a good idea because they are so much marked by the despair and by the fundamentalism that they could not understand such a complex message in a few hours.
The organisation of the initiatives will depend very much on participation, that is why we need that all of you formalise your interest and make pressure on all the addresses at your disposal.
June is very close, so the effort must be enormous in these last weeks.
Gianni Zardini of the Pink is organising the web site, so if you have any graphic suggestion or any idea about the symbol (or logo, but the term “logo” sounds too commercial J) of the initiative you can get in touch with him.
Any written contribution is welcome.
I am waiting for you to confirm the date 22nd March for the meeting at Mario Mieli (if the war against Iraq will have started and there will be demonstrations against the war, we could postpone the meeting at the evening so that we can take part to the demonstration).

Massimo Mele