Educated, Activist Women Amira and Deena

Amira founded Al Mirsat (The Anchor) in 2011, operating out of her house. It is a center for boys and girls ages 14-18 who are directionless and/or potential school drop outs. She goes to local schools and recuits about 20 kids each September.

To support their return to school and develop their enthusiasm for leaning, Amira got them to adopt a prominent building in the Old City and do research on it. She introduced them to libraries and got them using photography and sketching to document their findings.

Amira graduated from American University in Beirut, Lebanon as a Political Science major. Then became a History teacher, then got her masters in Education. She comes from a well-known family with a long history of involvement in the culture and development of Palestine.

Deena's family also has a proud history. Her childhood home is now a large museum. Both women are in their 60's and are very active in their communities, looking for ways to serve the less privileged and support victims of Israel's aggressions.

We talked about ISIS. Amira and Deena believe that the U.S. created ISIS to destabilize the Middle East. They said that Edward Snowden has written about this - which I didn't know and must look into.

It counts for something that these educated activist women give Hamas credit for standing up to the fourth largest army in the world when Israel attacked Gaza last summer. They think the unity government between Hamas and Fateh may hold up this time. Fateh seems to have the upper hand, but has implied that they will allow Hamas to be a shadow government. The ceasefire agreement with Israel must open the borders of Gaza and allow for unrestricted access to the West Bank, or Hamas will have failed. Amira is most angry with Egypt for not opening the border with Gaza.

My friends informed us that the Israeli Defense Minister just pronounced that there will never be a Palestinian State; there will be a demilitarized entity with limited self-rule. As for one state or two states, Deena said there is already "de-facto" one state, and reminded us that the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization, founded in 1965 to resist the State of Israel), always called for "one democratic state." Absent either two states or a democratic state, disaffected Israelis are emigrating to Germany and the U.S., "and we'll be left with the Zionists and ISIS." She added, "You can't make sense of a situation that doesn't make sense."