Barakat’s family left their home when Jewish immigrants were settled in Palestine after World War II. This 12-year-old shepherd boy landed at Ellis Island with his family, not speaking a word of English. Four years later, his father died, leaving Barakat to take care of his mother and three sisters.
He has been taking care of the needy every since. Now a retired psychotherapist, Barakat has devoted himself to working with boys in the juvenile justice system, helping them develop trust and relationships through his treatment and rehabilitation program.
He also has deep emotional ties to his native Palestine and is deeply saddened that the U.S. government is facilitating the suffering of Palestinians. “I am appalled at the billions of U.S. tax dollars that have gone to the Israeli government, which continues a 60-year-long occupation of Palestinian homelands. And when I saw all the death and destruction from the invasion of Gaza, I knew I had to do something.” And this is why Yusif joined the Gaza Freedom March in December of 2009.
Departing for Egypt, Barakat and 1,000 other international activists caravanned into Gaza to witness the still remaining devastation of last year’s attacks and on December 31, joined local Palestinians in a non-violent march from Northern Gaza to the Erez/Israeli border. On the Israeli side of the Erez border Palestinians and Israelis called on the Israeli government to open the border.
Other participants included Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker, leading Syrian comedian Duraid Lahham, South African anti-apartheid leader Ronnie Kasrils, French Senator Alima Boumediene–Thiery, author and Filipino Parliament member Walden Bello, former European Parliamentarian Luisa Morgantini from Italy, President of the U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights Attorney Michael Ratner, Japanese former Ambassador to Lebanon Naoto Amaki, French hip-hop artists Ministere des Affaires Populaires. Families of three generations, doctors, lawyers, diplomats, 70 students, an interfaith group that included rabbis, priests and imams, a women’s delegation, a Jewish contingent, a veterans group and Palestinians born overseas who had never seen their families in Gaza.
Excerpt from Yusif’s Report of his visit to Gaza:
The opportunity to return back to the land of my birth came at a moment in my life that sparked a renewed interest in justice for a forgotten people. The plight of the Palestinians is one of the human atrocities that rival the dispossession of the Native American Indians by European Pilgrims, and the holocaust of Jews in Germany.
The GFM (Gaza Freedom March) delegation viewed the horror of the devastation in Gaza resulting from the Israeli invasion and attack on Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, December 2008 to January 2009 and the assaults that have continued since that time. The delegation visited hospitals, agencies, schools, and humanitarian centers. Also they met with families still suffering from devastation and loss. Military action by Israel has had a terrible impact on the economy. People live in misery. Unemployment is skyrocketing. Because Israel refused to admit construction materials, a year after the bombing, Gaza still lays in waste. One GFM delegate said, “There is no way to live through the siege.
The GFM delegation learned about the incredible resilience of Gazans. Though the grip of the occupation and now the added blockade brings misery to the people of Gaza, their spirit is not crushed. Gazans rally together and care for one another. They are convinced that the blockade and the occupation will end, and until that time, they believe their spirit will prevail. Delegates also noted that hope filled signs of art, music, dance, and humor are evident and growing within the Gazan society.
For Yusif’s full report on his trip and updates please visit:
http://www.Yusif.org
Hedy Epstein
Hedy Epstein (née Wachenheimer) was born August 15, 1924 in Freiburg, Germany. She lived with her parents Ella and Hugo Wachenheimer in Kippenheim, Germany. Her family had lived in Germany for many generations. Both sides of the family originally came from Spain.
Hedy’s father operated a dry-goods business with his brother. The business had been started by his grandfather Heinrich Wachenheimer in 1858. Hedy’s mother was a housewife. Hedy was their only child.
Hedy was 8 years old when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany on January 30, 1933. She remembers her parents and other adults talking about Hitler, saying that they hoped he would not gain power in Germany, and then, after he did, hoping that he would not remain in office very long.
On May 18, 1939, Hedy went to England on a children’s transport. Five hundred children were on this transport, part of the almost 10,000 children that England took in between December 1938 and September 1, 1939, the beginning of World War II. Hedy’s parents had tried for many years to leave Germany as a family, but were unsuccessful, due to emigration restrictions in various countries around the world. Finally, after consulting with the 14-year-old Hedy, her parents found a way out for her on the children’s transport.
Hedy never saw her family again. Hedy’s parents and other family members were deported on October 22, 1940 to Camp de Gurs, a concentration camp in what was then Vichy France. France at that time was occupied by the Nazis. Men and women were separated by barbed wire. Living conditions were horrendous. Hedy, however, did not learn of this until after the war.
Hedy came to the United States in May 1948. Her only living relatives were an uncle and an aunt who had emigrated to the US in early 1938. Once here, she worked in a variety of jobs. Although she did not realize it at the time, many of those jobs were part of her quest to find her parents and her family.
Hedy became active professionally and personally in the causes of civil and human rights and social justice. Some of her causes have included fair housing, abortion rights, and antiwar activities. As a peace delegate, Hedy journeyed to Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Cambodia in 1989. Hedy visited the Israeli Occupied West Bank five times since 2003, to witness the facts on the ground. She participated in several non-violent demonstrations, together with Israelis, Palestinians & other internationals, in opposition to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, the 25-foot high cement wall, and the demolition of Palestinian homes and olive orchards.
Hedy began speaking to audiences in 1970. Her topics include her Nazi Holocaust experiences, her work at the Nuremberg Medical Trial, and her five trips to Palestine since 2003. Equally conversant in English and German, she has spoken in the US, Germany, and Austria to audiences of schoolchildren, college students, and adults. In addition, she has appeared on several radio and television shows as a guest. She is a member of the Speakers Bureau of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center.
Hedy has written many articles on social issues. These articles can be found in newspapers and magazines such as the Congressional Record, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Jewish Light, Frost Illustrated of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and others. In addition, Hedy’s autobiography was published in May 1999 by Unrast-Verlag, a German company. The book, titled Erinnern ist nicht genug: Autobiographie von Hedy Epstein (“Remembering Is Not Enough: The Autobiography of Hedy Epstein”), is available in German. The book, written by Hedy, covers her entire life and her experiences. It’s ISBN is 3-928300-86-5.
Edward Jones, in 1979, had the experience of death ending in what he calls self-transformation. In modern terms, it has been suggested that it was a psychological death. But if your ability to walk, talk, or think ends; and you return to consciousness, you will have had an experience of death. You will ultimately see that a psychological death would be experienced in the same manner as a physical death. 
The human race appears to be hurtling towards disaster. If you are troubled by our situation, you may find it worthwhile to investigate the message of Edward Jones. A warning is in order, though. Some readers may be offended by Edward’s plain, hard-hitting language, striking where people are most sensitive—in the ego. However, without putting a crack in the ego, Edward contends that we cannot hear anything that is at odds with the ego’s images and beliefs. 
Yusif Barakat, 74, Psychotherapist/peace activist, was born in Haifa, Palestine and was displaced from his homeland at the age of 12 in August 1947.
Scott Anderson is a Nationally Certified Motorcycle Safety Instructor, Honor graduate of Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, former U.S. MARINE, and member of the motorcycling community for 42 years.
Barbara Kasoff is the President and CEO, and Co-Founder, of Women Impacting Public Policy, Inc., a non-profit, bi-partisan public policy advocacy organization with over half a million members including 49 business organization, educating and advocating on economic issues for women in business. 
Colleen Mills is the president and founding member of the Citizens for Peace, a nonprofit, grassroots group whose “mission is to be responsive community leaders centered on learning, educating and facilitating the practices and principles of non-violence in our world. Citizens for Peace encourage the empowerment of an active citizenry and the passage of the Department of Peace legislation currently before the House of Representatives.” 
