Monday, 26 December 2011
'The Wall of Hate' - why we should care
Monday, 19 December 2011
Palestinian Christians speak out
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Is Palestine the last muse?
We've had the Last Prophet (pboh), the Last Poets and now... Is Palestine the "last muse"? If you follow the careers of several high-profile artists and musicians since they got hit by the middle east meatball you may well see it that way.Here are two for a start:
Joe Fallisi, popular Italian tenor, is more well-known in some international circles as the hyper-active Palestine blogger and activist; Gilad Atzmon, hard-working saxophonist, composer and author, dances across the crossover points between music, cultural history and entertainment, with his proseletysing always buried deep in the sound, although he always has plenty to say on the subject given half a chance.
It happens. Anyone who goes to see Palestine for themselves is almost bound to return knowing they must act. Artists are in the business of making noise, and making their work into life. So you will hear about it.
Picture: Joe Fallisi - from the diaphram
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Miri Weingarten on the Negev Bedouin
As the exchange of prisoners between Zionists and Palestinians hits headlines over the world, heavy discrimination against non-Jewish Israelis continues, notably among the Bedouin of the Negev. Miri Weingarten reports:
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Return to 1967 borders denies Palestinians land rights
Since the return to pre-2967 borders in Palestine was first mooted, it has at best looked like begging the question of the shape and size of the country, and at worst something cooked up by Zionists. It is certain that the Palestinians could ask for more. Ramallah-based Diana Alzeer has recorded her viewpoint on this, explaining that an agreed return to such borders would deny many Palestinians the right of return to their homes.'Why I'm not accepting Palestinian statehood' tells it like it is.
Photo: one family currently living in Sheikh Jarrah
On the other hand, this cartoon by Majed Badra puts the case for the state so eloquently there is little need for more words.
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Time for Rafah Crossing to be open permanently
People power has opened Rafah crossing before. (photo: Wissam Nassar / MaanImages )
The wolf is more merciful than my brothers - Mahmoud Darwish
Writing about the Rafah crossing, after the spectacular success of the Egyptian revolution in ousting Hosni Mubarak, brings back the horrific memory of the deposed dictator’s regime. There were high expectations amongst the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza earlier this year after former Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi described the Mubarak government’s complicity with Israel in besieging Gaza as “disgraceful.”
This was followed on 29 May by an official announcement by the Egyptian government that the Rafah crossing would be permanently opened. Palestinians with passports would be allowed to cross into Egypt every day from 9am to 5pm, except for Fridays and holidays. Palestinian women and children would be able to leave Gaza without restrictions, while men between the ages of 18 and 40 would have to obtain visas to enter Egypt. Despite these conditions, and even though the free flow of goods and materials would not be allowed, Palestinians in Gaza welcomed this move.
This decision, however, was implemented for only two days. It was retracted without any formal announcement and the number now allowed to leave Gaza each day has been reduced to 300. No reason has been given for this change.
Ordinary people in Gaza remain the victims of this political about-turn with their right to freedom of movement curtailed yet again, with no indication of when they can expect to travel freely.
No justification for closure
International law is sometimes cited selectively, even by some Palestine solidarity activists, to justify the closure of the Rafah crossing. They argue that Gaza is not an independent state and that since the internationally recognized, Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority signed the 2005 Rafah Agreement on Movement and Access, only that entity has the right to oversee movement through the crossing on the Palestinian side.
Even Israel’s mainstream liberal media is lecturing the Palestinians of Gaza on what is best for them. The Israeli journalist Amira Hass is another critic of calls to open the Rafah crossing, locating herself in opposition to prominent international signatories to the International Campaign to Open the Rafah Crossing, such as South Africans Desmond Tutu and Ronnie Kasrils as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Territories, Richard Falk. World-renowned writers Alaa Al Aswani, Ahdaf Soueif, Tariq Ali, Radwa Ashour, Mike Marqusee and Benjamin Zephania – to mention but a few – and major international solidarity groups and trade unions have also backed the call to open Rafah.
Hass’s argument is that the call to open the crossing permanently and unconditionally is “another self-described militant initiative that is a double-edged sword” because it is not combined with the demand for freedom of movement between Gaza and the West Bank — as if the opening of the crossing necessitates the closure of all other crossings between Gaza and Israel.
Confusing tactic with strategy allows Hass to ignore the simple fact that these six crossings are totally controlled by trigger-happy Israeli soldiers. For her, “the apparently progressive and militant initiative” to open the Rafah crossing turns the cutoff of Gaza from the West Bank into an “unchallenged reality.”
To a supporter of the two-state solution, this conclusion is of course valid. To not be able to see the immense amount of suffering caused by the closure of the crossing, and ignoring that Palestinians in Gaza currently have no other exit, boggles the mind.
Most importantly, Hass seems to even ignore the fact that the call to open the crossing permanently and unconditionally was issued by Gaza-based civil society and grassroots organizations. Meanwhile, Egyptian revolutionaries and grassroots organizations supported the call as soon as it was issued.
Rereading international law
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that:
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own,
and to return to his country.
International law is not against the opening of the Rafah crossing, and even if it was, it would be up to us, ordinary people, civil society and grassroots organizations, to create a new reality on the ground.
But international law is very clear that in cases of emergency, such as during the siege and massacres in Gaza, neighbouring countries, such as Egypt, should open their borders. Bosnia is a good recent example where neighbouring European countries heeded calls to open their borders for Bosnians in accordance with international law. One can go further and say that any government official imposing, or helping, in the imposition of this deadly siege on Gaza should be tried for war crimes. This question should be addressed to the present Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil el-Arabi, as an expert on international law, and because his statements on Egypt’s relations with Israel gave unfulfilled hope to the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
The reality is that Israel, both before and after 2005, is the only power that decides when to open the crossing and how to interpret international law, making sure that its own interests and that of the US and the West in general are secured.
International law and agreements can be used, and defended, as a framework for struggle where Palestinian rights are guaranteed and protected (such as UN Resolution 194, which calls for the Palestinian refugees’ right of return) and if such use supports resistance and national liberation. My understanding is that international law should serve freedom, equality and human rights.
The restriction of Palestinian movement at the Rafah crossing is, however, a political decision since the Palestinian national unity government, which survived for a short period of time in 2007, representing almost all Palestinian political organizations, indicated to both Egypt and the Quartet (the US, European Union, Russia and the UN) that it accepts the 2005 Rafah crossing principles. This Palestinian endorsement of the principles was never accepted by the Egyptian regime or the Quartet, resulting in the current stalemate that has led directly to the deaths of more than 650 Palestinians in Gaza who were unable to access needed medical treatment.
It is worth nothing that prior to 1967, under an Egyptian administration, the Gaza Strip had no controlled borders with Egypt, and Gazans were able to drive through the Sinai up to the Suez Canal without being stopped at all. That freedom of movement was never used as a pretext to deprive Palestinians in Gaza of the right to struggle to return to the villages and towns from which they had been ethnically cleansed. Gaza was still considered part of historic Palestine. The same principle applies today regarding calls to open Rafah; to open Rafah doesn’t mean the acceptance of the rest of Israel’s closure regime.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own,
and to return to his country.
International law is not against the opening of the Rafah crossing, and even if it was, it would be up to us, ordinary people, civil society and grassroots organizations, to create a new reality on the ground.
But international law is very clear that in cases of emergency, such as during the siege and massacres in Gaza, neighbouring countries, such as Egypt, should open their borders. Bosnia is a good recent example where neighbouring European countries heeded calls to open their borders for Bosnians in accordance with international law. One can go further and say that any government official imposing, or helping, in the imposition of this deadly siege on Gaza should be tried for war crimes. This question should be addressed to the present Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil el-Arabi, as an expert on international law, and because his statements on Egypt’s relations with Israel gave unfulfilled hope to the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
The reality is that Israel, both before and after 2005, is the only power that decides when to open the crossing and how to interpret international law, making sure that its own interests and that of the US and the West in general are secured.
International law and agreements can be used, and defended, as a framework for struggle where Palestinian rights are guaranteed and protected (such as UN Resolution 194, which calls for the Palestinian refugees’ right of return) and if such use supports resistance and national liberation. My understanding is that international law should serve freedom, equality and human rights.
The restriction of Palestinian movement at the Rafah crossing is, however, a political decision since the Palestinian national unity government, which survived for a short period of time in 2007, representing almost all Palestinian political organizations, indicated to both Egypt and the Quartet (the US, European Union, Russia and the UN) that it accepts the 2005 Rafah crossing principles. This Palestinian endorsement of the principles was never accepted by the Egyptian regime or the Quartet, resulting in the current stalemate that has led directly to the deaths of more than 650 Palestinians in Gaza who were unable to access needed medical treatment.
It is worth nothing that prior to 1967, under an Egyptian administration, the Gaza Strip had no controlled borders with Egypt, and Gazans were able to drive through the Sinai up to the Suez Canal without being stopped at all. That freedom of movement was never used as a pretext to deprive Palestinians in Gaza of the right to struggle to return to the villages and towns from which they had been ethnically cleansed. Gaza was still considered part of historic Palestine. The same principle applies today regarding calls to open Rafah; to open Rafah doesn’t mean the acceptance of the rest of Israel’s closure regime.
Ignoring colonization
The problem with the mainstream (mis)interpretation of international law is that it transforms the whole Palestine question into a decontextualized, postmodern language game. The international law referred to is viewed as ahistorical and takes into consideration the interpretation of the powerful party, Israel. This discourse ignores that Israel has colonized not only the land, but also history and the discourse that represents it. As historian Ilan Pappe says in a different context, Israel has employed its powerful apparatus to propagate its official narrative.
We Palestinians are engaged in a national liberation struggle and the context in Gaza, especially during and after the massacre, requires a complete paradigm shift in our understanding of the tools of struggle and the political program that is to be used. It is the time of people power as evidenced on the streets of Cairo, Damascus, Sana’a, Manama and Tunis. The people of Egypt with the Palestinians of Gaza can open the crossing permanently and unconditionally, regardless of what Israel and its backers in the White House and 10 Downing Street think. Their man in Sharm El-Sheikh is behind bars, thanks to the sacrifices and courage of ordinary people like Khaled Said and Ahmed al-Shahat and the men, women and children of Gaza who managed to tear down the cement walls on the Palestinian-Egyptian borders twice.
There are lessons to learn from Gaza 2009. We have lost faith in the so-called international community that claims to uphold international law, as their representatives such as the UN, EU and the Arab League by and large have remained silent in the face of atrocities committed by apartheid Israel. They are therefore on the side of Israel.
So what if Israel declares Gaza a “hostile entity?” The message from officials citing international law to justify the closure of the crossing, and some misinformed activists and journalists, is a mechanical interpretation of the law that does not take human lives into account.
The closing of the Palestinians of Gaza’s only exit to the outside world amounts to a crime against humanity, given the Israeli siege and ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Egypt has a moral and political obligation to open the Rafah crossing permanently and around the clock. Egypt cannot continue to support opportunistic interpretations of international law that justify the ongoing deprivation of medicine, milk, food and other essentials to the population of Gaza.
The sanctity of human lives should take precedence over borders and treaties and solidarity activists need to take the lead in making this point to the Egyptian and other governments.
Under the Geneva Conventions, Palestinians, like all other people, are entitled to freedom of movement and protection from such as the arbitrary closure of the crossing.
No misinterpretation of international law can override Palestinians’ right to free movement in and out of Egypt just because they are also at the same time engaged in a struggle against Israeli occupation, colonization and apartheid.
First published in Electronic Intifada
Haidar Eid is an independent political commentator from the Gaza Strip, Palestine.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Majed Badra on video
Gaza, the strip torn from the patchwork of Palestine, continues to make waves in inverse proportion to its size. Here is a new TV report on Majed Badra, Gazan political cartoonist:
Friday, 19 August 2011
Gaza: further bombardments, disabled child killed
On Tuesday evening, 16 August 2011, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed a Palestinian child from al-Nussairat refugee camp, who was 400 metres from the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. The victim's family told a PCHR field worker that their child had a mental disability. The victim was in an area that had not been explicitly declared as prohibited.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 18:00 on Tuesday, 16 August 2011, Israeli soldiers stationed at the border northeast of Deir al-Balah opened fire at a Palestinian, who was nearly 400 meters from the border. As a result, he was wounded by 10 bullets in his head and chest. He was left wounded without being offered any first aid. After coordination was made with IOF, at approximately 19:20, medical crews were able to retrieve the body, which was then transferred to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. After four hours later, the child was identified as Sa'd Abdul Rahim Mahmoud al-Majdalwai, 17, from al-Nussairat refugee camp. He was hit by 10 live bullets mostly to the head. In his testimony to PCHR, the victim's father said that his son had been suffering from a mental disability and a speech impairment.
The Israeli radio reported that IOF observed a person approaching the security fence, and shot him. This version of events confirms that IOF could have arrested or used less than lethal force against him, especially as he was wearing civilian clothes and there was nothing to indicate that he was a non-civilian.
It should be noted that on Tuesday morning, the Gaza Strip witnessed several shooting and shelling attacks on civilian areas and military training sites. As a result of this shelling and shooting, a Palestinian resistance man was killed and two others were seriously wounded in Gaza City. A child and another person were wounded in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
PCHR condemns and expresses concerned over this crime, and:
1. Asserts that these crimes are part of a series of war crimes committed by IOF in the oPt, which reflect total disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians.
2. Calls upon the international community to take immediate action in order to put an end to such crimes. PCHR further renews its demand for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligation under Article 1, which stipulates "the High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances," as well as their obligations under Article 146 which requires that the Contracting Parties prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and under Protocol I Additional to Geneva Conventions.
Originally published by Palestinian Center for Human Rights
picture: Israeli troops in Gaza
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
'Settlers' invade al-Aqsa Mosque
Tension is running high in the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem after Jewish colonists stormed and roamed the plazas of the holy site at the early morning hours on Monday. Report by Voice of Palestine
The Aqsa guards said that Israeli occupation police escorted the groups of colonists who were roaming the mosque in provocative tours.
Jewish settlers storm the Aqsa Mosque
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Palestine - ancient but the newest nation yet?
Over 120 countries have endorsed Palestine's right to be recognised by the UN as a legitimate nation, with key countries such as the USA abstaining. Much of Europe is yet to join the group too. here is a PETITION you can sign to push this forward.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
DrDavid Halpin: new interview - 'Blair is a psychopath'
Laura Emmett talks to leading UK anti-war activist Dr David Halpin. He describes Israel as the de-stabilising eement in the Middle East, repeats the assertion that David Kelly was killed and his accusation that Tony Blair is a psychopath and a war criminal. When America got its oblique hold on Palestine, the ancient country must have looked like the major prize in the nascent US empire, but there can be no doubt that, to mix a metaphor, the tail is wagging the dog.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
New Flotilla under threat (Updated)
Kathy Kelly, vcnv.org
Coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Kelly just wrote the piece “Staying Human: Preparing to Sail to Gaza,” which states: “Last week, newly-arrived in Athens as part of the U.S. Boat to Gaza project, our team of activists gathered for nonviolence training. We are here to sail to Gaza, in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, in our ship, ‘The Audacity of Hope.’ Our team, and nine other ships’ crews from countries around the world, want Israel to end its lethal blockade of Gaza by letting our crews through to shore to meet with Gazans. The U.S. ship will bring over 3,000 letters of support to a population suffering its fifth continuous decade of de facto occupation, now in the form of a military blockade controlling Gaza’s sea and sky, punctuated by frequent deadly military incursions, that has starved Gaza’s economy and people to the exact level of cruelty considered acceptable to the domestic population of our own United States, Israel’s staunchest ally. …
“Israel Defense Forces are reportedly training for a fierce assault intended to ‘secure’ each boat in the flotilla, the ‘Freedom Flotilla 2.’ As passengers specifically on the U.S. boat, we may be spared the most violent responses, although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has not ruled out such violent responses and has preemptively certified any response we may ‘provoke’ (in sailing from international waters to a coastline that is not part of Israel) is an expression of Israel’s ‘right to defend themselves.’ Israel says it is prepared for a number of scenarios, ranging ‘from no violence’ (which it knows full well to expect) to “extreme violence.” We are preparing ourselves not to panic, and to practice disciplined nonviolence whatever scenario Israel decides to enact.”
AMJAD SHAWA, pngo at palnet.com
Coordinator of PNGO, the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network, Shawa said today: “We had a demonstration of several hundred people in front of the UN headquarters here, civil society groups in Gaza calling for the protection of the flotilla and action for an immediate end of the siege and suffering of people in Gaza.”
update 2nd July: click here to help the boats sail!
Picture: One previous Gaza sailing - the Jewish Boat To Gaza
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Soldiers order Palestinian farmers to stop work
28 June
NABLUS (Ma'an News Agency) -- Israeli forces on Monday stopped Palestinian farmers working on their land in villages in the northern West Bank, a local agricultural committee reports.
Farmers were working in Jurish and Aqraba villages as part of a land reclamation project but soldiers said the farmland had been confiscated and now belonged to Israel, committee coordinator Yousif Deiriyya said.While active,members of the forces stole a backhoe.
The committee for the union of agricultural workers said Friday that Israeli forces stole a vehicle from farmers and ordered them to stop work in the same area.
Land reclamation projects aim to improve the source of income for families which rely on agriculture and also serve to protect vulnerable land from Israeli confiscation.
The project is carried out by the committee for the union of agricultural workers in partnership with Palestinian non-governmental organizations under the management of agricultural relief committees. It is funded by the Dutch government.
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Zionist rebuilding destroys economy and tourism in Jerusalem
The Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights has declared a "disaster" in the Old City's commercial and tourism sectors after Israel used hefty taxes and other pressures to shut down 250 shops in the past few years. JCSER director Ziyad al-Hammouri expected the situation to worsen as the campaign to Judaize the Old City thrives. "What is taking place is designed to promote the presence of Jewish settlements inside the city walls and the entire area surrounding the Old City, especially in Silwan, Ras al-Amud, and Sheikh Jarrah, which are neighbourhoods geographically connected to the Old City. There is also a plan to erect shopping centres and hotels in the area similar to those built near the Gate of Al-Khalil," Hammouri added.
Jerusalem On Tuesday 31st May, Mayor Nir Barakat on said the municipality would continue to build Jewish-only housing in the occupied city. he told Israel Radio that all construction plans would be completed regardless of "political issues."
Monday, 18 April 2011
Passover - living history
As children, we were told at school about the festival of Passover, and it sank in as a fairly benign kind of celebration, for all that it evokes a dark event in Jewish mythology. Simply because the uninitiated were bowing to the ‘wrong’ god and hadn’t heard about the magic trick of eating unleavened bread, they were killed off by the dark angel. But it was in The Bible, so to our unworldly primary-school lady teachers it was ‘good’. Anyway, it was all past history, and just celebrating it must be harmless.Harmless no doubt, for most Jews in the world, but like the Battle of the Boyne in Belfast and Glasgow, it is living history in Palestine. The army of occupation announced a "general closure" of the West Bank during the Passover holiday, which began on Sunday 17th April (Palestinian Prisoners’ Day) at 11:50 p.m. and continues for ten days.
The closure will affect Palestinians with work permits, barring them from access to Israel and Jerusalem until 11:50 p.m. on 26 April.
A perfectly incoherent statement from military authorities said the decision came "In accordance with the directives of the Minister of Defence and as part of the situation assessments adopted by the defence establishment."
A hearing was held in the Israeli Central Court on Sunday: a young man and 3 children from Silwan were arrested on charges of throwing a bottle at Israeli troops during clashes in the previous week. Palestinian residents of Silwan speculate that Israeli forces’ recent campaign of arrests in the village may be part of an attempt to establish a “quiet atmosphere” in the lead-up to Passover, thus allowing Jewish ‘settlers’ and visitors to Silwan a “trouble-free” festive period.
http://silwanic.net/?p=14913
Exceptions to the closure might include those in need of medical attention, humanitarian aid or exceptional assistance and Christian Palestinians "holding the relevant permits," for Easter holiday celebrations - although this is the official statement and not a binding guarantee. For instance, Egypt's Rafah crossing will be opened on Monday only for Gaza residents registered as pilgrims on the Ummrah pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Speaking on behalf of Palestinian Christians, the Kairos Palestine group called for unfettered access to holy sites and an overhaul of Israel's permit system, which the group called an "obvious violation of the [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights], Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international covenants and treaties to which Israel is a signatory."
Officials said on radio that there were warnings of possible soldier abductions, following a Hamas call on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, to capture soldiers in order to ensure the release of Palestinian political prisoners. Israeli officials announced heightened “security” measures around Jerusalem. Israel's police department told the radio station that extra officers would be deployed around areas where Christian pilgrims (with permits) might gather for the upcoming Easter holiday.
A member of a Silwan family stated that “an overwhelming number of Silwan’s youth have been seized and their detention extended recently. We take this as a precautionary tactic employed by Israeli authorities in the lead-up to their holiday of Passover. We, meanwhile, must suffer the closure of roads, acts of provocation and the arrest of our children – throughout every Jewish holiday.”
Photo: Greek Orthodox Priests wait for the arrival of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of
Jerusalem Theophilos III, outside the Church of the Nativity.
[MaanImages/Luay Sababa]
Monday, 11 April 2011
Drones over Gaza
It is no secret that the citizens of the Gaza district have been walled in and kept alive only to be used as guinea pigs for the Israeli arms industry. The Guardian got reporters into the Strip, and they came out with hard evidence of the role that Israeli-manufactured armed drones played in the attack of 2009. The UK was already known as being guilty of involvement in Cast Lead, as Raytheon, the company that makes the electronics inside the F16s which continue to bomb the Gazans, has its offices in Bristol. But further than that: the European Union, through the European Research Programme, has been subsidising the Israeli arms industry as part of the current EU / Israeli Association Agreement. Under this, Israel is entitled to the same funding for research as are EU member states.
In return, Israel sells its weapons back to EU countries, having tested them on the Strip. One EU subsidy was specifically given for the development of these drones, despite their use being (at the moment) illegal in Europe: Open Architecture for UAV-based Surveillance Systems (OPARUS) received an EU subsidy of E11.88m for the development of drones such as the armed Herons, manufactured by Israeli Aerospace Industries, which were used in Operation Cast Lead.
The arms industry is now Israel's biggest export - just as with Britain - and so both states can only profit from war. And any tendency by our politicians to prefer bombing or the supply of weapons over diplomacy - as in Libya, for instance - must be viewed with suspicion.
Israeli airstrike turns Gaza family's life into torment
GAZA, April 9 -- Ibrahim Qdieh, a 52-year-old resident of the southern Gaza village of Abassan, never knew that a few minutes' absence from home would rescue him from a possible death but left him gulping the pain of losing wife and daughter for the rest of his life. His wife and daughter were killed in an Israeli air raid on their home, a 90-square-metre house built on a farm in the village in the east of Khan Younis city ... When the air raid took place on Friday afternoon, Qdieh and some family members were praying in a mosque, while his wife stayed at home, about to wash the children's school uniforms for the school day right after the weekend ..."...as soon as I reached the house, I saw the horrible and awful crime, smears of blood and remnants all over the place. I wasn't able to believe my eyes to see my daughter Nidal, who was preparing for her wedding next week and my wife are dead." An Israeli reconnaissance drone fired one missile, directly hitting the house. The missile took the lives of Nidal and her mother, and injured four others in the family.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Bad news - good news
Israeli incursions into the Palestine “Occupied Territories”; March 2011 Palestine in March was like most other months in the past 60-odd years. In the 31 days of the month there were:
29 air strikes by Israel (F16 fighter planes, Apaches Helicopter Gunships)
137 land-based armed attacks (tanks, armoured vehicles, troops)
539 other raids and house invasions (weapons present not used);
327 night/early morning disturbances (low-flying aircraft, vehicle-borne loudspeakers); and
7 curfews - all in occupied territories. As a consequence
24 Palestinians were killed,
170 were seriously injured,
55 others were beaten,
247 were taken prisoner,
532 detained for up to 24 hours and
2,467 had their movements restricted at road-blocks and arbitrary checks.
In addition, of course, tens of thousands had their lives made a misery by the continual harassment inflicted by the Israeli army and illegal settlers. To give a complete picture: there were Palestinian attacks on 14 days in March - missiles were fired towards the Green Line. There were no reports of injury. To illustrate the life of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, here are three examples taken at random: - on the 1st March at 13:10pm, Occupation troops cut down about 25 olive trees on land near the village of Al Fureidis, in so doing taking away the farmer's livelihood - on 16th March a fanatic from the colony of Maskiot held up Palestinian children on a road near the village of Al Malih, stole their horse and tied it to his vehicle, which he then used to drag the animal along the road until it died, and - on the 22nd at 9.00am a 12-year-old boy, Shadi Fayez Omar, was admitted to hospital with severe injuries following a beating by a group of Israeli soldiers near the village of Al Jib Despite this, our politicians give their tacit support to Israel. They refuse to allow open debate about Israel's breaches of International Law - and even its own skewed laws, they allow British exports used directly in furthering the Occupation, and are promoting changes to prevent citizens initiating legal action against Israeli war criminals; while in Europe there are moves to give even more preferential treatment to Israeli exports, despite Brussels lobbying by activists in March.
list compiled by Laura Stuart
At the same time, global activism continues to build. From America, here's a perfect condemnation of the Israeli apartheid system, and its source below: Jewish Voice for Peace co-coordinator Bryan James Gordon stated: “The U.S. and Israeli governments should realize that walls and guns do not stop peaceful, hardworking people from seeking a future, and they do not make national economies any stronger, fairer or more independent. They only cause violence, and trick one exploited class into fearing and attacking another exploited class instead of the elites that are exploiting them both.” http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/arizona-wall-5959
29 air strikes by Israel (F16 fighter planes, Apaches Helicopter Gunships)
137 land-based armed attacks (tanks, armoured vehicles, troops)
539 other raids and house invasions (weapons present not used);
327 night/early morning disturbances (low-flying aircraft, vehicle-borne loudspeakers); and
7 curfews - all in occupied territories. As a consequence
24 Palestinians were killed,
170 were seriously injured,
55 others were beaten,
247 were taken prisoner,
532 detained for up to 24 hours and
2,467 had their movements restricted at road-blocks and arbitrary checks.
In addition, of course, tens of thousands had their lives made a misery by the continual harassment inflicted by the Israeli army and illegal settlers. To give a complete picture: there were Palestinian attacks on 14 days in March - missiles were fired towards the Green Line. There were no reports of injury. To illustrate the life of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, here are three examples taken at random: - on the 1st March at 13:10pm, Occupation troops cut down about 25 olive trees on land near the village of Al Fureidis, in so doing taking away the farmer's livelihood - on 16th March a fanatic from the colony of Maskiot held up Palestinian children on a road near the village of Al Malih, stole their horse and tied it to his vehicle, which he then used to drag the animal along the road until it died, and - on the 22nd at 9.00am a 12-year-old boy, Shadi Fayez Omar, was admitted to hospital with severe injuries following a beating by a group of Israeli soldiers near the village of Al Jib Despite this, our politicians give their tacit support to Israel. They refuse to allow open debate about Israel's breaches of International Law - and even its own skewed laws, they allow British exports used directly in furthering the Occupation, and are promoting changes to prevent citizens initiating legal action against Israeli war criminals; while in Europe there are moves to give even more preferential treatment to Israeli exports, despite Brussels lobbying by activists in March.
list compiled by Laura Stuart
At the same time, global activism continues to build. From America, here's a perfect condemnation of the Israeli apartheid system, and its source below: Jewish Voice for Peace co-coordinator Bryan James Gordon stated: “The U.S. and Israeli governments should realize that walls and guns do not stop peaceful, hardworking people from seeking a future, and they do not make national economies any stronger, fairer or more independent. They only cause violence, and trick one exploited class into fearing and attacking another exploited class instead of the elites that are exploiting them both.” http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/arizona-wall-5959
Land Day was marked all over the world by flash mobs and boycott incursions of varying sizes:
http://youtu.be/ZabFuP7EH3sTuesday, 5 April 2011
Samouni family from Gaza on Goldstone's U Turn
Monday, 4 April 2011
Goldstone turns, dispossessions continue: SNAFU
As Gilad Atzmon said, ‘Every so often, the Jewish state exercises a genocidal act.’ But the rest of the time, so regular that it doesn’t hit the radar as News, the demolitions and dispossessions continue:
Ayed Kastero, a Palestinian living in Al-Qarmi area in the Old City of Jerusalem, has faced since 1987 great pressures from the Israelis to force him to leave his 600 year old house. He was fined several times by Israeli courts where they imposed heavy fines on him for reasons such as claiming that his house obscures the sun from a Jewish family living nearby. In addition, the courts conducted a ‘search’ on his monthly income and threatened to seize his restaurant and sell its contents in an auction if he does not show up at court. The court also refused to allow him to renew his travel papers and his driving licence in addition to moving the ownership of the building from his father’s to his name to make it easy for them to seize and confiscate the three storey building. Meanwhile, the Israeli municipal court prevented him from living in the upper floor of the building claiming that it was not licensed. This story is repeated all over the West Bank and especially in Jerusalem. All this while Richard Goldstone has been busy denying his unwitting part in adding to Israel’s opprobrium just by producing that Report which did no more than list the truth in a dispassionate, disinterested manner. Now he has succumbed to great pressure and apparently cares only for readmittance to the tribe.
Ayed Kastero, a Palestinian living in Al-Qarmi area in the Old City of Jerusalem, has faced since 1987 great pressures from the Israelis to force him to leave his 600 year old house. He was fined several times by Israeli courts where they imposed heavy fines on him for reasons such as claiming that his house obscures the sun from a Jewish family living nearby. In addition, the courts conducted a ‘search’ on his monthly income and threatened to seize his restaurant and sell its contents in an auction if he does not show up at court. The court also refused to allow him to renew his travel papers and his driving licence in addition to moving the ownership of the building from his father’s to his name to make it easy for them to seize and confiscate the three storey building. Meanwhile, the Israeli municipal court prevented him from living in the upper floor of the building claiming that it was not licensed. This story is repeated all over the West Bank and especially in Jerusalem. All this while Richard Goldstone has been busy denying his unwitting part in adding to Israel’s opprobrium just by producing that Report which did no more than list the truth in a dispassionate, disinterested manner. Now he has succumbed to great pressure and apparently cares only for readmittance to the tribe.
Read Ilan Pappe: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11895.shtml and Gilad Atzmon: http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/gilad-atzmon-goldstones-u-turn-1.html
Friday, 1 April 2011
Off-shore gas from Gaza?
After years of talk about the possibility of there being off-shore oil or gas access near Gaza, Israel has given up its pretence of imprisoning the Gazans because they are criminals. Why are they criminals? Because they shoot rockets. Why do they shoot rockets? Because they are imprisoned, starved to the edge of death but no further, because their use is as guinea pigs for Israel's arms industry. Yisrael Katz, Israeli transport minister, has announced that an artificial island is to be built off the shore of Gaza. This would enable the Israelis to extract gas, as it now believed to be, in safety, while continuing to use the mainland for its experimental bombing raids. In a typical piece of Newspeak, a spokesman (according to the Observer) for the ministry of transport said the main aim was to improve the quality of life for Palestinians in Gaza while ensuring Israel's security. Netanyahu is said to approve of the proposal. You bet he does.
The Israeli scam is that the island will be to replace the airport they destroyed by bombing and will be to take the place of a sea-worthy dock. Although they have not considered building a port instead, which would obviously be a lot more cost-effective and practical.
They also claim that the island would encourage tourism in the area.
Mr Katz does admit that there is something in this for the Regime: it would relieve Israel of the obligation to be the transit point for goods into Gaza. Another way to relieve Israel of this obligation would be to open Gaza, to pull down all the walls, but we can't have that. Where would that leave the arms industry? And if one set of walls comes down, who knows where it might lead?
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
"Settlement" building quadrupled in 2010
As Palestinians commemorate Land Day, the anniversary of the uprising against Israel's land confiscation, a report from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics released a report showing Israel's settlement project is rapidly escalating. Thirty-five years on from the uprising, in which six young protesters were killed by Israeli forces, Palestinians constitute almost half of the population of the Palestine under the British Mandate, but have access to less than 15 percent of the land, the PCBS report said. Israel's separation Wall has confiscated around 733 square kilometres of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, the report notes. Israel says the wall was built to prevent attacks, but its route runs deep inside the West Bank, often as far as 22 kilometres, according to UN reports, and it often serves only to separate Palestinians from other Palestinians or from their lands. Land between the wall and the Green Line has been used for illegal Israeli 'settlements' and military bases. PCBS found that in 2010, Israel built 6,794 Jewish-only housing units on occupied Palestinian land, four times more than in 2009. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, it is illegal for an occupying power to transfer its population into territory it occupies. In September 2010, President Mahmoud Abbas refused to continue peace negotiations while Israel continued to build on land which would be a Palestinian state in a peace agreement. Despite pleas from across the international community -- including the US, EU, UN and Russia -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a curb on illegal building, and the so-called peace talks collapsed. Although US President Barack Obama says Israeli settlement building is an "obstacle to peace", his administration recently vetoed a UN resolution condemning settlement construction. After the vote, US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said "we reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity." "Continued settlement activity violates Israel’s international commitments, devastates trust between the parties, and threatens the prospects for peace." However, Rice said the resolution risked encouraging the parties to stay out of negotiations. Historically, more Jewish-only housing has been built on occupied Palestinian land during 'peace negotiations' than in any other time. All this activity has been accompanied by a veritable orgy of demolitions, from single lean-to extensions to whole villages. At 7:00 am on the morning of March 29th 2011 the Israeli military demolished the village of Amniyr , destroying seven tent dwellings and confiscating the remains. This is the second time in just over a month that the Israeli army has demolished the village. One resident was injured by a blow to his head by the butt of a gun, and four required treatment for inhalation of teargas used by the soldiers. Israel does not deny that the demolished homes are on private land owned by the village’s Palestinian residents. Immediately after the demolitions were finished, villagers began to reconstruct what they could out of the rubble. As residents started gathering stones from a demolished sheep pen, the sounds of an Israeli bulldozer could be heard across the valley as it continued to excavate new construction for the illegal Israeli 'settlement' of Susiya.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myt23xhMEMk
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/03/17253/ Photo: Maan News
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Erasing Palestine from Lifta
Palestine Monitor
19 March 2011
The Israel Land Administration (ILA) has put a plan in place which would see land in the village of Lifta, a former Palestinian village situated on the north-west edge of Jerusalem sold to private developers. A plan which would see Palestinian history completely stripped from the village.
The ILA plan calls for amongst other things, the building of 212 housing units exclusively for Jews, a luxury hotel, a shopping mall and a museum. In objection to these building plans, a large petition has been signed by various activists, NGOs and descendents of Lifta and submitted by Attorney Sami Arshid. As a result of this petition a temporary injunction was issued by Judge Yigal Marzel on the 7th of March ordering the ILA to freeze publication of results for tender which would see plots of land sold off to these private developers.
Over 500 Arab villages were depopulated or demolished during the 1948 war by the ruthless colonial Zionist forces. Lifta is an exception in this respect as it is ‘The only village which remains as it was before 1948,’ Daphna Golan asserts, a Professor of Law at the Hebrew University and organiser of the petition to save Lifta. Whilst on the surface the plan is sold as a rejuvenation project bringing life to an otherwise ‘abandoned’ village, Golan is adamant that it is primarily a political venture. ‘It is a building plan geared towards erasing the past,’ she asserts. In other words, serving to continue the process of judaization of the land, a policy which aims to eradicate Palestinian history, memory and presence.
Most of the original buildings and houses still remain somewhat intact in Lifta, a village which dates back to biblical times. For Yacoub Odeh, a former Lifta resident, a human rights activist and a central figure in the Save Lifta campaign, this is bitter sweet. He speaks of his memories of living in Lifta with great fondness. It is tainted however with the reality that he no longer has any right to live in the village from which he was forcefully removed by the pre-state Zionist terrorist gangs working under the auspices of the Zionist movement. ‘I remember the bakery where I went with my mother to eat bread with olive oil and zatar, it was delicious…I will never forgive those who stole our history and our memory,’ he says.
Lifta was one of the first villages occupied before the 1948 war and the creation of the Israeli state. Its proximity to Jerusalem meant that it was of great strategic importance to the Zionist movement; Yacoub explain, ‘Whoever controlled Lifta controlled Jerusalem.’ In refutation of Zionist claims that depict the pre-state Zionist movement as a heroic, pioneering enterprise, Yacoub describes how the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of Lifta were evicted from their homes through the use of brutal, racist tactics. ‘They bombed the homes of twenty people…but the Jews were allowed to stay.’ The terrorising of the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of the village ‘achieved the Zionist goal of ethnic cleansing,’ Yacoub continued. After 1967, Jewish immigrants were moved into the houses of those who had been forcefully removed. It is the descendents of these families who remain the sole inhabitants of Lifta today.
The ILA plan to redevelop the village of Lifta is symbolic for the reason that it nullifies the possibility of the Palestinian refugees who once lived there of ever returning to their homes. For Yacoub, this is the greatest injustice. The Israeli Law of return grants Jews from around the world the possibility to ‘return’ to their ‘homeland’ and gain citizenship. The original inhabitants of Lifta are, however, not awarded with this option, ‘I was evicted from my house 63 years ago and I don’t have the right to return,’ Yacoub said.
Successive Israeli governments have to date managed to maintain an unstable status quo whereby all the so-called ‘final status’ issues have been left up in the air. Yacoub asserts that the right of return is prerequisite for peace, ‘Without the right of return, there will be more killing and more blood.’
Further evidence that the ILA plans are aimed at seizing the identity and completing the Judaization process of the last remaining Palestinian village can be seen in the details. There are plans to build a museum which Yacoub asserts will showcase a purely Jewish recollection of the history of Lifta, ‘Surely it will not mention the Palestinian people; they see with one eye only.’
Furthermore, the cemetery where many former Palestinian residents of Lifta have been buried has been designated as public land in the plan, thus creating the possibility that it may in the future be removed for the purposes of further building.
The village of Lifta is significant for the reason that it reminds us of a time when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived harmoniously on the land. In this sense, Golan asserts that ‘It should be used as a place where Jews and Arabs can meet to acknowledge their shared history.’ If the ILA plans are approved, it will therefore be removing a powerful symbol of reconciliation. More ominously, the ILA plans which are portrayed as being devoid of any political significance are in fact a painful reminder that the colonial Zionist enterprise is still thriving.
19 March 2011
by Sophie O’Brien
The Israel Land Administration (ILA) has put a plan in place which would see land in the village of Lifta, a former Palestinian village situated on the north-west edge of Jerusalem sold to private developers. A plan which would see Palestinian history completely stripped from the village.
The village of Lifta today.
The ILA plan calls for amongst other things, the building of 212 housing units exclusively for Jews, a luxury hotel, a shopping mall and a museum. In objection to these building plans, a large petition has been signed by various activists, NGOs and descendents of Lifta and submitted by Attorney Sami Arshid. As a result of this petition a temporary injunction was issued by Judge Yigal Marzel on the 7th of March ordering the ILA to freeze publication of results for tender which would see plots of land sold off to these private developers.
Over 500 Arab villages were depopulated or demolished during the 1948 war by the ruthless colonial Zionist forces. Lifta is an exception in this respect as it is ‘The only village which remains as it was before 1948,’ Daphna Golan asserts, a Professor of Law at the Hebrew University and organiser of the petition to save Lifta. Whilst on the surface the plan is sold as a rejuvenation project bringing life to an otherwise ‘abandoned’ village, Golan is adamant that it is primarily a political venture. ‘It is a building plan geared towards erasing the past,’ she asserts. In other words, serving to continue the process of judaization of the land, a policy which aims to eradicate Palestinian history, memory and presence.
Most of the original buildings and houses still remain somewhat intact in Lifta, a village which dates back to biblical times. For Yacoub Odeh, a former Lifta resident, a human rights activist and a central figure in the Save Lifta campaign, this is bitter sweet. He speaks of his memories of living in Lifta with great fondness. It is tainted however with the reality that he no longer has any right to live in the village from which he was forcefully removed by the pre-state Zionist terrorist gangs working under the auspices of the Zionist movement. ‘I remember the bakery where I went with my mother to eat bread with olive oil and zatar, it was delicious…I will never forgive those who stole our history and our memory,’ he says.
Lifta was one of the first villages occupied before the 1948 war and the creation of the Israeli state. Its proximity to Jerusalem meant that it was of great strategic importance to the Zionist movement; Yacoub explain, ‘Whoever controlled Lifta controlled Jerusalem.’ In refutation of Zionist claims that depict the pre-state Zionist movement as a heroic, pioneering enterprise, Yacoub describes how the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of Lifta were evicted from their homes through the use of brutal, racist tactics. ‘They bombed the homes of twenty people…but the Jews were allowed to stay.’ The terrorising of the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of the village ‘achieved the Zionist goal of ethnic cleansing,’ Yacoub continued. After 1967, Jewish immigrants were moved into the houses of those who had been forcefully removed. It is the descendents of these families who remain the sole inhabitants of Lifta today.
The ILA plan to redevelop the village of Lifta is symbolic for the reason that it nullifies the possibility of the Palestinian refugees who once lived there of ever returning to their homes. For Yacoub, this is the greatest injustice. The Israeli Law of return grants Jews from around the world the possibility to ‘return’ to their ‘homeland’ and gain citizenship. The original inhabitants of Lifta are, however, not awarded with this option, ‘I was evicted from my house 63 years ago and I don’t have the right to return,’ Yacoub said.
Successive Israeli governments have to date managed to maintain an unstable status quo whereby all the so-called ‘final status’ issues have been left up in the air. Yacoub asserts that the right of return is prerequisite for peace, ‘Without the right of return, there will be more killing and more blood.’
Further evidence that the ILA plans are aimed at seizing the identity and completing the Judaization process of the last remaining Palestinian village can be seen in the details. There are plans to build a museum which Yacoub asserts will showcase a purely Jewish recollection of the history of Lifta, ‘Surely it will not mention the Palestinian people; they see with one eye only.’
Furthermore, the cemetery where many former Palestinian residents of Lifta have been buried has been designated as public land in the plan, thus creating the possibility that it may in the future be removed for the purposes of further building.
The village of Lifta is significant for the reason that it reminds us of a time when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived harmoniously on the land. In this sense, Golan asserts that ‘It should be used as a place where Jews and Arabs can meet to acknowledge their shared history.’ If the ILA plans are approved, it will therefore be removing a powerful symbol of reconciliation. More ominously, the ILA plans which are portrayed as being devoid of any political significance are in fact a painful reminder that the colonial Zionist enterprise is still thriving.
There is now broad recognition that the preservation of a site should reflect its importance for communities which have an interest in it, and that these communities should take part in the planning and conservation process. Conserving the unique values of Lifta must be done with full cooperation of its past and present inhabitants.
A real dialogue and genuine participation of the Palestinian Lifta residents in planning the future of the village will most likely serve as a model path for searching together for a joint life of peace, reconciliation and justice, recognizing the pain and acknowledging the pain and the mutual responsibility for the situation. However, this unique opportunity will be missed if the construction plans for Lifta are realized and its heritage is erased.
In light of this the Civic Coalition for Saving Lifta calls for an immediate halt to the marketing process of Lifta, and demands that the required surveys of the site are undertaken in a comprehensive manner and that a thorough public discussion is held in cooperation with experts in the field.
You can sign the online petition here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/lifta/
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Restricted in al-Walaja
09.03.11
By Melanie van der Voort, PNN
By Melanie van der Voort, PNN
Many years ago the grandfather of Abed owned 6 dunams of land in al-Walaja, south of Bethlehem. Now Abed (55) owns it. Since the occupation however, Abed is restricted to go to his land. To protect it, he decided to live in the 4,000 year old Can’ani cave, which is part of the land.
Abed is restricted in a lot of ways. His family constructed the main road from Bethlehem to the land. "Now the Israeli army blocked the main entrance of the road and made it only accessible for Israeli citizens," explains Abed. "Although I have a Jerusalem ID, they won’t let me through a lot of times.''
For every piece of property on his land, Abed has a court case [pending]: the eco toilet, kitchen (which is basically only an oven), compost, chicken house. He is not allowed to build anything on his land.
Even the 4,000 year old Can’ani cave has a court case. It's around 4 square metres, only a small bed, sofa and fire place can fit inside. Even a door for the cave to protect Abed from the cold is not allowed.
"One time I made a door and when I was gone people destroyed it," he says. Whether it was done by settlers or the army, Abed doesn’t know.
Abed has all the documents that proof he is the owner of the land: Turkish, Jordanian and Palestinian papers. He even has the ID card of his grandfather.
"I will never sell a piece of land," he says. "It has happened that businessmen came and wanted to buy some land in order to build a petrol station or a wedding hall. But I will never sell a piece of land."
Water and electricity are cut. But he has found alternative solutions for that. A generator was donated by internationals and a nearby monastery is willing to let Abed fill up water tanks.
Desperately seeking help, Abed wrote a letter to president Obama to invite him for a cup of coffee. The letter was published in newspapers and send through the embassy. No answer reached Abed.
Like Abed, in this region many farmers suffer from the occupation. Some are not able to go to their land because it was split up by the wall or a settler's road. Others find their land destroyed over and over by settlers or the army.
Every day, Abed feels the pressure of his land's imminent destruction. In order to protect it, he decided to live in the cave. He can only try to visit his wife and 8 children in Bethlehem's Dheisheh refugee camp once a week.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Dave and the Pirates
David Cameron gave a strong message of support for Israel this week, telling 1100 guests at a dinner given by the Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity, that after “more than 100 rockets had been fired into Israel from Gaza in one year”, the country had been "within its rights to search vessels bringing cargo into Gaza".
It was a reversal of his remarks in Turkey last July following the attack on the Mavi Marmara Flotilla, when he described Israel's action as "completely unacceptable." He is a career politician, and if you do not like his principles, he has others.
He lightly skipped over the fact that the people of Gaza are imprisoned and are daily bombed and shot at, with nowhere to run, warning that "some people try to judge the Israeli government by a higher code than they would apply to their own government."
Referring to his own Jewish ancestry - his great-great-grandfather, Emile Levita, was a German Jewish banker - the prime minister finished by conflating Judaism and Israel, adding weight to the anti-semitic/antiZionist mess and unequivocally turning his back on Palestine: "With me you have a Prime Minister whose belief in Israel is indestructible. I will always be a strong defender of the Jewish people, an advocate of the state of Israel, and I will never rest while the Jewish community in Britain is under threat." He did not specify which Jewish community he was so determined to be vigilant about; neither did he mention what the 'threat' might consist of.
Full story : The Jewish Chronicle -
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/46012/cameron-israel-within-its-rights-search-gaza-ships
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Pete Seeger joins BDS against Israel
Pete Seeger endorses BDS, shuns Jewish National Fund
By +972 staff, +972 Magazine
Legendary folklorist, singer, songwriter and long time political activist Pete Seeger has officially announced his support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, a press release by the Israel Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD) said [on the 28th February].
According to the press release, Seeger, 91, took part in a virtual rally sponsored by the Arava Institute in the Negev last November, despite requests from BDS groups not to participate. In January, he met with representatives of the BDS movement at his home, who elaborated on the relations between the Jewish National Fund and the Institute. After the meeting, Seeger said he now endorses the BDS approach.
Seeger’s decision appears to be at least partly linked by the actions of the Jewish National Fund in the “unrecognized” village of Al Araqib. The JNF insists on planting a new forest on the village site, despite the fact the project causes state authorities to evacuate and destroy the village time after time – 14 times and counting.
“I appeared on that virtual rally because for many years I’ve felt that people should talk with people they disagree with,” Seeger is quoted as having told the activists. ”But it ended up looking like I supported the Jewish National Fund. I misunderstood the leaders of the Arava Institute because I didn’t realize to what degree the Jewish National Fund was supporting Arava. Now that I know more, I support the BDS movement as much as I can.”
ICAHD coordinator Jeff Halper is quoted in the press release as saying that “Pete did extensive research on this. He read historical and current material and spoke to neighbours, friends, and three rabbis before making his decision to support the boycott movement against Israel.”
By +972 staff, +972 Magazine
Legendary folklorist, singer, songwriter and long time political activist Pete Seeger has officially announced his support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, a press release by the Israel Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD) said [on the 28th February].
According to the press release, Seeger, 91, took part in a virtual rally sponsored by the Arava Institute in the Negev last November, despite requests from BDS groups not to participate. In January, he met with representatives of the BDS movement at his home, who elaborated on the relations between the Jewish National Fund and the Institute. After the meeting, Seeger said he now endorses the BDS approach.
Seeger’s decision appears to be at least partly linked by the actions of the Jewish National Fund in the “unrecognized” village of Al Araqib. The JNF insists on planting a new forest on the village site, despite the fact the project causes state authorities to evacuate and destroy the village time after time – 14 times and counting.
“I appeared on that virtual rally because for many years I’ve felt that people should talk with people they disagree with,” Seeger is quoted as having told the activists. ”But it ended up looking like I supported the Jewish National Fund. I misunderstood the leaders of the Arava Institute because I didn’t realize to what degree the Jewish National Fund was supporting Arava. Now that I know more, I support the BDS movement as much as I can.”
ICAHD coordinator Jeff Halper is quoted in the press release as saying that “Pete did extensive research on this. He read historical and current material and spoke to neighbours, friends, and three rabbis before making his decision to support the boycott movement against Israel.”
Photo by Anthony Pepitone
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Samouni family, Gaza
Ken O'Keefe, our man in Gaza, reports back on the family two years after the mass-murder by the Israeli military:
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Gaza: shades of Calvinism
Harriet Sherwood of The Guardian Newspaper has just reported (24th February) on Hamas’ continuing freezing of social life in Gaza. Their basic premise is that if it feels good, it can't be right. This latest manifestation of their ‘purification’ effort is typically unyielding: a Mr Hatem Ghoul found a police message at the hairdresser’s where he works - his presence was requested at the local station.
He was called into a room where another detainee happened to be chained to a wall by his wrists, and told to sign a pledge that he would cease cutting women’s hair or face a 20,000 shekel (£3,400) fine.
Hamas not only have it in for hairdressers; they believe that men and women must dance in separate rooms (I'm not making this up), female lawyers must wear scarves and women must not smoke. Okay for that last one, but also there is a ban on men selling women’s underwear. Hamas is seriously into treating women as fetish objects.
Writing as an expatriate who is old enough to remember how Scotland was before the 1970s, when the law forced on us by the Scottish Church, the veto poll, allowing just one party-pooper to keep a whole borough pub-free, was abolished, I find the build-up of evidence against the ‘boring men in beards with guns’ sadly familiar.
The Free Church of Scotland was often laughingly described as the nearest thing the Christians could get in modern times to the Taliban. Another throwback we could thank the Men In Black for was a by-law in Glasgow forbidding standing up in pubs where music was played - in case perhaps that foot-tapping would lead to dancing. John Knox and his inspiration, Calvin, would be well at home in Gaza today.
According to the Associated Press at http://www.hometownstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=14139396 the secular life of Gaza as far as it constitutes a ‘community’ has been chopped away by ten per cent. On my one successful attempt to reach Gaza, when I told my hosts that I would vote for Hamas if I was living with them, I was a little surprised at their reaction: a politely disguised distain; a distain of the kind you might use when someone gave you a teaset instead of a turntable for your birthday. Now I understand why my young friends felt that way, and why they preferred the Palestine Peoples’ Party although it was unlikely to rise to power.
Their recent manifesto demanding change and freedom within Gaza finished with this address for further information: http://www.blogger.com/freegazayouth@hotmail.com - Scotland has changed; Gaza could, too.
Friday, 25 February 2011
Jets bomb Gaza
Israeli jets have launched several airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but no casualties have been reported, according to Press TV, whose report follows:
The attack took place in the early hours on Thursday, AFP reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel's F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters carried out multiple airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.
In June 2007, Israel and Egypt placed the territory under siege and imposed an unprecedented blockade on nearly all movement and supplies in and out of the coastal sliver.
Poverty, unemployment, lack of medicine and medical equipment are the main issues in the Gaza Strip, while most Palestinian children are physically stunted from malnutrition.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned of a crisis for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
Even human rights groups have criticized the international community for its silence on the siege on the Gaza Strip and the 22-day Israeli war shattering the stagnant economy of the territory.
With poverty rate at almost 70 percent and unemployment hovering around 50 percent, many Gazans live on handouts from relatives and local aid agencies as they spend most of their dwindling monthly income on food.
Experts say the blockade will further deteriorate besieged Gaza's economy and will increase unemployment and poverty rates.
The attack took place in the early hours on Thursday, AFP reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel's F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters carried out multiple airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.
In June 2007, Israel and Egypt placed the territory under siege and imposed an unprecedented blockade on nearly all movement and supplies in and out of the coastal sliver.
Poverty, unemployment, lack of medicine and medical equipment are the main issues in the Gaza Strip, while most Palestinian children are physically stunted from malnutrition.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned of a crisis for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
Even human rights groups have criticized the international community for its silence on the siege on the Gaza Strip and the 22-day Israeli war shattering the stagnant economy of the territory.
With poverty rate at almost 70 percent and unemployment hovering around 50 percent, many Gazans live on handouts from relatives and local aid agencies as they spend most of their dwindling monthly income on food.
Experts say the blockade will further deteriorate besieged Gaza's economy and will increase unemployment and poverty rates.
Late news: strike injures two
An airstrike targeted southern Gaza late on Thursday, moderately injuring two Palestinians in an attack on a vehicle in the city of Rafah.
The injured were taken by ambulance to the Abu Najjar hospital, said Adham Abu Salmiya, a spokesman for the Gaza medical services.
At least one of the victims was still in the vehicle, which was on fire after sustaining four direct strikes. Residents of Khan Younis confirmed hearing four distinct explosions around the time of the attack.
Witnesses said the vehicle belonged to the government in Gaza. Israel's army, with typically lazy syntax, said the attack targeted "terror operatives" in southern Gaza.
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Israel destroys West Bank olive trees to lay 'settlement' waterline
by CIRCARRE PARRHESIA on 23 February 2011, MONDOWEISS
Yesterday, February 22 2011, a number of Palestinian news agencies, including the agency that I work for, published articles on the destruction of olive fields in the West Bank town of Jab’a, found in the greater Bethlehem district.
The details were far from sparse, but cut to heart of the matter. The Israeli military had entered the olive grove of a Palestinian farmer and destroyed between 230 and 250 of his olive trees (reports vary). The military claimed that they were clearing state land, although the land is actually owned by the farmer and he has all legal documents to prove this.
Today I went to meet this man with a Palestinian friend of mine, and a couple of mutual friends, both internationals.
The gentleman in question goes by the name of Abu Taha. He is part of the small community of Jab’a, approximately between 800 and 900 people, and he relies on his olive groves in the area for his livelihood. Although a small town, the population of Jab’a are the legal owners of a large quantity of land in the South Bethlehem district. Fertile land land that is increasingly becoming prime real estate for the growing settler population in the region.
Abu Taha is also a beneficiary of the work of the Joint Advocacy Initiative, a project of the YMCA in Beit Sahour - a town located on the outer edge of the city of Bethlehem. It was in this context that my Palestinian friend visited today, as a representative of the venture, that gives away young olive trees to Palestinian farmers, and helps both plant said trees and harvest them through their campaign to bring internationals to the area to work alongside and learn from Palestinians such as Abu Taha.
The support of the JAI is crucial for farmers like Abu Taha is isolated in his work. Of his nine children, most are abroad, and those who aren’t have no interest in following their father’s footsteps to the olive groves.
Abu Taha’s struggle with the so-called Civilian Administration, i.e. the Israeli military that occupies and controls the West Bank, began when the Israeli water company applied to the Israeli military to build a water pipe on his land.
Without consulting Abu Taha, permission was granted, resulting in the destruction of 60 of his trees, and the paving of part of his field . This water pipe supplies Israeli settlements with water that is, of course, not allowed to be used by the Palestinian population in the area.
The military came back, yesterday, to clear his land, claiming that it was the property of the State of Israel; an action that was averted when a friend of Abu Taha’s saw the attack and alerted him.
Abu Taha arrived at his fields to prove ownership of the agricultural land, at which point the Israeli military was forced to halt their actions, but not before a sizable portion of his trees had been destroyed, the bulk of which were confiscated, and chemicals poured over the stumps to prevent them from regrowing.
Some were fully grown, whilst others were barely saplings.
When the destruction of Abu Taha’s property was partially averted, the Israeli military turned their attention to the neighboring field, who’s owner was unable to attend to prove ownership, resulting in the destruction of approximately 150 more trees. This took yesterday’s total to around 400.
The reason for this act of violence against Palestinian property can only be assumed to be for the aid of settlement expansion. Close to the violated fields, caravan outposts loom ominously on the hillside.
Within reach of the settlement of Beit Ein, these caravans are used when the residents of settlements wish to expand their land grab. They are placed away from the settlement, but within a few kilometres, so that the land between them is effectively annexed. Once the settlement has been expanded the surrounding areas, usually right up to the built up area of local Palestinian towns, are confiscated to the settlement under the auspices of providing a safe buffer zone from the Palestinian communities nearby, robbing Palestinians of their property, their livelihood and their home land.
In the media we are quick to ignore the human side of this de-humanizing occupation. When reporting on destruction of property, on abduction, on injury and even on murder, we tell ourselves we must remain detached to keep a grip on our objectivity.
How can you remain objective when faced with words such as these:
“When I saw them cutting down the trees I felt as if somebody is uprooting my heart from between my lungs.”
When you come to Palestine, please come meet Abu Taha.
Circarre Parrhesia is an editor and writer for the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, based in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour.
A RESIDENT OF JAB'A STANDS NEXT TO DESTROYED OLIVE TREES.
(PHOTO: PALESTINE SOLIDARITY PROJECT)
Yesterday, February 22 2011, a number of Palestinian news agencies, including the agency that I work for, published articles on the destruction of olive fields in the West Bank town of Jab’a, found in the greater Bethlehem district.
The details were far from sparse, but cut to heart of the matter. The Israeli military had entered the olive grove of a Palestinian farmer and destroyed between 230 and 250 of his olive trees (reports vary). The military claimed that they were clearing state land, although the land is actually owned by the farmer and he has all legal documents to prove this.
Today I went to meet this man with a Palestinian friend of mine, and a couple of mutual friends, both internationals.
The gentleman in question goes by the name of Abu Taha. He is part of the small community of Jab’a, approximately between 800 and 900 people, and he relies on his olive groves in the area for his livelihood. Although a small town, the population of Jab’a are the legal owners of a large quantity of land in the South Bethlehem district. Fertile land land that is increasingly becoming prime real estate for the growing settler population in the region.
Abu Taha is also a beneficiary of the work of the Joint Advocacy Initiative, a project of the YMCA in Beit Sahour - a town located on the outer edge of the city of Bethlehem. It was in this context that my Palestinian friend visited today, as a representative of the venture, that gives away young olive trees to Palestinian farmers, and helps both plant said trees and harvest them through their campaign to bring internationals to the area to work alongside and learn from Palestinians such as Abu Taha.
The support of the JAI is crucial for farmers like Abu Taha is isolated in his work. Of his nine children, most are abroad, and those who aren’t have no interest in following their father’s footsteps to the olive groves.
Abu Taha’s struggle with the so-called Civilian Administration, i.e. the Israeli military that occupies and controls the West Bank, began when the Israeli water company applied to the Israeli military to build a water pipe on his land.
Without consulting Abu Taha, permission was granted, resulting in the destruction of 60 of his trees, and the paving of part of his field . This water pipe supplies Israeli settlements with water that is, of course, not allowed to be used by the Palestinian population in the area.
The military came back, yesterday, to clear his land, claiming that it was the property of the State of Israel; an action that was averted when a friend of Abu Taha’s saw the attack and alerted him.
Abu Taha arrived at his fields to prove ownership of the agricultural land, at which point the Israeli military was forced to halt their actions, but not before a sizable portion of his trees had been destroyed, the bulk of which were confiscated, and chemicals poured over the stumps to prevent them from regrowing.
Some were fully grown, whilst others were barely saplings.
When the destruction of Abu Taha’s property was partially averted, the Israeli military turned their attention to the neighboring field, who’s owner was unable to attend to prove ownership, resulting in the destruction of approximately 150 more trees. This took yesterday’s total to around 400.
The reason for this act of violence against Palestinian property can only be assumed to be for the aid of settlement expansion. Close to the violated fields, caravan outposts loom ominously on the hillside.
Within reach of the settlement of Beit Ein, these caravans are used when the residents of settlements wish to expand their land grab. They are placed away from the settlement, but within a few kilometres, so that the land between them is effectively annexed. Once the settlement has been expanded the surrounding areas, usually right up to the built up area of local Palestinian towns, are confiscated to the settlement under the auspices of providing a safe buffer zone from the Palestinian communities nearby, robbing Palestinians of their property, their livelihood and their home land.
In the media we are quick to ignore the human side of this de-humanizing occupation. When reporting on destruction of property, on abduction, on injury and even on murder, we tell ourselves we must remain detached to keep a grip on our objectivity.
How can you remain objective when faced with words such as these:
“When I saw them cutting down the trees I felt as if somebody is uprooting my heart from between my lungs.”
When you come to Palestine, please come meet Abu Taha.
Circarre Parrhesia is an editor and writer for the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, based in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Rafah crossing to open for visits to Egypt
Despite the leanings of the stand-in regime in Egypt, starting on Tuesday 22nd February the Rafah crossing will be open for Gaza residents to enter the country, Palestinian crossings officials reported to Ma'an News Agency.Around 300 Palestinians will be allowed to cross to Egypt every day.
Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing on Friday evening for Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return to Gaza. The terminal had been closed for over three weeks during the uprising in Egypt.
Since Friday, around 850 Gaza residents have returned home, according to crossings staff. Barakat Al-Farra, the Palestinian ambassador in Cairo, said Egyptian officials had been very cooperative and made serious efforts to "facilitate the smooth passage of travellers".
This follows the good news on the 19th, that the crossing had been opened for Palestinians in Egypt to visit Gaza, daily and with no time limit. It is possible that this is the result of the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood in the opposition's talks with Vice-President Omar Suleiman, although it might just be that the US administration will be looking for ways to pull out of spending on its empirical spread, and that maintaining the blockade on Egypt's border is one area it could afford to compromise in.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Between the lines at the BBC
If you were only half-awake you could hardly have missed the wildly fictional slanting being given to reality by the guest on Radio Four's Today programme earlier this week.
But the positive outcome of this is that it prompted the following letter, a flawlessly succinct description of 63 years in the history of Palestine and the scenario as it stands:
Dear Editor, 16 February 2011
Yesterday, whilst listening to John Humphreys interview Israeli deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, on the Today programme, I had a distinct feeling of living in a parallel universe. Danny Ayalon's shameless comments bore no resemblance to the facts on the ground. Mubarak was a principal collaborator in the Israeli suppression of the Palestinian people and his downfall represents the loss of one of Israel's key aides in the incarceration and economic ruination of Gazans. A real democracy in Egypt will challenge the maintenance of Israel's military occupation of Palestine. So Israel and USA will be doing what they can to prevent a genuine democratic election in Egypt. If they fail to get their own candidate elected (so much for their love of democracy...) will sanctions will be applied to Egypt as they have been in the case of the democratic Gazan elections?
One would never have guessed from Mr Ayalon's dulcet tones that Israel has been illegally occupying Palestine for the last 63 yrs., building large towns and industrial complexes on stolen Palestinian land, imprisoning Palestinians behind a monstrous wall and prohibiting their movement through the use of military checkpoints. Not a hint that Israel is cleansing the Bedouin from their historic villages and lands, illegally detaining and torturing Palestinian minors inside Israeli jails, enacting racist laws against their Arab citizens,refusing millions of Palestinian refugees their legitimate right to return to their own lands, dragging Arab families out of their homes in E.Jerusalem to house Jews from E. Europe and USA.
As for assisting the Palestinian economy - take an investigative team and ask the Palestinians how prosperous they are under Israeli occupation. Children in the West Bank are as malnourished as the children of Gaza.
To crush people to this degree and then expect them to come to the negotiating table without pre-conditions is cruelty indeed. Innocent listeners could never have guessed that the seductive tones of Ayalon concealed oceans of Israeli inhumanity and criminality. What is disturbing is the complicity of the BBC and John Humphreys in this monumental dissemblance.
This week Judith Keshet, an Israeli Jewish woman, founder of Machsom Watch, is visiting the UK to speak of her work supporting Bedouin whose villages in the Negev have been illegally destroyed 11 times in the last few years . Why not interview her? There are honest Israelis who are willing to tell the truth about their government's scandalous inhumanity.
Anne Candlin
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