NOVANEWS
Dear Friends,
I must admit that I have not checked the Israeli newspapers since this AM, but from the news on the radio, I doubt that much has changed since then. As for the rest of the media–mainly England , the US , France and Germany —and Al Jazeera (I check out about 15 on-line newspapers a day) there’s not much about Israel-Palestine. Had expected to read tons of missives in op-eds and letters against Walter Pincus’s argument that the United States must end military aid to Israel . After all, Pincus is a well-known columnist, and the Washington Post is a reputable newspaper that does not often publish heady stuff out of step with US policy. But oddly there seems to have been no response, or perhaps I’ve missed it.
As for the rest, since there’s not much else, today is a good day to read ‘Today in Palestine ’ (item 4). Apart from one or two articles that you’ve received from me, the remainder will be new to you, and will give you a far truer picture of what is happening here than you will receive from the commercial media. One of the reports refers to El Kahalil—in other words, the Arabic for what in English we call Hebron .
The three items preceding Today in Palestine are fairly brief.
Regarding the first, I realize that I already sent you info about the censure of Palestinian textbooks in Jerusalem , but included the present report from the Guardian because it is fuller.
Item 2 tells how Israeli police target a Palestinian store for hanging a sign that they disapprove of.
Both of the preceding show that Israel is using more and more fascistic methods to counter the Palestinian desire for freedom. It won’t work. But that does not mean that suffering will end until justice comes.
Item 3 is a Palestinian’s take on the prisoner release—a release that for many was freedom from jail, but not freedom as such.
May we see happier times, which don’t yet seem to be in the offing. But they will come. They must.
Dorothy
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1. LA Times 5:39 PM PDT,
October 24, 2011
East Jerusalem school textbooks are a war of words
Palestinian Authority-issued books are vying with Israeli-edited versions in classrooms. Israel says some passages incite violence. Parents and teachers are incensed.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-palestinian-textbooks-20111025,0,216250,full.story
By Edmund Sanders,
Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Jerusalem
When East Jerusalem teachers ask students to open their history books these days, pupils are wondering: Which one?
Two sets of textbooks are vying for the formative minds of thousands of Palestinian students in Arabic-language schools in East Jerusalem . One was written by the Palestinian Authority, and the other is a revised version reprinted by Israeli authorities.
It’s a textbook war that underscores the long-running battle of narratives in the Mideast conflict, where the fight over the future is often rooted in understanding of the past, and schoolbooks can play a critical role.
At first glance, the textbooks, for the full range of course work, appear identical. But comparing the books page by page quickly becomes a game of Can You Spot the Difference? A small Palestinian flag flying over a picture of a school in one first-grade math book mysteriously disappears in the Israeli version.
Sometimes entire chapters or pages are excised. Other times it’s just a word or line, leaving blank spaces that make passages incomprehensible and pages look like redacted CIA documents.
Although the Israeli government is demanding that schools use only its books, parents have gone class to class, backpack to backpack, to replace Israeli versions with the unedited ones. Officials estimate that most East Jerusalem schools are quietly using Palestinian versions, despite threats from the city to take action against schools that do.
Officials in Jerusalem, which funds about 50 public schools in Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and provides partial assistance to dozens of private institutions, say they have the right to ensure textbooks are accurate, don’t incite violence and respect Israel’s legitimacy.
Much of the editing, they say, focuses on Palestinian poetry that promotes the role of children in the struggle against occupation or appears to glorify martyrdom. One eighth-grade textbook featured a poem that referred to the “ecstasy” of a child dying in martyrdom. Another stated that “if jihad could speak, it would call you to enter it.”
Other cuts included a 10th-grade history lesson that described Zionism as a “racist” movement with “alleged” historical ties to the Holy Land . Another book featured a picture of a British Mandate-era postage stamp that had been digitally altered to remove a Hebrew inscription.
Palestinian parents, teachers and officials, however, say Israel ‘s edits are politically motivated, essentially erasing all references and symbols relating to Palestinian identity, history and nationalism.
Among the cuts:
— Nearly all images of Palestinian flags, Palestinian Authority logos or references to Palestinians’ right of return to homes they or their families fled during Israel ‘s war for independence.
— An eighth-grade lesson about the environmental harm of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
— A reference in a 10th-grade history book to the 1969 arson attack against Al Aqsa mosque by an Australian fanatic.
— An entire chapter on Palestinian history, including a picture of Palestine Liberation Organization founder Yasser Arafat.
— Palestinian population statistics in a sixth-grade civics book.
Palestinian Authority officials say Israel is censoring content it doesn’t like.
“These changes cause the text to lose its soul and its meaning,” said Dima Samman, head of the Jerusalem unit of the authority’s Education Ministry, which has provided the curriculum for East Jerusalem schools since 2001 under an agreement with Israel . Before that, schools used Jordanian textbooks.
For several years, Jerusalem officials made minor edits to textbooks used in public schools, Palestinian officials say, using a black marker or stickers to cover up Palestinian Authority logos and other content deemed objectionable. Then the city began reprinting the textbooks entirely, allowing authorities to delete content digitally and permanently after discovering that many students simply peeled off the stickers.
This year city officials announced that their edited books would be introduced into several dozen semiprivate schools in East Jerusalem , but they assured parents that the changes would be minimal.
When the latest Israeli-edited textbooks were distributed last month, parents and students expressed shock, saying the omissions were heavy-handed.
“They are testing us,” said Abdul Karim Lafi, who heads a parents association in East Jerusalem that is organizing a boycott of the Israeli textbooks. “If we stay quiet now, eventually they’ll cancel the rest of the Palestinian curriculum within a few years.”
Israeli officials say the dispute is not about rival narratives or opposing political views, but about preventing students from being exposed to teachings they say promote violence, intolerance and hatred.
“They are being misled and taught falsehoods,” said Moshe Marzuk, a former army intelligence official and counter-terrorism expert who reviews the textbooks for the city. He said most of the books reject any Jewish connection to the land and emphasize the Palestinians’ right of return.
“Censorship?” he said. “On the contrary. I view this as a humanitarian act of prevention, a system’s act of self-defense against incitement to violence that will explode in its face sooner or later.”
Part of the the problem, some say, is Israel ‘s somewhat crude method of editing, which relies chiefly on deleting words or images, sometimes in a manner that makes the textbooks unusable. Key words and phrases such as “martyr,” “we shall return,” or “usurp” are simply deleted without substitution.
Redactions only draw attention to the content that Israel is trying suppress, said one East Jerusalem teacher who did not want to be identified for fear of losing her job. She said most of her students look up the missing words and passages, usually with help from teachers.
“Kids are naturally curious, so this just makes them want to fill in the blanks,” said the teacher. “In fact, they probably remember it even more than they would have. It just doesn’t work.”
edmund.sanders@latimes.com
News assistant Batsheva Sobelman in The Times’ Jerusalem bureau contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
2. Mondoweiss,
October 25, 2011
‘Israeli police target Sheikh Jarrah store for hanging posters of Erdogan’
TheWar of Ideas in the Middle East
Israeli police target Sheikh Jarrah store for hanging posters of Erdogan
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/10/israeli-police-target-sheikh-jarrah-store-for-hanging-posters-of-erdogan.html#more-55121
by Anonymous
October 25, 2011
Like 0 Retweet 1.
For the past year Palestinian store owner Azzam Maraka has been displaying posters of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in his store windows near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem . Today Israeli police arrived for the fifth time since the posters were hung to fine Mr. Maraka 475 Israeli shekels (equivalent to approximately 130 US dollars) totaling 2375 shekels (~$650) to date.
Azzam Maraka argues with Israeli police over his right to display posters in store window.
Maraka considers Erdogan a friend of the Palestinians partly due to Turkey ‘s participation in the 2010 flotilla to Gaza . Diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated after Israel refused to apologize for the killing of nine Turkish passengers on board the Mavi Marmara, a ship loaded with humanitarian aid bound for Gaza.
According to Maraka, the citations were issued in violation of a law prohibiting signs of any kind to be displayed on the street on which the store is located. Yet the signs of neighboring businesses and public buildings are of similar size and have not been targeted.
Maraka believes that he is being singled out because of political reasons related to strained relations between Israel and Turkey .
Israel ‘s seemingly political crackdown is further complicated because the neighborhood where the store is located is behind the green line, the internationally recognized border dividing Israel from the Palestinian West Bank.
Mr. Maraka intends not to pay the fines and is prepared to have the issue heard before the courts.
The author of this post is currently traveling in Israel/Palestine and would prefer to remain anonymous.
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3. October 22, 2011
Conditional Freedom
http://palestinefrommyeyes.blogspot.com/2011/10/conditional-freedom.html?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=e1d0b651a0-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Posted by Shahd Abusalama
The first stage of Shalit’s swap deal has already happened. As agreed, 477 detainees were set free before Gilaad Shalit was delivered by the resistance to the Red Cross to be enjoying the full range of his freedom in the meantime. The Gaza Strip has opened the gate to welcome with several thousands of crowds of Gaza inhabitants 210 prisoners; 131 of whom are from Gaza , and another 179 who were deported to Gaza according to Israel ’s inhumane stipulations. The release of a total of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners should be completed within two months.
Since Tuesday, celebrations of freedom could be heard all cross the Gaza Strip, bringing to the spirits of Gazans a sense of remarkable hope for attaining freedom. However, the road to freedom will remain incomplete even with one Palestinian still suffering inside the Israeli Occupation prisons, so what if around 6 thousand political prisoners are still locked up behind their merciless bars, including 164 children, whose imprisonment is prohibited according to the International Law.
The most emotional part of this swap deal is the deported prisoners. They have long-waited to be free again to return to the bosom of their families, but Israel has instead deported them to other places where they have to wait for even longer to wrap their beloved ones with their arms again. The freedom of these deported released prisoners is not freedom, it’s better to describe it as freedom to submit to Israeli rules.
Early in the evening, my parents went to a celebration held in the neighborhood for some released detainees. I was sitting alone when suddenly my phone rang. It was my mother. I could hardly hear her because of celebrations that were going around her. “You should come and see how people are dancing with joy and singing for freedom,” she said. I got so excited that I could no longer stay home and I decided to join them immediately and see for myself the joyous atmosphere there.
I didn’t know the exact address of the festival but I didn’t worry about it as I was certain that the resonance of the songs of freedom would guide my steps. The lights along with the Palestinian flags of all sizes were everywhere decorating the dark-blue sky. The walls were dressed with the photos of our heroes who sacrificed their precious years for the sake of freedom for their people. The region was filled with people coming from different parts of the Gaza Strip to share with the released detainees the happiness of their freedom. The festival included folk dancing performances, songs for free Palestine and poetry dedicated to those who were free and to those who are still suffering behind Israeli bars.
Rawda Odeh carries a photograph of her son Loai
Very close to the end of the festival which lasted for several hours, my father called me and mum to introduce us to his friends. A woman with a beautiful Palestinian traditional dress lined with threads of the colors of the Palestinian flag, white, red, black and green, was standing beside a blond man. “Rawda, Yacoub, here is my daughter, Shahd,” my father addressed them. Then the man, Yacoub, stepped forward, kissed my fore head and hugged me and left me surprising of his reaction wondering still who he was. Then Dad continued with a big smile on his face “This is my friend from Jerusalem who was imprisoned with me in Nafha prison for 15 years, and we were freed together in Ahmad Jibreel’s exchange deal. And this is his brother’s wife, Rawda, who was imprisoned for 5 years as well in the 70s.”
I then realized that they were here a day ago to come to see Loai, Rawda’s son, who was freed in this swap deal but deported to Gaza . She was hoping that she would hug her son, Loai, as soon as he is released and she had been waiting for ten years daydreaming about that day. Her son was sentenced to 28 years of imprisonment but thanks to this exchange deal of prisoners, he only spent ten years jailed. However, it was very disappointing for her to find out that he would be deported to Gaza forever and that he will not return back home. She challenged everything to have the opportunity to hug her son again tightly and for that she traveled with her husband’s brother from Jerusalem to Jordan and then to Egypt and then to Gaza through Rafah Border. It’s so ironic to know that she had to suffer two days of travelling to enter Gaza while if Israel allowed her to enter though Eriz border, it would take her less than two hours to reach Gaza. No wonder, torture is something Israel enjoys very much.
A little after meeting these amazing parents who had waited ten years to meet their son Loai, I met Loai. “Congratulations for your freedom. I’m very glad you’re finally released.” I said while expressions of happiness and admiration were very obvious on my face. He was very nice young man with enthusiastic eyes for the future. After short chat, I discovered that Loai is an English Literature student, just like me. He already finished three levels at Al-Najah University in Nablus but didn’t graduate because of his imprisonment at the age of 23. “I’m going to continue my studies in Al-Azhar University and you will have to help me and give me so much support.” He said while laughing. I kept nodding my head admiring his unbelievable determination and his civility: “of course! Anytime!”
Yacoub Odeh, Loai’s uncle, who endured severe torture (still visible on him physically) and seventeen years of imprisonment until his release in Ahmad Jibreel’s swap deal in 1985
Soon after, we had to separate as time was getting late and everyone needed to go back home and rest after long hours of dancing and chanting. On the way back home, my father was expressing how happy he was to meet his friend, Loai’s uncle, again after more than 24 years of separation, as he is denied access to Jerusalem by Israel . “Can you imagine that his blondness is because of the torment he endured by the Israeli Army?” He told me with an angry voice. He read my exclamation marks on my face and continued “the Israeli soldiers used to use a thin stick and knock on the top of his head in sensitive places continuously and slowly for long hours as a way of torturing psychologically and physically at once. However, this is maybe the least torturing method. Israeli soldiers do a lot more than that…”
My father left me speechless to think of how much our prisoners have endured from the heartless and the awful Israeli soldiers. How unfair that after a prisoner gets released, his freedom is conditional; under the merciless rules of Israel , and they have no right to complain. It makes me sad to think that this beautiful family is now going to be scattered between Jerusalem , to where they belong, and Gaza , to where their son is forced to live from now on. This is only one example of more than 200 hundred Palestinian families who are going to suffer the same fate. Lots of thoughts occupy my mind but the question remains “where is justice and human rights?”
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