NOVANEWS
Posted by: Sammi Ibrahem Chair of West Midland PSC
-
10-year-old Palestinian girl’s coma and death ascribed to psychological trauma of being prevented from touching her father on prison visit
-
On Easter, spare a moment to think about the Christians in Jesus’s birthplace
-
Palestinians do not need to be taught incitement of hatred. The occupation is their teacher
-
On ‘Arna’s Children’ and the question of armed resistance
-
‘NYT’ readers bridle at Netanyahu’s congressional conquest, saying it goes against the American interest
-
Retired sexist offers advice to Zionists
10-year-old Palestinian girl’s coma and death ascribed to psychological trauma of being prevented from touching her father on prison visit
Apr 23, 2011
Kate
and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Where are all the villages?
Ethnically cleansed and destroyed Manshiyya (visited 20-4-11)
Al-Manshiyya (Arabic: المنشية) was a Palestinian village with a Muslim orphanage and a mosque known as the mosque of Abu ‘Atiyya, which is still standing. The village was close to the shrine of Baha’u’llah, who was the founder of the Baha’i Faith, which is also still standing. Manshiyya was captured by on 14 May 1948 during Operation Ben-Ami. One villager recalled that the dawn attack came from the hill overlooking the village. The villagers, ‘with bullets whizzing over their heads’, ran towards the east ‘because all other sides were surrounded by the Jews’. When they returned to remove the dead bodies, they found the village strewn with mines. One former villager recounted that her father returned to Al-Manshiyya about 10 days after the attack and found it completely razed. On the 16 June 1948, Ben-Gurion mentioned Manshiyya as one of the villages Israel had destroyed.
http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2011/04/where-are-all-villages-ethnically.html
Visiting ‘Ibdis
22-1-11 According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, “the village can only be identified by a cluster of sycamore trees; the houses have been completely obliterated.” Wikipedia: ‘Ibdis (Arabic: عبدس, ‘Ibdis) was a Palestinian village in the District of Gaza, located 30 kilometers (19 mi) northeast of Gaza City. It was situated on flat ground on the coastal plain at an elevation of 75 meters (246 ft) above sea level, and bordered by a wadi that bore its name on its eastern side. In 1945, Ibdis had a population of 540 and a land area of 4,593 dunams, of which 18 dunams were built-up areas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mB7JT7u88E&feature=related
Clashes reported in occupied East Jerusalem, soldier wounded
IMEMC 23 Apr — Local sources in occupied East Jerusalem reported on Friday that clashes took place in Al ‘Esawiyya and several other neighborhoods in the city. One Israeli soldier was wounded after a military jeep caught fire. The sources stated that local youths hurled a Molotov cocktail at a military jeep after it flipped over while speeding, and that the jeep was burnt while one soldier was injured. … Furthermore, clashes took place in the center of Silwan town, south of the Al Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem. Soldiers fired gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets at the protesters who responded by hurling stones and empty bottles; no injuries or arrests were reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61121
Israeli court imposes house arrest on two Jerusalemite children
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 23 Apr — The Israeli magistrate court in occupied Jerusalem imposed house arrest on two Palestinian minors on the pretext of attacking Jewish settlers’ houses. The court sentenced Ibrahim Siyam, 15, and Yazan Siyam, 16, to one week house arrest in their homes in Silwan town south of the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. It also ordered their families to escort them to and from school for five days after the conclusion of the house arrest. Local sources said that the children were detained and questioned over the past two days before they appeared in the court hearing on Friday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
WATCH — Daily life in Hebron: home from school through the rooftops for 5 y.o. child
CPT 21 Apr Yusuf’s Way Home — Yusuf is five years old. He attends the kindergarten just across the landing from our women’s apartment. He’s a bright little boy, who interprets in sign language for his mother, who is deaf. He has congenital physical difficulties: he has no left arm and one leg is significantly shorter than another. Yesterday morning a friend and I happened to meet up with Yusuf and his kindergarten teacher as she took him home after class. They unsuccessfully tried to get through two gates before going through the ladder lady’s house. Think of any five-year-old boy you know. Think of all you wish for him. Then watch this video and wish it for Yusuf too.
http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2011/04/daily-life-in-hebron-home-from-school.html
Violence / Incursions
IOF troops enter southern Gaza, bulldoze land
RAFAH, (PIC) 23 Apr — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced tens of meters into eastern Rafah in the southern area of Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, local sources reported. The sources told the PIC reporter that seven army vehicles including a bulldozer advanced into eastern Rafah and leveled land amidst intermittent firing. The IOF troops routinely enter eastern Gaza border areas and bulldoze land and destroy property.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Israeli policemen beat Palestinian Christians on their way to church
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 23 Apr — Israeli policemen beat up a group of Palestinian Christians while on their way to visit the Church of Holy Sepulcher in occupied Jerusalem on the occasion of “Holy Saturday”. Palestinian sources said that the police manning a barricade prevented the young men from proceeding to the holy site while allowing dozens of foreign tourists to cross in the company of Israeli tourist guides, which led to clashes. A Christian activist accused Israel of religious harassment against all non-Jews.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87
Troops isolate Azzoun village
IMEMC 23 Apr — Israeli soldiers isolated on Friday ‘Azzoun village, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, and prevented all residents from entering or leaving it. Local sources reported that soldiers were stationed on all entrances of the village, including minor and dirt roads completely isolating the village from its surrounding areas. Soldiers claimed that their act came to stop local youths from hurling stones at Israeli settlers who drive near the village.
On Friday at dawn, Israeli soldiers invades several cities and towns in the occupied West Bank and kidnapped several residents.
Six Palestinians were also kidnapped in similar invasions carried out by the army on Thursday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61122
Over 50,000 visit Hebron on Passover
Ynet 23 Apr — Minister Yisrael Katz views Jewish celebration in West Bank city as ‘an answer to handful of leftists, who gathered in Tel Aviv to declare the establishment of a Palestinian state’ — …Hebron’s Jewish community celebrates twice a year, on Sukkot and on Passover, when the Cave of the Patriarchs is fully open to Jews, including the sacred room of Isaac, which is located on the side which is usually open to Muslims only. Most visitors arrive to pray at the Cave of the Patriarchs, but throughout the years the event had turned into a demonstration of support for the Jewish settlement in the city. … Noam Arnon, the Jewish community’s spokesman who guided the visitors at the Hebron casbah, said the thousands of visitors toured the area, shopped and spoke to local residents. “It was a heartwarming event,” he said. “The local residents, Arabs and Jews, welcome the holidays and the tourism. We want to see a tourism city here. Only hostile elements, anarchists who come here to create damage, schism and hostility, disrupt the coexistence here. [Say what?]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4059825,00.html
Activism / Solidarity
Israeli troops attack 4 separate anti-Wall protests, injuring 16 civilians
IMEMC 23 Apr — On Friday, 16 civilians were injured and four abducted as Israeli troops attacked the weekly anti-wall protests in the villages of Bil‘in, Ni‘lin and al-Nabi Saleh, in central West Bank as well as the village of al-Ma‘sara, in the south … In the nearby village of Ni‘lin, many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation also on Friday during the anti wall protest. Troops attacked the villagers using tear gas as soon as they reached the gate of the wall which separates the farmers from their agricultural lands. Also Friday, two locals and two internationals were abducted when troops attacked the weekly protest against the wall and settlements in the village of an-Nabi Saleh. Palestinians, together with international and Israeli supporters, marched to their lands, where Israel is presently trying to build a new settlement. Troops fired tear gas at them to force them back into the village. In the southern West Bank, the villagers of al-Ma‘sara, along with their international and Israeli supporters, protested the Israeli wall being built on local farmers’ lands. Israeli soldiers attacked the protesters using tear gas, preventing the march from reaching the construction site of the Wall; many participants in the non-violent demonstration were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61123
Detention
10-year-old Palestinian girl Abeer Skafe died today (23 Apr)
22 Apr — In a unique case that highlights the sense of shock and the strain the occupation brings to bear on ordinary people, psychological trauma has been blamed for a Palestinian girl’slife-threatening coma after she was prevented by Israeli authorities from hugging her father when she went to visit him in prison where he is serving a life term. Israeli police officers in charge of the prison where Abeer Eskafi’s father, Yousuf, is serving his sentence, allegedly did not allow the 10-year-old to go over to the prisoners’ side of a meeting room where visitors can meet inmates when she expressed a wish to hug her father … After Abeer got back home to Hebron, she started knocking hysterically on pieces of furniture in the house all the time until her right hand became weak. She refused to eat and kept calling for her father, he added. All specialist doctors who saw Abeer diagnosed her condition as psychological, and the girl’s health deteriorated till she became totally paralysed and had to be hospitalised when she lapsed into a coma.
http://ravenise.blogspot.com/2011/04/10-year-old-palestinian-girl-died-after.html?spref=tw
Palestinian man arrested in Al-Khalil Saturday morning
AL-KHALIL, (PIC) 23 Apr — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Saturday morning a Palestinian man in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil. The man, identified as Mohammed Shakir al-Zaghir, was taken from his home in the Harat Sheikh neighborhood in central Al-Khalil and taken to an unknown destination.
Separately, IOF soldiers disguised as civilians roamed the streets of nearby Halhoul before exiting the town without report of clashes or arrest.
In another development, locals said they spotted a number of armed families of Jewish settlers roaming the mountains in the occupied West Bank. The locals said the settlers have sights set on seizing the land through similar tours.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Gaza
Israeli army beefs up security on Gaza borders
GAZA Apr 23 (Xinhua) — …The new measures aim at expanding a 300-meter-wide buffer zone that Israel has collocated on Gaza’s eastern and northern borders, the sources added. The army installed a new observation tower near the closed Nahal Oz, which Israel has closed for nearly two years, the sources said, adding that the tower is the tallest in Gaza. The army also sent more reconnaissance balloons over the area. On Thursday, Israeli army destroyed several warehouses and installations during an incursion in eastern Gaza City …The sources said that Thursday’s operation was part of the new security measures.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/23/c_13842812.htm
Rafah terminal to be closed Monday
IMEMC 23 Apr — The Ministry of Interior run by the Hamas-led government in Gaza, reported Friday that the Rafah Border Terminal between, Gaza and Egypt, will be closed on Monday. The Ministry stated that, after holding talks with the Egyptian side, it was decided that the terminal will only be closed on Monday. The statement came after a number of media agencies reported that the terminal will be closed for four consecutive days.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61124
Moth attacks threaten Gaza crops
GAZA, Apr 20 (Xinhua) — The Hamas authorities warned Wednesday that swarms of month spreading in the Gaza Strip recently, would do harm to crops growing in the enclave if out of control. It is unknown where the insects came from, an official with the Hamas Agricultural Ministry said, however, he added that he believes Israel was the source, since the moths are largely found in the fields near Gaza-Israel borders. The insect, known as “Vine Hawk-Moth,” feeds on leaves of trees and herbage crops, Ziad Hamada said, noting the ministry lacks proper means to control the swarms, blaming Israeli economic sanctions.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/20/c_13838126.htm
War crimes
Take action: House resolution provides Israeli impunity for Gaza crimes
22 Apr — Even before the fact-finding mission was established, and ever since, the Obama Administration and Congress have worked hard to discredit the UN mission and prevent the international community from acting upon its findings. Now, the House of Representatives is upping the ante by considering a resolution to withhold payment of U.S. dues to the UN until it retracts the final report of the fact-finding mission … We need your help Here’s how you can take action…
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2961
Political/Diplomatic/International news
Mashaal receives delegation of independents
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 Apr — Hamas chief Khaled Masha‘al met Thursday in Damascus with Palestinian independent political leaders. The two parties discussed the independent delegation’s initiative to end the division and agree to a national unity deal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=381158
Haneyya: My visit to Cairo is possible
GAZA, (PIC) 23 Apr — Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya said he could pay a visit to Cairo in order to meet with Egyptian officials, but he did not confirm that. Haneyya told Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that his visit to Cairo would be aimed primarily to address the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip. Haneyya has not made a visit to Cairo or to any other country since the events of June 2007.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2B
Peres: Israel needs to formulate its own Mideast peace plan
Haaretz 22 Apr — Israel needs to draft its own Mideast peace initiative if it wants to avoid international pressure over a reported U.S peace plan, President Shimon Peres said on Friday, following a report claiming Washington was working on a plan to restart stalled peace talks. Peres’ comments came in the wake of a New York Times report claiming that the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama was drafting a new peace plan which included a Palestinian state within 1967 borders and which rejected Palestinian refugees’ right of return.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/peres-israel-needs-to-formulate-its-own-mideast-peace-plan-1.357639
Official: Gas deal with Israel invalid if Mubarak was guilty
CAIRO, (PIC) 23 Apr — A top Egyptian judicial official revealed that the interrogation of ousted president Hosni Mubarak about the issue of gas exports to Israel may re-open the file of the gas agreement between the two governments. The official told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that in the event Mubarak was proved guilty of wasting public money regarding the issue of gas exports to Israel, the whole agreement would be revoked and considered detrimental to Egypt’s higher interests.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Report: Turkey shows support for Palestinian efforts to seek UN recognition
Haaretz 23 Apr — Turkey’s Ambassador to the UN reportedly says the Palestinian Authority has proved they deserve to attain internationally recognized statehood, while the Turkish president says an Israeli-Palestinian deal is essential for peace in the region.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-turkey-shows-support-for-palestinian-efforts-to-seek-un-recognition-1.357722
Other news
Funerals in West Bank and Gaza for slain Italian activist
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 Apr — Palestinians gathered Saturday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to mourn Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian activist murdered by suspected Islamist radicals. The mourners set up a link to Vittorio’s funeral in Italy [Sunday] to send a live message to his family, a statement from the International Solidarity Movement said. Palestinian singer Rim Banna was scheduled to perform in Ramallah, organizers told Ma‘an. Mourners are also meeting in Gaza City.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=381483
Video shows family members of Arrigoni kidnappers urging his release
IMEMC 23 Apr — “All of the Muslims in the world are wrong, and you three are the only ones who are right?!!” pleads the father of Mahmoud Salfity, one of the kidnappers, in a video published on a the website of the Palestinian Interior Ministry on Wednesday … “You three do not represent the Muslims, what you are doing is wrong, the Salafists, the Islamic Jihad and everybody do not approve of what you are doing, everybody… your brothers are begging you to come down, they don’t want you to die, you should be more reasonable than that, please have some sense, please ‘brother’, for your own sake just come down son, I raised you, I took care of you, and you are doing this impiety?!” The father was also telling his son that Islam is a moderate religion, a humanitarian belief, and does not accept what is happening. [This article is confusing, since previous statements about this video have said that this pleading happened after Arrigoni was killed, and when Hamas was trying to arrest the kidnappers]
http://www.imemc.org/article/61126
VIDEOS: Palfest 2011 Days 1 and 2
Palfest on Apr 16, 2011 The 2011 Palestine Festival of Literature opens in Jerusalem’s African Community Centre. An oud performance by Madar Moghraby was followed by a discussion between Najwan Darwish, Mohammed Hanif, Richard Price, Bidisha and Gary Younge on the topic of ‘Speaking with two voices: Writing for a Globalized Audience’
http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2011/04/palfest-2011-day-1-2.html
Insider: The Shin Bet chooses all PA security trainees
RAMALLAH, (PIC) 23 Apr — An insider of the de facto interior ministry in Ramallah city said the Shin Bet interferes in choosing the Palestinian trainees to be given training in the security or military field at home and abroad. The source told the Palestinian information center (PIC) on condition of anonymity that the selection of participants in any security and military training courses requires that the Palestinian Authority (PA) send a list of their names to the US military envoy who checks it along with the Israeli side before making a new list approved by the Shin Bet. This is not confined to the training courses provided by the CIA, but it includes all kinds of training which the PA police and security members receive in Arab and Islamic countries, the source added.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Dozens injured, many of them children, when bus flips over in central Israel
Haaretz 23 Apr — The bus was on its way from an event in Jerusalem organized by a branch of the Islamic movement to Majd al-Karum, a north Israel Arab village; a man is in critical condition, four were seriously injured, six moderately and the rest lightly hurt.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/dozens-injured-many-of-them-children-when-bus-flips-over-in-central-israel-1.357749
Group formed to battle Jewish Orthodox ‘invasion’ of secular neighborhoods
Haaretz 22 Apr — National secular defense forum refutes comparisons to the Safed rabbis’ letter: ‘It’s a fight against those who would impose their way of life on others.’
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/group-formed-to-battle-jewish-orthodox-invasion-of-secular-neighborhoods-1.357485
Photo-op on Mount Gerizim
Haaretz 22 Apr — How an ancient Samaritan ritual turned into a tourist free-for-all — In this animal-conscious era where people are willing to eat steak so long as they don’t have to hear about the cow, it seems unlikely that thousands of Israelis would be willing to wait hours to see slaughtered lambs, hanging and smelling of burned oil. But this Passover ritual, practiced by Samaritans, has become a magnet. This is no mere killing of animals, but an anthropological phenomenon – a holy ritual that takes place not too far from home, a throwback to ancient days. Thousands of Israelis, and foreign tourists, are apparently prepared to push through crowds each year to photograph a white-clothed man slitting the throat of a lamb.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/photo-op-on-mount-gerizim-1.357579
Video: Mocking Jesus on Israeli TV
“The crucifixion of ‘Yeshu'” — From the show “Toffee VeHa-Gorillah” –WARNING!!! Offensive material
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA6vRC1xW_c
Analysis / Opinion
Recognizing Palestine? / Ali Abunimah
13 Apr –What do you do if your decades-long campaign to bring about an independent Palestinian state on those fractions of historic Palestine known as the West Bank and Gaza Strip have resulted in total failure? The answer seems to be, if you are the Western-sponsored Palestinian Authority (PA) in Israeli-occupied Ramallah, to pretend you have a Palestinian state anyway, and to get as many other countries to join in this charade as possible. This appears to be the essence of the PA strategy to gain admittance for the “State of Palestine” to the UN General Assembly by September.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/04/2011413152522296883.html
U.S.
Video: Solidarity is not a crime! Minneapolis anti-war committee chalks up FBI
20 Apr — The Anti-War Committee and a number of their allies staged a protest rally on chalked sidewalks in front of the Minneapolis FBI office yesterday. The FBI has issued 23 subpoenas for the Chicago Grand Jury including nine from Minnesota. The Minnesotans’ homes were raided last September 24. Repeat subpoenas were issued to three of the Minnesota groups but they, like the rest of the targets, have refused to appear before the Grand Jury … The threat of continued action hangs over the heads of the entire group. Patrick Fitzgerald, US Attorney in Chicago, has told them that each targeted person must have their own attorney, no attorney may represent a group of them.
http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2011/04/solidarity-is-not-crime-minneapolis.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Pollard to Obama: Release me for Passover
Ynet 22 Apr — In first ever letter to US president, imprisoned spy Jonathan Pollard appeals to Obama: ‘With principled support of senior American officials, I implore you to act to commute more than 25 years that I have already served in prison to time served’. So far, no response from White House
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4059704,00.html
Iraq
Friday: 6 Iraqis killed, 47 wounded
Even though the Iraqi government has been insisting, clearly, that it no longer needs U.S. troops in Iraq, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, warned the country’s leaders that they must soon decide if U.S. troops will remain after the end of the year. Meanwhile, at least six Iraqis were killed and 47 more were wounded in new violence, almost all of it at a protest in Mosul. Hospital sources reported one dead and 44 wounded after security forces in Mosul fired upon protesters.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/04/22/friday-6-iraqis-killed-47-wounded/
On Easter, spare a moment to think about the Christians in Jesus’s birthplace
Apr 23, 2011
Dr. Ghassan Khatib
As worshipers and tourists from all over the world come to Jerusalem this Easter, spare a few moments to think about those Christians who will not be allowed to make the short journey from Bethlehem.
This year’s Easter celebrations will highlight, as they do every year, the effect Israel’s occupation regime has on Palestinian religious freedoms. A Christian tourist from the United States, Russia or Japan will have a better chance of spending Easter in Jerusalem than a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. While tourists retrace Jesus’ footsteps in the Old City, Palestinians will be waiting for Israel to grant them a permit simply to visit the city. If they’re lucky enough to receive one, they will have to hope that the soldier at the checkpoint will not find an excuse to deny them
entry.
A few years ago, the Roman Catholic Emeritus Patriarch of the Holy Land, Michael Sabbah, observed that Israel should not insist on defining itself as a Jewish state because “if there is a state of one religion, other religions will naturally be discriminated against.” For more than 60 years, Israel has implemented policies that systematically discriminate against the Christian and Muslim populations of this land, beginning with the expulsion of over 700,000 Christian and Muslim Palestinians from their homes in historic Palestine during Israel’s creation in 1948. Across the country, churches and mosques were razed to the ground along with hundreds of entire Palestinian towns and villages. Following Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli authorities destroyed part of the Muslim Quarter in the Old City in order to expand the Jewish Quarter.
East Jerusalem, the capital of any future Palestinian state, is a case
study in Israeli discriminatory policies. Organizations such as the
United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and
B’Tselem, have all confirmed that Jerusalem is being systematically
stripped of its Christian and Muslim identity and heritage.
Over the last two years alone, more than 5,000 Christian and Muslim
Jerusalemites have been deprived of the right to live in the city
where they and their ancestors were born. Since 1967, some 20,000
Palestinian Jerusalemites have had their residency rights revoked.
In addition to the revocation of residency rights, demolitions of
Palestinian homes, and expansion of Jewish-only settlements, Israel
regularly seizes Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem, evicting
Palestinian families and turning over their homes to extreme
right-wing Jewish settlers. Palestinians are also denied equal access
to social services and other benefits. The result of this
discrimination is clear to see; walk through East Jerusalem and you
feel like you are in a third-world country, while West Jerusalem
resembles a European suburb.
Sixty-three years ago Israel was created upon the ruins of Palestine.
Since then, Palestinians have been awaiting the day when we will be
able to exercise our rights and live in freedom. We were told that if
we recognized Israel’s right to exist we would be granted our freedom,
so we complied. Yet more than 20 years later Israel’s illegal
military occupation and colonizing enterprise are more entrenched than
ever in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Today we are told that it
is not enough to recognize Israel, but that we must recognize its
right to exist as a “Jewish state.” In other words, that we must
actively participate in undermining the rights of Palestinians
refugees, the rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the
rights of Muslims and Christians all around the world who have a
spiritual and religious connection to the Holy Land.
We have faith in the justness of our cause and we will continue to
struggle for our rights using all legal means. At the international
level, we are seeking recognition for the state of Palestine on the
pre-1967 War borders. In September we will ask the United Nations for
admission as a full member. We are fully within our rights pursuing
these measures. The argument that this path will undermine the peace
process has little credibility since it has been already been fatally
undermined by Israel’s unrelenting settlement construction in the West
Bank and East Jerusalem.
A Palestinian priest said at an Easter past, “we cannot celebrate
because our people have died many times and we are still waiting for
our own resurrection as a free nation.” In the months and years to
come, we will continue our struggle for the resurrection of our
nation, and for justice and peace in the Holy Land. We hope the world
will join us on that journey.
Dr. Ghassan Khatib is the Director of the Palestinian Government
Media Center and official spokesperson of the Palestinian National
Authority.
Palestinians do not need to be taught incitement of hatred. The occupation is their teacher
Apr 23, 2011
Refaat Alareer
Mohammed was probably 2 when he had a high fever and an acute ear infection. He had already started to articulate his first sentences. His bright green eyes, despite his illness, told of a bright kid. Mohammed could have been taken to the nearest clinic had it not been for the Israeli curfew forcibly imposed on recently occupied Gaza some forty years ago. How could they venture to get out when they heard so many stories about people shot in the head for defying the curfew? They were told the Israeli heavily armed soldiers did not check or did not want to check whether their neighbor, Abu Salma, was taking his little teething baby to his grandmother’s for some herbal medicine she prepared. He did not have a watch to check the time. The Israeli soldiers did. It was five minutes past seven. Or so they claimed. They just shot at him— or rather shot him. His little daughter, Salma, cried herself to sleep in a narrow alley trodden by nothing save rodents and stray animals, and Israeli patrol jeeps. Abu Salma bled. And bled. Even the shrieking voice of his daughter could not move his lifeless body.
Mohammed went deaf.
Forty something years later, Mohammed’s youngest son, Bilal, fell headless in a narrow alley by a stray (?) Israeli missile. It was only recently when Bilal knew how his dad became deaf. He never asked. He took it for granted that his father was born thus. It was when Bilal told his mother why he was hesitant about the idea of getting married. He feared deafness might be in the genes. However, his mother, Salma, confronted him with the truth. “Does my father know?” asked Bilal after a while. “No!” Bilal, who saw how much his dad suffered because of his deafness, swore to take revenge: to make those heartless killers pay.
Bilal’s dad is now too weak to be told he lost his dearest son. But at least 20 of Bilal’s relatives and friends swore to make those heartless murderers pay.
Palestinians do not need to be taught incitement of hatred. The occupation is their teacher. They know no matter how long you plan your future, or how much you save, or how hard you work to stay safe, death will eventually get at you. They have seen tens of times how very old, very young, and very promising talents lose their lives at the Israeli alter of macho.
Only Gazans know how peace is truly made. It is never luxury rooms and five stars brainstorming sessions and talks that lead to peace. Peace can be made by eliminating the causes and the injuries and the scars wars cause. Israeli leadership knows that. Yet, Israel has managed to cause injury, pain, and suffering to every heart of every Palestinian. Some hearts are stricken by layers of sufferings, pains, and injuries.
Lately there have been rumors that Israel in an attempt to test and market its Iron Dome system, sought to provoke Palestinians and then kill 20, half of them children, women, or elderly. If the theory is true, what is strikingly new is that the lab rats this time were not the Palestinians of Gaza alone, but also the Israeli residents of the towns neighboring the Gaza Strip whose lives were also used by their government to test, and promote, their new Dome system. Do not they have to hide and be subjected to manmade Gaza rockets?
Gazans know very well that a new weapons system will bring a lot of money to Israel, but it won’t at least on the long run bring them peace and quiet, for more hearts have been broken, more vows have been made, and more young promising guys must have decided to join the Palestinian resistance seeing their relatives, friends, and neighbors being slain in front of their eyes. They become fighters in a battle imposed upon them and become soldiers who do not want to be soldiers.
What has Nedal, 22, who was busy planning her wedding party, done? She was not in the street, she was not being used as a shield, and she was not shooting at the Israeli tanks. What about her quadragenarian mother? Why was she killed? They both were safe and sound, or so they thought, in their house till the Israeli missiles chased them and hunted them down. If the world can’t see this, Gazans can. And they will not forget.
That is why Gazans know peace goes farther than finding the “suitable” peace partner. Peace requires a whole new generation that has not been subjected to the systematic terror of consecutive Israeli governments. Occupying Palestinian lands, Israel has dug itself a hole. They know it. And they are not even attempting to stop digging.
Refaat Alareer blogs at This Is Gaza.
On ‘Arna’s Children’ and the question of armed resistance
Apr 23, 2011
Philip Weiss
An American friend writes:
While I have your attention, I wanted to ask if you’ve watched Arna’s Children [readers can find it on Youtube here]. I saw it at the Brecht Forum last week, and I have to say I was somewhat disturbed by the event. Were the film a clinical look at the effects of occupation–the occupation can provoke some Palestinians to violence–that would be one thing. But instead, the film is framed as a tribute to the late Juliano Mer Khamis’s mother Arna and the school she established in Jenin, which, from the clips we see, employed a kind of violent pedagogy that a viewer might (unscientifically, but plausibly) conclude contributed to the future radicalization of its students. The movie ends with a group of children singing a paean to martydrom and resistance, as if this, indeed, was Arna’s legacy. As I said, I was disturbed by this depiction, and by its reception (albeit predictable) by the habitual denizens of the Brecht Forum, some of whom were wearing t-shirts that praised armed struggle.
You know me. You have a sense of my politics. I’m not a person who cries “incitement”–ever (even now). But the movie didn’t sit right with me. Manhohla Dargis called it “insulting to every Palestinian who struggles without a gun in hand”–and I think there’s something to this, as well. Where is Palestinian agency?
‘NYT’ readers bridle at Netanyahu’s congressional conquest, saying it goes against the American interest
Apr 23, 2011
Philip Weiss
A friend writes: When you look at the lopsided recommendations on the readers’ comments about this New York Times article– in which the Republicans’ invitation to Netanyahu to speak to Congress has put Obama in a difficult position– you get the idea that a large majority of Americans are opposed to Israel’s policies. It makes you wonder why this opposition does not seem to have an impact on Congressionalelections. Some of the comments:
1.
Lou
North Carolina
April 21st, 2011
8:08 am
I would like someone to tell me how Israel strategically enhances the US position in the Mideast.
Recommend Recommended by 152 Readers
1.
Lou
North Carolina
April 21st, 2011
8:08 am
I would like someone to tell me how Israel strategically enhances the US position in the Mideast.
Recommend Recommended by 152 Readers
The republican party is obviously pandering to the Jewish vote in 2012. It would not surprise me if they increased the aid to Israel as well while the cut funding to our own needed programs. I have no use for this arrogant nationalist, Netanyahu, and it it were up to me I would not even let him into the country. He is no ally or friend to the USA.
Recommend Recommended by 151 Readers
The republican party is obviously pandering to the Jewish vote in 2012. It would not surprise me if they increased the aid to Israel as well while the cut funding to our own needed programs. I have no use for this arrogant nationalist, Netanyahu, and it it were up to me I would not even let him into the country. He is no ally or friend to the USA.
Recommend Recommended by 151 Readers
4.
Wizarat
Moorestown, NJ
April 21st, 2011
8:10 am
It would be interesting to watch Rep Cantor and Boehner putting a foreign country’s interest in front of US interest. It appears that the foreign policy of US needs a seal of approval from Tel Aviv.
Where is Congresswoman Michelle Bachman with her LOYALTY TEST? Playing politics with this sensitive issue is not in our interest.
Recommend Recommended by 150 Readers
4.
Wizarat
Moorestown, NJ
April 21st, 2011
8:10 am
It would be interesting to watch Rep Cantor and Boehner putting a foreign country’s interest in front of US interest. It appears that the foreign policy of US needs a seal of approval from Tel Aviv.
Where is Congresswoman Michelle Bachman with her LOYALTY TEST? Playing politics with this sensitive issue is not in our interest.
Where is Congresswoman Michelle Bachman with her LOYALTY TEST? Playing politics with this sensitive issue is not in our interest.
Recommend Recommended by 150 Readers
13.
jsb
binghamton, ny
April 21st, 2011
8:31 am
Another war criminal the Republicans admire. Netanyahu disgraces his country. The invitation disgraces ours.
Recommend Recommended by 135 Readers
13.
jsb
binghamton, ny
April 21st, 2011
8:31 am
Another war criminal the Republicans admire. Netanyahu disgraces his country. The invitation disgraces ours.
Recommend Recommended by 135 Readers
5.
Majed
CINCINNATI, OHIO
April 21st, 2011
8:12 am
Majed
CINCINNATI, OHIO
April 21st, 2011
8:12 am