THE ‘LUCK’ OF A PALESTINIAN IN ISRAEL

June 4, 2012 at 06:30 (Human Rights, Israel, Palestine, Racial Profiling, Second Class Citizens, zionist harassment)

I’m a “lucky” Palestinian: instead of being jailed, I’m subjected to racial profiling

Yara Hawari 

The new security routine at Ben Gurion airport attempts — but fails — to disguise racial profiling.

(Oren Ziv / ActiveStills)

As a Palestinian citizen of present-day Israel, I have an Israeli passport and am allowed to fly in and out of Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. That is as far as Israeli courtesy has been extended to me. Each time I use this airport, I am subjected to racial profiling.

When I was younger and lived in Jerusalem, we would often fly to the UK to visit my mother’s family. I still vividly remember the ordeal that we would go through at the airport.

“Wrong” queue

We would always have to leave for the airport ridiculously early to be sure that the extensive security checks wouldn’t make us miss our flight. When we arrived at the check-in area, there would be two queues for each flight. A queue for Israeli nationals and a queue for foreigners.

Naturally we would stand in the Israeli national queue because despite our staunch Palestinian identity we wanted to be treated as equal citizens of the country. Airport security workers would make their way through the Israeli queue, checking passports and briefly questioning people about their luggage. When they reached us my father would address them in Hebrew (he has mastered the Israeli accent, after studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem).

But it wouldn’t take them long to register that he was, as they like to call us, an Israeli Arab. His name and place of registration (the village of Tarshiha in the Galilee) were obvious indicators, as was the fact that my mother, brother and I did not speak Hebrew. We would then be asked to move to the foreigners’ queue.

I remember several occasions when my father made loud protests at this request and the people in the foreigners’ queue would back him up. The accusations of racism and apartheid were always ignored and so we would reluctantly have to stand in the foreigners’ queue.

Designed to humiliate

If this wasn’t unfair enough we would then be subjected to an intense “security check.” Our belongings would be taken out of our suitcases, displayed so the whole airport could see, and scrutinized. We would be asked questions that had nothing to done with flight security but rather were designed to humiliate and frustrate us.

Our fellow Israeli passengers who witnessed our public security check would look on with a hostility that would continue on the actual flight. As children, my brother and I didn’t understand the gravity of our treatment; in fact, we considered it normal. The awareness of this racial profiling grew over the years, especially after using other airports where we were not subjected to anything like this.

In more recent years, the Israeli authorities decided that the airport needed a massive facelift to accommodate an increased number of passengers. So in 2004 a new state-of-the-art terminal was opened. This terminal included a new security routine that attempted to disguise the racial profiling that is imbedded in Israeli society.

Now Palestinian citizens of Israel are allowed to stand in the Israeli queue. They have a new system of security checks that lead to one being classified with numbers ranging from one to six, six being considered the highest security threat.

When you are standing in a queue someone from the airport security team will check your passport and ask you a few basic security questions such as: Did you pack your bag yourself? Do you have anything sharp in your hand luggage?

Then you will proceed to the x-ray machine for your bags. After this, you are either directed to the “security lab” — as I like to call it — or the check-in desks. Very few people make it straight to the check-in desks.

This “security lab” consists of about nine stations which have surfaces for the suitcases and computer screens with the x-ray images of your luggage. The lab also has a variety of machines to detect residues of explosive substances, among other things. This is the standard procedure for all passengers flying out of Ben Gurion.

Questions reserved for Arabs

Let me now explain my experience as a Palestinian with an Israeli passport. In the queue, waiting for my bags to be x-rayed, I am approached by a member of Israeli airport security. The member of staff begins speaking to me in Hebrew and I explain that I don’t speak Hebrew, much to his or her confusion. The staff member then opens my passport, noticing my name.

Then I get the “special” questions reserved only for Arabs:

“What were you doing here?” Visiting family.

“Where do your family live?” Tarshiha.

“What are their names?” What, all of their names? I have a very big family.

“Some of their names.” Haneen, Abed, Fadi, Majd, Mayse …

“That’s fine. Where do you live?” Oxford, England.

“But you used to live here?” Yes. “OK, wait here.”

The staff member then goes to speak to the head of security who tends to be milling around. Some pointing at me ensues, along with a nod of the head. They come back and put stickers on my bags. They discreetly give me a level six, reserved only for those who are considered a potential security check. I get my bags x-rayed and proceed to the lab where I am assigned two members of the security team (everyone else gets only one). They then proceed to go through everything in my suitcase, dirty clothes included. Every now and then, they ask me what this or that is, where I got it from, showing items to colleagues.

To most tourists, my special treatment goes unnoticed as they are subjected to a very watered-down version of this procedure.

After an hour or so, I am then asked to follow one of them to the “special room” for a body check. To my knowledge, most Arabs and Palestinians go into this room, and occasionally the odd foreigner as well. Despite Israeli insistence that this process is random, it is not. I have been going to the “special room” every time since I turned 15.

This “special room” consists of cubicles where you are patted down and prodded to make sure you aren’t hiding anything. Recently, they have begun checking in between my toes and combing through my hair. The whole process is degrading and frustrating, especially when you know that most other passengers are not subjected to this.

What’s worse is that during this procedure they continue to ask me questions but in a more off-the-record fashion. I am always asked why I don’t speak Hebrew and why I have an Israeli passport. As it isn’t enough that I have to sit in a dingy cubicle, essentially being felt up, I am subjected to ignorant questions about my identity.

Nothing to do with security

As with many security measures in Israel, the airport procedures are aimed at making life difficult for Palestinians and have little to do with security. On various occasions, I have notice lapses in their security which have confirmed my accusations of harassment for the sake of harassment.

Once I was listening to my iPod as they rummaged through my stuff. When they finished, I closed all my bags, popping my iPod inside one of them and proceeded to the “special room” for my body search. The same happened with a book I was reading once.

Both times I could have easily hidden an item considered as a security threat. I also noticed that many Israeli Jews can bypass the security lab. Are Israeli Jews incapable of any kind of threat?

Remaining sane through resistance

Throughout this treatment I am able to retain a bit of sanity by committing my own acts of resistance. For example when they are going through my luggage I like to read an appropriate book in front of them. Something on the Nakba (the systematic ethnic cleansing that led to Israel’s foundation) or Palestinian identity usually does the trick.

Often when they open my suitcase, they’ll find a traditional checkered scarf — or kuffiyeh— and an “I love Palestine” t-shirt spread out on the top. Also, when they ask me for the names of family members, I have taken to reciting various different groups of people. Once it was the Rightly Guided Caliphs, last time it was Lebanese pop singers (Nancy, Elissa etc.). I think next time I’ll go for The Spice Girls.

Despite these attempts to lighten the airport experience, it is still completely humiliating and upsetting. However, it is simply another thing the Palestinians endure on a day-to-day basis. The very fact that I get to fly out of Tel Aviv makes me one of the lucky ones.

As I write, thousands of Palestinians are stuck in Israeli prisons without hope of being released — and even more are stuck in the great outdoor prisons of the West Bank and Gaza. Yes, I am one of the lucky ones. But how awful that I am considered as such when I have to go through such a public ordeal of racial profiling.

Yara Hawari is a masters student in Palestine Studies at Exeter University (England) and will be commencing her PhD later this year. Her research focuses on Nakba memory and oral history inside historic Palestine. Yara is a Palestinian from the Galilee, and although she left Palestine ten years ago, she frequently visits family and conducts research back home.

Source

5 Comments

SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF ISRAEL

April 24, 2012 at 12:57 (Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Corrupt Politics, Human Rights, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, Status of Jerusalem, zionist harassment)

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I was born in the United States, I left there 45 years ago. I never lost my American citizenship. I immigrated to Canada, became a citizen there but left 28 years ago. I never lost my Canadian citizenship. I have lived in Israel since leaving Canada giving me 3 citizenships…
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BUT
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A man who was born here has no status whatsoever; Amir Salima, 21, from the Old City of Jerusalem, has no legal status – not in Israel, not in the Palestinian Authority and not anywhere else. He has no identity card, no passport, he cannot register for university studies, apply for a job, sign up for an HMO or open a bank account. He cannot visit the West Bank or anywhere else outside of Jerusalem. In fact, he can barely leave his house, for fear of being caught by the police.
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HERE …. in the ‘only Democracy in the Middle East???
Yup! Something is definitely rotten in the State of Israel….
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Amir Salima in his home in Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday.  Photo by: Michal Fattal

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East Jerusalem man, denied residency by Israel, effectively prisoner in own home

Interior Ministry refuses to recognize 21-year-old Amir Salima as resident of the city, despite the fact that his parents and siblings are all considered residents.

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Amir Salima, 21, from the Old City of Jerusalem, has no legal status – not in Israel, not in the Palestinian Authority and not anywhere else. He has no identity card, no passport, he cannot register for university studies, apply for a job, sign up for an HMO or open a bank account. He cannot visit the West Bank or anywhere else outside of Jerusalem. In fact, he can barely leave his house, for fear of being caught by the police.

Salima is a man with no identity. The absurdity of his situation is amplified by the fact that his parents and five siblings all hold Israeli identity cards. The reason is simple: unfortunately for him, he was born in a hospital in Ramallah, and not in Jerusalem.

Over the years, the Interior Ministry turned down several requests by his parents for an Israeli identity card for their son. In three weeks, the Jerusalem District Court is set to discuss a petition he submitted against the state through the organization Hamoked: The Center for the Defense of the Individual.

Salima fell victim to a complex legal situation in which Palestinians from East Jerusalem are eligible for “residency,” under the Entry to Israel Law, similar to tourists who enter Israel for a limited stay. Residency, however, does not pass automatically from parents to children, and the law does not address a situation in which the child of residents is born outside of Israel.

Salima was born in 1991 in a hospital near Ramallah, after his mother began having labor pains while visiting her sister, who lives there. “At first it didn’t matter, he was a child and there were no checkpoints,” said his father Naim.

The problems began when Amir’s parents tried to register him for school, but through connections and good will they managed to sign him up for a school in East Jerusalem, despite his not holding an identity card.

After a long journey through the bureaucracy, he managed to take his matriculation exams, using his father’s identity number. He got high marks on the exams, but three years have passed since then during which he has essentially been a prisoner in his own home.

In one case, a police officer even sought to expel him from his house, after declaring him “illegally present.” In another case, he was caught by police and strip searched. Since then, he is reluctant to leave home.

As a result, while all of his siblings are now completing degrees in law and engineering, Amir is stuck in his room, in a small house next to Herod’s Gate in the Old City, spending most of his time in front of his computer. “Facebook, Hotmail, what else can I do?” he says.

“Dad says driving him around in his car is more dangerous than transporting hashish,” says his brother Fadi.

In the petition, Salima’s lawyer Adi Lustigman argues that the right to legal standing is anchored in Israeli law and in international agreements signed by Israel.

“Amir Salima has spent his whole life in Israel on the seam line, a son to two parents who are Israeli residents and a brother to five brothers and sisters who are Israeli residents. His whole life is centered here. There is no other place where he can go and receive status,” she wrote.

“This obtuseness toward a person, when a government body knows that he is a minor, is deplorable and reveals the system’s double standard toward the Palestinians,” the petition states.  

The petition concludes with a line from a Leonard Cohen song: “Show me the place, where you want your slave to go.”

The Interior Ministry said in response, “The family’s request was rejected due to various reasons, among them center of life. Moreover, their request was recently rejected by [an Interior Ministry] committee. Beyond that, our full response will be submitted to the court.” 

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Even WITH residency status or citizenship, when the State DECIDES you are in the way of illegal settlers moving into YOUR home, you are simply evicted.
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First forced eviction of Palestinian family in Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina to make way for Jewish settlers

Submitted by Adri Nieuwhof
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On 18 April, the Palestinian Natsheh family was evicted from their home in Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighborhood in the north of occupied East Jerusalem The eviction was carried out by the Bailiff’s Office with police back-up. Beit Hanina’s first forced removal left two parents and nine children homeless.

Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, immediately released a statement condemning Israel’s unlawful act. “Evictions of Palestinians from their homes and properties in occupied territory contravene international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, and should cease,” he said.

A few days later, the European Union missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah followed Gaylard’s example. The EU missions expressed their deep concern about the plans to build a new settlement in the midst of Beit Hanina, reported press agency AFP. The missions reiterated the EU position that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law.

Family has been on land since 1940s

The eviction follows a court case brought against the Palestinian families by Aryeh King, founder of the right-wing settlement organization Israel Land Fund. King claimed that the property belonged to Jewish residents prior to 1948 and were purchased by a Jewish buyer 35 years ago. Palestinian owner Khaled Natsheh could not prove his ownership of his property because land transactions in Beit Hanina between Palestinians are generally not filed with the municipality, he told the Jerusalem Post. Members of the Natsheh family possessed the land as far back as the 1940s.

The Jerusalem Magistrate Court decided to grant ownership of the property to King’s “client.” Following the court decision one Palestinian family “voluntarily” left their home after King promised to waive the NIS 250,000 debt the court awarded to the Israel Land Fund for damages. However, the Natsheh family refused to move. “Even if [King] gave me a million shekels I wouldn’t give him the keys,” said Natsheh. “I’m not going to leave, I will die here. Whatever they want to do, they can do. Whatever they want, I’m not leaving the house. If they kill me, they kill me,” he told the Jerusalem Post.

The Israel Land Fund plans to build 50 apartments for settlers on the land which is located close to the Jerusalem Light Rail. King advertised the Israel land Fund’s illegal business in Beit Hanina on twitter on 28 March:

Screenshot of Arieh King’s tweet with a photo of the Natsheh family home.

Judaizing Beit Hanina

The photo in King’s tweet shows the house of the Natsheh family. In Judaizing’ Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem, with backing from Americans, Jeff Halper described the harassment of the Natsheh family.

Driving Palestinians out of their homes in “east” Jerusalem is, as you can imagine, a dirty business. But its not terribly difficult. The Palestinians are a vulnerable population, poor (70% subsist on less than $2 a day), completely unprotected by the law or Israeli courts, and targeted by determined Jewish settlers with all the money and political backing in the world – much of its coming, of course, from the US, mainly from orthodox Jews and Christian Zionists. Over the past few days settlers led by Arieh King have been harassing Palestinian residents of Beit Hanina, according to King, settlers will “very soon” take over four houses, plus an additional two houses in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where violent nighttime evictions aided by the Israeli police have become commonplace. The immediate target of window-breaking, curses, violent encounters and now a police search of the home “for weapons” is the Natsheh family of Beit Hanina.

The illegal practices in Beit Hanina of King’s Israel Land Fund are welcomed by the Jerusalem Deputy Mayor David Hadari. “The city of Jerusalem needs to remember that every government talks about a united Jerusalem, that means that Jews can build in every place, and we’ll continue to build through the entire city,” he told the Jerusalem Post.

However, East Jerusalem is occupied territory under international law and Israel has no right to demolish Palestinian property, to evict Palestinians from their homes or land, or to build on Palestinian land: no walls, no settlements and no light rail. To condemn these violations of the rights of the Palestinians is not sufficient.

Written FOR

7 Comments

A WEEKEND IN PALESTINE …. IF YOU CAN GET THERE (PART TWO)

April 16, 2012 at 11:20 (Activism, Civil Rights, DesertPeace Exclusive, Hasbara, Human Rights, International Solidarity, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, Photography, zionist harassment)

First a short video presentation of the events on Saturday… Israeli terrorism in action IN PALESTINE
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Palestinian and international cyclists were brutally attacked by the Israeli occupation forces on Saturday as they attempted to bike up Route 90, the main North-South highway running through the Jordan Valley. The cyclists were demonstrating against Israeli apartheid policies in the Jordan Valley, which limit Palestinian access to roadways as part of an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing against the indigenous Bedouin communities of the Valley.
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For more information visit the International Solidarity Movement at
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Photo Essay of the goings on at Ben Gurion Airport yesterday…
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Left wing Israeli activist, Yonatan Shapira,  is arrested by Israeli police as they demonstrate in favor of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ fly-in protest on April 15, 2012 at the Ben Gurion Air Port near Tel Aviv, Israel. Some 650 policemen were stationed at the airport as hundreds of activists and protesters were due to arrive as part of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ fly-in protest.
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‘He who laughs, laughs last…
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Right wing activists demonstrate against the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ fly-in protest on April 15, 2012 at the Ben Gurion Air Port near Tel Aviv, Israel. Some 650 policemen were stationed at the airport as hundreds of activists and protesters were due to arrive as part of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ fly-in protest.
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I swear the one on the left looks like the son of Satan…
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The above photos (and more) are from Activestill’s Photostream
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Yesterdays events were a reenactment of Israel’s terrorism a year ago …. Here is an article by Sam Bahour that appeared in the Guardian last July
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Welcome to Palestine – if you can get in

By Sam Bahour
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Israel’s threat to deny visitors entry to Palestine is as disturbing as it is shocking. Our protest will be a civil society tsunami

Separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank

A Palestinian flag is attached to barbed wire in front of the separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank in 2010. Photograph: Oliver Weiken/EPA/Corbis

Palestinians have globally touted an array of rights that Israel systematically denies. There is the right of return, the right of freedom of movement, the right to water, the right to education, the right to enter (not to be confused with refugees’ right to return) and so on.

But the right to receive visitors, or lack thereof? This is the most recent addition. The prohibition on freely receiving foreign visitors is as disturbing as it is shocking, especially for a country that claims to be the only beacon of democracy in the Middle East.

Yes, you read correctly. Israel is threatening to refuse to allow Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territory to receive visitors from abroad. We are not talking here about visitors such as the 5 million Palestinian refugees whom Israel has refused to allow to return to their homes after being expelled by force and fear when Israel was founded in 1948. Rather, the issue now is that foreigners who desire to visit the occupied Palestinian territory are being denied entry into Israel.

Remember, there is no other way to get to the Palestinian territory of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which is under military occupation by Israel, except by passing through Israeli-controlled points of entry such as Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv or one of Israel’s sea ports or land crossings. The entry point to the Gaza Strip from the West Bank requires passage through Israel as well.

So, more than 300 international activists plan to arrive in Tel Aviv during the week of 8 July at the invitation of 30 Palestinian civil society organisations, to participate in an initiative named “Welcome to Palestine“. Delegations from France, Great Britain, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, the USA, Japan and several African countries are expected.

Upon arrival at Ben Gurion airport, the invited guests, all from countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel, will make no secret of their intent to go to the occupied Palestinian territory. This nonviolent act, a civil society tsunami of sorts, only comes after Israel’s restriction of movement and access to and from Palestine for Palestinians and foreigners has exhausted all established channels that carry the responsibility to uphold international law first and their domestic laws second.

The greatest inaction has come from the US state department, even though it has put on record, multiple times, the fact that Israel is discriminating at its borders against US citizens.

It is also worth noting that the 1951 Israel friendship, commerce and navigation treaty explicitly states: “There shall be freedom of transit through the territories of each Party by the routes most convenient for international transit …” and persons “in transit shall be exempt from … unreasonable charges and requirements; and shall be free from unnecessary delays and restrictions.” So much for respecting signed agreements.

Israel, as a state and previously as a Zionist movement, has gone to every extreme to fragment and dispossess the Palestinian people. It has had accomplices every step of the way, starting with Great Britain and continuing to this very day with the US and the flock of UN member states that act more like parakeets to the US than sovereign states when it comes to Palestine.

Well, the game of inaction is coming to an end. When states fail, people take over. It is these people, like those coming to Palestine this week, or those attempting to reach the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip by sea, or those living in Palestine and resisting the occupation day in and day out, who will prove to historians once again that history is made of real people who have a keen sense of humanity and the courage to sacrifice.

• Sam Bahour is one of the co-ordinators of the Right to Enter Campaign. Comments on this article are set to remain open for 24 hours from the time of publication but may be closed overnight


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A CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL OF TRIAL AND TRIBULATION

April 8, 2012 at 10:15 (Holidays, Human Rights, Israel, Occupied West Bank, Palestine, zionist harassment)

But for the past several years in Jerusalem, the mood on Holy Saturday and the rest of Holy Week has not been one of rejoicing and triumph but instead one of trial and tribulation.
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For thousands of years Christians throughout the world celebrated Easter as the time their Savior rose from the dead …. throughout the world except right here where the miracle supposedly happened.
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Instead, Christians on the way to their Holy Sites in Israel were stopped short by barricades and roadblocks…
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Because of travel restrictions in past years, the vast majority of Christians living in the West Bank have been stopped at checkpoints and prevented from attending one of the most important religious services of the year. Israeli authorities require permits for entering Jerusalem. Local Christians estimate that only 2,000 — 3,000 permits are provided, despite the overwhelming desire among the 50,000 Palestinian Christians to travel from the West Bank and Gaza for the Easter week celebrations in Jerusalem.

Those who make it across checkpoints and into Israel are still barricaded by numerous walls and other security obstructions. As a result, even many who have permits are unable to make it to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 2010, a Palestinian colleague of mine at World Vision, who had warm memories as a child of the Holy Fire service, was able to return to the Holy Sepulchre. She described the scene for those able to gain entrance to the church: “The crowd, striving to stay joyful, could still feel the change of what Easter had now become and the dark cloud of checkpoints, police forces, and denial of entry that had obscured the joy of this holiday.”

In a recent letter by 80 Palestinian Christian leaders, including the Greek Orthodox archbishop of Jerusalem, Palestinian Christians spoke out against the lack of religious freedom inside Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. They complained of being forced to endure an “assault on our natural and basic right to worship.”*

The above is taken from THIS report.*

Here is a video prepared two years ago, nothing has changed…

Everyone else in the Occupied West Bank (except the illegal settlers) is literally locked in for the duration of the Hebrew Festival of Freedom, Passover,  proving once again that Israel is the ‘only Democracy in the Middle East …. if you are Jewish.*

This week should be a Festival of Freedom for ALL!

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2 Comments

DAY OF POGROMS AND TERROR THROUGHOUT PALESTINE

March 31, 2012 at 11:00 (Activism, Associate Post, Collective Punishment, Human Rights, Israel, Occupation, Oppression, Palestine, Soldier Brutality, zionist harassment)

PEACEFUL LAND DAY DEMOS MET WITH ISRAELI MILITARY TERRORISM
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Israeli border police officers use pepper spray as they detain an injured Palestinian protester during clashes on Land Day after Friday prayers outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on March 30.
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More photos and related reports HERE
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Land Day
Updates by Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
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Two of our  friends were among the over >150 people injured today by the Israeli occupation forces.  Demonstrations were held in dozens of locations in Palestine and the border areas of Palestine.  Other demosntrations were held for Land Day in cities around the world.  The ambulance took our friend and home guest Don Bryant (US Citizen) to the hospital as he was hit in the head by a tear gas canister.  We quickly gathered the rest of the group and rushed to the hospital.  There we find many injured people (I counted 8 in the emergency room and two at the X-ray).  One of the injured there was our friend Yusef Sharqawi hit with a rubber-coated steel bullet that fractured his shoulder blade. Mohamed Zakout, 20 year old was shot and kileld by Israeli forces in Gaza as he participated in a demonstration near the Erez checkpoint.  In Jerusalem, Israeli occupation forces used horses to trample on people and arrested 36 individuals.  Before all is done Israel will likely to arrest 300 people.   Below is our video and other relevant videos.

Some of my students have more logic/sense than the political leadership of the USA, Israel and the “Palestinian authority” combined.  For example, last week we had a lively discussion about roles of politiciansin creating the problems and perpetuuating the disastrous human rights violations here. I don’t teach this course human rights but I coach it so after we exchanged significant information about these issues all of it showing the bad things of politics (collaborations, agreements of surrender, etc), I asked to take time for us to talk just about the positives (no negatives).  I was surprised at some of the good comments that came out: persistance of the Palestinain people, demonstrations and many forms of popular resistance happening, the fact that rights are not lost for people even when their leadershuip is corrupt and weak, the fact that many were martyred/injured/imprisoned for their work for Palestine, the fact that while some collaborated and even sold their conscience and tehir heritabe, more simply refused ……

So it is that we can always look at the glass half empty or half full.  We can always curse the darkness or light a candle and hope for the best.  We can feel depressed and powerless or we can actually do something.  I was anxious before the demonstrations today.  Our mind racing to worry about level of participation/attendance and about Israeli authorities’ violent reaction to peaceful demonstrators (there is afterall a long history of that including shooting at unarmed demonstrators). We have to remind myself of the positives and forget all the  negatives (or at least just learn from them lessons and keep them in the back of our mind).  The march was a success even before it started.  The thousands who tried to arrive to us here in Palestine got an education THROUGH the process of preparing to come to nearby boerders and they each  told many othesr where they are going and why.  This ripple effect that started montsh before today’s events is critical. Here are a few other positives before, during and after this event today:

-37 Indian activists were stranded in a ship off the port of Beirut for 36 hours.  Activists in India mobilized speaking to parliamentarians and other officials and the indian embassy was able to get the Lebanese government to finally issue the visas for them.  This ensured atht more people because aware of our predicament here: not onlt the Zionist regime but the col;lusion sometiems of Arab regimes.  It also meant more avtivism in india will be growing and more boycotts, divestments and sanctions.
- Hundreds of actvists from different countries did not know about each other or their commen interests until this event. The process of linking together via physical meetings and internet empowered many of tehm and they became more active in tehir local communities.  I know of several example where new projects (e.g. on boycotts divestment, sacnction, different ways of media work etc) were started in some copuntries or localities because they learned from the networking with other activists.
-Activists learned via doing how to work in team efforts, how to make collective decisions etc.  These skills are useful for any kind of collective work.
-The attempts by the Zionist manipulated media to hide and ignore the brutality of the apartheid regime is backfiring.  More and more people stopped seeking news via these corporate outlets and started to get news directly via blogs, live feed, email etc.
-Israeli  Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai said about the events today “It’s important to remember that this is the first day. The Nakba and Naksa days are ahead of us, and that is where the challenge will be.”  It is obvious that they start to worry!
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Our video in Bethlehem
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Other videos
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More links to reports can be found HERE

2 Comments

HAS ISRAEL FORGOTTEN WHO THE OCCUPIER IS?

March 25, 2012 at 09:08 (Chutzpah, Corrupt Politics, DesertPeace Editorial, Hasbara, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine)

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There was a bizarre reaction by Israel after the United Nations’ Human Rights Council decided to establish an international investigative committee on the West Bank settlements.
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Lieberman said Friday that the move by the UN body proves that the Palestinians do not want to renew negotiations with Israel. “We are dealing with Al-Qaida terror on the one hand and diplomatic terror by Abu Mazen on the other,” Lieberman said, referring to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
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The above is taken from THIS HaAretz report.
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Israel mulls ways to penalize PA in wake of UN human rights probe

Top ministers Lieberman, Ya’alon and Steinitz reportedly support freezing the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority.

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Is this or is this not a classical case of ‘blaming the victim’? Has Israel forgotten who the occupier is and who is the one in violation of human rights? Or, is this merely the Hasbaric method of showing the world that ‘might is right’, even when it is wrong?
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In any event, this happening just a week before the Jewish Festival of Passover, the celebration of Freedom itself, Israel has once again proven its disregard for human rights and humanity as well. All made possible by the blind support given by the Western ‘Democracies’.
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5 Comments

ANOTHER HUNGER STRIKER CLOSE TO DEATH IN ISRAELI JAIL

March 24, 2012 at 17:35 (Associate Post, Human Rights, Israel, Oppression, Palestine)

 Image ‘Copyleft’ by Carlos Latuff
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Palestinian hunger striker in danger
Battling against administrative detention, Hana Al-Shalabi has refused food for over a month, her health rapidly deteriorating, reports Khalid Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem

Hana Al-Shalabi, 24, was released from Israeli jails several months ago as part of the so-called Shalit deal. However, the young Palestinian woman was rearrested two months ago “on secret charges” and sent for administrative detention without charge or trial, ostensibly in order to make her suffer.

This, says Eissa Qaraki, the Palestinian Authority (PA) official in charge of the prisoner portfolio, is a deliberate Israeli policy aimed at hounding and harassing the released prisoners and destabilising their lives.

But Hana Al-Shalabi wouldn’t succumb to the unjust detention order. She resorted to the only means available to her and other inmates to voice their grievances: hunger strike.

On 18 February, she began an open-ended hunger strike to protest against this “illegal, illegitimate and immoral” open-ended incarceration, using her lawyer’s words.

On Sunday, she entered her 32nd day of fasting amid fears for her life as her health deteriorated rapidly.

Her family and human rights organisations in the occupied territories appealed to the UN and Red Cross to intervene and press the Israeli authorities to free her and also put an end to the blatant practice of detaining people for prolonged periods reaching up to 12 years and without trial or charges.

However, it is unlikely that Israel would reconsider the sinister practice that dates back to the British Mandate era and is reserved particularly for Palestinians “who wouldn’t keep quiet”. In the Israeli lexicon, “not keeping quiet” means supporting, even by peaceful means, one of the Palestinian liberation movements, such as Hamas or the Islamic Jihad.

Earlier in the week, Al-Shalabi was forcibly transferred to an Israeli hospital after a medical examination by a foreign physician. It is unknown if she was force-fed by Israeli medics or was only put under medical observation due to her deteriorating health.

Qaraki quoted Doctors for Human Rights, who examined the woman, as testifying that Al-Shalabi was no longer able to stand on her feet, was suffering from nausea, severe headaches and pain in the abdomen, as well as her heart slowing.

The Palestinian official held the Israel occupation fully responsible for Al-Shalabi’s life. He accused the Israeli authorities of behaving callously and inhumanely with regard to the Palestinian woman, saying: “Israel’s behaviour is vengeful and has no iota of legality or legitimacy or even humanity.”

Qaraki further denounced what he called “Israeli sadism and cannibalism”, accusing Israel of “allowing a given prisoner to reach the edge of the grave before intervening to save his or her life.”

Last month, the Israeli authorities met — if partially — the demands of Adnan Khadr at the last moment after he maintained an uninterrupted hunger strike for 66 days, the longest strike ever. An Israeli military court decided to release Khadr, apparently fearing that his death would spark widespread protests and violence throughout the occupied territories.

Khadr is due to be released next week.

The Israeli authorities have proposed to many prisoners a “plea bargain deal” whereby they would leave their country either for good or for a specific number of years. However, the prisoners refused the offer.

There are currently as many as 25 Palestinian detainees on hunger strike in Israeli detention centres, and the number is likely to increase as more prisoners are joining the “empty bowl” battle against the oppressive practice of administrative detention.

The “administrative detainees” in Israeli jails include some 26 elected lawmakers, as well as a large number of intellectuals and professionals.

Earlier, Aziz Duweik, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, who was abducted and sent to jail for administrative detention more than two months ago, praised Al-Shalabi, saying she was at the forefront of the battle to end the unjust practice.

“Administrative detention is only a euphemism for holding people captive or hostage for political reasons. This is the reason the Israeli authorities don’t tell the detainee why he is being detained. It is a draconian and unjust practice that has got to stop,” Duweik was quoted by his lawyer as saying.

Meantime, Israel is worried that “administrative detention” is beginning to lose its deterrent and punitive effects on Palestinians. Hence the dilemma facing Israel. Israel’s ultimate goal is to crush Palestinian aspirations for freedom and statehood and break their will to resist.

The Israeli occupation army has rearrested many of the prisoners released in the Shalit deal, either on concocted charges or without any charge at all.

The Israeli army has also murdered at least two of the released prisoners, one in Gaza during the latest Israeli aggression on the coastal enclave and the other during a raid on the town of Yatta near Hebron last week.

Hamas views the re-arrest of released prisoners as a grave violation of the Egyptian-brokered prisoner swap deal between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group.

Hamas officials, including Sheikh Saleh Aruri, who oversees the implementation of the agreement, have accused Israel of reneging on promises made to Egypt to refrain from re-arresting released prisoners.

He called the re-arrest of some 10 released prisoners “a clear indication of Israeli ill-will”. He also called on the Egyptian government to press the Israeli government to respect the agreement.

Written FOR

4 Comments

‘MILLION HOODIE MARCH’ IN MEMORY OF TRAYVON MARTIN

March 22, 2012 at 17:18 (Activism, Associate Post, Civil Rights, DesertPeace Exclusive, Human Rights, Photography, Racism)

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Hundreds marched through the streets of New York City on Wednesday night in memory of and to protest the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, in what organizers called the “Million Hoodie March.”

The march began in Manhattan’s Union Square, where a rally in support of Martin had taken place. Martin’s father Tracy Martin and mother Sybrina Fulton, in New York for interviews with major media outlets, made an appearance at the rally to thank the crowd for its enthusiasm. ”My heart is in pain,” Fulton said, according to the AP. “But to see the support of all of you really makes a difference.” See report and video HERE

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Thanks to the escalating outrage at Martin’s death an investigation has now been launched by the US department of justice, and the state attorney’s office will be sending it to a grand jury. It took three weeks, outrage and the mobilisation of thousands of people to make that happen. Apparently the facts alone did not warrant further inquiry. From a Guardian report
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Mini Commentary and
Photos © by Bud Korotzer
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FOTO OF THE MOTHER.

I’M NOT SURE WHO THE YOUNG WOMAN WITH HER IS: EITHER A SISTER OR THE GIRL FRIEND WHO TRAYVON WAS ON A CELL PHONE SPEAKING WITH BEFORE HE WAS MURDERED.

THE MAN IS THE PARENT’S LAWYER WHO DID MOST OF THE SPEAKING

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THE PARENTS.

WHEN THE PARENTS CAME THERE WAS AN INTENSE PRESS, ACTIVISTS , RUSH CROWDING THE PARENTS.

I WAS IN , BY LUCK, A GOOD SPOT TO GET SOME FOTOS: IT WAS A  STRUGGLE.

. THE POLICE WERE PUSHING THEIR WAY THRU AN INTENSE CROWD TO GET THE PARENTS  TO THE STAGE.

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WHEN TRAYVON WAS MURDERED HE WAS IN HIS WAY HOME HAVING PURCHASED ICE TEA AND A PKG OF CANDY SKITTLES.

PEOPLE BROUGHT TO THE EVENT PKG’S OF SKITTLES AND WAVED THEM IN THE AIR.

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ONE OF THE ACTIVISTS BEGAN TO SING “ WE ARE ALL ONE”.

EVERYBODY BEGAN TO SING IN UNISON & RAISE THEIR HAND WITH ONE FINGER POINTING UP

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Well integrated protest

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I LIKE THIS FOTO.

IT HAS THE SKITTLES, A POSTER, & A STATUE OF WASHINGTON:  “THE FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY” & A SLAVE OWNER IN THE BACKGROUND.

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PHOTO ESSAY ~~ WALL STREET REOCCUPIED THEN ZAPPED BY COPS

March 18, 2012 at 12:47 (Activism, Associate Post, DesertPeace Exclusive, Economy, Eyewitness Report, Human Rights, Occupy Wall Street, Photography, Police Brutality)

Be sure to read the report from the NYT at the end of this post….

To celebrate the 6 month anniversary of the  #Occupy Wall Street Movement, representatives of the 99% reoccupied Liberty Plaza / Zuccotti Park yesterday

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Photos © by Bud Korotzer
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NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD LEGAL OBSERVER INFORMING OWS OF THEIR RIGHTS IF  BEING THREATENED  WITH ARREST.

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Then it happenned….
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Eyewitness acccount….
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THIS WAS THE 1ST ARREST

A CAREFUL LOOK  AT THE FOTO SHOWS THE PERSON BEING ARRESTED.

ON THE A FOTO U CAN SEE THE POLICE WORKING THEIR WAY THRU TO MAKE THE ARREST.

FRM WHAT I WAS TOLD THE CHAP WAS SETTING UP A TENT. AN UNDER-COVER COP STARTED TO ARREST HIM. THE PROTESTERS PROTESTED WHICH BROUGHT IN THE OTHER POLICE.

THE GUY WAS THEN “DE-ARRESTED”. I ASKED , IF THE GUY WAS ARRESTED, THEN DE-ARRESTED WHY IS HE BEING ARRESTED NOW. IT WAS EXPLAINED TO ME THAT “DE-ARREST” MEANS THE GUY WAS PULLED AWAY BY HIS COMRADES, HE THEN  BEGAN TO RUN AWAY. AS HE RAN, ALL THE SPECTATORS WERE YELLING “RUN”  “RUN”  “RUN”.

THE POLICE CAUGHT HIM ACROSS THE STREET AND CON’T THE ARREST. THIS BROUGHT THE MASS OF OWS’ERS ACROSS THE STREET YELLING AT THE POLICE. THE SOFTEST WORDS USED WAS “SHAME” , “SHAME” .

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From the New York Times

Scores Arrested as Zuccotti Park Is Cleared

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5 Comments

CHRIST AT THE CHECKPOINT

March 16, 2012 at 13:04 (Activism, Associate Post, Human Rights, Nonviolent Resistance, Palestine)


I do see signs of hope here every day. For example, last week over 600 people (most Christian Evangelicals including renowned evangelical leaders) attended the Christ at the Checkpoint conference in Bethlehem.
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Christ at Checkpoint

By Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
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Israel has been paranoid about people finding out the truth of what it is doing. In an example of this, 55 Harvard students were expelled from Al-Walaja earlier this week (see). On several occasions when we took delegations to visit Al-Walaja we were harassed.  This included the times when I took a group of Israeli Jews, evangelical Christians, and even diplomatic staff to Al-Walaja.  Some who were sympathetic to Israel did change their views and started to see this as the apartheid system h it is (by International legal definition).  Just today I took some of my Palestinian students to see Al-Walaja and talk to villagers and even do their research projects on the village.  More Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals should come to these struggling villages and see reality. We are happy to show people around and/or put them in touch with the right people and not those who are profiteering from claiming they represent popular resistance.
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I do see signs of hope here every day. For example, last week over 600 people (most Christian Evangelicals including renowned evangelical leaders) attended the Christ at the Checkpoint conference in Bethlehem.  “Christ at the Checkpoint,” addressed the issue of how to find hope in the midst of conflict and in short “what would Jesus do?”. The conference exceeded all expectations (Christ at the Checkpoint challenges Christian Zionism).  I was honored to connect with friends but even more encouraged to meet many more new “converts”: those who now see that “Christian Zionism” is an oxymoron because one cannot be a true Christian (or Jew for that matter) and be a Zionist. Palestinian. Christians of various denominations usually do not agree on things (like who gets to clean what part of the Church of Nativity).  But in an unprecedented show of unity all of us agreed on a document called Kairos Palestine (see the Palestinian Christian call “A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of the Palestinian suffering”).  This generated a huge outpouring of support from churches throughout the world and now has an Islamic response to it (See for example United Methodist response  and The Justice Committee of the General Assembly Mission Council (of the Presbyterian Church) voted to approve a recommendation to the General Assembly for divestiture an Islamic Response to Kairos Palestine).
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We also see the hope in the determined spirit of most of my students (at three universities) to go beyond the misery and difficulty of the occupation and colonization.  They challenge their own minds and begin to see that it is only they who can shape their own future despite incredible odds. We saw it in the play by Al-Rowwad theater group in Aida refugee camp, a play called Handala after the inspiring cartoon character of Naji Al-Ali (For an early version of the play, see part 1  and part 2 ).
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Meanwhile life here goes in sometimes mundane things and sometimes dramatic issues.  In the mundane for example one could count spending two and a half hour on the checkpoint coming back from teaching at Al-Quds University. We could count the incident where freelance photographer Mati Milstein videotaped Israeli border police tossing a tear gas canister at Palestinian women who were just enjoying a late afternoon chat outside their home.  Mati said “There was no violence in this area, no stone throwing or any kind of organizing by demonstrators. Border Policemen were driving around the area and suddenly on one of their patrols the commander decided to toss a tear gas grenade at the people, for no apparent reason, at least as far as I could see”.
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In the intermediate level we saw it in the demonstrations in Beit Dajan area where villagers were trying to open the road to the village that was closed by the Israeli occupation army 10 years ago (See “After much injustice, Beit Dajan debuts its peaceful resistance and see photos here). And we see the struggle to allow our people to keep solar panels for their electric use (See Palestinians prepare to lose the solar panels that provide a lifeline)

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And in the other end of the spectrum we saw a massacre of 26 Palestinians in four days in Israeli illegal attacks on Gaza.  We also see the life of Palestinian political prisoner Hana Shalabi in danger as she is in her 29th day of hunger strike to protest the policy of administrative detention.
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Final Quote from Zionists who pushed for the $3 trillion war on Iraq as they now try to repeat that episode on Iran: “A critical challenge for this policy option is that, absent a clear Iranian act of aggression, American airstrikes against Iran would be unpopular in the region and throughout the world” ( Kenneth Pollack, et al, Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy toward Iran, pp. 84-85. Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, June 2009 )
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We must maintain our hope and our energy and move towards justice, freedom, and equality and that redemption called for so brilliantly by young South African Mbuyiseni Ndlozi speaking on Palestine.




 

5 Comments

WHEN SILENCE SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS

March 12, 2012 at 16:15 (DesertPeace Editorial, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine, zionist harassment)

Who ever even heard of Israeli Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran? Pretty much what I expected …. almost no one.
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Who is he?
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Justice Joubran is the first Arab citizen ever to serve as a regular judge on the Supreme Court.
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Here’s a recent photo of him (on the left) taken at a farewell ceremony for a retiring Justice…
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Can you see whe he’s doing that the guy on the right isn’t? He’s not singing the Israeli National Anthem, Hatikva.
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His silence caused uproars among the extreme right wing members of the Knesset …. He never muttered a sound or a word, yet the right was prepared to literally tar and feather the man. In his silence, a statement was made without using the art of language, the statement being; ISRAEL NEEDS A NEW NATIONAL ANTHEM!
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Four year ago the first Arab Minister in the Knesset also refused to sing the anthem, I posted about it then and repost it HERE…
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Look at the words (and translation) of Hatikva …. it will help you understand why Palestinians refuse to sing it …. IT’S NOT THEIR ANTHEM!
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Hatikva text in Hebrew:
עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ,
הַתִּקְוָה בַּת שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם,
לִהְיוֹת עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ,
אֶרֶץ צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם.
 כֹּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה
נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה,
וּלְפַאֲתֵי מִזְרָח, קָדִימָה,
עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּה,

Transliteration of Hatikva text:

Kol od balevav penimah,
Nefesh yehudi homiyah,
Ulefa-atei mizrach, kadimah,
Ayin letziyon tsofiyah.		 Od lo avdah tikvateinu
Hatikva bat shnot alpayim,
Lihyot am chofshi be-artzeinu,
Eretz tzion, virushalayim.

Translation of the Hatikva:

As long as in the heart within,
The Jewish soul yearns,
And toward the eastern edges, onward,
An eye gazes toward Zion.
 Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope that is two-thousand years old,
To be a free nation in our land,
The Land of Zion, Jerusalem.
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The incident involving Justice Joubran occured more than two weeks ago but is still making headline news in Israel and the international Jewish Press. This could be nothing but a tool being used to ignore the real issues of the day..
Israel’s plans to attack Iran …
Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip …
The list is endless.
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Here are some of the reports on the subject that are worth reading… (click on headings)
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Arab justice’s ‘Hatikva’ silence was a song of protest

The refusal of Justice Salim Joubran, the first Arab to win a permanent appointment to the Supreme Court, to sing ‘Hatikva’ was an instructive lesson in Israeli democracy.

By Gideon Levy

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A Jewish Soul 
By Uri Avnery
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An Editorial in today’s Forward which includes a YouTube of the ‘singing’…
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The Sound of Silence


1 Comment

LATUFF ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

March 8, 2012 at 20:22 (Associate Post, Human Rights, International Women's Day, Israel, Oppression, Palestine)

Intl Women’s Day: Free Hana al-Shalabi, Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for 3 weeks

Now, Hana al-Shalabi approaches the completion of her third week on hunger strike. Like Adnan, Shalabi, 29, is protesting administrative detention, torture and humiliation at the hands of Israeli soldiers:

Full report HERE

Click on image to enlarge.

1 Comment

NEW YORK’S GAY COMMUNITY TARGETED BY ZIONISTS

March 5, 2012 at 09:25 (Activism, Associate Post, DesertPeace Exclusive, Human Rights, Hypocricy, International Solidarity, Israel, Oppression, Palestine, Photography, zionist harassment)

 Hypocrisy at its best…..
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Recently named best gay city in a contest, Tel Aviv has seen a sharp rise in gay tourism. The city has long been referred to as a “bubble” for its openness in a region not known for tolerance towards homosexuality – something that seems to add to its allure. Israel’s Tourism Ministry launched a campaign three years ago to promote gay tourism. Their efforts seem to have paid off. Gay tourism consultants have been flooded with requests, and attendance at Tel Aviv’s annual pride events was up 25% last summer.

Gay Pride Event Coordinator Adir Steiner said, “Tel Aviv is hot right now because it’s unique. It’s in the Middle East where it’s not so easy to be gay and it’s like a paradise in an area where you would not obviously have found an open city like Tel Aviv. So people find it interesting.”

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So, Israel wants their bucks ….. but they must remain silent on Palestinian issues ..
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A battle has been going on at New York’s LGBT Centre for over a year ….
Taking Pinkwashing to a whole new level, one of Israel’s very very good friends– gay male pornographer Michael Lucas– is boasting that he single-handedly got NY’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Trans Community Center to not only cancel a “Party to End Apartheid” fundraiser to cover costs for Israel Awareness Week, but to ban the group from ever renting there again.  Read THIS post from the archives..
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Also read THIS letter that deals with the Occupation of Palestine…. We are a diverse group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and trans activists, academics, artists, and cultural workers from the United States who participated in a solidarity tour in the West Bank of Palestine and Israel from January 7-13, 2012.
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Now, a look at what is going on in the Gay Community today…. (Sent by Chippy Dee)
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The center has not budged on the decision made last year to keep gay pro- Palestinian rights groups out of the center except to also ban NYC Queers Against Israeli Apartheid along with Seigebusters. ( See below.)  Yesterday members of those 2 groups along with members of the center who oppose the administration’s censorship, and some supporters of the various Palestinian human rights groups, occupied the center for about 2 hours and held a rally in the lobby there.  150+ people were there.  The rally included speakers, songs, and chants.  Several speakers pointed out that the Israeli treatment of Palestinians was very much a queer issue because they too are singled out for persecution, efforts are made to isolate and segregate them also and they have very limited rights.  These thoughts were presented very passionately.  Since the center has banned any discussion of Palestinian rights this meeting defied that ban. 
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 Protest censorship by New York’s LGBT Community Center

Saturday, March 3rd at 4 pm

208 West 13th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues

 We hope you will join Queers Against Israeli Apartheid and the 15 other groups that have endorsed the call for action this Saturday…see list below.

 On March 3rd we will gather at the LGBT Center from 4 to 6 pm to mark the one year anniversary of the Center’s banning of groups opposing Israeli apartheid. We will confront the Center’s censorship policy and its secret closed-door board of directors meetings.

It’s been a year since NY’s LGBT Community Center banned Siegebusters, the anti-occupation organizers, from using space at the Center. Since that time NYC Queers Against Israeli Apartheid has also been banned from the Center—and a “moratorium” has been imposed on ANY discussion of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict (meaning “discussion” of support for Palestinian rights). The Center’s board promised, but never delivered, a policy revision clarifying their rental/access/programming guidelines.

 On Saturday, March 3, as part of Israeli Apartheid Week, we will end the ban on Palestinian-related organizing at the Center, and re-institute the Center’s original access policy of full inclusion for all queers who organize for liberation. The “moratorium” is over!

 The wealthy and powerful 1% should not be allowed to silence the voices of the 99%.  Queers Against Israeli Apartheid will defy the ban on March 3 – Occupy the Center!

 Demands

1. End the ban on Palestine solidarity organizing at the Center

2. Open the Center to all who respect its stated mission.

3. Open the Center’s board meetings and decision-making process to the community.

 ENDORSING GROUPS

Queers for an Open LGBT Center (QFOLC)

alQaws for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society

Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel

Brooklyn for Peace

FIERCE

Jewish Voice for Peace-NY

Jews Say No!

International Action Center

International Socialist Organization

Metropolitan Community Church of New York

New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)

Palestinian Queers for BDS

Siegebusters

Sylvia Rivera Law Project

Workers World Party

Young, Jewish and Proud*

And now from the event

Photos © by Bud Korotzer

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The Speakers…

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The Protest …

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After the initial protests inside the centre, the activists moved outside in front of the building. To hugh cheers, two banners were dropped from the center’s windows.

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3 Comments

JEWISH STUDENTS AGAINST RACIAL PROFILING

March 2, 2012 at 09:37 (Activism, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Islamophobia)

In a sign of a possible generational divide, most Jewish communal leaders, even some who work in coalitions with Muslim groups, defended the police effort.
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Student groups at several targeted colleges said they stepped up to defend their classmates in the face of surveillance that tramples on the rights of all students.

“The idea of religious students from any religion being surveilled I think was offensive to the [Jewish] students,” said Rabbi Mike Uram, Hillel director at the University of Pennsylvania.*

Jewish Students Decry Spying on Muslims

Community Leaders Side With NYPD in Civil Liberties Fracas

By Josh Nathan-Kazis

NYPD Anger: Jewish students are speaking out in support of Muslim students targeted for surveillance by New York police.
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NYPD Anger: Jewish students are speaking out in support of Muslim students targeted for surveillance by New York police.
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Jewish students have voiced solidarity with their Muslim counterparts following new revelations that the New York City Police Department collected intelligence on Muslim groups at several college campuses in the northeast corridor.
Student groups at several targeted colleges said they stepped up to defend their classmates in the face of surveillance that tramples on the rights of all students.

“The idea of religious students from any religion being surveilled I think was offensive to the [Jewish] students,” said Rabbi Mike Uram, Hillel director at the University of Pennsylvania.

In a sign of a possible generational divide, most Jewish communal leaders, even some who work in coalitions with Muslim groups, defended the police effort.

The revelations are the latest in a lengthy series published by The Associated Press, starting last summer. The stories, which have already won a prestigious George Polk Award, revealed extensive spying by the NYPD on Muslim communities in and outside New York City.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly both responded to early stories by asserting that the department acted only after getting leads about possible crimes, though the latest stories suggest otherwise.

In reports published in recent weeks, AP revealed that the NYPD had collected intelligence on Muslim student groups at many colleges. It also reported that the department had sent investigators to create files on mosques in New Jersey and Long Island.

Aside from Penn, Muslim student groups were probed at Yale, Columbia, New York, Syracuse and Rutgers. They were also targeted at several campuses of the state and city universities of New York.

Muslim organizations, noting that the institutions and individuals subject to police monitoring and data gathering were suspected of no crimes, have decried the department’s activities as ethnic profiling.

Following the revelation of intelligence gathering on Muslim students at Penn, three elected student leaders at the campus Hillel issued a statement in support of Muslim students at the school. The statement did not explicitly condemn the NYPD’s tactics or name the Muslim Students Association, the student group targeted by the surveillance.

“Given the recent findings of the NYPD’s monitoring of Muslim students, we, as leaders of Hillel and Penn’s Jewish community, stand firmly in solidarity with our brethren,” the Hillel leaders wrote. “We hope that the university will work to further prioritize the security and rights of all religious students.”

One of the statement’s signatories, Alex Jefferson, president of Penn’s Hillel, said that the gesture had already helped build bonds between the communities and that Muslim students and Muslim student leaders had expressed their appreciation.

“There’s a lot of Middle East politics at play on Penn’s campus, and we felt that this was a nice opportunity, absent any politics, to really express solidarity with another religious group and build a nice bridge,” Jefferson said.

At Columbia, Jewish student leaders have participated in public and private meetings with Muslim students and university officials to address the surveillance.

“We want to have a united student response on campus, because it’s an issue for Muslim students today but it could be an issue for a different group of students tomorrow,” said Daniel Bonner, student president of the Columbia/Barnard Hillel.

Bonner added, “We also understand the position that the NYPD is in and want to be as respectful of them as we possibly can.”

In the Columbia Daily Spectator, David Fine, editor of Columbia’s Jewish student journal, the Current, wrote an op-ed condemning the NYPD’s intelligence gathering. “Students should be able to express extreme views without the fear of ending up in a police file or report,” Fine wrote.

At New York University, where police also gathered intelligence on Muslim students, the Jewish community has not released a public statement.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, a university chaplain and rabbi of the campus’s Bronfman Center, said that Jewish students and faculty are attending and speaking at public events on the issue. In an email, Sarna said that the community is “showing our support for the Islamic center in our ongoing friendship.”

If true, the revelations mean the NYPD may have systematically violated the rights of Muslims and others, civil rights advocates say. The NYPD’s 1985 Handschu agreement, meant to address abuses in police probes into Black Panthers and other radical groups, broadly prohibited infiltration of political and other groups.

The agreement was significantly loosened after the September 11 terror attacks. But police are still supposed to maintain records of surveillance only if they relate to terrorism or other criminal plots, advocates say. The NYPD insists it acted within the law.

Despite the outcry on campus, most Jewish community leaders have defended the NYPD and the city in the face of the investigation. In an op-ed published in the New York Jewish Week on February 7, before the publication of AP’s most recent stories, three officials at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York defended the police department.

“Every day, the NYPD Counterterrorism and Intelligence Divisions develop concrete steps to protect New Yorkers,” the officials wrote. “The Jewish community and all New Yorkers are fortunate to have Commissioner Kelly, and his team of consummate professionals, to keep us safe.”

Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which works to forge alliances with Muslim groups, was also sympathetic to the city’s position.

Schneier said that Bloomberg’s support for the controversial effort to build an Islamic center in downtown Manhattan should afford him the benefit of the doubt on the surveillance issue.

“It’s just remarkable to me how quickly people forget,” Schneier said. “There was no greater champion of the New York Muslim community, of Muslim Americans in general, during the most heated controversy, than Michael Bloomberg.”

Other Jewish leaders sharply defended the police practices. In a press release, New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a right-wing Jewish Democrat, said he was “outraged” by criticism of the surveillance techniques.

“The NYPD officers are doing their jobs precisely the way New Yorkers expect them to,” Hikind said. “It’s outrageous that some officials are willing to use this issue as a political football. Handcuffing the police would be disastrous.”

Some Jews were caught up in the surveillance activities, possibly because they are immigrants from the Middle East. A 2007 police document included dossiers on kosher butchers in Great Neck, N.Y. The dossiers include the name, address, phone number and picture of the establishment, alongside the owner’s ethnicity. A handful of kosher butchers serving the Iranian-Jewish community in Great Neck were listed. In comments beneath the listings, officials noted the number of Iranian Jews working at each location.

Source

4 Comments

FROM HALL MONITOR TO GESTAPO AGENT

March 1, 2012 at 13:08 (DesertPeace Editorial, False Flags, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine, Phobias, zionist harassment)

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Remember the idiot hall monitor from your high school days? He would see you on your way to the restroom and ask for a hall pass …. or even worse, follow you to make sure you wern’t smoking (or worse) when you are supposedly doing something else.
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Truly a pain in the anus they were! Yet, the system used them to find out what was going on with everyone, everywhere. But everyone ‘had their number’ and knew exactly who they were dealing with. In fact, there was a Jewish joke/riddle circulating in my school; Q…’What happens to the forskin after it is cut off?’ A …’It gets planted in the ground and grows into a hall monitor’!
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The system still uses these stooges outside of the school system itself. In Israel, the most notorious is a group calling itelf NGO Montitor. NGO Monitor “was founded to promote accountability, and advance a vigorous discussion on the reports and activities of NGOs claiming to promote moral agendas, such as humanitarian aid and human rights.”
In fact, it’s a Jerusalem-based pro-Israeli front group. It disseminates propaganda, other misinformation and hate. It debases legitimate human rights organizations, independent journalism, and other truth, equity and justice advocates.
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Instead of roaming the hallways, these gestapo like creatures roam the internet looking for ‘just cause’ to cut out funding to NGO’s they might not agree with (which is just about everyone but themselves). Recently, The Electronic Intifada joins previously targeted organizations including Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, Adalah, Al-Haq, Mada al-Carmel as well as Israeli groups such as B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, HaMoked and New Israel Fund, among dozens of others…. (From)
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They have a supply of ‘false flags’ which are ready to be hoisted at any given moment…
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NGO Monitor’s campaign of public defamation against The Electronic Intifada focuses on support the publication receives from a Dutch foundation.

 

This week, Stephen Lendman did a fantastic job at ‘monitoring’ the monitor and letting us know just how dangerous they are …

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NGO Monitor Denies Truth for Israel

NGO Monitor “was founded to promote accountability, and advance a vigorous discussion on the reports and activities of NGOs claiming to promote moral agendas, such as humanitarian aid and human rights.” 

In fact, it’s a Jerusalem-based pro-Israeli front group. It disseminates propaganda, other misinformation and hate. It debases legitimate human rights organizations, independent journalism, and other truth, equity and justice advocates. 

Its founder and president Gerald Steinberg teaches political science at Bar Ilan University. Students in his classes lose out. He also founded Bar Ilan’s Program on Conflict Management and Negotiation. In addition, he participates in Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA) workshops, and various other organizations promoting pro-Israeli issues. 

On February 19, The Times of Israel published his article titled, “Israel’s vibrant democracy.” He called it “as robust and pluralistic as any in the world.” He claims no protest or advocacy restrictions, “including very fierce and unpopular criticism of the government and military.” 

He said “(n)o other democracy can claim to have greater freedom of expression, despite more than six decades of war and terrorism; threats of annihilation; and (various challenges) of developing a cohesive society based on numerous divergent communities” with no democratic traditions. 

Fact check 

His claims read like bad fiction. Like America, free expression’s dying. Dissent’s an endangered species. War and state terror are official policies. Democracy’s on the chopping block for elimination. Arab citizens have none. Neither do most Jews denied social justice. Israel’s privileged alone have rights, no others, and conditions keep getting worse. 

Like America, racing to the bottom forced mass privatizations, welfare and benefit cuts, and massive wealth shifts to corporate favorites and rich elites. Predictable poverty, hunger and homelessness followed. Growing human need’s unmet. 

Unaddressed social gaps divide mainly along religious, ethnic and national lines. Inequality’s near the highest among developed countries. 

Protests raged last summer against unaffordable housing, high food and energy prices, low wages and eroding social benefits, onerous working household taxes, lost education and adequate healthcare benefits, weak labor rights, misallocated settlement construction, the high cost of raising children, and more. 

Netanyahu’s government is Israel’s worst ever. Racist discrimination defines it. Repressive laws deny Arab citizens fundamental rights. Occupied Palestinians are virtual prisoners, especially besieged Gazans. They’re also war zone victims under frequent air, land and sea attacks. 

Steinberg admits Israel’s “not perfect – like other nations, we have flaws, and it is our responsibility to correct them. But aggressive campaigns greatly exaggerate these imperfections (to) delegitimize Israel.” 

In fact, Israel delegitimizes itself. Its policies reveal its deeply flawed character. Its credentials exclude electoral freedom. Free expression’s gravely threatened. Critical NGOs face extinction. Minority rights never existed and don’t now. 

Steinberg says otherwise. His methodology excludes facts too patent to deny. Selective myths support his claims. He calls indisputable crimes of war and against humanity false accusations. 

Numerous other civil and human rights abuses are denied. Torture as official Israeli policy’s ignored. Jewish superiority’s supported. Diaspora Palestinians’ right of return’s opposed, and Arabs are called inherently violent. 

All Jerusalem should be Judaized, he believes. Palestinians have no right to their capital. Jewish history, traditions, culture, heritage, language and identity must be preserved. Arabs deserve being marginalized, maligned, and denigrated. 

Israeli critics employ double standards, he says. Opposition groups are “empowered through secret funding processes, and not subject to any checks and balances….the real threat to Israeli democracy.” 

He uses hyperbole to make baseless claims. State policies debase democracy. Weak at best always, it’s headed for elimination entirely. 

Recently passed laws show how. They includes: 

(1) the Law to Prevent Infiltration permits imprisoning refugees and asylum seekers. It deters entering Israel to keep it ethnically/religiously pure. 

(2) the Preventing Harm to the State of Israel by Means of Boycott allows civil suits against anyone advocating boycotts of settlement products. It sanctions participating NGOs. It strips their tax exempt status. 

(3) The Entry into Israel Law limits work permits given migrant workers residing in Israel. It binds them to one employer. Calling the practice illegal, Israel’s High Court equated it to modern-day slavery. 

(4) The Revoking Citizenship for Persons Convicted of Terrorism and Espionage lets courts strip it for persons convicted without evidence. Denying it eliminates other basic rights. 

(5) the Nakba Law lets the Finance Minister reduce or prohibit funding any institution under the following conditions: 

refusal to support Israel as a Jewish state; 

racist, violent or terrorist incitement; 

support for any nation, group or entity Israel calls an enemy or terrorist organization; 

mourning Israel’s Independence Day; and/or 

committing vandalism or physical desecration dishonoring Israel’s flag or symbols. 

In other words, mourning Palestine’s worst ever catastrophe’s illegal. 

(6) The Acceptance to Communities Law lets villages and communities deny individuals admittance for “fail(ing) to meet the fundamental views of the community,” its social fabric, and other characteristics. In other words, for not being Jewish. 

(7) the Funding from Foreign State Entities law requires foreign state NGO supporters submit quarterly financial reports. At issue is delegitimizing and curtailing legitimate activities, not legislating transparency. Human rights and other civil groups are targeted for supporting rights Israel opposes. 

(8) The Extending Arrest of Persons Suspected of Security Offenses permits arresting suspects in security related cases for longer periods without judicial oversight. Extending arrests without their presence is also authorized. 

(9) the Pardoning Protesters of Gaza Disengagement distinguishes between political and ideological activists. Instead of general principles, the political agenda of Israel’s elected majority’s promoted. 

(10) the Abu Basma Bill on Regional Council Elections lets the Interior Minister postpone democratic regional council elections indefinitely. 

In January, Israel’s High Court rejected a challenge to Israel’sIsrael’s Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law. 

It denies citizenship rights to Palestinians with Israeli spouses. Enacted in 2003 as temporary legislation, it was extended twice after its initial expiration date. 

The law lets the interior minister grant citizenship only if affected Palestinians identify strongly and cooperate with Israel. They must also contribute to national security. As a result, few qualify. 

In addition, potential eligibility’s limited to Palestinian husbands 36 or older and Palestinian wives at least 26. 

A Qara village attorney called the decision a “declaration of war on Israeli Arabs.” A mixed couple said the decision “will lead to the expulsion of thousands of families from the country.” 

Proposed bills include: 

prohibiting the word Nazi and Third Reich symbols; 

authorizing libel without proof of damages; 

restricting support from foreign state entities; 

depriving human rights NGOs getting foreign state funding of their tax exempt status and taxes them at a punitively high rate; 

permitting libel suits and criminal prosecutions of anyone slandering Israel and/or its official bodies; 

extending preferential civil service treatment for persons with military service; 

requiring foreigners seeking Israeli citizenship pledge allegiance to the State of Israel as a Jewish, democratic, Zionist state and serve a term of military or national service; 

imprisoning persons publishing a call that denies the existence of Israel as a Jewish, democratic state; 

establishing a tribunal for non-Jewish foreigners seeking legal status in Israel; 

prohibiting organizations deemed harmful to Israel from operating; 

requiring anyone receiving an ID card, passport, driver’s license, or other official document declare loyalty to Israel as a Jewish, democratic state; 

declaring Israel “the national home of the Jewish people,” no longer permitting Arabic as an official language; 

prohibiting entry into Israel of anyone involved in boycotts, suing the government or military, or denying the holocaust; and 

requiring civil servants and council members swear loyalty to Israel as a Jewish, democratic state, among other proposed measures. 

Other anti-democratic laws also passed. Israel’s a rogue pariah state, not a democratic one. Arabs never had rights, but increasingly Jews are denied social justice and fundamental freedoms in a nation eroding them entirely. 

Taken FROM

1 Comment

THE AMERICAN SPRING OCCUPIED

February 27, 2012 at 12:14 (Activism, Associate Post, DesertPeace Exclusive, Human Rights, Occupy Wall Street, Photography)

Commentary by Chippy Dee, Photos © by Bud Korotzer
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” I thought you were gone! I’m so glad you’re still here.”  Those words were heard over and over again as Occupy Wall Street made its apearance in New York’s Tomkins Square Park yesterday.  There was good food and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, both free, tables offering literature and conversation, and a series of teach-ins covering subjects like safe, clean food, the health care crisis in N.Y., and knowing your rights and what to do if you are stopped or arrested and questioned by the NYPD or the FBI.
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Last year the world celebrated the Arab Spring.  This year the people in Tompkins Sq. Park are looking forward to celebrating an American Spring which will begin to bloom as the winter cold diminishes.
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HOW THE SOCIAL MEDIA BRINGS ATTENTION TO THE PALESTINIAN STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

February 26, 2012 at 12:53 (Activism, Human Rights, Internet, Israel, Palestine, Twitter)

The online activism proved “the power of a different kind of media, one that uses corporate media’s silence to create a different kind of noise,” said Peter Hart, the activism director for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a media watchdog group. Hart authored a piece for the FAIR blog that chastised the corporate media’s silence on this “Palestinian Gandhi.” “It was a real moment where people created a kind of media sensation online that I think you have to be encouraged by,” he said.
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Social media ‘tidal wave’ helped turn world’s focus to Khader Adnan

CarlosLatuffAdnan
Carlos Latuff’s drawing of Khader Adnan (Via Gaza TV News)

By the time the Western press first noticed the hunger strike of Khader Adnan, the Palestinian baker whose struggle against Israel’s administrative detention policies captivated the world, the 33-year-old had endured 44 days without nourishment. A LexisNexis search shows that it took a week and a half after that first Agence France-Presse story for the Associated Press to publish on Adnan. CNN soon followed.

But in the early days of Adnan’s protest, and as the Western press largely ignored the story, a new kind of media activism was making waves and bringing awareness to his struggle. Led by online activists, many of them Palestinian, a sustained campaign on Twitter to publicize Adnan’s stand against administrative detention turned up the pressure on Israel. Perhaps the biggest coup for the activists came when Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former Obama administration official, condemned Adnan’s detention without charge on Twitter.

The online activism proved “the power of a different kind of media, one that uses corporate media’s silence to create a different kind of noise,” said Peter Hart, the activism director for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a media watchdog group. Hart authored a piece for the FAIR blog that chastised the corporate media’s silence on this “Palestinian Gandhi.” “It was a real moment where people created a kind of media sensation online that I think you have to be encouraged by,” he said.

As Adnan’s hunger strike continued into its 65th day, online activists managed to trend the hashtag #HungerStrikingfor65days at #1 worldwide for forty minutes. (For an explanation of Twitter trends, click here).

“Twitter has got millions of people to pay attention to Khader Adnan’s case online,”wrote Jalal Abukhater, a Jerusalem-based Palestinian blogger for the Electronic Intifada.

Abukhater authored a piece for Al Akhbar English that documented the “global protest” online in support of Adnan. Last Saturday, activists also trended #CoverKhader worldwide in a direct effort to shame mainstream media into covering Adnan. Activists also targeted Nicholas Kristof for his silence on Adnandespite a 2010 article opining for a “Palestinian Gandhi.”

According to statistics on the website Topsy, tens of thousands of people have mentioned Adnan’s name on Twitter over the past month, with many of the mentions coming well before the mainstream media covered the story.

The question of whether the online activism for Adnan played a direct role in convincing corporate media outlets to cover the story is a difficult one to answer definitively. Robert Mackey, the New York Times blogger who was the first NYTwriter to cover Adnan, said that he first heard about the story elsewhere, and not on Twitter. “I dislike the use of Twitter to press journalists to cover events, because I use the social network to find reports or commentary on the news from bloggers, journalists and eyewitnesses,” Mackey wrote in an email. “Organized efforts to make certain subjects more prominent seems to make Twitter less useful to me by changing the signal to noise ratio.”

But Jillian York, a writer and the director of International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has a different take on the connection between social media campaigns and mainstream media coverage. In general,“you have this discussion, debate on social media which then parlays itself into campaigning of some sort which then explodes into media coverage,” York said in a phone interview. “A lot of the discussion last year [during the Arab uprisings] was about people organizing around social media. I actually argue that the real value of social media is getting international coverage, international attention to your cause.”

But even if the online activism didn’t lead directly to mainstream media coverage, it did, at least, shine a light on the silence on Adnan’s hunger strike from corporate media. This silence largely held until the climax of Adnan’s case, which culminatedin a deal in which Adnan is to be released April 17 and not have his detention order renewed. Adnan has ended his hunger strike.

“The fact that these people didn’t write about it is an indictment of their previous supposed commitment to Palestinian nonviolence,” said FAIR’s Hart. “In a sense, their silence spoke more powerfully than one or two news articles. I think we learned something fundamental about the media, and we learned something fundamental about working around the media–deciding that if people tweet enough, and I know that sounds corny, but if you can do that and create kind of a tidal wave, maybe Tom Friedman is someone you don’t need.”

 

Written FOR

4 Comments

THE BIOLOGY OF PEACE

February 23, 2012 at 13:41 (Associate Post, Collective Punishment, Human Rights, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, Soldier Brutality, zionist harassment)

 [This book is an exploration of aggression, and of the evolutionary (and revolutionary) process to peace. Through the insights of men and women, from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives, Why Peace presents stories of wars, invasions, and political repressions—down to the most basic levels of authoritarianism…]**

Biology of Peace

By Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD*  

I grew up under Israeli occupation, a brutal military occupation accompanied by “colonization” (land theft). My family suffered, though not as much as other Palestinian families. It is hard to describe how much the occupation invades every aspect of one’s life here: from eating and drinking to education and from healthcare to travel, from economy to freedom of religion. The antithesis of all of this repression, violence, occupation, colonization and war is, of course, peace. I was thus captivated by peace as a concept, a dream, a hope. Sometimes I was thinking of peace in terms of a state of external calm and lack of disturbance. In other times, I thought peace was related to freedom from repression. Now, I think of peace as being an inner peace, that only comes from acting on what we believe and freeing our minds of the bondage acquired from external sources.

In the Buddhist traditions, we are asked to seek, to have “joyful participation in the sorrows of this world.” I was reminded of this when I was held on July 27, 2011, along with some Israeli and Palestinian activists, in the Israeli military compound at Atarot. This was after being attacked by Israeli soldiers for participation in a peaceful demonstration in the village of Al-Walaja. This beautiful village in the West Bank is slowly being depopulated of its last remaining citizens. Simple and beautiful slogans are hard to apply here, as a wall will encircle the remaining houses of the village, cutting the inhabitants off from their livelihood and forcing them to leave. How can we even begin to comprehend the sorrow that has engulfed the land of Canaan in the past few decades? The sorrows of the native inhabitants are so horrendous that it sometimes seems unreal. Of 11 million Palestinians in the world, 7 million are refugees or displaced people. The 5.5 million natives who remain inside the country (many displaced) are restricted now to shrinking concentration areas, amounting to only 8.3 percent of the historic land of Palestine.

According to the latest survey of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, some 26.2 percent of families live in poverty and 14.1 percent live in deep poverty, for a total of 40.3 percent living in poverty or deep poverty in the West Bank and Gaza. The situation in Gaza is worse than in the West Bank with 1.5 million people, most of them refugees squeezed in an arid part of Palestine, besieged, blockaded and denied even basic living necessities. This, the worst post-WWII horror inflicted on a people, indeed portends so much suffering. So how can we have personal peace, let alone joyful participation, when we suffer so much?

On a personal level, I have lost many colleagues and friends. Just in the last year alone, I have lost friends who practiced nonviolence and strove to peace: Juliano Mer Khamis, Vittorio Arrigoni, Bassem and his sister Jawaher Abu Rahma. I lost many other friends and relatives to illnesses that seem to be increasing in our population. Cancer and heart disease have claimed the lives of many of those: my two brothers-in-law and four dear friends and fellow activists. All such losses certainly make deep scars that reach to the soul. Even routine difficulties in life stir us and disturb us, leaving us a little further from peace. So how can we aspire to peace while our own souls are still far from peace? I believe our internal turmoil is mainly due to a lack of understanding of human nature and the trajectories of history.

To understand humans and what drives us, we have to understand our biology, especially our early development. I taught developmental biology and researched how things could go wrong in early development. We all start as a zygote, a single cell which is the result of the union of the sperm nucleus with the egg nucleus inside the cytoplasm of the egg. That primal cytoplasm is a soup containing codes for proteins that allow the early embryo to get its initial organizational structure, even before the code in the nucleus of the zygote starts to shape the future of the individual. In a sense then, we all depend far more on “stuff” we get from our mothers than stuff we get from our fathers. In developmental biology we know that axis formation (having three dimensions: anterior-posterior, dorsal-ventral, left and right) comes from the cytoplasm of the egg from our mothers. In essence, without that initial material we get from our mother, we would simply be a round blob. But the miracle of developmental biology is that the joining of 23 chromosomes from the sperm with 23 chromosomes from the egg make onenucleus. There are already endless genetic possibilities for those maternal and paternal chromosomes. This is because the process of producing sperm and eggs, called meiosis, not only reduces the chromosomes by half (from 46 to 23), but creates myriad opportunities for having very different sets of genetic variation, through recombination and chromosome segregation. That is why no two sperm and no two eggs are the same. That is why no two siblings are the same (except of course identical twins, which come from the same zygote).

The first cell divides to become 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 cells. That early embryo implants itself on the uterine wall and the interdigitation of embryonic and maternal tissue forms a placenta. This remarkable structure is where nutrients are supplied to the embryo, and oxygen and CO2 are exchanged. Many embryos are lost along the way because they have genetic codes that affect these developmental processes. Some 15-20 percent of recognized pregnancies end-up spontaneously aborted (a natural selection process). Harmful mutations are the price that our species pays for possibilities of useful mutations. Mutations are the natural substances upon which natural selection operates. Useful mutations survive and travel to the next generation. That simple idea (developed and spread by Charles Darwin) revolutionized our understanding of biology and in turn has advanced a wide range of fields, from environmental research to medical studies.

The embryo developing in the uterus is, of course, subject to its environment. Both harmful and beneficial stimuli shape its very existence and future. That is why pregnant mothers are told to stay away from harmful materials (alcohol, tobacco and other drugs) and maintain a good diet. (Many Palestinian mothers delivered babies with blindness in the few years following the Nakba of 1948, because of vitamin E deficiencies in the refugee camps.) Some scientific studies also suggest a child’s brain development may be susceptible to nutritional food and toxin-free air and the absence of other harmful things. There are data that show that even music and the mother’s good mood influences the mental capacity and development of the child she is carrying. Needless to say, women in war zones do not produce the healthiest babies. This is why the impact of a military occupation is not just on the adults and children around but on future generations.

After birth, education from society may create tribalistic racist notions (e.g., Nazi Germany… or Israel today). Challenging these notions of superiority and striving for common good is possible, but it requires shedding some of the educational baggage that nationalistic and militaristic societies use to saturate young minds. At one level, this is more difficult today than in the past: Modern warfare is much bloodier than ancient warfare, but it is conducted from a distance.

Soldiers no longer come home to wash off the blood of their enemies from their clothes and swords. They come home with images of the tools that they have used to destroy enemies from a distance. The faces of their enemies are not familiar to them, only outlines in gun sights or on computer screens. The facial distortions and agonized screams of those killed do not reach the killers. Some of these killers like to pretend they do not imagine these things. They want to cling to the elements of their humanity.

They may go back home, and even help an old lady cross the street or pass a candy to a child. But deep in their psyches, these killers know that they have destroyed a human being just like them, with flesh and blood, with feelings, with people who loved him or her.

On the other hand, the development of the internet and of methods of social communication allow a closeness of the human family in new and incredibly positive ways that promote social transformation towards peace and human rights. From the organizing against the World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund in Seattle, to Tunisia and Egypt, people are finding their voice. Here in Palestine, we have had a vibrant activist community for decades. Increasingly, Israeli and international activists join hands with native Palestinians in our struggle for peace with justice.

After 20 years of fruitless negotiations between colonizer and colonized, occupier and occupied, even Palestinian elites have come around to see the power of the people. Engaging in international diplomacy while doing popular resistance is seen as critical in increasing the pressure to arrive at a just resolution. If the Israeli government remains intransigent and continues to build colonial settlements on Palestinian lands, the only remaining option will become adopted by more and more people: a push for a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine. That outcome may already have been guaranteed by the relentless expansionist Zionist project. By making a two-state option impossible and forcing us into close contacts, we (Palestinians and Israelis) are developing joint strategies to work for peace, even as walls are erected on our land. What is remarkable is that humans of different backgrounds are coming to regard peace as personal, and to regard politicians as “behind the times.” All humans have behaviors that trace back to our ancestral primates. From sex to feeding to self-protection to ambition to control of space, we as a species are driven by these deep-rooted innate behaviors. To what extent we can control our behavior in a positive fashion determines our humanity. Governments endeavor to maintain the status quo of control over individuals and the manipulation of conflicts for their benefits. Yet, the achievements by individuals working together towards freedom, peace, and self-government are a testimony to the power that resides in us.

We learned from the civil rights movement in the US, from ending apartheid in South Africa, from the freedoms achieved in Eastern Europe, and from the Arab Spring. I believe the main reason this world functions (and the main reason we remain optimistic) is that good people are everywhere, endeavoring toward inner peace and extending it by deeds to achieve peace in our societies. This happens despite the push-back from governments who are happy with the status quo. Without this “people power,” we would have endless wars and endless repression and injustice. With it and with human cultural evolution speeding up, we indeed look forward to a day when no human life is lost in useless wars and conflicts, and all individuals are free from state aggression. It is up to us to work to accelerate the trend in history.

*Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches biology and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He previously served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Duke and Yale Universities. He is now president of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and serves on the board of Al-Rowwad Children Theater in Aida Refugee Camp. His main interest is media activism and public education. He has published over 200 letters to the editor and 200 op-ed pieces and been interviewed on TV and radio extensively (local, national and international). Mazin has published several books, including Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle and Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment.

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*Re: Book displayed above,  My chapter in the Book “Why Peace”, edited by Mark Guttman, titled Biology of Peace is available here, http://www.why-peace.com/.

5 Comments

MY HUSBAND, THE WOULD-BE MARTYR

February 23, 2012 at 13:09 (Activism, Civil Liberties, Human Rights, International Solidarity, Israel, Palestine, zionist harassment)

For me, the most difficult part of this ordeal has been the knowledge that at any time I could receive a phone call announcing that my husband is dead. But this is the price for our freedom. It is the indispensable sacrifice needed so that our children might enjoy a life of freedom and dignity.
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My husband, Khadar Adnan, has shed a light on Israel’s disregard for human rights

Randa Musa

 

Maali Adnan holds a picture of her hunger-striking father, Khadar Adnan, a member of Islamic Jihad. Photograph: Mohammed Ballas/AP

Through his own suffering, Khadar has helped expose the plight of Palestinians held under ‘administrative detention’ by Israel

The name of my husband, Khadar Adnan, has now become known across the world. Four months ago he was unknown outside of our homeland, Palestine. His hunger strike of 66 days has transformed him into a global figure and a shining symbol of my people’s struggle.

Our life was turned upside down on 17 December 2011 when Israeli troops raided our home in Araba village, south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. It was about 3am when they broke down the doors and stormed into our house. The havoc they wreaked will always remain etched on the minds of our two daughters, Ma’ali, aged four, and Baysan, one-and-a-half years old. I would not be surprised if even our unborn baby will also be affected. Such was the trauma that accompanied the Israeli raid.

Khadar has been a student activist for many years. He is no shadowy figure but an outspoken local leader against the Israeli occupation. He is well known to both the Israeli occupation authorities and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. Both have detained him for various periods without charge.

This constant harassment has stood between Khadar and the completion of his master’s degree in economics. Yet, we remain a normal couple, yearning for the much-needed stability and freedom to raise our children; to give them the happiness that is the entitlement of every child. With my own university degree, I have no doubt that as parents, we are well equipped to realise our ambitions. But life under Israel’s military occupation has turned our dream into a nightmare.

Not for the first time, Khadar has used hunger strike, his powerful form of peaceful protest, to great effect. When the Palestinian Authority forces detained him in 2010 he went on a hunger strike for 12 consecutive days, forcing the Ramallah authority to release him.

Likewise, he staged several hunger strikes in the occupation’s detention camps. The last of these was carried out in 2005, which lasted nine days in solitary confinement.

What drives my husband to pursue this dangerous and difficult form of resistance? I have no doubt it is the unjust nature of “administrative detention” and its notorious methods of torture and humiliation. From the moment he was bundled into their military vehicle in December, insults and veiled threats were thrown at him. They even tried to unhinge him psychologically by claiming I was unfaithful, a vicious calumny he dismissed with scorn.

I know my husband well; I love him, and will always remain faithful to him. He knows this and this is why he spurned the cheap talk of his tormentors.

Khadar was never motivated by personal hurt or inconvenience. He, like thousands of other young Palestinians, is determined to see an end to the occupation. He is driven by a higher logic: to expose to the world the plight of imprisoned Palestinians. Since 1967, more than 650,000 Palestinians have passed through Israeli jails – many of them in administrative detention – an average of one in four in the occupied territories.

Administrative detention is a nebulous and vindictive measure used by the occupation against our young men and women. It is one of the cruel legacies of the old British mandate in Palestine. Today, in the absence of any deterrent or condemnation from the international community, Israel uses it with increasing frequency against university students and lecturers, young professionals and even elected parliamentarians. Some 300 are being held. It is part of an immoral policy used to keep Palestinians in a state of perpetual poverty and underdevelopment.

When a military commander issues an order for administrative detention, no evidence is produced. No charges are brought against the victims, and the occupation has no obligation to give reasons for the detention. This is by no means a legal mechanism. It is simply an arbitrary draconian measure used to inflict psychological and physical harm on its victims. When they are fortunate enough to be brought before a judge, he can detain them for periods of six months that can be extended indefinitely. The prisoners problem is so prevalent today that Palestinians have had to create a special ministry for prisoners’ affairs.

I know my husband is not selfish. This is why I supported him every step of the way. As with any devoted wife, I am duty bound to help him bear the burden of our oppressed people. Our relatives and extended family have supported us with equal fortitude. Indeed, I would not be telling a lie if I say that all Palestinians across the whole political spectrum and millions of freedom-loving people in the world have also stood with us.The occupation has decided under pressure to free my husband in April, but hundreds more will continue to languish in putrid cells under the same illegal, inhuman scheme. Khadar has, however, delivered his message: that this long night of tyranny and inhumanity will come to an end.

We are well aware that the Israelis may try to renege on this week’s agreement – as they have done with the recent prisoner exchange deal – by re-arresting the freed prisoners. But for every occasion there will be a response, and I have no doubt my husband would not hesitate to resume his stoic struggle with even more strength and determination.

For me, the most difficult part of this ordeal has been the knowledge that at any time I could receive a phone call announcing that my husband is dead. But this is the price for our freedom. It is the indispensable sacrifice needed so that our children might enjoy a life of freedom and dignity.

To the free world, the millions who heard of Khadar and supported him by calling for his release, I extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation.

Source 

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NEW YORKERS IN SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIAN HUNGER STRIKER

February 21, 2012 at 08:33 (Activism, Associate Post, Civil Liberties, DesertPeace Exclusive, Hasbara, Human Rights, International Solidarity, Israel, Palestine, Photography)

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Palestinian prisoner ends 66-day hunger strike after Israel guarantees his release

Israel’s state prosecution reaches deal with Islamic Jihad operative Khader Adnan, who is due to be released in April.

Full report HERE
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Update report….
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Israel’s Supreme Court moves up hearing of Palestinian prisoner on months-long hunger strike

The Supreme Court has brought forward a hearing this week on the appeal of a Palestinian prisoner waging an unprecedented two-month hunger strike, court officials and his lawyers said Monday.

A statement from the Supreme Court said Khader Adnan’s appeal will be held Tuesday. No explanation was given as to why it had been brought forward. It was scheduled to take place on Thursday. Full Report HERE

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Also see all of THESE related posts…

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 Photos © by Bud Korotzer

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In front of the Israeli Consulate….

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Despite recent differences and criticisms of same, Norman Finkelstein was there and was welcomed by all….

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