Prof. Abdelwahed: Gaza war in child's memory (True story)

Gaza war in child's memory

Raid Fattouh is a Palestinian. He is married to Natasha, a Ukrainian woman. They live in Gaza with their four children: Karma 13, Jabr 10, Diana 6 and Hakeem 1. Two weeks ago, Raid and his Natasha wanted to travel to Ukraine after 13 years stay in Gaza. It was so hard for the parents to convince their children that traveling by airplane is comfortable and safe! Children could not sleep well for long nights before their land trip to Amman. They were scared of the airplane! Their persistent question was on their situation if the airplane bombed somewhere and killed innocent people like what it did in Gaza during the war! The image of the airplane was an image of a machine to kill the people in the streets and at homes! It was enormously difficult for the parents to convince the kids to step up into the airplane at Amman airport. The nightmare remained, and children were really horrified; they cried until they were on board. Their father told me that the most pathetic moments where those when kids were going upstairs the airplane! Once they were in they believed their parents.

Prof. Abdelwahed
Department of English
Faculty of Arts & Humanities
Al-Azhar University of Gaza
Gaza is phoenix in burning flame

"Who will hold us accountable?"

My article in Electronic Intidada:

"I watched as my International Solidarity Movement (ISM) colleague Jenny was dragged across the floor by security officers screaming, "Get off of me! Get off of me!" I watched her disappear behind a wall as I clung to a window and the officers came for me. I looked at each of the men in the eye, knowing I had to humanize them to humanize myself. I asked them, "You have a daughter my age? I am 21." There was no reply. I tried again, "Would you accept your daughter being treated this way? I am your daughter, and your daughter and your daughter." I was pulled away by my wrists and dragged along the dirty floor, and the man dragging me said, "You are lucky my shoe is not in your mouth."

Israeli Incursion in Beit Hanoun & Soldiers Shooting at Civilians Now

Message from ISMer on the field:

"Army incursion in eastern Beit Hanoun, 2 bulldozers, 3 tanks. Soldiers started fire"

Israeli Tanks & Bulldozers in Beit Hanoun Today

Three Israeli tanks and two bulldozers, in an incursion today in Beit Hanoun, near the agricultural college [kulliyat el zira'aa], BURNT more than 10,000 metres [10 denums] of wheat & farming land for the Abu Odeh and Zuwaida family. They entered at noon, and left at four o'clock.

The last incursion, occurred on 28th of June in Al Faraheen, on the eastern borders with 1948 lands.

[Photo: Saber Zaaneen, Beit Hanoun Local Initiative activist, points to the Israeli military base on the northern part of Beit Hanoun that constantly fires at farmers and civilians]

The Beit Hanoun local activists, in addition to ISM activists, had been in that area before & had been shot at. We had retrieved the body of martyrs Abu Odeh and Kafarneh, and have also previously accompanied farmers in that area for harvest.

Note that before the 22-day intensive genocidal attacks on the Gaza Strip, in November, there were similarly burnings and incursions in the areas around one kilometre away from the fence, within the Strip.

من راشيل كوري الي نتالي أبو شقرا العالم مازال يؤمن بعدالة قضيتنا

Combining personal experience with activism, civil resistance, & a clear cut political decision:

المفارقة الغريبة والقاتلة بصراحة بعد ان تعرفت علي نتالي اللبنانية وبدأنا بالحديث كان صوت اليسا اللبنانية ايضا يصدح وجسدها يرقص في فيديو كليب وما ان وصلت نتالي الي المقاومة المدنية ومقاطعة البضائع الاسرائيلية ومنتجات الشركات والبلدان التي تدعم اسرائيل حتي جاءت اليسا وهي تحمل علبة كولا بيبسي .... فاجعة بكل المقاييس ...من هنا جاءت فكرة كتابة هذا المقال لأن أوضح لكم نحن مغرمون بأناس بعيدون كل البعد عنا وربما يساهمون في قتلنا ونحن وهم لا ندري ولا نعرف ولا نقدر من جاء قاطعا بحورا وفضاءات يحمل روحه علي كفيه لنصرتنا ...لو قلنا جدلا كم عدد المستمعين لـ اليسا في غزة ؟ ... النتيجة بلا عدد كم عدد الذين يعرفون نتالي أبو شقرا أو نيتا غولاني ؟؟ .... النتيجة لا أحد الحكم .... ســـأتركه لك عزيزي القارئ

Angry Friday: Hey Mubarak-you rabbit- you American Puppet!

Last Friday there was another demonstration by Kifaya.
A report from a comrade on the field said "It was a continuation of the Thursday demonstration to open the Rafeh Crossing, and this was going to be in the Azhar area. Surely enough, the 'mubarak zionist security apparatus' closed the metro area and forbade any vehicles from entering the area, but we were ahead of them, & found a way we can get into the Azhar area. Despite the extreme security measures taken we were capable of entering the besieged Azhar area and the security officers were stunned to find us there all of a sudden. They came towards us, then began beating us [...] another group of ours began another demonstration at the journalists' syndicate, another one downtown Cairo, and one on the road leading to the Rafeh Crossing. We called this Friday, the 'Angry Friday.' [...] We demanded they 1. Open the Rafeh Crossing 24/7 2. allow humanitarian aid into the Strip 3. shutting down the Egyptian Embassy in tel Aviv 4. stop providing gas to the Zionist enemy 5. allow the two activists [Jenny & Natalie] to go to their respective countries after they were being punished for pro-palestinian activism"

My very reliable source said the demonstrators' most popular slogans were:
"Hey Mubarak, you rabbit- you American puppet!" [يا مبارك ياجبان ياعميل الامريكان]
"O Palestinian-our beloved, break the dawn of Tel Aviv!"[يافلسطينى ياحبيب دمر فجر تل ابيب]
"To Gaza we are going, a million martyrs we will be!" [على غزه رايحيين شهداء بالملايين ]
"Hey Mubarak, get off-get lost, before revolution comes to your door!"[-يامبارك خلص وارحل والحق نفسك قبل ماثوره تقوم وتحاسبك]

[Little girl with banner: No to Mubarak!]
One of the demonstrators in contact with me, reported the police had beaten the demonstrators. Numerous demonstrators got bruised over their bodies, & the demonstrator, D.G., who was in contact with me, got hit on the head & arms.
The demostrators were 100 in total initially, then rose up to 350 individuals. The demonstrations were held till eight o'clock in the evening.

A demonstration, also organized by Kifaya, will occur tomorrow at 11 near the Arab League headquarters, Jami'aat el Duwal el Arabiyya [جامعة الدول العربية], with the same demands. "It will remain till night time, & they [Egytpian authorities] will not stop us!" says D.G.

Why, O Cyprus, Why?

Cyprus authorities have just passed a law saying no boats allowed to travel to Gaza from... Cyprus.
Desmund Tutu:"If you choose to be neutral in situations of injustice, then you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

Egypt Intifada

Kifaya opposition movement in Egypt, which includes Nasserites, Muslim Brotherhood, & Leftists against the Mubarak dictatorial regime, organized a demonstration yesterday in front of the People's Council, majles el sha'eb, MP's Office, maktab el naeb, demanding the opening of the Rafeh Crossing. It stayed from 14:00 till 18:00 with Mubarak sending down a hundred of his men to the streets to detain & "control." But, surely you will not be reading about this in Western press.


They are also demonstrating today for opening the Rafeh Crossing [aka Charlie's checkpoint as comrade Haidar calls it], as I write this actually, near Al Azhar area. A comrade tells me it has been going on from the morning & will go on till night time.

The White Man Teaches the Native

SO, did I not tell you about Mr. Finkelstein's discovery of civil resistance and suddenly teaching the Palestinians... "how to fight"?
Off the record, Mr. Finkelstein: the first twenty years of the Palestinian struggle was a civil, non-violent resistance. After 1967, Palestinian civil resistance went hand in hand with armed strugle...
What a dissapointment:


Global march on Gaza - satyagrahis wanted!
by heathlander
Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 03:44:55 PM PDT
"When Gandhi's doctrine of non-violent resistance (satyagraha) is
invoked in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, it is
invariably as a propaganda weapon intended to undermine the legitimacy
of Palestinian resistance and shift the blame for the continuing
occupation on to its principal victims.
Leaving such dishonest rhetorical jabs aside, the question of whether
any of Gandhi's teachings can be usefully applied in Palestine is a
serious one that merits careful consideration. In a fascinating essay
(and talk) based on an extensive reading of Gandhi's writings, Norman
Finkelstein concludes that the application of satyagraha - that is, a
mass campaign of non-violent civil resistance - could yield tangible
results in the occupied territories."

Tarzan in Africa

So, Norman Finkelstein visited the Gaza Strip around a month ago with the Code Pink delegation that came in via the Rafeh Crossing.
Norman Finkelstein in "my" opinion is an excellent researcher, his books on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are widely read...
But, when Norman Finkelstein visited Gaza, "I" [and many other Palestinian intellectuals and political analysts] were... dissapointed.
Norman Finkelstein spoke to Hamas officials in Gaza, and told them "what they have to do," to... "turn down the rhetoric," and accept the two-prison- oops- I mean the "two-state" solution.
Norman Finkelstein decided to call for a breaking of the siege by US citizens coming into Gaza marching to the Beit Hanoun Crossing [known as Erez Crossing on the Israeli side]. So, Norman Finkelstein comes to Gaza for... four days and he: takes on the leadership of the Palestinian civil resistance.

Now... don't get me wrong. "We" welcome any initiative to break this medieval, hermetic siege on Gaza. I mean, if Norman Finkelstein is capable of organizing a march that can manage the oppressive, totalitarian, dictatorial Egyptian regime, open the Rafeh Crossing, break the Apartheid wall, then go to "Erez" to break the siege- we support him!
However, the siege is part of a political umbrella.
The BDS movement shows nowhere on the radar of Norman Finkelstein.
Norman Finkelstein did not show any support for the inalienable right of return for the six million refugees, the core of the... "conflict."
Norman Finkelstein did not admit to the fact that the two-prison solution is a... racist solution, a 19th century idea which does NOT support the INALIENABLE right of return.
Norman Finkelstein: Israel is an occupation; it is the longest occupation the 20th century has witnessed, of the WB and GS, it is a colonization, and is an Apartheid; against the 1948 indigenous population, not to mention its Bantustanization of the GS and WB.
In the last genocidal war against the Palestinians, more than 93% of the Israeli citizens supported war crimes in Gaza. "Israel now looks very much like Germany in the 1930s" says Gideon Levy from Ha'aretz.
"I" mean: who supported a two state solution in Apartheid South Africa? A state for the Black and a state for the... White?
Norman Finkelstein must choose a side: with oppression or against oppression.
Uri Avnery, Peace Now, patronizingly will reply back saying he accepts the return of only... 20,000 refugees. He is anti-BDS and anti-ROR [right of return]. He is... a "leftist" Zionist... from when does the "left" accept a ... religious state? [or state to begin with]. He is like the "master" who decides. "I" mean... am "I" stupid? How can a democratic state exist when it has a... religious identity?! I must be really stupid here Uri, I mean... for me not to understand your "democracy."
Israel must transfer to a secular, democratic state a la South Africa.
Meaning: a state for ALL of its citizens disregarding gender, race or religion.
I mean... I am really dissapointed with Norman Finkelstein's visit to Gaza.
As soon as PACBI was founded in 2004, the Knesset formed a committee which included Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni and Bejamin Netanyahu, with Uri Avnery behind the curtains, to counteract it.
The worst thing to hear right now is..."let the Palestinians decide what their fate will be." Really? Was that the case with South Afica? The BDS and One Democratic state are UNIVERSALISTIC in their slogans: social justice, secularism, democracy...
In South Africa, no one said okay for Bantustans!

When Norman Finkelstein came forward after an ISM Gaza talk in the Commodore Hotel in the port area in Gaza, he said "gather up students from the US group, and let them get on the borders with cameras- let's see if their [Israeli soldiers] are going to shoot when America is watching!"
Norman... you completely neglect the Palestinian civil resistance that existed since... 1936. Yes, I assure you. We, Arabs did have that going on. But, will the White man ever challenge his standards of "us"?
If Norman Finkelstein flirts with Zionism... then?

We are NOT the story

Free Gaza Movement reports on the largest open air prison. After the kidnapping of 21 freedom loving activists, those people of conscience on their way to Gaza, Free Gaza says "We are NOT the story." Well done Free Gaza.

"Since its founding in 1948 the State of Israel has regularly kidnapped and tortured Palestinians, throwing them into forgotten prisons where they can languish for years. Today, over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners without benefit of due process, some never even charged - men, women, and children endure torture and isolation in Israeli jails, outdoor prison camps, and secret black sites. They come from all walks of life: doctors, journalists, parliamentarians, workers, resistance fighters, homemakers, students and others. They are our sisters and brothers.
From the first night, the Free Gaza 21 have been busy trying to get news out of the prison about the illegality of Israel's actions in relation to themselves and the other inmates inside Ramle Prison who have no voice."

Do Not Partner with Culture of Colonialism and Apartheid!

PACBI writes against Melbourne International Film festival's cultural partnership with Apartheid Israel.

Support this letter & ask that your local civil society organizations write to the organizers of the aforementioned film festival to culturally boycott the Apartheid Israeli state.

People power, civil resistance, Boycott

From the Ramleh Prison

I just got off the phone with Othman at the Ramleh prison from Gaza city. He is well, but stressed out on when the occupation forces would let him out. His trial is due next week and his lawyer is following on procedures. Othman said he was with great comrades in the prison, and the phone he was using was theirs. He told me that this was his fourth trip to Palestine, having only one succeeding in entering which occured on the 9th of Dec. 2008. The other three were unfruitful with Free Gaza. One was when the Dignity was attacked as the FGM activists attempted to break the siege during the massacre in January 2009, another when the boat returned due to technical difficulty and a following one when they were stopped to return back to Larnaca by the IOF naval gunboats.
I had met Othman in Cyprus while he was off to board the fourth SS Dignity trip with Free Gaza... his eyes shined eagerness of leaving to Palestine, his home, to meet with what the occupation has done to it.
He said that the Israeli officers investigated for hours with him, asking why he came on board the Spirit of Humanity. He spoke about the courage and determination of the three women from Bahrain who refused to remove their hijab when the IOF ordered them to after the Spirit of Humanity was attacked by the Israeli naval gunboats and the forcibly got on board the boat. He also spoke of the 68 year old Mairead Maguire who was not so well on the board but despite her weak health defied the Israelis. "I am so proud to have been with such great people," he told me as I listen to his worn out voice. But, Othman did not let me speak a lot and ask questions. For it was him who wanted to know how I got along seven months in Gaza. We both lived the moments of Palestine again...
"Free Gaza will do it again and again and again" he said willfully, "and I will be with them.. again."

Natalie

Al Jazeera Reporter Imprisoned by Apartheid Israel

Othman Bateery, Al Jazeera reporter, who is originally Palestinian and not capable of visiting home as his family was from those who were ethnically cleansed in the creation of the Apartheid state of Israel, had accompanied Free Gaza crew as a reporter for Al Jazeera on the fourth trip, on Dec. 9th, 2008, and was on board of Free Gaza's Spirit of Humanity, when Israeli piracy attacked, arrested and deported (some) of the crew on board of the boat.

Othman is still locked up in the Ramleh prison by the occupation forces. For support, please contact him on 00 972 5 28 163 806
(from Lebanon & Syria 00 972 0 28 163 806)

Shukran, N

Hamas' Political Immaturity

Haidar Eid, independent political analyst, PACBI member and One State activist in Gaza, critiques Hamas' behaviour after Gaza 2009:

[An extract]

"This historic victory against Israel's aggression required a visionary leadership, one with a clear-cut strategy of liberation that divorces itself completely from the Oslo accords and the deceptive two-prison solution. Instead of building on this victory and on the outpouring of international support in the streets of Istanbul, London, Amman, Caracas, Johannesburg and even Muscat -- to mention but a few cities -- the leadership of the Palestinian resistance movement, including Hamas, rushed to Cairo for what turned out to be endless, futile rounds of national unity dialogue. One is not, of course, against any serious attempt for national unity, but one also takes it for granted that the ABC of leadership, especially elected ones, is to be with the masses. The siege, which so far has led to the death of more than 400 seriously ill persons (from lack of medicine or ability to travel abroad for treatment), should have been exposed as the obstacle that prevents the leaders of the resistance from having national dialogue because they, as leaders, cannot and should not leave their besieged, traumatized people and move freely outside Gaza. This should have become a condition. If any Arab dignitary wanted to have a discussion with the victorious leadership, he or she should have been invited to Gaza. One would have expected the Gaza leadership to act as a victorious one; to wait in Gaza for at least one month after the end of the massacre and make it clear that they would welcome any sign of real support and solidarity while they were staying with their people in Gaza. That, alas, did not happen.

This was a step in what I call the "abortion of victory." Instead of coming up with an alternative program to that of the Palestinian Authority, and all the organizations belonging to it, and instead of building on the unprecedented, growing solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza, the leadership of Hamas, in statements made by its leaders and -- more importantly -- letters sent to the US president, have started reinventing the wheel! I will limit myself to a couple of important examples: Hamas' flirtation with the Barack Obama administration and their endorsement of the two-prison solution.

After US President Barack Obama's much-talked-about speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, in which he had nothing of substance to say about the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, Dr. Ahmed Yousef, a senior advisor to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, in an interview on Al-Jazeera International, was extremely happy with the speech which was, according to him, like Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech! Two nights later, and on Hamas' Al-Aqsa television, the ex-spokesperson of the first Hamas government argued, and I would say with conviction, that Obama's (in)famous speech was a clear indication of the change taking place in the US administration and that "we" need to make use of the "diversity" within the American establishment! This, of course, came after Hamas sent a letter to Obama which Senator John Kerry, who visited Gaza a few months ago, refused to carry."

Haidar Eid speaks about Culture of Resistance in the renown Bil'iin Conference via video conference from Gaza city: