How does a Palestinian eat tomatoes?

My latest article in al-quds al arabi:كيف سأكل الفلسطيني البندورة؟ (How Does a Palestinian Eat Tomatoes? which will be translated to English soon):



'بالشوكة يا نتالي! أم انّك تعلّمت ان تأكلي بيديكِ كما يفعل الفلسطيني!' تلفت اليَّ مستهزءًا حين مددت يدي لأتناول حبّة البندورة من زاوية المائدة. لم تتعدّ اقامتي في لبنان أسبوعها الأوّل بعد وذلك إثر عودتي من غزّة، حيث مكثتُ من عشيّة العدوان الاسرائيلي حتّى أواخر شهر تموز (يوليو).
لم أتوقّع ان تتفوّق قصصي مع العنصرية والشوفينية 'الوطنية' والتمييز الجنسي في لبنان عما عشته من مآس في القطاع. فمنذ وصولي الى هنا اخبرتني صديقة عن 'حديث اهل الحي' بأني قد 'احببت فلسطينيا وذهبت لاراه في القطاع.' او عندما طال بقائي في القطاع قالت احداهن لجدتي:'ما تكون اخذتلها شي فلسطيني هناك وصارعندها اطفال.'
لم يمضِ أسبوع على وصولي حتّى اُلقيَت كلّ جرائم العنصرية والكره للفلسطيني عليَََّ. فكانت أوّل ردّة فعل من الأقارب: 'لما فعلتِ ذلك؟!'؛ هذا الممشى مش ممشانا! نحن مالنا ومال القضية الفلسطينية!'
وقد سألتني جارتي، وهي امرأة عجوز: 'بصراحة يا نتالي، انا ما بطيق الفلسطينيه؛ لا تزعلي منّي.'
والأفظع من ذلك هو عندما قالت لي 'قريبة' بغضب واشمئزاز: 'لا تتحدثي معي باللهجة الفلسطينية!' و'أنا من طائفة (كذا) ومن منطقة (كذا) وأفتخر بأصلي!'



In this article I speak about "Apartheid Lebanon", the chauvinism and racism embedded within the Lebanese society towards women, Palestinians, and foreign workers.

You can also notice that in one of the comments on the article, a lady calls me... a "Hamas supporter"-no, really. What does that have to do with the price of badora & battata?

Boycott that entity!

"Oxford City Council calls for boycott"

Oxford City Council calls for boycott from Nina Arif on Vimeo.

"Oxford City council called for a boycott of Israeli products following Israel’s assault on Gaza. In an unprecedented move, the Council passed a motion, which as well as condemning the loss of civilian life in Gaza, called for individuals to boycott products made by Israel. "

Martyrs of the Tunnels

"My fellow friends who died, Yousef Moamer aged 20, Tareq Shamia aged 23, Mohammed Al-Moghari aged 36, Sami Qeshta aged 33, were inside the tunnel digging and enlarging it when another tunnel for smuggling gasoline fell down excessively, while the three other victims were rescue men whose magnanimity and friendship let them go deep with their simple tools but strong hope." Al- Qaisi explained.

The Palestinians started working in tunnels successively after Hamas' takeover amid July 2007. Since then, Israel's stringent blockade forced Gazans to make tunnels as a public phenomenon with by-laws even if not written. Furthermore, Hamas parliamentary bloc held a special session to discussing tunnels and their laws until some Gazans expected a newly imposed "ministry of tunnels"

The network of tunnels in Gaza, are an industry by itself
Also, one thing wrong with this article is that the tunnels have been there ever since before the First Intifada. After speaking with many who work in the tunnels, from students, minors, and elders, all said the tunnels existed from before they were born

AMANDLA INTIFADA!

This is excatly what we expect from anti-apartheid activists.
AMANDLA

Today, University of Johannesburg academic, Professor Farid Esack and Palestine Solidarity Committee members formally laid charges at the
Johannesburg Central Police station against war criminal Lieutenant-Colonel David Benjamin.
This follows an application lodged on Monday by the Palestine Solidarity Alliance and others with the assistance of well-known international law
professors John Dugard and Max du Plessis. The application calls on the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions to set in motion an investigation
into war crimes committed by a number of Israelis linked to the Gaza massacre of December 2008-January 2009.
South African-born Lieutenant-Colonel David Benjamin, who obtained his law degree from the University of Cape Town, has worked for the Israeli
Occupation Forces for the past 17 years. As a member of the Israeli Army’s Military Advocates Corps, he provided legal advice to the .Israeli
military during the massacre.
Benjamin has been credited with giving the Israeli army the legal go-ahead for the use of white phosphorous in its attacks against Gaza in December
2008-January 2009. Israel’s use of white phosphorous in Gaza is illegal under international law; the Geneva Convention bars its use against
civilian targets.
Benjamin, by his own admission, told Bloomberg News that the Gaza “campaign was a long time in the works, and we [the Military Advocates Corps] were intimately involved in the planning... Approval of targets which can be attacked, methods of warfare – it all has gone through us.”
.
The charges are supported by overwhelming evidence, including reports from internationally known human rights organisations, and affidavits in excess of 3500 pages (available from the PSC). The massacre followed an 18-month siege and blockade which saw an occupied population experience starvation, deprivation, displacement and ongoing trauma on a horrendous scale that has shocked humanity. This seige continues.

The Gaza onslaught resulted in the deaths of 1400 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians. Of these approximately 40 % were women and children. More than 5400 Palestinians were seriously injured, many with the most horrific wounds, burns and amputations and countless others are psychologically, physically and mentally traumatised. This is in comparison to 10 Israeli soldiers killed (four by own fire and 2 Israeli citizens).
These acts of barbarity did not spare the innocent lives of a besieged occupied people. It is common knowledge that Israel attacked and destroyed schools, places of worship, shelters, hospitals and United Nations installations, such as the UNWRA school and relief aid warehouses. Israel’s offensive destroyed about 22,000 buildings and is estimated to have caused 1.9-billion US dollars worth of destruction. The actions are abhorrent and profoundly in breach of international humanitarian law and constitute evidence of international crimes.
The Israeli attack and bombardment of Gaza has been extensively documented and horrific scenes of death, injury and destruction of the civilian population were televised to the world. Evidence collected from eye-witnesses and those injured as well as United Nations and other investigative reports, including the testimony of Israeli combat soldiers and physicians (including South Africans) provide compelling proof that suggests Israelis have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

All credible humanitarian and human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, and the Red Cross, and respected individuals such as the professors of law Richard Falk and our own John Dugard, also condemned these actions as war crimes.
All of these actions are war crimes under international law, and Benjamin is, therefore, a war criminal. South Africans should feel outraged to have
such a war criminal visiting our country, with the express purpose, according to the host organisation, Limmud, of providing South African audiences with the Israeli army’s justification for their war crimes.

Issued by the Palestine Solidarity Committee.

For more information contact:

Prof. Farid Esack-083 459 9989
Dr Shereen Usdin-082 652 4844
Salim Vally-082 802 5936

Defamation of Who I Am and What I Believe in

The Lebanese Daily Star newspaper published this article about my work:

Lebanese urged to help break Gaza siege
"A Lebanese human rights worker with the Free Gaza Movement made a plea on Thursday for Lebanon to show solidarity over the issue of the Palestinian right of return and play a more active role in breaking the siege. Natalie Abou Shakra, who returned Wednesday from the Gaza Strip after an eight-month humanitarian mission, said it was Lebanon’s duty to help ease the situation in the Palestinian territories.

The plea comes a week after President Michel Sleiman told Russian Mideast envoy Alexander Saltanov that any attempt to achieve peace in the Middle East must include the Palestinian right of return.

Shakra, the only Lebanese activist currently on the ground, said the resettlement of Palestinians from countries offering refuge is one of the most important issues that Lebanon should support.

“A Lebanese initiative is also needed to break the siege,” Shakra told The Daily Star. “The last one was not a total failure and I think it should be followed up – and more creative and daring ways should be thought of.”

Shakra defied Israeli orders for Lebanese citizens not to enter Gaza and was able to get in with the Free Gaza movement’s SS Dignity boat on the December 20 last year. She has since been working with Free Gaza Movement (FGM) and International Solidarity Movement to bring medical and food assistance into the Gaza Strip.

Shakra drew on the relationship between Lebanon’s struggles and Gaza’s own, saying that there was a lot of commonality yet support was lacking.

She added that, as an Arab country with a history of struggle with Israeli occupation, Le­banon had a duty to help be­sieged Gazans – 80 percent of whom are currently dependent on food assistance.

“As activists, we need to deal with people who support civil resistance, culturally. It is easier to deal with people, like the Lebanese, who we don’t have to explain the ABCs to, as they already have that political discourse in them,” Shakra added.

She said that living through Israeli occupation during her childhood in the south of Lebanon gave her an appreciation of the plight of Palestinians. “Living there we had to endure a lot and as a result we hold a lot in common with the Palestinian people – we have a common enemy.”

Surely, readers who follow my work, and read what I write, have an idea about the tone, and attitude that I intentionally use. This article defamed who I am, what I believe in and what I do.
I responded to this article to the Daily Star, which was published on the 1st of August as follows:

Readers’ Letters and Opinions

In the article entitled “Lebanese urged to help break siege on Gaza,” written by one of The Daily Star staff, Josie Ensor, and published in The Daily Star newspaper on Friday July 24, 2009, I, the undersigned, had my words misquoted, misrepresented and misunderstood. The following will illustrate:From the very beginning, Ms. Ensor identifies me as a human rights worker when I am not. I am an activist from Lebanon, and wish to be identified as so. What I did was not humanitarian – it is entirely political. My breaking the siege and staying in Gaza for the months that I did was standing in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Strip and living the savage, inhumane and hermetic siege they are under as imposed by the Apartheid Zionist state, with the direct participation of the official Arab regimes, in addition to the long, sleepless, and horrific 22-day manslaughter that the Palestinians endured and resisted, of which ended up killing more than 400 children. The Palestinian issue is not humanitarian; it is political with humanitarian consequence.
First, Ms. Ensor seemed to miss the point of my speaking about “Lebanon” in the first paragraph. In my responses, which Ms. Ensor had recorded, the “Lebanon” I was speaking about was the Lebanese Initiative to break the siege on Gaza, headed by Dr. Maen Bashour, in addition to civil society movements based on civil resistance concepts, and the need to plan more creative attempts to break the siege.
Second, concerning the “right of return” issue, I had mentioned that any initiative aiming at breaking the siege must have a political umbrella: that of endorsing the right of return, in addition to the boycott, divestments and sanctions that must be imposed on the Apartheid state of Israel … I was definitely not referring to President Michel Sleiman’s stance, or words.
Third, Ms. Ensor says I claim that “the resettlement of Palestinians from countries offering refuge is one of the most important issues that Lebanon should support.” I definitely do not support resettlement and that is a dangerous misquote since it is against everything I believe in, against the Palestinian cause-a defamation of what and who I am and what I have been fighting for.
Fourth, Ms. Ensor misquotes, misunderstands, and misrepresents my words when she writes that “Lebanon had a duty to help besieged Gazans – 80 percent of whom are currently dependent on food assistance.” As I clearly remember, and as the recorder might as well, I said that “more than 80 percent of the people in Gaza are refugees,” and therefore striking them is a direct strike to the right of return.
Fifth, Ms. Ensor writes that I believe “As activists, we need to deal with people who support civil resistance, culturally. It is easier to deal with people, like the Lebanese, who we don’t have to explain the ABCs to, as they already have that political discourse in them.” I definitely did not refer to “culturally” knowing that the BDS slogans, civil resistance, civil democracy-one person, one vote- are universalistic slogans. In addition to the, yet again, mistake about the “Lebanese” – when I have explained to Ms. Ensor, again as the recorder might remember, that I was referring to civil society, civil resistance, and particularly the Lebanese Initiative to break the siege – and not the whole Lebanese population, or culture, or – gosh! – government! Also, I mentioned that there is a need to deal and work with people in Lebanon who have a clear cut position and who do not need the ABCs of civil resistance, boycott and the political umbrella that any initiative should embrace.
The article portrays the Palestinian cause as a humanitarian one, portrays Gaza as separate from the rest of the occupied Palestinian lands. From its beginning, Ms. Ensor refers to my mission as “humanitarian” when it should be considered as revolutionary, and core activism, a duty and responsibility of each and every Arab citizen, not only so, but the duty and responsibility of freedom-loving people and people of conscience. In conclusion, representing myself as well as a few colleagues, activists and independent political analysts, the article conveyed a clear anti-Palestinian agenda, was racist and, as a fellow activist wrote, “isolationist.”

Natalie Abou Shakra
Lebanon. Beirut

Call to charge South Africans in Israeli army

Reading this: remember that Apartheid Israel was a sister state to the Apartheid Regime in South Africa

WARCRIMES-ISRAEL
WARCRIMES-ISRAEL
JOHANNESBURG Aug 5 Sapa
CALL TO CHARGE SAFRICANS IN ISRAELI ARMY

Two non-profit organisations have approached the National
Prosecuting Authority to take action against Israel for war crimes
committed in Gaza , and against South Africans who participated in
the war late last year.
Former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils said at a press
briefing in Newtown , Johannesburg , on Wednesday: "The
request
appeals to the authorities to investigate and if appropriate
prosecute in South Africa individuals involved in war crimes and
crimes against humanity during Israel 's Operation Cast Lead."
The Palestinian Solidarity Alliance and the Media Review Network
are listed as complainants in an affidavit handed to the NPA.
Kasrils was speaking in support of the initiative at the
briefing hosted by the Media Review Network.

The two organisations are also calling for the immediate arrest
of Lieutenant David Benjamin, who is currently in South Africa .
The organisations' legal teams have already made three requests
to the NPA for the South African-born Israeli soldier's arrest.
Kasrils said the request to file charges was made in terms of
Section Five of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court Act.
It is supported by approximately 3500 pages of evidence,
including evidence by Human Rights Watch on the "brutal military
onslaught on Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force".
Around 70 South Africans are listed in the affidavit for
prosecution as they had served in the Israeli army. Their names
were withheld due to the fact that they were suspects.
"Evidence collected from eyewitnesses and those injured as well
as United Nations and other investigative reports... provide
compelling proof that suggests Israelis have committed war crimes
and crimes against humanity," Kasrils said.
He added that it was South Africans' duty and responsibility to
take actions against the
"apartheid state of Israel ". He said there
was sufficient evidence in the affidavit to the NPA to justify a
full and proper investigation into the perpetrators of alleged war
crimes.

Source : Sapa /nm/clh/ks


Date : 05 Aug 2009 12:48
OrigID : LP489813

Devaluation of Human Life: Israeli policies of Ethnic Cleansing

Dorothy Noar (Boycott From Within) writes Leonard Cohen

Dear Leonard Cohen,
I realize that via your manager, Robert Kory, you have received numerous requests not to appear in Israel. This is not such a letter, even though I do agree with the requests and the principles of the boycott. Still, you are an adult and must come to your own conclusions.


However, your decision should be grounded on facts, as, for instance the cost of Israel's occupation and colonization to Jewish Israelis.

Personal Background
Just so that you know who is writing, let me briefly describe myself.
I am a 77 year old Jewish Israeli female who has both US and Israeli citizenship, and a PhD from Tel Aviv University. I have lived in Israel for 51 years, having come here with the desire to raise my 3 children in a Jewish state. Having been of the Holocaust generation, I was sure that Jews needed a state of their own. I convinced my Israeli husband, who had come to the US to study (and who at the age of 10 had escaped from Austria with his parents and brother to Palestine in 1939), to return to Israel, although he would have been quite content to stay in the US (he has an MA in engineering from UC Berkeley).

I was utterly ignorant at the time of Palestinian suffering. I believed the mantra that the Jews were a people without a country coming to a land without people. It took years before I discovered that this and other such claims were lies, and that the Zionist founding fathers themselves were aware of this.

But I do not want to write about the injustice and tragedy that Palestinians have suffered. I am sure that you have had more than enough of that in other letters. Again, I by no means imply symmetry between Palestinian suffering and Israeli when I claim that Israeli Jews pay a high price for occupation.

Still, that price exists, and you should be aware of it. It can be stated in a single phrase: the devaluation of human life, Jewish as well as Palestinian. This devaluation is due to the policies of expansion and ethnic cleansing common to all Israel's governments.

Devaluation, in turn, can be divided into at least 4 areas: loss of life and limb in violence, socio-economic conditions, the incidence of PTDS among Israeli combat soldiers fighting a civilian population, and the total absence of security.

Since I realize that to detail these would take more time and space than you would have to read, I attach 2 compilations that I have made, and which I hand out at my presentations abroad (mostly in the US). One of these, Living in a continuous state of war shows that over 22,000 Israeli 'security' forces have been killed in violence since Israel came into being, and over 1000 civilians since the year 2000. These numbers may seem small to an American. But remember that Israeli Jews number but 5 million-about as many Jews as presently live in the US.

These figures alone tell you that the Zionist dream of a safe haven for Jews is a myth. It has never occurred. In fact, since WWII there is no place in the world (excepting war zones as Afghanistan, et al) less safe for Jews than is Israel.

In Israel the Jewish womb is a mechanism for producing soldiers, with no end to this in sight. According to Jewish lore God refused to allow Abraham to sacrifice his only son. But in Israel mothers who love their children no less than mothers elsewhere (but who are thoroughly brain washed) lead their sons and daughters (Israel is one of very few countries that conscripts females) to sacrifice their lives if need be. That so-called need has come up in 12 (yes TWELVE) wars and military campaigns in less than 61 years! Can you imagine at your age having lived through these? And for what? For the sake of expansion and ethnic cleansing. Israel's forces are not defense forces (as they claim to be) but occupation forces carrying out their governments' theft of Palestinian land and the harassment and killing of Palestinians.

Furthermore, while Israeli governments expend huge sums of money on expansion and ethnic cleansing, they continue to call on the Holocaust to justify their acts while at the same time leaving aging Holocaust survivors to live under the poverty line in misery (the second compilation has statistics and reports on this and other such matters).

With the hope that you will at the least thumb through the 2 compilations, I end with only one further comment: Israel not only is not a haven for Jews, it is one of the worst things that has happened to them. Israel is not a democracy. It is an ethnocracy. And just as any country grounded on race, religion, ethnos will always have an eye to demographic concerns rather than to democratic ones, so Israel is racist, undemocratic, and is always preparing for the next war.

Only when there will be justice for the Palestinians and an end to Israel's colonization of Palestine will there be peace for all who live here and a future to look forward to. Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived here in peace for centuries until Zionism began to raise its head in Palestine. It can happen again. If there is a will, it need be no dream.

Please keep these data in mind, Leonard Cohen, and rethink your decision to sing in Israel. Since your intention to come to Israel has become public, Israeli radio has been singing your praises.

Thus by coming, you are putting a feather in Israel's political and cultural cap, but are not doing a favor to either Jews or Arabs or others who live here. Your place should be on the side of right and justice, not on the side of the strong who use force and brain washing to attain political aims.

Finally, if you nevertheless decide to come, I should be happy to accompany you to Sderot and other such Israeli communities as well as to a tour of a portion of the West Bank. Seeing is not necessarily believing, but it can help to inform those who wish to be informed.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Naor

Herzliah, Israel

+972 9 958 4894

Evictions of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem - the 1948 crime repeated.

This post does not need much of a comment. The videos explain their own selves. But I think there need to be a few words.

What you will be seeing below are the first moments of evicting the already underprivileged Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem. Again: Families being EXPELLED from their homes. Read that statement again and try to imagine yourself being in that situation. How would you feel?

How would you feel if suddenly a group of armed soldiers enter your home forcefully and drag you out of it along with your wife and children?

How would you feel if all of a sudden you wake up at 5 a.m on a loud honking noise to wake you up from bed....all the way to the streets ?

This is exactly what has been happening in the past week in Jerusalem. And they ask: Why are the Palestinians reacting? Why do so many mainstream Arab populations hate Israel and view it as a constant threat? Below are only a glimpse of the answer.

European and Arab regimes, you are all responsible to take action. This is nothing less than another crime against humanity that seems to pass with no accountability or objection. As a part of the international community, it is a duty for you to speak up against this crime, as it affects your fellow human. It is the 1948 crime being repeated 61 years later. Any ideas?






Nader H.

Palestinian Activists in Gaza Respond to Finkelstein March

To Finkelstein:
1- Yes we are interested in supporting your initiative. We think that it should be considered as a continuation of other initiatives made by Palestinian organizations, ranging from a human chain from Rafah to Eretz, to the tearing down of the border walls separating Gaza from Egypt , to the marches to the six checkpoints separating Gaza from Israel .



2-We think that a march to Beit Hanoun checkpoint is not enough. If marches are organized, they should aim at breaking the siege in a way that will allow people to move freely out of Gaza . Rafah is the only exit Gaza has to the external world. Even if Eretz/Beit Hanoun checkpoint gets opened, it will not allow freedom of movement. Pressure should be exerted on the government of Egypt as well. WE, therefore, think that simultaneous marches should be organized to all crossings including the Rafah crossing.



3-We are NOT satisfied with the current statement of purpose and principles. We think that, first of all, it has a very patronizing tone in that it mentions Gandhi only without taking into consideration the long legacy of Palestinian non-violent movement. It tends to lecture us, Palestinians, about non-violence.



I will now mention some other issues we find problematic with the statement:



1- The statement fails to give any political context to this abstract siege, avoiding to even condemn Israel's military occupation! The siege is not just about suffering and humanitarian needs. It is about occupation and denial of Palestinians refugees in Gaza , as well as everywhere else, their fundamental right to return. That is also illegal. 80 per cent of Gazans are refugees who were ethnically cleansed in 1948.



2) We feel that the statement ostensibly addresses internationals and urges them to perform this non-violent act in solidarity with Palestinians under siege in Gaza , but it also lectures us, indirectly, about non-violence. Obviously, no Palestinians have been involved in writing it!



3) Everyone who wants to breach the Erez checkpoint from the Gaza side, as this purports to do, must first enter Gaza ! And how do they plan to do that? Egypt , the most important local collaborator with the siege will have none of that.



4) The statement ignores THE most effective non-violent means of resistance to date: BDS! This intentional omission and focus on Gandhi non-violence as a "new" form of resistance that must be taught to us smacks of naiveté and presumptuous colonial pompousness. Forms of resistance are not mutually exclusive. The writers of the statement could have supported the growing BDS campaign in parallel to endorsing this idea of a non-violent march.



5) Such a march must be first explicitly led by the Palestinians in Gaza , as represented by political forces and other civil society organs, and second explicitly advocated by Palestinians. Before organizing international brigades of Gandhian activists to come to Gaza to march "alongside the people of Gaza ," how about asking us Palestinians in Gaza what we want!



6) Palestinians in Gaza as referred to twice as "the people of Gaza ," further entrenching the Israeli division of the Palestinians into THE Palestinians, meaning those in the West Bank, Israeli Arabs, some abstract refugees, and "the people of Gaza ." Jerusalemites are, of course, Israelis with some special problems! The people in Gaza are only indirectly referred to as part of the Palestinian people. Again, no people, no right to self determination. Only a humanitarian issue.



We, therefore, will endorse the statement only if these serious concerns are taken into consideration.



Signed by:



The One Democratic State Group

Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel

Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information

Friends for the Visually Impaired

Al-Aqsa University-Academic Cooperation Dept.

Arab Cultural Forum

Intellectuals for National Dialogue

Israeli War Criminals Shoot at Farmers with White Flags

Activist on the ground (kaxlan2009, youtube) reports from the Strip:

"On the 25th of July 2009 Palestinian farmers went again to repair the damages caused by an Israeli incursion (21/7/09) at a water well in Abassan Jedida. This time they weren't accompanied by international human rights workers, but they had a lot of white flags. Despite that, they came under Israeli fire and were forced to withdraw.

You can hear one of the shots at 0:56"

Historic One State Declaration, Nov. 2007

Note this down, because this is historic:

The One State Declaration
Statement, Various undersigned, 29 November 2007

Editor's Note: The following statement was issued by participants in the July 2007 Madrid meeting on a one-state solution and the November 2007 London Conference.

For decades, efforts to bring about a two-state solution in historic Palestine have failed to provide justice and peace for the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peoples, or to offer a genuine process leading towards them.

The two-state solution ignores the physical and political realities on the ground, and presumes a false parity in power and moral claims between a colonized and occupied people on the one hand and a colonizing state and military occupier on the other. It is predicated on the unjust premise that peace can be achieved by granting limited national rights to Palestinians living in the areas occupied in 1967, while denying the rights of Palestinians inside the 1948 borders and in the Diaspora. Thus, the two-state solution condemns Palestinian citizens of Israel to permanent second-class status within their homeland, in a racist state that denies their rights by enacting laws that privilege Jews constitutionally, legally, politically, socially and culturally. Moreover, the two-state solution denies Palestinian refugees their internationally recognized right of return.

The two-state solution entrenches and formalizes a policy of unequal separation on a land that has become ever more integrated territorially and economically. All the international efforts to implement a two-state solution cannot conceal the fact that a Palestinian state is not viable, and that Palestinian and Israeli Jewish independence in separate states cannot resolve fundamental injustices, the acknowledgment and redress of which are at the core of any just solution.

In light of these stark realities, we affirm our commitment to a democratic solution that will offer a just, and thus enduring, peace in a single state based on the following principles:


The historic land of Palestine belongs to all who live in it and to those who were expelled or exiled from it since 1948, regardless of religion, ethnicity, national origin or current citizenship status;

Any system of government must be founded on the principle of equality in civil, political, social and cultural rights for all citizens. Power must be exercised with rigorous impartiality on behalf of all people in the diversity of their identities;

There must be just redress for the devastating effects of decades of Zionist colonization in the pre- and post-state period, including the abrogation of all laws, and ending all policies, practices and systems of military and civil control that oppress and discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion or national origin;

The recognition of the diverse character of the society, encompassing distinct religious, linguistic and cultural traditions, and national experiences;

The creation of a non-sectarian state that does not privilege the rights of one ethnic or religious group over another and that respects the separation of state from all organized religion;

The implementation of the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN Resolution 194 is a fundamental requirement for justice, and a benchmark of the respect for equality;

The creation of a transparent and nondiscriminatory immigration policy;

The recognition of the historic connections between the diverse communities inside the new, democratic state and their respective fellow communities outside;

In articulating the specific contours of such a solution, those who have been historically excluded from decision-making -- especially the Palestinian Diaspora and its refugees, and Palestinians inside Israel -- must play a central role;

The establishment of legal and institutional frameworks for justice and reconciliation.


The struggle for justice and liberation must be accompanied by a clear, compelling and moral vision of the destination -- a solution in which all people who share a belief in equality can see a future for themselves and others. We call for the widest possible discussion, research and action to advance a unitary, democratic solution and bring it to fruition.

Madrid and London, 2007

Authored By:

Ali Abunimah, Chicago
Naseer Aruri, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Omar Barghouti, Jerusalem
Oren Ben-Dor, London
George Bisharat, San Francisco
Haim Bresheeth, London
Jonathan Cook, Nazareth
Ghazi Falah, Akron, Ohio
Leila Farsakh, Boston
Islah Jad, Ramallah
Joseph Massad, New York
Ilan Pappe, Totnes, UK
Carlos Prieto del Campo, Madrid
Nadim Rouhana, Haifa
The London One State Group

Cairo, Larnaca, Beirut

On the 15th of July, the day Vive Palestina USA, the George Galloway delegation, came
were on the Rafeh Crossing, thanks to all civil society pressure, to the International Movement to Open the Rafeh Crossing, to Kefaya Egypt, and to activists around the world, my ISM colleague Jenny and I were called by authorities on the Rafeh Crossing to directly head to the Crossing.
It was around 15:00 in the afternoon, and it was sudden. It was a phone call, "go to the Crossing now! The Egyptian authorities are going to allow you through!"
Jenny and I, in a rush, packed all our things, said our "see you soon"- how can you say that to one million and a half individuals, whose houses were open for us, whose love was unconditional and generosity and kindness was overwhelming?
It was very painful... but, we shall return, and we have a duty to be outside and speak, and work on more creative ways to break the siege, in addition to forming contacts with Gaza.
We got to the Crossing. We were lead into the mukhabarat [intelligence] office and sat face to face with the intelligence officer who threw the coordination [tanseeq] papers in our faces the last time. He spoke about how the Egyptian authorities were "doing everything they can for the Palestinians" and how "the Palestinians are so lucky to have people like them in the Crossing who want what is best for the Palestinians." I wonder if the elderly Palestinian man who fell unconscious last time and was DRAGGED and thrown humiliatingly outside would agree; if the woman who was not allowed to Egypt, begging and crying to the intelligence officer about letting her through to get to her son who was injured in the genocidal war on the Strip; if the physically challenged young man on a wheelchair, who could not speak, was hit and thrown off his chair?

We left the Crossing at almost 22:00 in the evening after passing through questioning-again- and waiting for our passports to be stamped. Let me tell you that they were not happy with being obliged to let us through. They were obliged after you, civil society, people to people solidarity, pressured the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after those great activists worked hand in hand and pressured the authorities to let us out.

We met with those people of conscious, the activists of the International Movement to Open the Rafeh Crossing. With Paki, Nadeen, Iman, Nada and Rami.
After a four and half hour drive, with a friendly and kind driver from Al Arish, who severely condemned the Egyptien regime, we arrived in Cairo. Nothing in Egypt seemed beautiful to me. It was Gaza's culture of resistance, its refugees' resilience, and its endurance to the suffering imposed by the Apartheid Israeli state and the official Arab regimes.
Jenny had been dropped at Victoria Station, and I left to the house of the Egytpian writer Radwa Ashour, and Palestinian poet and writer Mourid Barghouti, who welcomed me generously into their house to stay there until I left to Larnaca on the next day, July 16.
After four days in Cyprus, I arrived in Lebanon on the July 20.
Gaza was not far away, Gaza was on my mind, is on my mind. I contacted my Palestinian surrogate mother and father, Sitt Wafaa and Dr. Asad. My tears fell as I heard Sitt Wafaa's husky voice on the other end of the line asking me if I had eaten well and had enough sleep. My Lebanese family did not even cry like that when I saw them.
From the moment I arrived in Lebanon, racism and sexism have been accompanying me. I will write about them in another post, as they do deserve a section of their own.

Salutations to the dignified and resilient people of the Strip, to the six million refugees, to the 1948 natives of the land stripped of their civil rights, to the suppressed people in the Bantustans of the West Bank prison, to the forcefully removed families in so-called Greater Jerusalem, and to the 11,700 who are physically and psychologically tortured in the Israeli dungeons, the "living martyrs", to the 21,000 students and minors endangering their lives working in the tunnels, those students and minors killed, the "martyrs of the tunnels," to the glorious martyrs of Israeli and official Arab regimes crimes against humanity.

Natalie