Durban and Bil’in conferences

April 25, 2009 at 10:06 pm · Filed under Apartheid, activists, anti-semitism

I didn’t follow the Durban conference closely but still couldn’t miss all the propaganda around it.  Reading through my emails this weekend, below are links to and excerpts from a few interesting pieces on the conference:

Seumas Milne – The Guardian: What credibility is there in Geneva’s all-white walkout?

What do the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Italy and Israel have in common? They are all either European or European-settler states. And they all decided to boycott this week’s UN conference against racism in Geneva even before Monday’s incendiary speech by the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which triggered a further white-flight walkout by representatives of another 23 European states.

Navi Pillay, The High Commissioner of Human Rights – final press release:

It was very difficult. I had to face a widespread, and highly organized campaign of disinformation. Many people, including Ministers with whom I spoke, told me that the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, which as you know was agreed by 189 states at the original World Conference Against Racism in 2001 was anti-Semitic, and it was clear that either they had not bothered to read what it actually said, or they were putting a cast on it that was, to say the least, decidely exaggerated.

Muzzlewatch has excellent coverage of the conference (day by day) here - very interesting stuff (don’t miss out the commentary on Darfur ‘activists’ )

Also from this weekend’s email reading, commentary on the Bil’in International Conference:

From speech by Iyad Bornat of the Friends of Freedom and Justice  (translated by Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh)

To all the world we say that the Palestinian Arab people are still suffering a grave injustice and massacre at the hands of brutal occupation in the shadow of dreadful international silence and sometimes with full support [of the West] to injustice. Yet, we continue to cling to our land as done for centuries despite the killing, the demolition, the siege, the starvation, the expulsion, the land and water confiscation. My people are suffering and its time to end the injustice. History will not forgive those who are partners in crime. The future will see new smiles on the faces of our children, a future of peace and love between people. Those children in my country today do not know the sea and are forbidden to even wonder into nature into their fields where the guns of the occupiers target them.

Nobel Laureate Accuses Israel of Ethnic Cleansing
“I believe the Israeli government is carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians here in east Jerusalem,” said Maguire, who won the 1976 Nobel prize for her efforts at reaching a peaceful solution to the violence in Northern Ireland.

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10 terms to think about before using with Muslims

March 31, 2009 at 9:54 pm · Filed under Christianity, Islam, interfaith

I thought Chris Seiple’s article in the Christian Monitor was fresh and straight to the point, and comes from years of intercultural experience rather than theory or theology.  Excerpts below:

1. “The Clash of Civilizations.” Invariably, this kind of discussion ends up with us as the good guy and them as the bad guy. There is no clash of civilizations, only a clash between those who are for civilization, and those who are against it. Civilization has many characteristics but two are foundational: 1) It has no place for those who encourage, invite, and/or commit the murder of innocent civilians; and 2) It is defined by institutions that protect and promote both the minority and the transparent rule of law.

2. “Secular.” The Muslim ear tends to hear “godless” with the pronunciation of this word. And a godless society is simply inconceivable to the vast majority of Muslims worldwide. Pluralism – which encourages those with (and those without) a God-based worldview to have a welcomed and equal place in the public square – is a much better word.

3. “Assimilation.” This word suggests that the minority Muslim groups in North America and Europe need to look like the majority, Christian culture. Integration, on the other hand, suggests that all views, majority and minority, deserve equal respect as long as each is willing to be civil with one another amid the public square of a shared society.

4. “Reformation.” Muslims know quite well, and have an opinion about, the battle taking place within Islam and what it means to be an orthodox and devout Muslim. They don’t need to be insulted by suggesting they follow the Christian example of Martin Luther. Instead, ask how Muslims understand ijtihad, or reinterpretation, within their faith traditions and cultural communities.

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Tennis courts battles

February 28, 2009 at 3:12 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Considering this happened so close to home, I’ve been wanting to blog about it but never got the chance…I think this article for MIFTAH sums it up well though, excerpts below:

Dubai is now taking the brunt of hostility and criticism for its decision to bar entry to an Israeli tennis player, Shahar Peer, who formerly served in the Israeli army. She was travelling to compete in the Barclays Dubai Championships next week.

The tournament’s organizers explained that their decision was based on security concerns, saying that Peer’s presence would antagonize local tennis fans who had only a few weeks ago watched horrific events unfold during Israel’s 22-day assault on Gaza which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead. The organizers said that they simply could not guarantee Peer’s safety on the tennis court. Ironically, the Israel Football Association took a similar decision during its military offensive in Gaza when it barred any football matches from being held in Palestinian communities inside Israel, citing concerns for the ‘safety’ of its Israeli players. While Dubai’s decision is officially based on security concerns, many agree that it is also influenced by politics, an indirect condemnation of Israel for its indiscriminate killing in Gaza.

Despite the circumstances, newspapers, tennis players, and organizers expressed outrage at Dubai’s decision. The Wall Street Journal, one of the sponsors of the event, immediately withdrew its funding when it heard about Peer’s visa rejection. The Tennis Channel protested the decision by announcing its refusal to televise the event as previously planned. A U.S. tour company, IsramWorld, also canceled its tours to Dubai because of the visa incident, calling Dubai’s decision “an odious act of political bigotry.” In addition, famous tennis players such as Amelie Mauresmo, Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams criticized the decision, saying it was “not acceptable”, and that “sports should be above politics”. As Ken Solomon, the chairman and chief executive of the Tennis Channel, said, “Sports are about merit, absent of background, class, race, creed, color or religion. They are simply about talent… If Israel were barring a citizen of an Arab nation, we would have made the same decision.”

These are all noble sentiments indeed, but do they actually work both ways? Do they apply to Palestinian athletes as well as Israeli ones? Anybody who has taken even the briefest of looks at the state of sports in Palestine will answer with a quick and decisive ‘No’. Instead, what we have here is just another example of double standards – one standard for Israelis, but another standard completely for Palestinians. Did any of these newspapers, athletes, and sport channel executives say anything when Israel bombed the headquarters of the Palestinian Football Association, built partially with funds from the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA)? The facility, which housed the men and women’s football teams, now lies in ruins. What about when Israeli air strikes destroyed sports clubs and youth organization headquarters? What about when three top Palestinian football players in the prime of their careers were killed in their homes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead?

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Waltz with Bashir – don’t clap just yet

February 20, 2009 at 12:59 pm · Filed under Israel, Media, Palestine

I haven’t watched the movie (don’t it played in Dubai…not even in the DFF) so can’t give an opinion on it, but Gideon Levy’s piece makes a lot of sense (first real criticism I’ve read of the movie).  Excerpts below:

…However, it must also be noted that the film is infuriating, disturbing, outrageous and deceptive. It deserves an Oscar for the illustrations and animation – but a badge of shame for its message. It was not by accident that when he won the Golden Globe, Folman didn’t even mention the war in Gaza, which was raging as he accepted the prestigious award. The images coming out of Gaza that day looked remarkably like those in Folman’s film. But he was silent. So before we sing Folman’s praises, which will of course be praise for us all, we would do well to remember that this is not an antiwar film, nor even a critical work about Israel as militarist and occupier. It is an act of fraud and deceit, intended to allow us to pat ourselves on the back, to tell us and the world how lovely we are. Hollywood will be enraptured, Europe will cheer and the Israeli Foreign Ministry will send the movie and its makers around the world to show off the country’s good side. But the truth is that it is propaganda. Stylish, sophisticated, gifted and tasteful – but propaganda. A new ambassador of culture will now join Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua, and he too will be considered fabulously enlightened – so different from the bloodthirsty soldiers at the checkpoints, the pilots who bomb residential neighborhoods, the artillerymen who shell women and children, and the combat engineers who rip up streets. Here, instead, is the opposite picture. Animated, too. Of enlightened, beautiful Israel, anguished and self-righteous, dancing a waltz, with and without Bashir. Why do we need propagandists, officers, commentators and spokespersons who will convey “information”? We have this waltz. The waltz rests on two ideological foundations. One is the “we shot and we cried” syndrome: Oh, how we wept, yet our hands did not spill this blood. Add to this a pinch of Holocaust memories, without which there is no proper Israeli self-preoccupation. And a dash of victimization – another absolutely essential ingredient in public discourse here – and voila! You have the deceptive portrait of Israel 2008, in words and pictures.

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BDS – thoughts and opinions

February 15, 2009 at 8:18 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

As educators of conscience, we have been unable to stand by and watch in silence Israel’s indiscriminate assault on the Gaza Strip and its educational institutions.

Accordingly, in response to the call by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and by more than 500 Israeli citizens to foreign embassies in Tel Aviv, we call for:

(1) Refraining from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions that do not vocally oppose Israeli state policies against Palestine;

(2) Advocating a comprehensive boycott of Israeli institutions at the national and international levels, including suspension of all forms of funding and subsidies to these institutions;

(3) Promoting divestment and disinvestment from Israel by international academic institutions;

(4) Working toward the condemnation of Israeli policies by pressing for resolutions to be adopted by academic, professional and cultural associations and organizations;

(5) Supporting Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as an explicit or implicit condition for such support.

The above is part of the press release for the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which you all must have heard of by now.

The global BDS movement against the Apartheid State of Israel has been growing stronger by the day, and of course the war crimes committed in Gaza have only added to activists’ determination to make it work.  The US campaign is the latest addition to this global campaign and the other big news from the US is the decision by Hampshire College to divest from companies which support the Israeli millitary.  And don’t be fooled by the administration’s comments trying to distance itself from any political implications, read SJP’s response here.

Even amongst the sincere pro-Palestinian activists/intellectual community, there has been an ongoing discussion on the success and merit of the BDS movement from a moral and strategic stand point. Does BDS cause more harm than good? Is is justifiable? Is it the best way to raise awareness of the conflict? Does it promote peace and understanding?…etc  Of course, the recent developments in the US have generated even more questions and opinions.

Jewish Peace News (great source of news and analysis – definately worth subscribing to!) recently hosted an excellent discussion on the topic, providing room for activists to voice their opinions, across the spectrum.  Plenty of food for thought and interesting arguments to consider from both points of views.  Excerpts from particularly interesting opinions below, followed by my own:

Until now, as a believer in boundary-crossings, I would not have endorsed a cultural and academic boycott. But Israel’s continuing, annihilative assaults in Gaza, and the one-sided rationalizations for them have driven me to re-examine my thoughts about cultural exchanges. Israel’s blockading of information, compassionate aid, international witness and free cultural and scholarly expression has become extreme and morally stone-blind. Israeli Arab parties have been banned from the elections, Israeli Jewish dissidents arrested, Israeli youth imprisoned for conscientious refusal of military service. Academic institutions are surely only relative sites of power. But they are, in their funding and governance, implicated with state economic and military power. And US media, institutions and official policy have gone along with all this.

To boycott a repressive military state should not mean backing away from individuals struggling against the policies of that state. So, in continued solidarity with the Palestinian people’s long resistance, and also with those Israeli activists, teachers, students, artists, writers, intellectuals, journalists, refuseniks, feminists and others who oppose the means and ends of the Occupation, I have signed my name to this call.

–Adrienne Rich

Such an academic boycott will do little to advance the cause of political change it seeks. It will inflame public opinion against its proponents and will foreclose the kind of intellectual exchange needed now. It will also paradoxically bar the very forms of internal Israeli intellectual dissent it should be promoting. Moreover, it sanctimoniously over-emphasizes the historical role of intellectuals in struggles for political freedom.

– Lincoln Shlensky (JPN editor)

 Lincoln Shlensky contends that the boycott campaign in the UK has been a failure. While it is clearly true that there is not, as yet, a national boycott the campaign for the boycott has focussed the attention of many people in the UK, academics and others, on the relationship between Israeli universities and the state and the armed and security forces. This has produced growing resonance, and this has accelerated markedly since the start of the latest Israeli assault on Gaza. While it is also true that thishas mobilised opposition, this is because they saw the boycott call as a real threat to be mobilised against and not safely ignored like many of our previous campaigns.

The efforts of the [British] boycott campaign have severely embarrassed the EU in its attempts to widen ever further trade and research links with Israel. Now the Green and Socialist groups at the European Parliament have come out against further extension to Israeli privileges and stalled the latest proposals.

 The UK example has stirred boycott action in many European countries and in the US and Canada. Even more importantly when I visited the West Bank and Gaza at the end of last year civil society groups unanimously demanded that we step up BDS, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, activities and in particular praised BRICUP for its pressure on Israeli Universities. Their plea was to end Israel’s sense of impunity and they saw the ending of normal relations with Israeli Universities as the leading weapon in this.

–Mike Cushman (member of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine)

My humble opinion: it’s obvious for anyone reading this blog the stance the author takes on BDS.  I believe it is not only morally justified, but also strategically necessary. Besides the fact that Palestinians activisits, academics, intellectuals, and peace organizations have come together and issued a call for this boycott, to which the rest of the sane world can only respond with respect and solidarity, there is one other key issue in my mind.  For those who criticize the cultural/academic/consumer boycott and divestment campaign for targeting Israeli academics, businessmen, and the Israeli society in general, I say that it is precisely that which is needed.  It is time the Israeli society realized that whether they like it or not, by not speaking out against the occupation they are taking part in it.  By voting for politicians who wage wars against civilian populations, by sending their kids to be part of the occupier’s army (sorry, defense force!), by continuing their lives as if the Palestinian neighbours didn’t even exist or didn’t deserve to exist, they have brought this on to themselves.  It is about time the Israeli society takes responsibility for the decades of oppression in which it has been directly involved.  It is time for the world community to hold the Israeli society, and its government, responsible.

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Tears in Gaza…Tears for Gaza…

February 8, 2009 at 9:03 pm · Filed under Gaza

After 3 days in transit and around 10 hours on the Rafah border, Reem S. and her 7 colleagues from the US National Lawyers Guild finally set foot in devastated Gaza.  Reem describes what she is witnessing on this blog, excerpts from a very emotional post below:

I have not shed one tear since entering Gaza.  I cannot explain this lack of emotionalism except for an anesthesia injected through complete shock. It is not so much the shock of the overwhelming devastation, but the shock of Israel’s cruelty and disrespect for humanity.  It is the shock that an Israeli soldier could execute three daughters and paralyze the fourth in their father’s presence while two other Israeli soldiers watch and eat chocolates and chips.  It is the shock that Israel can bomb UNRWA warehouses full of medicines, infant milk, and school supplies and then deny Palestinians access to thousands of tons of humanitarian aid at their borders at a time when Palestinians in Gaza are on the brink of a humanitarian crisis.  It is the shock of seeing the nurse at Al Shifa Hospital unwrap the bandages from twelve-year old Omar whose body has third degree burns from an exploded kerosene container used to provide warmth and fire since Omar has no electricity in his household.  It is the shock of seeing four men drink tea on chairs riddled with bullet holes on top of the rubble that used to be their home three weeks prior.  It is the shock of noticing last minute as a fire ignites from a clump of hidden white phosphorus and nearly burns the pants of my Palestinian tour guide as we unassumingly take pictures in an olive tree garden.  It is the shock of realizing that life in Gaza is not a right, but a privilege, which can be and has been so often taken away at the whim of an Israeli bullet, missile, mortar, or shell.  It is the shock that life and death have become one and the same in Gaza.  For even for those who may have survived Israel’s recent offensive unscathed, their spirits have been decimated by the realization that they are trapped with no where to run and isolated from the rest of the world by Israel’s continued blockade which literally prevents the rebuilding of their shattered lives.

Yet I am not the only one who has been numbed by shock.  This sense of shock resonates deeply in Gaza as people talk of loved ones who have been brutally executed as dispassionately as if they were press personnel reporting a story for the evening news.

Since writing that paragraph above, I have cried once.  Listening to Mohammad Kassab Khalil Shurrab, 64, describe how his two sons were killed in broken English, I felt that my heart was being wrenched from my chest.  Even though I usually conduct my interviews in Arabic and translate into English for the other delegation members, Mohammad wanted to speak in English.  He wanted to be understood by all and he wanted his story to be told in first person.  Having been demonized and dehumanized his entire life, Mohammad wanted to give flesh and soul to his now-deceased sons.  He wanted us to see them for what they really were - humans, indispensable humans.

If you’re having trouble tearing, continue here… 

Reem’s post echoed the words of my aunt in Gaza whom we spoke to yesterday.  Even those who survived the war ‘untouched’ will never know ‘normal’ life again.  They have simply lived through too much, too much for any sane human to bear.

Then again, no one said attaining jannah was easy.  All the people of Gaza have to do is be patient and bear as much as they can the calamity they are facing.  But, what about the rest of us?  Tears will not be enough…

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Small but significant victory

January 16, 2009 at 1:19 pm · Filed under Gaza, activists

The Pentagon has suspended the delivery of a shipload of munitions to Israel after international concern that it could be used by Israeli forces in Gaza.

The German-owned cargo vessel, Wehr Elbe, under charter by the US Military Sea­lift Command, is currently in Greek waters with its transponder tracking turned off to prevent its location being identified.

Amnesty International has written to the foreign secretary, David Miliband, asking him to make “urgent approaches to the US, German and Greek governments to prevent this, or any pending or future shipments of weaponry until it can be verified that they will not be transferred to the Israeli Defence Forces or other parties to the conflict in Gaza.

More here

I have been impressed with Amnesty International’s stance and efforts during the war…thank you for standing up against oppression, even if it happens to be politically incorrect.

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Dubai at its best

January 11, 2009 at 8:27 pm · Filed under Gaza, dubai

I’ve previously written about Dubai at it’s worst, but yesterday I got to experience a totally different side – a Dubai full of genuine people working together across cultural borders for a good cause.

I’m talking about the Aramex campaign to collect aid for Gaza.  After a week long of receiving messages I was finally able to make it for a couple of hours.  It was amazing.  There were at least 50 people there: Palestinians, Emaratis, Lebanese, Indian, European,… from all ages and backgrounds…all working hard together for a cause they all dearly believed it.

I’ve been at humanitarian volunteer activities before, and unfortunately, especially in the Arab world, many are there to hang out/flirt/show off…it’s something different to do.  Not this time.  Even more importantly, there were people there from different religions and backgrounds and there were times when it got busy and there was a lot of contact and communication – but I don’t think anyone ever lost their temper or disrespected someone else.  Such an amazing effort, it really gives me hope for the people of Dubai - THANK YOU ARAMEX!

 The silent vigils have also continued in Dubai and there was a government-approved protest on Friday (although it was all within a park – they weren’t event allowed to go to the cornich like abu dhabi and sharjah – figures!).

Gaza, your resistance despite great suffering has awakened and united the world.

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The heroic people of Gaza

January 6, 2009 at 11:12 am · Filed under Gaza, activists

Remember Safa Joudeh?  An earlier post had her first article describing her feelings after the first day of bombing on Gaza.  This article is her latest, 10 days after.  It is a different Safa speaking, a stronger one.

The article will give you goose bumps and bring you to tears.  It captures the raw reality on the ground – the reality of a devestated population that is willing to fight to the very last breath.  This is not Hamas or Jihad speaking, this is a Western-educated, young, Gazan woman.

The only way to end the resistance in Gaza is to kill every last man, woman, child, plant, and stone there.  May Allah (swt) give them the strength and will to continue resisting and fighting for their freedom.

Excerpts below:

Israel has come into our homes, is fighting us in our streets and is expressing its brutality against us in full force. How are we supposed to react?

All Palestinian factions have united and are out facing the enemy, using all of their military capabilities that they collectively have. Although these capabilities are incomparable to the military strength exerted by Israel, yet it has made us more certain than ever that Palestinians will fight to the very end to protect their own. It has shown us that resistance, courage and love are an integral part of the Palestinian identity that will never change despite all the hardships we endure. It has given us a moral boost, which comes at a time when we need it most.

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the al-Quds Brigades of the Islamic Jihad movement, The Izzedin al-Qassam brigades of Hamas, the Salah al-Din Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah have all come together as one united front and at a high, almost affirmed risk of peril, are out protecting our streets and our homes, ready to die if that means preventing the death of one more helpless child. We are united and we have accepted our fate recurrently, but the people of Gaza — almost 80 percent of them refugees — will not be massacred and displaced yet again by people from the outside guided by tyranny and greed.
…

At the moment, and in the midst of the aggression, it is hard to make sense of the current situation or make future predictions. It’s hard to come to grips with the numbers and the extent of our losses. It’s hard even to remember a time when basic necessities such as food, water, warmth and daylight weren’t a luxury. At this point, bare human instinct is at work — the need to protect your loved ones, the need to ensure shelter and the instinct of fight or flight. We have fled for too long, Gaza is our last refuge and our home after we were displaced from what is now called Israel. All this happened 60 years ago. What more could they want? We have nowhere left to go. They have disregarded every single international law there is. Now is the time to defend ourselves, now is the time for resistance.

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Friday prayers in Gaza

January 2, 2009 at 3:11 pm · Filed under Gaza, Hamas, Islam ·Tagged , ,

The Friday prayers in Jabaliya camp (Gaza) left me speechless. Hundreds of the camp’s residents came out to where the mosque of Al-Khulafa stood a few days ago before it was bombed by the enemy. They came out to pray Friday prayers and also the janazah prayer for the martyr Dr. Nizar Rayyan.

These crowds were standing in an open area one next to another performing their prayers with absolutely no sign of fear. On the contrary, they were chanting in defiance.

I could not believe my eyes as I was watching this on Al Jazeera a few minutes ago and thinking what would happen if Israel decided to bomb all of them there and then. Before I could finish my line of thought, the live coverage showed F-16 fighter jets circling in the air very close to where the crowd was. Instead of dispersing and running away for their lives the crowd chanted “Allah Akbar” (God is Great) and “La Illaha illa Allah” (There is no god except Allah).

How can anyone beat such a spirit? You tell me, how can Israel win?

“If Allah should aid you, no one can overcome you; but if He should forsake you, who is there that can aid you after Him? And upon Allah let the believers rely.” [The Holy Quran, 3:160]

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Dubai reactions to Gaza massacre

December 31, 2008 at 10:20 am · Filed under Gaza, Palestine, dubai

Warning: this is a rant.

Does Dubai care about what is going on in Gaza?

You can see anger on the faces of the people in the protest at the Palestinian consulte in Dubai on Sunday (the second day of the attacks). 

However, one thing the article makes clear is that the demonstration was a nationalistic one more than anything else; the crowd was mainly Palestinians venting their emotions (and not in the most organized fashion from what I heard).  What about everbody else? 

A second show of solidarity in Dubai was organized yesterday; however, of a different kind:  A silent vigil in the parking lot of one of the new high-end areas (JBR).

I haven’t seen any coverage of the vigil in the media yet, not even at the end of the articles on Sheikh Mohammad’s wise decision.

Part of the lack of coverage may be due to the uneventfulness of the event.  I don’t think any of the people who attended expected to be allowed to stay until the end (it was organized from 7-9 pm).  However, it went very smoothly.  There was probably 500 people there, mostly Arab (Palestinians, Jordanians and Lebanese) youth, some parents and families, and a handful of foreigners.  A police car was around the corner (probably to ensure traffic wasn’t affected), but that was it.

Then again, we weren’t doing anything at all, why would the police interfere?We were not even visible, in the back corner of a dark parking lot.

If anything, I think the vigil was therapeutic to the attendees.  Being in a crowd of people who took time out of their glitzy Dubai lives to come and show their support to the people of Gaza in an organized manner, people who couldn’t just go on with their lives while their brothers were being mercilessly bombed, was great.  It reminded me of vigils and protests in Beirut during the early months of the second intifada. 

I have heard that there has been at least one spontaneous march in Sharjah, with another one being planned for today.

What about everybody else?  The non-Arab expats (European/American/Australian…) seem to have absolutely no idea of what is going on; or maybe it’s easier and safer to just ignore. 

What is most disheartening in the absence of Islamic organizations from the scene.  I really do appreciate the fact that they are dawah organizations and need to maintain a safe distance from political issues.  But this is different.  What is going on in Gaza is an emergency, an atrocity, a crisis, a massacre which has caused the whole world to rise to action. How can they just pretend it doesn’t exist?  Not even an email to the members to urge them to pray for their brothers and sisters (I’m subscribed to the 2 main English-speaking dawah organizations in Dubai)?

 I am not asking them to take a political stance, but simply to acknowledge thei responsibility towards humanity.  How do they expect to maintain credibility?  What example are they setting for other Muslims (especially the new Muslims they are targeting)? How do they expect Allah (swt) to bless their work when they remain absolutely silent? 

I know that the organizers as individuals are probably very moved by what is happening in Gaza.  But that is not enough.  A group of people (mostly non-practising Muslims) tested the limits and got together for a small, silent vigil yesterday.  At least they tried.  And next time the event may be bigger and more effective. 

Mazin Qumsiyeh said it well:

Jesus made a statement directly relevant for us today:

“You are the earth’s salt. But if the salt should become tasteless, what can make it salt again? It is completely useless and can only be thrown out of doors and stamped under foot. You are the world’s light – it is impossible to hide a town built on the top of a hill. Men do not light a lamp and put it under a bucket. They put it on a lamp-stand and it gives light for everybody in the house.”

It is thus the time when people who claim they want peace and justice to stop talking about it and actually work for it. Put your lamp higher. It is time for real change…It is time for a world Intifada (uprising against injustice).

I think Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) would have agreed with that statement.

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Gaza: Getting at the Truth

December 30, 2008 at 10:35 am · Filed under Gaza

Much needed truth to counter the insane propaganda:

Hat tip: Body on the Line

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Gaza

December 28, 2008 at 3:32 pm · Filed under "peace" process, Apartheid, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, U.S., human rights, occupation, zionism

Israel is back to devastating brute force…a modern day David and Goliath show down. 

The civilians in Gaza are absolutely fed up…many of them are happy to sign away their every last right for a chance at a normal life.  I can’t blame them – I probably would have felt the same.

However, from the comfort of my home miles away watching the catastrophe unfold on TV  (a few kilometers away from my grandfather’s house) I have the luxury of being able to think [somewhat] coherently.  Not withstanding all the shortcomings and faults of Hamas from lack of experience, corruption or what have you, I have to say that no matter what unfolds over the coming few weeks, they are true heroes in my eyes. 

At the very least, they are still able to stand up and say NO: no to occupation, no to injustice, no to tyranny. 

It feels like Summer 2006 all over again, although Hamas is not Hizbullah so I’m not as optimistic this time.  

Excerpts from Ali Abunimah’s article below, followed by an eye-witness account of what promises to be only the beginning of a horrendous blood bath.

“I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing.” Those were the words, spoken on Al Jazeera today by Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in the Sderot area adjacent to Gaza, as images of Israel’s latest massacres were broadcast around the world.

A short time earlier, US-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters dropped over 100 bombs on dozens of locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip killing at least 195 persons and injuring hundreds more. Many of these locations were police stations located, like police stations the world over, in the middle of civilian areas. The US government was one of the first to offer its support for Israel’s attacks, and others will follow.
…

Shmerling’s joy has been echoed by Israelis and their supporters around the world; their violence is righteous violence. It is “self-defense” against “terrorists” and therefore justified. Israeli bombing — like American and NATO bombing in Iraq and Afghanistan — is bombing for freedom, peace and democracy.

The rationalization for Israel’s massacres, already being faithfully transmitted by the English-language media, is that Israel is acting in “retaliation” for Palestinian rockets fired with increasing intensity ever since the six-month truce expired on 19 December (until today, no Israeli had been killed or injured by these recent rocket attacks).

But today’s horrific attacks mark only a change in Israel’s method of killing Palestinians recently. In recent months they died mostly silent deaths, the elderly and sick especially, deprived of food and necessary medicine by the two year-old Israeli blockade calculated and intended to cause suffering and deprivation to 1.5 million Palestinians, the vast majority refugees and children, caged into the Gaza Strip. In Gaza, Palestinians died silently, for want of basic medications: insulin, cancer treatment, products for dialysis prohibited from reaching them by Israel.

What the media never question is Israel’s idea of a truce. It is very simple. Under an Israeli-style truce, Palestinians have the right to remain silent while Israel starves them, kills them and continues to violently colonize their land. Israel has not only banned food and medicine to sustain Palestinian bodies in Gaza but it is also intent on starving minds: due to the blockade, there is not even ink, paper and glue to print textbooks for schoolchildren.
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Palestinians everywhere are asking for solidarity, real solidarity, in the form of sustained, determined political action. The Gaza-based One Democratic State Group reaffirmed this today as it “called upon all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately in any possible way to put pressure on their governments to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it.”

The global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement for Palestine (http://www.bdsmovement.net/) provides the framework for this. Now is the time to channel our raw emotions into a long-term commitment to make sure we do not wake up to “another Gaza” ever again.

What I wittnessed today in Gaza
by Safa Joudeh

It was just before noon when I heard the first explosion. I rushed to my window, barely did I get there and look out when I was pushed back by the force and air pressure of another explosion. For a few moments I didn’t understand, then I realized that Israeli promises of a wide-scale offensive against the Gaza Strip had materialized. Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzpi Livni’s statements following a meeting with Egyptian President Hussni Mubarak the day before yesterday had not been empty threats after all.

What followed seems pretty much surreal at this point. Never had we imagined anything like this. It all happened so fast but the amount of death and destruction is inconceivable, even to me and I’m in the middle of it and a few hours have passed already passed.

6 locations were hit during the air raid on Gaza city. The images are probably not broadcasted in US media. There are piles and piles of bodies in the locations that were hit. As you look at them you can see that a few of the young men are still alive, someone lifts a hand here, and another raise his head there. They probably died within moments because their bodies are burned, most have lost limbs, some have their guts hanging out and they’re all lying in pools of blood. Outside my home, (which is close to the 2 largest universities in Gaza) a missile fell on a large group of young men, university students, they’d been warned not to stand in groups, it makes them an easy target, but they were waiting for buses to take them home. 7 were killed, 4 students and 3 of our neighbors kids, young men who were from the same family (Rayes) and were best friends. As I’m writing this I can hear a funeral procession go by outside, I looked out the window a moment ago and it was the 3 Rayes boys, They spent all their time together when they were alive, they died together and now their sharing the same funeral together. Nothing could stop my 14 year old brother from rushing out to see the bodies of his friends laying in the street after they were killed. He hasn’t spoken a word since.

What did Olmert mean when he stated that WE the people of Gaza weren’t the enemy, that it was Hamas and the Islamic Jihad who were being targeted? Was that statement made to infuriate us out of out state of shock, to pacify any feelings of rage and revenge? To mock us?? Were the scores of children on their way home from school and who are now among the dead and the injured Hamas militants? A little further down my street about half an hour after the first strike 3 schoolgirls happened to be passing by one of the locations when a missile struck the Preventative Security Headquarters building. The girls bodies were torn into pieces and covered the street from one side to the other.

In all the locations people are going through the dead terrified of recognizing a family member among them. The streets are strewn with their bodies, their arms, legs, feet, some with shoes and some without. The city is in a state of alarm, panic and confusion, cell phones aren’t working, hospitals and morgues are backed up and some of the dead are still lying in the streets with their families gathered around them, kissing their faces, holding on to them. Outside the destroyed buildings old men are kneeling on the floor weeping. Their slim hopes of finding their sons still alive vanished after taking one look at what had become of their office buildings.

And even after the dead are identified, doctors are having a hard time gathering the right body parts in order to hand them over to their families. The hospital hallways look like a slaughterhouse. It’s truly worse than any horror movie you could ever imagine. The floor is filled with blood, the injured are propped up against the walls or laid down on the floor side by side with the dead. Doctors are working frantically and people with injuries that aren’t life threatening are sent home. A relative of mine was injured by a flying piece of glass from her living room window, she had deep cut right down the middle of her face. She was sent home, too many people needed medical attention more urgently. Her husband, a dentist, took her to his clinic and sewed up her face using local anesthesia

200 people dead in today’s air raid. That means 200 funeral processions, a few today, most of them tomorrow probably. To think that yesterday these families were worried about food and heat and electricity. At this point I think they -actually all of us- would gladly have Hamas sign off every last basic right we’ve been calling for the last few months forever if it could have stopped this from ever having happened.

The bombing was very close to my home. Most of my extended family live in the area. My family is ok, but 2 of my uncles’ homes were damaged,

We can rest easy, Gazans can mourn tonight. Israel is said to have promised not to wage any more air raids for now. People suspect that the next step will be targeted killings, which will inevitably means scores more of innocent bystanders whose fate has already been sealed.

This doesn’t even begin to tell the story on any level. Just flashes of thing that happened today that are going through my head.

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Crossing into Gaza

December 20, 2008 at 7:26 pm · Filed under Apartheid, Israel, Palestine, human rights, occupation

Unfortunately, not from a sci-fi movie:

I was the first that morning. A sign pointed to a door marked Gaza. It was locked. I tried the one next to it. That was locked too.

I went back to the passport barrier, and a security guard came trotting over, apologising.

The guard, a man in his mid 20s, worked for a private security company.

He had sunglasses perched on his head, and a fancy-looking short-barrelled M16 assault rifle bumped against his hip as we walked to the gate.

He took out the keys to Gaza, unlocked the door, smiled, and wished me a good day.

Past that first door you do not see any more Israelis, even though you are still in the terminal.

They see you though, through CCTV cameras. Sometimes they give orders through loudspeakers, as the traveller navigates a concrete ramp and enclosed steel turnstiles on the way to the final gate.

When you get there, it slides open, controlled by some remote button.

Usually it reveals a Palestinian, offering to carry your bags.

Residents of Gaza always call it the world’s biggest prison and, going through the Erez terminal, it feels like that.

Complete BBC story here

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Marking 60 years of forgotten UN Resolution 194

December 12, 2008 at 10:39 am · Filed under "peace" process, Apartheid, Israel, Palestine, human rights, occupation, refugees, right of return ·Tagged , ,

Sixty years ago, on 11 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly passed an important resolution about Israel and the Palestinians. It called on the newly formed Israeli state to repatriate the displaced Palestinians “wishing to live in peace with their neighbours…at the earliest practicable date”, and to compensate them for their losses. A Conciliation Commission was set up to oversee the repatriation of the returnees. Though never implemented and frequently ignored since then, Resolution 194 has haunted the Israeli-Palestinian peace process ever since, and has proved the most insurmountable obstacle in all peace negotiations. It is the legal basis for the ‘right of return’, to which Palestinians have clung for sixty years.

To assert, against this background of appeasement, that the right of return is the sine qua non of any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem is viewed today as ‘unrealistic’ and old-fashioned, even an obstacle to peace, as if the passage of sixty years had disqualified the Palestinians from entitlement to their homeland. Israel, conversely, shows no such ambiguity in its perennial and unambiguous rejection of the right of return.
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The latest obfuscation of this right, supposed to lure Israel to the negotiating table with the Arabs, is the Saudi (and now the Arab) peace plan, first devised in 2002. The plan, as originally drawn up, stipulated an Israeli withdrawal to the June 4 1967 borders, the creation of a Palestinian state, and Jerusalem as a capital for Israel and ‘Palestine’. It also included an ambiguous condition about the return of the Palestinian refugees, but without specifying whether refugees were to be “returned” to Israel or to the Palestinian state that would be created.
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When Israel was founded in May 1948, many Western states saw it as a moral and necessary act to compensate Jews for the damage Germany had inflicted on them. A faraway country, Palestine, in a backward region, mostly under Western control and without the capacity to resist, must have seemed an ideal refuge for the stricken European Jews. Within hours of Israel’s declaration of statehood on May 14 1948, America and the Soviet Union had recognised the new state, many others following suit. One year later on 11 May 1949, the UN General Assembly, affirming this sentiment, voted by a majority of 17 to admit Israel to membership of the world body.

Ignored in this euphoria of settling the post-war Jewish refugees and at the same time solving the centuries-old Jewish question which had plagued Europe and its Jews, was the cost to the native population of Palestine. The resulting tragedy for the Palestinian people has been endlessly documented. Despite Israeli propaganda to the contrary, it was inevitable and predictable, given the determination of Israel’s founders to create a state for Jews in a land that was not Jewish. They recognised from the beginning that they would have to reverse Palestine’s demography, by converting the existing Arab majority into a Jewish one. Zionist writings from the late nineteenth century onwards make no secret of the need to rid the land of Arabs. “We must spirit the penniless [Arab] population across the frontier…Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly”, wrote Theodore Herzl, founder of political Zionism in his diary on 12 June 1895. Yoram Bar Porath put it more bluntly to the Israeli daily, Yediot Ahronot, on 14 July 1972, “there is no Zionism, colonialization or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands.” And Rafael Eitan, Israel’s Chief of Staff, told the New York Times on 14 April 1983, “the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel”.
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There is only one solution for this sixty-year old impasse that addresses the rights of Palestinians, Israelis and the needs of justice. Only a unitary state in Israel-Palestine can encompass the returning Palestinians and ensure the continued existence of an Israeli Jewish community, however egregious their presence in that land.

Complete article at counterpunch

Not sure another UN Resolution will solve anything (has it ever?)…a change can only come at this point with brute economic and strategic force

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Brave young adults…

December 9, 2008 at 10:36 am · Filed under "peace" process, Apartheid, Israel, Palestine, activists, occupation, zionism ·Tagged ,

From a JVP email alert:

My name is Omer Goldman. I am 19 years old. I am one of the Shministim.  I need your help.

I first went to prison on September 23 and served 35 days. I am lucky, after 2 times in jail,  I got a medical discharge, but I’m the only one. By the time you read this, many of my friends will be in prison too: in for three weeks, out for one, and then back in, over and over, until they are 21. The reason? We refuse to do military service for the Israeli army because of the occupation.
I grew up with the army. My father was deputy head of Mossad and I saw my sister, who is eight years older than me, do her military service. As a young girl, I wanted to be a soldier. The military was such a part of my life that I never even questioned it.

Earlier this year, I went to a peace demonstration in Palestine. I had always been told that the Israeli army was there to defend me, but during that demonstration Israeli soldiers opened fire on me and my friends with rubber bullets and tear-gas grenades. I was shocked and scared. I saw the truth. I saw the reality. I saw for the first time that the most dangerous thing in Palestine is the Israeli soldiers, the very people who are supposed to be on my side.

When I came back to Israel, I knew I had changed. And so, I have joined with a number of other young people who are refusing to serve – they call us the Shministim. On December 18th, we are holding a Day of Action in Israel, and we are determined to show Israelis and the world that there is wide support for stopping a culture of war. Will you join us? Please, just sign a letter. That’s all it takes.

Many have asked me about what it was like for me during this time. Of course I got scared while in prison. But also, it’s frightening that my country is the way that it is, locking up young people who are against violence and war. And I worry that what I am doing may damage my future. It’s hard to go
from being a free girl who can decide things for herself — what to wear, who to see, what to eat — and then go back to having every minute of the day time-tabled.

Last time I was out of prison, I went to see my dad. We tried not to talk politics. He cares about me as his daughter, that I am suffering, but he doesn’t want to hear my views. He never came to visit me in prison. I think it was too hard for him to see me in there. He is an army man.

I suppose, actually, we have similar characters. We both fight for what we believe in.

Send your message  here

I pray that one day I may have the courage and moral strength of Omer and her friends…may God help them in their fight for what they believe in.

On a side note, I think the peaceful protest movement in the Occupied Territories is beginning to bear fruits.  It is changing people’s hearts and minds locally and globally.

The struggle for peace and justice continues…

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Unilever withdraws from Westbank Settlement

December 6, 2008 at 10:23 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

From an email alert…I guess CSR policies are not useless afterall!

PRESS RELEASE
November 27th 2008

Unilever withdraws from an Israeli settlement

United Civilians for Peace (UCP) welcomes Unilever’s decision to divest from a factory based in an illegal Israeli settlement on the West Bank. This decision comes in a period in which UCP and Unilever Netherlands are engaged in a constructive dialogue about Unilever’s presence in Barkan. UCP and Unilever discussed the ethical considerations with regards to investment in settlements and Unilever’s responsibilities within the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility.

In 2006, a report by United Civilians for Peace concluded that the Anglo-Dutch multinational owns a 51% share in Beigel & Beigel, a pretzel and snacks factory. This factory is located in Barkan, an industrial zone in Ariel, an
Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Last Wednesday, Unilever announced their decision to divest from Beigel & Beigel.

Since the publication of the report “Dutch economic links in support of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and/or Syrian territories” in 2006, UCP has advocated the departure of Unilever from the settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This resulted in a constructive dialogue with Unilever Netherlands and UCP research into the legal and ethical implications of Unilever’s investment in Beigel & Beigel.

The research document titled: “Improper Advantage: A Study of Unilever’s investment in an illegal Israeli settlement” concludes that:
- The land of the Barkan industrial zone was confiscated from surrounding Palestinian villages by a military order issued by the Israeli Defence Force issued in 1981, and declared “state land”. International Law prohibits the confiscation of occupied land not for military purposes.
- Because the factory is located in an illegal settlement,Unilever complies with violation of Palestinian human rights and the structural discrimination of Palestinian workers.
- Beigel & Beigel benefits from subsidies that are allocated by the Israeli government to the industrial zones in the settlements. Also, the factory has been guaranteed a state grant for a plan of expansion.

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More on Leviev in Dubai

November 21, 2008 at 10:01 am · Filed under Palestine, activists ·Tagged ,

New York, NY, November 20, 2008 – Adalah-NY has learned that the jewelry of Israeli billionaire and settlement-builder Lev Leviev will be on sale at this week’s gala opening of the luxury hotel Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai.  Despite Leviev’s on-going construction of Israeli settlements and claims by United Arab Emirates officials that Leviev would receive no license to sell his jewelry there, the New York-based human rights coalition Adalah-NY has confirmed that Leviev’s jewelry will be on sale at the Atlantis branch of the Levant Jewelry chain on the fabled Palm Jumeirah island.

 

Adalah-NY has also heard from a Dubai source that Leviev will attend the grand opening events in person, but the group has been unable to corroborate this report.  A press release on the Atlantis web site claims that the opening gala, set for November 20-21st, “will culminate in a giant fireworks display,” and that guests will include “prominent CEO’s, business leaders, politicians, actors and musicians and members of the Dubai Royal family.”

 

Adalah-NY has obtained photos of Leviev jewelry prominently displayed in the windows of the Levant store at the Atlantis, with Leviev’s name and logo prominently printed on display cases.  Leviev’s jewelry and logo are featured at the Levant store at the Al Qasr Hotel. Leviev notes Dubai as a store location on the front of his Madison Avenue boutique in New York, and in recent Leviev ads in the New York Times.

Continue here

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“Leftists aren’t allowed”

November 18, 2008 at 8:33 pm · Filed under Apartheid, Israel, Palestine, activists, human rights, occupation, zionism ·Tagged , ,

A great article from JVP’s Rebecca Vilkomerson, excerpts below:

Several weeks ago, while on a solidarity visit with Ta’ayush in the South Hebron hills region of the West Bank, we were stopped by a makeshift Israeli Army roadblock and told that we could not pass into a closed military zone.  Having all traveled that road many times before with no problem, and watching settlers whiz by us, we asked to see the military order.  Before producing it, the soldier said, “I am very happy for any Jew to visit the Land of Israel, but leftists aren’t allowed.”   

This provoked a great deal of incredulous laughter among us, but we never did get through that day.  And for me, it was one of the gentler reminders of the level of repression faced by Israeli activists specifically, the focus is on the Israeli side of the movement.

There is a kind of conventional wisdom among anti-occupation activists, especially in the United States, that in Israel there is a wider and more honest range of viewpoints regarding the occupation.  This perspective is part of the strategy to sell Israel as the “only democracy in the Middle East” to the rest of the world.  To a certain extent it is true. Activist NGOs receive coverage in the press and ideas are discussed on the Op-Ed pages here that are not yet acceptable in the U.S. For example, the word “apartheid” which is still anathema in the United States, has become common enough to be unremarkable when found on a front page here in Israel.

On the other, less obvious hand, however, the level of repression against activists in Israel is multi-faceted, violent, and effective.  There are so many examples that it is hard to choose only a few, but consider just a handful of examples from recent months: 

New Profile, a feminist NGO that challenges the role of the military in society and counsels youth about alternatives to joining the Israeli Army, is currently under state threat to rescind their NGO status as well as a criminal investigation. Although at least half of eligible 18 year olds choose not to enter the army by exercising religious exemptions or for psychological or physical reasons, in addition to Palestinian citizens of Israel who are not eligible, the state is conspicuously threatening the legitimate activities of an NGO that pointedly looks at draft resistance as an option.  This action neatly doubles or even triples down its impact, by simultaneously threatening the organization itself, the youth who are considering alternatives to Army service, and other NGOs who understand that they are being monitored and could face charges at any time.
More times than can be counted, settlers have physically attacked Israeli, Palestinian,  and international activists who attempt to protect Palestinian land.  At best, the Israeli Army/ police stand by and watch, at worst, they arrest the protesters “for their own protection.” (for just one example check out this video by Machsom Watch)

The group Shovrim Shtika (”Breaking the Silence”) had to bring a case to the Supreme Court when the Hebron Police stopped allowing the group to bring tours to Hebron to see what is really happening inside that city, because they couldn’t guarantee the safety of the participants on the tours. Instead of the settlers being punished for their violent attacks, tours were forbidden for months, and have now started again in a much more limited manner.  The settlers, aided by the Israeli security apparatus, are rewarded for their violence while journalists, diplomats, activists and the general public are punished.

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Arab-Jewish clashes in Acre

October 17, 2008 at 1:10 pm · Filed under Israel, racism, zionism

Jonothan Cook provides insightful commentary into the recent events in Acre:

Israel has been suffering its worst bout of inter-communal violence since the start of the second intifada, with a week of what has been widely presented as “rioting” by Jewish and Arab residents of the northern port city of Acre.

The trigger for the outbursts occurred on the night of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The country effectively shuts down for 24 hours as religious Jews fast and abstain from most activity, leaving secular Jews little choice but to do likewise.

According to reports, an Arab resident, Tawfik Jamal, outraged a group of Jews by disturbing the day’s sanctity and driving to relatives in a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood. He and his teenage son were pelted with stones.

The pair sought sanctuary in the relatives’ home as a mob gathered outside chanting “Death to the Arabs”. Israeli police who tried to rescue the family fled when they were attacked, too.

With news of Mr Jamal’s death mistakenly broadcast over mosque loudspeakers, Arab youths marched to the city centre and smashed shop windows in a display of anger.

In subsequent days, Jewish gangs have roamed Acre’s streets and torched several Arab homes, forcing dozens of Arab families living in Jewish-dominated areas to flee.

An Arab member of the Israeli parliament, Ahmed Tibi, observed that what is occurring in Acre is not a riot but a “pogrom”, conducted by Jewish residents against their Arab neighbours.

Communal tensions are always high in the half a dozen “mixed cities” like Acre, the only places in Israel where Jews and Arabs live in close proximity, even if in largely separate neighbourhoods.

But the situation has grown especially strained in Acre, where some Arab residents have escaped the deprivation and overcrowding of their main neighbourhood, the walled Old City, by moving to Jewish areas. Acre’s Arabs are also numerically strong, comprising a third of the local population.

Despite pronouncements from Israeli leaders that the violence is damaging Acre’s image as a model of coexistence, the reality is of a deeply divided city, where the wounds of the 1948 war have yet to heal.

Continue at Counterpunch

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