Shocking statistics

Shocking statistics on the 450th consecutive day of the genocide on the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Government Media Office published an update on the most important statistics (deemed reliable even by the UN, WHO and even USA). PLEASE READ and disseminate that Israeli occupation forces (with US tax money and munitions and to a lesser extent other countries) did this:

- Dropped 88,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip (more than dropped on Vietnam, and four times the explosive power of a Hiroshima-size nuclear bomb in an area of a mere 360 sq km or 250 square mile)

- Committed 9,973 massacres (killing many people at one time by bombing or shelling; 70% women and children)

- 56,714 killed and missing persons: 45,514 reached hospitals (Ministry of Health recorded), 11,200 missing persons did not reach hospitals (under rubble or bodies missing). Those killed and documented include:
*1,413 Palestinian whole families gone (no surviving members) while 3,467 Palestinian families had only one surviving family member, and the number of members of these families is 7,941 martyrs. (Ministry of Health).
*17,818 children killed (most under age of 5 years, 238 infants were born and killed n the period of the genocide).
*12,287 women killed
*1068 from the medical staff (Ministry of Health).
*94 civil defense/first responders and 728 police officers (civil)
*201 journalists (higher than those killed in WWII)
*520 exhumed from seven mass graves on grounds of targeted hospitals.

-The numbers do not include those dying from lack of food, medicine, water, from diseases and from cold. Specifically
+ 44 children were recorded starved to death, many hundreds are not recorded
+ Six infants died from hypothermia in tents, many hundreds are not recorded
+ Data do not include deaths among the 12,500 cancer patients (largely lacking treatments)
+ Data do not include deaths or debilitation from infectious diseases: 2,136,026 cases of such diseases due to displacement forcing unsanitary conditions including hepatitis, polio, skin diseases, lung disorders, intestinal disorders (Ministry of Health)

+ + Data do not include deaths or debilitation from chronic disease patients (350,000 patients such as diabetes) due to the occupation preventing the entry of medicines or allowing operation of facilities like kidney dialysis

-108,189 wounded and injured arrived at hospitals including 399 journalists and media professionals), 12,650 wounded need to travel abroad for treatment. (Ministry of Health)

-21 displacement centers (declared “safe zones”) targeted by the Israeli occupation (only 10% of the area of ​​the Gaza Strip is claimed by the Israeli occupation to be "humanitarian areas")

-35,060 children live without their parents or without one of them (orphans).

-12,125 women lost their husbands during the genocidal war.

-More than 60,000 pregnant women lack of OB/GYN healthcare (risk)

-Nearly 10,000 were abducted and incarcerated without trial including 331 medical, 43 media, and 26 civil defense personnel. Over 30 died under torture in Israeli prisons (3 medical personnel executed in prison by torture)

-2 million displaced people in the Gaza Strip. 110,000 tents were worn out and became unfit for the displaced.

-Infrastructure including most buildings were destroyed intentionally (in most cases after Israeli infantry occupied them). This includes

*135 schools and universities completely and 353 schools and universities partially destroyed (12,780 students were killed during the war): 756 teachers and educational employees in the education sector were killed by the occupation during the war. 148 scientists, academics, university professors and researchers were executed by the occupation. 785,000 students were deprived of education by the Israeli occupation.
*823 mosques were completely destroyed and 158 mosques were severely destroyed by the occupation and need to be restored.
*3 churches targeted and destroyed.
*19 cemeteries were completely or partially destroyed by the occupation out of 60 cemeteries. 2,300 bodies were stolen by the occupation from several cemeteries in the Gaza Strip.
*161,600 housing units completely destroyed and 194,000 housing units are partially destroyed
*162 health care facilities targeted by the occupation (most clinics and hospitals destroyed and/or rendered out of service).
*136 ambulances targeted

*213 government civil headquarters
*206 archaeological and heritage sites.
*3,130 kilometers of electricity networks.
*125 number of underground electricity distribution transformers destroyed.
*330 kilometers of water networks destroyed.
*655 kilometers of sewage networks destroyed.
*2,835 kilometers of road and street networks destroyed.
*42 community facilities, playgrounds and sports halls destroyed.
*717 water wells destroyed by the occupation and put out of service.
*This is 86% destruction rate in the Gaza Strip. $37 billion is the initial direct economic losses of the genocide war

*This does not include the environmental damage; some of it not repairable and some areas of Gaza are now uninhabitable for decades to come….see our research papers on this such as this one: https://www.palestinenature.org/research/Impact-of-the-Israeli-military-activities-on-the-environment.pdf

From Bethlehem, Palestine

All souls wondering
find peace in the place of birthing

I, a lost soul, find it here in Bethlehem
A holy place cursed now by mayhem
Palestine where the first humans out of Africa ventured

Settling a land of beauty and bounty, Canaan they called
Our fore fathers and mothers first domesticated animals and plants
and prospered in peace and harmony respecting the Gods and even the ants
Where the Shepherds heard angels sing
And in a manger was born a savior king
Where a prophet told us this is the last vanguard
one who ascended to heaven and told us to be on guard
Where ancestors invented laws and the alphabet
and a fertile crescent they created with their sweat
Where they managed to transcend adversity
and respected biological and human diversity
Cultural and natural heritage were well guarded
they dwelled under one God (Al-Ela) regarded

But a dark storm came with strangers
whose quest for “manifest destiny” endangers
who said the land belonged not to first nation
but to a chosen people from Europe by dictation
Crusaderism
Zionism
Millions do suffer
while the rich get richer

We can’t sleep thinking of Khalid Nabhan, a most gentle kindred
one year after Reem & Tareq (grandchildren) were martyred
Soul of my soul he repeatedly stated
Now they are eternally united

We get paralyzed thinking of friends sacrificed
Zionists aided by blackmailed politicians make people de-huanized
villified
terrified

Might is right they declare
Of a higher power they are not aware

Living under apartheid we wonder
When our turn to be killed or injured and ponder
Whether we lived with enough grace and dignity?
Whether we made the right choices & fostered unity?

Did we spend enough time with good people, family, friends, activists?
Did we waste some time trying to convince racists or hanging with pessimists?
Mistakes made (we all do)- but have from our lessons, learned?
egos subdued, sometimes, and only then is respect earned!

How do we learn not to look away from suffering?
to offer a kind word, food, shelter to those enduring….
a genocide, ecocide, educide, medicide, and omnicide
and massacres of the truth – a veriticide.

We reread the beginning…ethnic cleansing
and today’s millions of candles shining
For human rights we strive
and we keep hope alive
In every street, in every corner, and in every heart
People united for a freedom, a road they chart
In our thousands in our millions
we are all Palestinians

They will never break the spirits
of 15 million Palestinians
let alone billions who stand together tall
For a better future for ALL

May 2025 be the year of peace

Genocide and coloniality

In my talks about the importance of the genocide and its connectivity around the globe (yes it is an existential issue for all humanity) now averaging three talks a day, I am very frequently asked about the future. To answer pragmatically and logically requires a sober assessment of our current situation and the variables that could help or hinder a positive change towards a sustainable future. You do not have to be a researcher to realize that our species is in deep trouble. Even casual observers of our human condition can see and feel global climate change, raging wars, accelerating genocides, the destruction of our environment, invasive species, and much more. Further, even common people realize that the way we have been going (rampant capitalism, autocracies, racism, coloniality and colonialism) is not sustainable and it is critical to change direction. Even an isolated and uneducated person living in one of the thousands of metropolitan areas can intuitively understand what they are up against. They see prices of everything rising including housing, can see and feel changing climates, can see catastrophe of neighbors (e.g. genocide in Gaza, hurricanes, climate change, fires etc). 

Tens of millions of people are “climate refugees” fleeing areas no longer habitable while tens of millions of others are “political refugees” fleeing wars. Inequality is at an all-time high. The richest 1% now manage 50% of global wealth. The meetings of conference of parties (COP) for 29 years for climate change produces more blah blah blah while our planet is in critical condition. Bandaids do not help a patient with arterial bleeding. The COP meeting at capitals of states like the UAE and Azerbaijan and chaired by oil industry chiefs is like holding conventions to stop rape led by rapists or to stop piracy chaired by pirates. Western hypocrisy gone viral as makers of war and genocide appoint themselves as brokers of “peace” (read pacification of indigenous people) and guardians of a world order that clearly is functioning only to push us like lemmings off a cliff. You are excused if you get depressed about this bleak picture of our world. 29 COP meetings on climate change failed to achieve even their own inadequate targets and 17 COP meetings on biodiversity failed to put even a slow down on the loss of global biodiversity. Half the world coral reef systems are already gone and there is now more plastics in our oceans than there are fish. We all should be alarmed at what we scientists have been warning about for decades and now is coming at an accelerated pace; see for example this though this does not cover colonial and military impact, see for example our study on Israel’s war people of Palestine and its impact. The reasons for this bleak state of the world are obvious and revolve around the short-term interests of some members (99%) of people and of all the other millions of species that inhabit our planet. In short it is unfettered greed! Of course, this greed existed throughout our human history (as is opposition to it). Yet, the scale of damage and the stakes have never been so much higher than they are now as everyone now realizes. Collective action by common people is working to address some of this including more reliance on clean energy, reducing waste etc. Yet, the elites empowered by coloniality (consumerism and unfettered capitalism and militarism that benefit few) march on largely unhindered. In fact, they seem to get their way as evidenced by Trump and Netanyahu and their like-minded global genocidal companions. 

As Farhana Sultana noted that for us to decolonize global systems is a large undertaking because “coloniality maintains the matrix of power established during active colonization through contemporary institutional, financial, and geopolitical world orders, and also through knowledge systems” (her chapter in the book “Not too late: Changing the climate story from despair to possibility”). I would add to that is that coloniality also ensures support of active colonization as is being done in Palestine and Western Sahara as well as support for subjugation of the masses and of racism evident o the global north as pertaining to people of the global south. But this decade is critical and people living now must rise-up. Martin Luther King Jr wrote in his letter from Birmingham jail: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in the inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever effects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This has never been truer than today. The urgency of action and our woven destiny beckons us all to work together. At stake is nothing less than our humanity and civilization and the only home we know: planet earth.

The collapse of empire

I spent over a quarter century, or some 40% of my life, living in the “Western world”. I have the privilege of US Citizenship and the luck of having a great deal of travel around US (traveled in 48 states), Canada, Europe (most countries), Australia, and New Zealand. As I embarked on a tour of dozens of invited talks, it is good to be brutally honest with people of these Western lands. What we most loved about these countries despite their bloody colonial history is a character that is now being destroyed: freedom of thought and action that allowed for expansion of human knowledge, logic, and development unencumbered by dogma and narrow interests.  The checks and balances of “democracy” have been damaged for decades. Trump takeover of the United States just simply crowned the end.  This was so easy to foresee as the rigged system ensures money and extortions determine elections. Fr example in the US, the Democratic party received more than half its funding from Zionists whose allegiance was to a foreign entity. The same for the labour party iin the UK. So it was that principled leaders like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn asre demonized successfully (I recommend Ilan Pappe’s book “Lobbying for Zionism on both sides of the Atlantic”). Over the past 150 years, billionaires became Zionists starting with the 19th century Rothschild family. The die was cast for the western partnership by its full partnership in the Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine but also the die was cast for the end of a 500 + years of western enlightenment. Trum was the orange straw that could be the final breaking point. This was so foreseen long ago by students of history who understand how empires implode.

Thomas Cole, the Collapse of the Roman Empire 1836

What most attracted many of us to “western ideals” has been eroding for a long time. That is liberal ideas and laws with checks and balances that ensures the common person not only has a say in the system but can actually influence the system. This is how common people were able to get their way in areas like women right to vote, civil rights, social security, unionization, medical care access, ending western support for oppression (e.g. in Vietnam and South Arica), among many others. This liberalism also allowed unfettered pursuit of knowledge even when it challenged dogma (e.g. Darwin’s “Theory of Natural Selection” and Franz Fannon’s work)  

In the US much of the knowledge was also generated by immigrants (most PhD students from other parts of the world). I was a beneficiary of this culling of minds from other countries though I chose not to stay in the West. I reached pinnacles of knowledge becoming an (associate) professor at universities like Duke and Yale, publishing books and over 200 peer reviewed research articles that advanced knowledge (from medicine to biology to human rights), and befriending tens of thousands of people would not have been possible without that freedom of thought afforded in a liberal west. But I also witnessed a relentless war on knowledge and truth in this western world in my 44-year academic career. Ironically, the same people who declared this war are those who benefitted from Western openness and ability to lobby to get their way. The erosion of freedoms is accelerating. It reached a point were the Congress of the most powerful country on earth passes laws that a) equate anti-racism/anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, b) gives the Secretary o Treasury (whose allegiance is to Zionism not to the US) the authority to strip NGOs of non-profit status if they call for basic human rights like Palestinian refugee right of return and ending apartheid.  Advocating for an end to genocide becomes a crime. This is of course not only in the US (and not even worst in the US) but in other western “democracies.” Flying a Palestinian flag became a crime.  Questioning Zionist (mis)use of the Jewish holocaust also becomes a crime. This even before the incoming fascist government of Donald Trump takes office and declares war on climate change and health sciences. But also we noted collective amnesia in eh west so while there was a proliferation of Jewish holocaust museums funded by western governments, there was to bew few if any museums to the hundreds of holocausts and genocides perpetrated by those same Western governments (Slavery, natives/indigenous people in what became USA and Australia and Latin America, African genocides from Congo to Namibia, Syria, Yemen, Iraq etc.).

The decline of this openness and knowledge-based systems concomitant with mass media managed by billionaires drumming up non-sense led to situations where voters think their only choices are “lesser of two evils”. One evil advocates genocide and the other genocide and mass hysteria about immigrants.  Both led by a deep state mechanism resentful, fearful, and suppressive of any mass people movement.  Thus, the US (and other western countries) become more and more insular and anti-immigrant and anti-knowledge and superficial and continue the slide towards self-implosion. Any casual observer or student of growth and decline of empires will tell you that the western/European powers are now in decline and this is due to their own “implosion”. The vacuum is being filled by rising powers now organized under the BRICS+ umbrella (Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa, now being joined by many other countries. It saddens us to see how the proud European powers became subservient to special interests. US foreign policy is no longer driven by US national interests but are driven by supra-national entities like the world Zionist organization. This indeed turned out to be the final nail in the coffin of western scientific and rational “progress”. Perhaps Mahatma Gandhi was right to answer a question about what he thought of Western Civilization by saying “I think it would be a good idea”.  Is it still possible to save the western world? Perhaps it will take the massive global uprising against the tyrrany and genocide we ar already seeing. Perhaps it is inevitable to have new world powers  like China or the rise o the Islamic world (already Western Zionist-led Islamophobia is leading to strengthening Islam) (I save this for another article) or perhaps an awakening of the 2.3 billion Christians to the destruction happening in the Holy Land including to us Christians. Perhaps a combination of those. Time will tell.

Tackling corruption

I give talks and interviews on Palestine daily. I also travel the world giving talks; in one recent trip to Australia and New Zealand I gave 212 talks in 17 cities (average four per day). The most embarrassing question I get asked frequently is along the lines of “with the most just cause in the world and the most ruthless colonizers, why do you Palestinians have such incompetent corrupt leaders?”  My late friend Edward Said wrote about the Palestinian authority extensively and prophetically write a scathing article about the Oslo Accords in October 1993 (https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v15/n20/edward-said/the-morning-after).  His books and writings were thus banned in the Palestinian areas for a while by the late Yassir Arafat. I was not as strong a critic as he was. But after returning to Palestine in 2008 I learned so much more about the inner workings of the hooligans who signed this “surrender document” and were placed by Israel and the US to run the civil affairs of our people under occupation so I became more critical and less forgiving. 

My life’s work over the past 40 years of activism was focused against the Zionist onslaught on our people and our environment. I wrote hundreds of research and other articles, over 30 chapters in books, and several books. I discussed in these and some interviewed shortcomings including corruption, collusion with occupiers via security coordination, incompetence and removal or marginalization of Fatah people of good will and importance (people like Afif Safieh, Ihab Bseiso, Marwan Barghouthi, Nabil Saath). I started to compile data. I befriended critics like Nizar Banat (who was killed by the Authority) and Basil Al-Araj (jailed and mistreated by the authority and killed by Israel). The data and material I accumulated corruption is voluminous and I may end up putting it in a book later. 98% of my time remained focused on fighting colonial racist Zionists. But I also was harassed by governments (including Israel, Jordan, USA, and indeed the Palestinian authority). The older I get, the more experience tells me I need to speak out more.

When I researched my book on popular resistance in Palestine, I understood how much damage the authority caused and still causes to all forms of resistance including popular resistance (unarmed). But I also learned increasingly that their biggest sin is “ego”, not being willing to admit their mistakes (be it in Jordan, Lebanon, or the biggest mistake of all: Oslo agreements).  Oslo as Edward Said labeled it was our second Nakba. If the Zionists do succeed in liquidating the Palestinian cause, you can squarely put the blame largely on the signing of Oslo and its ramifications. The second mistake was not leaving Oslo after the interim 5 years “transition period” of Oslo ended in 1999. But an equally important mistake (sin) was not using the opportunity of governance to develop a system of governance based on law which respects all segments of our society rather than promote those who kiss ass to the leader regardless of their corruption or incompetence.

Thus, year after year the corruption and incompetence grew worse especially in the areas most critical for our Palestinian cause. For example, the foreign service appointments: “ambassadors” who are appointed for political purposes and who know very little and harm the cause rather than help it. This is a generalization that applies to 99% of our representatives. Exceptions like the brilliant (and friend) Husam Zumlot our representative in the United Kingdom actually prove the failure and incompetence of others. But other areas clearly saw corruption and nepotism become systematic and malignant. Even in areas like the environmental protection where good people were removed and subservient individuals promoted regardless of competence. Government contracts are handed out not on meritocracy on cleptocracy.

I, like Edward Said and millions of Palestinians, disagreed strongly with the choices made by this Oslo group to build the Palestinian administration that relieved Israel from cost of occupation and from International isolation based on not even promises of freedom or return of rights.  But I also can't help but feel sorry for those who took that path. It must be very painful for a human being to go down a tunnel where there is no possibility of a light at the end and during this trip into the depths of darkness feel the leaches crawling up his back sucking his blood and voices from behind calling him back (some of them his political enemies, others ex-comrades in Fatah). Palestinian negotiators are fearful of going back because they think it might give political opponents a PR tool. They are just fearful of losing face; I am always grateful to a wise advisor who 30 years ago convinced me to drop this fear of admitting mistakes. They may also be fearful of losing a job, or fear that the alternative to Fatah maybe just as bad, fear of Israel, or fear of the US or just simply fear of their own power. But ultimately fear is a lack of self-confidence to take another course. And their fear should be balanced by the fact that people are literally dying for justice and wanting leaders to care about them and not about themselves

The leaders had many chances to admit mistakes and reset the course: 1) the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and elections of the right wing Netanyahu government in the 1990s; 2) the murder of Yasser Arafat in 20004; 3) the Palestinian elections in 2006, 4) the opportunity created by the Gaza Ghetto uprising and the ongoing genocide.  The latter is particularly important since it may be the last chance to reset the course. How do you reset the course: get rid of corruption, reform the judiciary to be truly independent, end the unilateral decisions, bring the masses of Palestinians with intellectual abilities to replace all the corrupt people, leverage our only golden asset: our people. Yes, this is not going to be easy, but you can start. Palestinians do not have to line-up with governments. We do have to 1) speak truth to power, 2) build something positive despite incredible odds, 3) try to find and encourage the goodness in ALL humans. Briefly, we must challenge corruption and greed that leads to war and conflict. We see both large scale greed and corruptions: Trump, Biden/Harris, the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE and General Sisi of Egypt, and our own corrupt Palestinian “leaders”. How do we make sure that people we know do not continue down that path (addictive/destructive)? Fatah and other factions can redeem themselves if we get strong intellectual leadership. But this must emerge from the bottom and go up. People can make a difference. With courage and conviction, Palestine can rise like the Phoenix from the ashes. You/we owe it to over a quarter million martyrs, a million injured, we ow it to the millions of refugees. We owe it to our children, grandchildren and generations to come. We owe it to the dismembered bodies of Palestinian children. We owe it to the fidayyeens who paid the ultimate price of resistance. We owe it to the hundreds of millions around the world who declared in the streets of every city in the world “in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians.” We owe it to Palestine and to the world. Let us work hard NOW to start a dialogue and start organizing…

معالجة الفساد

ألقي محاضرات ومقابلات عن فلسطين يوميًا. كما أسافر حول العالم لإلقاء المحاضرات. في إحدى رحلاتي الأخيرة إلى أستراليا ونيوزيلندا ألقيت 212 محاضرة في 17 مدينة (بمعدل أربع محاضرات يوميًا). السؤال الأكثر إحراجًا الذي يُطرح عليّ كثيرًا هو على غرار "مع القضية الأكثر عدالة في العالم والمستعمرين الأكثر قسوة، لماذا لديكم أيها الفلسطينيون مثل هؤلاء القادة الفاسدين غير الأكفاء؟". كتب صديقي الراحل إدوارد سعيد عن السلطة الفلسطينية على نطاق واسع وكتب مقالاً لاذعًا عن اتفاقيات أوسلو في أكتوبر 1993. https://www.rommanmag.com/view/posts/postDetails?id=6256 بالتالي تم حظر كتبه وكتاباته في المناطق الفلسطينية لفترة من الوقت من قبل الراحل ياسر عرفات. لم أكن ناقدًا قويًا مثله. ولكن بعد عودتي إلى فلسطين في عام 2008، تعلمت الكثير عن الذين وقعوا على "وثيقة الاستسلام" هذه بحسب سعيد، والذين وضعتهم إسرائيل والولايات المتحدة لإدارة الشؤون المدنية لشعبنا تحت الاحتلال، لذلك أصبحت أكثر نقدا ولكن قليا ما كتبت بهذه المواضيع لأنني ركزت على مدى السنوات الأربعين الماضية نشاطاتي ضد الصهيونية المدمرة لشعبنا وبيئتنا. كتبت مئات الأبحاث والمقالات الأخرى، وأكثر من 30 فصلاً في كتب، وعدة كتب. ناقشت في هذه الكتابات وبعض المقابلات بشكل مقتضب أوجه القصور بما في ذلك الفساد والتواطؤ مع المحتلين من خلال التنسيق الأمني ​​وعدم الكفاءة وإزالة أو تهميش أفراد فتح الشرفاء (مثل عفيف صافية، إيهاب بسيسو، مروان البرغوثي، نبيل شعث). بدأت في تجميع البيانات. صادقت منتقدين آخرين مثل نزار بنات (الذي قتلته السلطة) وباسل الأعرج (سجنته السلطة وأساءت معاملته وقتلته إسرائيل). البيانات والمواد التي جمعتها عن الفساد كثيرة وربما أنتهي إلى وضعها في كتاب في وقت لاحق. ظل 98% من وقتي مركزاً على محاربة الصهاينة العنصريين الاستعماريين. ولكنني تعرضت أيضاً لمضايقات من الحكومات (بما في ذلك إسرائيل والأردن والولايات المتحدة والسلطة الفلسطينية). وكلما تقدمت في السن، كلما أدركت أنني بحاجة إلى التحدث بأكثر قوة عن الفساد المدمر لقضيتنا.

في كتابي عن المقاومة الشعبية في فلسطين شرحت مدى الضرر الذي ألحقته السلطة وما زالت تلحقه بكل أشكال المقاومة بما في ذلك المقاومة الشعبية (غير المسلحة). ولكنني تعلمت أيضاً بشكل متزايد أن خطيئة ارتكبها عرفات وثم أبو مازن هي الأنانية واستفراد القرار، وتبعها عدم استعدادهما للاعتراف بأخطائهما (سواء كان ذلك في الأردن أو لبنان أو أكبر خطأ على الإطلاق: اتفاقيات أوسلو). أوسلو كما وصفها إدوارد سعيد كانت نكبتنا الثانية. إذا نجح الصهاينة في تقويض القضية الفلسطينية، فيمكنك أن تلقي باللوم بشكل كبير على توقيع أوسلو وتداعياته. الخطأ الثاني هو عدم مغادرة أوسلو بعد انتهاء "فترة الانتقال" المؤقتة التي استمرت خمس سنوات في عام 1999. ولكن الخطأ (الخطيئة) الأكثر أهمية هي عدم استغلال فرصة الحكم لتطوير نظام حكم قائم على القانون يحترم جميع شرائح مجتمعنا بدلاً من تشجيع أولئك الذين يتملقون الزعيم بغض النظر عن فسادهم أو عدم كفاءتهم.

وهكذا، سنة بعد سنة، تفاقم الفساد وعدم الكفاءة وخاصة في المجالات الأكثر أهمية لقضيتنا الفلسطينية. على سبيل المثال، التعيينات في الخدمة الخارجية: "السفراء" الذين يتم تعيينهم لأغراض سياسية والذين يضرون بالقضية بدلاً من مساعدتها. هذا تعميم ينطبق على 99٪ من ممثلينا. استثناءات مثل الصديق الرائع  حسام زملط ممثلنا في المملكة المتحدة تثبت في الواقع فشل وعدم كفاءة الآخرين. لكن مناطق أخرى شهدت الفساد والمحسوبية وهي منهجية وخبيثة حتى في مجالات مثل حماية البيئة حيث تم عزل الأشخاص الطيبين وترقية الأفراد الخاضعين بغض النظر عن الكفاءة. في مجالات كثيرة يتم توزيع العقود الحكومية ليس على أساس الجدارة ولكن على أساس المحسوبية.

إنني، مثل إدوارد سعيد وملايين الفلسطينيين، كنت أختلف بشدة مع الخيارات التي اتخذتها مجموعة أوسلو لبناء الإدارة الفلسطينية التي أراحت إسرائيل من أعباء إدارتها لنا ومن العزلة الدولية. لم تستند حتى إلى وعود بالحرية أو إعادة الحقوق. ولكنني لا أستطيع أيضاً إلا أن أشعر بالأسف على أولئك الذين سلكوا هذا الطريق. فلا بد وأن يكون من المؤلم للغاية بالنسبة للإنسان أن ينزل إلى نفق لا توجد فيه أي إمكانية لظهور ضوء في نهايته، وخلال هذه الرحلة إلى أعماق الظلام يشعر بالعلقات تزحف على ظهره وتمتص دمه، والأصوات من خلفه تدعوه إلى العودة (بعضهم من أعدائه السياسيين، وبعضهم من رفاقه السابقين). المفاوضين الفلسطينيين يخشون العودة لأنهم يعتقدون أن ذلك قد يمنح المعارضين السياسيين أداة اعلامية. إنهم يخشون فقدان ماء الوجه. ولكن ماذا يكسب الإنسان اذا خسر نفسه؟  أنا ممتن دائماً لجدي المربي الفاضل عيسى عطالله الذي أقنعني قبل أربعين عاماً بالتخلي عن هذا الخوف من الاعتراف بالأخطاء. إن الشعب الفلسطيني غاضب للغاية، رغم أن العديد منهم يخشون التعبير عن آرائهم خوفاً من خسارة مصادر دخلهم، أو خوفاً من أن يكون البديل لفتح أكثر سوءا ولكن لماذا لا تصلح فتح نفسها وإلا تندثر كما اندثرت كل الفصائل الفلسطينية التي كانت فاعلة في عشرينيات وثلاثينيات القرن الماضي.  أو خوفاً من إسرائيل، أو خوفاً من الولايات المتحدة، أو خوفاً من قوتهم. ولكن الخوف في نهاية المطاف هو افتقار إلى الثقة بالنفس لاتخاذ مسار آخر. وينبغي أن يتوازن خوفهم مع حقيقة مفادها أن هنالك ابادة جماعية والكل مٌستهدف. لقد أتيحت للقادة العديد من الفرص للاعتراف بالأخطاء وإعادة ضبط المسار: 1) اغتيال إسحاق رابين وانتخابات حكومة نتنياهو اليمينية في التسعينيات؛ 2) اغتيال ياسر عرفات في عام 2004؛ 3) الانتخابات الفلسطينية عام 2006؛ 4) الفرصة التي خلقها طوفان الأقصى والإبادة الجماعية المستمرة. والأمر الأخير مهم بشكل خاص لأنه قد يكون الفرصة الأخيرة لإعادة ضبط المسار والكيان لا يرحم أحدا وترون كيف يدمر الأخضر واليابس بما فيه الضراب المسروقة بالمليارات. كيف يمكننا إعادة ضبط المسار: التخلص من الفساد، وإصلاح القضاء ليكون مستقلاً حقًا، وإنهاء القرارات الأحادية الجانب، وجلب الجماهير الفلسطينية ذات القدرات الفكرية لتحل محل الفاسدين -- الاستفادة من أصولنا الذهبية الوحيدة: شعبنا. نعم، لن يكون هذا سهلاً، ولكن يمكن البدء. لا يتعين على الفلسطينيين الاصطفاف مع الحكومات. يتعين علينا 1) قراءة الواقع بدقة (مثلا أمريكا وعملائها في انهيار) والتحدث بالحقيقة للسلطة الحاكمة، 2) بناء شيء إيجابي على الرغم من الصعوبات المذهلة، 3) محاولة العثور على الخير وتشجيعه في جميع البشر. باختصار يجب أن نتحدى الفساد والجشع والهبل المتفشي. نرى الجشع والفساد على نطاق واسع: ترامب، وبايدن/هاريس، وملوك المملكة العربية السعودية والإمارات العربية المتحدة والجنرال السيسي في مصر، و"قادتنا" الفاسدين. كيف نتأكد من أن الأشخاص الذين نعرفهم لا يستمرون في هذا المسار الإدماني والمدمر؟ يمكن لفتح والفصائل الأخرى أن تنقذ نفسها إذا جندت قيادة فكرية قوية والتزمت بمشروع التغيير الثوري. وأقول أيضا مهم أن يسمعوا النقد ويغيروا (ما فائدت أن تغلقوا دماغكم كما أتوقع أن يفعل البعض بإهمال هذا المقال ومهاجمتني ككاتب ؟).  يمكن لك (نعم أنت) أن تحدث فرقًا!!! فلسطين، بالشجاعة والإصرار، قادرة على النهوض مثل طائر الفينيق من الرماد. إننا مدينون بهذا لأكثر من ربع مليون شهيد، ومليون جريح، ومدينون لملايين اللاجئين والأسرى ومدينون لأبنائنا وأحفادنا والأجيال القادمة. ومدينون لجثث الأطفال الفلسطينيين المقطعة الأوصال. ومدينون للفدائيين الذين دفعوا الثمن الأغلى للمقاومة. ومدينون لمئات الملايين في مختلف أنحاء العالم الذين أعلنوا في شوارع كل مدينة في العالم: "بآلاف، وبالملايين، نحن جميعاً فلسطينيين". مدينون لفلسطين وللعالم بأن نعمل. يللا نبدأالحوار للتغيير !!

Olives, hope, and more

 Today is the last day we work on our olive trees at the museum gardens in Bethlehem (80 trees). Earlier last week we picked olives in our own home garden in Beit Sahour. This is a form of resistance but it is also physically and mentally healthy exercise that gets us to understand both the blessings and the challenges of life. As a communal event, we receive help from volunteers (local and international) and we get to feel camaraderie and friendship while we also discuss the horrors of starving people of Gaza, of children body parts blown by US bombs, of what motivates genocide, geopolitics, and of our role and purpose in life. T see pictures/reports on activities at our institute, check out our facebook page. 

The olive picking season and the olive tree have been a sacred part of our lives for thousands of years. Here is an article I wrote many years ago about this. Hope is also rekindled in our hearts from our people. Those who volunteered with us like the employees of the red crescent society who helped us pick olives. I am inspired by a Palestinian Tamer who holds two jobs (one as a guard here at our institute but also helped with olives and one as a mechanic), thus working 16 hours a day and yet walks his daughter to school every day. I am inspired by Mosab Abo Taha (see this and this) and Ramzy Baroud a brilliant writer who lost his MD sister in Gaza (see this) and Lebanese women Ghadi Francis. I am inspired by this missionary who walks where Jesus walked, even in time of war. I could list thousands of people like that that I personally know; someone should compile a webpage; I am sure we can list hundreds of thousands of candles in the darkness

Thus, we have hope and faith despite the genocidal onslaught against our people of Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and also Syria and Yemen goes (76 years of colonialism, supremacy, hegemony, and control).  

The Cactus and the cucumber: A reflection on hope (I wrote this almost 20 years ago)

THINGS NOT SEEN IN THE COMPLICIT WESTERN MEDIA:

Naomi Klein sums things well https://x.com/democracynow/status/1848726603112612275

Col. Larry Wilkerson & Scott Ritter on how Iran destroyed Israeli attack while IDF crushed by a recovered Hezbollah  https://youtu.be/9JoIAfK07uM

Zionist plan: Nile to Euphrates https://youtu.be/KMxooA7CQ8g
This is what it looks like when masses of people are transported to concentration and torture camps in the 21st century. Will the people behind the wheel one day claim that they were 'just drivers'? https://x.com/pawelwargan/status/1849084175829078189
Israeli Soldiers SICKENING War Crimes EXPOSED https://youtu.be/gEo813rYm8g
Nakba happening again in front of the entire world:
https://x.com/Timesofgaza/status/1849378844089647136
and one more massacre (now over 3000 massacres) from Khan Younis
https://x.com/warfareanalysis/status/1849684329582166413
reminiscent of another massacre at same place in 1956:
https://x.com/user104021010/status/1720394748169539715
(yes this is not new)
Kill Them All: The Extermination of Palestinians
https://thecradle.co/articles/kill-them-all-israels-extermination-of-palestinians-in-gaza
UN report confirms MASS RAPE of Palestinian hostages in Israeli torture camps
https://www.naturalnews.com/2024-10-18-un-report-confirms-mass-abuse-palestinian-hostages.html
Chris Hedges: Extermination works - at first
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/extermination-works-at-first
CIA and a private company to run concentration camp in Gaza
https://youtu.be/RRzkIIw2_us
People of Gaza are starving while Arabs hold lavish feasts
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1171559400958009
Australian-Israeli dual citizen Mark Regev under trial for genocide advocacy
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/2024-10-22/ty-article/.premium/australian-israeli-former-diplomat-mark-regev-under-trial-for-genocide-advocacy/00000192-b4e6-d006-a5b3-feee3fa30000
The "President of the European Commission" Ursula von der Leyden not only has excused every crime committed by Israel (war crimes, crimes against humanity, apartheid, genocide) but even advocates suppression of free speech in Europe ala what they have in Germany (no Palestinians flags, no speech against Zionism or colonialism, no "Free Palestine" slogans). She is truly a "daughter of nationalist Germany" which committed the genocide in Namibia and of Nazis and neo-Nazis. And here is a bit about her father and his role in WWII Germany Who was the father of Ursula von der Leyden in WW2? . We do not know if her affinity to Israel is a (deluded) way of making up (she should not because Nazis collaborated with the Zionists who do not represent Jews and even broke the boycotts of Nazi Germany). She should know better. The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell criticized her biased stance which, he said, undermined Europe's geopolitical position and was at variance with reality of a catastrophic Israel induced humanitarian catastrophe.
https://www.quora.com/Who-was-the-father-of-Ursula-von-der-Leyen-in-WW2