Popular Resistance

Biology of Peace

2012-02-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

Chapter in Book on Why Peace, edited by Mark Guttman see http://www.why-peace.com/

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

Biology of Peace by Mazin Qumsiyeh

Text also posted here http://www.qumsiyeh.org/biologyofpeace/

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

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

In the Buddhist traditions, we are asked to seek, to have “joyful participation in the sorrows of this world.” I was reminded of this when I was held on July 27, 2011, along with some Israeli and Palestinian activists, in the Israeli military compound at Atarot. This was after being attacked by Israeli soldiers for participation in a peaceful demonstration in the village of Al-Walaja. This beautiful village in the West Bank is slowly being depopulated of its last remaining citizens. Simple and beautiful slogans is hard to apply here, as a wall will encircle the remaining houses of the village, cutting the inhabitants off from their livelihood and forcing them to leave.

How can we even begin to comprehend the sorrow that has engulfed the land of Canaan in the past few decades? The sorrows of the native inhabitants are so horrendous that it sometimes seems unreal. Of 11 million Palestinians in the world, 7 million are refugees or displaced people. The 5.5 million natives who remain inside the country (many displaced) are restricted now to shrinking concentration areas, amounting to only 8.3 percent of the historic land of Palestine.

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

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

To understand humans and what drives us, we have to understand our biology, especially our early development. I taught developmental biology and researched how things could go wrong in early development. We all start as a zygote, a single cell which is the result of the union of the sperm nucleus with the egg nucleus inside the cytoplasm of the egg. That primal cytoplasm is a soup containing codes for proteins that allow the early embryo to get its initial organizational structure, even before the code in the nucleus of the zygote starts to shape the future of the individual. In a sense then, we all depend far more on “stuff” we get from our mothers than stuff we get from our fathers. In developmental biology we know that axis formation (having three dimensions: anterior-posterior, dorsal-ventral, left and right) comes from the cytoplasm of the egg from our mothers. In essence, without that initial material we get from our mother, we would simply be a round blob.

But the miracle of developmental biology is that the joining of 23 chromosomes from the sperm with 23 chromosomes from the egg make one nucleus. There are already endless genetic possibilities for those maternal and paternal chromosomes. This is because the process of producing sperm and eggs, called meiosis, not only reduces the chromosomes by half (from 46 to 23), but creates myriad opportunities for having very different sets of genetic variation, through recombination and chromosome segregation. That is why no two sperm and no two eggs are the same. That is why no two siblings are the same (except of course identical twins, which come from the same zygote).

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

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

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

Soldiers no longer come home to wash off the blood of their enemies from their clothes and swords. They come home with images of the tools that they have used to destroy enemies from a distance. The faces of their enemies are not familiar to them, only outlines in gun sights or on computer screens. The facial distortions and agonized screams of those killed do not reach the killers. Some of these killers like to pretend they do not imagine these things. They want to cling to the elements of their humanity. They may go back home, and even help an old lady cross the street or pass a candy to a child. But deep in their psyches, these killers know that they have destroyed a human being just like them, with flesh and blood, with feelings, with people who loved him or her.

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

After 20 years of fruitless negotiations between colonizer and colonized, occupier and occupied, even Palestinian elites have come around to see the power of the people. Engaging in international diplomacy while doing popular resistance is seen as critical in increasing the pressure to arrive at a just resolution. If the Israeli government remains intransigent and continues to build colonial settlements on Palestinian lands, the only remaining option will become adopted by more and more people: a push for a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine. That outcome may already have been guaranteed by the relentless expansionist Zionist project. By making a two-state option impossible and forcing us into close contacts, we (Palestinians and Israelis) are developing joint strategies to work for peace, even as walls are erected on our land.

What is remarkable is that humans of different backgrounds are coming to regard peace as personal, and to regard politicians as “behind the times.” All humans have behaviors that trace back to our ancestral primates. From sex to feeding to self-protection to ambition to control of space, we as a species are driven by these deep-rooted innate behaviors. To what extent we can control our behavior in a positive fashion determines our humanity. Governments endeavor to maintain the status quo of control over individuals and the manipulation of conflicts for their benefits. Yet, the achievements by individuals working together towards freedom, peace, and self-government are a testimony to the power that resides in us.

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

Compassion

2012-02-16T12:35:00.000-08:00

We had a really bad day today. Nine Palestinian very young children were killed and 40 other children injured (some severely) in one horrific fiery traffic accident today and another child was killed in a separate traffic accident. The day started with me breaking a glass and then having to talk to a lawyer about a notice I just received to go to military court on 1 April (more on this later as it becomes clear what I will be charged with). Then I am rushing to do interview live on an international TV station then driving to Ramallah for an important meeting and then to my afternoon classes at Birzeit University. Well, I never made it to the Ramallah meeting because the road was blocked for this horrific accident; an Israeli licensed trailer truck (driven by an Israeli Arab citizen) carrying fuel hit the Palestinian bus carrying children on a trip head on and the bus turned over and burst in flames (the bus burned not the trailer!). This happened near the Palestinian village of Hizma and the villagers rushed to save the children. The Israeli cars could double back and go through the wall on the Israeli only roads. We in the Palestinian cars had to wait as ambulance after ambulance took the dead and injured away. Below are links to picture and video (some of the video was rightly blurred so that the disturbing images of burned children are not seen). A person also sent me a link to Facebook pages in Hebrew where some sick Israelis thank God these were Palestinian Children (also see below). But I also saw very kind comments by Israelis on the liberal Haaretz (though this also has anonymous ugly comments some could be misrepresenting who they are or trying to create division). This made me really angry that a tragedy that saddened so many decent people (Jews, Christians, Muslims etc) is used in ugly fashions.

Forgetting about my own personal troubles, I thus started to think based on the issue of compassion and dignity more. A story like this should generate compassion and it certainly helps us identify decent human beings (like the Israelis and Palestinians of all religions who helped save the lives of so many children). But why did so many ignore it or feel no compassion because it is not their children or belong to their self-identified (fictional) group. A 33-year old Palestinian Khader Adnan is on his 61 days of hunger strike (because he is held without charge in so called administrative detention by Israel). How many will care if he dies or care now about him? Regardless of his background, isn't he someone's husband, someone's father, someone's son, someone's uncle? Below is a letter from a friend about Khader Adnan's situation. These and other stories that break our hearts do not seem to elicit even a blip of compassion and care from millions who may tangentially hear about these things. Some people say there is "compassion fatigue" among some of us but I disagree. I believe once you have true compassion for fellow human beings you can never tire of it; compassion here is defined as compassion for all human beings not selected members of your "tribe", "nation", "religion" or other concocted group identity (to me this is the opposite of compassion).

Eleven years ago (4 June 2001), I published this letter in Haaretz titled "Sincere condolences" about another tragedy which is relevant here:

"Upon hearing the news of the wedding party turned to tragedy by collapse of the building in Jerusalem, my shock and sadness were intense. It only got worse and turned to tears when I later saw the video footage and read about the alleged construction problems. The video footage reminded me of the footage of my sister's wedding. I was touched by the ordinariness and beauty of this event and then the tragedy that ensued. I grieve for the victims and my thoughts and prayers are with the families and with you all. Please accept my sincerest and humble condolences.
I am a Palestinian American who works for human rights, including the Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homes and lands. I believe that all people of Israel/Palestine must and will eventually live in one democratic and secular state with a constitution that protects all its citizens and treats them equally. We are so similar and it is a shame that political ideas (Zionism and other forms of nationalism) divided us. In 1967, as a 10-year old child in Beit Sahur, I witnessed something that still touches me to this day - a reunion between my grandfather and his Jewish best friend from high school. Two old folks who had not seen each other between 1948 and 1967. Two old folks who cried like children. Both are gone now. I thought of this, and how much I miss the wisdom of my grandfather as I saw the recent events and the tragedies and the victims of violence in our homeland.

My grandfather wrote to me in 1974 that if he was to give me one piece of advice for the future it would be to realize that the world changes and that we have to remove our own shackles, which come to us from society and culture. It is time we started thinking and reflecting carefully on the futility of separation, nationalism, and militarism. It is time to insist on and teach ourselves to live together in equality and humanity. If the Berlin wall tumbled, Apartheid in South Africa was dismantled, and Europe is unifying, why can't we do the same? Imagine if the billions of dollars we spend on weapons were spent to better our economies, desalinate sea water, develop closer relationships and friendships, and provide therapy for the over 17,000 injured in the recent violence.

In the midst of our tragedies, let us work together for a better world.
Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, Ph.D.

The accident

Photos here http://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/news/2012/02/16/249119.html

Video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjI1Jngi45U

The article and image of the Facebook pages of the Israelis grateful these are Palestinian Children (scroll down past the French) http://www.palestinalibre.org/articulo.php?a=37816 But see above for my comments.

By contrast see comments under this story from the liberal, left leaning Haaretz

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/10-killed-as-palestinian-children-s-bus-truck-collide-near-jerusalem-1.413257

Below is a letter from a friend about Khader Adnan's situation

"I haven't been posting about Khader Adnan, a Palestinian political prisoner who entered his 59th! day of hunger strike today, because, to my shame, I felt overwhelmed, and I had no idea how to stir any reaction in you, how to make you understand that a man is dying, how outrageous this is. it felt so insufficient to just keep writing some emails that you'll probably not read, although i receive emails and posts about him several times a day. how do we make the reality of the immense abuse, murder, massacres etc of people in our area in any way clear to so many who have been told for too long that this has nothing to do with them, that this is "unfortunate", that "these things happen". if they happened to your brother, you would scream in outrage. but somehow, there is this wrong feeling that these things won't happen to "us" - a feeling that is based on a very shitty perception of all the victims of these crimes as somehow "others" - they are not us. we can't identify. And i can't help but write that any such feeling of "this has nothing to do with us" - together with the reality that if it did happen to any of "us", you WOULD feel outrage - is possible because there is somewhere the notion that your rights don't apply to "them", or maybe, they are less than, less human, or maybe they have done SOMEthing to deserve it? Because how can these things happen?

I am sorry that I am attacking you, my friends and family, in this condescending and presumptious way. I am dispairing, I don't know how to make you react - forget react, for one moment, how to make you REALIZE, ACKNOWLEDGE, FEEL - any more.
But here I am trying again, though in this pretty cynical way:

Khader Adnan is entering his 59th day of hunger strike to protest his "administrative detention" (meaning they imprison him without even charging him with anything, without the prospect of a trial and the possibility to defend himself, without letting even his lawyer know WHY they are holding him, etc.) and the outrageous treatment he received at the hands of the Israeli military/security/police etc forces (torture, denial of rights, humiliation, etc.).

If you don't know what 59 days of hunger strike mean - I am afraid every day to read he has finally died. He is in hospital, chained to his bed, still denied all kinds of rights. And yesterday, an Israeli court - after having POSTPONED the hearing of his lawyer's appeal to a decision that he will stay in administrative detention until May 8 - decided that in spite of his condition, HE WILL REMAIN IMPRISONED UNTIL MAY 8.
THIS IS A DEATH SENTENCE. Since day 45 of his hunger strike, Adnan could die any moment.
The judge furthermore argued that it is ADNAN WHO IS TO BLAME FOR HIS SITUATION."

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Striving to stay human

http://qumsiyeh.org

Corruption vs Dignity

2012-02-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

A friend asked how activists keep going when so many people engage in corruption, stealing, lying, cheating, and harming others. Here in Palestine, there are plenty of people who do these things and they are both Israelis and Palestinians. Occasionally we also have the visiting Western politicians but that only adds marginally to these negative acidic waves that are destroying lives and livelihoods in their wake. We could write books about all these negative things. We could tell stories of humanitarian aid that ends in pockets of corrupt individuals (in both governmental and non-governmental settings). I was sad once to even find out that money we raised for medical relief was used for promoting an individual political ambition. I was sad to find that one of the highest ranking Palestinian officials worked hard to destroy the will of resistance and then claimed that the absence of resistance is a validation of endless negotiations (begging and pleading for crumbs). There are few books written about these things. One for example is "Globalized Palestine: The National Sell-Out of a Homeland" By Khalil Nakhleh which is now out in English.* I read the Arabic version of this when it came out and I think it is a must read for everyone who want to understand how the Oslo accords and what followed sold out Palestine for money, corporations and made some Palestinians very wealthy with villas, fancy cars etc. The book also touches on how this system corrupted many Palestinians. This subject needs deeper exploration and many more books but a few brief comments here are warranted.

Let me start by saying that I use Palestine and Palestinians as examples for this not because we have more corruption than say Israelis or Egyptians but for two reasons:

1) I am more knowledgeable about this particular subject and writing about what we know best makes it more personal and gives us better insights as to weaknesses and strengths of humans.

2) We are under an existential threat: a colonial power that is interested in eliminating our presence from the land. Most of our land is taken already (we are reduced to use of 8.3% of our homeland and these are disjointed cantons). Most of our people are refugees or displaced people (7 million of 11 million). Most of our economy (agriculture, natural resources, and tourism) was usurped by the colonizers. The pressures on us are thus tremendous. Strengths are critical and weaknesses are amplified and used by our colonizers to their advantage. Without addressing weaknesses (not necessarily removing all of them but reducing them), it is hard to envision the final push to end the injustice and bring a durable peace.

Every hour here I am reminded of what the prophets of old days realized with contemplation and deep thought: that each human being is a battle field. From individuals who cheat, those who take foreign aid money to serve their own selfish interest, those who lie, those who misuse authority, countless employed and not doing much for an income that they cling to etc.

There is war is within each human mind: between evil and good, between love and hate, between tribalism and humanity, between corruption and dignity. Those who slid down the wrong path can be salvaged but it takes much harder work on their part than those who stayed true to their better-selves. The Buddha realized this is not an unnatural conflict but that it is part of who we are. Only by deep meditation and reflection, he realized that it is possible to maintain a balance in favor of the goodness. Only by this very deep reflection (in many religions this is called prayer), are we able to let go of the carnal desires and go higher in levels of understanding, empathy, and compassion for fellow human beings. Addiction to greed and selfishness (in the case of some also tribalism) must be challenged with firm kindness and without malice or hate.

This is not to say we do not need revolution; we actually desperately need it. But we must start with a revolution in our minds to get rid of all the nonsense that was put there by parents, teachers, clergy, and society. This revolution should be about dignity and restoring self-respect. Without liberating our minds from all those self-imposed chains in the form of internalized colonization, we will never be able to gain liberty. It will be harder here in the Middle East than it was in Europe in the Middle Ages. This is because religious doctrines (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are more entrenched and because there are much Western interference (Started with Sykes-Picot and Balfour/Cambon). Natural evolution to unlock creativity and human potential here is hard but not impossible. We are confident that eventually we will succeed because the trend in humanity is intermarriage, cultural mixing, separation of religion from state, and global connectedness. Our individual job is to accelerate this trend by openly promoting dignity and self-respect as the best antidotes to greed and corruption.

*See http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3635&ed=203&edid=203

Jewish Roots of Islam’s Extremism by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat

http://ashraf62.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/jewish-roots-of-islams-extremism/

(Here I must say that the myths of the Bible about exodus and promised lands etc are repeated in Christian and Muslim Books and many take them as literal/historical not as metaphorical mythologies as they really are.)

Israel panel okays bill calling for tax exemption to 'Zionist' donations

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-panel-okays-bill-calling-for-tax-exemption-to-zionist-donations-1.412472

(tax exempt for land theft, colonization, repression, ethnic cleansing)

Report: Under Attack: Golani Brigade's war on the Palestinian population of Al-Khalil (Hebron)

http://www.cpt.org/underattack

US Admits: Terror groups attacking Iran are linked to Israel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXCIiQA3nnM

The Italian Movement For Boycott, Divestment And Sanctions (BDS) Against Israel Gains Strength http://www.countercurrents.org/westbrook020212.htm

Youth Conference and more

2012-02-05T10:12:00.000-08:00

Items in today's email: Video of the event today at Al-Walaja (three arrested but subsequently released), Comments on the just concluded Herzliya conference, action item to do for Brussels Air, Youth Conference in Palestine in July, and more.

1) Video: On Sunday 5 Feb 2012, villagers from Al-Walaja and international supporters went to the area where the Israeli apartheid authorities were still destroying lands to build a wall that will isolate the villagers from their remaining lands and allow for further expansion of the illegal colonies of Gilo and Har Gilo. Already over 90% of the village lands were taken for colonial settler activities in the past 6 decades. The area this short video was taken is just around the oldest tree in Bethlehem district (an olive tree > 3,000 year old).

http://youtu.be/XZ7Wn9KY4bI

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2) The "Herzliya Conference" just concluded. This is the annual conference that brings the elites of the Israeli military industrial complex together to plot "strategy" in a coastal town named after the founder of Political Zionism Theodor Herzl. This location is on ethnically-cleansed Palestinian land (see for history of the location: http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jaffa/Abu-Kishk/index.html). Shimon Peres, a war criminal and architect of Israel's arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction appropriately opened as a key note speaker. There were several sessions that touched on Iran including "Iran: Will Sanctions Work?" and "The Ticking Clock: Dissuading and containing Iran's strategic ambitions" where war criminals like Danny Ayalon debated whether it is enough to continue to use clandestine terrorist operations in Iran or whether we need to push the US to start another war like they did on Iraq (one million civilians killed so far) on behalf of Israel. There was a session on "Galilee: Setting Priorities for Regional Development" where a number of Jewish Zionists discuss how to transform the Galilee into a Jewish area (without consulting the native inhabitants of the Galilee). The Galilee and Negev were left with a good number of Palestinians after the ethnic cleansing during the foundation of "Israel". There were sessions titled things like "Advancing Israel Normalization in the International Community" where efforts to whitewash apartheid are celebrated and plans for new propaganda and lobbying campaigns debated. There were also sessions celebrating the anniversary of the Jewish National Fund or KKL (Keren Keyemeth L'Israel), a group that participated for decades in ethnic cleansing and continues to do so (e.g. in the Negev where Bedouins are being displaced to Judaicize the Negev). Participants were also taken to military bases and training facilities of the apartheid army so that they could visit with the most moral army that caused the largest post-World War II refugee crisis and that has murdered over 25,000 children. There was even some talk about how to get Mahmoud Abbas (whose term has expired long ago) to return to fruitless and endless negotiations. After all, the "Peace process industry" needs to be revived so that more time is allowed for continued rape of Palestine (expanding colonial settlement etc)! In over 20 sessions, not one dealt with what the natives of Palestine (Christians and Muslims) go through or how we feel. To cap the "conference" the Israeli government made announcements of more land confiscation (e.g. 430 dunums in Nahhalin) and more home demolitions (e.g. in Al-Aqaba).

Shamelessly, the head of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon addressed this gathering of apartheid leaders. Also Mr. John Baird, foreign minister of Canada (with MP Irwin Cotler) came to claim that Canada supports Apartheid Israel. Mr. Riad Al-Khoury from Jordan came and thus also lent his blessings to apartheid. There was also the Zionist Zoelnick (head of the World Bank) and a few other American Jewish Zionists "discussing" how best to get Israel even more money and arms from our taxes.

I guess I should look on the positive side: that this year, there were less of those "Internationals" willing to show their faces at this circus. But it is a distraction to blame these rich elites but ultimately it is our responsibility to make sure that we end their games of domination, war, and destruction. People are taking on the responsibility of change and each of us can do more to advance peace with justice. The horrific events in Egypt (where 80 people were killed when fans of two football teams collided) also remind us of the worst element of human weaknesses. It then matters a lot what those who disapprove DO.

Unfortunately, many of our closest supporters and even Palestinians themselves do not understand basic issues relating to Palestine and the Israeli apartheid system. Because of these misunderstandings, they make devastating choices including for example supporting the mythical "two state solution". I will not discuss here why it is mythical and why it is what led us to 20 years suspension of the Palestinian liberation Struggle in return for an industry of negotiations (yes an industry that is profiting some Palestinians who became invested in the status quo (i.e. in the occupation) and addicted to the "security aid" and "humanitarian aid" that comes primarily from the US and Europe (respectively). I already discussed this in detail in my 2004 book "Sharing the Land of Canaan". But I am also willing to debate anyone in pubic on these issues.

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3) Example of action: I wrote to these email addresses the letters below about Brussels Air promoting Israeli apartheid. Please read and if interested to write or take action based on your conscience, then please do. That is how change happens in society: when enough people say enough is enough!

To Brussels Air and Ink Global

wlemmes@brusselsairlines.com

gsciot@brusselsairlines.com

info@btheremag.com
jane.wright@ink-global.com
jenny.mcneely@ink-global.com
Bart.Beirlant@standaard.be

You did not respond to my earlier email (copy below) sent three weeks ago about your January 2012 Brussels Air magazine's shameless promotion of Israeli apartheid. But then when I returned home from Belgium, I noted that this was not the first time you are promoting Apartheid Israel as a destination. In fact, your web-page which I just checked http://www.btheremag.com starts out with the August 2011 issue promoting Tel Aviv and stolen Palestinian food (Falafel) as if it is an Israeli food "Tasting Tel Aviv: Where Fashion meets Falafel". So I am now personally boycotting your airline and will be promoting a boycott of your airlines.

Sincerely,

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Dear Colleagues in Brussels Air and Ink Global

It was my first trip on Brussels Air and it will likely be the last. Your B.There! Airline magazine soured my trip since it promoted apartheid. Imagine if at the height of Apartheid in South Africa, your magazine chose to highlight the white part of the segregated country and promoted it in three distinct locations in one issue, something you do not do for any other of the nearly 200 destinations to normal cities/countries. This is precisely what you did by promoting Apartheid Israel in three locations in your January 2012 issue: On page 14 you promoted “Tel Aviv Art weekend”, on page 50 you promoted a Tel-Aviv “food blog”, and in page 55 you had feature article advertising (free) an Israeli company (Uploads). Brussels Air according to your magazine and website flies to nearly 200 destinations around the world. Yet, I saw most of those not mentioned in this magazine let alone deserving of three free promotional items.

This alone is favoritism but is scandalous when we add the fact that Israel is recognized by people around the world as an apartheid state and there is a worldwide movement for boycotts, divestments, and sanctions (BDS) called for by Palestinian Civil Society.

I realize Brussels Air contracts with a British company to do their magazine and the mistaken bias likely originated with Ink Global. Perhaps in your next magazine you can promote Palestine alternative tourism (www.atg.ps and http://sirajcenter.org/ ) or highlight the way Belgians are traveling to help their fellow human beings like in the upcoming welcome to Palestine Campaign (http://bienvenuepalestine.com/). I would be happy to help.

I have an email list of more than 50,000 activists and depending on your answer to this email, I will write to them to encourage a boycott of this airline. After all, there are other ways to travel without being pelted with free advertisements for apartheid Israel.

Sincerely,

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Palestinian – American Professor and author currently on speaking tour in Belgium

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4) Sabeel 7th Young Adult Conference. Challenging Oppression, on a Donkey: Christ, Resistance, and Creative Discipleship.

4 -15 July 2012 http://www.sabeel.org/events.php?eventid=229

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5) With Jack Lew's appointment, Jewish community again has a White House address By Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraph Agency
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/01/10/3091107/with-jack-lews-appointment-community-once-again-has-a-white-house-address

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6) Mark Dubowitz, Jewish head of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, commends Obama for "shot across the bow"

http://blogs.jta.org/politics/#reactions-to-obamas-picking-jack-lew-orthodox-jew
(The "Foundation for Defense of Democracies" agenda is to fight for change only in countries deemed unfriendly to Israeli apartheid or US imperial tendencies but countries like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and Jordan are not to be touched by these hypocritical groups)

---------------

7) And there is also the so called "National Endowment For Democracy"

http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1-/10643-finito-with-putin-the-shady-national-endowment-for-democracy-a-the-prime-agenda.html

Thoughts on Palestinian conference

2012-01-23T00:47:00.000-08:00

In this week in history: Filastin news-paper closed by the Ottoman authorities after Zionist complains (1914), bylaws of the "Muslim-Christian Association approved in Jerusalem (1919), First Palestinian Arab Congress opens in Jerusalem (1919), over 100 peaceful demonstrators were gunned down by British forces in Baghdad (1948), over 60,000 Palestinian demonstrated in Nazareth under the collective slogan of ending the occupation and giving the Palestinian people legitimate rights (1988).

The conference in Jericho was on changing course; some papers presented were excellent and most comments were exactly on target. I had heard similar comments from Palestinians in exile in the USA, Holland, Belgium, and Italy. But our block is not in diagnosis nor is it in the prognosis but it is in actually in administering the therapy or medicine which might be bitter at first. Everyone talks about creating an alternative political faction to the existing ones, dismantling the Palestinian Authority and returning to the liberation struggle, and/or changing the self-destructive direction of two-states to the winning strategy of one-state advocacy. People are finally ready for these. The question remains: who will do it? It definetly will not come from any of the existing aging leaders who like the limelight and who enjoy the status quo while TALKING (!) about "a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital".

It is precisely the current political landscape that prevents many Palestinians from engaging in rneeded forms of resistance and delay the next wave of revolt (intifada). The therapy has to be administered from the people not benefitting from positions and visibility, especially the younger generation. My suggestion is for the youth to call a meeting, not to study the problem or speak of different solutions, but to implement the known real agenda of change. The paradigm of one state for all its people is generally advocated by most Palestinians and it demands changing concepts of ethno- or religio-centric nation-state to concepts of equal citizinship and application of all human rights (including economic rights). Our struggle against racist ideologies was distracted by the "Oslo accords" but even whether this course was taken in good or bad intentions, that era has clearly ended (thanks to Zionist greed ansd racism). It was actually written in those same accords that it was to last a period of 5 years and it is now 20 years of deception and it is enough.

I am teaching a course this semester in Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle (a subject of my 2004 book "Sharing the Land of Canaan"). The syllabus and reading material maybe interesting for readers of this list. Any input woud be appreciated. http://www.qumsiyeh.org/syllabus/ .

Updated resource (some links expired and were removed): "This year will mark 64 years since the founding of the state of Israel on the ruins of 540 Palestinian villages and towns. As 7 million of the 11 million Palestinians in the world remain refugees or displaced people denied basic human rights, it is more important to debunk myths and lies. I updated this list to now include 64 lies/myths (one for each year)." http://www.qumsiyeh.org/liesandtruths/

Jewish Newspaper Editor: Israel Should Consider Assassinating Obama

http://gawker.com/5877892/newspaper-editor-israel-should-consider-assassinating-obama

(after an uproar about this, the editor decided to apologize. The talk in Israeli media was not that this is impossible to happen but that it should not be said and it is "stupid" to say. Israel ofcourse is well known for its targeted assasinations and bombings including those done via "false flag" operations such as the Lavon Affair when American and British interests were targeted by the Mosad while blaming others. Israel also intentionally targeted the USS Liberty ship to stop its intelligence gathering and claimed it was a mistaken attack)

EuroMediterranean Human Rights Network condemns the attack against Gaza human rights defender Mahmoud AbuRahma http://www.euromedrights.org/en/news-en/emhrn-releases/statements-2012/10940.html

A good article by Mahmoud http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=449852

Cyber-attacks strike Israeli stock exchange, airline, banks

http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/cyber-attacks-strike-israeli-stock-exchange-airline-banks.html

Fellowship for one semester Postdoctoral Study at Columbia: The Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Award in Palestine Studies (deadline 3 February) http://www.columbia.edu/cu/palestine/about/fellowships.html

(Video) Road to Tantura: Tantura is one of dozens of villages in which massacres were committed to drive their inhabitants out in 1948. This is a personal story of a Palestinian http://vimeo.com/34769420

From de Bouilon to Bwn Gurion

2012-01-16T02:32:00.001-08:00

Rushing between talks in Europe leaves little time for any sightseeing. As we pass by the Royal Palace in Brussles, Belgium and cannot stop as we have to rush to the train station. But in that large square stands an imposing statue of Godfrey de Bouilon, the first ruler of Jerusalem in the period of the crusaders (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Square_(Brussels). What jumped to my mind was Herbert Samuel the first British Zionist high-commissioner of Palestine and David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel. This was my first visit to Belgium and I was thinking how here like in other countries, there is the contrast between people’s vision and history and official mythologies and monuments. The people I worked with are common Belgians of all walks of life who have a different take on their history than official national myths. One said:” look at the palace of justice and how huge it is. It is intended to make the common Belgian feel guilty and accept the rule of the state.” Europe is like the US where the state teaches myths: about Columbus discovering America, about thanksgiving, about 1792, and promotion of freedom and democracy clash with the reality of ethnic cleansing of natives, slavery, Vietnam and Iraq (see Howard Zinn’s book a People’s History of the United States). Here also there is a people history that clashes with official history. While I should learn the language more so that I can read that people history, I can hear it from people themselves: the hospitable and generous common people volunteering in the Platform Charleroi Palestine (http://www.pourlapalestine.be/) , www.intal.be, www.association-belgo-palestienne,.org Rete di solidarietà con la Palestina – Milano, ISM-Udine, and the Nederlands Palestina Komittee (www.palestina-komitee.nl ). In one week visiting Italy Belgium, and Holland, I already spoke to over 1000 individuals of all background and ages (including three high schools). Israeli propaganda posters for “Visit Israel” have Boycott Israel stickers. Europeans hope to move beyond the history of support for colonialism and wars towards coexistence and concern for fellow-human beings. Thus, Europeans prepares to join either the Global March to Jerusalem March 30th (www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org) or the Welcome to Palestine Campaign 15 April (see http://bienvenuepalestine.com/ ).

The truth of what has happened and what is happening cannot be hidden by the gate-keepers in official media whether in Europe or occupied Palestine! Any serious student of history knows that crusader leaders including de Bouilon would best be described as a war criminal and that the same can be said for Herbert Samuel and David Ben Gurion. The ghosts of these folks still cause great pain to so many people. They were not national or historic leaders except in a negative sense. The people they claimed to represent did not on the long-run do better because of their actions. On the contrary, suffering only came from their arrogance and brutality. Christianity and Christians did not benefit in the long-term from the “Christian Crusaders” who committed massacres. Judaism and Jews did not and will not in the long term benefit from the modern-day Crusaders who replaced a cross with a Star of David in their flags. History marches on and new generations come about and humanity gets mixed in ways that are ironic. De Bouilon who murdered Jews and Muslims (and some of my Christian ancestors because they were Eastern Christians) would turn in his grave to note how things have changed today. Muslims and Jews thrive in this country to the chagrin of any remaining De Bouilon supporters. Similarly in many years from now, BenGurion’s statue may still be in Tel Aviv but the face of the country and its attitude of its transformed citizens will be human and humane.

Videos: 2011 B’Tselem camera Project distilled one year of misery in 3 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEukvh_Ajv4
And even more checkpoint brutality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QorJMPtz1Fw

Join us also for the Global March to Jerusalem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDkEPqqUFBw
http://www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org
http://www.jerusalem-marsch.de/
Alternative Information Center "The demographic battle for Jerusalem"
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/4014-the-demographic-battle-for-jerusalem

Professor of Hate: Israeli "scholar" urges ethnic cleansing of Bedouins
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/professor-hate-israeli-scholar-urges-ethnic-cleansing-bedouins

Must Read: Ethnic Cleansing of Invented People By Miko Peled January 04, 2012 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30156.htm

I saw Sabra hummus for sale at my high school cafeteria and decided to act by Nadine Darwish
http://electronicintifada.net/content/i-saw-sabra-hummus-sale-my-high...
The faces of new Egypt: Muslim cleric in Egypt congratulates Christians in Egyptian Church
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW2MPkWETQU&sns=em

A Zionist Rabbi publicly apologizes to our friend Rich Siegel
http://tinyurl.com/78u4nsk
Rich Siegel was honored at an event I attended
http://www.northjersey.com/topstories/teaneck/137159438_Two_residents_honored_for_peace_activism.html
I listened to Rich’s wonderful new CD “The Way to Peace” and I highly recommend it – it is beautiful
(visit http://www.richsiegel.com/)

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
Professor
A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a Villager at home
http://qumsiyeh.org

20 punti/points

2012-01-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

Italiano al di sotto-Italian Below

20 punti toccati dal Dr. Qumsieh nel suo discorso

20 Points that are made in Dr. Qumsiyeh speech (Palestine-Israel in brief)

1- Palestine is the Western part of the Fertile Crescent: an area that includes Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. In this Fertile Crescent the first human agriculture developed. Here the first domestication of animals (e.g. goats, donkeys, camels) and plants (e.g. wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentils, olives) happened.

2- This is also where civilization began including development of the first alphabet (by Phoenician Canaanites) and the first laws. It was where we first developed sciences like astronomy, engineering, and mathematics

3- The original inhabitants of the Western part of the Fertile Crescent were called Canaanites and the original language was called Aramaic which Jesus spoke (he was born in the country called then Palestine and thus he was Palestinian)

4- The old Aramaic language gave rise to derived languages including Syriac, Arabic, and Hebrew and this language group is called Semetic languages

5- Arabic alphabet evolved in Southern Canaan (today’s Jordan and Palestine) while the Latin alphabet evolved in Northern Canaan (Phoenicia, present day Lebanon and Syria). The Alphabet used in Europe today came from our part of the world.

6- The people of Southern Canaan including Palestine endured many invasions of armies with nearly 15 times that local people were ruled by kings or emperors (Persian, Roman, Umayyad, Abbasid, Israelite etc).

7- Local religious ideas evolved over the ages from Cananitic Pagan ideas to monotheistic ideas to Christianity (first century), Rabbinical Judaism (3rd century), Islam (7th Century).,

8- Palestine was always multi-cultural, multi-religious society despite attempts to homogenize it in certain periods (e.g. the Crusaders killed and exiled Jews, Muslims, and Christians of other sects).

9- Jews of today, like Christians and Muslims of today come from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They are thus genetically (biologically) heterogeneous.

10- Before the wave of European Jewish immigration, Palestinians were of various religions: about 85% Muslim, 10% Christian, 5% Jewish and others. For hundreds of years Palestinians of various religions lived in relative harmony.

11- Zionism is a political idea that spread among a minority of European Jews who adapted to the European notions of ethnocentric nationalism and thus claims Jews of today should gather in Palestine and create a Jewish state because of discrimination in Europe. Socialist Jews and other Jews believed in fighting for equal rights. Zionists thought that anti-Jewish feelings in Europe serves their interests and thus even collaborated with racists. There was a transfer agreement between the third Reich and the Zionist movement. Zionists also lobbied Western governments not to take in European Jewish refugees so that they all go to Palestine.

12- Zionism started in the mid 19th century with formation of the “Jewish Colonization Association” and became an international movement in 1897 at the first World Zionist Congress. To achieve its goals, its leaders advocated transferring the native non-Jewish Palestinians.

13- The United States and other Western countries under influence of a Zionist lobby pushed for the creation of a “Jewish state” of Israel in Palestine despite the wishes of the native people.

14- Between 1947-1949, 530 Palestinian villages and towns were completely destroyed and their people made refugees. This process of forcing Palestinians out of their land continued in other forms since the founding of Israel in May 1948. Today 70% of the 11 million Palestinians in the world are refugees or displaced people.

15- Current day Israel has a set of discriminatory laws that fit the descriptions given in the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. Every month, the Israeli Knesset takes on more such racist laws.

16- In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank (including the old city of Jerusalem) and Gaza strip. Together these two areas are 22% of historic Palestine. Israel began immediately to build Jewish colonial settlements in these Palestinian lands. Contrary to International law, there are now over 200 settlements on our lands housing over 0.5 million Jewish colonial settlers.

17- Israel has built walls around the remaining Palestinian enclaves (ghettos, people warehouses, cantons, reservations) and isolated them from each other and from the rest of Palestine. These walls separate Palestinians from their lands, from other Palestinians, from schools, from hospitals etc. As an example, the Bethlehem district houses 180,000 natives, some 50,000 of us living there are refugees from 1948 period. All of us are restricted now to develop and live on only 13% of the original Bethlehem district size. 87% of the district is now under control of Israeli settlements, military bases, closed military zones etc. The Bethlehem people are isolated behind a wall and even Jerusalem (6 km away) is off-limits to us.

18- Colonialism involves violence. Over 80 massacres were committed against native Palestinians. Over 60,000 Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli forces and settlers. This is ten times more than the number of Israeli civilians (most colonial settlers) killed by Palestinians. Palestinians resisted colonialism over the past 130 years mostly by using non-violent popular resistance something not widely discussed in the Western countries because of attempts to vilify the victims.

19- Palestinians and other Arab countries in conflict with Zionism have been “unreasonably reasonable” as one diplomat described it. We accept all elements of International law` and all UN (United Nations) resolutions on the issue. Israel by contrast, violated over 60 UN Security Council resolutions and over 200 UN General Assembly Resolutions. Without the USA using its veto power to shield Israel from International law at the UN SC, the number would have been doubled.

20- We Palestinians demand and are struggling for our right to return and to self-determination. We call for a democratic pluralistic state for people of all religions in our historic homeland of Palestine. We call for equality and justice. People in Europe and around the world can support us by using education, by coming to visit us, and by Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS). This is a collective human struggle similar to what happened in challenging apartheid in South Africa.

There are` many books and references available to document each point.

==============================

20 punti toccati dal Dr. Qumsieh nel suo discorso

1- La Palestina è situata ad ovest della Mezzaluna Fertile, un'area che comprende Palestina, Giordania, Libano, Siria e Iraq. Qui, nella Mezzaluna Fertile, si sviluppò l'agricoltura, presero avvio per la prima volta nella storia le pratiche di domesticazione degli animali (es. capre, asini e cammelli) e di piante (grano, orzo, ceci, lenticchie, olivi)

2- In quest'area si svilupparono anche le prime forme di civiltà , il primo alfabeto (dal Fenicio-Cananeo) e le prime leggi. Fu anche il luogo in cui si svilupparono le scienze come l'astropnomia, l'ingegneria e la matematica.

3- Gli abitanti originari della parte ocidentale della Mezzaluna Fertile erano chiamati Cananei e la lingua originale parlata era l'Aramaico, la lingua parlata da Gesù (nacque nel paese che fu dneominato in seguito Palestina e pertanto era Palestinese).

4- Dall'Aramaico antico derivarono il Siriaco, l'Arabo e l'Ebraico che assieme costituiscono il ceppo delle lingue semitiche.

5- L'alfabeto arabo si diffuse nella Terra di Canan meridionale (nelle attuali Giordania e Palestina) mentre il Latino si diffuse nella Terra di Canan settentrionale(gli attuali Libano e Siria). L'alfabeto in uso oggi in Europa proviene dalla nostra parte di mondo.

6- La popolazione della Terra di Canan meridionale, Palestina inclusa, ha subito (sopportato) molte invasioni militari e quindici volte fu governata da re o imperatori (Persiani, romani, Omayyadi, Abbasidi, Israeliti, etc.)

7- Nel corso del tempo le idee religiose si sono evolute da quelle cananee pagane a quelle monoteistiche del Cristianesimo (I secolo), al Giudaismo Rabbinico (III secolo), all'Islam (VII secolo).

8- La Palestina è sempre stata caratterizzata da una società multi religiosa e multiculturale, nonostante i tentativi di omologazione compiuti in certi periodi (ad esempio, i Crocaiti uccisero ed esiliarno Ebrei, Musulmani e Cristiani appartenenti ad altre sette).

9- La popolazione ebraica attuale – così come quella cristiana e musulmana attuale – ha origini etniche e retroterra culturali differnziati. È quindi geneticamente (biologicamente) eterogenea.

10- Prima dell'ondata migratoria degli Ebrei europei, i Palestinesi appartenevano a numerose religioni: circa 85% Musulmani, 10% Cristiani, 5% Ebrei e altri. Per centinaia d'anni i Palestinesi di diversi credo religiosi vissero in relativa armonia.

11- Il Sionismo è un'idea politica che si diffuse fra una minoranza di Ebrei europei che adottarono le nozioni europee del nazionalismo etnocentrico e quindi sostenevano che, a causa delle disriminaizoni subite in Europa - gli Ebrei dovessero raccogliersi tutti in Palestina e creare uno Stato ebraico. I socialisti ebrei assieme ad altri Ebrei credevano nella lotta per i dirritti all'uguaglianza. I sionisti credevano che i sentimenti antiebraici fossero funzionali ai loro interessi (al loro progetto) e così collaborarono con i razzisti. Ci fu un accordo fra il movimento sionistia e il Terzo Reich per il trasferimento degli ebrei in Palestina. I sionisti esercitarono pressioni sui governi occidentali affinchè non accogliessero profughi/rifugiati Ebrei europei, così questi sarebbero tutti quanti andati in Palestina.

12- Il Sionismo comparve alla metà del XIX secolo con l'istituzione dell'”Associazione per la Colonizzazione Ebraica” e divenne un movimento internazionale nel 1897 con il primo Congresso Mondiale Sionista. Per raggiungere l' obiettivo i suoi leader proposero il trasferimento della popolazione autoctona non ebraica.

13- Gli Stati Uniti e altri Paesi occidentali, sotto l'influenza di una lobby sionista spinsero per la creazione di uno “Stato ebraico” di Israele in Palestina nonostante le aspirazioni della polazione autoctona.

14- Fra il 1947-1949, 530 villaggi e città palestinesi furono completamente distrutti e i loro abitanti trasformati in profughi. Il costringre i Palestinesi ad abbandonare la loro terra continuò in altre forme fino alla fondazione dello Stato di Israele nel maggio 1948. Oggi il 70%degli 11 milioni di Palestinesi nel mondo sono rifugiati o profughi.

15- Attualmente Israele dispone di una serie di leggi discriminatorie che combaciano con la descrizione data nella Convenzione Internazionale sulla Repressione e l'Eliminazione del Crimine di Apartheid. Ogni mese, il Parlamento israeliano vara nuove leggi razziste.

16- Nel 1967, Israele occupò la West Bank - Cisgiordania (compresa la città vecchia di Gerusalemme) e la Striscia di Gaza. Assieme queste due aree costituiscono il 22% della Palestina storica.Israele iniziò inmediatamente a costruire insediamenti di coloni ebrei in queste aree palestinesi. Contravvenendo alle Leggi internazionali esistono ora più di 200 insediamenti colonici nelle nostre terre che ospitano più di mezzo milione di coloni ebraici.

17- Israele ha costruito muri attorno alle rimanenti enclaves palestinesi (ghetti, lager, aree circoscritte, riserve) e le ha isolate una dall'altra e dal resto della Palestina. Questi muri separano i Palestinesi dalle loro terre dalle scuole, dagli ospedali, etc. Per esempio, il distretto di Betlemme ospita 180.000 autoctoni, circa 50.000 di noi ci vive come profugo dal 1948 . Ci viene impedito ogni forma di progresso e viviamo sul 13% dell'area originale del distretto di Betlemme. L'87% del distretto è sotto controllo degli insediamenti israeliani, delle basi militari, e di aree militari inacassibili. La gente di Betlemme è isolata dietro il muro e anche Gerusalemme (distante 6 km) è off-limits per noi.

18- Il colonialismo implica violenza. Oltre 80 massacri sono stati perpetrati contro i nativi Palestinesi . Oltre 60.000 civili sono stati uccisi dalle forze dell'esercito israeliano e dai coloni, un numero dieci volte maggiore dei civili israeliani (perlopiù coloni) uccisi dai Palestinesi. Negli ultimi 130 anni i Palestinesi hanno resistito al colonialismo soprattutto attraverso la resistenza popolare nonviolenta, un argomento di cui si è parlato poco nell'Occidente nel tentativo di denigrare le vittime.

19- I Palestinesi e altri Paesi arabi nel conflitto con il Sionismo sono stati “Irragionevolmente ragionevoli”, come affermò un diplomatico. Noi accettiamo tutti i dettami della legge internazionale e tutte le risoluzioni delle Nazioni Unite sulla questione. Al contrario Israele ha violato 60 risoluzioni del Consiglio di Sicurezza e oltre 200 dell'Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite. Se gli Stati Uniti non ricorressero al diritto di veto per proteggere Israele dalla legge internazionale, questi numeri raddoppierebbero.

20- Noi Palestinesi chiediamo e lottiamo per il nostro diritto al ritorno e alla autodeterminazione. Vogliamo uno Stato democratico e pluralista che riconosca i diritti agli appartenenti di tutte le religioni nella nostra patria storica della Palestina. Vogliamo uguaglianza e giustizia. Le persone in Europa e nel mondo possono sostenerci con la diffusione nelle scuole di ciò che sta accadendo, venendoci a visitare e attraverso il Boicottaggio, Disinvestimento e Sanzioni (BDS). Si tratta di una lotta umana collettiva simile a quanto

ci sono molti libri e riferimenti a disposizione per documentare ogni punto

I am sick of

2012-01-03T15:54:00.001-08:00

The end of the world is Dec 21, 2012 according to the Mayan Calendar being the year 5125. I do not know about that but I do know that the window of opportunity to end the world of privilege and chosenness is quickly closing and we must have enough people involved in speaking truth to power and finally removing this power from the elites. The alternative is deterioration into a real end of world scenario where humans are on each other’s throats fighting over remnant natural resources depleted and destroyed by greed. To get an idea of how crazy this world can be just listen to US presidential contenders falling over each other to support Israeli apartheid and racism and promise more wars (this time on Iran). Is this little blue planet worth saving? There are millions of other planets after all. If your answer is yes, then you belong to one of two groups of people: activists who do something about their conviction or apathetic people that do not act on their convictions.

Orwellian interlude: Israeli forces confiscated speakers from a Jaffa mosque because of a complaint about the noise of the call to prayer from the neighbor of the mother of the Israeli foreign minister (the Moldavian bar bouncer)

Below are videos about Palestinian life as it existed before it was targeted for destruction by Zionists, video by Palestinians “sick of..”, video of why the West hates Arabs, video of Israeli soldiers’ treatment of Palestinian natives at checkpoints. Also there are videos of good actions against Israeli blood diamonds. Below are also opinions about US policies and our individual responsibility going forward.

Palestinian people- photographs of life before Zionism worked to destroy it

http://cynicalarab.org/2011/12/12/photographs-of-the-invented-people-of-palestine/

I am sick of….63 years of Nakba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bIO4W3nxGaM

Palestinian Refugees at the Human Rights March in Tel Aviv !!!!

http://www.zochrot.org/en/content/palestinian-refugees-human-rights-march-tel-aviv

[must see] Israeli soldiers treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QorJMPtz1Fw&feature=share

An example of a great action: Boycott Israeli Blood Diamonds info stalls in Cork and Dublin 11-12-2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJsmt82zkUs

Living in the shadow of the Wall

Bethlehem residents can only watch as the Israeli Wall surrounds the town and slowly chokes the life out of it http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/12/2011122782553652882.html

For this reason the west hates Arabs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrKutBDDPLw

Imagine armed Chinese troops in Texas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKfuS6gfxPY

Ron Paul’s “What If” speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjuUWr9vaXo

An “Historic Partnership” With The Devil – An Analysis (29 December 2011) by Lawrence Davidson [scroll to assay 1 from Prof. Davidson to read about how New York and Cornell are supporting apartheid]

http://www.tothepointanalyses.com/

To be Consequent as an Internationalist New Year 2012

http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/01/to-be-consequent-as-an-internationalist-new-year-2012/

Updated upcoming Events of my tour (US, Italy, Belgium, Amsterdam)

http://www.qumsiyeh.org/upcomingevents/

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home

Striving to "Stay Human"

2011-2012

2011-12-31T05:45:00.000-08:00

I have lived in the US for 29 years and am currently visiting this large and still prosperous but perilously indebted country ($16 trillion in debt). I landed at New York’s JF Kennedy airport named after perhaps the only president who could have put a stop to the decline of the US into an Israeli occupied territory engaged in endless wars that bankrupted the economy. Since then I was, like the 320 million residents of this country, bombarded with media advertising and popular culture that promotes Zionism and tries to numb the people about what is really going on. Zionist Rupert Murdoch’s media empire still dominates the airwaves with “Fox News”. Talking heads stoke emotions of fear especially of the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. Zionist backed think tanks and lobby groups like “The Council for Foreign Relations” pedal a war on Iran just like they did a war on Iraq (compare CFR “Time to attack Iran” http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136917/matthew-kroenig/time-to-attack-iran with “Next Stop Baghdad” http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/57805/kenneth-m-pollack/next-stop-baghdad ). But America is also a great land of great people. Last night I attended a gathering of Jersey City Peace movement where they honored many good people including my friend Rich Siegel and his new album “The Way to Peace” (http://www.richsiegel.com/).

Since the letter to President Clinton in 1998 asking for Regime Change in Iraq signed by 15 neocons and Zionists (http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm), the national debt has nearly doubled. Since then over one million civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed. Since then, tens of thousands of new Israeli settlers moved to live on Palestinian lands contrary to International law. Since then, natural disasters and man-made disasters claimed so many lives. But since then millions of points of light shone brightly: good deeds by good people working for the common good.

In looking back, I would say 2011 was one of the better years though much of the work remains to be completed in 2012. 2011 brought the revolutionary changes that swept across the Arab world and that portend for democratization (long overdue) that would be good not only for the people of those countries but also for the cause of peace and justice in Palestine and beyond. (This despite the US-government led counter-revolutionary push in Libya and now Syria while cajoling dictators in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia). 2011 saw the final realization that the two-state “solution” in Palestine is a mirage dissipated by continued colonial activity and by a series of racist laws introduced in the Israeli Knesset. The year saw mass movement of Palestinians and others to enter Palestine (e.g. on Nakba Day and in July). We also saw a Palestinian UN bid begin (though now suspended). We saw attempts are putting the Palestinian house in order (though yet incomplete). I could go on but each of us could continue.

On a personal level, I lost good friends and colleagues (Vittorio Arrigoni, Jawaher Aburahma, Mustapha Tamimi, Juliano Mer-Khamis and many more). I was arrested a few times, saw my last book out (on Popular resistance) and widely used, started two new books that are almost finished, graduated my first two masters students at Bethlehem University (with good publishable research), and we collectively accomplished much more for the cause of human rights and justice. We are grateful for hundreds of friends around the world who work to challenge apathy, promote human rights, and work for justice. My thoughts at the beginning of 2012 are similar to my thoughts at the beginning of 2011 but with even more optimism (see my notes January 2011 here http://mycatbirdseat.com/2011/01/mazin-qumsiyeh-tunisia-and-reshaping-the-arab-world/ ). The work will only get more in 2012.

Upcoming Events of my tour (US, Italy, Belgium)

http://www.qumsiyeh.org/upcomingevents/

Book Review,

Popular Resistance in Palestine/Refusing to be Enemies

Mazin B. Qumsiyeh / Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta

Reviewed by Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco; author, with Jacob Mundy, of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution (Syracuse University Press, 2010); nPluto Press, 2011. 290 pages. $30.00, paperback / Ithaca Press, 2011. 526 pages. $24.95, hardcover

http://www.mepc.org/journal/middle-east-policy-archives/popular-resistance-palestine-refusing-be-enemies

Rebuilding a Wall, Stone by Stone

http://www.imemc.org/article/62704

Palestinians told to dance to shake off Gaza stress

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/palestinians-told-to-dance-to-shake-off-gaza-stress-1.404717

Happy New Year 2012 to all humanity on our shared little blue planet

Activities in Bethlehem area

2011-12-22T09:14:00.000-08:00

Program of activities in Bethlehem area

برنامج عربي تحت

Below is a program of selected activities in the Bethlehem area starting tomorrow and over the Holidays (your participation if around would be appreciated). I also included a link to the best and most detailed account of the colonial destruction in the Bethlehem area. The district of Bethlehem was burdened with over 45,000 refugees denied their inalienable rights to return to their homes and lands from which they were removed in 1948. Israeli colonial settlement activity since 1967 meant that 180,000 Bethlehemites have access to only 13% of the original district size. And since 2002, Jerusalem was isolated from Bethlehem which resulted in the destruction of the economy of both metropolitan areas for their native people. Contrary to the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel continues to expand colonial settlements and has recently approved thousands of Jewish only homes to be built on Palestinian lands of Bethlehem.

We native Christian and Muslim Palestinians remember that Jesus, the Aramaic speaking Palestinian born in this town spoke truth to powers and asked us to be a "light unto the world". Join us in working for Peace and Justice this Christmas and the New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to ALL

Cartoons for Christmas showing what Palestinians (Christians and Muslims) are thinking about

From the PLO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3kOhKUZx7g

From ARIJ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ikjC5T7NE

Data/Report on Bethlehem geopolitical status http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/bethfs.pdf

If you still want to make a year-end donation, I encourage you to do so to one of the many deserving Palestinian Charities in Palestine or to groups that do good work for Palestine abroad and have presence in the streets of your country (not ones that merely hold conventions).

PROGRAM

Friday 23/12/2011
18:00 – 21:00 Shepherds' Nights Festival, Greek Catholic School, Beit Sahour (include Wajd Musical Band –Tunes for Peace Group, Baqoun Troupe for Palestinian Popular Heritage, and more)

Saturday Dec 24:

8:00 Orientation for Internationals about the advocacy work (Palestinian Center for Rapprochement)

10:00 Nativity Square - Christmas Card Distributtion to Tourist

16:00 – 20:00 Shepherds' Nights Festival, Greek Catholic School (include Keefak Hey Band, Roni Rock, Children Show & Gifts, Sheibat Band – Rock and Roll)

Sunday Dec 25:

11:00 Tour around the wall in Bethlehem, Starting from AEI SUMUD story house to AlRowwad

13:00 Lunch and Play Bus activity in Aida Camp, with the children

16:30 Candle Procession "Light A Candle for Free Palestine" starts from the Greek Orthodox Shepherds Field to Festival site
17:30 Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe (Al-Funoun Al-Sha'biyeh), Greek Catholic School

Monday Dec 26:

10:00 Popular Resistance Activity towards Jerusalem

14:00 Beit Jala - Cremisan and Al-Walaja activities

With love and Peace

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People http://www.pcr.ps/

Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theater Society http://www.alrowwad-acts.ps/

http://www.obethlehem.com/lit-a-candle

شاركونا ببرامج تطالب بالحرية في فترة ألأعياد. نحتاج نتطوعين وتجد أسفل برنامج مفصل. مثلا يوم السبت نحتاج متطوعين في ساحة المهد وسنوزع كروت معايده تقول:

السلام للعالم وأيضا فلسطين

منطقة بيت لحم تحتوي أكثر من 45000 لاجئ يحرمون من حقوقهم غير القابلة للتصرف في العودة إلى ديارهم وأراضيهم. يعني النشاط الاستيطاني الإسرائيلي الاستعماري منذ 1967 أن 180،000 من سكان هذه المنطقة حوصروا في 13٪ فقط من حجم المقاطعة الأصلي. منذ عام 2002 تم عزل القدس من بيت لحم مما أدى إلى تدمير اقتصادهما. خلافا لاتفاقية جنيف الرابعة، فإن إسرائيل تواصل توسيع المستوطنات الاستعمارية ووافقت مؤخرا على بناء الآلاف من الوحدات السكنية للمستوطنيين على الاراضي الفلسطينية في بيت لحم.

نحن السكان الأصليين مسيحيين ومسلمين نذكر الجميع أن يسوع الفلسطيني الذي تحدث بلغت أجدادنا الآرامية ولد في هذه البلدة وتكلم الحقيقة للقوى السياسية وطلب منا أن تكون "نورا للعالم". ندعوكم للانضمام إلينا والعمل من أجل السلام والعدالة في عيد الميلاد هذا العام وفي العام الجديد.

عيد ميلاد سعيد وسنة جديدة سعيدة للجميع

"تعال وانظر" ، قال المسيحيين من فلسطين. "تعال وانظر في بساتين الزيتون، والجرافات، والسناسل القديمة ، والمدن المعزولة. الوضع يزداد سوءا" من نداء بيت لحم : وهنا نقف -- قفوا معنا.http://www.kairospalestine.ps

"نحن ، ممثلي المجتمع المدني الفلسطيني ومنظمات المجتمع المدني وأصحاب الضمائر الحية في جميع أنحاء العالم ندعوا لفرض مقاطعة واسعة وتنفيذ مبادرات سحب الاستثمارات ضد إسرائيل ، مشابهة لتلك التي فُرضت على جنوب افريقيا في عهد الفصل العنصري."http://www.bdsmovement.net

البرنامج

الجمعة 23/12/2011
18:00 حتي 21:00 مهرجان ليالي الرعاة ، المدرسة الكاثوليكية بيت ساحور (تشمل موسيقية الألحان لمجموعة السلام ، وفرقة باقون للتراث)

السبت 24 ديسمبر :
10:00 ساحة المهد- توزيع بطاقات عيد الميلاد للسياح وتشمل الدعوه للحرية (نحتاج لمتطوعين)
16:00 حتي 20:00 مهرجان ليالي الرعاة ، المدرسة الكاثوليكية بيت ساحور (تشمل فرقة كيفك، روني روك ، هدايا للأطفال, روك أند رول)

الأحد 25 ديسمبر :
11:00 جولة حول الجدار في بيت لحم ، ابتداء من AEI إلى الرواد
13:00 الغذاء ونشاط في مخيم عايدة مع أطفال المخيم
16:30 على لنضيأ شمعة من أجل فلسطين الحرة - مسيرة تبدأ من حقل الرعاة الأرثوذكسي إلى موقع المهرجان
17:30 فرقة فنون شعبية وغيرها المدرسة الكاثوليكية بيت ساحور

الاثنين 26 ديسمبر :
10:00 نشاط المقاومة الشعبية تجاه القدس
14:00 بيت جالا -- أنشطة كريمزان و الولجة

http://www.pcr.ps/

مازن قمصية

مركز التقارب بين الشعوب ومركز الرواد

Global March

2011-12-13T02:58:00.000-08:00

عربي تحت

With some other activist Palestinian friends, I took two days to go to Amman to attend a conference for the Global March to Jerusalem*. We met great people from around the world including Palestinians in exile. But every time we leave Palestine even for a very short time we feel like a fish out of the water. We missed the funeral of Mustapha Tamimi, murdered with a tear-gas canister at a demonstration in Nabi Saleh**. We missed the notice given yesterday of the demolition of a home in Beit Jala (near my village) and thus the actual demolition this morning. We missed the fact that the Israeli army came to my friend's house Saher Alsouse again last night demanding he appear for an investigation [he had been there before and left when he was not called in the room for investigation leaving them his phone number]. And more attacks on Gaza happened killing innocent civilians includinga mother and her child and a husband and his wife. It is frustrating sometimes to witness these injustice all around us (either in person or distantly) and yet see so much apathy from so many people.

Politicians including Palestinain and European politicians from the left and the right may talk nice. Other politicians may talk nonsense as in eth case of Mr. Newt Gingerich saying that 11 million Palestinains including me are an "invented people" and "terrorists". Yet actions speak much louder than words. Israeli actions on the ground should not be met by mere wordfs or symbolic protestations. There are groups in Palestine and abroad working on real activities. It is important in my humble opinion to support these existing activities (e.g. the weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh) and/or to create other activities that challenge the repression. The most immediate other activities we have are around the Christmas holiday season. Activists in the Bethlehem area, the birthplace of Jesus, are planning a number of functions including functions that challenge the occupation and others that educate tourists. They need support, there is a meeting Wednesday (tomorrow) at 5:30 PM in Beit Sahour and all those willing to contribute are invited and encouraged to attend by contacting info@palestinejn.org for details.

*Global March to Jerusalem promotional video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VZFSsAhy6U

**Video, photos, and links on the murder of Mustafa Tamimi

http://www.existenceisresistance.org/

http://electronicintifada.net/content/no-miracle-yesterday-nabi-saleh-mustafa-tamimi-murdered/10678

The unknown hell of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3490/the-unknown-hell-of-palestinian-refugees-in-lebano

Join the Shepherds' night festival

http://www.obethlehem.com/lit-a-candle

===================

تنبّهوا واستفيقوا أيّها العرب فقد طمى السيل حتّى غاصت الرّكَبُ

فيم التّعلّل والآمالُ تخدعكم وأنتم بين راحات القنا سلبُ

الّله أكبرُ ما هذا المنامُ فقد شكاكم المهدُ واشتاقكم التّربُ

كمْ تُظلمونَ ولستم تشتكونَ وكم تُستغضبونَ فلا يبدو لكم غضبُ

إبراهيم اليازجي

مع أصدقاء ونشطاء فلسطينيين من إتجاهات سياسية مختلفة أخذنا يومين لحضور مؤتمر في عمان للمسيرة العالمية للقدس.* تعرفنا على ناس طيبين ونشيطين من أنحاء العالم بما في ذلك فلسطينيين من المنفى. لكن في كل مرة نترك فلسطين ولو لوقت قصير نشعر مثل سمكة خارج الماء. فاتتنا جنازة مصطفى التميمي الذي أستشهد خلال مظاهرة في النبي صالح **. غاب عنا إشعار بهدم منزل في بيت جالا (بالقرب من قريتي) وهُدم فعليا صباح هذا اليوم. فاتنا ان الجيش الاسرائيلي جاء الى بيت صديقنا ساهر الصوص الساعة الرابعة والنصف صباح اليوم مرة أخرى تطالبه بالحضور للتحقيق. وأمور أخرى تحصل يوميا في هذه الأرض العزيزة.

هناك مجموعات في فلسطين والخارج تعمل على أنشطة مثلا مسيرة النبي صالح الأسبوعية ويجب المشاركة فيها وأن نعمل أنشطة أخرى في كافة أنحاء العالم تتحدى القمع. حول موسم عيد الميلاد يُخطط الناشطون في منطقة بيت لحم، مهد السيد المسيح لأنشطة مختلفة تشمل تحديا للاحتلال وأخرى تسعى إلى تثقيف السياح***. هناك اجتماع يوم الاربعاء الساعة 5:30 في بيت ساحور. جميع الراغبين في المساهمة والقيادة مدعوون للحضور. لمعرفة التفاصيل الرجاء إرسال إيميل ل info@palestinejn.org

* فيديو عن المسيرة العالمية للقدس

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VZFSsAhy6U

** الفيديو والصور والروابط عن اغتيال مصطفى التميمي http://www.existenceisresistance.org/

http://electronicintifada.net/content/no-miracle-yesterday-nabi-saleh-mustafa-tamimi-murdered/10678

*** إحدى النشاطات مسيرة شموع من أجل الحرية كجزء من مهرجان ليالي الرعاة (ولكن هناك نشاطات قوية سيعلن عنها بعد إجتماع الغد ألأربعاء فالرجاء الحضور)

http://www.pcr.ps

ثلاث محاولات تصفية من "الموساد" لم تنل من عزيمة الباحث الراحل الأكثر إنجازاً: نتذكّر أنيس صايغ على جبهتي الثقافة والسياسة في الصراع مع الصهيونية

http://al-binaa.com/newversion/article.php?articleId=50685

Shepherds' nights and more

2011-12-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

I received many notes articles and announcements claiming anniversary of the start of the 1987 uprising on 8 or 9 December. This uprising (not "the first intifada") did not start on those dates. Below a section from "Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment" to explain why.* Also below you will find news article about Israeli soldiers harassing the family of our friend Saher Alsous, invitation to join us for Shepherds' nights, a video of the repression in Nebi Saleh demonstration last week (a friend was injured today also in Nebi Saleh with a canister shot at his head from close range), follow-up on US police brutality linked to Israeli apartheid police tactics, good news on boycotts, articles etc. Of course I know everyone is busy but you can pick those items to read that pique your interests.

Israeli troops break into the house of IMEMC's board member (our friend Saher Al-Sous) http://www.imemc.org/article/62627 [he is OK and is considering legal action for harassment]

Invitation: Join us for Shepherds' Nights in Beit Sahour December 23-25 including lighting a candle for a free Palestine http://www.obethlehem.com/lit-a-candle

Video: Nebi Saleh demonstration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bINP2lSu2vE

In follow-up to my email about US police learning brutality from Israeli apartheid police, some readers sent me other links in "proof". Here is one about Oakland police training

http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2011/12/04/prior-to-violent-occupy-oakland-raid-oakland-police-trained-alongside-bahrain-military-and-israeli-border-forces/

And here is Berkeley police in action including yanking hair of female professor and students

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNHXuf6qJas

Good news: The City Council of Rho (Milan) voted a resolution to condemn Pizzarotti for their participation in the high speed rail project. It would be great if you could include this in one of your next mailings. We are collecting signatures/letters of support. http://stopthattrain.org/?p=521

You can sign in support/appreciation: http://stopthattrain.org/?p=503

Israel Stole Uranium from U.S., Report Will Show http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29901.htm

New Book: False Prophets of Peace: Liberal Zionism and the Struggle for Palestine by TIKVA HONIG-PARNASS

False Prophets of Peace unearths the central role played by the Israeli Left in laying the foundation for the colonial settler project and its campaign of dispossession. Far from its professed radicalism, Honig-Parnass deftly exposes Left Zionism's contributions to Israel's exclusivist ideology and its participation in attempts to legitimize the apartheid treatment of Palestinians. Its fervent support of a Jewish-only state not only undermined the “peace process” from the very start but continues to serve as a barrier to reaching a just peace that recognizes the national and human rights of the Palestinian people

http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/False-Prophets-of-Peace

Donate to Julian Assange defense fund

http://rothera.com/page.php?data=91

US Republican Presidential Candidates try to suck-up to the lobby and trip over each other in their mad dash to support apartheid Israel at the expense of US national interest

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158686,00.html

Excerpt from the book "popular Resistance in Palestine" on the 1987 uprising:

"A statistical analysis of monthly events that could be classified as popular resistance (demonstrations, strikes, petitions, flying flags, etc.) jumped from 933 in 1985 to 1,358 in 1986 to 2,882 in 1987 and novel forms of resistance were created.⁶ By the autumn of 1987, a number of events could be construed as initiating the uprising. On 3 October 1987, Palestinians demonstrated and engaged in a strike involving schools and colleges in the Gaza Strip to protest at the killing of three citizens near Al-Bureij refugee camp.⁷ These demonstrations were brutally attacked by Israeli soldiers and this led to more anger and demonstrations. On 8 October 1987, a number of demonstrations were held in cities, villages and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip after another four Palestinians were killed by the occupation forces.⁸ The marginalization of Palestine, the PLO and Arafat at the Arab summit in Amman on 8-11 November 1987 added to popular unrest. From these, other, more intense demonstrations spilled over and spread throughout both the occupied areas of 1967 and the 1948 areas. The characteristic pattern of these demonstrations soon became evident: youths (8-20 year olds) responded to Israeli brutality by throwing stones. This triggered massive reprisals - youths were killed and collective punishment was imposed. I am not sure why some authors try to date the start to when demonstrations were held after some Palestinian laborers were run over and killed by a truck driven by an Israeli (see below) - perhaps because this may have been an accident and the Israeli-influenced media could score a PR point by stating that Palestinians overreacted to a ‘traffic accident’. Clearly, using collective punishment in October and November 1987 were pivotal.

On 10 October 1987, demonstrations were held in many locations accompanied by strikes; 25 Palestinians were shot.⁹ These demonstrations and strikes spread to the West Bank when a woman was killed and four injured in a peaceful demonstration in Al-Manara Square, Ramallah on 12 October 1987.¹⁰ Her murder prompted more demonstrations in the days that followed. Refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, Bethlehem, Nablus and East Jerusalem (the Shufat refugee camp) played a leading role in these demonstrations.¹¹ During the visit of US Secretary of State Shultz to Jerusalem, a general strike was declared and demonstrations were held in Jerusalem and Nablus, with one youth killed by the Israeli forces.¹²

In one bloody incident the army attacked demonstrators at Bethlehem University on the morning of 28 October 1987, injuring three students. One (Ishaq Abusrour from Aida refugee camp) died two days later from his injuries.¹³ Subsequently, the occupying army ordered Bethlehem University to be closed for three months.¹⁴Ishaq’s death sparked more demonstrations in the Bethlehem area and the cycle of demonstrations, Israeli killings of Palestinians and more demonstrations continued. Demonstrators and graffiti denounced the occupation, spoke of Palestinian rights, supported the PLO and honored the martyrs. Israel intensified the use of curfews, deportations, forced closures of schools and universities and forced opening of shops during the strikes. What was surprising was the Palestinians’ restraint. From 1982 to 1987, there were few armed attacks. While the Israeli forces used torture, targeted assassinations, home demolitions and other brutal tactics, few Palestinians resorted to arms.

On 29 November 1987, on the fortieth anniversary of the partition resolution and the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, demonstrations were held throughout the occupied areas. Five youths were shot in Rafah and Balata refugee camp.¹⁵ Scattered demonstrations throughout Palestine occurred on 1 December 1987 and several youths were shot in Khan Younis.¹⁶ In 8 December 1987, in Gaza, when an Israeli truck ploughed through two cars carrying Palestinian laborers four were killed and five (some say nine) were injured. Rumors spread that the Israeli settler was related to an Israeli who had stabbed a Palestinian. On 9 December 1987 word went round to meet for a morning demonstration in the middle of Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza. The location is known as Birket Abu Rashid (Abu Rashid pool, not a freshwater pool but a foetid mix of rain, dirt, sometimes sewage and lots of garbage). One 17 year old, Hatem Asisi, was killed instantly.¹⁷….."

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

http://qumsiyeh.org

December in Palestinian history

2011-12-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

December in Palestinian history is replete with important events*:

- December 1908: Palestinian villagers of Kafr Kama (near Tiberias) tried to reclaim land taken unfairly by the "Jewish Colonisation Association" (yes that was its actual name).

- 9 December 1917, British forces marched into Jerusalem to begin over three decades of repressive occupation that devastated the country and left an apartheid system in its wake.

- 14 December 1920: Third Congress of the Arab Executive Committee meets in Haifa and declares opposition to the Balfour Declaration and to Zionist plans for Palestine.

- December 1921: The Jewish Zionist Herbert Samuel appointed by the British as a "High Commissioner" of Palestine makes decrees allowing transfer of native Arab land ownership to the European Zionist movement.

- 7-17 December 1931: general Islamic conference held in Jerusalem attended by 145 key Islamic scholars and leaders from 22 countries.

- 13 December 1931: leaders of the previous organisation Al-Arabiya Al-Fatat and supporters of independence were mobilised and 50 of them met in the home of Awni Abd Hadi and drafted an Arab nationalist covenant. This document re-emphasised the regional Arab context for the struggle for Palestine as a joint effort against imperialism )this movement evolved later in 1933to form Hizb Al-Istiqlal).

- 9 December 1935: Palestinian strategy meetings and popular gatherings were held to commemorate the anniversary of the British occupation recognized as the beginning stirrings of the intifada/uprising of 1936-1939.

- December 1936: Michel Mitri, the most recognised Palestinian labour leader of the period, was assassinated by Zionist forces. He had dared to challenge the monopoly/hegemony of the Histadrut (Zionist labour federation) and always believed in popular resistance activities (non-violent).

- 2-4 December 1947: Three-day Palestinian general strike to reject the unfair conditions of a partition resolution at the UN which allocated 55% of the land to Jews who constituted less than a third of the population and were mostly new migrants (many illegal).

- 31 December 1947: Zionist forces massacred 60 villagers in Balad Al-Sheikh (Haifa district). Dozens of villages were "cleansed" in this December wave. Massacres were committed in Al-Tira, Haifa, Balad el-Sheikh, Yehiday, Khisas, and Qazaza. Between December 1^st 1947 and May 14, 1948 (the date, the Zionists unilaterally declared their state), over half of the Palestinian refugee population was created. Thus, half of the 530 village and towns were ethnically cleansed while the area was still supposedly under British rule and protection (another British government treachery).

- 1 December 1948: The (British appointed) King of Jordan convened a conference in Jericho of unelected Palestinian elites who were to profit from agreeing to his annexation of what became known as the West Bank of Jordan. Later, the Jordanian monarch and his British Army commander turned the Negev and the Galilee over to Israel to allow the further expansion of the nascent state. The ancient name of Palestine was thus erased on both sides of what was to be called the Green Line (the armistice line)

- 2 December 1961: Arab students at the Hebrew University convened and established the Arab Jewish Committee ‘to end the military rule’ (the few remaining Palestinians inside the new state of Israel were under military rule from 1948-1966).

-December 1975: Israeli occupation forces raid Al-Qassaba area of Nablus killing nonviolent protesters.

- December 1986: Israeli soldiers chase students inside Birzeit university and used live ammunition, killing two and injuring twelve students.

- December 1987: demonstrations throughout Palestine and dozens of civilians (most under 18) were murdered.

- 13 December 1988: Arafat addressed the UNGA meeting in Geneva and stated that all parties should live in peace and security ‘including the state of Palestine, Israel, and other neighbours’.

- 15 December 1988: The Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People (PCR) issued an invitation to Internationals (including Israelis) to Beit Sahour to help break the siege and curfew. This was the beginnings of what evolved into the International Solidarity Movement.

- mid-December 1992: Israel took the unprecedented step of ordering the deportation to Lebanon of 416 Palestinians (an act contrary to international law). They stayed near the border in tents provided by the Red Cross and resisted the deportation.

I could go on but as can be seen December is as any other period in history brings up both sad memories of atrocities as well as memories of resilience and persistence and resistance of ordinary people. As we look to 2012, we hope that what is left of December will see more of the latter actions. There is a genuine popular resistance movement in the Arab world. But, as happened previously there are those who try to profit from other people's work by posing only for the cameras or in conference rooms or worse yet engage in destroying the resistance while speaking about it in positive terms. There is a counter-revolutionary movement by forces allied with the US, with the apartheid regime (otherwise known as Israel), and with the cleptocracy (otherwise known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). There is an effort (which I think and hope will fail) to co-opt these revolutions. Some in the West (goaded on by Israeli lobbies) now speak openly of "allowing" Islamic forces to take over and in return insist that each new government ignores its people's wishes and continue to support (or even increase) its support of Israel and allow "Free Market" businesses to continue to get rich people richer and poor people poorer. Libyan elites indeed were very open about this as are some opposition forces in Syria blessed by the US. The recent interview with a Mr. Ghalyoun of the Syrian opposition that appeared on the pages of the Wall Street Journal is an indication of such co-opted individuals. But we are hearing more rational voices from Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Libya and elsewhere that is against dictatorships and for real democracy (which means isolating racist apartheid regimes). We must support all these people and demand real democracy.

Let there be no mistake about it, hundreds of millions of dollars are being mobilized and intelligence services and diplomatic and business "teams" are very busy shuttling back and forth to ensure this outcome. There is also a game of regional interests and some groups watching their own interests (Iran, Hezbollah, Turkey etc.). There are also dirty games of divide and conquer and false-flag operations. In all this mayhem, better awareness and education are critical. People who do not become aware and engage in serious work will go extinct (or at least continue to be impoverished) in the wild foggy jungle.

Palestinian Center for Human Rights: PLO’s Refusal to Pursue Accountability at UN Exhibits Disregard for Victims of Gaza Conflict

http://tinyurl.com/bw92pgh

From Occupation to “Occupy”: The Israelification of American Domestic Security" By Max Blumenthal

"Given the amount of training the NYPD and so many other police forces have received from Israel’s military-intelligence apparatus, and the profuse levels of gratitude American police chiefs have expressed to their Israeli mentors, it is worth asking how much Israeli instruction has influenced the way the police have attempted to suppress the Occupy movement, and how much it will inform police repression of future upsurges of street protest. But already, the Israelification of American law enforcement appears to have intensified police hostility towards the civilian population, blurring the lines between protesters, common criminals, and terrorists."…

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29892.htm

As an example of what Max is talking about, here is an example of a good peaceful action met with US police Brutality http://blip.tv/zgraphix/freeze-flash-mob-police-brutality-don-t-buy-war-5793178

And [Israeli Apartheid] “Law Enforcement” Destroys Prayer House, Homes, School – Just Because They’re for Arabs http://villagesgroup.wordpress.com/

Action for California people http://www.israeldivestmentcampaign.org/phpPETITION/index.php

UN assembly passes 6 resolutions on Mideast conflict

"Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and United States voted against each of the resolutions." [All other >180 countries voted for them with few abstentions]

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=441106

*Taken from the book "Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of hope and empowerment" where you can find references/citation

Mazin Qumsiyeh

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home

تنبهوا وإستيقذوا يا عرب

2011-12-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

تجد تحت ملاحظة حول وضعنا الفلسطيني المشرذم من د. خليل نخلة. أعتقد أن "الِلي مخفي" أكثر وأهم ألأمور هو غياب الثقافة والوعي السياسي الصحيح عند شعبنا والذي يسمح للسياسيين أو من لديهم طموح سياسية في التحكم بإمور الناس. أصبحت الشعارات ومراجعة بطولات قيادات الماضي (للأسف كثير منها أوهام) بديلا عن العمل الذي بقاوم العنصرية والإستعمار الصهيوني. اليوم سمعت أغاني ثورية في جامعتي بمناسبة أن بعض الطلاب لا يريدون أن تزيد أقساطهم سنويا ب 20 إلى 30 دينار. وسمعت كلمات ثورية من بعض "المدراء العموميين" في السلطة الفلسطينية لتأخير دفع رواتبهم (إسرائيل أفرجت عن هذه الضرائب بعد إتفاقات شفهية بشأن أمور ألأمم المتحدة). تذكرت كلمات ثوريه قيلت وكتبت في أوقات أخرى ولأسباب أخرى لها علاقة بالحرية والعودة وتحسرت على الماضي. تمنيت على المواطنين أن يتحركوا باتجاه القدس ولتحرير بلادنا فليس هنالك وظائف بعد التخرج بدون حرية وكما قال سيدنا عيسى عليه السلام "ماذا ينفع الإنسان إذا كسب الدنيا كلها وخسر نفسه" و"لا يُغير الله ما بقوم حتى يُغيروا ما بأنفسهم".

هناك حركة مقاومة شعبية حقيقية في العالم العربي. ولكن هناك كما حصل سابقا متسلقين و"مقاومين" فقط أمام الكاميرات أو في قاعات مؤتمرات. هناك أيضا حركة الثورة المضادة من قبل القوات المتحالفة مع نظام الفصل العنصري المعروف باسم إسرائيل و نظام الاختلاس المعروف باسم المملكة العربية السعودية. هناك أيضا لعبة المصالح الإقليمية وبعض الجماعات تراقب مصالحها (إسرائيل, ايران، حزب الله، تركيا الخ). هناك أيضا ألعاب قذرة من فرق تُحاول طرق فرق تسد وحتى باستغلال عمليات مموهة كاذبة. في كل هذه الفوضى يكون تحسين الوعي والتعليم هما حاجة مصيرية للشعوب. والناس الذين لا يتثقفون ولا ينخرطون في العمل الجدي سينقرضون في هذه الغابة الشرسة والمكللة بالضباب. كانت النداء قبل 120 عام في فلسطين "تنبهوا وإستيقذوا يا عرب" وبعدها "إستيقذوا وإنهضوا يا عرب" وكم نحن بحاجة!

هذه المقابلة التلفزيونية حول "إتفاق" فتح وحماس حول المقاومة "السلمية" (الشعبية) للأسف سطحية وغير متعمقه: 1) لا تذكر التعريف الصحيح للمقاومة الشعبية 2) أن هنالك المئات من أنواع المقاومة الشعبية, 3) وهي أنواع إستعملناها كفلسطينيين عبر 130 عام من المواجهة مع الصهيونية (وليس منذ ما تُسمى بالخطأ "الإنتفاضة الأولى" سنة 1987 وهي في الواقع رقم 14 أو حتى 16).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A90eaW6Qfg

هنا برنامج وثائقي عن المقاومة الشعبية الفلسطينية على أرض الواقع
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2ikbxtBdTow!

"وغاندي" الفلسطيني يمثل امام محكمة عسكرية اسرائيلية
http://knspal.net/arabic/index.php?act=Show&id=31571

الرّبيع العربيّ انتهى إلى شتاء إسلاميّ، لماذا وإلى أين؟

http://www.assafir.com/Article.aspx?EditionId=2020&ChannelId=47904&ArticleId=551&Author=هاني%20المصري

ملاحظة حول وضعنا الفلسطيني المشرذم

د. خليل نخلة

أنا من الجليل وأسكن في رام الله. أسافر إلى قريتي التي ولدت فيها—الرامة—مرة كل شهر تقريبا، أو حسب المناسبات الإجتماعية: الزواج أو الموت، إلخ. هذه القرية هي التي "درستها" أو قمت بالبحث الميداني فيها لرسالة الدكتوراة في العام 1970-71. بعض الناس الذين يعرفونني ما زالوا يظنون بأنني ما زلت في أمريكا. إنهم غير مضطلعين على التطورات التي حدثت لي منذ 1993!

خلال المرحلة الأخيرة، أي خلال حوالي الشهرين الأخيرين، وبسبب العمل على تطوير وتحديث مكان سكني في البيت الذي ولدت فيه، إضطررت للسفر إلى الرامة للإشراف على العمل الذي يقوم به "المهنيون"، من بليطة ومواسرجية ودهانين وكهربجية، إلخ. وخلال تواجدي هناك قبل يومين تقريبا تحدثت في فترة ألإستراحة مع "البليط". وسألني: " عمي خليل، أين تسكن الآن"، قلت له في رام الله. وقال ردا: "رام الله جزء من إسرائيل، أليس كذلك؟" قلت له بإندهاج بأن رام الله جزء من فلسطين الواقعة تحت السلطة الفلسطينية، وأن رام الله أصبحت "العاصمة" للسلطة الفلسطينية غير المستقلة، وأن رام الله، بالرغم من المظاهر الإستهلاكية والمطاعم الفاخرة والفنادق، إلخ، ما زالت تحت الإحتلال الإسرائيلي. الإحتلال يقرر حركتنا ومتى نستطيع أن نترك رام الله، ومتى يمكننا أن نجلس مع الأرجيليه في مطاعمها...

صباح هذا اليوم، يوم الثلاثاء، وقبل أن تركت الرامة لأعود إلى رام الله، طلبت من سائق (وصاحب) التراكتور أن يأتي إلى البيت لنقل حملة النفايات التي تراكمت نتيجة عمل البليط في البيت. سألني هو أيضا: "عمي خليل، إنتي في أميركا ولا هون؟" أخبرته بأنني أسكن في رام الله منذ العام 1997. فسألني: "رام الله جزء من إسرائيل، أليس كذلك؟" إضططرت أن أعيد ما قلته سابقا للبليط، ولكنني تفاجأت بالسؤال، ولم أتوقعه.

كلاهما ليسوا أكاديميين ولا مثقفين ولا خريجي جامعات. كلاهما عمال، أحدهم غير مهني والآخر مهني. المهني (البليط) لم يتابع دراسته في المدرسة ولم ينه الثانوية العامة. تطوع للخدمة في الجيش الإسرائيلي ليتعلم "صنعة". هو ناجح جدا في هذه "الصنعة" ولكنه لا يعرف شيئا خارج هذه "الصنعته"!

لا أدري إذا كان كلاهما يشاهد الأخبار في القنوات التفزيونية الإسرائيلية. كلاهما يحكم "الصنعة" يعبران عن نفسها بالعبرية بأريحية، ولكنهما لا يفقهان أي شيئ خارج هذا الإطار. ليس فقط بأنهما لا يدركان فلسطينيتهما، بل أن الإطار السردي الطاغي هو الإطار الإسرائيلي، وهو الإطار السردي المريح والمهيمن!

ماذا يعني هذا عمليا عندما نصر بأننا شعب واحد، ويجب أن نفكر بمصير واحد، ونعمل علة تحقيق هذا المصير؟ من يفكر بهذا؟ وكيف نكسر هذه الشرذمة؟ هل القناعة بأننا شعب واحد هي قناعة النخبة المثقفة، أو الأكاديمية، فقط؟ وماذا مع هؤلاء الذين يمثلون أغلبية الشعب؟

د. مازن قمصية

دروس المقاومة

2011-12-04T23:02:00.000-08:00

دعوات: إجتماع اليوم (ألإثنين السعة 2) في رام الله لفعاليات المسيرة العالمية للقدس ليوم الأرض 30/3 وإجتماع السبت الساعه 2 في مركذ الرواد لمناقشة حملة أهلا وسهلا في فلسطين شهر 4

بعد إجتماع مع نشطاء من التجمع التنويري الديموقراطي في الخليل ونقاشات أخرى بدا أنه هنالك حاجة لتلخيص موضوع المقاومة الشعبية لمن ليس لديه الوقت لقرائة كتابي عن الموضوع. السؤال ما هي بعض الدروس المأخوذة عبر 130 عام من تاريخ المقاومة في فلسطين وغيرها من الدول؟

إن الإستعمار بطبيعته ينطوي على إستخدام العنف ضد السكان الأصليين وخاصة أولئك الناس الذين يتم تجريدهم من أراضيهم وديارهم. بطبيعة الحال يقوم المستعمرين بقتل المحليين وتجريدهم من ابسط حقوقهم الحياتية, اذ ان المستعمر ينظر للمحلي نظرة استعلائية لا يرى من خلالها حقه في الحياه ولذالك يكون من السهل قتله. بالمقابل يقوم المحليين بمقاومة الاستعمار اللذي يأخذ ايضا اشكان المقاومة العنفية. الا ان كون المحلي مجرد من القوة العسكرية والسيطرة فتكون المقاومة " العسكرية" محدودة وتؤدي لعدد قليل من الضحايا نسبة للضحايا التي يوقعها المستعمر بالناس المحليين. فعلى سبيل المثال كان معدل المدنيين الذي لقوا حتفهم هو 10 فلسطيني:1 إسرائيلي. كل الحالات الإستعمارية تولد المقاومة بكافة أشكالها والتي يُعترف بها ومشروعة من قبل القانون الدولي. لنتذكر أن مفهوم القوه ليس محصورا بالقوة العسكرية (أنظر مثلا أنواع القوة والإمكانيات التي جُندت للإستعمار الأسرائيلي قبل سنة 1948 وحتى بعدها).

من المهم ايضا ان نلفت النظر ان المستعمر كما بقية الشعوب المستعمرة تنظر الى المقاومة الشعبية التي يقوم بها السكان الاصليين كعمل ارهابي او برباري وتقع المقاومة الشعبية تحت مسميات عدة عادة يأتي بها المستعمر لتصوير السكان المحليين بالقتلة والارهابيين. واكثر من ذالك تأتي هذه المسميات كوسيلة او اداه يستخدمها المستعمر لتبرير الاستعمار وعملية قتل المحليين والتخلص منهم. هكذا مثلا هي حالة الشعب الفلسطيني اللذي حين يضرب كاتيوشه او صاروخ يقع في صحراء يعتبر ارهابي بينما يقوم الاستعمار الاسرائيلي بقتل الاف من المدجنيين العزل ويبقى ذالك ضمن الاطر المشروعة اما بمفهوم الدولة المستعمرة او بمفهوم الدول الاخرى المساندة. إن تلك المقاومة هي بشكل منحنى التوزيع المعتدل في الريضيات والذي يشبه شكل جرس. هناك جزء صغير يُمثل التعاون (الطلب بشكل لطيف وقبول كل ما يتم إعطاءه لك) وحتى العمالة مع العدو. معظم هذه المقاومة هي شعبية في الوسط. وبعضها مسلح وبعضها عنيف جدا.

من ناحية التسمية فمن الخطأ القول أن هنالك مقاومة مسلحة وأخرى سلمية أو أنها إما عنفية أو لاعنفية. لقد حاول البعض تصوير الفلسطينيين بأنهم إما إولئك الذين يأيدون المقاومة المسلحة أو أولئك الذين يأيدون المقاومة الشعبية. ولكن تشير إستطلاعات الرأي الى أن الغالبية من الفلسطينيين يأيدون كافة ألأشكال من المقاومة وهي ليست نوعين فقط بل مئات ألأنواع: من استعمال الأسلحة النارية إلى رمي الحجارة إلى تدمير المنشآت الإقتصادية للإحتلال إلى ألإمتناع عن دفع الضرائب إلى العصيان المدني إلى عدم شراء بضائع العدو إلى التظاهرات التي تكبد العدو خسائر (ولا نتكلم هنا عن تظاهرات شكلية) إلى أشكال الصمود والتحدي. المقاومة بأشكالها المتعددة والتي تشمل أكثر من 250 نوع طُبقت بنجاح في عقود من النضال ضد الصهيونية. ويجب أن ندرس التاريخ المشرف والرائع لنا وأيضا تاريخ المقاومة المتنوعة في الجزائر ضد الفرنسيين و في جنوب أفريقيا ضد نظام الفتمييز العنصري. كلاهما نجح بتنوعه مع بعض الخلافات المهمة. ما يعطينا ألأمل أننا شاهدنا تنوع أكثر بكثير للتكتيكات الفلسطينية عن الأماكن الأخرى وكنا كفلسطينيين مبدعين في إبتكار أنواع مختلفة من المقاوة الشعبية مثلا: أول إستعمال للسيارات في المظاهرات في العالم عام 1929 في القدس, أول محاولات للتأتير في الشعوب الأوروبية التي تسمح لحكوماتها باحتلالنا (في العشرينات) وأول تجنيد للأجانب لمشاركتنا في الصراع (ومنهم من استشهد).

كانت المقاومة بكافة أشكالها (والأغلبية شعبية وغير مسلحة) فعالة جداً في إنتزاع الحقوق الفلسطينية حتى ولو كان هذا بشكل جزئي في فترات من تاريخنا ترجع إلى النجاح في تغيير سلوك الحكومة العثمانية (مما أجبر الحركة الصهيونية إلى ألإنتقال إلى لندن عام 1904) ومرورا بالنجاح في تغيير بعض السياسات البريطانية زمن ألإنتداب والنجاح في عودة آلاف اللاجئيين بين 1948-1951 رغم خطر الموت وإنتزاع ألإعتراف الدولي بأن مشكلتنا ليست فقط مشكلة إنسانية للاجئين عرب بل حقوق سياسية لمواطنين أصليين.

كما يجب ان لا ننسى ان المقاومة الشعبية ابقت القضية الفلسطينية حية طوال عشرات السنين وهذا بحد ذاته انجاز مهم اذا قارنا ذالك مع شعوب اخرى كما في الولايات المتحدة. اذ تم القضاء على 38 لغة اصلية كانت تنتمي لشعوب اصلية. اذ بقي الشعب الفلسطيني يمارس المقاومة بشتى اشكالها مما شكل هذا صوت نابض للعالم عن عدم تنازلنا عن هويتنا وحقنا.

نُقاوم كفلسطينيون أيضا من خلال المعيش في منازلنا والذهاب إلى المدرسة والأكل والمعيشة ألخ. ذلك لأن هذا الإحتلال الإستعماري يريد من جميع الفلسطينيين الإستسلام ومغادرة بلدنا لإعطاء إسرائيل أقصى حد من المساحة الجغرافية مع إبقاء على أدنى حد لديموغرافيا السكان الأصليين. هي مقاومة عندما يستمر الرعاة الفلسطينيين في قرية عطواني قضاء الخليل في الذهاب إلى حقولهم رغم الهجمات المتكررة من قبل المستوطنون وحتى محاولة تسميم أغنامهم. هي مقاومة في تل الرميدة عندما يمشي الطلاب إلى المدرسة في حين يتم البصق عليهم ويتعرضون للركل والضرب على أيدي المستوطنين والجنود الإسرائيليين. هي المقاومة عندما يقضي الفلسطينيين ساعات عند نقاط التفتيش أو يتخطونها للوصول إلى المستشفيات أو أراضيهم الزراعية أو عملهم أو مدارسهم أو حتى لزيارة أصدقائهم. لقد قاوم الفلسطينيون من خلال العديد من الوسائل الأخرى التي لا حصر لها والتي ذكرنا منها أمثلة في هذا الكتاب.

لقد كان هناك دائماً مقاومة شعبية في فلسطين ولكن في بعض الأحيان كانت تزداد حدة وفي بعض الوقت تضعف بسبب عوامل خارجية وداخلية. ونجد فترات المد والجزر متباعدة من 9-15 سنة كحد متوسط ,أكثر من 14 إنتفاضة عبر تاريخنا. لقد نجحت هذه الإنتفاضات في إحباط الكثير (وليس جميع) البرامج الصهيونية التي تهدف إلى تحويل فلسطين إلى دولة يهودية على حساب الشعب الأصلي. من الدراسة نجد أن بداية أللإنتفاضات جميعها تشمل تامقومات ألأربعة التالية: جمود فيما يسما الحراك السياسي أو عملية السلام, ضعف ثقة الشعب في إمكانية الحل وفي قدرات القيادات السياسية, تشرذم وضعف الفصائل (وتركيزها على خلافاتها الداخلية), وزيادة في غطرسة وتهور المحتل (بريطانيا قبل 1948 وإسرائيل بعدها)

الغالبية العظمى من المقاومة تنبع من القاعدة الشعبية. تٌأخذ الأحزاب والفصائل والقيادات السياسية عادة على حين غرة ببدء انتفاضة جديدة وإختراعات طرق جديدة وما إلى ذلك. الفصائل تأتي وتذهب ويبقى الشعب (كم منا يذكر أسماء الأحزاب والفصائل العديدة التي كانت موجودة في العشرينات والثلاثينات؟

لقد كان هناك منذ البداية صراع بين التيارات التي فضلت التعاون (وقد يقول البعض التواطؤ) مع المحتل على أمل الحصول على شيء، وأولئك الذين يفضلون المواجهة وعدم التعاون مع المحتل. وكانت التيارات في العشرينيات من القرن الماضي عشائرية (مثل عائلة النشاشيبي و الدجاني والحسيني) وأصبحت أيديولوجية وهذا تطورو ظاهرة طبيعية للمقاومة ضد الحكم الإستعماري وإنهاءه. ولكن لا زال هنالك الكثير من ألأفكار العشائرية (أي يصبح الفصيل كعشيرة لها الولاء ولا يمكن نقدها). هنالك ديناميكية مهمة وخاصة بين بعض الفصائل يجب فهمها والتعامل معها ولكن معظم ألأمور المهمة بدأت من الشعب وليس من قيادات الفصائل. ويجب أيضا أن نعي أن هنالك قيادات ,أشخاص يتحدتون عن المقاومة "السلمية" أو الشعبية وهم في الواقع يقوضوها بأفعالهم.

على نحو متزايد وخاصة في السنوات العشرين الماضية أشركت المقاومة الشعبية الفلسطينية الأجانب بمن فيهم الإسرائيليون وبتأثيرات إيجابية. ولكن الوضع الحالي يشمل ضعف وخلل حيث هنالك إستنفاع ومحاولات واضحة لتجيير العمل الشعبي لمصالح ضيقة. طبعا نجد في كل الفصائل وفي كل المؤسسات ألأهلية من هو وطني وصادق ومن هو إنتهازي. وتنامت حملة المقاطعة وسحب الإستثمارات وفرض العقوبات بشكل لوغاريثمي على مدى السنوات القليلة الماضية وأعطت دلالات كبيرة بالنسبة للمستقبل. في غضون ست سنوات حققت إنجازات تماثل ما تحقق في 30 عام في جنوب إفريقيا.

تتطور المجتمعات البشرية نحو إتجاه جعل من المواجهة العسكرية أقل قبولا.ًً في حين تم إنشاء الأمم المتحدة، أصبح الكثير الكثير من الناس يعترفون بأن القوة لا يمكن أن تستخدم لتحقيق الهيمنة والسيطرة. ولكن أصبحت تكلفة الحرب أيضاً غير مقبولاً في عصر وجود القنابل التي تزن 2 طناً والأسلحة النووية و البيولوجية والكيميائية. إضافة إلى ذلك، فقد أصبح التفوق العسكري أقل إحتمالاً لتحقيق النتائج المرجوة من جانب الزعماء السياسيين. ويمكن أخذ المستنقع الذي وقعت فيه الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية في العراق وأفغانستان كأمثلة أو فشل الهجوم الإسرائيلي المكثف على لبنان في صيف عام 2006 وعلى قطاع غزة في كانون الأول / ديسمبر عام 2008 و كانون الثاني / يناير عام 2009. إنه من غير المفيد وعظ الناس حول التكتيكات والاستراتيجيات، بل إنه من الأفضل بكثير القدوم والإنخراط بالعمل مع حركة المقاومة الشعبية المتزايدة من أجل المساعدة في تعجيل التغيرات التي تحدث بالفعل. لكن من الواضح أنه لا يستطيع أي جيش أو قوه عسكرية أن تهزم إرادة شعب. ولنجاح أكبر وأسرع في المقاومة يجب تحديد لمن يتم توجيه العمل له ومن سيقوم بالعمل (الإعداد الكافي الناشطين) وبجب وضع أهداف واضحة وقابلة للتحقيق تشمل كيفية زيادة تكلفة الإحتلال باستعمال كافة أنواع المقاومة الشعبية ونبذ الخوف والإستعداد للتضحية. نحن كشعب يريد الحرية نصر على المنظور المتفتح والشامل للقوة ("أعدو لهم ما إستطعتم من قوة" وما أخذ بالقوة لا يسترد إلا بالقوة ليست محصوره على القوه العسكرية).

Is hypocrisy sanctified?

2011-11-30T00:19:00.001-08:00

Below this rough (perhaps harsh) "poem" are some action items

Is hypocrisy sanctified?

Is hypocrisy ignored?

As children of lesser gods cleansed!

While colonial settlers from Europe enriched

and 7 million Palestinian refugees created

dozens of massacres committed

And 540 villages and towns depopulated

putting us here them there as planned!

While speaking of security not for the colonized

And Safety not for the occupied

Is hypocrisy sanctified?

When big brown eyes teared

As Mother was gunned

And Americans mourned

for Rachel bulldozed

While soldiers celebrated

a mission accomplished

and we, who were not chosen or selected

our dead we buried

our wound we licked

or in our drinks we drowned

even shopped while silenced

or behind closed doors muttered

or news on TV cursed

to the world as it is adapted

Is hypocrisy unquestioned?

When rich Abe Foxman "feels" discriminated

and the new Goebles called Regev worried

and Friedman in his column squeaked

Netanyahu hugging racists demanded

and a bar bouncer minister bellowed

and they all told us to be silenced

for only Jewish suffering was allowed

and apathy on today's atrocities encouraged

as the altered school curricula deemed

a whole history manufactured

bible myths promoted

while archeology ignored

and conflicts promoted

to fulfill prophecies

Hope diminished

Love massacred

Is hypocrisy worshipped?

When some Palestinian politicians adapted?

Their revolutionary spirit long quenched

And with VIP cards in 5 star hotels dined?

And their European-funded studies accumulated

While even prayers in churches and mosques were stopped

and a thousand year old tree was uprooted

And an old man became partially blind

for his olives behind the fence withered

and after a second stroke he was buried

But not in his land….

his neighbor said "with no choice I worked"

So that "with shekels from occupiers I was paid"

But others in suits in front of cameras their mouth opened

And to the dry hot dusty air contributed!

Is hypocrisy normalized?

When, not Bahrain but Syria sanctioned!

And not Yemen, but Libya attacked!

Belligerent Israel with its nukes supported

While Iran, attacking no one, is bullied

And so what if western politicians lied?

After they took the paid junkets and were bribed?

Isn't it normal for prostitutes to be sold?

And keep millions in apartheid?

While to millions the truth denied?

And poor Americans lose their homes?

While billionaires get more enriched?

Is hypocrisy easily digested?

When 20 racist laws are codified

In an apartheid country supposedly democratized

Or when an Israeli soldier's life is venerated?

While Thousands of Palestinian chained…

A hundred thousand Injured…

With high walls Surrounded….

In Bantustans warehoused….

Millions ghettoized…

And graves of hundreds of children overflowed…

And as collateral damage justified

an army with a state is called moralized!

Is hypocrisy elevated?

When on Yom Kippur they pledged

Sins and lies to be purified

And their US made F-16s bombed

refugee camps with explosives obliterated

While an old woman in Silwan evicted

And humanitarian ships pirated

Peace Activists on the deck executed

As the dreaded word "bitachon" regurgitated

And again and again Al-Araqib demolished

Is hypocrisy deified?

When monotheistic religions distorted:

Jacob with Elohim/El-lah struggled

And in triumph Isra-El renamed!

When idols like Zionism worshiped

and can't be challenged

by inferior gentiles who can't understand

and by us the native "roaches drugged"

Yahweh gave the deed to the land

to those who can create gods from Gold

and gold from hasbara as they lobbied

for yet another war and got readied

Is hypocrisy venerated?

when myths are believed

Jewishness and Zionism worshipped

And ashes of murdered Jews used

Even as living survivors screamed:

not in our name can history be politicized

and "never again" must not be Judaicized

Is hypocrisy exalted?

Or a global intifada launched

London to San Francisco echoed

Wall Street to Sidney "occupied"

our unity in humanity finally emerged

hypocrisy exposed!

Humanity reclaimed!

Love ascertained!

Action: over 1 million people already signed this petition for Palestinain independence

http://www.avaaz.org/en/middle_east_peace_now/?vc

Direct elections to the Palestinian National Council Wanted

http://palestiniansregister.org

Action to sign petition: Kenn Starr (Clinton Nemesis) and President of Baylor: Stop Persecution Against Prof. Marc Ellis http://www.change.org/petitions/kenn-starr-clinton-nemesis-and-president-of-baylor-stop-persecution-against-prof-marc-ellis

Travel Palestine - Rediscover Your Senses http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUpjoEpbWsM

Mazin Qumsiyeh

A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home

http://qumsiyeh.org/

Freedom Ride and more

2011-11-23T13:56:00.001-08:00

This weekly compilation is rich with material to choose from: amazing videos and stories from our first freedom ride, a video call to action for the Global March to Jerusalem, a positive action example, a story from Haaretz on our friend Ashraf AbuRahmah, Moshe Dayan's widow saying that Zionism had run its course, Rafeef Ziadeh's brilliant poem "We teach life", an interview with me in Portuguese, Ran Greenstein on "How to fight the Israel-Apartheid analogy in four easy steps", an article about what is happening in Egypt from Egyptian blogger Dr. Ezzat, and a Jewish call to action.

Video and footage of the freedom ride

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWF68Yx6tI (excellent in superimposing images from the US civil rights movement to thre current era)

http://www.youtube.com/user/PalReportsRamallah (Filmed by ISMers in 4 parts)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuPY7ymVOng (from Ann Paq of Activestills)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E7wzXTEYos (collage of videos from Jewish Voices for Peace)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2RE7ziKdQU (part 1 ogf four videos from an ISM activist)

http://youtu.be/FLiTnSNmRIg

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-16/palestinian-activists-try-peaceful-protest-action/3674186

More stories and commentary on the Freedom Rides

http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17242

http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/palestinian-freedom-riders-challenge-israeli-apartheid-8366

Take Action: Global March to Jerusalem (video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VZFSsAhy6U

Positive action example: Cambridge: Boycott Sabra & Tribe! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i4x9zfWXNw

Our friend and colleague Ashraf AbuRahma, a real believer in nonviolent demonstrations and who never threw a stone is charged with throwing stones. This case has other twists. Amira Haas tellxs of "The banality of a Palestinian's arrest"

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-banality-of-a-palestinian-s-arrest-1.396732

Moshe Dayan's Widow Ruth: Zionist Dream Has Run Its Course: These startling words were uttered last week in Tel Aviv by 95-year-old Ruth Dayan, widow of one of Israel's founding fathers

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/30/moshe-dayan-s-widow-ruth-zionist-dream-has-run-its-course.html

Rafeef Ziadeh poem "We teach life"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKucPh9xHtM

(interview in Portuguese) ‘História da região independe da ONU’

http://www.cartacapital.com.br/politica/a-historia-e-feita-por-pessoas-comuns-e-nao-na-onu/

Occupy the Occupiers: A Jewish Call to Action

http://www.youngjewishproud.org/occupy-the-occupiers-a-jewish-call-to-action/

Ran Greenstein: How to fight the Israel-Apartheid analogy in four easy steps – a guide for useful Hasbara idiots

http://gm2j.net/1A

Occupy Tahrir Square vs. Occupy America: “We could all temporarily lose sight of who is pulling the strings in this counter-revolution currently playing out in Egypt … but make no mistake, the thousands in Tahrir square will not lose hope nor can they afford to.” Dr. Ashraf Ezzat

http://ashraf62.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/occupy-tahrir-square-vs-occupy-america/

Petition: To Congress & President Obama to stop military aid to Israel:

http://www.change.org/petitions/members-of-congress-president-obama-hold-israel-accountable-for-violations-of-us-laws-cut-off-military-aid

(this is an old petition that was never publicized but it might be worthwhile to reinvigorate now) Petition : "Right of Return and one secular democratic state"

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ods/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=system&utm_campaign=Send%2Bto%2BFriend

Honored as a Freedom Rider

2011-11-16T01:56:00.000-08:00

I was honored to be a freedom rider and it was team effort at its best (those who rode and the many who worked behind the scenes). Two other Palestinians were also arrested with us who were there as a reporters/observers not participants. All eight of us were released eventually pending potential trials. Fajr kindly gave us a ride to the edge of Beit Sahour from Ramallah (we were released at Qalandia checkpoint) where my wife met us there with my car and then she and I gave a ride to Nadim and Badi' to Hebron. I thus arrived home at 1:30 AM and the phones started ringing again at 7 AM. I am extremely tired and with a headache but wanted to send you a brief report and links to stories about this amazing and inspiring experience. While released, we are still charged with "illegal entry to Jerusalem" and with "obstructing police business" pending potential trial.

This was one of the most heavily covered media events I ever participated in. It was also streamed live on the internet and nearly 100,000 people signed a petition of support for us freedom riders (https://secure.avaaz.org/en/palestine_freedom_riders/?aerQkcb). Thus, I do not need to write to you in detail about how three buses refused to let us board and then one driver (who later told journalists he did not know what was going on otherwise would have also refused) allowed us on the bus and what happened on and off the bus. Below are some links to stories published that give you a taste of this. Note especially the signs that we carried and showed before we rode the bus and from the windows of the bus (I am the one with the "DIGNITY" sign). Perhaps I will write more personally when my mind is clearer and I have had some sleep. But there are two anecdotes that happened that are kind of unusual and funny and in some way worth telling while they are fresh in my mind:

-They took me to the Shabak ("Israeli intelligence") guy before they took me to the investigator for the bus issue. The Shabak guy did not ask me about the bus at all. He introduced himself as head of the Shabak area of Ramallah (and previously of Nablus and Jenin). He asked me if I was abroad recently. I said yes. He said what happened when you came back. I said I was interrogated at the bridge. He said "come-on interrogating is a big word". I said I do not know what else to call an 8 hour delay including 2 hours of actual questioning. He said what else they told you. I said that the interrogation would continue and that there is a captain "Suhail" or "Suhaib" or something like that who will call me later. He said that that it is him and his name is "Shihab"! I said "well then maybe we will save another visit"! He told me that is not likely as I seem to continue to "cause problems and violate laws". I said there is something called international laws and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Denial of freedom of movement and entry to Jerusalem while allowing colonial settlers to live on our land and have freedom to travel in and out of Jerusalem on segregated buses is a violation of the International Convention Against the Crime of Apartheid. We also engaged in a political discussion and I explained about why Israel now has no incentive for peace (the three main sources of income for it would all dry up if there is peace) and my views of a democratic, pluralistic country for its entire people.

-One young Ashkenazi soldier was very arrogant and even called me "Professor Teez" (Teez is arabic for "ass"). We all (freedom riders) laughed it off and I told him that I did not insult him and that when someone insults me they demean themselves first. When he repeated it after my interrogation by the Shabak, I stood up and confronted him and the Druz officer intervened and the soldier moved away. There were other incidents with other people similar showing that our collective attitude was strong, defiant, and resilient. We all had Palestinian Kuffiyyas and kept wearing them. Fadi even wrapped himself in the Palestinian flag the whole time except when they did the full body search. We have some video from inside the compound which I will share later.

I came out to find the news that the Zionist mayor of New York Mike Bloomberg ordered the clearing out of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters for now; a very important protest *. But my reading of history and trends tell me that the global intifada will only accelerate as a result of repression by the powers to be.

Freedom Riders odyssey:

http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-arrests-freedom-riders-challenging-apartheid-road-system/10595#.TsNplD3z3qE

http://www.avaaz.org/en/palestine_freedom_riders/?cl=1388878149&v=11131

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=245717 (there is a picture here of me being taken off of the bus)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/15/1036888/-We-Shall-Overcome-A-Photo-Diary-of-Todays-Freedom-Riders?via=sidebar

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/11/israel-palestinians-freedom-riders.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills

http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article6642&var_mode=calcul

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/follow-the-freedom-rides.html

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/palestinians-embark-on-civil-disobedience-protests-against-demographic-segregation-1.395820

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15744576

http://theonlydemocracy.org/2011/11/statement-of-the-palestinian-freedom-riders/

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/14/177154.html (Arabic)

*Arundhati Roy: Occupy Wall Street is "So Important Because It is in the Heart of Empire"

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/15/arundhati_roy_occupy_wall_street_is

Land Confiscation

2011-11-11T11:16:00.001-08:00

(Please scan for important action items at bottom in bold)

Back to the (ab)normal and unpredictable situation here in Palestine. I give talks to visiting international delegations, we deal with problems, we organize activities, we attend events including various forms of non-violent resistance, I teach students, I do clinical service, I write on my upcoming books, eat great food, have wonderful conversations etc. I keep up with the news of my friends who were on the boats to Gaza. The Canadian abductees arrived home. Some Irish abductees were re-imprisoned. Israeli armed guards prevented them boarding planes at the last minute (more at http://witnessgaza.com/). But the world is outraged and politicians while still attached to their failing positions, are feeling besieged by their own people. Delegations from Sweden, Ireland, the US, and many others pass through Palestine and then stay in touch via the internet learning and becoming even more active against the idiotic policies of mainstream Western politicians. Thousands of people are finally saying: we will not take it anymore. The Empire and its servants are pushing for a war on Iran now (after they pushed for an illegal war on Iran) but judging from average people reaction and the jitters in the stock market, there is no constituency for war. I do not think it will happen. Racism will lose anyway, with or without their racist wars.

New Land Confiscation in Beit Jala (Bethlehem area)

http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=3661

(today there was a prayer for peace in the area with clergy from different denominations)

Action 1: For Palestinians who can attend, we will have a meeting Saturday 12 Nov 2011 at 4 PM in Ramallah to plan a series of activities including on Tuesday 15 November, on Christmas, on Land Day, on Easter, and more. Join us. Email info@palestinejn.org for details and to confirm attendance.

ACTION 2: Get your Palestine solidarity pack from "If Americans Knew" in time for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (November 29) and hold an event of solidarity/support

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/about_us/solidaritypack.html

ACTION 3: Join us in Palestine

November 15 (Tuesday) Palestinian Freedom Riders to Challenge Segregation By Riding Settler Buses to Jerusalem. Meeting point: the Ramallah Cultural Palace at 1:00 PM

in Christmas http://www.palestinejn.org

on March 30 for the Global March to Jerusalem www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org

(autonomous North American GMJ group at www.gmj-na.org)

and April 15-21 for the Welcome to Palestine Campaign http://www.welcometopalestine.info, and http://www.BienvenuePalestine.com

Young and Jewish: This is a great video (must see)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jyp-3ulZmQI

Funding illegal Israeli settlements? Priceless. by Bernard Keane

Visa, Mastercard and PayPal all enable donations to be made to US-registered groups funding illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank in defiance of international law but restricted donations to wikileaks!

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/12/13/funding-illegal-israeli-settlements-priceless/

Disarm the conflict (Who is arming the occupation) http://disarmtheconflict.wordpress.com/

Join Interfaith Peace builders Upcoming Delegations to Palestine

http://www.ifpb.org/delegations/upcoming.html

Americans Pay Dearly to Maintain Israel's Nuclear Secrets by Grant Smith

http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2011/10/19/americans-pay-dearly-to-maintain-israels-nuclear-secrets/

U.S. renews financial aid to Palestinian Authority. Action comes after top AIPAC-supported congressional leaders drop their opposition. The Obama administration assured the occupied congress that this is in the national interest of the US and that "Israel does not abject" to renewal of this "security assistance."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-renews-financial-aid-to-palestinians-after-un-statehood-row-1.394237

Présentation de la nouvelle mission Bienvenue Palestine II. Le vendredi 25 novembre · 18:30 - 21:30

Lieu de présentation: Rue du Chevreuil n°4 à 1000 Bruxelles Près de la place du jeu de Balle http://www.BienvenuePalestine.com

Stay human

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

http://www.qumsiyeh.org

Netanyahu admitted lying before

2011-11-09T02:17:00.000-08:00

I do not know why people are surprised at what Sarkozy and Obama said to each other in private about Netanyahu as a liar. This is after all the same Netanyahu who gave a speech to dozens of Likud Party members in Eilat in which he admitted this is his strategy. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz (15 July 2001): "...giving his audience a bit of advice on how to deal with foreign interviewers (Netanyahu said): 'Always, irrespective of whether you're right or not, you must always present your side as right.'" So Netanyahu admits lying and Sarkozy and Obama merely agreed with Netenyahu and most of the Israeli public that the current Israeli prime minister is a liar. And here is Netanyahyu, thinking cameras are off, bragging about how easy it is to manipulate the US and go around the Oslo commitments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl60X_jOsR0 (make sure to click CC for English subtitle.)

The faux pas at the G20 apparently happened when Sarkozy and Obama were alone and a microphone connected to a media room was still on. Sarkozy apparently said to Obama at one point that he cannot stand Netanyahu who is a liar and Obama answered that he has to deal/work with him every day. While unintentional this shows something more disturbing about politicians than the issue of lying (which they are well known for). They know what is right but they act based on fear of lobbies and they lie about what they know to their public. I think Western politicians buy the anti-Semitic notion of Jewish influence and control (a notion unfortunately propelled by Zionist Jews). As one Zionist leader once said "we rather be feared than loved." And as anyone who knows fear (including the one Zionist spread among Jews), it is always the image of it than the reality that matters. I personally think that just a few more people acting on their convictions rather than on their fears would change things. If Obama and Sarkozy stand up to the Zionists while they are in office (not like Carter after he left office), what would happen? The answer is: we will have a better world and these politicians would be more popular. I say this because I do not think Sarkozy is smarter than the average French or Obama smarter than the average American. The people know and the people do not like to be lied to and pulled to wars to serve the racist ideology of political Zionism. This is especially the case when the leaders of this ideology claim they want peace and security while they do everything in their powers to undermine peace and security.

Those of us who do not have memories stretching back decades, can at least think of the 2003 war on Iraq and who pushed for it, with what lies (WMD, terrorism etc) and what was their real motives (people like Perle, Wolfowitz, and yes Netanyahu). Now the same criminal gang is pushing for a war on Iran. Unfortunately, like the war on Iraq, there are self-interested Arab leaders who think this is an opportunity to support the power that keeps them in power (US government which is under fear of influence of the lobbies). I am worried about the collusion of dictatorships in the Arabian Peninsula who (mistakenly) think that such a war might end the Arab spring. But after my visit to Egypt and Jordan and talking with Arabs from other countries (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain etc), I am convinced that they (policy makers in Washington and Tel Aviv who push for war) are miscalculating again just like they did with Iraq. The neocon conservatives/Zionists who pushed for the war on Iraq believed it would strengthen Israeli hegemony. Instead it strengthened Iran and groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. An attack on Iran might only accelerate the already evident decline in colonial power. I know some Palestinians would like to see that but others like me believe it is too costly in lives of Iranians and Israelis (and of course Iranian weapons will not distinguish Israeli from Palestinian lives as we are intricately mingled now thanks to Israeli colonial activities all over historic Palestine). I hope politicians in power see the danger before it is too late.

Media Advisory and action call (join us): On Tuesday 15 November Palestinian Freedom Riders to Challenge Segregation by Riding Settler Buses to Jerusalem

http://chroniquespalestine.blogspot.com/2011/11/palestine-freedom-rides.html

Witness occupation

Israeli soldiers told to cleanse Gaza

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-SWTw9n2os

Israeli soldiers at Qalandia checkpoint

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNu0j0kHpiA

and here at an impromptu checkpoint

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4prjjYC0EtI

Stay human

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

http://www.qumsiyeh.org

Join us in Palestine

in December http://www.palestinejn.org

on March 30 for the Global March to Jerusalem www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org

(autonomous North American GMJ group at www.gmj-na.org)

and April 15-21 for the Welcome to Palestine Campaign http://www.welcometopalestine.info, and http://www.BienvenuePalestine.com

Interrogation on way back

2011-11-07T11:34:00.000-08:00

I finally came back to Palestine after a long and costly trip (in many ways) including today's interrogation by the Israeli Shin Bet (which I am told is "to continue").

I arrived at the Israeli side of the bridge from Jordan before 10:00 AM. I was home after questioning that is not yet complete at 6:30 PM. First they made me wait in the hallway for almost 4 hours (much longer than the wait on the way out). Later there was more waiting and a lengthy questioning. I used the time to chat with others in the waiting area including visiting international delegations. One Christian pilgrimage group was from China and they were especially interested to hear from me as a Palestinian Christian. I also used the time to read a book I bought in Egypt about the Egyptian revolution. When my name was finally called I was escorted to the same intelligence room I am now familiar with. There I am asked to wait again in a corridor. Then they called me and for a thorough new body and personal belonging search. Then I was sent to speak with a guy who was drinking tea with lemon. His first question was 'how are you'. I said I am fine except you guys bother me on the way out and the way in. He said something about me bothering them so they bother me. Shahar (his name) spoke Arabic and we spent about an hour together (last time there was the good cop-bad cop, this time it was just one investigator).

They send him from Bet El (colony near Ramallah) and hence my long wait in the hall. He then proceeded to ask questions about where I have been and what I have been doing. I kept reminding him he could read my public blog as I generally chronicle life regularly and I told him I will be also blogging about today's experience too. I told him I will not have any more information for him than what is in my (already detailed) blog. He asked about the people who have organized the boats to Gaza, I said names are public and on press releases and I will share some of the eyewitness accounts also in my blog (this one; see below for personal testimonies :-). He asked about me and I told him to check my website for details about my background. He said as "a Christian and one who had come back from Egypt" I should see what Muslims are doing to "the Christians" (my mind was analyzing this tribal language of us and them and I understood how he thinks in tribal notions). I tried to educate him about coexistence, history of Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations in the Middle East, and more but he changed the subject.

I did mention a bit about my work on popular resistance (including showing him my latest book). I said I am working on other books and they will have lots of details including about the great International solidarity shown with the Palestinian people (I am hoping they will read and get transformed ;-). Just about every other question I was able to give him a bit of "political information" (about the siege on Gaza, about ethnic cleansing in 1948, about the wall etc.) to which he only had the canned myths he was taught (about violence of 1929 and 1936, partition "accepted" by Zionists, Arab countries wanting to destroy Israel, "terrorism" etc.) When I tried to present him data or evidence to contradict these myths, he would change the subject. After a lengthy interview, he was tired and I was hungry. He then asked that I speak to someone "more knowledgeable" than him (I assumed his superior). I said fine and that is up to them but then I found he was speaking about another meeting in Gush Etzion colony. I said to him "the last time they called me to that place they had me waited for several hours and then just took my phone number; I do not like wasting valuable time." Shahar made a phone call to his superiors. I do not know what they told him but he decided to continue the interrogation.

On the bus from Jordanian to Israeli side, I met a nice elderly lady from Aboud near Ramle who had lost her bus ticket; she was 9 years old when she was ethnically cleansed and now lives in Al-Jalazoun Refugee camp. I recalled this destroyed village as I told Shahar about the 530 Palestinian villages ethnically cleansed in 1948. In the end he and another man told me that this is to be continued and that I am to expect a phone call from a "Captain Suhaib" (I think that is probably not his real name). I sometimes feel sorry for these individuals who are part of this big occupation machine. I wished that they would learn to connect on a human level with people under occupation.

Just a short note about my short trip to Egypt: my timing was bad as most people were out with their families for the holidays but I still managed to talk to the most important people in Egypt: the common people. Taxi drivers, a doctor, police officers, students, a hotel clerk, of varied backgrounds (Christian, Muslim, religious, secular etc.) I learned that there is still a long way to go in Egypt. There is still corruption (even airport police officers who were not shy in asking for tips) and there is still (healthy) political differences. There are 85 million people by no means uniform or agreed on best way forward. But compared to the last time I was in Egypt, I sensed a release of energy and freedom to express, freedom to demonstrate, and freedom to innovate. Many elites who profited are still around and want to somehow profit. Everyone I talked to is hopeful. And of course everyone I talked to wants the siege on Gaza lifted and wants Palestine to be free. One Egyptian told me: Indonesia took 10 years to go from a military dictatorship to a people civil democracy and then it started to prosper. I told him I wish this great country the best as it tries to find its way and hopefully it will not take 10 years.

First contact with Tahrir

Israeli Navy: What is your Final Destination?

Tahrir boat answers (from Ehab Lotayf who is a poet activist and is still being held): The betterment of mankind!

While Israel apartheid Navy pirated ships in International Waters and kidnapped 27 passengers (they are slowly being released), the message across the world is still very clear and confirms the world’s view as expressed by several official UN committees: that collective punishment is illegal. Civil society organizations and people of conscience will continue to push until the illegal and immoral siege/blockade on Gaza is lifted.

The results of a new poll commissioned by the European Commission show that Israel is believed by Europeans in 15 countries to be the greatest threat to world peace, greater than North Korea, Iran or Afghanistan. Zionist establishment reacted with their usual delusional nonsense about anti-Semitism instead of starting to reflect. Now they are pushing for a war on Iran (insane proposition).

(this youtube video is raw footage of the flotilla but it seems the Zionist sabotage it so it does not load much of the time) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxkSBmzUokk

Freedom Wave boats almost sunk, riders beaten, mistreated, deprived of their belongings, and denied access to family. The organizers demand accountability. The accounts from participants contradict the lies of the Israeli government report of peaceful piracy (and that is what it was):

http://www.tahrir.ca/content/freedom-wave-riders-beaten-denied-access-family-organizers-demand-accountability

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/512198

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/david/violent-tactics-israel-almost-sunk-gaza-bound-boats#.TrbUlvT7i2x

Tears of Gaza: A documentary that explains why so many people care about Gaza

http://youtu.be/U0WKVhIpgr4

Good Action: Boston occupies the Israeli consulate to protest the piracy of the two ships

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xd1uO29UWzY

Good news: Aid convoy enters Gaza

http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=276551

ACT: Call-Out for Solidarity with Egypt: Defend the Revolution: A letter from Cairo to the Occupy movements & other solidarity movements; Occupy Wall Street & Occupy London respond. International Day to Defend the Egyptian Revolution on Nov 12th under the slogan “Defend the Egyptian Revolution – End Military Trials for Civilians" http://ashraf62.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/call-out-for-solidarity-with-egypt-defend-the-revolution/

WATCH: Israel blasts route of wall near Bethlehem. Residents of Bethlehem awoke to loud blasts Thursday as Israeli construction crews dynamited a planned route of the separation wall through a nearby village ... The construction is for a controversial separation wall cutting off the village of Walaja, which abuts an Israeli settlement outside Bethlehem, from other parts of the occupied West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=434973

Palestinian flags flown over European Women's Football Championship game in which France won over Israel 5-0. Protestors wearing green T-shirt bearing "Free Palestine" in the front and "Boycott Israel" on the back briefly halted the game

http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article6578&var_mode=calcul

Orwellian P.S. The Israeli police claim that there is a decrease in incidents of orthodox Jews spitting on Christian clergy in Jerusalem. Christian clergy state that the phenomenon is still widespread and highly problematical.

Stay human

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

http://www.qumsiyeh.org

Join us in Palestine

in December http://www.palestinejn.org

on March 30 for the Global March to Jerusalem www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org

(autonomous North American GMJ group at www.gmj-na.org)

and April 15-21 for the Welcome to Palestine Campaign http://www.welcometopalestine.info, and http://www.BienvenuePalestine.com

Egypt post-revolution

2011-11-03T17:29:00.001-07:00

Israel is mobilizing their US funded and equipped army and navy to deal with peace activists on the boats trying to visit Gaza and will likely attack them Friday morning. See this LA Times story http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/11/two-palestinian-solidarity-boats-on-their-way-to-gaza.html

Some of us scheduled to go on the boats to Gaza* but were not permitted to get on the boat are now visiting Egypt post-revolution. On of us was held at the Cairo airport for nearly 8 hours making us think that change still has along way to go here. Please let us know if you have Egyptian contacts we can connect with especially those who can brief us on the changes in the society post-Mubarak. The Israeli occupation authorities did this last July with the Europeans trying to visit us in the West Bank (through arriving at airport in the Welcome to Palestine Campaign) and before that in blocking freedom flotillas and murdering peace activists like Rachel Corrie and like Turkish visitors. The incident is uncomfortable for Israel because it exposes an apartheid system built on racism and violence. The best evidence of this is to compare the peaceful nature of those of us who tried or did get on the boats with the vicious verbal attack (preluding the actual navy attacks) on the flotilla ships. Here are things to contrast:

Call from Palestinians in Gaza to the international community

http://www.tahrir.ca/content/call-gaza-do-not-forget-gaza-we-are-waiting-your-boats-our-shores

Amy Goodman interviews activists aboard the boats

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/11/2/audio_amy_goodman_interviews_activists_aboard_freedom_waves_flotilla_boat_tahrir

Contrast those with comments posted on a misleading Jerusalem Post article (misleading because the siege is illegal and the Zionist Palmar had no authority or mandate to rule on its legality). The UN Human Rights Council and International Legal experts all ruled the siege is illegal. But I think the comments on the story from Israelis is telling in terms of the sentiment of the privileged class in the apartheid regime http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=244163

But again our job is to shed a lot of light and noise about these issues and to help a captive population begging us to help. Please act by contacting media and politicians. Also if you know anyone who can help us get into Gaza via Rafah, please write to me.

According to a British report Israel is upgrading its nuclear weapons. According to Israeli papers is seriously considering an attack on Iran. Put it together and it is not another Zionist driven regional or world conflict but a catastrophe beyond imagination. The ghetto mentality visible from reading the comments in the Jerusalem Post or other Israeli papers show a deeply schizophrenic and paranoid psychology that is extremely dangerous: Zionists think that they can get away with the large scale ethnic cleansing of Palestine (war crimes and crimes against humanity) by creating perpetual conflict and scaring Jews to always be afraid of gentiles (what they refer to as ‘goyim’). The rest of the world and especially Western countries need to understand this and treat Israel as the rogue apartheid state it is.

US citizens should not let more of this kind of charade goer on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-xM16pBv4w

Action: As of October 28, 2011, the total number of Palestinian organizations participating in the GMJ is close to fifty, including 15 in Palestine, 14 in Jordan, approximately 20 in Lebanon and some from other countries. The main list is at http://www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org and a separate list for the autonomous North American GMJ group is at http://www.gmj-na.org

and also join us in the Welcome to Palestine Campaign And April 15-21, http://www.welcometopalestine.info/ and http://www.BienvenuePalestine.com

Stay human

*See my earlier blog from Turkey point of boat departure at

http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-am-not-on-boats-to-gaza.html

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Join us in Palestine in December http://www.palestinejn.org

and the Global March to Jerusalem on March 30 www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org

autonomous North American GMJ group is at www.gmj-na.org

And on April 15, http://www.welcometopalestine.info/ and http://www.BienvenuePalestine.com

http://www.qumsiyeh.org

I am not on the boats to Gaza

2011-11-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Dear friends and colleagues

This letter was written and rewritten four times as the ups and downs of the last few days. When you get it two boats would have left Turkish waters and I am not on one of them. I finalize this letter from a boat returning to port in Turkey. Tears are dry (of joy at success of our comrads and sadness for not being with them). The will is still there and I promise myself to get to Gaza next time. The boats now in International waters are named Saoirse (http://irishshiptogaza.org/ ) and Tahrir (http://www.tahrir.ca), Irish and Arabic for Liberty and Freedom. The Canadian steering committee that invited us to join selected 11 from the 36 slated to go because they were unfairly reduced to that number by the Turkish harbor master. We are very disappointed that 25 of us were left behind. Some of us left behind are trying different ways to catch up and we may still succeed. In fact if you do not hear from me in 24 hours it means most likely I have succeeded to get on a boat. We hope that those who took the boats do arrive to the besieged strip on the Mediterranean where 1.6 million people are held under and immoral and illegal blockade/siege. A small group of us took a small boat to try to meet one of the boats in waters off the coast but that did not work out (Turkish coast guard and timing). But it felt important to try.

I personally wanted so bad to visit many friends in Gaza some of them I have not seen in years. I wanted to visit Hiam and her family. I last saw Hiam and her mother 10 years ago when we brought Hiam to CT (she was then less than 8 years old) to get a prosthetic eye after she was shot deliberately by an Israeli soldier. She is one of hundreds of children who lost their eyes between 2000-2005 (for her story and pictures, see http://qumsiyeh.org/hiamsstory/). I wanedt to visit with friends like Dr. Heidar Eid whom I saw only when he was able to get out of Gaza and I was able to get out of the occupied West Bank so that we can meet in a faraway country in Europe. I want to look in the eyes of Gaza children and tell them that we, the human family, care about them. We will keep trying. I figure, not trying would be far harder on all of us.

We arrived at Istanbul at the 88th anniversary of proclamation of Turkey as a republic in 1923. Ataturk’s Turkey evolved quickly into a modern state at par with other European states. On the news we witness earthquake destruction in Eastern Turkey and I see a beautiful young girl with casts on her legs smiling at one point, sad at another and I do not have to understand the language to understand human tragedy. The damage from this natural disaster is chillingly similar to the damage of the man-made disaster in Gaza: collapsed multistory building, burying dead, injured people. But Gaza is not allowed to recover.

From Istanbul to Dalaman and then to a small lovely town where we stayed until the launch time. People here are very friendly. They become even friendlier (if that is possible) when they hear I am from Filistin. But then the whole place reminds me of Filistin (especially northern Palestine areas of the Galilee). I take a deep breath and soak the views of Olives, Citrus, Figs, Almonds, Loquots, mullberies, Jasmine, cactus, old stone terraces, and old men playing cards or backgammon. The colors are so bright, the smells so refreshing, the water so abundant. Smiley comfortable faces with the wrinkles of the hillsides reflected on the faces of the old people. The shops, restaurants and hotels are family run and the young are playful and energetic. The evening call to prayer emanates from the mosque. The bicycles all around are never locked and even our hotel rooms were left open much of the time. I feel like I am again visiting North Palestine where my grandmother is from a place that was also etched in her face and her memory till the day she died.

Before I proceed any further, I pause to tell you who were most on my mind in the last four days as we went through the ups and downs and countless meetings to come to this point. What was on my mind were victims of the Israeli apartheid state including these US victims:

1) The 34 sailors killed on the USS Liberty attacked deliberately in International waters in 1967 (http://www.usslibertyveterans.org/, http://www.gtr5.com/ ) and the survivors who have later died without ever seeing justice for the murderers.

2) Rachel Corrie, 23 year old American student killed deliberately by Israeli bulldozer in Rafah

3) Furkan Dogan, 19 y. o. Turkish American citizen, who was executed at point blank range on the Mavi Marmara ship (see http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19667 and smuggled videos at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT5823U5YLc and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjEJGw7BcMo )

I thought of their bravery as I watched fellow human beings from 10 countries try and even compete to get on boats (some have been to Gaza several times and some tried to get to Gaza several times). Driven only by belief in our common humanity, I as a Palestinian cannot help but feel a weight of gratitude for these brave souls. We had lots of glitches in the past few days here with both bureaucratic and political rollercoaster. I will spare you the gory details because the ultimate goal is Gaza. Briefly, we arrived Saturday and were in meetings Sunday when negotiations started s the boats arrived at docks. Monday we find that we are unable to accommodate all passengers per the Turkish authorities (who were not told our destination). Monday night we had a meeting till nearly midnight. Tuesday was a an emotional rollercoaster as those selected were approached individually to give their passports. Those of us who were not asked knew then we were not selected. Passport data went to Ankara and further delays. Wednesday at 11 AM came back green light to go but a little later, we heard glitches happening and the authorities were at the doc. When the boats finally left, five of us “the crazies” raced to our locally chartered boats to try and meet. The cruise Wednesday did not succeed and we had to go back, disappointed. But we hope that our colleagues on the Tahrir and Saoirse will not be intercepted by the navy of the apartheid regime that is enforcing an illegal and immoral siege on Gaza.

We live in an Orwellian world where humanitarian activists are persecuted and war criminals get wined and dined in five star hotels. We live in a world where for seeking membership in a cultural and scientific organization (UNESCO) and getting it by a democratic vote:

- the organization is punished with losing members withholding dues

- the internet service of 4 million Palestinians under occupation is targeted by spams and attempts to shut it down (slowed down so far but it is not clear if the Palestinians will cope with this

- the occupation authority decides to “punish” the Palestinian population by building more settlements and by withholding Palestinian tax money (this is Palestinian money from their taxes due to them).

- the US congress cuts humanitarian aid going to the Palestinian people (not going to the Palestinian authority or even passing through its hands).

It was hard for me to see why we had to be secretive about a humanitarian operation like this. It is hard for me to see why the Turkish authorities limited us to 11 passengers on each boat. It is hard for me to see why activists had hard feelings about each other or why choices were made the way they were. I had so many questions left on my mind but for now sadness and anticipation overwhelms everything.

The human language is so limiting in expressing emotions and feelings on this day. Words like anticipation, exhilaration, hope, fear, love, are all rather limiting. But there is one thing I think is interesting: when I am in the Galilee, in Al-Walaja, in Aida refugee camp, in an Israeli holding cell or jail, or attempting to get to Gaza, it is precisely these times in my life that I feel most alive and most human because I am having “joyful participation in the sorrows of this world”. Fellow human beings from Ireland, Canada, USA, Denmark and elsewhere are inspiring and I quickly became friends with those I did not know before. They share me these strong feelings and this makes it even more meaningful. You can see why Vittorio Arrigoni ended his messages to us with the note “stay human”. May we all stay most alive and stay most human.

If you want to help, please use all possible communication means (emails, twitters, facebook, calls) to let all people especially media and politicians know you support lifting the siege on Gaza and you want our ships protected from Israeli piracy. It is long overdue.

Now imagine: http://youtu.be/bvFLKyAGzzI

For a previous adventure of the Canadian boat, see

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/07/01/greece-flotilla.html

November anniversaries

2/11/1917 Britain issued the infamous Balfour declaration promising some one else’s country to become a national homeland for a racist Zionist movement

3/11/1956 Khan Yunis massacre by Israeli forces of civilians in Gaza

9/11 International Day of Action Against the wall (coincide with fall of Berlin wall)

10/11/1975 UN General Assembly resolution condemning Zionism as a form of racism

13/11/1974 PLO Chairman Address UN General Assembly

15/11/1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence

22/11/1967 UN Security Council Resolution 242 "Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war" and "achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem"

29/11/1947 UN GA 181 recommending partition

29/11 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People inaugurated by the UN GA

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Join us in Palestine in December http://www.palestinejn.org

and the Global March to Jerusalem on March 30 www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org

autonomous North American GMJ group is at www.gmj-na.org

And on April 15, http://www.welcometopalestine.info/ and http://www.BienvenuePalestine.com

http://www.qumsiyeh.org

UNESCO, Ashraf AbuRahmah, and more

2011-11-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

An apartheid “judge” just allowed the Israeli occupation authorities to keep our friend Ashraf AbuRahmah in jail pending trials. Ashraf was shot deliberately while handcuffed and blindfolded in an incident that was captured on video embarrassing the occupation forces. Ashraf is also the brother of Jawaher and Bassem both friends of ours and both murdered by IOF in Bilin during popular nonviolent protests. Justice is not served in an apartheid regime.

UNESCO voted to admit Palestine to full membership despite the threats and bribes of the Israeli-occupied US policy. It is clear now that the US/Israeli government (is one or two?) stand isolated in one corner and the people of the world are rising up. Some EU Member countries voted in favor (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia, Spain) whilst most of the others abstained. US, Canada, Holland, Germany voted against. Please write to your governments and to the media and give them feedback. The UN released yet another report detailing the humanitarian effect of the illegal siege of Gaza, available in several languages http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/66/370

It is ironic that this happened around October 29, a day with meaning for us. It was on this day in 1948 that the massacre at Al-Duwayima Village happened (one of over 40 massacres used to facilitate the ethnic cleansing of Palestine). The testimony of an Israeli soldier who participated was quoted in Davar, 9 June 1979 (a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the Mandate Palestine and Israel between 1925 and 1996): "Killed between 80 to 100 Arabs, women and children. To kill the children they fractured their heads with sticks. There was not one house without corpses. The men and women of the villages were pushed into houses without food or water. Then the saboteurs came to dynamite the houses. One commander ordered a soldier to bring two women into a house he was about to blow up… Another soldier prided himself upon having raped an Arab woman before shooting her to death. Another Arab woman with her newborn baby was made to clean the place for a couple of days, and then they shot her and the baby. Educated and well-mannered commanders who were considered ‘good guys’…became base murderers, and this not in the storm of battle, but as a method of expulsion and extermination. The fewer the Arabs who remain, the better."

The date also happens to be the date of tripartite aggression on Egypt in 1956. President Eisenhower showed US leadership then by standing up to Israel. No other president has been willing to do that since then (although some would say that President Kennedy did for a while but was then assassinated ending those efforts to curtail Israel’s nuclear weapons development).

Join us in Palestine in December http://www.palestinejn.org

and the Global March to Jerusalem on March 30, 2012 (GMJ) www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org

autonomous North American GMJ group is at www.gmj-na.org

And on April 15, 2012, http://www.welcometopalestine.info/ and http://www.BienvenuePalestine.com

United States needs to reevaluate its assistance to Israel. By Walter Pincus,, The Washington Post http://tinyurl.com/3gu4fdu

Watch video of mayhem at football match France Israel final score: BDS 5 - Apartheid 0! http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article6578&var_mode=calcul

Israeli with a conscience sentenced for 4.5 years in Jail. Whistleblower Anat Kamm passed information to Israeli paper Haaretz showing the military was not complying with Israeli supreme court ruling about using targeted assassinations.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/anat-kamm-sentenced-to-4-5-years-for-passing-on-classified-idf-information-1.392721

Palestinian Surprises

Promo video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsBlnjX7SRE

Great website http://www.palestiniansurprises.com

CIA agent: look at Israel’s role in pushing for a war on Iran (This is amazing that it would show on Fox. There are clearly cracks in the Zionist iron wall) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHb3tzpGufw

Just two prisoners

2011-10-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

Just two prisoner stories and the olive harvest

by Mazin Qumsiyeh

Please forward and act

Western media try to make Palestinian political prisoners mere numbers while personalizing one Israeli soldier. So let me just give you the names and brief story of two of those released Palestinian political prisoners.

-Chris Bandak, a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem was just 21 when he was abducted by the Israeli occupation forces. He was released after spending the last 9 years in Israeli prisons for his resistance activities to the colonial occupation. But the deal meant moving him to Gaza. In an interview with Al-Quds, Bandak stated that he has no relatives in Gaza but since he arrived there he felt all of Gaza people are his relatives. He emphasized that the various resistance groups including Fatah (his group), the left groups, and the Islamic groups all respect and treat Christians and Muslim Palestinians the same as comrades. He also stated that the occupiers treated natives with the same cruelty regardless of their religion. He explained how painful it is to leave so many colleagues in Israeli prisons.

-Ibtisam Al-Eisawi, Palestinian Muslim woman from Jerusalem was kidnapped 10 years ago by the occupation foprces. She has 6 children. The youngest was only 6 months when her mother was jailed and she cried the most when she was finally able to begin to get to know her mother. Ibtisam's oldest daughter was married only one week before Ibtisam was released. The pain of missing her daughter's wedding, missing seeing her children grow up. Her name Ibtisam means "Smile" but thuis brave woman had seen few smiles in the last 10 years. Back now in her city of Jerusalem witnessing increased colonial settlement activities and increased efforts to make Jerusalem "Jewish" by ethnically cleansing its native people and importing Europeans and othesr to replace them. She says that she is happy to be out with her family but sad that so many people remain behind and thus the struggle will continue.

http://www.qudsmedia.com/?p=35592

From personal experience I know how prison inmates become very close friends and how hard it is to leave people behind. So we must all never forget those his still await the day of freedom (or at least freedom from the small cage to the big cage of the "people warehouses" or bantustans we live in under Israeli apartheid and colonialism.

Action for prisoners (thousands remain in Apartheid prisons): See this exemplary call to act from the UK based Palestine Solidarity Movement

http://palestinecampaign.org/index7b.asp?m_id=1&l1_id=4&l2_id=24&Content_ID=2203

New video on the attemps to Judaize Jerusalem: The story of Shaikh Jarrah and other Jerusalem Onighborhoods http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YQszhJ3acs

Just finished harvesting olive trees (my fourth olive gharvest season since returning to Palestine from the US). Body is sore but spirit lifted. Here is an article on the meaning and value of Palestinian olives‏, the olive harvest, and resistance. I wrote this for the 2009 harvest but it is the same this year including the low yield since 2010 was a good year.

http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/10/20/palestinian-olives/

http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7462

Hypocrisy knows no limits

2011-10-20T15:39:00.001-07:00

Obama celebrated the killing of Gaddafi. He did not talk about Gaddafi's cozy relationship with the US and the west for the past 8 years including torturing people for the CIA**. On several occasions, the US administration said that revenge should not be practiced yet no western leader said a word about lynching happening daily in Libya. A Libyan rebel leader told Al-Jazeera that Gaddafi came out and greeted them but was shot anyway. I spent two months in Libya (studying its fauna) and know how bad the regime was and I am certainly happy that his rule ended. Congratulations to the Libyan people. But we must be cautious. The US government considers this its first victory in getting a government moved from an erratic despotic western stooge to a government that will be (at least they hope) more reliably dominated and subjugated. My inside information tells me that they hope Syria would be next so that it will be two for two: Egypt and Tunisia changing from pro-US/Israel to perhaps a democracy (which would mean against US and Israeli interests) vs. Libya and Syria changing from unpredictable western allies to more predictable western puppets (not democracies). Let us not forget that Bashar Assad (and before him his father) and Gaddafi were not bastions of support for Arab causes. After all, both had close CIA ties and were more than happy to receive and torture prisoners captured by US forces (a process known as rendering which was never stopped under the Obama administration). The Syrian regime was also an ally with the US in the destruction of Iraq (including the genocide of over 1 million civilians).

By US/Israeli calculations, if the Yemeni or Bahraini dictator is toppled first then the score will be 3:1 and they want Syria's dictator first. In their chess game, they are also trying to turn the loss of Tunisia and Egypt into a gain. The US and Israeli governments are meddling in Egypt and Tunisia to stop them from having governments that reflect the will of the people (including the people's will to boycott Israel and stop helping the US/Israeli designs). I think they underestimate the Arab people. In Libya, they believe that Abdul Jalil will stay in his self appointed seat and then open the country (like Iraq) for Western oil exploits, for the US military base (closed in 1969), and establish friendly diplomatic ties with Israel (which already met with the so called national transitional council or NTC). The NTC is talking about elections "maybe in two years" (in other words after they consolidate power and money and can manipulate the system). US lawmakers in congress (prostituting themselves for their AIPAC masters) are talking about Libya and Iraq paying (financially) for their "liberation" and that they expect these countries to have friendly relation with Israel! But there are already voices within Libya and Iraq who say "enough" BS. I think the Arab spring and Arab people will surprise the (Zionist) US foreign policy makers. Democracy is coming. Stay tuned.

PS: A note to my Kurdish friends and people with contacts in Kurdish areas of Iraq and Turkey: you do have a right to freedom and self determination but please do not (continue to) accept the recently offered support of the regimes in Damascus and Tel Aviv (both regimes have no future in the new democratic Middle East).

** For examples on Gaddafi's CIA ties see

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/03/libya-cia-gaddafi-intelligence_n_947764.html http://rt.com/news/ibyan-intelligence-cia-relations/

(Recall Saddam Hussain's similar CIA ties)

A Living Movement: Toward a World of Peace, Solidarity, and Justice: Joint Conference of the Peace & Justice Studies Association (PJSA) and the Gandhi King Conference. Hosted by the Christian Brothers University, Memphis, TN, October 21-23, 2011

http://www.gandhikingconference.org/node/30

http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/conference/

Secret CIA/FBI files of NUMEC nuclear diversions to Israel could aid $170 million toxic cleanup

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111020006146/en

Mandela and Barghouthi

2011-10-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

قرائة مقارنة لكتب أسرى سياسيين : نيلسون مانديلا ومروان البرغوثي

مداخلة د. مازن قمصية

قرأت السيرة الذاتية لنيلسون مانديلا منذ سنوات عديدة. عنوانها "المسيرةالطويلة إلى الحرية" لأنها كُتبت بعد انتهاء نظام الفصل العنصري. كتاب مروان ليسسيرة ذاتية لأنها ملاحظات دقيقة عن فترة معينة ومسيرته ومسيرة شعبنا إلى الحرية مازالت مستمرة. العنوان "ألف يوم في زنزانة العزل الانفرادي" يشير إلى جزءمن الصراع. نحن ننتظر نهاية الطريق الى الحرية ونتلهف لقرائة كتاب فلسطيني بمثلهذا التاريخ لجنوب إفريقيا .

يكرس الكاتب كتابه لزوجته وأطفاله، وإلى الشعب الفلسطيني، وإلى العالم العربيوالإسلامي، ولجميع الذين يكافحون ويقاومون الاحتلال والاستعمار، وإلى زملائهالسجناء. بالمثل مانديلا ذكر عائلته، وشعبه، والسجناء السياسيين الآخرين.

البرغوثي يتذكر حياته في قريته كوبر حيث عمل وأحب ألأرض الخصبة. مانديلا أيضا يذكربدايته الريفية في قرية صغيرة تدعى مفيزو حيث كان راع وحرث وأحب الأرض الخصبة. ولكن تجد تجد بلدهما الكبيرة (فلسطين أو جنوبإفريقيا) في كل فقرة.

كلاهما إهتم بالتعلم والثقافة وقرائةالكتب. إلتحق مروان في جامعة بيرزيت عام1983 ولكن نظرا إلى المنفى وعوامل أخرى لها علاقة بالمقاومة فقد أنهى البكالوريوسفقط في عام 1994 (في التاريخ والعلوم السياسية). وحصل على درجة الماجستير فيالعلاقات الدولية في عام 1998. قاد كل من مانديلا والبرغوثي حركات شبابية ودفعواثمنها في الصغر.

مانديلا مثل البرغوثي يكتب بالتفصيل عن السجن لفترات طويلة، عن التعذيب وسوء المعاملة،عن المقاومة، وعن كل ما تتوقعه من الذين خاضوا هذه التجارب. . كلاهما إتهمهمالنظام بقيادة مجموعات مقاومة مسلحة.

مانديلا مثل البرغوثي يقول انه يُعاقبليس لما فعله بل لما يمثل.

في هذه الكتابات تشاهد سمة رئيسية مشتركة للأسرى السياسيين: تواضع عظيم. على الرغممن أن بعض منا يعتبرهم قادة فهم أنفسهم ينظروا لدورهم كجنود وأفراد عاديين. انهملا يرفعوا أنفسهم فوق الآلاف الذين يكافحون من أجل الحرية. البرغوثي يصف تعرضهللضرب على أعضائه التناسلية ويفقد وعيه وفي وقت لاحق يستيقظ ليجد شرخ في رأسه منالسقوط وضرب جدار الاسمنت تاركا علامة دائمة. ولكن على الفور بعد وصفه هذا يقول (ص 21) أن هذا هو مجرد مثال على ما تعرض لهعشرات الآلاف من النشطاء. هذا الكتاب يعج بمواقف وتضحيات الآخرين وربما ذكر كاتبناأسرى من فصائل أخرى أكثر من ذكره لأسرى من فتح. بالنسبه له القضية واحدة. ومن هناتزيد قناعته بأهمية الوحدة الوطنية.

في منتصف الخمسينات وضع مانديلا خطة إنشاء هيكلية مركزية لحزب المؤتمر الوطنيالافريقي وأ قنع زملائه القادة على اعتمادها. تعتمد الخطة على تشكيل خلايا قاعديةعلى مستوى ومنها تخرج قيادات على مستويات وسط وتضمن السرية ومستوى من الديمقراطيةوالعملية. البرغوثي أيضا عمل كقيادي ولكنه لا يذكر عمله التنظيمي. يمكن إستنتاجبعض الأمور مثلا عندما يتحدث كيف أنه لم يكن راضيا عن كيف كانت تمر القرارات فيعهد الرئيس عرفات. ينتقد البرغوثي بطريقة بنائة القيادات الفلسطينية (مثلا سماحها للفاسدين).مع نقده الواضح فهنالك ولاء البرغوثيلياسر عرفات رغم كل العقوبات والإغرائات له للتخلي عن أبو عمار.

البرغوثي ومانديلا يتحدثان عن الحرب النفسية بما في ذلك لعبة المحقق الجيد والمحققالسيئ وطرق أخرى لكسر إرادة الأسير. البرغوثي يتحدث عن مدى أهمية الزيارات التيقام بها محاميه لكسر عزلته وجعله يشعر بصلة للحياة خارج السجن. مانديلا يشير أيضاإلى رفع المعنويه التي تلقاها بمعرفة أن الشعبيدعم المقاومة ويدعم الأسرى.

البرغوثي يصف الحبس الانفرادي بالموت البطيء (ص 81) ومانديلا يذكر "السنواتالسوداء". البرغوثي كتب عن الكثير من الوقت للتفكير في السجن وذكر أفكارهبالتفصيل من شعوره بالتضامن مع جميع المضطهدين والمظلومين في جميع أنحاء العالمإلى فقر البرمجة في التلفزيون الفلسطيني (عندما سمح للقناة في السجون). يتحدث عنشغفه بقراءة الكتب ويتحدث عن حبه لعائلته. يتحدث عن تحرير المرأة ويتحدث عن تعلماللغات في السجن. أفكار مانديلا في السجن تناولت قضايا مماثلة.

البرغوثي يتحدث عن كيف أن القيادة الفلسطينية لم ترقى إلى مستوى التحدي أو نضالوتطلعات وتضحيات واحتياجات الشعب. ويتحدث عن كيف وضعت الولايات المتحدة والدول الغربيةضغوطا كبيرة على عرفات. في نهاية المطاف تم تعيين السيد محمود عباس رئيسا للوزراء.وفقا لبرغوثي عباس كان معروفا بمواقفه ضد المقاومة (ص 156).

البرغوثي يقول في الصفحة 148 أن إسرائيل قادرة على هزيمة زعيم معين أو فصيل أومجموعة من الناس ولكن لا تستطيع أن تهزم إرادة الشعب الفلسطيني. ويقول في عدةمواقع أن المقاومة في جميع أنواعها ضرورة للنجاح في تحقيق أهدافنا الجماعية فلا بدمن زيادة كلفة الاحتلال والاستعمار وحتى جعله لا يطاق حتى يتراجع.

البرغوثي يتحدث عن إستمرار نشاطاته السياسية في السجن. ويعطي أمثلة عدة من بينها إتفاقوقف اطلاق النار للفصائل الفلسطينية الذي طُبق في 19 ديسمبر 2001 عشية زيارة المبعوث الأمريكي الجنرال أنتوني زيني. واستمروقف اطلاق النار التي لمدة شهر تقريبا حتى اغتيال اسرائيل للشهيد رائد الكرمي.

البرغوثي يذكر أن اختطاف ابنه القسام كان مؤلما . رسالته الى ابنه أخذت 30 صفحه منالكتاب (أي 15%)! هذه الرسالة الفريدة تذكر تاريخ فلسطين ، وتاريخ النضال ، وتاريخالحركة ألأسيرة وأكثر من ذلك بكثير. ومن تواضع الكاتب أنه يعتذر لأننا لم ننجح أننجنب جيل القسام ما مر به جيل أبو القسام. هذه الرسالة تعكس أيضا مشاعر ومواقف البرغوثي فيفترات رئيسية من حياته. كيف شعر عندما ولد ابنه بينما هو في السجن. كيف بنى علاقةمع زوجته على الرغم من كونه رجل مطلوب أو سجين لسنوات عديدة (لغاية الآن 17 سنة). هذه الرسالة المفصلة تذكر التواريخوالأحداث والمناطق المحيطة بها وتضع القارئ (ابنه ونحن) في تلك الظروف. يتذكر وفاةوالده 5 أغسطس 1985 ويتحدث عن آلام كثيرة. ويقول أن الاستجوابات والتعذيب والحبسالانفرادي كانت نفسيا أقل صدمة من نفيه إلى الأردن في أواخر الثمانينات (ألمالمنفى بعيدا عن وطنه). ولكنه يقول انه بعد انضم عائلته إليه في المنفى وجد حياة أسريةتساعده في تخطي المرحلة الصعبة. الرسالة تنتهي مع توصيات يعطيها لابنه مثل أي والديعطي لابنه. ولكن هنا توصيات حول ممارسة الرياضة في السجن، وحول قراءة الكتب ،وتعلم اللغات ، والحفاظ على علاقات ودية مع زملائه السجناء.

هنالك فصل حول شريكة حياته وما تعنيهالحياة الزوجيةز

ينتهي الكتاب بفصل حول العملاء في السجونالاسرائيلية مما له دلالته أنه قرر أن يفضح الأساليب الخسيسة للتعاون مع العدو.وبالمثل السيرة الذاتية لمانديلا تتضمن قسما عن الخيانة.

وصف أوليفر تامبو مانديلا بأنه عاطفي، شجاع، صبور، وحساس. أنا لم ألتق مانديلا أو البرغوثيشخصيا ولكن بعد قراءة هذه الكتب يمكنني أن أقول إنني أتفق مع هذه الوصف وأضيف على مانديلا والبرغوثي صفات أخرى: صدق، تواضع،ذكاء، قدرة متفوقة على التعبير .... ويمكن أن أستمر ولكن لضيق الوقت سأترك ذلكللمؤرخين لإعطاء هؤلاء الأبطال ما يستحقونه. معرفة هؤلاء الأشخاص (على الأقل منخلال كتاباتهم) وكتابات الآخرين عنهم تضيف إلى اقتناعنا بأن الحرية أمر لا مفر منهللدول التي لديها مثل هؤلاء الأفراد.

لي الشرف أن أتعرف اليوم على زوجةمروان وأقول لها أنني أرسلت هذه الملاحظات عن الكتاب بالإنجليزية لقائمة ألإيميلالكبيرة كما فعلت عندما كتب زوجك لائحة إتهام لإسرائيل سنة 2002. وصلني العديد منالردود بالتسائل حول ترجمة الكتاب إلى اللغة ألإنجليزية وأرجوا أن يكون هذابالمخطط وأنا مستعد للمساعدة.

وشكرا.

Lessons learned

2011-10-13T02:40:00.001-07:00

In today's email: update of lessons learned in life, demonstration schedule, olive picking, and some news and analysis.

It has been over three years since I returned to Palestine from living in the US for nearly three decades. Those three plus years in Palestine have been truly phenomenal and inspirational. I took time to change and update the lessons I learned from life especially from those three years (and from >30 years of activism). http://www.qumsiyeh.org/lessonslearned/

Weekly Demonstration Schedule:

Thursday 13/10/2011 5:30 in front of Peace Center, prayer vigil for peace

Friday 14/10/2011 12:15, Beit Ola Village Assembly down town

Friday 14/10/2011, 12:15 Sosya in Yatta Assembly at Khallet Saleh Mosque

Friday 12:15 Kufr Qaddoum, Qalqilia

Friday, 14/10/2011, 2:00 PM, demonstrating near racist Israeli colony Anatot http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168276839926053

And of course in Friday Nebi Saleh, Bil’in, Nilin and other locations

Saturday 15/10/2011 13:00 pm Beit Ommar Assembly at Committee residence

OLIVE HARVESTS: There are literally dozens of (solidarity) olive harvest programs around the occupied territories. Here are just two examples.

Joint Advocacy (YMCA/YWCA) with Alternative Tourism Group and the Visit Palestine Program

http://www.atg.ps/print.php?page=olive_picking

http://www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=1066

http://visitpalestine.webs.com/olivepickingoct2011.htm Starting Saturday 15 October

International Solidarity Movement Olive harvest programs

http://palsolidarity.org/2011/10/join-the-2010-olive-harvest-campaign-2/

Tree of Life conferences in NY City; Old Lyme, CT; Hyannis, MA; and shorter versions at Harvard University and Hartford, CT. Info on all of the conferences is on the web-site: www.tolef.org

This shit is got to go (wisdom from a 94-year-old man)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e7RU5BClYc

9/11 Masterminds - Explosive Connections

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3jnFtSElH4

Christianity /Islam Medley (Nesma and Mohammad Dakdouk) - Star Academy 8 Lebanon Prime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7lolwTO77M

Why the elites are in trouble by Chris Hedges

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/why_the_elites_are_in_trouble_20111009/

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Political Prisoners

2011-10-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

It is good news that over 1000 Palestinian political prisoners will be released in a prison swap deal. But there are still thousands of Palestinian political prisoners. This Saturday we will be discussing in our cultural group the new book by Marwan Barghouthi about his life behind bars. He will apparently not be part of this prisoner exchange deal neither will Ahmed Saadat of PFLP nor other key leaders. For English readers on this list, I translated my review of Barghouthi's book (originally in Arabic) and included it here. Below that I include some text on prisoners from my book "Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment." Hopefully those two sections will give you some idea about the struggles of political prisoners now in the news. Hopefully, Hamas (which did not get all it wanted but did score a political victory here) and Fatah (which scored a political victory by abandoning the futile US-led bilateral negotiations) could now implement their signed agreements especially on representation in the PNC.

-------------------------------------

Comparing Books by political prisoners: Nelson Mandela and Marwan Barghouthi

Review by Mazin Qumsiyeh

I read Nelson Mandel's inspiring autobiography many years ago. His book was titled "Long Walk to Freedom" because it was done after the end of apartheid. Marwan Barghouthi's book is not an autobiography in that sense because our people's walk to freedom is still ongoing. It is thus titled "One thousand days in prison isolation cell" and refers to a part of the struggle. We indeed look for the day that our political prisoners can write books at the end of the road to freedom.

Barghouthi's book is dedicated to his wife, his children, to the Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic world, to all those who struggle and resist occupation and colonization, and to fellow prisoners. Mandela's book similarly recalls family, people, and fellow political prisoners.

Barghouthi recalls his village life in Kuber with much passion and love in his newest book but you will find the national cause dominate the book. While Kuber is mentioned two or three times, Palestine is mentioned on just about every paragraph. Mandela had a rural beginning in a small village called Mvezo and still retains that love of land. He was a shepherd and ploughed lands. He dreamed of becoming a lawyer and was like Barghouthi interested in learning. He enrolled at Birzeit University in 1983 but due to exile and other factors only finished his bachelor in 1994 (in history and political science). In 1998, he got masters in international relations. Both Mandela and Barghouthi led youth movements in their teens and became strong leaders even as they were pursued and jailed.

Mandela like Barghouthi reports on mistreatment, lengthy incarcerations, resisting, and all that you expect from someone who went through such experiences. Mandela like Barghouthi says that it is not what he actually did that he was being punished for but for what he stood for. Both were charged by the respective apartheid regimes of leading armed guerrilla groups.

Through these writings, you see a common characteristic: great humility. They do not elevate themselves above the thousands who struggle for freedom. Even though some of us consider them key leaders, they themselves see their role as foot soldiers. Barghouthi describes being beaten on his private parts and losing consciousness waking later to find a gash on his head from falling and hitting the cement wall. The gash left a permanent mark. But immediately after describing this, Barghouthi merely says (p. 21) that is it is merely a small example of what tens of thousands of activists were subjected to.

In the mid 1950s Mandela devised a plan and convinced fellow ANC leaders to adopt it that created a decentralized structure. Cells are formed at the grassroots level and select among them leadership at intermediate levels which insured secrecy and yet some level of democracy and operational meaning. Barghouthi recalls how he was not happy about Arafat's autocratic structure and especially those around Arafat many of them were corrupt and not dedicated to the Palestinian struggle.

Barghouthi and Mandela speak of psychological warfare including the games of good investigator and bad investigator played to break prisoners' will. A lot of what he says about mistreatment in prison will not be new to Palestinians alive today. Most Palestinians above age 30 have tasted at least some of these pains. Of course Barghouthi suffered more than most Palestinian males his age.

Barghouthi talks about how critical the visit by his lawyer was to break his isolation and makes him feel connected to life outside the prison. Mandela also refers to the psychological boost received by knowing that people outside continue the struggle and care about the freedom of political prisoners.

Barghouthi states on page 130 how in prison you have lots of time to think. He recalls these thoughts in detail and they range from his feelings of solidarity with all persecuted and oppressed people around the world to poor programming on Palestinian television (when the channel was allowed in prisons). Barghouthi speaks about his passions like reading books. He speaks of his love for his family. He speaks of women liberation. He speaks of learning languages in jail. The thoughts of Mandela in jail also dealt with similar issues. Barghouthi describes solitary confinement as "slow death" (p. 81). Mandela calls them the "dark years".

Barghouthi speaks about how the US and western positions put significant pressures on Arafat and that finally, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas was appointed prime minister. Abbas, according to Barghouthi, was known for his positions against resistance (p. 156). In one section he talks about how leadership did not rise to the challenge or match the enormous struggle, aspirations and needs of the people.

Barghouthi says on page 148 that Israel can defeat a particular leader or faction or group of people but cannot defeat the will of the Palestinian people. On the next page he articulates beautifully why resistance in all its types is so critical to success in achieving our collective goals. The cost of occupation and colonization must be made unbearable or at least more than the benefit from it for Israel to back off.

Barghouthi speaks about how his political actions did not stop in jail. He gives several examples including the Palestinian factions observing a cease fire that started 19 December 2001 on the eve of the visit by American envoy General Anthony Zinni. That cease fire lasted for nearly a month but was broken by Israel's assassination of Ra'ed Karmi.

Barghouthi recalls that one of the more painful episodes was the abduction of his son Qassam. His letter to his son takes 30 pages of the book! It is an amazing letter that recalls the history of Palestine, the history of struggle, the history of the prisoner movement and much more. But the letter also reflects on feelings and attitude of Barghouthi himself in key periods of his life. How he felt when his son was born while he is in jail. How he built a relationship with his wife despite being a man spending most of his life either on the run or in jail. It is very detailed mentioning dates and events and surroundings that put the reader (his son and us) in those circumstances. He recalls the death of his father 5 August 1985. He talked about his biggest pains (which were not the interrogations, torture or solitary confinement) but when he was exiled to Jordan in the late 1980s. Yet he also says that after his family joined him in exile from the homeland, the family life alleviated the pain of exile from his homeland. The letter ends with recommendations he gives to his son like any father gives to his son. But here the recommendations are about exercising, reading books, learning languages, and keeping friendly relations with fellow prisoners.

The book finishes with a section about his wife and a final section about collaborators in Israeli jails. It is significant that he decided to conclude with detailed exposure of the despicable methods of collaborations. Similarly, Mandela's autobiography includes a section on treason.

Oliver Tambo described Mandela as passionate, fearless, impatient and sensitive. I never met either Mandela or Barghouthi personally but after reading these books, I can say that I agree not only with these adjectives applied to Mandela and Barghouthi but I can think of many others: humble, honest, intelligent, articulate, and I can go on but I will leave that to historians to give people their due. But knowing such people at least through their writings and writings of others about them adds to our conviction that freedom is inevitable to nations that have such individuals.

---------------------------

Prison struggles in the book "Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and empowerment"

In this book I discuss the efforts for release of political prisoners that started in the 1920s when the women movement in Palestine succeeded in gaining release of three prisoners (Chapter 6). In chapter 7, we find that "On 17 May 1936, prisoners in Nur Shams prison declared a strike and confronted the prison guards who ordered soldiers to open fire. One inmate was killed and several wounded as prisoners shouted in defiance: ‘Martyrdom is better than jail’.(ref) On 23 May 1936, Awni Abdel Hadi, secretary general of the Arab Higher Committee, was arrested.(ref)…. On 9 September 1939, fighters took over Beersheba government facilities and released political prisoners from the central jail."

When the British government felt more confident in 1942-43 about the prospects of winning the war, it released some Palestinian political prisoners and allowed others to return from exile. Attempts to revive political activity during this period were nugatory. Awni Abdel Hadi returned from exile in 1943 and revived Hizb Al-Istiqlal, with help from Rashid Alhaj Ibrahim and Ahmed Hilmi Abdel Baqi, and even started a national fund."

In other section sof the book, I discussed the struggle of Palestinains inside the Green Line, many of them ended in jail as political prisoners. Like Palestinains in the West Bank and Gaza, they supported their political prisonesr and struggled for their release. The struggle in the occupied territories continued. When Israel introduced extensions of so-called ‘administrative detention’ (detention without trial) for up to six months, a strike among Palestinian political prisoners started 11 July 1975.

Political prisoners in Israeli jails also organised themselves into effective committees [during the uprising of 1987] which carried out collective strikes which were especially effective in the 1980s and early 1990s.36 King interviewed Qaddourah Faris (from Fatah) who was a key leader of the prisoner movement. He talked about a successful hunger strike for humane treatment that involved 15,000 prisoners throughout Israeli jails.(ref) In 1990, Israel held over 14,000 Palestinian prisoners in more than 100 jails and detention centres at one time according to Middle Rights Watch.(ref) Even Israeli supporters like Anthony Lewis became outraged enough to write:

"The Israeli Government has taken thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza into what it calls ‘administrative detention.’ That means they are held as prisoners, for up to six months at a stretch, without trial. At least 2,500 of the detainees are imprisoned in Ketziot, a tent camp in the burning heat of the Negev desert. On Aug. 16 Israeli soldiers shot and killed two of-the detainees there … The story had further grim details that I shall omit because they cannot be confirmed ... The prisoners at Ketziot, it must be emphasised, have not been convicted of doing anything. They have had not a semblance of due process. They are there because someone in the Israeli Army suspects them – or wants to punish them. Mr. Posner went to Ketziot to see two Palestinian lawyers being held there and four field investigators for a West Bank human rights group, Al Haq. He concluded that they had been detained because of ‘their work on human rights and as lawyers."(ref)

On 6 December 1998, during President Clinton’s visit, over 2,000 political prisoners went on hunger strike demanding to be released. Their message to both the Israeli and Palestinian leadership was not to negotiate issues that do not place their release on the agenda.

In September 1988, the Israeli army stated that the number of detainees it held was 23,600 and Peter Kandela reported cases of the use of torture on detainees.94 After the Oslo Accords many thousands of Palestinians were released. But many thousands more were imprisoned in the uprising that started in 2000. In total, over 700,000 Palestinians spent time in Israeli jails. On occasion, nearly 20 per cent of the political prisoners were minors.95

Political prisoners in Israeli jails also participated in non-violent resistance. Israel radio reported on a hunger strike by prisoners in the camps of Jenin, Ramallah and Nablus, who demanded improvement in their deplorable conditions in 1987.96 Al-Ansar prison in southern Lebanon, where thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese political prisoners were held by Israeli occupation forces, showed incredible acts of resistance and resilience, ranging from hunger strikes to refusal to obey orders to writing.97

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners went on a hunger strike from 15 August to 2 September 2004. During this time, the Israeli authorities tried various methods from persuasion to threats to beatings to break the strike; 13 UN agencies operating in the occupied areas expressed their concern.98

Outside the prisons, Palestinians and internationals protested and worked diligently to spread the word about the prisoners’ demands and their plight. It started with the prisoners’ families, many of whom joined the hunger strike. Crowds assembled on 16 August 2004 outside local offices of the Red Cross and marched to the Gaza headquarters of the United Nations where they delivered a letter addressed to Secretary General Kofi Annan, calling for him to apply pressure on Israel and improve the prisoners’ conditions. They demonstrated again in the thousands two days later.99 The PA, Palestinians inside the Green Line and the ISM called for hunger strikes outside the prisons to support the prisoners’ demands.100 The strike slowly gained momentum despite repressive measures.101 Israel’s Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi stated: ‘Israel will not give in to their demands. They can starve for a day, a month, even starve to death, as far as I am concerned’102 Eventually, the prison authorities conceded that the prisoners were entitled to some basic humanitarian rights.

Palestinian female political prisoners in Telmud Prison were mistreated and on 28 November 2004 their spokeswomen who complained about this was beaten and punished. When others complained, they too were punished, so they too went on hunger strike.103

Prisoners continued to use hunger strikes to protest against ill treatment and draw attention to their plight. For example, on 16 February 2006, Jamal Al-Sarahin died in prison. He was a 37-year-old ‘administrative detainee’ (held without charge or trial) who had been detained for eight months and badly mistreated. Prisoners called a one-day hunger strike.104

On 11 March 2006, a sit-down strike in front of the ICRC in Hebron was held to demand better treatment of prisoners. On 27 June 2006, 1,200 Palestinian political prisoners in the Negev Desert started a hunger strike to protest against the arbitrary and oppressive practices of the prison administration. In total, over 700,000 Palestinians have spent time in Israeli jails and the latest statistics show that 11,000 are still being held according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.105

By 2009, Palestinians in Israeli prisons had achieved a number of successes by non-violent struggle and civil disobedience, including wearing civilian clothes (no orange uniforms), access to news, reasonable visiting rights and better access to healthcare. But the Prison Administration continues to chip away at those rights.106 Unfortunately, the PA is forced to subsidise the cost to Israel of maintaining Palestinian prisoners.

Because so many people are jailed for their resistance activities, Palestinian society has a profound respect and appreciation for the sacrifices of the prisoners. Time spent in prison is considered a badge of honour. Prisons also shape character. One former prisoner stated:

Like any human community, there are contradictions, but there is a common thread in the experience in prison that gives us strength, a common goal, a common purpose. We are joined together in struggle, so our shared experiences only make us stronger.107

(Excerpts from the book: "Popular Resistance in Palestine" by Mazin Qumsiyeh, Pluto Press, Available in Arabic from Muwatin, Ramallah).

The Great Book Robbery

2011-10-09T12:05:00.001-07:00

Comment on http://thegreatbookrobbery.org/

Colonial history is a history of attack on native people and everything associated with them. It is an attempt not only to erase the people but to erase their memory. No other colonial system developed as many tools to achieve this erasure than Zionism. Zionsits used the classic brute force forms of ethnic cleansing where 530 villages and towns were depopulated and destroyed. Today more than 7 million of us Palestinains are refugees or displaced people. Zionists also deployed all available tools from linguistics (erasing place names and creating new ones), to history/archeology (distorting and lying about history of an indigenous people while creating a fake history to justify zionism), to communication (planting agents in amin stream media to propagate the mythologies), to urban and rural social engineering to transform the ancient landscape.

Part of this tsunami of destruction was the looting of Palestinian culture and property. Israeli airlines even used Palestinain embroidery designs for ethir crews in the early 1950s. They expropriated even food so that falafel and hummus became "Israeli foods." But as a professor who have spent all his life among books, I found the looting of Palestinain books as particularly troubling. Ofcourse Israel looted the land, the houses, the factories, eth farms, and everying inside of those to create the "Jewish state" (see for example http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story680.html ). But books hold a special meaning for us educated Palestinians. We believe that the essence of a modernized people lie in the books they read. Before 1948, Palestine had a vibrant cultural scene with Jaffa, Jerusalem, and Haifa (together with Cairo and Beirut) being great cultural and academic centers for the Arab world. Local publishers in fact published just as many books in Palestine as in Beirut in the first half of the 20^th century. In that period, Palestinian politicians used to be the highest educated class in society. Leaders from families like Al-Khalidi, Husseini, and AbdulHadi took pride in their private libraries. My own grandfather taught me that money comes and goes but a decent book purchased and read provides priceless life changing habits. He himself authored several books and provided me with a role model for that. As such, I feel pain when I recall people pushed out of their lands and then their property stolen and labeled "abanoned property". This is such a horrible name since no one abandons their property. It is and remains stolen. I believe Palestine will eventually be free and refugees will return to tehir homes and lands. They will also return so that this generation can reclaim the books of our grandparents. As we dust and open those books, the hidden history will come to life and the the years of pain and exile will slowly recede into memories. New knowledge will be built upon this old knowledge and this will help shape the Palestine of the future.

Steve Jobs, Palestinians steps and more

2011-10-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Inthis week’s digest, further tree uprooting and destruction in Walaja, upcomingFriday Demonstrations, the death of Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple and son ofa Syrian immigrant to America), home demolitions increased five folds, Israelpolice turning a blind eye to lynching, "anti-Semitism" in the occupyWall street movement, where did Palestine come from, and two opinion pieces(one on biology of religion and one on the Palestinians next move).

Themedia, the Palestinian political leadership, and the public is not rising tothe challenge as life is destroyed. A good example is the village ofAl-Walaja: this week another 100 olive and other trees were uprooted by theIsraeli apartheid system just before the olive harvest season begins nextweek. See here some comparison pictures (pictures taken on 28.09 andthen 03.10 of the same area):

http://chroniquespalestine.blogspot.com/2011/10/al-walaja-village-is-dying-al-walaja-un.html

morepictures can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/sets/72157602013963483/

Anotherexample is the lack of media attention to the thousands of political prisonersillegally held by Israel. Many prisonersare engaged now in a hunger strike after Israel removed some of their basicrights. So join us for Friday gatherings, vigils and demonstrations inseveral villages with emphasis on the issue of Palestinian political prisonersand land destruction. Gather after Friday Prayers 12:30 in front ofmosques in Al-Walaja (Bethlehem District), Susya (Yatta area, Hebron District),Nebi Saleh, Ni'lin, Bil'in (Ramallah District) among others. Join usalso Saturday at 1 PM in Beit Ommar.

Iused computers since 1979 at the University of Connecticut and I bought myfirst Apple IIe computer in 1984 shortly after Time Magazine declared thecomputer as machine of the year in place of its "person of the year".Since then I have been an Apple computer fan. The death yesterday ofSteve Jobs, a cofounder of Apple was sad for me. He was born in SanFrancisco to Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian immigrant and JoanneSchieble. His parents separated and he was put up for adoption andwas adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs (née Hagopian, Armenian). Unlike others who connectto tribalism, Jobs believed in humanity and wanted to show that he, anindividual can achieve by shedding any cultural and religious baggage. He stated thatpeople should never stop learning and should voraciously open their minds tonew ideas. Here is Steve telling stories about Connecting the Dots, Love andLoss, and Death:

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/06/life-lessons-steve-jobs-on-steve-jobs/?hpt=hp_bn1

Demolitionsby Israel increase fivefold, says new UN report: Inthe first six months of 2011, OCHA reports that the Israeli authoritiesdemolished 342 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C, including 125residential “structures,” displacing a total of 656 Palestinians, including 351children — almost five times as many demolitions and people displaced as duringthe first half of 2010.

http://electronicintifada.net/content/demolitions-israel-increase-fivefold-says-new-un-report/10290#.Tor3duw7YrA

Israelpolice turned a blind eye to a lynching: Whathappened at the entrance to the settlement of Anatot was apogrom, a lynching. Media outlets that don't see fit to report a pogrom of thismagnitude are partners in the policy, or the sins of omission, of abandonment.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-police-turned-a-blind-eye-to-a-lynching-1.387997

Oncharges of anti-Antisemitism in the "Occupy Wall Street Movement"

http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=8&p=81981&s2=03

Note:In my upcoming book about life and activism in the USA, I go in detailabout how Zionists tried (many times successfully) to infiltrate all leftistand peace movements in the US to prevent any criticism of their beloved idols(Zionism and Israel). To be with these movements, they can talkabout repression everywhere in eth world and about economic or otherexploitation at home but Israel becomes a taboo subject. And whenlogic cannot work for them, they hurl the change of anti-Semitism, the weaponof last resort (sometimes first resort) to try to scare good meaning activists.But the trend in history is now clear and this will no longer work becauseZionism is the antithesis of universal humanism and basic human rights (as Idiscussed in detail in my 2004 book "Sharing the Land of Canaan").

TheDepartment of Corrections: Ben Hur, the LA Times and a place called Palestine

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/09/the-department-of-corrections-ben-hur-the-la-times-a-place-called-palestine.html

Opinion:Science and religion-- God didn't make man; man made god. In recentyears scientists specializing in the mind have begun to unravel religion's"DNA." J. Anderson Thomson and Clare Aukofer

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/18/opinion/la-oe-thompson-atheism-20110718

Opinion:The Palestinians' Next Move by Prof. Rashid Khalidi

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-palestinians-next-move-5959

MazinQumsiyeh, PhD

http://qumsiyeh.org