Land Day, attacks, and more

Tomorrow, we commemorate Land Day throughout Palestine and around the world. Below is a small section from my book “Popular Resistance in Palestine” about the history of Land Day.  In Palestine, the uprising is building momentum despite efforts by Israeli officials and some Palestinian officials to suppress it and/or distort its message (which is about a reconstitution of a Palestinian National Council to represent all 12 million Palestinians).

For us, missing these events at home while on the speaking tour is hard.  Just in the last two weeks, the Israeli regime passed two more apartheid laws (banning Nakba commemorations and punishing activists who speak about BDS), the occupation forces murdered over 20 Palestinains, confiscated tractors of four farmers in Jiftlick, arrested scores of Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals engaged in nonviolent resistance, others were beaten, and we missed several peaceful events including the one tomorrow a march for Rachel Corrie (Wednesday at 1 PM in Babzqaq, Bethlehem).

But this tour is important: three countries, 16 USA states, over 80 events in 5 weeks (for the remaining schedule, see www.qumsiyeh.org/upcomingevents/) .  To show you just a sample of how it is making a difference, please see these two stories one before my appearance and one after it and also on  the comments posted below the articles. It is instructive:

Article before: Litchfield Chabad rabbi leads protest against library's hosting of Arab speaker

http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2011/03/23/news/doc4d8920bbb8ad4354489828.txt

Article after: Human rights author presents book talk at Oliver Wolcott Library in Litchfield (with video)

http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2011/03/25/news/doc4d8c206ea35f1849023906.txt

We are still looking for more organizations and individuals in different countries to help with the summer project to bring Internationals to Palestine (email me and seehttp://palestinejn.org for details)

Pages from Qumsiyeh’s book about Land Day March 30:

“Away from politics, grassroots efforts were functioning. The increased mobilization among Palestinians inside the Green Line took a dramatic and bold step forward with a large meeting in August 1975 in Nazareth attended by 110 individuals to defend the land. At this meeting, a committee was selected, headed by Anees Kardoush, to prepare for an even larger meeting. This meeting, held in October 1975, included about 5,000 activists from many factions and created the Committee for Defense of the Land (Lajnat Al-Difa’ ’An Al-Aradi) with 100 members and an eleven-member secretariat. It began by protesting against the confiscation of 22,000 dunums in the Galilee and the declaration of an even larger parcel of land belonging to three villages (in the Al-Mil area) as closed military zones, with the intention of building nine Jewish settlements in this closed zone. A meeting was held in Nazareth on March 6, 1976. This included 48 heads of municipalities and local village councils and called for a day of protests and strikes on March 30, 1976 should Israel go ahead with its land confiscation policies. When it appeared the strike would take place, many areas outside of the Galilee joined it, including in the West Bank.11 This became known as ‘Land Day’ throughout Palestine. The events actually started on March 29, when a demonstration against the Israeli army’s provocative mobilizations in the village of Deir Hanna. Later that evening, the village of Araba Al-Batoof demonstrated in solidarity and a young man, Khair Muhammad Yassin, was killed by Israeli soldiers. He was the first martyr of the 1976 Land Day. More martyrs fell over the next 24 hours. The events were well organized and participation was high. The Israeli authorities reacted violently. Many were injured, six nonviolent protesters killed and hundreds arrested. The events coincided with the secret Koening Memorandum which laid out plans for further discrimination and ethnic cleansing to ‘make the Galilee more Jewish’. The Israeli government condemned the leaking of the memorandum, but no government official repudiated its racist content.12 After this successful popular event, differences arose that weakened the organizing committee and yet, the movement continues strongly to this day.13”

ACTION in Britain through PSC: ask supermarkets not to aid companies profiting from colonial occupation http://psc.iparl.com/lobby/65

Breaking the Silence: One of hundreds of testimonies; this one about shooting at anyone on roofs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49ReWkvOk5U

Liberated Libya Rejects US Intervention

"I shall not hate" and more

Israel apartheid week with events in over 100 cities around the world is going great (see http://apartheidweek.org/).  I participated already in some of the events and will join others (see my schedule at http://www.qumsiyeh.org/upcomingevents/). Events are packed and the opposition is not able to mobilize even among Zionist Jews in America.  The few Zionists holdouts are getting smaller in number though they still try to do some damage by attacking and insulting people.   Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun had his house attacked by extremist Zionists for the third time.  The reason this time is the award Tikkun made to Richard Goldstone of South Africa. But the geopolitical shift is happening and is unstoppable. People around the world decried the shameful behavior of Hilary Clinton and the Obama administration support of the Saudi invasion of Bahrain (intended to save a murderous dictatorial regime)

The many workshops on Palestine at the Left Forum are filled with Jewish and other voices speaking for human rights and against the apartheid system (nearly 3000 are attending here in New York, see http://www.leftforum.org/).

In other good news, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated (inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere) demanding elections to the Palestinian national council and real unity for Palestinian rights.  Both Hamas and Fatah tried unsuccessfully to co-opt the message of the demonstrators (most not affiliated with ANY Palestinian faction) who promised to up the pressure. (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12742761).

On the road, we met so many new people who are becoming involved in activism for human rights and justice. But travel also gives us time to read and reflect while on the many planes, trains etc. I finished reading the book ”I shall not hate” by Dr. Izzeldine Abueleish on the trip from Cleveland to Philadelphia.  It is a remarkable book about his life and about the murder of his three daughtersand his niece, one of the few cases when such tragedy appeared on Israeli television. See this video about the tragedy of this family   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UxJWdCwOpc  In one part of his book, Izzeldine writes ”We have to find the light that guides us to our goal. I’m not talking about the light of religious faith here but light as a symbol of truth.  The light that allows you to see, to clear away the fog- to find wisdom.  To find the light of truth, you have to talk to, listen to, and respect each other. Instead of wasting energy on hatred, use it to open your eyes and see what is really going on.” When I finished the book and arrived in Philadelphia, our hosts Mary and Roger Allen had a book laying out titled “Peace Prayers: Meditations, Affirmations, invocations, poems, and prayers for Peace”.  The first was remarkably this relevant poem by W. H. Auden:

Defenseless under the night

Our world in stupor lies

Yet, dotted everywhere,

Ironic points of light

Flash out wherever the Just

Exchange their messages:

May I, composed like them

Of Eros and of dust,

Beleaguered by the same

Negation and despair,

Show an affirming flame

Examples of other good actions by affirming flames from around the world

Monday is the beginning of Israel apartheid week in Connecticut (USA)

http://mecc.thestruggle.org/iaw2011

Join Birthright unplugged travel July 10-16 in Palestine

http://www.birthrightunplugged.org/unplugged/application

Join the events July 8-16 in Palestine

http://www.palestinejn.org

In Brussels a checkpoint was set up in the middle of town. The actors are very convincing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9JphTB2V_Y&feature=player_embedded#at=234

Belgian activists made a blockade to protest import of Israeli produce by Agrexco!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnC10zFu1rA&feature=player_embedded#at=279

Roger Waters about his decision to respect the call for cultural boycott of Israel :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/11/cultural-boycott-west-bank-wall

Statement by Jewish Activists and Organizations active in BDS against Israel

A Jewish response to the February 2011 Statement of Jewish Zionist Organizations on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)

http://www.ijsn.net/657/

Qatif, Sihat, Safwa and other towns in Saudi Arabia held demonstration to denounce the US-supported Saudi intervention in Bahrain and concomitant massacre of Bahraini citizens.  These demonstrations are not reported on in the controlled western media
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir-Q5NjpEso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm_-Ptymtbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dml8EJW7ehM

My last question is why did Obama choose to begin bombing Libya on 19 March when his predecessor George Bush began bombing Iraq 19 March 2003 (three days after Rachel Corrie was murdered)?  The US and western-supported massacre of civilians continue in Bahrain, Yemen, and other Arab countries.  We are seeing the struggle intensify.  From Sykes-Picot agreements between France and Britain in 1916 and the Balfour and Cambon declarations of  1917 to the hypocricy of the Obama administration, there is a very long record of Western powers working against democracy in the Arab world (and prop-up a racist apartheid regime implanted in the midst of this world).

La luta continua… keep the hope alive….

Silence is complicity.

Israel Apartheid Week/Month

The Israel apartheid events* are already being attacked ahead of the events.  We are now writing from Colorado where we had our first US stop and where the local groups arranged a number of appearances for us to launch the apartheid Month. In three days we have  public lectures at a church, two universities, a bookstore, interview with two radio stations, informal meetings with community leaders, and a meeting with a congressman.  Some anti-Semitic Ashkenazi Zionists have been writing to organizers telling them that we are “anti-Semitic” and sending them the link to the ferociously right-wing and settler supporting and misnamed “Anti-Defamation League” (ADL should be called Arab Defamation League). The link they send is this that includes a serious of quotes from me http://www.adl.org/israel/qumsiyeh/in_his_own_word.asp (I have no problem with the quotes, only that some of them are truncated and out of context).

*For more on the Israeli Apartheid Week events held in over 50 cities worldwide, see http://apartheidweek.org/ and this interesting and rather balanced article in Haaretz about this activityhttp://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/what-does-israeli-apartheid-week-actually-achieve-1.347807

March 15 is Palestine’s moment to join the other struggles in Arab countries gfor freedom and people power.  All Palestinians and their supporters are encouraged to get down to the streets in all cities and towns wherever they occur.  We also demand an end to the West Bank Gaza Split but I personally do not use terms like reconciliation. There are many Palestinian factions on the ground similar to the number of factions that existed in South Africa when it was struggling to end apartheid.  The problem lies in the confusion and damage done by the Oslo process which created a "Palestinian authority" (now 2) without any real authority.  It relieved the pressure on the occupiers by administering people and controlling their anger while really making the occupation cost-free to the occupiers.  I am not big on "reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah" as that implies that they have drifted apart and need to be brought back together.  I think it is just fine that they always had differing political ideologies (like in Europe there are parties with differing political ideologies). Our problems as Palestinian people stem from drifting away from the original charter and goal of our movement (return of refugees, liberation, self-determination) to notions like a state on (part of) the West Bank and Gaza (less tahn 22% of Palestine) or discussing the form of government without reference to letting people decide AFTER liberation and return.  In this, there are trends now to reconstitute the Palestinian National Council to represent all 11 million Palestinians around the world. There is also a growth in popular resistance towards a new uprising (which I discuss in detail in my new book) which like in 1928 has to contend with both Palestinian security forces and colonizer/occupier forces.  But it has succeeded in the past and will succeed again. Our movement is alive, vibrant, and diversified. It is also being helped now internationally with hundreds of thousands of activists engaged in media work and in boycotts, divestments, and sanctions (BDS).  Like in South Africa, apartheid will not succeed.

TV Interview: Nonviolent resistance in Palestine: including interview with Eyad Burnat and Mazin Qumsiyeh http://www.presstv.ir/Program/168468.html

Other scheduled events: http://www.qumsiyeh.org/upcomingevents/

Action: Diamonds are Israel’s single most important export commodity, accounting for over 30% of Israel’s exports in 2008. In evidence to the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Israeli economist Shir Hever stated - “Overall the Israeli diamond industry contributes about $1 billion annually to the Israeli military and security industries ... every time somebody buys a diamond that was exported from Israel some of that money ends up in the Israeli military so the financial connection is quite clear" The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign have been promoting the idea of a boycott of Israeli diamonds for some time.

 A new, closed Facebook working group, GPS (Global Palestine Solidarity),  has just launched a petition calling for a review of the Kimberley Process definition of a conflict or blood diamond so all diamonds that fund human rights violations are included. Cut & polished diamonds, the sector of the industry which Israel dominates, are excluded from the existing definition of a conflict diamond.

 http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/Boycott-Israeli-Blood-Diamonds/

Videos of Sheikh Jarrah demo and arrests:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKPTv5vjTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys31AFf328s

McClatchy, the Sacramento Bee, Darrell Steinberg and Islamaphobia: Denying Nazi-Zionist Collusion By ALISON WEIR http://www.counterpunch.org/weir03042011.html

Join us in Palestine July 8-16 http://palestinejn.org

Jesus Challenged Empire

Today, there was hundreds of confrontations between the power of states (armed to the teeth) with peaceful, unarmed demonstrators in cities like Hebron (Palestine), Tripoli Libya), Faluja (Iraq), Amman (Jordan), Aden (Yemen), Manama (Bahrain), and other places. Hundreds of people were injured, many were killed (especially in Libya).  I joined the large demonstration in the old city of Al-Khalil/Hebron that is commemorating the day 17 years ago when a Jewish settler massacred worshippers in the Haram Ibrahimi (and this racist act was supported by the Israeli authorities because they followed it by expanding the colonial Jewish settlement and restricting Palestinian more (i.e. strengthening racism). Despite attempts by Israeli forces to encircle the city and prevent demonstrators from arriving, over 100 people came from around the west Bank (and many Internationals) to join the over 200-300 local people.  THe Israeli army would not even let us assemble peacefully and started to use tear gas and concussion grenades (some of the gas drifted in the soldier's direction ;-).  A back and forth ensued when demonstrators stood the ground and regrouped to advance again (at least three times). 

I included a short but powerful video from Hebron event today in the second half of this video which also include segments of our demonstration in Bethlehem in support of Egyptian and other Arab people (Feb. 13, note Palestinian security officers tried to stop us) and a demonstration last Friday (Feb. 18) in Al-Ma'sara. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MufoYyA2JjU

Sabeelers, PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY!
Feb 24, 2011
SABEEL CONFERENCE IN BETHLEHEM: JESUS CHALLENGED EMPIRE

Bethlehem, Occupied West Bank -- About 200 international participants have come to Bethlehem for the Eighth Sabeel International Conference. The group gathered at the Bethlehem Hotel under the theme, "Challenging Empire: God, Faithfulness and Resistance." Sabeel is the ecumenical liberation theology center based in Jerusalem.

Dr. Richard Horsley told participants, "Jesus was a Palestinian under imperial rule. Just as the modern state of Israel and other states in the Middle East were the creation of Western colonialism, so the ancient temple-state in Judea" was set up by foreign powers.

Horsley described Jesus as a community organizer working to renew in village communities a commitment to the covenant laws of God. He said, "... all of the Gospels ... portray Jesus as having the same basic agenda, the renewal of the people of Israel in opposition to the Jerusalem and Roman rulers of the people." Jesus' program "tapped into the people's deeply rooted cultural traditions," he said. Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA.

Jesus' commitment to renewal in village communities was strategic, Horsley said. It was "a key component in a strategy of resistance to the rulers, a confrontation of Empire. By restoring their mutual cooperation and solidarity, villagers could resist the further disintegration of their communities." Vulnerable families could be encouraged "not to succumb to the outside forces that would turn them into share-croppers or force them off their ancestral land and out of the village community," he said. "By mobilizing people power and building community solidarity, Jesus' renewal of the covenant also became a form of resistance to the predatory pressures of the Empire," he said.

Horsley pointed to "a new form of Empire, global capitalism." He said, "The transnational megacorporations that constitute this dominant imperial apparatus are far beyond any attempt at regulation (...). The U S still is, or has, an Empire. But it is now interlocking with the new Empire of global capitalism (...) while the US military serves as the enforcer of the New World Order which aids and abets the operation of global capitalism."

Ambassador Hind Khoury told the group Wednesday that they could not be meeting at a more interesting moment in history, "a historical moment for us Palestinians and Arabs, for empire and for the world. While the situation in Palestine has been dramatic for too long, events are now snowballing in front of our eyes planting the seeds of change for the region and forever." Khoury is the former ambassador to France from the Palestinian Authority. She serves on the Sabeel Board of Directors.

Khoury described "the hegemonic grip of the global American empire, with Israel constituting an integral and essential strategic partner" in the Middle East. Disregard for "the human factor" is both shocking and consistent, Khoury said.

"People and values simply do not matter, you walk over them, you crush them, you bombard them, you assassinate them, you deny them a present and a future, and all is legitimate on the altar called the security of the state of Israel," Khoury said.

Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh described "the 13 percent of Bethlehem that is the concentration camp we (Palestinians) are allowed to live in," while the remainder is either zoned restricted or is "illegally annexed." He said, "Israel continues building its Wall, which in Bethlehem is 60-70 percent complete." Qumsiyeh, a professor at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities, addressed "Mapping Empire Today in Palestine and Israel."

"Shedding fear is the most important part of people-power resistance," Qumsiyeh said. "State power requires fear," and it employs "unimaginable" tactics such as demolishing homes six and seven times.

 As for "empire," we have to ask who is behind all this, Qumsiyeh said. "Greed and interests of greed that cannot be ignored. We must understand the biology of the disease we are facing so that we can treat it." Palestinians are facing world powers, not just another state, he said.

"Justice, peace, truth - these are not just words. Leaders blurt them unconsciously. I say as a Palestinian Christian, look to Jesus Christ. He was the first Palestinian martyr. He spoke Aramaic, a precursor to Arabic, and he was killed for acting, not just for saying these words," Qumsiyeh said.

The Rev. Christopher Ferguson, United Church of Canada, said the gospel message "has been grabbed and imperialized, the message of liberation made to destroy and oppress.

Ferguson said, "Freedom is the message of the Jesus movement. Where we stand is resisting empire with the Palestinian people. It is not an optional extra but at the core of our faith and our relationship to God."

The Rev. Mitri Raheb preached at the Wi'am Center, located next to the Separation Wall in Bethlehem. He spoke to the familiar text from the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth," saying it would more correctly be translated, "for they shall inherit the land." Raheb is the pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church and president of the Diyar Consortium in Bethlehem.

"We really think empire will last. Jesus says it will not," Raheb said. "How wise Jesus was. No one of Jesus' time would have imagined that Herod was not here to stay. Jesus tells us through this verse that we are released from the power of empire. Jesus speaks and empire has lost its power over us. We see it in the Arab world in these recent weeks. Young people saw that empire could be shattered. God won't do it alone, only with us."

The Rev. Alison Tomin and Deacon Eunice Attwood, president and vice-president respectively of the Methodist Church in Britain, discussed the process that led to adoption of an important report and resolutions on justice and peace for Palestine and Israel at last summer's Methodist Conference in Portsmouth.

Methodist people should take seriously the deepening of their understanding of issues (here), said Attwood. "They should examine their understanding, though it will bring some discomfort into established Methodist-Jewish discussion groups. The vast majority have decided to face discomfort and face these issues, bringing the possibility for more discussion with other Christians as well as with Muslims," she said.

"Methodists are committed to listening to every voice, but particularly the poorest, the most vulnerable, the oppressed and the most needy," Attwood said.

Thanking the UK Methodists, the Rev. Naim Ateek, director of Sabeel, said Wednesday, "Today if you stand for justice and truth, you will be attacked. Churches suffer from weakness of the prophetic. Israel wants you silent, then you are okay. Once you speak out, immediately you will be attacked. Then the question is: Can you stand? And I thank God for every person who does that."

The Sabeel International Conference continues at the Bethlehem Hotel through Monday, 28 February.
-- 30 --
Reporter: Ann Hafften
Sabeel Media Coordinator: Nicolas Atallah
phone: 0526822443
http://www.sabeel.org/

نشاطات

يتوجه الشباب المنظمون للتظاهرة التي نظمت مساء يوم الجمعة الموافق 18\02\2011، الساعة التاسعة مساءً، على دوار المنارة في مدينة رام الله، بجزيل الشكر والامتنان إلى كل من لبى نداءنا للحضور والاحتجاج السلمي ضد الضغط الأمريكي على منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية لسحب مشروع القرار المقدم منها إلى مجلس الأمن ضد الاستيطان. إن هذا الاحتجاج يعكس مدى معارضة الشعب الفلسطيني للسياسات الأمريكية المنحازة بالكامل للاحتلال الإسرائيلي والتي لطالما غطت على جرائم إسرائيل المستمرة على مدى عقود، ومنها استمرارها في بناء المستعمرات على الأرض الفلسطينية المحتلة، مما يعد جريمة حرب.

إلا أننا نأسف لمحاولة البعض تصوير المظاهرة وكأنها إنجاز لجهة سياسية معينة ولمحاولة توجيه الاحتجاج عنوة ليصبح وكأنه وقفة دعم ومبايعة للقيادة الفلسطينية ولرئيس السلطة الفلسطينية تحديداً، وهو ما لا يعكس أهداف المظاهرة ولا آراء عدد كبير من المتظاهرين الذين انفضوا فور رفع الصور والشعارات الفئوية. نطالب الجميع باحترام رأي الأغلبية بالامتناع عن رفع الشعارات الحزبية في الأنشطة الوطنية العامة والالتزام بالشعارات الوطنية المتفق عليها والتي تخدم قضيتنا وحقوقنا غير القابلة للتصرف.

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المعصرة: عشرات حالات الاختناق بالغاز في المظاهرة الحاشدة في الذكرى 42 لانطلاقة الجبهة الديمقراطية

اصيب اليوم العشرات من المتظاهرين بحالات اختناق شديدة بالغاز أثر قمع قوات الاحتلال للمظاهرة الاسبوعية في المعصرة والتي انطلقت في الذكرى الثانية والاربعين لانطلاق الجبهة الديمقراطية لتحرير فلسطين.

وقد توجه المتظاهرون من أمام مدرسة الزواهرة بالقرية تجاه الاراضي المعزولة خلف الجدار بمشاركة من قبل أعضاء وكوادر الجبهة الديمقراطية لتحرير فلسطين والمتضامنين الدوليين، وحمل المتظاهرون الاعلام الفلسطينية واعلام الديمقراطية وصور نايف حواتمة ورددوا عددا من الهتافات الداعية لانهاء الانقسام واسقاط الاحتلال.

وعند وصول المتظاهرين الاراضي القريبة من الجدار قامت قوات الاحتلال بإلقاء قنابل الغاز والصوت تجاههم، ما أدى أصابة العشرات بحالات اختناق، المتظاهرون بدورهم ردوا بإلقاء الحجارة ودارت اشتباكات بين قوات الاحتلال من جهة والمتظاهرين والمتضامنين الدوليين من جهة أخرى.

وقد نظم المتظاهرون مهرجانا خطابيا بمناسبة انطلاق الجبهة الديمقراطية ، و القى عضو المكتب السياسي في الجبهة الديمقراطية رمزي رياح كلمة أشاد فيها بثورتي مصر وتونس وبالمقاومة الشعبية، كما حيا أهالي المعصرة على مقاومتهم الشعبية داعيا الى ضرورة وقف التفاوض بشكل كامل حتى قيام كيان الاحتلال بتجميد الاستيطان.

وعن اللجان الشعبية في الضفة الغربية القى الدكتور مازن قمصية كلمة تحدث فيها عن ضرورة الارتقاء بالقاومة الشعبية في فلسطين على غرار الثورتين الشعبيتين في مصر وتونس وضرورة أن تنتشر هذه المقاومة لتدخل كل مدينة وقرية ومخيم وشارع.

وعن اللجنة الشعبية في المعصرة القى محمود زواهرة كلمة حيا فيها الجبهة الديمقراطية بمناسبة ذكرى الانطلاقة متمنيا أن تحتفل الجماهير الفلسطينية بهذه الانطلاقة السنة القادمة من القدس.

وقد أدار العرافة المتحدث الاعلامي للحملة الشعبية في بيت لحم محمد بريجية الذي أكد على ضرورة التحرك الشعبي تجاه اسقاط اتفاقيات السلام مع كيان الاحتلال من كامب ديفد الى اوسلو، وضرورة أن تعود الشعوب العربية لمكانتها وتأخذ دورها التاريخي خاصة الاشقاء في مصر.

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 قصر مملوء بسرقات الرئيس بن علي المخلوع
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5zcoY_YfDw
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نشاطات

-الخميس 24/2 الساعع الخامسة  جماعة الباب الثقافية الأدبية مناقشة رواية "رائحة الزمن العاري" للروائية الجليلية هيام مصطفى قبلان وقراءات شعرية للشاعرة الجليلية آمال عواد رضوان من ديوانها "رحلة إلى عنوان مفقود. بيت ساحور

-الجمعة الموافق 25/2: بعد صلاة الجمعة تظاهرة حاشدة سلمية لفتح شارع الشهداء في الخليلwww.youthagainstsettlements.org/

--الجمعة الموافق 4/3: بعد صلاة الجمعة تظاهرة حاشدة ومسيره سلمية في الولجة. للمعلومات شيرين 0522054595

Video of Ethhnic Cleansing and more

The global Intifada events are accelerating.  Tunisia is asking Saudi Arabia to extradite ex-President Bin Ali to stand trial for serious crimes including consipracy to murder and theft of public money.  The Egyptian people continue to push for more changes and for real democracy even as there is now moves to freeze billions of stolen assets.  Neither of the two countries developed in the direction of civil war or have evolved into a theocracy as their ex-dictators and Zionist leaders have claimed would happen.  The Bahraini ruling family of thugs which normalized with Israel are now claiming their detractors are funded from Iran. The lunatic Libyan leader's son came on Libyan TV in a rambling speech threatening the Libyan people with even more massacres as his airplanes bombed protesters and his goons cut off all land and wireless commnications (Qaddafi ruled with an iron fist for 40 years).  But the people of Libya have already liberated many areas including most of the city of Benghazi and they are now in heated battles in the capital Tripoli. Already many units in the army defected and two jets landed in Malta after tehir pilots refused to obey orders of bombing civilians.  In Yemen, the 30 year dictator Saleh (a close ally of the US) is under siege. All these brutal dictators blamed everyone and everything from their supposedly ignorant public to "foreign" TV stations.   The great sacrifices of the Egyptian, Tunisian, Bahraini, Libyan and other Arab people inspire and humble many of us.  We go out and demonstrate in the streets where we live (and everyone should do that).  But we must do much more if we are to live with our conscience.  Each of us can do far more than what we are doing.  Writing to media, writing to politicians, civil disobedience in our cities, and 101 ways that we can show that we are one people called humanity and that this global uprising must be supported and must lead to giving us, the people, collectively the power over ouer own lives.  Human rights and democracy are basic demands.

More repercussions came of the US veto at the UN against the wishes of the rest of their world (a veto of its own language also!).  The US and Israel are increasingly isolated and are left as spectators as geopolitics is reworked.  By this veto, the US administration now solidified its reputation for hypocrisy in the Arab world and more people will rise against the dictators beholden to US-Israeli policies. With Egypt and Tunias down, there are 20 to go.  We pointed out 20 years aho this hypocricy was evident when the US formed a coalition to attack Iraq and liberate Kuwait but continued to pump billions of dollars annualy to Israel which occupied other people's lands for decades and refused to comply with International law (e.g. on the return of Palestinian refugees). But now the whole world sees it.  The unbalanced Oslo accords are dead and more and more Palestinians are vocally demanding a reconstitution of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) to represent all 11 million Palestinians and to start preparation for massive movements by the millions to end our repressive colonial apartheid regime.

Actions in Palestine

-Thursday 24/2/2011 at noon: Palestinian NGO network (PNGO) representing over 80 NGOs in Palestine calls you for a demonstration in Al-Manara Square in Ramallah  

-Friday 25/2/2011: A non-violent demonstration in front of the closed Shuhada Street. Gather in front of the Hebron Municipality building in Ein Sarah at 12 pm that same day OR AFTER Friday Praying from Ali Baka mosque in haret al shaikh. For more information please call: 0599240994 Or email : info@youthagainstsettlements.org. see also http://openshuhadastreet.org/?p=1011

-Friday 4 March 2011 after prayers: Demonstration and March in Al-Walaja village

Action to be done from anywhere: My friend Dr. Haidar Eid is stuck outside of Gaza and thousands like him are stuck on both sides of the crossing.  Call on Egypt to open Rafah's crossing by writing the nearest Egyptian embassy or consulate. The new administration should not be complicit in this crime against humanity of a siege on 1.5 million people to please the apartheid state. For listing of Egyptian embassies and consulates, see http://www.embassyworld.com/Embassy_Of_Egypt/

PA elections announced, but democracy a long way off ; Jillian Kestler-D'Amours, The Electronic Intifada
"There are Palestinian laws about freedom of assembly and demonstrations and so forth and [the PA is] not obeying it. I think the indications are very negative for our own democracy. Eventually people here are going to rise up," Qumsiyeh said. "My advice to all leaders, Palestinians, Egyptians, Israelis ... they better start looking for what the people want," he added. "The people want democracy. They want freedom. This is the big picture. There's a global uprising that's happening and empowerment of people. If the leaders want to keep going with the status quo, it won't succeed."
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11808.shtml

Ethnic cleansing in practice: Must see Video about the destruction of the Palestinain village of Al-Arakib http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3crZgJ5U0AA

Egypt's revolution and Israel: "Bad for the Jews", Ilan Pappe,
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11803.shtml

After being passed over for promotion, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations’ only Palestinian professor is leaving Yale. Hala Nassar, assistant professor of modern Arabic culture and literature, was not promoted to associate professor this year. According to Yale’s promotion policies, Nassar — the department’s only professor of Palestinian descent and only expert on modern Palestinian culture and thought must leave at the end of this spring.
Story at: http://tinyurl.com/6fdscnn
http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/feb/14/nelc-loses-last-palestinian-prof
(Hala is a good friend and tried her best to stay away from taking any politically controversial positions. It was merely that she is Palestinian.  I myself was at Yale for five years and my contract was not renewed after some pressure from Zionist groups. I and Hala regret nothing.)

مفاوضات

 مظاهرات عارمة وضحايا لوحشية ألأنظمة في عدة دول عربية. لكن هذا سيسارع التغيير في عالمنا. وهنالك أمور أخرى ستسارعنا. في المحك اليوم ما سيحدث في مجلس ألأمن الدولي حول المستوطنات. إما أن يسحب عباس مشروع القرار (بعد إجتماع اللجن المركزية) ويخسر دعم الشعب الفلسطيني (جولدستون 2) أو أن يقوم أوباما باستخدام حق النقد الفيتو لقرار هو في الواقع اللغة التي إستعملها أوباما شخصيا بإدانة المستوطنات. بعد مثل هذا الفيتو تسقط ورقة التوت عن ألأمراطور وسيهتف الشعب العربي من المحيط للخليج ما هتفته الملايين المتظاهره ((لتسقط التبعية والفساد ولننهي عصر التعامل مع الإمبريلية والصهيونية)).  في كلا الحالتين نحن كشعب فلسطيني سننتصر حتما. يبقى التسائل حول من سيكون معنا ومن سيخسر بكونه ضدنا. الشعب بدأ يتحرك وبصور منظمة. نحن على إتصال مع إخوتنا في كل العالم العربي وبدأت الحركات تنسق إعلاميا مع بعضها البعض. لن نسمح للأنظمة بالتعميم على ما يجري. هنا فلسطيني يرسل للآلاف من الصحفيين ما يحصل في البحرين والعكس صحيح. إنها حقا إنتفاضة عالمية. سيندم من يراقب وينتظر التغيير --- لنشارك جميعا في هذه الحقبة التاريخية.

الاستجابة المفقودة لاستحقاقات التغيير. هاني المصري

http://www.al-ayyam.com/znews/site/template/article.aspx?did=159740&Date=2/15/2011

المتقاعدون العسكريون يفتحون ملفات الفساد في الأردن بتفاصيلها

 http://www.arabjo.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6935

رجال ورجال  بقلم عبد الحكيم جمال عبد الناصر

http://elw3yalarabi.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9429

‏فيديو حلو: الثورة التونسية للخدمات

http://www.facebook.com/sarroura.libre?v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=1845628265800

عناوين 11000 سفارة وقنصلية في العالم لاستخدامه وقت اللزوم

http://embassy.goabroad.com

مفاوضات

د. عبدالفتاح ابوسرور

رئيس رابطة المسرحيين الفلسطينيين

مدير عام جمعية الرواد للثقافة والمسرح

ايها الفلسطيني توقف، وفاوض

اغتصبوا الارض، اغتصبوا الشعب، انحني وفاوض

كن متسولا، امسح الجوخ والعق الأحذية وفاوض

اعطي شرعية للمحتل، واشكره على اغتصابك بلا حياء، وفاوض

اخلع عنك ورقة التوت الأخيرة، وانحني لأغتصاب جديد وفاوض

كي تبيع الحق بلا عودة،  قطعة ... قطعة

وكي تكرس الأحتلال على الارض، بقعة ... بقعة

وكي تروض الشعب ليقبل بالأمر الواقع، نتفة... نتفة

وكي نغسل كرامتنا بماء المجاري حتى تسيح امام دولارات الذل

وكي يخرج علينا من هب ودب يهز سبابته منتفضا بالرفض

ان استمرت اسرائيل بالاستيطان ان لا تفاوض

وتشمر اسرائيل عن عورتها وتخرج قذارتها في وجه الصارخ بلا حياء

ونلين سكارى من رائحة الذل والانبطاح ونمضي

حتى لا يخرج علينا من يطالبنا بمعاش اخر الشهر

فهنا ارض يُجبر الانسان فيها ان يعيش مرتزقا

ويبيع كرامته وروحه وانسانيته في سوق العبيد

ويفكر كيف يختلق طرقا للتسول، والتنازل، والبغاء ...

مع حفظ ماء الوجه... ان بقي في الوجه ماء او حياء

ايها الفلسطيني، اقعد، فلا مجال للوقوف بعد اليوم

اقعد، وتشدق امام شاشات التلفاز واستمتع بالنوم

وتذكر كيف تُرضي العالم وتحتفظ بالهوان

وكيف تتنازل عن الحق لتلتقط فتات الموائد

في بلادنا، كالاسفنج  يلين الصوان،

لا هيكل بعد اليوم يسندنا

ولا مبدأ عاد يجمعنا

ولا حزب في هذا الوطن يمثلنا

ككلاب مسعورة نتصارع على عظام وهمية

لا تسكت جوعا ولا تسترجع حقا، ولا تبقي كرامة

ونتغني بالخطوط الحمر التي تذوب حمرتها في بياض عارنا

و تضيع مبادؤنا في الفراغ صارخة

فاوض ... فاوض ... فاوض

فما نحن بأهل الأرض، وما القدس قدس لنا

ولا العودة حق لنا

ولا الأرض موطأ قدم لنا

وتلمع في الأفق ومضات ضوء يقترب

اراه ابني، كنعان

يحمل مفتاح باب بيت جده العتيق

رغم الصدأ المعمر من سنوات تجاوزت الستين

ما زال يبحث عن ثقب الباب، كي يحيي ذكراه

ويضربنا ويقرع خزان ذاكرتي

ان لا تفاوض على الذل، لا تنازل عن الحق

لا دموع تماسيح، ولا لقمة مغموسة بالذل والهوان

كيف يرضى شعب محتل ان يأكل من يد مغتصب،

ويبارك الطعام؟

كيف نمضي بلا حياء ونقبل بالذل مع خالص الشكر والاحترام؟

كيف نبارك للأحتلال ارضنا واغتصابنا وترويضنا كحيوانات السيرك في حفل الختام

وننحني انبطاحا ويصفق لنا الحضور على تحولنا مماسحا للأقدام

وجسورا يعبرون عليها الى ارض ميعاد بلا ميعاد؟

يا بني، يا كنعان

احمل مفتاح عودتك واصمد

فربما لسنا في زمان العائدين

ولا تستمع لخزعبلات الحكام والسلاطين

ولا وعود قادة مخصيين

ولا تنازلات فلاسفة الاحتلال ومرتزقة الملايين

فلا الحق حق يبقى ان غاب المطالب

ولا الباب يحيى بدون ذاكرة مفتاح، ولا غالب

ولا الأرض تحتفظ بذكرى العابرين كالغبار

نحن الباقون هنا، ويعبر "المارون بين الكلمات العابرة" بلا رجعة

نحن الباقون هنا كالزيتون والبرتقال والصبار

ايها الفسطيني، قف ولا تفاوض

كي تبيع، كي تتنازل، كي تضيع

لا تأتي الحرية وملعقة ذل ذهبية في الفم

لا الشعارات تحررنا ولا الاستسلام

ولا اليأس ولا التشدق بحلو الكلام

ولا التسول ولا محاولات تفسير الأحلام

ولا الوعود الممسوخة في اسفار عهر السياسة

انفض عنك الصمت، والسكون

واصرخ كما حنظلة، لا لكاتم الصوت

لا لبيع الحق، لا للتنازل، لا للتوطين

نحن روح الارض وملحها

اقدامنا لها جذور وذاكرة ومسار

تعرف طريقها في عمق الجغرافيا وقلب التاريخ

على هذه الارض ان مشينا لا نضيع

هنا نحن، وجع الارض الأول،

صرخةالميلاد الاولى

هنا تنشقنا اول هواء لنا، وشربنا اول ماء

هنا، داعبت ايدينا اول تراب

هنا نطقنا اول الحروف والكلمات

هنا تألقت في حبنا اولى النظرات

هنا رسمنا الكتابة الاولى واولى الذكريات

هنا ذاكرة التين والزيتون والبرتقال والصبار

هنا لا بسط حمراء، ولا حفلات نكراء

ولا احتفالات بعيد استقلال تحت احتلال

هنا لا اتفاقيات سلام للاستسلام

ولا بناء ممالك على اراض في الاوهام

ولا توزيع مناصب ومراكز في دولة سراب

هنا انت، وانا، وكل الحضارات

هنا ذريتي، والامل الموعود والحق الذي لا يموت

هنا فلسطين، وحنظلة ومفتاح عودتنا، ورائحة بيتنا القديم

هنا قبر امي وابي، وقبري المفتوح في الانتظار