May 15th, a little less than two weeks ago, was the 63rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. The word Nakba is Arabic for disaster or catastrophe. Usually this event gets a mention in US and global media since it is also the date for Israeli independence according to the Gregorian calendar. Every year many US news outlets explain catastrophe as referring to the creation of the state of Israel. This explanation is simply incorrect (or incomplete at best).

The catastrophe actually refers to the Palestinian exodus of 1948; the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages. These events resulted in a massive number of Palestinian refugees who were either driven out of their homes or fled in fear for their lives. My grandparents happened to be of the first category, and their ancestral village near Haifa was destroyed by the Zionist forces (that later became the IDF).

That is why, most Palestinian Nakba memorial posters are just pictures of refugees and their tents. A simple Google image search shows the same.

Yes, it was a catastrophe that on May 15th Palestinians lost their ancestral homelands and their state. However, it is also disastrous that many US media outlets do not mention Palestinian uprooting as the real catastrophe.

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week”, Liz Cheney stated that if “you look at the situation in the West Bank and the situation in Gaza it becomes clear that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not because of Israel”. WTF?!! If anything, this just goes to show that Liz Cheney know next to nothing about what has been happening in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel! It was well established that after Hamas took over Gaza Israel blockaded Gaza improvishing its citizens, while at the same time loosening the situation in the West Bank to give people in Gaza an incentive to rebel against Hamas. For God’s sake, this whole strategy was cooked up when her father was the vice president, so she should have known better!

On the other hand, this is a useful video to see. Regarding this issue, and it also touches on Israel’s policy to intentionally improvish Gaza and allow the West Bank to build up a bit.

What bothers me is that people like that come on TV speaking authoritatively to the public. This is ridiculous.

Plus, what’s up with arguing that “we pushed for an election but Palestinians were not ready for it yet” ?!!

With all the recent buzz around Israel, the Gaza siege, and the aid flotilla, a video surfaced online of reporter Helen Thomas caught in “off the cuff” remarks about Israel/Palestine. Helen said that Israel should get out of Palestine and people should remember that it is their land and it has been occupied. When asked specifically, she said that Jews should get out of Palestine and return to Poland and Germany.

Of course that kind of language does not play well in America and the expected storm of accusations of anti-semitism, bias, and calls for resignation has been ensued. Helen has apologized for her remarks.

Here is my thought; it is internationally recognized that the lands of the West Bank and Gaza are occupied by Israel (even the US recognizes this). It is also internationally recognized that the future Palestinian state will be established on the West Bank and Gaza (the pre-1967 war borders). So Helen Thomas’s remarks were not that far off base. She can just explain (and I think that is what she actually meant) that Israeli settlers should get out of Palestine (which is something that can be argued and defended in American politics). After all, this is exactly the same line that Jimmy Carter drew in his book Palestine: Peace not Apartheid.

Here is the video if you’re interested:

A year ago to this date, a brutal Israeli offensive on Gaza took place. This tiny strip of land had been besieged for many months already and its people were already denied the very basic amenities of life. Yet, a year ago Israel launched a brutal and bloody attack on Gaza that killed at least 1400 people. This savage attack did not distinguish between civilians and militants, and people generally agree that the Israeli response to the termination of the cease fire was at least disproportionate.

The Israeli-given reason for this attack was to fend off the Hamas make-shift rockets that were fired onto southern Israel, which have escalated after the end of the cease-fire. However, this is hardly the case. The Hamas rockets are very primitive and make-shift. They are literally composed of gun powder in pipes that fly. Thus there was no infrastructure for Israel to take out. Plus, the Israeli attack did not stop the Hamas mortars even after it finished.

Unfortunately, it seemed that this attack was little more than a political move to help a candidate win an election. At the start of the offensive, the ruling Israeli party (Kadima) headed by Tzipi Livni were losing in the primary polls against pro-war hardliners and right-wingerssuch as Benjamin Netanyahu. This full-scale attack (without the interference of George Bush in has days in office) boosted Livni’s poll numbers and made the elections closer. Unfortunately, besides the large Palestinian death toll, this was the only outcome of this campaign on the Israeli side.

The Israeli attack didn’t distinguish between militants and civilians, and very little was done to minimize civilian casualties. Israel continued to justify that their mass bombing was because Hamas militants were hiding behind women and children. However, it seemed like Israel was using that as a ready excuse to justify anything (and little proof of that was provided in many cases). For example, Israel bombed a U.N. school that was temporarily housing refugee families which resulted in killing at least 40 people all of which were civilians. Israel also ignored international conventions and weapons that were banned internationally to be used against civilians. For example, white phosphorus was used in civilian locations which is banned internationally. To make matters worse, Israel prevented international news reporters from entering Gaza so as to limit the amount of information getting out.

As I mentioned before, much has been said about this offensive. A U.N. fact-finding investigation of this conflict (what is sometimes called the “Goldstone Report”) concluded that both Hamas and Israel were to blame for the conflict, and concluded that Israel committed war crimes and and possible crimes against humanities.

I personally do not agree or support Hamas, and I have stated that on multiple occasions. However, regardless of your political views you have to acknowledge that what Israel did in killing more than 1400 people, at least 1000 of whom were unarmed civilians, and at least 300 were children was extremely wrong and inhumane. Today, Israel is still denying basic amenities and even cement from entering Gaza to rebuild the destroyed homes.

On this day, it is worth giving a moment to think and reflect.

I was browsing online when I accidentally stumbled upon this site: http://www.israellawcenter.org/Missions-general-information.html (link not added purposefully).

Apparently this organization takes tourists on some sort of live military tour where they penetrate illegally occupied territories and sit in on courts of Palestinian captives.

Screenshot of the “tour highlight” !!

What year is this? Are we back in Roman times where Christians where being fed to lions in front of the cheering crowds? Are the destroyed lives and the misfortunes of the occupied people of Palestine a tourist attraction to this organization? Seriously, this is so barbaric!

This is the last of my Blog About Palestine Day 2009 posts. This harvest post contains a sample list of more than 30 articles (in 4 languages) and a video contributed to this magnificent event on that solemn day by YOU (and people like you). They are presented in no particular order here:

English:

• The Coffeehouse: The day i went home…
• Cinnamon Zone: She is Palestine
• Qwaider: The Lies and Myths Machine
• Naser: Meet Jedditi (Grandma)
• Za3tar: Rewriting the History of the Holy Land
• Rebellious Arab Girl: Where is my homeland?
• Garfan: Arab Isralis vs Palestinians vs Arabs
• Yameen Shmal: Ana Falasteeni
• Historian: Silence
• Laura Sparkle: Blog About Palestine Day 2009
• Choice Words: Social and Reproductive Justice under Occupation
• Jumana: The 61 anniversary of Palestine’s catastrophe
• Silver Lining (realisticbird): Palestine; is the cause alive and well?
• Al-Falasteenyia: Wake up and smell the Nakba(t)
• Nina: Palestina In My Mind
• SaSa: Palestine – peace without justice
• Medad/Nathan: Palestinian Portrait
• Maysaloon: The Nakba – 61 years on
• Sacred Beginnings: May 15th – Blog about Palestine Day
• Ahmad Hamda: Palestine I am Sorry
• Umm Ali: May 15th – Nakba Day – Blog about Palestine
• SimSim: Palestinian voice can only be heard by blood
• Yasmin Hamied: One day later
• LongLivePalestine: My Time in Palestine

Arabic:

• Mona’s Corner: أبوريت صوت من فلسطين
• Mohammad Badi: العام الواحد والستين في عمر قضيتنا، لن ننسى ولن نغفر أبداً
• Mohammad Online: فلسطين
• ASKAdenia: ماذا تبقى من فلسطين بعد 61 سنة؟
• eNAS: 15th May –> BAPD
• عين العقل: الخنازير تحكم العالم
• سجال: إلى فلسطين

Bulgarian:

• Rusland Trad: Иргун,Хагана и други организации в Израел
• MKaragyozov: 61 години история на несправедливостта и унижението ІІ

French:

• Samia Lamine: La Nakba: 61 ans d’errance et le droit de retour

Video:

• HATTLER – Assalamu Alaikum – Live 2008 (HD)

Thank you everybody for your contributions! Many personal stories about first hand experiences of the Nakba were told. Many stories about the Palestinian identity, and living in diaspora were discussed. Many wonderful poems were written. Many first hand present-day accounts were shared. Many visions for the future. It is all because of you, and thanks to you.

I know for a fact that i didn’t/couldn’t list all contributed entries here (simply because it is intractable). If you were not listed and would like to be listed, please let me know.

There are many contemporary issues regarding Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict that one could talk about. However, today I would like to shed some light on an issue that is perhaps not as prominent in discussions as it should be.

As we know, the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin in general were the cradles of many early human civilizations. This region is full of historical artifacts dating to thousands of years ago. These historical artifacts are not the exclusive right of any one people, but are indeed the property of the world in general because they are a crucial part of our common humanity and global history.

For this reason, it is sad to see the destruction to ancient historical ruins and artifacts in conflict zones. We’ve all heard of how ancient Babylonian monuments were some of the victims of the war in Iraq. A similar situation is also happening in the holy land amidst the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

However, an even worse crime is the deliberate rewriting of ancient history to serve current political moods. There is no denying that Jews lived in this region thousands of years ago. Yet at the same time we can not deny or ignore that Arabs and other ethnicities lived in this area as well for thousands of years. Not only that, but for the last 1400 years, the area of Israel and Palestine was inhabited and ruled over by Arabs and Muslims.

For the past few years, Israel has been digging for artifacts of the biblical Jewish era of the land at the expense of artifacts from other eras, specifically Arab and Muslim times. Just to make it clear, the problem here isn’t that they are digging for Jewish artifacts, it is that they are doing that at the expense of the Arabic history of this land. Israel should not be allowed to pretend as if this land has been sitting empty and idle for the past 2000 years. Not only does that history belong to Arabs and Muslims, it also belongs to the world in its entirety. This is just like the fact that the ancient pyramids in Giza do not belong to Egyptians exclusively, they belong to the world. So, if for some reason Egypt decides to demolish the sphinx or one of the pyramids tomorrow, it will not be allowed because these monuments are not its exclusive property. So must be the case for Israel.

This concern is not a wild stroke of the imagination. The New York Times recently ran an article on a series of parks being built in Jerusalem that will overrun Arab and Muslim old sites and enforce only Jewish history, totally ignoring the History of that city and its current Arab population.

Not only that, but if you take a walk inside the Old City of Jerusalem you will see how the many Muslim sites are ignored by the municipality and left to deteriorate , while the Jewish sites are dug up and excavated at the expense of Muslim sites. When I was in old Jerusalem i was shocked to see that there even some paintings being sold of the old city without the Dome of the Rock which is the city’s most prominent land mark and has stood tall in the city for at least 1300 years!

If you watch the History Channel you will undoubtedly run into the multitude of shows excavating the tiniest rock to show the ancient Jewish history of the area. However, hardly any show ever mentions the Muslim history of the land as well, or even other epochs by other people. The audience of these shows is left with the impression that this area has been continuously controlled by Jewish people and that Arabs and Muslims never were there. I remember clearly that in one of the shows the host joined a tent of volunteers who were looking at rubble in some area and were excavating for historical artifacts. As the host was sifting through his pile, he came across some peculiar piece, so he asked the tent director if it could be of some relevance. The directory replied “No, it is Umayyad” and they tossed it away !! Why toss it away if it is Umayyad ? isn’t that at at least 1250 years old ? Isn’t that interesting ?

The danger is not in ignoring the big noticeable landmarks like the Dome of the Rock or Al-Aqsa mosque. These are easy to spot and many people recognize them. The problem is in throwing away, damaging, or destroying the smaller and lesser known sites. The ruins of a small Umayyad palace near the Noble Sanctuary have been damaged by Israeli excavations for Jewish ruins.

These infringements on ancient sites, and preferring some over the other will result in a warped view of the history of this region. In my opinion, this is totally wrong. Old history does not belong to one people, it is a property of our common humanity.

Of course, Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims have their role to play. We should pay more attention to preserving these ancient ruins in the holy land, and start our own efforts to excavating this region for its history as well. With that said, I think historical sites should be protected from politics. Archaeologists should be honest to history, and should not favor one people’s history over another based on politics. Truly, if we don’t know our past, we can’t understand our present; and if we don’t understand our present, we can’t plan for our future.

Tomorrow is Blog About Palestine Day 2009. The community response has been very refreshing so far. So many people have signed up both on the blog announcement and the Facebook Event. The event has been advertised and promoted on Qwaider’s Planet and Toot. This is a true grassroots community effort and I am so proud to be part of this responsible and vibrant community.

If you would like to participate but you’re facing a mental writer’s block, here is a list of possible topic ideas that i hope you find useful. Also, I would really appreciate it if the title of your blog post was preceded by [BAPD] (for example “[BAPD] My Article About Palestinian Cities”).  Finally, I would really appreciate it if you added a graphical button leading back to the event’s page so that future readers can learn more about the subject and read other people’s articles. You can use the following code to add a button to your post:

<a href=”http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742″><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-en.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

Here is a short list of blogs (that i know about) that have signed up for this event. This list is absolutely in no particular order, This list is absolutely not all-inclusive, if your blog has not been listed here, please let me know so that i can add it.

These are some of the seeds, tomorrow will be the blossom, and after that i will try to compile a harvest list of the articles.

• Memories Documented – Qwaider
• Whisper
• Rusland Trad
• Garfan
• Ulysses
• Nekrif
• Mona
• SimSim
• Mohammad Badi
• Cinnamon Zone – Ola
• Yameen Shmal
• MKaragyozov
• Nadeem
• Mohammad Online
• Historian
• Fatema
• Jumana
• Samia Lamine
• Rebellious Arab Girl
• Danny D
• Laura
• Ahmad Hamdan
• Yousef

Thanks again for your participation, and I look forward to reading your wonderful articles.

إلى القرآء المحترمين،

يَسُرني أن أدعوكم للمشاركة في يوم التدوين عن فلسطين 2009. هذه العودة الثانية لهذا الحدث بعد النجاح الباهر الذي حققه في إنطلاقته الأولى العام الماضي. فبمشاركتكم الطيبة تم كتابة أكثر من 70 تدوينة عن فلسطين بأربع لغات! وأنا على ثقة بأن مشاركتكم هذه المرة ستؤدي إلى نجاحٍ أبهر وأكبر من العام الماضي.

كما تعلمون، يوم 5/15 من هذا العام سيصادف الذكرى الواحدة وستين للنكبة الفلسطينية. هذه الذكرة المؤلمة تُحيى ذكراها على الصعيد المحلي والإقليمي وحتى الدولي. ولذا شاركوني يا أعزائي لنرفع الوعي العام بالواقع الفلسطيني والثقافة الفلسطينية.

لا شروط أو قيود على ما يمكن أن تكتبه أو حتى اللغة التي تكتب بها. فأي موضوع له علاقة بفلسطين أو الفلسطينيين سيكون ممتازاً. يمكنك الكتابة عن الماضي أو الحاضر أو المستقبل. يمكنك الكتابة عن الثقافة أو السياسة أو الإقتصاد الفلسطيني. فعلياً، الهدف من هذا اليوم هو زيادة الوعي العام عن فلسطين، فأي تدوينة لها علاقة بفلسطين بأي شكل ستكون ثمينة.

بعض الأسئلة والأجوبة:

هل الحدث مقتصر على الفلسطينيين والعرب ؟

لا، كل شخص في العالم مهما كانت إتجاهاته سيكون مُرَحباً به للمشاركة. الجميع مدعو للمشاركة.

هل على مقالتي أن تعكس وجهة النظر الفلسطينيية (أو حتى أن تكون مقالة إيجابية) ؟

كلا، أنتَ حرٌ ومشجع لتكتب ما تشاء.

أيجب أن تكون التدوينة سياسية أو تقتصر على النكبة ؟

بالطبع لا، فيمكنك الكتابة عن فلسطين من نواح سياسية، أو إجتماعية، أو إقتصادية، أو إنسانية، أو حتى قطعة أدبية تعبر عن رأيك وإحساسك.

كيف يمكنني أن أساعد أو أنشر هذه الحملة ؟

هذا الحدث يعتمد على جهود المدونين أمثالك، فساعدنا رجاءً لنشر هذه الحملة وتحفيز المدونين للمشاركة بها. يمكنك نشر الحملة بعدة طرق:

- أعلن عن “يوم التدوين عن فلسطين / Blog About Palestine Day” في مدونتك أو موقعك.

- أضف شعار وعداد “يوم التدوين عن فلسطين” إلى موقعك (العدادات والشعارات موجودة هنا).

- شارك بالحدث على Facebook وأدعو أصدقائك للمشاركة.

لندون معاًً عن فلسطين ولفلسطين، من داخل فلسطين ومن خارج فلسطين! لنساعد فلسطين بأفكارنا وآرائنا وكلماتنا وتدويناتنا. لنعمل معاً لإنجاح هذا الحدث ورفع الوعي العام عن تلك الديار الحبيبة. نحن جيل المستقبل، فهيا بنا نكتبه لنا بأيدينا.

وفي الختام أشكركم، وأتمنى دعمكم، وأطوق شوقاً لأرى تدويناتكم.

]]> http://www.za3tar.net/2009/05/04/%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%af%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d9%81%d9%84%d8%b3%d8%b7%d9%8a%d9%86-2009/feed/ 5 http://www.za3tar.net/2009/04/21/blog-about-palestine-day-2/ http://www.za3tar.net/2009/04/21/blog-about-palestine-day-2/#comments Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:12:13 +0000 za3tar http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742 ***UPDATE #1:*** A Facebook event for this initiative has been created. Please join the event and pass the message on to your friends (more info here). ***UPDATE #2:*** Topic Suggestions and a preliminary list of participating bloggers has been published …

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***UPDATE #1:*** A Facebook event for this initiative has been created. Please join the event and pass the message on to your friends (more info here).

***UPDATE #2:*** Topic Suggestions and a preliminary list of participating bloggers has been published here.

***UPDATE #3:*** A sample harvest list of blog posts contributed to this event has been published here.

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Dear all,

It is my pleasure to invite you to this year’s second annual Blog About Palestine Day. Thanks to your efforts, last year’s event was a huge success with more than 70 articles published in at least 4 languages. I am confident that with your continued contribution and the contribution of new bloggers, this year’s event will turn out to be an even bigger success.

May 15th of this year is the 61st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba –which marked the beginning of the modern age Palestinian plight and suffering. This date is remembered annually on local, regional, and global levels.

I am certain that many in the blogosphere will dedicate some posts to commemorate this tragic event. However, inspired by last year’s success, I would like to start a formal initiative to encourage everybody to dedicate one post on Friday, May 15th, to talk about Palestine or the Palestinian Experience.

There are no restrictions on what you can write, or the language that you can use. Really, anything that talks about Palestine, or the Palestinians; in the past, present, or future; political, social, economical, or any other aspect is welcomed. The goal of this event will be to share thoughts, and raise awareness about the Palestinian situation. Hopefully, with everyone’s support, this will be such a spectacular event that it will catch the eye of the mainstream media (specially that the Palestinian situation is inadequately and incorrectly represented in most of the western media outlets).

FAQ:

• Do I have to be Palestinian / Arab to participate ?
  No, everybody is welcomed to join in on this effort.
• Does it have to represent the Palestinian point of view (or be a positive article) ?
  No, you are free, and encouraged, to write whatever you want.
• Does it have to be about the Nakba precisely ?
  No, you can talk about the history of the Palestinian plight, current internal and external affairs, or outlooks for possible future resolutions to this conflict and how do you think can we achieve and maintain peace.
• Does it have to be a political article ?
  No, you are free to talk about any aspect of the Palestinian life inside and outside Palestine. You are free to talk about whatever you want.

I would appreciate it if you could help me spread the word about this event. For your convenience, i have created some simple counters and web buttons for this event. You can find their code below:

Thank you in advance for your help and support.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/display-en-small.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/display-ar-small.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/display-en.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/display-ar.js"></script>

---

**NOTE:** Blogs *hosted* on WordPress.com (and possibly other engines) might face some trouble embedding JavaScript code as is done above. If this is the case for you, you can use the following web buttons below:

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-en-small.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-ar-small.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-en.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-ar.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

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You might have the truest message and the most noble cause in the world. But if you don’t present it in an acceptable way to the rest of the world then nobody is going to accept what you are talking about. Worst still, it will most likely negatively affect the cause you are trying to help. You always have to appeal to your audience regardless of the circumstance.

I see this often in Arab-Israeli debates. There is no doubt that we Palestinians have had tremendous injustice bestowed upon us, and we’ve been constantly wronged for the past 60+ years. Yet, Israelis know how to appeal to external/western audiences. There is no magic there, no great conspiracy. Just basic carefully examined messages.

Always know your audience. People in the USA have different mentalities than those in Britain, or France, or Turkey, or Palestine, or Pakistan ..etc. So naturally, what might be a sound argument in one place could be totally useless somewhere else. In Arab-Israeli debates many people immediately jump to issues from the time of the British mandate or 1948. Why ??!! I honestly think this is a bad dialog course. There are far more contemporary immediate problems that we can talk about (and try to resolve). Shouldn’t we try to solve the immediate problems first before tackling the big grand picture problems ?

When talking to people you have to befriend them and think like they do. People are more willing to engage in the viewpoint of somebody who is similar to them rather than somebody who is very different. Never come off too strong. Never be inflexible.

I am often asked questions about the situation in Palestine by Americans. I found it best to start out by telling them the simple most basic things. That is, we don’t like violence. Like them, we too like to live peaceful lives. We like to be able to live, work, visit family, and go about doing our business without hassle. That the vast most Palestinians are not hell-bent on the destruction of Israel but rather want to live normal peaceful lives. Then I tell them how ordinary people who haven’t done anything suffer. How we have more than 500 checkpoints in the West Bank that prevent us from moving around, how Israel imposes city-wide curfews, how people can not move around freely or conduct business freely, how the mobile telephone company struggled with Israel for more than a year just to import a single retransmission tower to meet the increase in demand. I tell them my personal story. People do respond when you tell them about your personal story.

Anyway, this came to mind after seeing what happened in the recent U.N. racism conference. I do not agree with the Iranian president, but he was trying to use Palestine as an excuse for whatever he wants and he was trying to present a case in which, as always, he came off as a nut-job to the west and just managed to hurt the true message of the Palestinian struggle with his idiocy.

Understandably, the Arab street has been doubtful of the American policy in the Middle East. It is understandable because the American foreign policy in the past eight years has disengaged the moderate majority of the Arab streets, that is to say the least. America’s foreign policy in the Middle East in the past eight years was highlighted by a long unjustifiable war in Iraq, frequent escalation in rhetoric with Syria and Iran, complete siding with Israel without exerting any pressure or influence to promote a peaceful solution, and the complete disregard of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process to the very last year with a futile last-minute attempt.

The new American president Obama had campaigned with a message of hope and change. He had promised to change the foreign policy tone coming out of Washington to that of promoting dialog, peace, and mutual respect. Like many around the world, Arabs were hopeful in this new president but were still doubtful that that was all campaign rhetoric that will soon be forgotten. After all, George W. Bush had also campaigned under the banner of change!

Barack Obama, however, is off to a good start. He has extended a peaceful message to the Muslim world in his inauguration speech as I blogged previously. He also called Israeli and Palestinian leaders on his first couple of days to gesture that he will not leave the peace process to the last days of his presidency as some of his predecessors have done. His pick for Middle East envoy has a proven record of brokering peace between the Irish and the British, and many are hailing him as a good and balanced pick to hopefully broker a meaningful peace for the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Most recently, in his first public TV interview after the inauguration, Obama appeared on the Arabic news channel Al-Arabiya where he seemed to reach out to the moderates in the Arab and Muslim world with a message of mutual respect and open dialog.

I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised! I too was initially doubtful that Obama would be any different when it came to the Middle East than his predecessors. But so far he has proved me wrong, he seems to be working well on it and I hope he continues. So long are the days of George Bush’s “spreading democracy through invading countries”.

I just hope that Obama’s efforts to change the tone of America in the Middle East continues, and I hope that he will make some serious effort to exercise his influence to broker a real and sustainable peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

So Mr. Obama, so far you seem to be working on these foreign policy issues harder and more sincerely than your predecessors. Thank you for that. I hope you continue to do so, and I wish you the best of luck.

Note: It goes without saying of course that it will not all be solved with the external interference of the United States. We Arabs have to work on solving our own problems and building our own communities. I believe that many people agree on this, and I hope it was implied from my previous posts.

During the last crisis in Gaza, Israeli spokespeople and pro-Israeli pundits argued that the high amount of civilian death and casualties is not because of Israel’s use of excessive fire power and disregard of Palestinian civilian human life, but because the Hamas fighters were hiding between civilians. On the scene eye witness accounts, however, have often denied that Hamas fighters or rockets were located in the bombed areas.

Even if we chose to believe that Israel is only surgically targeting militants and not infrastructure, civil services facilities, or just bombing anything that moves; That still does not justify Israel’s actual actions on the ground.

For example, Israel already had complete knowledge of GPS locations of hospitals, UN schools and facilities, and even residential towers. Israel also has complete knowledge that civilians fled to these locations for shelter and treatment. So, if Israel was really trying to minimize civilian casualties in the densely populated Gaza Strip, and even if a sniper or a rocket was fired from a hospital or a school’s vicinity, is the surgically targeted response to bomb the entire area ? Does that really minimize civilian casualties ? What benefit would Israel get from bombing a hospital ??

In the following video, Kenneth Roth, an executive director at the Human Rights Watch describes how Israel used 155 millimeter caliber weapons in a densely populated civilian area. A single fire from this weapon can cause casualties within a 300 meeter radius of its impact location. So, would an army seeking to minimize civilian casualties use such a weapon in a dense urban setting ? The answer is of course not.

The following interview is only 3 minutes long and is really worth the viewing. Unfortunately, it only aired on CNN International which is rarely viewed inside America.

Now that Israel has finally started to allow international journalists to go into the Gaza Strip, some reports of the scale of death and destruction inflicted on that tiny strip are starting to come out.

During the 22 day war only Arabic news networks had reporters embedded in the strip. Aljazeera English was the only international news network with reporters. Hopefully now

The following are a couple of reports filed by CNN’s Ben Wedeman. Unfortunately it seems that these reports were only aired on CNN international which does not really watched in America.

Kudos to Wedeman and all other journalists in Gaza for following the truth and reporting what is happening on the ground.

How will this current crisis in Gaza end ? I am interested to know what you think.

Israel’s declared goal from this assault was to stop the Hamas rockets coming out of Gaza. However, in a matter of 20 days Israel has killed more than 850 Palestinian adults and 300 children, and has injured more than 5000 people. Israel’s brutal attack on Gaza and the amount of death and destruction it has inflicted on the civilian population has given the Hamas government in Gaza increased sympathy and support. Not only that, but Israel’s brutality and excessive use of force has undermined the voices of moderates, instilled doubt in the Palestinian street about Israel’s true intentions for peace, crippled the credibility of the peace advocates, and diminished the expectations of any peace process. All of this seems to strongly indicate that the end of this current assault will not usher in an era free of rocket attacks.

After all, how can the Palestinian street believe that Israel seriously wants peace if Israel has been stalling the peace process for years and continues to expand illegal settlements and illegal outposts in the West Bank, while at the same time killing more than 1150 Palestinians in an all-out assault on Gaza ?

Israel of course realizes this. Many have argued that the true intention of this assault was to seize the opportunity while George Bush is in the white house and boost the electability of the Kadima party with Tzipi Livni against the right-wing hardliner Netanyahu who advocates for more violence against the Palestinians.

My question is: In your opinion, How do you think this current assault will end ? When will it end ? and what will cause it to end ? What will the end result be ? and How will the situation in Gaza be after it all ends ?

In an interview with BBC news, the Syrian president said something that i actually agree with:

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria warned that Israel’s campaign would fuel extremism and terrorism in the Arab and Muslim world.

“The effect of war is more dangerous than war. It is sowing seeds of extremism around the region,” Mr Assad said in an exclusive BBC interview.

[source]

Also, here is a graphical representation of the amount, and break down by category, of the casualties resulting from the 19-day Israeli assault on Gaza.

[source: BBC article]

What is the motive behind the Israeli assault on Gaza? If Israel only seeks to stop the rocket attacks coming from Gaza as they claim, then surely a heavy assault and killing upwards of 900 people will not help. Mass violence and death does not send a clear signal of peace, and does not sway the civilians of Gaza towards peace. The motives behind this assault are clearly political.

I just stumbled upon a nice site to track events, incidents, casualties, protests ..etc in the current war in Gaza. It displays events on interactive maps and displays them with a timeline. It also allows you to track reported incidents, where they happened, and their verification status. It even allows people to submit reports via their web page or via SMS. Check it out.

Here is a link to the main site with the maps.

Here is a link to the reports page.

A screenshot of the map and timeline present on the site.

CNN had an interview with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian legislator, in the early days of the violence in Gaza. Dr. Barghouti was trying to explain to his interviewer Rick Sanchez of CNN’s newsroom that contrary to what Israel’s PR has been broadcasting on the American airwaves, it was them who broke the ceasefire first.

In a rare deviation from their pro-Israel stance, CNN (not CNN International, but the CNN that airs in the USA) did a little investigation of this (i.e. a Google search) and found out that indeed Israel broke the truce in early November by carrying out an attack inside Gaza.

In order to protect himself from a possible flood of Israeli and pro-Israeli complaints, Rick Sanchez had to have the camera man actually film the news articles while he read them on air just to prove that many credible news sources reported on this incident early on.

Here is a video of this event.

Kudos and Thank you Rick Sanchez for your courage and taking an honest journalistic stance. Also thank you to Dr. Barghouti for his continuous interviews trying to give a moderate Palestinian perspective on the Gaza issue to anyone willing to listen.

[also reported here.]

Before the current violence in Gaza, the UN gave GPS coordinates of all of its facilities to Israel to avoid accidental firing as is done in all war situations. However, as we all know, UN staff or buildings were hit several times in the last week. The most famous of which was the Al-Fakhura school which was run by the UN and had sheltered hundreds of Palestinian civilians escaping the onslaught outside. However, the Israeli military bombed that school on January 6th killing at least 42 people.

To explain this, the Israeli military said that there were some fighters who attacked Israelis from that location, and that they even saw the dead bodies of the fighters after the strike. They later released a video on YouTube showing people firing rockets from that school’s area.

Later on, an officer in the Israeli military admitted there was no firing of rockets from that school in that incident. On top of that, the video that was released by the IDF was of October 2007 which was more than 2 years before the incident.

I am not coming up with this on my own, it was even published in an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

So for those who still want an evidence that Israel does not avoid civilians and they do not obey international codes for military conduct, I hope this gives you the proof.

Israel claims it is not targeting civilians. The USA agrees. But the images tell a different story. The United Nations reports more than 250 children were killed by Israel in its current bombardment and onslaught. Which humanity is this ? Are we not human beings ?

New York’s mayor had the audacity to compare this to a madman knocking on your door. Other senators asked wouldn’t the USA have to interfere if rockets fell on Southern California from Mexico or Seattle from Vancouver. I wonder how would that mayor and those senators react to 250+ children dead in New York, Seattle, or Southern California. Are we not as much human as they are ? How would they react if they lost every single member of their families ? This is pretty horrific. Yet this is just a glimpse of what is taking place in Gaza with their approval and the implicit approval of the U.S. government. So how can they have humanity and sympathy towards some group people, and none towards another group ?

If you still need further evidence of the horrible, cold-blooded, and inhumane death that Israel has brought to the people of Gaza and the children of Gaza, I give you this 2 minute news report.

Note: The figures in this article are as of the time of writing in January 4th 2009. As of January 12th more than 900 Palestinians had been killed and more than 4000 injured. At least 250 of the Palestinians killed were children.

The current ongoing war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza has resulted in the death of more than 400 people and the injury of more than 2000 people in just one week. It has also directly affected the lives of more than 1.4 million people.

Unfortunately, many of the Western media outlets have not paid attention to this situation, or blindly stated Israel’s view without regard for the humanitarian crisis and the rising death toll. My advice to people in the west (and specially the United States) is to diversify their news input. Use automatic aggregators like Google News to read their news. Read/Watch international news sources like BBC News and AlJazeera English.

The following is a simple guide to this conflict.

• What is Gaza ? The term Gaza refers to either the Gaza Strip or Gaza City.
• Gaza Strip: The Gaza strip is a small strip of land along the Mediterranean between Israel and Egypt. The total area of the Gaza Strip is 360 sq. kilometer (139 sq. mile) which is roughly twice the size of Washington D.C.
• Gaza City: Gaza City is the largest city in the Gaza.
• Population: The Gaza Strip is inhabited by 1.48 million people. The small area means the population is highly dense. Almost half of the population of the Gaza Strip are children under the age of 14.

Here are a couple of maps to put things in context:

• Occupation: Prior to 1948, The Gaza Strip was part of the British Mandate of Palestine. After the 1948 war which led to the creation of the state of Israel, the Gaza Strip was under the governance of Egypt. In 1967 Israel seized control over the strip until its withdrawal in 2005.
• Settlement: Israel maintained settlements in Gaza Strip from 1967 to 2005. In 2005 Israel withdrew from its settlements in the Gaza Strip. The current population (1.48 million) are all Palestinians.
• Government: As of June 2007, Hamas took control of Gaza following a battle with Fatah (both of which are Palestinian parties). Since then, Gaza has been under the authority of Hamas. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and its president Mahmoud Abbas currently have no jurisdiction there.
• Why are they fighting with Israel? Although Israel withdrew its physical presence from the strip in 2005, the Palestinians did not gain sovereignty over Gaza.  Israel continued to control the Gazan sea front, the air space above Gaza, the roads into Gaza, and even the fuel and electrical supplies of Gaza. Israel sealed off the Mediterranean from Gaza and prohibited the entrance of supplies to it by sea or air. The only remaining exit was via the border with Egypt through Sinai. But this border has been mostly closed because of Egypt’s diplomatic ties with Israel.
  Food, water, medicine, fuel, and electricity were all controlled by Israel and coming from Israel to Gaza.
• The Blockade: After Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, Israel severely limited the entrance of supplies to the strip. Approximately 84% of the population are living off of U.N. humanitarian supplies. Hospitals are suffering severe shortage of medication and equipment. Water is available only for a few hours every few days.
• The Rocket Attacks: Palestinian fighters from Hamas and other factions fired makeshift, steel rockets called Qassam Rockets onto close southern Israeli towns, mainly Sderot. Although limited in casualties and destruction, the Qassam rockets caused terror and insecurity among the Israeli residents of the targeted towns. Israel also launched missile attacks against Gaza from sea and air.
• The Cease-Fire: In June of 2008, Israel and Hamas entered a 6-month cease-fire to stop the attacks from both sides. As part of the truce, Israel agreed to lift the blockade on Gaza and allow food and medical supplies to enter Gaza.
• Outcomes of the Cease-Fire: In October the cease-fire started to break apart. Israeli attacks on Gaza resumed and the blockade had not been lifted. Supplies in Gaza remained scarce and limited. Hamas and other factions also violated the cease-fire by launching rocket attacks on Israel.
• Current Conflict: After the cease-fire ended, violence escalated again. Rocket attacks resulted in the death of one Israeli civilian, and Israel stepped up its attacks. On December 27th 2008, Israel launched a wide-scale offensive on the Gaza Strip and completely sealed off all of its borders. A week of aerial bombing from Israel has resulted in wide spread destruction and the death of more than 460 Gazans (more than a 100 of which are civilian women and children by U.N. estimates). The death toll among Israelis during that week was 4, 3 of which were civilians.
• Humanitarian Crisis: The vast majority of Gaza residents are unarmed civilians. Gaza has no advanced military installations. So the majority of Israeli bombs fell on individuals and in residential areas. Some of the buildings targeted by Israel were police stations, ministries, mosques, and houses. There are more than 2000 wounded people in Gaza with no medical aid. Many Gazans have found their homes destroyed and with nowhere to go.

A Palestinian Perspective: Certainly all Palestinians would like the violence to stop. Also not all Palestinians or all Gazans support the rocket attacks. As I mentioned before, the vast majority of the population of Gaza are civilians. At the same time Israel has followed a path of mass punishment. Israel claims that its attacks are made to stop Hamas from firing rockets at Israel and to achieve peace. However, the killing of more than 400 Palestinians in Gaza in just one week will not sway them towards peace. A continuous blockade will not send a powerful message of peace. Violence only yields more violence.

I, as well as many other Palestinians, do not condone the rocket attacks or the death of any civilian. However, Israel’s response has been terrible and disproportionate. This cycle of violence must end.

What is perhaps more shocking in this whole situation is that the world stood still and watched as Gazans were bombed and slaughtered. No country rushed to ask for a cease-fire. No country rushed to help the escalating humanitarian crisis. The world stood in idle as 460 people were killed and 2000+ people were injured in 7 days. The hospitals can not cope with the injured and have to make choices on who to treat. Fuel is running out, so ambulances can not make all the needed trips. The situation is getting worse and worse every day.

Here is a small button you can use to encourage people to learn more about what is going on in Gaza. It can also be optionally linked to this article if you would like to spread the word.

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=585"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/learn-gaza.png" border="0" /></a>

تنويه: كُتبت هذه التدوينة في اليوم الأول للهجوم الدموي الهمجي الإسرائيلي على سكان غزة. هذه التدوينة تتكلم عن الخيارات وقت التهدئة والهدوء النسبي وليس أثناء العدوان الإسرائيلي الدموي.

أنا فلسطيني وأحب فلسطين حتى آخر قطرة دم في جسدي. وجزء من الحب أن تنصح من تُحب حتى لو كانت كلماتك قاسية قليلاً. أنا أعرف أن كلامي قد لا يروق لبعض الناس، وخصوصاً في هذا الوقت، ولكن علي أن أقوله.

إن ما يحصل في غزة جريمة بكل ما تعنيه الكلمة. إنها جريمة بحق الفلسطينيين والعرب وحتى البشرية جمعاء. فهل يُعقل أن يُقتل أكثر من مئتي إنسان في ساعات قليلة بدون حق؟ أيعقل أن يستمر قتل الأبرياء والأطفال بدم بارد؟ أيعقل أن يستمر العالم بالسكوت وإدانت المُعتدى عليه والإشادة بالمعتدي؟ هذه جريمة على أكثر من مستوى.

ولكن دعونا نكون موضوعيين للحظة. هذا الوضع ليس جديداً علينا، فقد تكرر مراراً على طول السنين ولم يتغير به شيء. عندما ندفن شهداءنا هذه المرة، دعونا نفكر قليلاً.

ما هو الحل؟ وماذا علينا أن نفعل؟ هل نستمر برمي “صواريخ” القسام الفارطة؟ ماذا أنتجت هذه المواسير الطائرة؟ هل سمحت لأي نفس في غزة بأن تأكل وتنام؟ هل سمحت للأب في غزة بأن يوفر حياة لعائلته؟ البارحة تم إطلاق 80 من هذه المواسير ما أسفر عن قتل إسرائيلي واحد. ماذا كان الرد؟ إسرائيل إستعملت أسلحة حقيقية وقتلت أكثر من 200 من أًطفالنا ورجالنا ونسائنا.

يا إخواني الزمن تغير: إسرائيل أقوى الآن من أي زمن مضى، والدول العربية أضعف من أي وقت ماضي، والفلسطينيين في غزة أجوع وأمرض من أي وقت ماضي. إسرائيل مدعومة عالمياً بالمال والسلاح من مُعظم دول العالم وأقواها، ونحن لا. فيا إخواني دعونا من أوهام أن الـ”حرب” ستجدينا أي نفعاً.

يا إخواني، إسرائيل دولة لا تهتم بقتل الأبرياء، ولا تحترم الهدنة، ولا تحترم القوانين الدولية. فما هو الحل؟

إذا كنت تتبع إستراتيجية ثابتة في لُعبة ما، وكان خصمك يفوز عليك دائماً، فهل تُغير إستراتيجيتك ؟

دعونا نكون واقعيين، نحن ضعفاء وهم أقوياء. نحن لسنا أنداداً لهم عسكرياً فلماذا نستمر بهجماتنا؟ صحيح أن العمليات والـ”صواريخ” تُذعر البعض في الشارع الإسرائيلي، ولكنها تؤدي إلى قتل المئات في الشارع الفلسطيني. صحيح أن المفواضات لم تكن مجدية 100% ولكن الخيار العسكري أدى إلى منع الأكل والدواء وحتى الحج عن أهل غزة. قولوا لي ما هي فائدة هذه العمليات والـ”صواريخ” ؟ لا فائدة لها، فعندما يُذاع خبر إطلاق “صواريخ” فلسطينية على إسرائيل، يبرر العالم إستخدام إسرائيل صواريخ حقيقية للرد. إذا هذه الصواريخ لا تضر أحداً سوانا.

أعرف أن الكثير سيصيح ويطالب بالإنتقام من مجزرة اليوم، ولكن إلى ماذا سيؤدي هذا الإنتقام ؟ ألن ترد إسرائيل مجدداً وتقتل المئات منا وتجدد حصارها القاتل ؟

يا إخواني، لكل زمن ولكل عراك إستراتيجية. غاندي تمكن من هزيمة أكبر إمبراطورية في زمنه بدون اللجوء إلى السلاح لأن الهند لم تكن نداً عسكرياً لبريطانيا آنذاك. فهل سنتعلم؟

This song by the Palestinian comedian Asa’ad Sabah (أسعد صباح) was a hit during the mid 90s. It was released on a cassette tape along with many other jokes and comical songs. Almost any Palestinian growing up in the 90s would instantly recognize this song and its Hebron accent . For those who are interested, this song is poking fun at family fights, tribal reconciliation, and marjaleh.

Why am i posting this you ask ? Nothing, some random memory recollection that came up during a chat with some anonymous tipster