Bonsoir | يسعد مساكم

Happy Eid!

2008-12-10T21:23:00.003Z

The Siege on Gaza: We Share the Blame

2008-11-24T00:00:00.004Z

النسخة العربية هنا

As an international community, we all share the responsibility for the ongoing brutal siege on Gaza, and not until we utilise all possible means of peaceful and nonviolent resistance shall we hope for a close end of that siege.

Akram Awad

Monday 24 November 2008

There is not much to say about the Holocaust of Gaza’s people -assuming that the reader has at least followed the media coverage of what is happening in the traumatised Strip-. It comes as no surprise that Gazan's have resorted to euthanasia to end the lives of thousands of newly hatched chicks, for even Gazan birds would prefer dying with honour over being victims of starvation. There is nothing exceptional about Gazans keeping their children alive with animal feeds, because even those who know the least about Gaza are aware that this is only one of the means used by its people to save the whole region from a definite explosion. The only shocking aspect of the whole current scene is that as much as Gazans are trying to convince their children that this life has at least some goodness that makes it worth clinging to, as much as the world strives to disprove such theories, and establish in the minds of those children that this life and world deserve no more than the curse of Gaza.

So as not to let the reader imagine that the world above belongs to another planet, I must make it clear that the world I’m referring to is actually “Us”: You and me. It’s easy for us to mourn Gaza’s people, and it’s easy to pray for their patience and persistence, and it’s easy to condemn the Israeli slaughter of 1.5 million people in Gaza. What seems impossible, though, is our confession that we are the ones besieging Gaza, and that all our condemnations, protests, prayers and writings -unless accompanied by genuine acts on the ground- are a bashful reflection of our insouciance toward the ongoing massacre against Palestinians in Gaza, and the lack of any desire from our side to take serious and practical actions to break the siege on the strip.

A reader may wonder: “genuine acts on the ground! Me?!” Their wonder will disappear as soon as we come to a realisation that peaceful and nonviolent resistance to injustices throughout history has been as effective as armed resistance –if not superior in many cases-. Let’s remind ourselves and remind Egypt -Israel's partner in the shedding of Palestinian blood in Gaza- that Egypt itself wouldn’t have gained its independence from colonialism in 1923 without the 1919’s revolution -which was peaceful in most respects- and the civil disobedience that followed the arrest of the leader of the Wafd Party, Saad Zaghloul. It was that revolution which finally forced the colonisers to surrender to the will of the Egyptians and declare Egypt’s independence. Let us also remember that Mahatma Gandhi's peaceful non-cooperation movement in India between 1920 and 1922 and then his famous Salt March in 1930 are what broke the back of British colonialism and forced it to recognise the independence of India in 1947. The determination of a man who just entered his seventh decade to walk a distance of 390 km in order to reach the Arabian Sea and break the British Raj salt laws, preventing the extraction of salt, may be seen by many as an act of madness, but when this old man attracts more than sixty thousand Indians on his way to the coastal village of Dundee and inspires millions to join the disobedience, the questioning of the fruitfulness of the pilgrimage to salt becomes no more than a sort of sophistry.

History is full of examples of peaceful and nonviolent resistance methods that the ninety year Palestinian struggle –since the Balfour declaration– could have learnt from. So why is it that Palestinians have not yet managed to achieve what others have achieved in the same, or shorter, time span? It won't be far from truth to attribute the success of other nations’ struggles to their unity around one focal idea and their dedication to realising it. If Palestinians carefully diagnose their failure to achieve freedom then they would most probably trace the reasons back to the lack of those very attributes. I’m almost confident that Palestinians never agreed on one focal target; if you ask Palestinians for their thoughts on the best methods to achieve their freedom I trust you would be able to collect enough material to fill several volumes with scarcely any consistency between those methods. To stay within the article’s theme I shall say: The national consensus and participation of all sectors of the population are necessary conditions for the success of any initiative of nonviolent resistance that can be considered synonymous - or even a substitute - for armed resistance.

We started with the siege on Gaza and here we are talking about nonviolent resistance, so what’s the point? What I’m trying to say is that peaceful and nonviolent resistance benefits from an added value compared to armed resistance; that it is not limited to a certain segment of the nation, and that it allows for the contribution and involvement of all peoples of the world - as well as the victimised nation itself -. The people of Gaza have prompted us to launch a non-violent resistance against the blockade when they rebelled against the siege and dismantled the separation wall on the Egyptian border to breathe in the scent of freedom for a few days before Egypt forced them to return to their big prison and suffocate inside their cells. Only a few understood the Palestinian hint at the time and started developing the Idea, and so emerged the Free Gaza movement (www.freegaza.org) and its brilliant idea of running vessels to break the siege on the Gaza Strip by sea. Despite their limited financial and physical capabilities, the small group succeeded in proving the feasibility of their idea by repeating it three times, the latest of which was the boat carrying parliamentarians who resorted to the genius idea after they were prevented by the Egyptian regime from entering to Gaza by land.

It is enough of a pride for the Free Gaza movement that they innovated the “Freedom Boats” idea and implemented it on the ground. What remains is the most important part: the collective action: by me and you, our families, neighbours, friends, colleagues, and all those who believe in the righteousness of the Palestinian struggle and that they too, share the responsibility to achieve the freedom of Palestine. The Freedom Boats can move from being just a nice idea to an effective nonviolent resistance weapon only when the monthly trips become a continuously active and regular ship line, and when a fleet of ships replace the small boats, and when the programme organisers are forced to delay the travel of some passengers due to the overbooking of volunteers from all parts of the globe, and when each of us becomes a partner in accomplishing the idea by contributing toward the financing of the cruises or covering the expenses of volunteers; only then can we hope for a near collapse of the Israeli siege on Gaza, a collapse that we achieve with our own blood, tears and sweat rather than hopelessly begging for the sympathy of politicians and international bodies.

The decision to continue or end the siege on Gaza is neither an Israeli, Egyptian nor International decision; it is our –and only our- decision. If we are to accept the facts on the ground we should have no reason to expect neither a little sympathy from the Israeli occupier, nor to move the heart of the Egyptian regime. On the other hand, by instating new facts on the ground through nonviolent resistance Israelis will have no option but to accept that the end of their savageness and the freedom of Palestine is definitely on its way, and the Egyptians will be reminded once more of their leader, Saad Zaghloul’s, saying "Right is above might and the nation is above the government."

Israel: Begging for Honour

2008-11-16T18:09:00.005Z

النسخة العربية هنا

Reports about the Queen's conferral of knighthood on Israeli President Shimon Peres endanger the Royals' reputation and add a new category eligible for the honorary title: war criminals.

Akram Awad

Monday, November 17 2008

It seems that the Zionist pro-Israeli blackmailing tactics against the Royals have done the trick – again. Latest news reports from Israel are confirming that the Israeli embassy's desperate begging for a knighthood title to be honoured by Queen Elizabeth to the Israeli President Shimon Peres during his visit to the UK this week has finally been answered⁽¹⁾. Another report published on the Daily Express⁽²⁾ earlier this month leaked information about the Queen's rejection of the Israeli bidding for the honorary title. The report quoted a British Official stating, "It's not going to happen. There is no knighthood." It is, therefore, still too early to confirm the reliability of the Israeli reports, as they may simply be part of the dirty campaign itself.

I should not be exaggerating when I claim that Mr. Peres is one of those few whose contribution to the Zionist project in Palestine and the sufferings of the Palestinians and Arabs has never stopped ever since the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1947-1949. His record⁽³⁾ includes his role in searching for talented officers to join the Haganah terrorist militias - Ben Gurion's military gang and the predecessor of the Israeli army - which led the acts of terrorism, killing and forced expulsion against the Palestinians since 1947. Peres became a member of the Haganah's high command in May 1947 where he was responsible for manpower and arms purchases and production. So to call Peres “Israel's Dove of Peace” is not any different from calling the Devil an "Angel of Evil".

The most distinguished war crime of the 1994's Noble Peace Prize laureate was his direct responsibility as a Prime Minister for the shelling of the UN forces headquarters in the village of Qana in southern Lebanon in 1996. More than 800 Lebanese civilians sought refuge in the building to escape Israeli fire, yet the UN flag was not enough to stop the Israeli thirst for blood. 106 people were killed in the massacre and at least 110 were seriously injured. Despite the UN investigation conclusions⁽⁴⁾ that the attack could never be referred to a technical or procedural error, the International Community failed so far to prosecute Peres and bring him to trial as a war criminal. Instead, The UN General Assembly debated whether Israel should be charged for the repair of the attacked compound - and the vote almost failed -, as if it was the United Nations of Bricks!

The Israeli President is one of the strongest advocates for bringing the Iranian nuclear program to a halt at any cost even if military intervention is required. Since the first time I wrote about this issue two years ago⁽⁵⁾many things have changed but one has remained the same; The Israeli military nuclear program remains intact, and the man who prides himself for making that program possible is still allowed to blatantly criticise Iran's nuclear program and threaten to destroy it, "The president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map," Peres once stated⁽⁶⁾. If it hadn’t been for Shimon Peres convincing the French in 1957 to help build the Israeli secret nuclear reactor, Dimona, the Israeli nuclear program could have never seen the light of day. Apart from few slips of the tongue, the Israelis still insist upon denying the existence of their nuclear program and their possession of hundreds of nuclear warheads. The world's silence on Israel's nuclear arsenal led the latter to safely conclude the following moral of the story: “We should be allowed to do whatever we want as long as we lie about it.”

I'll go back to the word "exaggeration". Questioning the dedication of Peres to the Zionist project in Palestine - all Palestine - does not stand as an option when we listen to the man's statements echoing the racist evil nature of Zionism. Peres strongly criticised⁽⁷⁾ the International Court of Justice after its ruling to de-legalise the construction of the Israeli apartheid wall/barrier in the West Bank. Nor was he ashamed of expressing his racist concerns about the "demographical danger" threatening Israel due to the fast growth of the Arab population compared to the Jewish population. "If a division of territory is not effected within a decade, the Arab minority will have become an Arab majority. Israel will no longer be a Jewish state - or (it will) stop being a democratic state,"⁽⁸⁾ Peres once argued for the need of a Palestinian state to complete the unfinished job of cleansing the rest of the Palestinians from their land in 1948's occupied Palestine. While the illegal settlements in the West Bank have been a major obstacle toward any peace agreement in Palestine, Peres was the first to fight for the implantation of the first Jewish settlement, Kedumim, in 1970s in the heart of the 1967 occupied West Bank as well as the set up of the security zone⁽⁹⁾ which makes up more than 45 percent of the West Bank.

If the Israelis' knighthood news reports prove themselves right this week, Buckingham Palace will score a point for trying to resist the blackmail but will also lose so much of its reputation. There should be someone in there - I hope - to spot that winning the title of the "Most Attractive Destination for War Criminals" isn't really worth it!

⁽¹⁾ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037259.html

⁽²⁾http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/69249/Queen-to-snub-Israeli-knighthood-bid

⁽³⁾http://www.zionism-israel.com/bio/Peres_biography.htm

⁽⁴⁾http://www.undemocracy.com/S-1996-337/page_6

⁽⁵⁾http://www.akramawad.com/search?q=israel+nuclear+arsenal

⁽⁶⁾http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1145961301962

⁽⁷⁾http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2944632,00.html

⁽⁸⁾http://english.aljazeera.net/archive/2003/10/20084912575844881.html

⁽⁹⁾http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/22362

2008-06-27T13:41:00.004+01:00

Join Us on the 29th of June Day of Action: "Israel: 60 Years of Shame"

On Sunday, the 29th of June, the Zionists and advocates of Israel in the UK are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel (i.e. the Palestinian Nakba) in central London with a huge parade followed by a festival at Trafalgar Square.

The Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), the British Muslim Initiative (BMI), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Palestine Twinning Network, NUS Black Students Campaign (NUS-BSC), Action Palestine, Friends of Al-Aqsa, FOSIS and other organisations will be holding a number of activities on the day to protest against this shameless dancing on Palestinian graves. The main two are:

1- "Israel: 60 Years of Shame" bus tour in London

Three double-decker buses will drive around central London, covered with banners highlighting the 60 years of Nakba and Israel's record of shame and crimes against the Palestinians from 1948 up to date.

Join us on the buses and say it loud and clear to Israel and its supporters "SHAME ON YOU!"

Buses will leave from Malet Street at 11:00 am (Nearest Tube stations are Russell Square, Goodge Street, Euston and Euston Square). Please be there on time.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=malet+street,+london&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=10.706311,33.310547&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr

2- "Shame on You" Vigil next to Trafalgar Square

A vigil will take place from 2:30 pm outside the South African House. This is the first building overlooking Trafalgar Square on the Strand (visit the following link for the location's map:

Join us there and let us say it all together:

"ISRAEL, SHAME ON YOU",

"PALESTINE, OUR HEARTS ARE WITH YOU"

and

"PALESTINIAN REFUGEES, SOONER OR LATER, YOU WILL RETURN!"

The Palestinian Nakba - A friends of Al-Aqsa Report

2008-05-24T16:43:00.006+01:00

The Palestinian Nakba, 60 Years of Catastrophe 1948 - 2008 A Friends of Al-Aqsa Publication

To mark 60 years since the Palestinian Nakba, Friends of Al-Aqsa have produced a publication titled 'The Palestinian Nakba, 60 Years of Catastrophe'.

This is being disctributed for free. If you would like to receive a printed copy, please send us a SAE to the value of £0.70. Post to: Friends of Al-Aqsa, PO Box 5127, Leicester, LE2 0WU.

Visit www.aqsa.org.uk to keep up to date with developments in the occupied territories.

To view the complete report online click here.

(Hat tip to Rajnaara for the excellent work)

Palestinian Nakba 101: The eBook

2008-05-15T21:05:00.007+01:00

Click on the image to launch the e-book

The Parade of Shame

2008-03-20T10:39:00.000Z

Akram Awad

Thursday March 20, 2008

It takes one a lot of courage to be brave enough (read unashamed) to celebrate a 60 year history of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, occupation, racism and war crimes. And it looks like the main Jewish bodies in the UK have decided to work hand-in-hand, taking their pride in that history to a new level this year by organising the “Salute to Israel” parade in London next June.

According to the organisers, the parade will demonstrate “affirmation of solidarity with and support of Israel”. This kind of unconditional support has always been the trend for both the organising and the supporting bodies of the parade. These include: Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies, the CST, JNF UK, Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, Manchester ZCC, UJIA, UJS, Zionist Federation, Zionist Youth Council, the Movement for Reform Judaism, and the United Synagogue.

Celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the declaration of Israel as a State also means, undoubtedly, taking pride in the horrific crimes committed by the Jewish militias (which later became the Israeli Defence Force) against the indigenous Palestinians in the years 1947 till 1949, which paved the way for the existence of Israel. The systematic ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians preceding the foundation of the State resulted in dozens of massacres, the destruction or Judaisation of more than 400 towns and villages, and the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians who now number 6-7 million refugees scattered all around the world. These figures are not only enough to make any Israeli ashamed of their country, but they are also sufficient by themselves to build the case against the right of Israel to exist.

Thus, it is striking to witness the major Jewish political and religious bodies in the UK praising a country with such a history, offending the memory of thousands of victims of Israeli terrorism, the millions of Palestinians in the UK and around the world, and the British people, as a whole, who take pride in promoting and defending fundamental human rights and ensuring mutual respect between the different groups making up this nation. Embedding the Union Jack within the Israeli flag in the parade’s logo is just another example of how ignorant the organisers are to the values of the British nation. I believe that it’s not questionable that neo-Nazis should not be permitted to promote their fascist beliefs by using the British flag with a Swastika. Promoting an illegal occupier and the only lasting apartheid regime on earth is not any better.

However, it is not just the pre-State history that is a source of shame for Israel. The military occupation of the rest of Palestine in 1967 (i.e. the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza strip) is an illegal act which, for the last 40 years, was condemned in dozens of resolutions by the UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, International Court of Justice and Human Rights Council, of which Israel insists to abide by none. Add to this, the Apartheid practices imposed on the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which are not limited to the Wall, checkpoints, settlements, imprisoning and water supply discrimination.

Moreover, the “only democracy in the Middle East” is probably the best example of what an extremely racist State can be. With discriminatory policies that favour Jewish citizens over Arab citizens and with the Law of Return which allows anyone with Jewish origin to become an Israeli citizen while denying the right of return for Palestinian refugees, there is hardly any room for doubt that Israel is a racist State.

The organisers of the “Salute to Israel” parade themselves are not remote from the above course of events. Some even played a key role in the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. The JNF, for instance, participated actively in the destruction of Palestinian villages, the Judaisation of others and the building of settlements. Nowadays, its main role is to cover up for the ethnic cleansing crimes by planting parks on ruins of destroyed Palestinian villages, all financed by charity money received through its offices around the world, including its UK-based registered charity, JNF UK.

The Union of Jewish Students in the UK, UJS, has taken a more active part in the military aspects of the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, by recruiting for the Israeli Army in the summer of 2007 and encouraging British Jews to do their national service in the Israeli Army “where it is really needed”. This is in breach of the UK Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 which considers it a crime for a British subject to enlist in the army of a foreign nation that is at war with any country that the UK is at peace with.

UJIA is the organisation responsible for encouraging and assisting Jews from the UK to immigrate to Israel i.e., ensuring the implementation of the racist Aliyah (Return) laws. This is of course in addition to funding the UJS and other organisations which strive to justify Israel’s crimes to the British public.

The examples of the involvement of the parade’s organisers in the crimes of the Zionist State are endless. However, what irritates more than anything else is watching the same people claiming to work for justice and peace while openly declaring themselves as believers of the racist Zionist ideology and supporting the Zionist State’s crimes. What sort of trust are faith leaders expected to show toward the United Synagogue during inter-faith activities when the latter salutes, out of all countries of the world, a country which John Dugard accused of committing war crimes against the Palestinians? Likewise, how are we expected to receive the UJS’s passion to save Darfur when all what they do, on the other hand, is to praise Israel in every possible occasion and suppress all the voices calling for an end to the Israeli illegal occupation and apartheid in Palestine? One phrase is enough to describe the Jewish bodies organising and supporting the “Salute to Israel” Parade: A BUNCH OF HYPOCRITES.

The bunch of hypocrites have classified themselves as Zionist organisations which care unlimitedly about Israel and couldn’t care less about the reputation of the Jewish faith, which they are tarnishing by attaching themselves to a Divine faith that should be promoting the values of justice, equality and coexistence. The ball is now in the court of all those who stand for justice and cannot stand hypocrisy. The next time any of the parade’s organisers knocks on your door, a good “no, thank you” answer would be “Interesting to see an apartheid apologist playing the angel”!

The One & Only...

2008-03-17T13:27:00.006Z

This was just a "little" message that Palestine remains the core and central issue of the Middle East Crisis. [The World Against War Demo, London - March 15 2008] I hope the 135 square-meter message was clear enough!

And in action...

And for those who were still confused, the banner says it all...

[Hat tip to Laylatoot, Newworlddannie, Akanekal and Jeff for the great pics]

Palestine Quiz 3 - Nakba (1-3): The years before

2008-02-20T22:11:00.009Z

In order to create a justification for the crime of genocide they have committed against the Palestinian Arabs, the Zionists have tried to convince the world that Palestine was practically uninhabited, "A Land Without People, for a People without a Land." They created and propagated the myths that the Palestinian Arabs were nomads or seminomads without a culture and civilization, that the Palestinians had neither a national identity nor existence, that the Palestinians lacked an economic structure and roots in the land.

Take the quiz, do the math and find out for yourself if Palestine was really a land with no people left for people with a plan.

Take the PalQuiz 3 HERE

Good luck!

Can those creatures be human?!

2007-12-27T17:19:00.000Z

See what its like to live with Jewish Settlers (Colonisers) as your Neighbors. (Footage from Hebron, Palestine)

You can watch other footages about the daily sufferings of Palestinians in Hebron and Palestine at:

PaLoRaMa

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=jonyoutoobe

http://www.palestineremembered.com/...

For Your Information, the occupied Palestinian City of Hebron is home to more than 150,000 Palestinians and 400 implanted Jewish Settlers (safeguarded by thousands of Israeli Occupation Forces and Israeli Police)

HAPPY EID!

2007-12-19T12:08:00.001Z

Palestine Quiz 2 - U.S. Support of Israel

2007-12-12T12:34:00.000Z

How much does Israel cost the American taxpayer? Does US law protect USA or Israel? How blind is the US governments' backing of Israeli crimes?

Test your knowledge on the different aspects of the US support for Israel...

Take the PalQuiz 2 HERE

Good luck!

Leave your score in the comments

The Messages ... Now in Spanish & French

2007-05-28T11:26:00.000+01:00

Spanish Translation http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=51117

French Translation http://www.protection-palestine.org/article.php3?id_article=5090

(Hat tip to Carlos and Ana)

Origional Article

Part I http://www.akramawad.com/2007/05/messages-in-memory-of-nakba-part-1.html

Part II http://www.akramawad.com/2007/05/messages-in-memory-of-nakba-part-2.html

Palestine Quiz 1 - Palestinian Refugees

2007-05-21T21:59:00.000+01:00

Palestinians have experienced several periods of major displacement, beginning in 1947-48 war, followed by a second major displacement in the 1967 war. Additional displacement has resulted from Israeli government policies and practices inside Israel and in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories, including land confiscation, house demolition, revocation of residency status, and deportation.

The state of Israel opposes the return of Palestinian refugees based on the desire to maintain Israel as a ''Jewish state'' characterised by a solid demographic Jewish majority and Jewish control of the land.

This quiz aims to test your knowledge on the Palestinian refugees issue and to give you an insight into their unique 59-year struggle.

Click here to take the quiz now

Good luck!

Leave your score in the comments

Also, please leave any comments, suggestions or ideas for future quizzes in the comments section.

[UPDATE]

Total of 11,550 visitors took the quiz

Suggested references about the Palestinian refugees and the right of return:

http://www.al-awda.org/

http://prc.org.uk/

http://www.un.org/unrwa

http://palestineremembered.com/

http://arts.mcgill.ca/mepp/new_prrn

http://www.plands.org/

http://www.badil.org/

http://www.shaml.org/

http://www.rorcongress.com/

Palestine occupied Sheffield ... for one day

2007-05-20T13:24:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday, 12th of May, Sheffield city centre was occupied (legally) by pr0-Palestine activists from all around the North of England. The Palestine North rally was organised by Sheffield PSC in support of the Palestinians and their freedom and return. It had almost everything: A huge rally, Speakers, Dabkeh (Palestinian traditional dancing), Palestinian food, information stalls, Palestinian products stalls, Photo Exhibition, A massive model of the apartheid wall in West Bank. I even got to meet an old lady who just arrived from Palestine and turned out to be from my town and she knew my grandma!

The funniest, yet most irritating, part of the day was the Checkpoint Street Theatre. We all wanted to take part in the role play so we ended up waiting in a very long queue, and to make things worse it started raining heavily! The Israeli soldiers didn't allow us to find a shelter and the progress was deadly slow. The floor was full of fruits and vegetables as they emptied someone's basket and didn't allow him in with his harvested crops. I missed my university exam because the stubborn soldier insisted not to let me into the city with my expired ID card and ordered me to renew my ID in another city, which has been blocked by another checkpoint and no one was allowed in or out for almost three days.

That was just a role play. Reality is far more worse.

Here are some pics from my camera

Messages in Memory of the Nakba (Part 2)

2007-05-17T13:30:00.000+01:00

Akram Awad

Thursday, 17 May 2007

This year marks the 59th anniversary of the Nakba (Palestinian catastrophe) in which the Zionist Jewish militias committed a horrendous number of massacres and crimes which led to the displacement of half of the Palestinian nation (around 750,000) from their villages and towns and the occupation of most of Palestine. In the memory of the Palestinian holocaust I have five messages that I would like to send to different people who have a lot to do with this continuing catastrophe: Palestinians living in Palestine, Palestinians living outside Palestine, Palestine solidarity movement activists, the international community and Jews worldwide. Part 1 of this article contained my message to the Palestinians. Part 2 carries my message to the rest of the world.

To the Palestine Solidarity movement activists

My third message goes to the Palestine solidarity movement activists around the world. The Palestinian nation salutes you for defending their rights, increasing the awareness of your people about the Palestinian cause and exposing the Israeli brutality and the evil face of Zionism. I can tell from my experience that there are non-Palestinians who are more Palestinian than some Palestinians. We are grateful for every single moment you spend for us and we will never forget your struggle with us.

I would just like to remind myself and you that the role of a solidarity movement is to defend the rights of a nation and mobilise people to support those rights. It is worrying though to notice a few examples where this red line is crossed by making compromises on behalf of the Palestinians and proposing "solutions" that drop some of the Palestinian rights. So that we don't lose the plot, we should always remind ourselves of our primary aim and that is to support all the Palestinians' rights (and not picking some and neglecting others). It is only the Palestinian nation -as a whole- that has the authority to decide for its future. We stood by the Black South Africans until the apartheid regime was dismantled. We did not impose solutions on them but supported the end of apartheid. Likewise, we should support all rights of the Palestinian nation including their right in their independent sovereign state and the right of all refugees to return to their original villages and towns and their right to compensation.

To the International community

My fourth message is for the international community. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." It is ironic that this statement is also 59 years old and it's yet to see the light in this wild world. If you think you have no hand in the suffering of the Palestinians for 59 years -or even more- then you have to rethink about it.

Palestine was granted to the Zionist Jews through the Balfour declaration 90 years ago which was then followed by mass immigration of the Jews from Europe and USA to Palestine where their camps were secured by British forces. Although Britain had no right in the first place to offer the land of the Palestinians to someone else they still issued a white paper clarifying that the Jews had no right to form their own state in Palestine, and that is when Zionist terror escalated against both the Palestinians and the British -with the King David Hotel bombing in Jerusalem being one example of that terror-. When the British lost control of the Zionist Jewish terrorist groups they simply decided to leave the Palestinians to their fate and leave the country! By that time the Americans were the main source of aids and funds to the Zionist terror militias and supplied them with all their military needs including air fighters.

It was in that decade when the Holocaust was committed against the Jews and other ethnicities. The sympathy with the Jews led 33 states -of which the most were either European countries or controlled by major powers- to vote for the UN partition plan of Palestine in 1947. But hold on, what do the Palestinians have to do with all of this?! There is only one answer; European states recognised the suffering of the Jews but still didn't want to host them. This brings to my mind the Aliens Act of 1905 which was enacted by the then-prime minister Arthur Balfour -Yes the same Balfour!- to restrict the immigration of Jews to the UK.

We didn't vote for Balfour, the British people did. We didn't vote for any foreign government that supported the Zionists before or after the declaration of their illegal state in 1948, the western nations did. Unfortunately, most of us only care about what the governments would do for us and ignore their support to the Zionists and their crimes. You have been paying taxes for ages; you probably received good health and social services in return, but how many times did you question the tax money redirected by your government to fund the killing of the Palestinians by the Israeli army? You enjoyed your freedom to vote for your representative in your Parliament, but only very few were caring enough to blame their governments for starving the Palestinians for practising their right to vote for a party other than what the Zionists prefer. Palestinians do not ask for anyone’s apology; All what they ask for is to help them end their catastrophe, which they had no hand in creating, and to support their freedom and their return to the land Zionists wouldn’t have taken without getting empowered by the US and many European governments.

Is it bliss to be ignorant? Not when it makes you involved in the crime. Your favourite shop is Marks & Spenser because it offers you good value for money, but then it is also your money that helps M&S to support Israel with hundreds of millions of US dollars every year. You open your bank account with Barclays, a bank which shamelessly sponsored the celebrations of "Israel's birthday", and you still justify it for yourself believing that closing your account won't make even a tiny difference. You will still insist to buy your makeup from Estee Lauder even when you are told that its Chairman, Ronald Lauder, is a Zionist working with the land-grabbing Jewish National Fund (JNF), opposing the right of return for Palestinians. What is worse is that you may be donating to the JNF charity in your country to help them erase any remaining signs of the Arab villages flattened by the Zionists since 1948. If you want to be passive and do nothing to help the Palestinians and pressure your government, the minimum I can ask you for is not to take part in their killing and daily suffering with your money… BOYCOTT!

To all Jews worldwide

My fifth and final message is dedicated to the Jews worldwide. Our problem is not with you; it's with Zionism. We lived in Palestine hundreds of years in peace and harmony as one Palestinian nation: Muslims, Christians, Jews, Druze and others. We understand the suffering many of you had to undergo in Europe and the US but this should never give the Zionists the justification to cause another nation even worse suffering in your name. Muslims, Christians and Jews believe in the same God, a just and merciful God, a God who will never give one nation the right to expel another nation from their land and replace them, a God who will never allow a Jew to kill an Arab to secure a "Jewish state", a God whose wrath is sure to be provoked by the racist Zionist ideology and its adopters and implementers, specially when they claim to speak in the name of God.

As a Jew you may be thirsty to speak against Zionism, and I do understand the risks you will have to undertake considering the Zionist attempts to silence you, but believe me it's worth the risk. You won't be alone; the majority of silent Jews are non-Zionists, and all what you need to do is to break your silence and add your name to the honour list of Jewish heroes who dare to speak out for Judaism and against Zionism. It may sound a bit pragmatic for a Palestinian to encourage non-Zionist Jews to speak out the truth about their faith to unveil the lies of the Zionists who pretend to represent the Jews, but I'm sure even the non-Zionist Jew dreams of the day when, for people all over the world, the word "Judaism" becomes attached to peace, justice and equality instead of Zionism, racism, occupation, war and "Nakba".

Messages in Memory of the Nakba (Part 1)

2007-05-17T13:24:00.000+01:00

Akram Awad

Thursday, 17 May 2007

To Palestinians living in Palestine

My first message is to the Palestinians living in Palestine. Your struggle and resistance of the Zionist Israeli occupation and apartheid made you the role model for all freedom fighters and all those who seek justice around the world. We outside Palestine have always been proud of being Palestinians, not because of what we have done for our cause, but rather because of your steadfastness in the face of the Zionist terror that has been imposed on you for the last 59 years. We would love to stand side-by-side with you and face the Zionist occupation together in Palestine, but unfortunately this is out of our hands. The majority of Palestinians outside Palestine are refugees who are denied the right to return and, for those who are not, there is always a need for Palestinians to be all over the world in order to spread the message about the Palestinian struggle and to defend the Palestinian cause and rights wherever the Zionist propaganda twists facts and delivers a distorted picture about the history of the Palestinian struggle and the ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinians.

It took other nations hundreds of years to get rid of colonisation and gain their freedom. It took India four centuries to get its freedom and independence, and it took the Algerians 130 years to end the French colonisation. Palestine is no less than any of these and therefore we should not expect to pay a cheaper price for our freedom. Always bear in mind that life without dignity is worse than death, and life without freedom loses all its dignity. If you think that compromising parts of the nation's rights, fought for by three generations, will do you any good you are very much mistaken. There will always come a day when a new generation starts seeking their dignity and, once again, they will realise it is found in their freedom and their return to their home land. Neither the Israeli occupation nor its collaborators should let you down or drive you to give up your rights.

It is fate that every coloniser and occupier recruits collaborators from within the colonised nation to pave their way in. We heard about many examples in the past and the modern history, with Iraq probably being the most recent example. We also have them in Palestine, but this should never make you ashamed of being Palestinian because the moment a collaborator helps the enemy they lose their Palestinian identity. I have no doubt that the recent clashes in Palestine have been ignited and directed by the Zionists and their collaborators. But how are we going to identify them? It is not that difficult. I'll be very frank and reveal to you my simple approach to point them out. Question the loyalty of everyone who hugs a Zionist, whose hand is full of Palestinian blood. Question the loyalty of everyone who accepts military and logistic aid from the same countries starving the Palestinians. Question the loyalty of everyone whose militias are freely allowed in and out of Palestine while the Palestinians have to wait for days or even weeks on border points –and in several cases die from illness while waiting. Question the loyalty of everyone who says no to a temporary state but welcomes the road map, and says yes to the right of return but is willing to negotiate it and make compromises. To conclude my message to the Palestinians inside I shall say again: you made us proud of you for 59 years and this shall continue until we all declare a Palestinian state over the whole of Palestine.

To Palestinians living out of Palestine

My second message is for the Palestinians living outside Palestine. I shall remind myself and you that what makes someone a Palestinian is the Palestine deeply rooted in their heart. So a true Palestinian should live as a Palestinian no matter where they are, and will raise their family to appreciate the Palestinian culture, traditions and lifestyle because this is part of our struggle to preserve the Palestinian identity which the Zionists have been striving to erase ever since they took our land.

It is not a luxury, but rather an obligation, to educate people whom we live with about our cause, our rights, our history and our culture. No one is capable of speaking on behalf of the Palestinians better than the Palestinians themselves. This is conditional on having Palestinians who understand, and are able to communicate with, the communities they live amongst. Never assume others are going to be the ones to take on such a role; Let it be you. Educate yourself about your cause and don't be shy to speak out about the Palestinian struggle wherever you are. We always blame the world for not standing with us but we never asked ourselves if we have ever made an effort to tell the world what they should know about our just cause. Someone may keep saying something for ages but that will be useless if he speaks a language his audience do not understand!

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strip are the ones involved in deciding on the best strategies and methods to physically resist the Israeli occupation on one hand, and to run the Palestinian community on the other hand. Palestinians may differ in their approaches to these issues and therefore it is legitimate and understandable that they form different parties and groups representing and promoting those approaches. Palestinians living outside Palestine have no reason or justification however, to split themselves into different camps. We should be an example of unity and harmony for we have one goal we all long to achieve: our freedom and return. A Palestinian living outside should always live and present themselves not as a member of Fatah, Hamas or any other party but only as a proud Palestinian.

A British Union recruits for the Israeli Army!

2007-05-13T15:55:00.000+01:00

Based on my personal experience in Leeds University and the National Union of Students (NUS), I couldn't agree more with the brave ex-Israeli Jewish academic Ilan Pappe when he accused Jewish campus groups in the UK and some Jewish students of being ""ambassadors of Israel". However I could never imagine that the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) is shameful enough to call the Jewish British students for "National Service" in Israel by voluntarily serving in the Israeli Occupation Army.

In their campaign for this summer's activities which was given the motto "Whatever you do this summer, do it in Israel with UJS", UJS offered Jewish students the chance to participate in the Sar-El program. The advert reads "Join students from around the world on a national project with the Israeli army. Spend 2 weeks volunteering with Israeli peers and make a difference where it is really needed!"

Sar-El is an Israeli Army unit which aims at recruiting volunteers from both Israel and the rest of the world to help the Israeli army. The majority of Sar-El volunteers serve in army bases and are assigned a variety of tasks which according to volunteers include " doing maintenance on tanks and heavy vehicles " and "refurbishing used or damaged military equipment, which saves Israel millions of dollars." During their "National Service" volunteers wear the Israeli army uniform and work alongside or under the direction of soldiers.

Although it is not a crime for a British citizen to serve in a foreign army, The Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 makes it a crime for a British subject to enlist in the army of a foreign nation that is at war with any country that the UK is at peace with. On the other hand Israel -since its foundation in 1948- has been in a continuous state of war with the Palestinians (or more accurately against them), the Lebanese and Syrians (whom Israel is occupying part of their lands since 1967) and with most Arab countries. It is obvious that when two states negotiate mutual peace agreements they explicitly -or implicitly- look for an end to the state of war between them, otherwise it won't be true that you make peace with your enemies. The daily crimes of the Israeli occupation army against the Palestinian civilians in West Bank and Gaza strip and the war against Lebanon in 2006 are just examples of that state of war. The UK however is not by any means at war with any of the Arab countries, including the Palestinians and the Lebanese, and hence Jewish British citizens who serve in the Israeli occupation army become theoretically guilty of an offence against the law.

I need not to say, but I will do, that it does not need me to be dictated by the British law to make me realise that it is a betrayal to my humanity to proudly serve in an army which evolved from Zionist terrorist groups which was responsible for hundreds of massacres against the Palestinians in 1948 and 1949 and for the displacement of half of the Palestinian nation from their homeland. It does not need laws to forbid an English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh (whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish or atheist) from involving in the repair and maintenance of the Israeli army artillery which is directly responsible for the killing of thousands of Palestinians and for jeopardising the lives and well being of millions of Palestinians through its practices which include, but are not limited to, hundreds of checkpoints, invasions, curfews, imprisonment of more than 10,000 Palestinians (Men, women and children and quarter of the Palestinian Parliament), building the apartheid wall (including its 40-meter wide electrified fence and 8-meter high concrete wall parts), the ongoing construction of Israeli settlements among Palestinian communities in the Occupied West Bank and the continuous judaisation of the holy city of Jerusalem by demolishing Arab properties and replacing them with Jewish communities.

It is a shame that while only half of the Jewish Britons consider themselves as Zionists (based on a survey pubished by IJV), Zionists still insist to hijack every institution which is supposed to serve the followers of Judaism regardless of their political stances (including UJS and the Board of Deputies) and to silence every Jewish voice which speaks against Zionism or the Zionist regime and its racist and apartheid policies and practices. UJS is already in breach of this common-sense commitment by being a member of the Zionist Youth Council, an organisation which adopts Zionism as a basis for its agenda despite its racist and discriminatory nature and the fact that many Jews disagree with it. The schizophrenia of the UJS proves to be far worse than the most pessimistic could have feared. What else can we expect from a British "National" Union after it openly called its membership to break the law for the sake of another country? Probably officially launching a program to recruit Jewish youth to fight in the Israeli Occupation Army would be the next good idea?!

Until Politicians decide to wake up and shut the UJS unless it stops acting as an Israeli National Union, all universities and colleges in the UK should take a firm stand against the national Union's dual-nationalism by giving no platform to Jewish campus societies that affiliate with UJS "the ambassador of Israel".

Hadeel ... Now on PaLoRaMa

2007-05-05T00:38:00.000+01:00

the short film "Hadeel", the winner of the Jury's award in Aljazeera International Documentary Film Festival for the category of Short films, is now available on PaLoRaMa (Hat tip to the Director Riyadh Shaheen and My friend Arwa).

Hadeel is about childhood and innocence, but it's also about the Zionist barbarism and the world's apathy.

Watch the film and read a news article about Hadeel

Another innocent child dies in Israeli bombardment of Gaza
By: Defence for Children International/Palestine Section (DCI/PS)

At 5.30pm on Monday 10 April 2006, at least six artillery shells fired by the Israeli military fell on the family house of Mohammed Rabe'eya Ghaban in Beit Lahiya, in the north of the Gaza Strip. Shrapnel from the shells pierced the skull of Mohammed's eight-year old daughter Hadeel, killing her instantly. The shelling also resulted in the injury of eight other family members, including Hadeel's brothers and sisters:
Rawan Ghaban 1 and a half years old
Rana Ghaban 3 years old
Munir Ghaban 4 years old
Amneh Ghaban 9 years old
Ghassan Ghaban 11 years old
Bassam Ghaban 15 years old
Tahrir Ghaban 17 years old
The children's mother, 35-year old Sofia, was the eighth family member wounded in the attack.
Several neighbours were also injured including:
Jaqueline Mo'ein Maarouf 11 years old
Mariam Maher Al-‘Assi 15 years old
The killing of Hadeel and the wounding of her siblings and friends is the latest crime to come out of Israel's escalating aggression against the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip. Despite the physical withdrawal of the Israeli military from the area in August 2005, Israeli occupation forces continue to exercise military control over the entire Strip – intensifying assassination attacks against Palestinian activists, shelling residential areas and imposing a virtual siege on the whole strip by sealing entry and exits points to goods and people.
Since the beginning of this year, 15 Palestinian children have been killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including eight from the Gaza Strip. Four of the eight were passers by - killed in Israeli extra-judicial assassination attempts against Palestinian activists; two Gaza children were killed by gunfire; one by unexploded ordinance while Hadeel is the eighth Gaza child to die so far this year.
Defence for Children International/Palestine Section (DCI/PS) views with grave concern this growing list of child fatalities and this latest Israeli crime. The recent Israeli military activities, including the bombing of residential areas, preventing food supplies from reaching the population and carrying out extra-judicial killings are considered war crimes under international law.
As such, DCI/PS calls on the international community to assume its moral responsibilities and legal obligations under international law and to act immediately and effectively to stop these gross violations being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians.

Game is over for Jerusalem ... Almost!

2007-05-03T20:00:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted on my blog for quite long time as I made the pledge not to touch it until I submit my PhD thesis. But I couldn't resist the email I received from my friend Diana about the judaization of the Holy City of Al-Quds (Jerusalem). As a member of the Coalition for Jerusalem, The Palestinian Counseling Center has been doing a great confronting the the Israeli plans to judaize the city. Their latest achievement is a complete English and Arabic unofficial translation of the proposed Israeli Master Plan for Jerusalem "Jerusalem 2000". In addition, they published a preliminary report on the implications of the plan on Occupied East Jerusalem (and in Arabic as well).

You can find the full translation here (and Arabic). Alternatively, you can go directly to the individual sections using the following links (Arabic links below)

Jerusalem Master Plan 2000

contents

Introduction

Policy Documents Definition and Goals

Open Space

The Old City

Residential Building

City Center and Employment

Urban Building Code

Population and Society

Economy

Higher Education

Preservation of Building Heritage

Archaeology

Public Services

Tourism

Transportation

Environmental Quality

Infrastructure

Planning Alternatives and Choice of preferred Alternative

المخطط الهيكلي الاسرائيلي 2000 لمدينة القدس

فهرس المحتويات

ملخص شامل

الفصل الأول – وثائق سياسات التخطيط – التعريف والأهداف

الفصل الثاني – المناطق المفتوحة

الفصل الثالث – البلدة القديمة

الفصل الرابع – السكن

الفصل الخامس – مركز المدينة والأعمال

الفصل السادس – هيكل بناء المدينة

الفصل السابع – السكان والمجتمع

الفصل الثامن – الاقتصاد

الفصل التاسع – التعليم العالي

الفصل العاشر – حفظ الميراث المعماري

الفصل الحادي عشر – الآثار

الفصل الثاني عشر – الخدمات العامة

الفصل الثالث عشر – السياحة

الفصل الرابع عشر - المواصلات

الفصل الخامس عشر – جودة البيئة

الفصل السادس عشر – البنى الهيكلية التحتية

الفصل السابع عشر - البدائل التخطيطية واختيار البديل الأفضل

So, do you think the game is over? Not Yet

What can you do?

SPREAD THE WORD (Email, Blog, Digg, Post) EDUCATE YOURSELF BOYCOTT

Fatima, A Traitor? (The Zionist Story Oscar)

2007-02-28T06:42:00.000Z

How many of you know that Palestine was there in this year’s Oscar? Probably not that many. And you know what, the musical short film “West Bank Story” won the best short film Oscar. The question that rises: is it any good? I’ll try to answer this.

I watched the film few minutes after it won the Oscar. Many critics said the film is hilarious and will make you laugh till tears. From a personal experience, I was about to throw up! If I am to give the director Ari Sandel the benefit of doubt I will consider him a naive who knows nothing about the Zionist regime and its crimes against the Palestinians. Otherwise I shall consider the director part of the Zionist propaganda to feed the world an upside-down version of what’s actually going on in Palestine.

The film is starred by Ben Denmark “David” and Noureen Dewulf “Fatima”. David, an Israeli soldier, and Fatima, a fast food cashier, fall in love “defying a 2000-year tradition of hatred and war between their families, Jews and Muslims”. Both Arabs and Jews are portrayed as experts in provoking each other with their weapons are Hummus and Kosher. The only wise and nice Jew in the film is the Israeli Soldier and at the other side it’s only Fatima who tries to make the effort to narrow the gap between the two families.

Mr. Sandel, if you have a little bit of rationality you will admit that occupation soldiers are never nice and wise. Israeli soldiers who serve the Zionist apartheid regime in its plot to cleanse the Palestinians never care for those they are killing and sabotaging their lives every day. Israeli soldiers do not raid Palestinian territories to enjoy helping the Palestinians. The only fun an Israeli soldier enjoys is to shoot or beat a Palestinian and watch him or her bleed till death. And to keep you updated with how nice the Israeli soldiers are with the Palestinians, here are some photos taken during the still-ongoing raid of the Israeli Occupation army on the Palestinian city of Nablus. As I’m writing these words I’m also listening to the news that the Israeli army are arresting the parents and wives of some “wanted” Palestinian heroes in the city. Very nice and humane, isn’t it?

Mr. Sandel, as your film title states, you were depicting two neighbourhoods in the Palestinian West Bank, Arab and Jewish, who need to live in peace and harmony side to side. You are very mistaken Ari. Israelis do not have the right to live in the West Bank or any other place in Palestine; only Jewish Palestinians do along with Muslim and Christian Palestinians. Even if 58 years have passed since the Israeli occupation of Palestine no one can deny the fact that this occupation is illegal, that Palestine belongs to and only to the Palestinian nation and that the only people who have the right to return to Palestine from the Diaspora are the Palestinian refugees not the Jews. With your claims you are neglecting tens of international conventions and resolutions which instate the Palestinians right to freedom, self-determination and return to their homeland, Palestine.

Mr. Sandel, the Palestinian problem is NOT with the Jews, but with the Zionists who pretend to speak in the name of the Jews when in fact they only speak in the name of the Devil and act on his behalf (probably worse). Palestinians (Muslims, Christians and Jews) have been living as one united nation for centuries and they still do. In the 1920s the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, personally went to king Abdullah of Trans-Jordan to declare the Jewish communities’ loyalty, and in order to elucidate the true Jewish stance, which was in total opposition to the Zionist movement. In 1947, The then-chief rabbi, Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, sent a letter to the United Nations in Lake Placid, stating “I have under me 60,000 constituents, we do not want to be included in this state of Israel that you are creating..” Unfortunately, they where totally ignored.

Mr. Sandel, Muslims do NOT have a problem with the Jews. History tells you that the Jews lived their best era under Islamic governance in Arabia, North Africa and Europe. Muslims don’t hate Jews Ari. Muslims care for their Palestinian brothers and sisters, no matter what religion they follow, because it doesn’t need a religion to dictate you common sense. When I take your bag the only justice is to return your bag to you, and you are the victim and I am the guilty until I do so. This is common sense Mr. Sandel. It’s not only Muslims who care; The vast majority of Christians do know the truth and support the Palestinian cause. Don’t get fooled with your government’s policy which supports Israel along the way. Your president and government are a bunch of Zionists who have the full support of the extremely strong Zionist lobby which also occupies the people of the United States with its powerful media machine. Yet people who seek the truth will always find a way to reach it even when the Zionist media tried day and night to brainwash them. If you really long for peace in the Middle East you need to be among those who seek the truth, unveil it and stand against the racist criminal ideology of Zionism and its advocates.

Mr. Sandel, I have to congratulate you for your exceptional imagination. A Palestinian woman falling in love with a Zionist Israeli soldier; that’s only in your dreams! No Palestinian woman will ever betray her people or cause and sell her honour and heart to someone whose duty is to kill her, her parents, brothers, sisters, children, neighbours, friends, classmates and colleagues. If a woman does then she doesn’t deserve to be Palestinian any more. What makes someone a Palestinian is the love for his homeland, Palestine, and his nation, the Palestinians.

Winning the Oscar doesn’t change facts Mr. Sandel. We the Palestinians will keep fighting with all means for our just and righteous cause, and one day –hopefully very soon- PALESTINE WILL BE FREE, FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA.

Sands of Sorrow (1950)

2007-02-13T19:30:00.000Z

The commentator was shocked by how the Palestinian refugees could stay in miserable refugee camps for two full years. It's been more than 58 years now and nothing has really changed and no one has answered his plea... What an apathetic world!

I won't add a single word, for a picture speaks a thousand words.

More refugee-related films are coming to PaLoRaMa very soon.

Please spread the word

the world needs to see the truth of the beginnings

If you want to add the film to your site you can use the following code:

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In the future you can find this film and many others in PaLoRaMa

"We Killed Jesus, and We're Proud of it !"

2007-02-07T21:51:00.000Z

The so called "Jewish" settlers in Hebron keep surprising us with their ability to prove continuously how someone in the shape of a human being can act worse than an animal; excuse me animals! I'm sorry that I have no choice but to call them "Jewish" as this is what they claim to be and I can't call them Israelis as they don't live in the so called "Israel" but rather in the West Bank, a land internationally recognised as an Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Tel Rumeida is a small Palestinian neighbourhood deep in the West Bank city of Hebron. Palestinian families, from whom these settlers occupied lands, live directly next to these settlers and are often virtual prisoners in their homes, subject to the settlers' violent attacks and destruction of property.

The footage below shows a "Jewish" settler in Tel Rumeida cursing and threatening a British volunteer among many internationals who left their homes and families and moved to Palestine to work in the neighbourhood of Tel Rumeida, Hebron, keeping a presence on the streets to prevent against settler attacks and soldier/police harassment of the Palestinian residents who live in the neighbourhood. The title above is just one of that settler’s sick quotations recorded in the footage.

The Zionist state of "Israel" still insists to implant such scum in the Arab Palestinian city of Hebron in the Occupied West Bank of Palestine. I call upon our brothers, the true followers of the divine religion of Judaism and all those who care for the Jewish faith and its reputation and purity to publicly distance themselves from and disown those uncivilised creatures whose acts help in nothing but to distort the image of the Jewish faith, and to extend that to include all the zionists who believe in the racist myth that God gave them the right to expel the Palestinians from their homeland and take it over.

And as a Palestinian, I would like to salute the heroes from all over the world who are sacrificing their lives, luxuries, hopes, and dreams to save the Palestinians in their struggle for freedom sending a bold message “Shame On You” to their own governments, specially the American and European governments who are empowering "Israel" and imposing a total blockade on the Palestinians.

As we are in it, I would like to draw the attention to the new trend in Europe and specially here in the UK to endorse a new definition for Anti-Semitism that was suggested by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). The definition considers "Israel" part of the Jewish identity and hence equates Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism. I respect Judaism as a faith and that's why I reject the Zionist agenda to politicise this divine faith linking it with the terrorist state of "Israel". Furthermore, We should all reject such a definition which would gag us and disallow us from questioning the right of the illegal zionist state to exist in Palestine.

One interesting part of the definition reads as follows:

"Examples of the ways in which anti-Semitism manifests itself with regard to the state of Israel taking into account the overall context could include:
...
- Using the symbols and images associated with classical anti-Semitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis."

From my personal experience I never heard anyone openly accusing the Jews of killing Jesus (well in fact for me as a Muslim I don't even believe that Jesus was killed). The only two examples I recall in my whole life for using this claim in any context were of "Jewish" settlers in Hebron who were stating proudly that they killed Jesus; One of which is shown below. The other one occurred last year when "Jewish" settlers attacked the internationals and almost killed a Belgian volunteer again in poor Hebron... Strange enough!

Now I’ll leave you with the disgusting footage WARNING: The film contains bad language (In fact the worst!)

Here is one more footage setting new higher limits for barbarism

(If you can't see the video controls right-click on the video and click on "Play/Pause")

For more footages and information about Tel Rumeida volunteers, please visit their website: http://www.telrumeidaproject.org

You can also find some of the settlers footages on my own library PaLoRaMa

Remembering Genocide

2007-01-27T01:33:00.000Z

On the Holocaust Memorial Day

27th January 2007

I'm a Palestinian; I'm also a Human, and thus I care for people like me, whether Muslims, Christians, Jews, followers of other religions, or atheists.

I'm a Palestinian; I can be a Muslim Palestinian, a Christian Palestinian, a Jewish Palestinian, or an atheist Palestinian.

I don't hate the Jews, simply because they are humans like me. Yet I oppose Zionists because they stole or supported the theft of my homeland. And my ultimate aim will remian the freedom of my land, Palestine, and my people, the Palestinians.

I don't deny the Holocaust that was committed seven decades ago by the Nazis and their collaborators and in which many Gypsies, Poles (Catholic/Christian, and Jewish), Serbs, Soviet military prisoners of war, civilians on occupied territories including Russians and other East Slavs, mentally or physically disabled, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Communists and political dissidents, trade unionists, Freemasons, Eastern Christians, and Catholic and Protestant clergy were persecuted and killed. I totally condemn this crime and I'm disgusted by its savagery and severity. For me a crime is a crime whether ten or ten million innocent people were killed.

I do condemn the 1930s' Holocaust, but I also condemn, even more, the apathy and the silence of the whole world on the 58-year-old still ongoing Holocaust committed against the Palestinians by the Zionists in the name of the victims of the first Holocaust. It is the support and approval -even by silence- to this current Holocaust that should be considered illegal and it is today’s Genocide that is now more demanding to be remembered and stopped immediately.

I condemn the 1930s’ Holocaust, but I also condemn the cheap exploitation of that horrific crime to justify the displacement of the Palestinian nation, the occupation of their homeland, and the continuous killing of innocent Palestinians. Likewise, I denounce the cheap use of the 11^th of September’s massacre and its innocent victims to justify the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of hundreds of thousands of other innocent victims. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights; this is what the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, and unfortunately this is what we first forget when we deal with each other’s conflicts and disputes. There are no chosen people for God; we are all equal, and those who fulfil their duties as humans are the ones who deserve their humanity the most.

Finally, this year Bolton Council decided to replace the Holocaust Memorial Day with a more inclusive Genocide Memorial Day which will include among its activities both the Nazi Holocaust and the ongoing genocide and human rights abuses of Palestinians by Israelis. I strongly encourage you to campaign for a similar action in your own locality. Remembering the cruelty of the past must be enough of a motivation to make us work hard to stop today’s cruelty from taking more innocent lives around the world.

PALORAMA

2007-01-15T23:53:00.000Z

Palestine Film Collection

Palestine Through The Camera Lens

This is a humble effort to start a library of all film material on Palestine that are available online. There are some documentaries, movies and video footages. I would encourage everyone to buy their personal copies of the films from www.arabfilm.com or www.palestineonlinestore.com as they are really precious assets to keep at home and show to your family, friends and in local community events.

This library needs your help. If you know any film on Palestine that is available online please let me know about it by adding its link and information at the comments section.

Happy watching!

Latest:

Hadeel (NEW)

Documentaries:

Palestine is still the issue

Peace Propaganda and the Promised Land

The Iron Wall

Arna's Children

My Dear Olive Tree

Jenin Jenin

The Agony... Deir Yassin

Deir Yassin Remembered

The Nakba Archive

This Body is a Prison

The Killing Zone

Palestinian Refugees in Iraq

Rachel... An American Conscience

Frontiers of Dreams and Fears

People and The Land

We Dare to Speak: Jews Against Zionist Genocide in Palestine

Captured Prisoners: the Whole Story

Israel’s Secret Weapon

Zionist War Crimes

Movies:

Paradise Now

Video Footages on Zionist savagery against Palestinian civilians:

Settler Riot in Tel Rumeida

Settler Children in Tel Rumeida

Settler Women in Tel Rumeida

Soldiers Swim in Drinking Water

Hebron Settlers Assault International Activists

Palestinians Harassed by Jewish Settler in Hebron Cage (Part 1)

Palestinians Harassed by Jewish Settler in Hebron Cage (Part 2)

Tobias - Life in Palestine Real Footage

Shebab Daiya - Life in the Promised Land

Important Notice

The owner of this blog is not responsible for the content of the posted films and doesn't claim to have watched all of them. If you believe any of the films posted or parts of them are offensive to any race or faith please post a comment in the comments section or email me at akram.awad(at)gmail.com and I will take action accordingly

Hadeel

Palestine is still the issue

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land

The Agony.. Deir Yassin

Deir Yassin Remembered

The Nakba Archive

This Body is a Prison

The Killing Zone