الفلسطينية | al-falasteenyia

Palestine: where are we going?

2009-12-06T21:22:00.009-05:00

so you've probably noticed (or perhaps you haven't) that i've been on somewhat of a blogging hiatus. ive been trying to step back in order to gain a better perspective on things. also been thinking strategically about what i'm trying to do here. on one hand i feel myself compelled to comment on current events and hot news items as they come and go: gaza, iraq, jerusalem, nilin, bilin, etc. but i've also noticed that i often feel compelled to discuss anniversaries (while being against the very idea of an 'anniversary' to begin with) as they appear on the palestinian calendar. And by anniversaries i'm referring to massacres and assassinations that occur year-round: winter, spring, fall and summer. Other anniversaries include declarations and agreements that weren't drafted by palestinians but were forced upon us by colonial powers: balfour, sykes-picot, etc. Then of course you have your non-anniversary events which are as constant as the occupation itself: land confiscation, house demolition, water theft, political imprisonment etc. Its actually quite endless. I mean if I were to write all this on say, your classroom blackboard, all you would be able to see a big blurb of indecipherable white chalk. if you think about it its actually quite reflective of the state of palestinian affairs- one big mess that can only to be added to the bigger regional mess that we call 'the arab world'.

so in the midst of all that im unsure where i fit in- geographically removed from it all. i havent quite figured this out yet- until i do, i do have a few things to share with you:

1. a lot was said about the berlin wall in relation to our very own apartheid wall (if you havent seen the youtube video of how palestinians symbolically tore down parts of the wall click here. its a must-see) i was thinking about the wall between egypt and gaza back in 2008. it was really touching for a second to see the egyptian aljazeera correspondent meet up with his palestinian counterpart in gaza. gazans burst out of their prison, desperate for food and medical supplies. but then it all ended- almost as suddenly it began- and palestinians were rounded up and locked in once again. little did they know that a few months later their already dire situation would get a lot worse. and here we are a year later, fresh off the goldstone controversy . truth is goldstone is only a symptom. sure it was exciting to see palestinians (from all walks of life) rise up for second and reject abu mazen's move. but it was also equally disturbing to see other palestinians stand up and staunchly defend abbas. it all fell apart after that, as we quickly returned to fatamas (fateh-hamas) squabble. so essentially, we havent made any progress at all- gazans are still trapped in gaza, refugees are still refugees, etc. and fact is this will all happen again: israel will commit a massacre, the world will stop and watch, and when its all done, intl human rights grps will draw up reports lacking in any historical context- as if israel never committed any of these crimes before (lather, rinse, repeat!). nimer sultany discussed this de-contextualizing phenomenon in an article he wrote about goldstone:

Indeed, defenders of Israel having been using such de-contextualizing arguments to divert the discussion. Their argument maintains that had Palestinians not resorted to violence against the Israeli people and army, Israel would not have been forced to attack them, and consequently their lives would not be miserable. Such an argument, however, fails to recognize the possibility that occupation itself is already making Palestinians' lives so miserable that they are willing to sacrifice those lives to win back their homeland, freedom and dignity. This amounts to picking an arbitrary -- and indeed self-serving -- starting point to begin moral and political condemnation.

The natural tendency of those who are busy reporting human rights violations is to refrain from making moral or political judgments concerning the participants of violence and their pasts, so as to be able to claim neutrality. As a result, the parties to the conflict are seen as identically situated agents of violence.
This is a distortion of reality, particularly when coupled with the arbitrary de-contextualization that comes with specifying a limited and "exceptional" temporal and factual frame for investigation. Most conflicts involve parties with different means at their disposal and pursuing different ends. Even if it is always wrong to violate human rights, it is certainly the case that moral and political condemnation for such violations is not only a matter of quality, but also of degree. Surely the Palestinians can choose from a much more limited set of means to fight than the State of Israel. It follows that human rights violations by the latter should be seen as especially grave, given all of the circumstances.

Does this mean that we should do away with reports and leave the history of human rights violations untold? Obviously not -- that question involves a false choice. Rather, what human rights reports (and the mandates upon which they rely) should attempt to do is stretch beyond the confines of a period of extreme violence. Human rights violations have to be placed in a larger factual and moral context. Doing so may, of course, come at the cost of political controversy and the hostility of those who are content with half-truths. That, it seems to us, is a moderate price to pay when so much is at stake.

2. despite the mess described in item number one, abbas and company are pretending (or maybe they actually believe?) that everything's alright. take for example, this website- Rawabi. when i first came across it, i could smell usaid all over it. Rawabi is the name a new Palestinian town to be built by 'Palestinian real-estate' company Bayti. This is ironic on several levels- first, i've got to say the whole notion of a palestinian real-estate company is pretty hilarious. second, instead of coming to the assistance of palestinian villages that are experiencing actual realestate theft on behalf of israeli colonial settlers, the pa has decided to build a new town just outside of Ramallah.the fact is that this new town- praised by bayti as the first 'planned' palestinian town is part and parcecl of bibi's 'economic development' policy (which is essentially the israeli convergance plan) . it also very much in line with USAID's idea of 'economic zones'. Here's how Rawabi markets itself:

A model of effective economic governance;
A public-private partnership approach to business and entrepreneurial development; and
A model for entrepreneurship and business development.

they even have a video, which runs like a tralier for some type of lousy hollywood movie. Browsing through their site, you will see that there is absolutely no mention of the israeli occupation and confiscation of palestinian lands- even under their 'access and movement' section. The added irony is that the pa must ask permission from israel in order to gain control of the so-called 'land corridor' that will link Rawabi to Ramallah. And if that wasnt enough, a Rawabi initiative entitled Grow for a Greener Palestine, will see the Jewish National Fund (infamous for stealing Palestinian land and supporting right-wing settlers in their quest to confiscate Palestinian land) plant trees in Rawabi. So settlers are uprooting palestinian olive trees on one hand then planting trees in bantustans in another. makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

Supported by USAID, Tony Blair, and a Qatari investment company, Rawabi is nothing but an extension of Fayyad's economic policy (which is essentially bibi's economic policy) of building institutions and 'strengthening security'. Its just so ridiculous. Let me break it down for you. Imagine your house flooded with water. there's water everywhere- not just the basement- and the water is not letting up at all... it keeps entering your house. now here you are trying to figure out what to do when someone knocks on your door. its a salesman- and he's trying to sell you some type of product that combats termites. Of course your automatic response should be something along the lines of: "yea i hear you on the termite thing, but honestly, if i don't tackle this water problem now i'm not going to have a house at all. so now's really not a good time- feel free to come back later." and this is exactly what's going on in palestine. we're losing land every single day- jerusalemites are being kicked out their homes and settlers continue to confiscate land for their colonies and jewish only roads. in the midst of all this, fayyad turns his back on the palestinians and says- yes, lets build institutions.

Don't take my word for it though. Virginia Tilly had a great article a few weeks back- Here's an excerpt:

...But more importantly, the South African comparison helps illuminate why the ambitious projects of pacification, "institution building" and economic development that the Ramallah PA and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have whole-heartedly embarked upon are not actually exercises in "state-building." Rather, they emulate with frightening closeness and consistency South Africa's policies and stages in building the Bantustan/Homelands. Indeed, Fayyad's project to achieve political stability through economic development is the same process that was openly formalized in the South African Homeland policy under the slogan "separate development." That under such vulnerable conditions no government can exercise real power and "separate development" must equate with permanent extreme dependency, vulnerability and dysfunctionality was the South African lesson that has, dangerously, not yet been learned in Palestine -- although all the signals are there, as Fayyad himself has occasionally admitted in growing frustration. But declaring independence will not solve the problem of Palestinian weakness; it will only concretize it.

thus, despite the daily israeli violations against the palestinian people, all the pa chooses to do is sit and watch. ok actually thats not entirely true- they do things like sell cement to the occupier, crack down on people that oppose the pa machine, etc etc. and these folks (the pa, and now the infamous ATFP) really think they represent us, when in fact, as saree makdisi points out, they only represent a fraction of the total palestinan population worldwide. that said, when are these cronies going to quit?

3. ok, ok- so i've already complained about how lousy the pa is on this blog. youll have to forgive me on this one, b/c they're just that bad.

4. i keep thinking of that edward said quote- that israel is simply a measure of our own shortcomings. damn do we got shortcomings. billions and billions of 'em.

5. pa corruption (a huge shortcoming in and of itself) is not new. but this time around we have something else to fall back on- BDS. All around the world, boycott campaigns, calling for economic and other sanctions against israel, are picking up steam. This is has not gone un-noticed by israel. the response? arrests of BDS activists. in typical israeli fashion, the state has decided to silence the voice of palestinian activists calling for resistance via non-violence (israel has a history of this- killing leading palestinian intellectuals such as naji al ali and ghassan kanafani). mohammad othman, arrested on his way into the west bank months ago, and now abdallah abu rahman, kidnapped by israel just recently, are two examples. But the fact is israel has regularly been conducting night raids and kidnapping bilin activists. despite all this, the weekly non-violent demonstrations in bilin and elsewhere have not stopped. i only wish that the rest of palestinian society (and indeed the world) would catch up with BDS movement. nonetheless, try as it may, israel will not be able to crush this movement. that said, i urge you to do your part and boycott these products.

6. BDS is a vehicle by which we can accomplish our goals: return of refugees, ending the occupation in the west bank and gaza, justice for the palestinians of '48, who face extreme injustice within the state of israel, and of course, holding israel accountable under international law. there are some palestinians however, who have given up on the right of return, citing its 'impracticality'. In response, i offer this:

"The yearning for the homeland is at the core of the Palestinian collective psyche,"Abu Sitta says. "Demographically, their return will cause only a minimum Israeli relocation, in striking contrast to Israel's plans," and he has published many studies showing the feasibility of return.

"The Palestinians are under no obligation, moral, legal or otherwise, to accept Israeli occupation of Palestine at their expense. By any standards, it is the Israelis who are under an obligation -- to rectify the colossal injustice they have committed," he says.

the right of return is just that- a right. palestinians are still waiting to return- in the refugee camps of Gaza, in the rubble of naher el bared, in the no man's land that is the iraq/syrian border, in far-away cities and towns- they wait, hope, and dream.

7. all this stuff (the pa mess, the right of return, bds, the continued expulsion from jerusalem, the countless massacres and their subsequent anniversaries, kidnappings, assassinations, empty declarations, settler violence, apartheid and colonial expansion) all of it brings us back to the beginning. the elephant in the room that israel wants forgotten. it all started with one word- nakba.

Sabra, Shatila, Gaza, etc

2009-09-16T18:00:00.000-04:00

Sabra and Shatila, 1982

27 years later, the massacres continue:

Gaza 2009

Gaza eight months on...

2009-09-14T17:06:00.002-04:00

...I was told something that really stayed with me. I was working with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. They were taking me around, and we had a discussion with a group of NGO leaders, women’s rights leaders. And one of the things that was said to me was that there was actually more hope during the attack, which seemed—than there was now, than there was in the aftermath, which just blindsided me. I mean, how could you say that? How could you say that there was more hope while bombs and missiles were falling, when those children were being killed, than there is now?
And the answer was that when Gazans turned on their televisions—you know, in any kind of war, people who can are watching television to try to get any kind of information they can, or listen to the radio—and in addition to the carnage that they were hearing about, there were also hearing reports of a world enraged. They were hearing about those protesters in London, in cities around the world, just rejecting Israel’s actions, not buying that this was a defensive war. They heard reports of women in my city, in Toronto, occupying the consul general’s office. Jewish women did this and stayed, and it was an incredible action. And so, what I was told by people who I spoke to in Gaza was that there was a feeling that if they could survive these horrific attacks, this would be the turning point, that people were seeing the lawlessness, the brutality of the occupation, and there would be a demand for a new era, that the siege on Gaza, for instance, would have to be lifted.
Here they were, six months later, now eight months later, and the illegal siege on Gaza continued. There was no justice on the way. I mean, Gaza was—it felt to me like a massive crime scene, but that was being tampered with because the police hadn’t shown up. And just the outrage that such brutality, such open brutality, hadn’t led to any kind of justice. And that’s really what struck with me.

Nakba continues...

2009-09-11T01:17:00.004-04:00

in case you forgot: colonization continues in palestine. here are a few examples:
Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Israeli Court orders state to demolish Palestinian homes

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

In response to a petition by an Israeli settlement group, the Israeli High Court ruled Wednesday that the government of Israel must demolish two Palestinian homes in the villages of al-Sawaya and Yatma.

Palestinian home demolished (photo by the Mirror)

The Israeli petitioner, a group known as 'Regavim' whose mission is to “preserve the nation's lands”, argued that the Israeli military, which carries out demolition orders, makes a distinction between Israelis and Palestinians in enforcing the orders. No one in the Israeli Court mentioned the fact that the Palestinian Territories are under Israeli military occupation, and are thus subject to a different set of standards and rights than Israeli settlers who are illegally occupying Palestinian land.

The Israeli military carries out hundreds of demolition orders against Palestinians each year, and an average of 1 – 2 demolitions of Israeli settlements each year. But the Israeli group 'Regavim' made the argument that Israeli structures are being unfairly and disproportionately targeted, and that the military should instead enforce demolition orders against Palestinians.

Since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupying forces have issued extraordinarily few building permits for Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. Instead, Israeli troops have facilitated the transfer of hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians into newly-constructed housing developments, known as settlements, constructed on illegally-seized Palestinian land. The Israeli settlers who move onto Palestinian land are allowed to build without any permits, and once they construct a certain amount of infrastructure, the Israeli government is required by its own law to recognize the settlement and construct infrastructure -- roads, electricity, water pipes – to support the settlement's existence and expansion. There are currently over 300 Israeli settlements constructed in this way on Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer, who worked as the lawyer for Israeli settlements before becoming a Supreme Court Judge, challenged the government's priorities, saying that they "lack clear and orderly guidelines regarding which cases action is or is not taken on, in order to prove that no distinction is being made between the communities."

The Judge failed to note that because Palestinians are under occupation, and thus a protected population, they should be subject to a different set of standards than Israelis who construct settlements on stolen Palestinian land.

Exhibit C:

Israel defies US over settlements

Israel has officially approved the construction of 455 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, defying demands by the US and others for a freeze on settlement building.

Israel's defence ministry announced the decision to continue with settlement building on Monday.

"Defence Minister Ehud Barak has authorised the construction of 455 housing units in settlement blocs" in the occupied West Bank, the ministry said.

Source: Al Jazeera

In pictures:

Um Kamel's tent, Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem

Palestinian refugees stuck on the Iraqi-Jordanian border (they've been there three years now)

The rubble at Naher el Bared refugee camp, Lebanon. the Lebanese government has delayed reconstruction (again); refugees are unable to return to their homes.

Tents in Gaza still standing after the Israeli onslaught earlier this year. Palestinians have been unable to rebuild as Israel does not allow cement (among other essentials) into the strip.

Palestinian refugees in 1948

illegal what?

2009-09-10T21:22:00.003-04:00

Everyone is up in arms about Obama's healthcare speech and how one US congressman in particular shouted: "you lie!" when Obama stated that his healthcare plan "does not include illegal immigrants."

there is of course no outrage over Obama's use of the word "illegal":

fayyad's economic fallacy

2009-09-10T15:07:00.003-04:00

i didnt want to talk about this anymore than i already have only b/c there are more important things to discuss. that said, this will be the last thing i post on the subject:

“An alternative approach which recognizes the realities of the Palestinian economy and the evident incompatibility between occupation and development has become imperative,” the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) stated in a news release on its 2009 report on assistance to the Palestinian people.“This requires a shift in the dynamics of Palestinian economic policy from those driven by the demands of occupation to one based on the developmental priorities and aspirations of Palestinian people,” it added. According to the report, the Palestinian economy lost ground for the ninth year in a row in 2008, posting 2 per cent growth, despite extensive reforms by the Palestinian Authority and USD 1.9 billion in donor support. The economic decline is rooted in Israel’s closure policy, the erosion of the Palestinian productive base, the loss of some of the territory’s most fertile land and natural resources to the Israeli separation barrier, and expanding settlement activities, the report noted.

allow me to go back to the nineties for a second and say: duh!

Women wear pants

2009-09-07T18:03:00.003-04:00

with news of Lubna Al-Hussein's ruling today I find it suitable to post this. judge for yourself:

"Now [the school] won't talk to me. It's because I was dating someone. I wear pants and shorts when I go out jogging, and I don't cover my hair."

Katrina vs. Sept 11

2009-09-06T12:42:00.006-04:00

Meant to post this earlier. Two interesting articles regarding Katrina, which by the way, I feel no one really talks about Katrina anymore. Its interesting how things go down in memory. There is now a post 9/11 industry; Bush used it to launch his war on terror (which led to the invasion of Iraq), Guiliani used it to make a name for himself, etc. It really disrespectful to those that died that day to say the least.

As for Katrina, people shy away from that. No one wants to talk about racism. No war on levees was launched. I'm not saying one event is more important than the other, and i'm not suggesting that their should be a Katrina 'industry'. But I find it interesting that when we talk about the struggle of a community to survive in the midst of a disaster, the image that pops in our head first is NYC. Rarely do we leave room for New Orleans. And we most definitely do not mention the struggle of communities to survive outside the continental United States where in many cases, US foreign policy has a hand in their suffering.

Four years on, Katrina remains cursed by rumour, cliche, lies and racism

Saving New Orleans' Charity Hospital

Bonus: Arundathi Roy's Come September speech.

UN accuses Australia of 'entrenched racism' towards Aborigines

2009-09-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

in other news...

Inquiry finds restrictions imposed on Aboriginal community breached country's international obligations on human rights

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 27 August 2009 17.47 BST

Aborigines remain the unhealthiest and most disadvantaged minority in Australia. Photograph: Kristen Gelineau/AP

Australia breached international obligations on human and indigenous rights by imposing radical restrictions on Aborigines during a crackdown on child abuse in Outback communities, a United Nations expert said today.
James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on indigenous human rights, said a 12-day fact-finding tour of Australia revealed that the Aboriginal minority still suffers from "entrenched racism".
His comments came as the government launched its latest attempt to address the inequality, ill health and poverty among Australia's 500,000 indigenous people that have dogged the country since white settlers arrived more than 200 years ago.
The government said it would set up a national representative body this year to advise it on policies relating to Aborigines.
Aborigines make up about 2% of the country's 22 million-strong population. In recent decades, billions of dollars have been thrown into community programmes, housing and education. Yet Aborigines remain the poorest, unhealthiest and most disadvantaged minority, with an average lifespan 17 years shorter than other Australians.
Anaya, a University of Arizona human rights law professor, said he was particularly concerned by restrictions imposed on Aborigines in the Northern Territory in response to a 2006 government-commissioned report that found child sex abuse was rampant in remote indigenous communities.
The government suspended its own anti-discrimination law so it could ban alcohol and hardcore pornography in Aboriginal communities and restrict how Aborigines spend their welfare cheques. The restrictions do not apply to Australians of other races.
"These measures overtly discriminate against Aboriginal peoples, infringe their right of self-determination and stigmatise already stigmatised communities," Anaya said.
The measures were too broad and had been imposed for too long, despite a lack of evidence that the ban on alcohol had reduced alcohol abuse, he said.
Anaya described as "demeaning" the policy of forcing Aborigines to set aside a portion of their welfare cheques for essentials such as food and rent. "They have to carry a card around that marks them as someone who can't manage their own funds," he said.
The restrictions were "incompatible" with Australia's obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, he said.

Fayyadism

2009-09-02T17:46:00.005-04:00

for those of you unaware, salaam fayyad, the de-facto, unelected prime minister, has now declared that by building institutions he will create a de-facto palestinian state. he is of course, very wrong. he is in essense creating a de-facto palestinian bureaucracy (to go along with our current pa) not a state. interestingly, hassan and ali abu-nimeh just published an article about the one and only fayyad:

Fayyad aims to project an image of a competent Palestinian administration already mastering the craft of running a state. He boasts, for instance, that the PA he heads has worked to "develop effective institutions of government based on the principles of good governance, accountability and transparency."

But what is really taking shape in the West Bank today is a police state, where all sources of opposition or resistance -- real or suspected -- to either the PA regime, or the Israeli occupation are being systematically repressed by US-funded and trained Palestinian "security forces" in full coordination with Israel. Gaza remains under tight siege because of its refusal to submit to this regime.

In describing the Palestinian utopia he hopes to create, Fayyad's plan declares that "Palestine will be a stable democratic state with a multi-party political system. Transfer of governing authority is smooth, peaceful and regular in accordance with the will of the people, expressed through free and fair elections conducted in accordance with the law."

.....

From 1994 to 2006, more than eight billion US dollars were pumped into the Palestinian economy, making Palestinians the most aid-dependent people on earth, as Anne Le More showed in her important book International Assistance to the Palestinians after Oslo: Political Guilt; Wasted Money (London, Routledge, 2008). The PA received this aid ostensibly to build Palestinian institutions, improve socioeconomic development and support the creation of an independent state. The result however is that Palestinians are more destitute and aid-dependent than ever before, their institutions are totally dysfunctional, and their state remains a distant fantasy.

PA corruption and mismanagement played a big part in squandering this wealth, but by far the largest wealth destroyer was and remains the Israeli occupation. Contrary to what Fayyad imagines, you cannot "end the occupation, despite the occupation."

clearly then, this whole talk of development and institution-building is not new. but ever since fayyad (who has a phd in economics from none other than the great state of texas) stepped up in 2007, its almost all he's ever talked about, travelling to conferences near and far to collect funds.

in case any of you were wondering if it was indeed possible to create a de-facto state out of institutions, i'm here to tell you not to hold you breath. look at the creation of israel for example. they had many institutions on the ground (some inherited from the british others their own) already set up when they took over in 1948. but they didnt stop there- they proceeded to take the land. it was only then that they were able to fully utilize their institutions. and look at whats happening now. they're continuing to take more land. the palestinians must realize that its quite easy to dismantle institutions, while it is actually quite difficult to re-possess land stolen by israel (we've been unsuccsessful this far).

so what does this all mean? it only re-affirms what we've known all along:

Oslo has been associated with corruption and the selling-out of principles of self-determination (as defined by international law), and liberation.

Now, the stated goal, for which rivers of blood flow (and the blood is not yet dry in the streets of Gaza), has become the establishment of an "independent" Palestinian state in any dimension -- the "two-state solution." But how that would lead to the implementation of UN resolution 194, which calls for the return of the Palestinian refugees and their compensation, is a mystery in the minds of Palestinians observing the conference. How a Palestinian state would end the brutality of the apartheid system against 1.4 million indigenous Palestinians who are citizens of Israel is another disturbing question that the conveners preferred to duck.

Ignoring the paradigm shift resulting from the Gaza massacre and reiterating the long-held belief that sees accords signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as the only political route to a Palestinian state, is an indication of the loss of faith in the power of the Palestinian people to reclaim their land and rights. This approach is a repudiation of the undeniable, unprecedented steadfastness shown by the people of Gaza, the growing forms of popular resistance in the West Bank, and the success of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

Instead, again and again, we are asked to rely on the benevolence of the US, the European Union and reactionary Arab regimes to give us a truncated state, as if Gaza 2009 did not happen.

Not a word was mentioned about the fact that Israel has rendered the establishment of an independent state on 22 percent of historic Palestine -- the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- impossible. Many Palestinian and international critical thinkers have already reached the conclusion that the two-state solution has come to an end, thanks to Israeli colonization in the West Bank. What, then, is Fatah's -- and the rest of the Palestinian national movement's -- alternative?

What we saw in Bethlehem is the embodiment of Frantz Fanon's "pitfalls of national consciousness" -- albeit with a Palestinian gown. The irony, of course, is that Fanon was theorizing about the future post-colonial states after independence. He wrote of neo-colonial subjugation of the native elites. Black cars, fashionable suits, bodyguards, are some of the characteristics of the rising nouveaux riches of (occupied) Palestine. Fanon wrote scornfully that "[t]he national middle class which takes over power at the end of the colonial regime is an underdeveloped middle class. It has practically no economic power, and in any case it is in no way commensurate with the bourgeoisie of the mother country which it hopes to replace" (emphasis added).

But are we, in Palestine, close to the end of the colonial regime? Here is the crucial difference between the national bourgeoisie of, say Algeria or South Africa, and our own. Ours have fetishized statehood before attaining independence, a game -- unsurprisingly -- encouraged by the US, Israel and even the official Arab regimes. What is independence at the end of the day? A national anthem, flag, ministries, premierships and presidencies? We already have them.

For Fanon, the cycle of delusion, ostracism and dependency goes on unabated after independence. But we are yet to get there!

the above is an except from Haider Eid's op-ed. post-apartheid south africa witnessed the anc pursuing a neo-liberal economic policy. today, palestine has fallen victim to fayyad's 'economic development policy' (full of knafeh fests and the like). unsurprisingly, it is precisely this economic policy which israel brags about and takes credit for. it was, after all, their own idea to begin with. now if only those Gazans would follow suit!

the cia and blackwater

2009-08-25T23:49:00.002-04:00

this story has been all over place. i honestly believe its enough material for jermey schaill to write another book. here's a little something i found at dn- you gotta love helen thomas:

Report: Blackwater Involved in CIA Renditions

The German newspaper Der Spiegel is reporting the CIA used the private military firm Blackwater to transfer foreign prisoners to secret jails. Two former Blackwater employees reportedly claim Blackwater helped move the prisoners to secret prison camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The news follows last week’s disclosures Blackwater has played a major role in the CIA’s drone attacks in Pakistan and in its aborted assassination program. According to the New York Times, Blackwater currently has over $400 million in State Department contracts. On Friday, the veteran journalist Helen Thomas asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the Obama administration’s dealings with Blackwater.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: “I asked for an update, which I have not yet gotten, on where we are in different contracts. I would—as it relates to CIA’s use of contracting, I would point you specifically to them for responses on that.”
Helen Thomas: “I don’t think they would tell us.”
Gibbs: “They may tell you, Helen. If you use that sweet voice on the phone, you never know what you could get.”
Thomas: “I want them to stop killing people.”
Gibbs: “You should let them know.”
Thomas: “You should, too.”

fyi: yes, renditions will continue under obama.

kidnappings

2009-08-25T23:25:00.002-04:00

i have to say, ever since i added imemc news to my google reader i keep reading about instances of kidnapping in the west bank. the israeli army storms in, grabs whomever, and that's that. i don't know what happens to these kidnapped palestinians; my guess is they end up in jail for no good reason (ill save the bit abt palestinian prisoners for another day). seeing as how this subject doesnt get much coverage, i decided to keep track- check out my shared items located in the sidebar below.

and speaking of keeping track, check out this new blog that keeps track of zionist land confiscations.

Remembering Darwish

2009-08-18T00:00:00.001-04:00

a doc made by aljazeera (arabic) on the life of mahmoud darwish:

Selling off the Land

2009-08-17T09:41:00.000-04:00

its not theirs to sell, but what do they care?

Amin's home was razed along with the rest of Saffuriya. (PalestineRemembered.com)

Israel Begins Sell-off of Refugees' Land
By Jonathan Cook - Tzipori

Amin Muhammad Ali, a 74-year-old refugee from a destroyed Palestinian village in northern Israel, says he only feels truly at peace when he stands among his ancestors’ graves.

The cemetery, surrounded on all sides by Jewish homes and farms, is a small time capsule, transporting Mr Muhammad Ali -- known to everyone as Abu Arab -- back to the days when this place was known by an Arabic name, Saffuriya, rather than its current Hebrew name, Tzipori.

Unlike most of the Palestinian refugees forced outside Israel’s borders by the 1948 war that led to the creation of the Jewish state, Abu Arab and his family fled nearby, to a neighbourhood of Nazareth.

Refused the right to return to his childhood home, which was razed along with the rest of Saffuriya, he watched as the fields once owned by his parents were slowly taken over by Jewish immigrants, mostly from eastern Europe. Today only Saffuriya’s cemetery remains untouched.

Despite the loss of their village, the 4,500 refugees from Saffuriya and their descendants have clung to one hope: that the Jewish newcomers could not buy their land, only lease it temporarily from the state.

According to international law, Israel holds the property of more than four million Palestinian refugees in custodianship, until a final peace deal determines whether some or all of them will be allowed back to their 400-plus destroyed Palestinian villages or are compensated for their loss.

But last week, in a violation of international law and the refugees’ property rights that went unnoticed both inside Israel and abroad, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, forced through a revolutionary land reform.

The new law begins a process of creeping privatisation of much of Israel’s developed land, including refugee property, said Oren Yiftachel, a geographer at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva.

Mr Netanyahu and the bill's supporters argue that the law will cut out a whole level of state bureaucracy, make land transactions simpler and more efficient and cut house prices.

In practice, it will mean that the 200 Jewish families of Tzipori will be able to buy their homes, including a new cluster of bungalows that is being completed on land next to the cemetery that belonged to Abu Arab’s parents.

The privatisation of Tzipori’s refugee land will remove it from the control of an official known as the Custodian of Absentee Property, who is supposed to safeguard it for the refugees.

“Now the refugees will no longer have a single address -- Israel -- for our claims,” said Abu Arab. “We will have to make our case individually against many hundreds of thousands of private homeowners.”

He added: “Israel is like a thief who wants to hide his loot. Instead of putting the stolen goods in one box, he moves it to 700 different boxes so it cannot be found.”

Mr Netanyahu was given a rough ride by Israeli legislators over the reform, though concern about the refugees’ rights was not among the reasons for their protests.

Last month, he had to pull the bill at the last minute as its defeat threatened to bring down the government. He forced it through on a second attempt last week but only after he had warned his coalition partners that they would be dismissed if they voted against it.

A broad coalition of opposition had formed to what was seen as a reversal of a central tenet of Zionism: that the territory Israel acquired in 1948 exists for the benefit not of Israelis but of Jews around the world.

In that spirit, Israel’s founders nationalised not only the refugees’ property but also vast swathes of land they confiscated from the remaining Palestinian minority who gained citizenship and now comprise a fifth of the population. By the 1970s, 93 per cent of Israel’s territory was in the hands of the state.

The disquiet provoked by Mr Netanyahu’s privatisation came from a variety of sources: the religious right believes the law contravenes a Biblical injunction not to sell land promised by God; environmentalists are concerned that developers will tear apart the Israeli countryside; and Zionists publicly fear that oil-rich sheikhs from the Gulf will buy up the country.

Arguments from the Palestinian minority’s leaders against the reform, meanwhile, were ignored -- until Hizbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, added his voice at the weekend. In a statement, he warned that the law “validates and perpetuates the crime of land and property theft from the Palestinian refugees of the 1948 Nakba”.

Suhad Bishara, a lawyer from the Adalah legal centre for Israel’s Palestinian minority, said the law had been carefully drafted to ensure that foreigners, including wealthy sheikhs, cannot buy land inside Israel.

“Only Israeli citizens and anyone who can come to Israel under the Law of Return -- that is, any Jew -- can buy the lands on offer, so no ‘foreigner’ will be eligible.”

Another provision in the law means that even internal refugees like Abu Arab, who has Israeli citizenship, will be prevented from buying back land that rightfully belongs to them, Ms Bishara said.

“As is the case now in terms of leasing land,” she explained, “admissibility to buy land in rural communities like Tzipori will be determined by a selection committee whose job it will be to frustrate applications from Arab citizens.”

Supporters of the law have still had to allay the Jewish opposition’s concerns. Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed that only a tiny proportion of Israeli territory -- about four per cent -- is up for privatisation.

But, according to Mr Yiftachel, who lobbied against the reform, that means about half of Israel’s developed land will be available for purchase over the next few years. And he suspects privatisation will not stop there.

“Once this red line has been crossed, there is nothing to stop the government passing another law next year approving the privatisation of the rest of the developed areas,” he said.

Ms Bishara said among the first refugee properties that would be put on the market were those in Israel’s cities, such as Jaffa, Acre, Tiberias, Haifa and Lod, followed by homes in many of the destroyed villages like Saffuriya.

She said Adalah was already preparing an appeal to the Supreme Court on behalf of the refugees, and if unsuccessful would then take the matter to international courts.

Adalah has received inquiries from hundreds of Palestinian refugees from around the world asking what they can do to stop Israel selling their properties.

“Many of them expressed an interest in suing Israel,” she said.

- Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit: www.jkcook.net. A version of this article originally appeared in The National - www.thenational.ae - published in Abu Dhabi.

america's racists

2009-08-16T21:06:00.005-04:00

quick note on whats going on with obama and his healthcare plan. if youve been reading this blog you know i'm a long time critic of obama's policies- and healthcare is no exception. point is, with these town-halls and everything racism is in full swing ( i mean, when has it ever stopped). i came across this group on facebook- the wall convo was particularly disturbing to say the least:

Le Trio Joubran Tribute to Mahmoud Darwish

2009-08-16T00:16:00.003-04:00

palestinian women and the fateh circus

2009-08-15T23:34:00.000-04:00

i really disagree with the premise of this article. first off, why would anyone (man or woman) want to join the corrupt entity that is fateh? and why all this emphasis on numbers? the number of women on board does not necessarily translate into increased 'rights' for women, does it? or does having a woman in a position of power mean women are better off (imagine if palin had become vice president?!)

another assumption made is that women under fateh fair better than women under hamas. first, there's no data to back this up- how can we really measure this? second, you cannot isolate palestinian women from palestinian reality. third, i think its interesting that the debate on women occurs here within the context of the fateh-hamas (fatamas!) split. if this is the case, then what can we say about women in the territories who don't prescribe to either party? or what abbout palestinian women in '48? why can't we talk about them?

the fact is there is so much to talk about when comes to palestinian women and their rights, but none of the issues are addressed. the elections of 2006 saw articles that scratched the surface on the subject, but that was all. and now here we are again. the fact is the world (for the most part) doesnt care about palestinian women, children, and yes, even men. tell me, how many civilians were killed by israel earlier this year in gaza?

Mass Transfer

2009-08-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

mass transfer: its happening, and israeli politicians (livini, lierberman, just to name a few) have repeatedly told us of its coming. again, not exactly breaking news given the fact that the israeli army has been doing this since 1948 and before.

Israel decides to deport a Palestinian family from Jerusalem Sunday August 09, 2009 01:33 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights (JCSER) warned of an Israeli decision to expel dozens of members of Al Radayda Palestinian family from Al Ashqariyya neighborhood in Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem, under the claims that they are illegally residing in Jerusalem.

The center stated that dozens of members of the Al Radayda family, relatives of Mer’ey Radayda, who was killed by the Israeli police after ramming his bulldozer into a police vehicle and a bus in Jerusalem, are being transferred from their homes in Al Ashqariyya neighborhood in Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem, to another part of the neighborhood, outside the Jerusalem municipal borders.

The transfer targeted the parents of Mer’ey, his uncles and cousins, as they were all forced out of their homes and were moved to an area that’s considered part of the West Bank, which means stripping them from their residency rights in Jerusalem.

The deportees are, the father of Mer’ey, Ahmad Mahmoud Radayda, his brothers, Ali along with his wife and his five children, Ayyoub along with his wife and two children, Younis (three children), Mahmoud (one child), Yahia (three children), Bilal, and the uncles of Mer’ey along with their families; Amin (6 children), Yousef (5 children), Ismail (one child) and Ibrahim.

One of the brothers of Mer’ey said that the houses in Al Ashqariyya are now totally empty, and family members are now living in rented apartments in Beit Hanina, in the West Bank.

The Center considered the Israeli measure as a violation to the rights of the residents and a form of collective punishment targeting women and children.

Ziad Al Hammouri, head of the Jerusalem Center stated that this violation also poses threat to more than 20.000 Palestinians married to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, as Israel considers their stay in Jerusalem as illegal although most of them carry temporary residency permits issued by the Israeli Interior Ministry.

They hold temporary residencies as Israel implemented strict measures barring family reunification and permanent residencies to Palestinians married to Arab residents of Jerusalem. But if you aren’t a Palestinian, and married to a Jewish-Israeli, your residency and citizenship is granted.

Al Hammouri said that the Israeli measures aim at keeping the Palestinians out of Jerusalem as the Ministry of Interior is also threatening to void the residency rights of Jerusalemite Palestinians married to Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The research department of the Center said that the Israeli Authorities are ethnically cleansing the Palestinians in Jerusalem and by demolishing Palestinian homes in the city, stripping the Palestinians from their Jerusalem Identity cards, and replacing them with Jewish settlers, similar to what is happening right now is sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

It added that these policies are a direct violation to the International Law, the Fourth Geneva Conventions and the basic principles of Human Right. Furthermore, Israel constructed sections of the Annexation Wall in East Jerusalem is a way that annexed large areas of Palestinian lands by isolating the residents from their land, and also constructed the Wall route in a manner that transferred the Palestinians into ‘illegal residents’ although they carry Jerusalem identity cards as they became on the western side of the Wall, under the municipal district of Jerusalem but without legal status or documents.

One year on

2009-08-07T22:23:00.003-04:00

on the anniversary of his death, raja shehadeh writes this.

graphic by Nidal Khairy. text reads: mahmoud...stay up there, you're better off

Your favorite Mahmoud Darwish Poem

2009-08-07T17:58:00.005-04:00

i used to say i had a favorite- truth is i love them all. here's one with the translation below. whats your favorite?

We have on this earth what makes life worth living: April’s
hesitation, the aroma of bread
at dawn, a woman’s point of view about men, the works of
Aeschylus, the beginning
of love, grass on a stone, mothers living on a flute’s sigh and
the invaders’ fear of memories

We have on this earth what makes life worth living: the
final days of September, a woman
keeping her apricots ripe after forty, the hour of sunlight in
prison, a cloud reflecting a swarm
of creatures, the peoples’ applause for those who face death
with a smile, a tyrant’s fear of songs.

We have on this earth what makes life worth living: on this
earth, the Lady of Earth,
mother of all beginnings and ends. She was called
Palestine. Her name later became
Palestine. My Lady, because you are my Lady, I deserve life.

Let them surf!

2009-08-06T13:03:00.004-04:00

Surfer Oasis in the Middle East

Shared via AddThis

I couldnt embed this video- but take a look- its really patronizing (alternatively, you can read the article here). Look at how civilized these Gazans are- they surf. And since when is Gaza 'disputed'? Its not disputed. Its occupied, and it was bombed to hell and back six months ago. Gazans can't get in and out- and if they do manage to do so, its a painstaking process to say the least (read up on laila el-haddad's experience on her blog and twitter). cyclists can't get into gaza. medicine can't get into gaza. doctors can't get into gaza. patients die waiting to get out of gaza for medical treatment. food can't get into gaza. yes food- like pasta. israel does not allow pasta into gaza. and though it will allow shampoo into gaza, it won't allow conditioner. that's how absurd it is.

farmers have been killed by the israeli army while tending to their land. fisherman have been kidnapped by the israeli navy b/c israel prevents them from fishing in their own sea?

never mind the trauma the children experienced over the years- especially in light of the recent dec-jan bombardment. they saw their families killed and their schools destroyed. even their music school- with all its instruments inside- was bombed by israel. never mind that numerous studies that have shown that children in gaza are severely malnourished. never mind that israel continues to impose this siege (with help of the egyptian government) illegally. never mind- b/c although life downright sucks for your typical gazan these days, all is well. all gazans should do is surf for peace. maybe then the world will start to view them as human beings.

then and now

2009-08-06T11:24:00.004-04:00

jerusalem residents expelled today:

1948: expulsion of palestinians across palestine

Do not be surprised by what you see

2009-08-05T21:31:00.005-04:00

"[Israel will] create in the course of the next 10 or 20 years conditions which would attract natural and voluntary migration of the refugees from the Gaza Strip and the west Bank to Jordan."
-- Yitzhak Rabin (a "Prince of Peace" by Clinton's standards), explaining his method of ethnically cleansing the occupied land without stirring a world outcry. (Quoted in David Shipler in the New York Times, 04/04/1983 citing Meir Cohen's remarks to the Knesset's foreign affairs and defense committee on March 16.)

but its not just refugees from 1948 that will be 'encouraged to migrate'. every palestinian in the west bank and gaza is a target. here is but one of many of the 'conditions' put in place by israel.

-and another:

on the other hand, its not all 'voluntary' expulsion:

nakba forever

2009-08-02T11:28:00.006-04:00

i used to wonder what it would be like to be part of the so-called nakba generation. i don't wonder anymore, as i realize now that despite the passage of time, i am in fact a part of it. its weird- i used to think that i had to be of a certain age, or at least have grey hair, in order to be associated with nakba.

what does it mean to watch events unfold from afar? what does it mean to see oppression first hand? there is no excuse for our lack of action; everything has been clearly documented. thats the only thing thats different. back then you couldnt twitter and blog and facebook about how they drove you out of your home. now you can, but the world is still just as harsh. and we have only gotten harsher- not harsh on our so-called enemy, but on ourselves- and that has only propelled us backwards.

am i really expected to surrender? to adopt the role of that jaded individual who shouts at the tv every time the news comes on? i used to wonder about such people. people who would talk about and wonder about the coming 'generation'. our 'saviors'. will they blame us? they should. will they search for their homeland on a map only to find out that it has been erased? i did. and what has that gotten me? where will it get them? will they even care? can they forget what they can't possibly remember? i can't...

Our Kuffieyeh pt 2

2009-07-29T07:33:00.003-04:00

ive posted before about the kuffieyeh. here's another aje piece about the origins of the kuffeiyeh and how israelis are now claiming it as their own.

make sure to support the last kuffieyeh factory in palestine by buying a real kuffiyeh here.

pt 2