“On July 28, 1989, we kidnapped Sheikh Obeid, and on May 12, 1994, we
kidnapped Mustafa Dirani, who had captured Ron Arad. Israel held these
two people and another 20-odd Lebanese detainees without trial, as
“negotiating chips.” That which is permissible to us is, of course,
forbidden to Hezbollah”.
Ze’ev Maoz – Haaretz Article
Those were the words of extremist Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, who murdered praying Palestinians back in 1994.
Arabs feel, now more than ever, that those words reflect the opinion of the whole world and not the Rabbi’s alone. Their lives are worthless compared to Israelis. They
believe that the world is fine with thousands of Arabs being displaced and butchered in cold blood, but let someone harm one Israeli, and the world will go crazy.
Just came across a great article by Sandy Tolan, the article, although a bit long, but is definitely worth reading. I’ve selected few parts of it to share on my blog, you can read
the article in full here.
“Under the pretext of forcing the release of a single soldier “kidnapped by terrorists” (or, if you prefer, “captured by the resistance”), Israel has done the following: seized members of a democratically elected government; bombed its interior ministry, the prime minister’s offices, and a school; threatened another sovereign state (Syria) with a menacing overflight; dropped leaflets from the air, warning of harm to the civilian population if it does not “follow all orders of the IDF” (Israel Defense Forces); loosed nocturnal “sound bombs” under orders from the Israeli prime minister to “make sure no one sleeps at night in Gaza”; fired missiles into residential areas, killing children; and demolished a power station that was the sole generator of electricity and running water for hundreds of thousands of Gazans.
In the most recent Israeli attacks on Gaza, as in countless explosions of battles past, the trauma is only reengaged. Fifty-eight summers after the Nakba — as Palestinian women again sell off their gold to buy olives and bread; as Israeli planes again drop leaflets with dire warnings for Arab civilians; as doctors lacking medicines or electricity again struggle to rescue the wounded — a déjà vu settles over the old men and women of the refugee camps, and in the vast diaspora beyond, reminding them of yet another bitter anniversary year.The latest attacks by Israel in Gaza, ostensibly on behalf of a single soldier, recall the comments by extremist Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, in his eulogy for American Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 slaughtered 27 Palestinians praying in the Cave of the Patriarchs, part of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. “One million Arabs,” Perrin declared, “are not worth a Jewish fingernail.”
Israelis, too, are a traumatized people, and Israel’s current actions are driven in part by a hard determination, born of the Holocaust, to “never again go like sheep to the slaughter.” But if “never again” drives the politics of reprisal, few seem to notice that the reprisals themselves are completely out of scale to the provocation: For every crude
Qassam rocket falling usually harmlessly and far from its target, dozens, sometimes hundreds of shells rain down with far more destructive power on the Palestinians. For
one missing soldier, a million and a half Gazans are made to suffer. Today, Israel’s policy is a case of “never again” gone mad.
The irony is that, contrary to helping build the safe harbor they have sought for so long, the Israeli government, just like the U.S. in Iraq, is only sowing the seeds of more hatred and rage.”
Those were the words of extremist Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, who murdered praying Palestinians back in 1994.
Arabs feel, now more than ever, that those words reflect the opinion of the whole world and not the Rabbi’s alone. Their lives are worthless compared to Israelis. They
believe that the world is fine with thousands of Arabs being displaced and butchered in cold blood, but let someone harm one Israeli, and the world will go crazy.
Just came across a great article by Sandy Tolan, the article, although a bit long, but is definitely worth reading. I’ve selected few parts of it to share on my blog, you can read
the article in full here.
“Under the pretext of forcing the release of a single soldier “kidnapped by terrorists” (or, if you prefer, “captured by the resistance”), Israel has done the following: seized members of a democratically elected government; bombed its interior ministry, the prime minister’s offices, and a school; threatened another sovereign state (Syria) with a menacing overflight; dropped leaflets from the air, warning of harm to the civilian population if it does not “follow all orders of the IDF” (Israel Defense Forces); loosed nocturnal “sound bombs” under orders from the Israeli prime minister to “make sure no one sleeps at night in Gaza”; fired missiles into residential areas, killing children; and demolished a power station that was the sole generator of electricity and running water for hundreds of thousands of Gazans.
In the most recent Israeli attacks on Gaza, as in countless explosions of battles past, the trauma is only reengaged. Fifty-eight summers after the Nakba — as Palestinian women again sell off their gold to buy olives and bread; as Israeli planes again drop leaflets with dire warnings for Arab civilians; as doctors lacking medicines or electricity again struggle to rescue the wounded — a déjà vu settles over the old men and women of the refugee camps, and in the vast diaspora beyond, reminding them of yet another bitter anniversary year.The latest attacks by Israel in Gaza, ostensibly on behalf of a single soldier, recall the comments by extremist Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, in his eulogy for American Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 slaughtered 27 Palestinians praying in the Cave of the Patriarchs, part of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. “One million Arabs,” Perrin declared, “are not worth a Jewish fingernail.”
Israelis, too, are a traumatized people, and Israel’s current actions are driven in part by a hard determination, born of the Holocaust, to “never again go like sheep to the slaughter.” But if “never again” drives the politics of reprisal, few seem to notice that the reprisals themselves are completely out of scale to the provocation: For every crude
Qassam rocket falling usually harmlessly and far from its target, dozens, sometimes hundreds of shells rain down with far more destructive power on the Palestinians. For
one missing soldier, a million and a half Gazans are made to suffer. Today, Israel’s policy is a case of “never again” gone mad.
The irony is that, contrary to helping build the safe harbor they have sought for so long, the Israeli government, just like the U.S. in Iraq, is only sowing the seeds of more hatred and rage.”
“self-defenseâ€, “war against terrorâ€, “they had it comingâ€, “protecting our bordersâ€, “what would you do in our place?†… AND ALL THAT CRAP Israel’s perfectly mastered ever since its unfortunate unfair creation!
Enough is enough!
The Middle East was a peaceful region until Israel showed up. From the very first start they were getting all the support they needed. Arabs tried to defend themselves, but they lost, for there was no balance, Israel was the most powerful with the support it got (and is always getting). So it started spreading like a disease in Palestine and the region was wholly infected. But still, generation after generation, there were Arabs who tried to find those very few Israelis who opposed their brutal government, and tried to convince other Arabs to be open-minded, not to generalize and work hand in hand with those few Israelis in an attempt to stop bloodshed and war.
Did it work? It surely didn’t. All what happened was that those Arabs who refused to cooperate with Israelis, were all accused of anti-Semitism, and therefore regarded as backwards uncivilized blood-thirsty barbarians who call for the destruction of Israel.
And this is what the world enjoyed focusing on. They ignored whatever Israeli massacres took place in the Middle East and simply watched the “Israel-hatersâ€.
And this is what’s happening till this very day.
Taking the last war on Palestine and Lebanon as a live example, I can’t but wonder what would it take more for the world to finally realize the truth. If the butchering of innocent civilians and the death of hundreds of children is not enough; if the burning down of beautiful cities and the destruction of infrastructures is not enough; if the displacing of thousands of human beings is not enough, if the polluting of an amazingly beautiful environment is not enough; if knocking down the fruitful lives of generations is not enough; if killing peace-representatives of UN delegations is not enough; if bombing ambulances and burning aid-trucks is not enough; if denying the simple right of having a life is not enough… if all this is not enough, I wonder what is!
Isn’t it about time we stop buying the Israeli crap?
But no, nothing could stop that. Many news agencies got used to being biased and unfair, and they still portray Israel as the victim.
UN and US and many others still ask to disarm Hizbullah and “other terrorist organizationsâ€.
They can’t condemn the monster they’ve created, so what the hell, why not condemn the weaker party.
“self-defense”, “war against terror”, “they had it coming”, “protecting our borders”, “what would you do in our place?” … AND ALL THAT CRAP Israel’s perfectly mastered ever since its unfortunate unfair creation!
Enough is enough!
The Middle East was a peaceful region until Israel showed up. From the very first start they were getting all the support they needed. Arabs tried to defend themselves, but they lost, for there was no balance, Israel was the most powerful with the support it got (and is always getting). So it started spreading like a disease in Palestine and the region was wholly infected. But still, generation after generation, there were Arabs who tried to find those very few Israelis who opposed their brutal government, and tried to convince other Arabs to be open-minded, not to generalize and work hand in hand with those few Israelis in an attempt to stop bloodshed and war.
Did it work? It surely didn’t. All what happened was that those Arabs who refused to cooperate with Israelis, were all accused of anti-Semitism, and therefore regarded as backwards uncivilized blood-thirsty barbarians who call for the destruction of Israel.
And this is what the world enjoyed focusing on. They ignored whatever Israeli massacres took place in the Middle East and simply watched the “Israel-haters”.
And this is what’s happening till this very day.
Taking the last war on Palestine and Lebanon as a live example, I can’t but wonder what would it take more for the world to finally realize the truth. If the butchering of innocent civilians and the death of hundreds of children is not enough; if the burning down of beautiful cities and the destruction of infrastructures is not enough; if the displacing of thousands of human beings is not enough, if the polluting of an amazingly beautiful environment is not enough; if knocking down the fruitful lives of generations is not enough; if killing peace-representatives of UN delegations is not enough; if bombing ambulances and burning aid-trucks is not enough; if denying the simple right of having a life is not enough… if all this is not enough, I wonder what is!
Isn’t it about time we stop buying the Israeli crap?
But no, nothing could stop that. Many news agencies got used to being biased and unfair, and they still portray Israel as the victim.
UN and US and many others still ask to disarm Hizbullah and “other terrorist organizations”.
They can’t condemn the monster they’ve created, so what the hell, why not condemn the weaker party.
Yesterday, unfortunately, I got to watch the live broadcasting of one of Olmert’s most manipulative speeches ever. Bravo Olmert, you got the world applauding and sympathizing with you and your people while our children being butchered and our people are being forced to evacuate their towns ON FOOT!
“we are known for our morals” he said, what morals? Killing the innocent and then saying SORRY?
“I deeply apologize for the innocent civilians that are being sacrificed” he said referring to the massacre in Qana, well maybe if your forces stopped attacking their towns and aiming at them deliberately you wont have them killed, but yeah right, as you said: “we’re defending the state of Israel. With terrorists surrounding our borders we’re in great danger and we need to protect ourselves… what would you do if you were in our place?” You poor thing, I was really going to cry for a sec, but just for the record, we were in your damn place, and we always are, but somehow you and your country get to be the victims all the time while we’re condemned of being , as you said, the “terrorists”.
And now the world sees nothing but the suffering of Israel to protect its existence, and for this matter, and to be the helping hand they’ve always been, the world is asking to disarm Hizbullah, and fight Iran and Syria… what kind of a “New Middle East” is that Miss Rice? What kind of “peace” are you trying to bring to our region?
I’m sure that like myself, many if not most of the Arabs have totally lost hope in Israel. If there was a point in our lives in which we happened to believe Israel would settle for our many compromises, and would finally appreciate all what we’ve given up, and live with us in peace, then this has changed for ever, and to me, Israel is nothing but a hard-to-satisfy Monster with a very big appetite for destruction and imperialism. And if there’s anyone to be denied the right of keeping weapons then it’s Israel!
Today marks the 58th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (expulsion of Palestinians from their land).
Yes their land, Palestine, which to so many people is just an “imaginary” name for a place that does not exist, populated by unrecognizable people…
Let the world think whatever they like, let them claim there’s no such thing as a Palestine, let them deny the rights of Palestinians, let them enjoy wiping Palestine off the map, let them taste their triumph in making the world believe Palestinians are no victims, they’re nothing but terrorists and heartless beasts, let them insist on kicking anyone with Palestinian blood out of Palestine, let them manipulate and change facts…but they’ll never be able to delete generations of memories, present and future. They’ll never be able to brainwash us, they’ll never be able to take away the pictures we kept in our minds of our families and loved ones there; they can’t simply steal the smell of Palestinian olive trees and citrus farms we used to pass by every day; and they’ll never succeed in killing our longing to the fresh Palestinian breeze that tickles our noses every time the word Palestine is mentioned.
No matter how hard they’d try, Palestine is there, it has always been there, Palestinians are there, they’ll always be and nothing can change that.
After winning the AGICOA’s Blue Angel Award for the best European film at the Berlinaleand a Golden Globe for the Best Foreign Language Film movie in the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards, Paradise Now has created such a controversy.
As soon as the news of this movie being nominated for the Oscars, online petition signed by over 11000 Israelis was created to force the withdrawal of this movie from the Oscars all together, claiming it encourages mass murder!
It’s really ironic that Israel keeps complaining about suicide bombings and asks the whole world to stop the “Palestinian Terrorâ€, but when one brave man dares address the phenomena of suicide bombing, he gets all kinds of attacks, being accused of encouraging terrorist acts!
It must be understood, that there’s a huge difference between urging people to commit terrorism, and explaining to the world some of the root problems that lead to it.
Suicide bombers are human beings like you, me and everyone of us. They have their personalities, their life, their friends, their relationships, their possessions…
And just like there are suicide bombers who kill just to destroy and spread violence & terror, there are ones on the other hand, who were leading normal lives but the situation they’re in, where they find themselves alone drowning in a deep sea of suffering while others are watching, creates horrible desperation that results in them being ready to do whatever it takes to get heard and to stop the suffering.
So by representing some models of suicide bombers, the movie is simply reflecting a reality, an existing phenomena, it does not encourage it, it does not aim at sympathizing with suicide bombers rather than aiming at understanding some of the cases and some of the reasons that may lead to this phenomena one way or another.
Therefore, I find it completely pointless and unfair to accuse this movie of encouraging mass murder.
And just like we condemn and protest injustice, we have to point out courage and justice.
Making this movie is brave, showing it is brave, nominating it for the Golden Globes is a huge step forward, letting it win and be tagged as a movie from Palestine is both brave and outstanding, having it nominated for the Oscars is exceptionally courageous and amazingly impressive, I hope no manipulative interferences will succeed in tagging it otherwise, or withdrawing it.
If you believe in Freedom of Expression, if you believe in Human Rights, if you’re pro Peace and Justice, and if you believe we all deserve a chance to reach out for the world, help Paradise Now make it to the Oscars, Sign The Online Petition Now!
Because “the Palestinian people deserve their liberty and equality unconditionally.” — Movie Director: Hani Abu-Assad
By our Jordanian friend: Naseem Tarawnah.
This woman I see
like my mother, like my sister
her hands are manifestations of modern tragedies
she grasps ink dry pens to record poetry
she breathes words into her dying lungs
this mother who is beautiful
this wife that is tragic
has a wing span that can stretch across an ocean
or at least wrap itself around her children,
who write unfinished haikus on tall block walls
words like ‘this profiliterate gray is killing me’
or ‘why must you take so much away from me?’
and barely audible whispers seep
in to Sun dried pupils
battered from tears of lifetimes
that could forge river deep remorse
drenched in scattered lifelines
while the heart and mind intwine
this thing called Palestine
The extremely modest Joe Turner of Freedom Clothing Project has kindly showed me a new design of his project T-shirts.
I had this itch to share it with you all, aren’t they just beautiful!
COPYRIGHT OF Basel Almisshal
So expressive, so brave, so meaningful, so elegant and convey a message in a simple classy way…
The designs were especially made for the Freedom Clothing Project
by the very talented Palestinian designer Basel Almisshal, who retains copyright, so please make sure to contact himif you wish to use his designs.
The Design comes in different sizes and are more than affordable, don’t miss the chance!
The project idea by itself fascinated me, and now witnessing its results I must admit I’m out of words…
Again my thanks to Joe Turner for his efforts, wishing him the best of luck and all the support in his project.
Read more about the project here.
With the economic situation worsening in Palestine every passing day, and unemployment increasing like never before, one can’t but feel this urge to help Palestinians, offer them employment opportunities, and revive their name in a world that has almost forgotten their existence.
Finally, the dream is coming true, now for the first time ever: t-shirts with a ‘Made in the West Bank and Gaza’ label will be available for purchase.
All the thanks to the Freedom Clothing Project, a not-for-profit co-operative working with suppliers in Beit Jala in the occupied West Bank.
The aim of the project is to bring work to some of the estimated 500 clothing manufacturers in the area and to assist them find new markets for their products.
Freedom Clothing Project uses organic cotton, and provides healthy & environment-friendly working conditions.
But that’s not all: for every item purchased from Freedom Clothing Project, they will donate a minimum of 10 percent of the money they make to a “charity pot.â€
I’m so thrilled!