Search

band annie's Weblog

I have a parallel blog in French at http://anniebannie.net

Open Search
Category

Gaza

Finkelstein in Gaza

by Norman Finkelstein on March 1, 2010 · 134 comments

normanThis month OR Books publishes Norman Finkelstein’s important new book about the Gaza conflict, ‘This Time We Went Too Far.’ What follows is an excerpt from the book, Chapter 5, “Inside Gaza.” (all rights reserved to Finkelstein and OR Books.)

To preserve my sense of purpose, and keep the Palestine struggle from becoming a lifeless abstraction, I need periodically to recharge my moral batteries by reconnecting with the actual people living under occupation and by witnessing firsthand the unfolding tragedy. From each trip I invariably carry away a handful of stark images that I fix in my mind’s eye to dispel the occasional hesitations about staying the course. When the memories begin to fade I know it is time to return.

And so, in June 2009, six months after the invasion, I joined a delegation that journeyed to Gaza for a brief visit. Though I had been to Gaza before, most of my time during previous trips to the region was spent with friends in the West Bank. Israel has prohibited me from entering the country for ten years, thereby making it impossible for me to visit the West Bank, allegedly because I am a “security” risk. An editorial in Haaretz titled “Who’s Afraid of Finkelstein?” cast doubt on the decision’s premise—“Considering his unusual and extremely critical views, one cannot avoid the suspicion that refusing to allow him to enter Israel was a punishment rather than a precaution”—and went on to argue against banning me. Nonetheless it is unclear if or when I will be able to see my Palestinian friends again. In the meantime, going to Gaza via Egypt at least enabled me to get some feeling for developments on the ground.

read on

0

Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem

See trailer here

Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem is a video diary about four young Palestinian women, Muslim and Christian, two living in Gaza and two in Arab Jerusalem/West Bank

PINA TV Production camera crews will be covering Ashira Ramadan, a broadcast journalist based in Jerusalem; Ashiras friend in Gaza, the documentary film maker Nagham Mohanna; Dona Maria Mattas, a 17 year-old student at the Holy Family School in Gaza who dreams of growing up to be a journalist and Ala Khayo Mkari who works with Caritas in Jerusalem.

The intention of this series is neither rant nor rhetoric. It is rather an opportunity for all of us, who do not live in Gaza, occupied Arab Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank to grasp how these four Palestinian women live out their daily lives, precisely because their lives are stories that journalists are too often told by their editors to think of almost dismissively as human interest and almost necessarily conflict driven.

Sleepless is Gazaand Jerusalem documents how –as human beings — these four Palestinians can also experience moments of personal and community achievement, and the warmth of friends and family life that in real life is possible even in the most difficult circumstances of siege and occupation.

The series launches on Monday March lst it should be available in the afternoon on the East Coast of the United States and Canada, at night in the UK, late at night in the Middle East and even later going further east. We hope, quite soon, to have a better sense of timing. Each episode runs 26 minutes and will be shot, edited and uploaded each day for six days a week. On Friday, we all rest.

This series is produced by PINA TV Productions for Radiant Circle.

Directed by Ramzi Khoury. Executive producers: Abdallah Schleifer and Walid Sababa.

We can be reached at: SleeeplessinGaza@gmail.com

1

This Time We Went Too Far

0

The Silent War: Israel’s Blockade of Gaza

0

Gaza’s recycled rubble

Palestinians are finding new ways to rebuild houses destroyed during the war on Gaza a year ago.That’s because an Israeli blockade is preventing construction materials from getting into the Strip.

0

My Father was a Freedom Fighter- a book review by Gilad Atzmon

AuthorGilad Atzmon

Ramzy Baroud’s “My Father Was A Freedom Fighter” is more than a book, it is actually a masterpiece. In an overwhelmingly evoking personal style Baroud manages to bring to light the history of the Palestinian people and their battle with Israel and Zionism. Through the story of the Baroud’s family the book outlines every event in the history of the conflict and reflects on the way it transformed the Palestinian reality.

The book is a heart breaking depressing story of the Baroud family’s journey from paradise to hell. It is a flight that starts in Beit Daras, a small pictorial village in the south of Palestine. It ends in a Gaza refugee camp. It is a tragic journey of a rural self-sufficient population that is driven into total dispossession, humiliation and absolute poverty. And yet, there is a beam of light along the book namely resistance: Ramzy’s father Mohammed, was a freedom fighter. He didn’t win a single war, not even a battle, yet, against all odds, in spite of his poverty and illness, he managed to educate his children and to plant hope in their young souls, to fuel Ramzy with fierceness, which along the years transformed the young man into a monumental inspirational writer and an icon of intellectual resistance.

read on

0

Sending a Flotilla in the Spring to Break the Siege of Gaza

Contact:
* IHH, Ahmet Emin +90 530 341 19 34
* Free Gaza Movement, Eliza Ernshire +44 754 011 22 94

[Istanbul, Turkey, 28 January 2010] Today the Free Gaza Movement and
the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH), announce a joint venture, sending
10 boats in the spring of 2010 to the besieged Gaza strip.
Organizations from Greece, Ireland and Sweden have also promised to
send boats to join the flotilla with the Free Gaza movement and
Turkey.

Mr. Bulent Yildirim, chairman of the IHH said, “We sail in the spring
to Gaza, and our last port is freedom; freedom for the 1.5 million
Palestinians denied the right to rebuild their society. We will never
stop sailing until Israel’s siege is lifted.”

Two cargo ships will be part of the flotilla, one donated by the
Malaysia-based Perdana Foundation and one from IHH. Both will be laden
with building supplies, generators and educational materials that
Israel prohibits from entering Gaza since their brutal attack on the
civilian population a year ago.

The many passenger boats accompanying the cargo ships will carry
members of Parliament from countries around the world as well as
high-profile journalists and human rights workers.

According to the chair of the Free Gaza Movement, Huwaida Arraf, “The
illegal blockade on Gaza and Israel’s continued intransigence make a
mockery of international law. If our governments will not take a
stance to stop Israel’s abuse of the Palestinian people, global civil
society is showing that we will.”

The Free Gaza movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza
in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in
the port in 41 years. Since then, seven more voyages boarded
Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to
witness the effects of Israel’s draconian policies on the civilians of
Gaza. The last three voyages were illegally stopped by the Israeli
navy when, in December, 2008, they rammed the DIGNITY in international
water, turned back the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY by threatening to shoot all
on board, then hijacking the SPIRT on July 1, 2009, kidnapping the
passengers and throwing them into prison for a week. http://www.freegaza.org.

Since 1992, the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH) has provided
humanitarian assistance to civilians who have been victims of war or
natural disasters all over the world. One of IHH’s main objectives is
to take necessary steps to prevent any violations against civilian
basic rights and liberties. IHH aims at providing relief help so
communities can resume their daily life and stand on their own feet,
as well as strengthening leadership and institutions of communities
that have been made dependent on aid. http://www.ihh.org.tr

0

Gaza stranded students losing hope.wmv

0

Animation: Lift siege on Gaza, December 2009

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑