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Palestine

First martyr this year

We were devastated to hear the news of the first martyr in 2011 being none
other than Jawaher, the sister of the martyr Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in.

Jawaher fainted in yesterday’s demonstration but died apparently of this
toxic tear gas (a much stronger version with unknown chemicals than used in
the West). Here is a video of the demonstration where Jawaher was injured
(she was martyred in hospital the next day)

To keep up to date on developments in Bil’in, visit
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/

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Christmas resistance activities in Palestine: The best Christmas ever

I have spent 26 Christmases in our homeland but never had a more meaningful one than this one.   In the traditional 12 days of the holiday season, we finished with class work at Bethlehem University.  My masters’ students and my undergraduate students did very well throughout the semester as they evolved their critical thinking and analytical skills and developed admirable self-confidence.  Then the holidays came and with them came people
from around the world to join in our struggle for freedom.
In particular 73 French activists joined with others to attend and participate in a number of direct actions that challenge the colonial structure.
Starting on 22-23 December in Jerusalem, the group participated in direct action and other
events in Shaikh Jarrah, Silwan, and ethnically cleansed villages behind the
green line. After two nights in Jerusalem focusing on the increased
pressures to isolate and destroy life for the remaining inhabitants of this Palestinian city, the activists were to come to Al-Walaja village (a village that suffers from colonial settlement activities on the small percentage of its land that remains after Israel took over 75%).  The Israeli apartheid army tried in vain to prevent the event from happening from preventing a bus company from transporting activists to blocking the road to the village to threatening people in the village.  Strong will and creative on-the-spot triumphed maneuvers frustrated the army’s maneuver and all did in through
other means to hold a huge demonstration of at least 200 people
(Palestinians and Internationals including some Israelis). Not allowing empty buses to come to pick the demonstrators, we still managed to get everyone out safely to go the manger square for the traditional Christmas procession. With over 50 volunteers wearing bright yellow vests (Handala and Free Palestine prominently printed on them), we distributed over 2000 ‘Christmas Cards’ to the Christian pilgrims.  The cards referred to the wish for peace with justice and linked to the Kairos document, a call by Palestinian Christians issued a year ago (see http://www.kairospalestine.ps) 

Later in the afternoon, we traveled to Beit Jala where we shared putting-up a Christmas tree at the home of Abu Michel, a Christian whose land was taken over for the apartheid wall.  Then onto Aida refugee camp for a meaningful Christmas Eve with refugees. Christmas day was spent mostly in Hebron old city including in a demonstration against the racist settlers who continue to attempt to destroy the old city.  The occupation authorities used tear
gas and stun grenades and kidnapped two internationals (French and a Scottish, both released later at night). Some Internationals joined us in the candle light march in the Shepherds’ field that evening (over 2000 attended, a marvelous event; here is a video of it

The next morning, activists went to Qalandia checkpoint and protested the Israeli army preventing Palestinians from entering Jerusalem.  A Palestinian and nine French activists were detained and many were beaten and injured (video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCpB54gcvUc ).  
That afternoon, a tree planting event near the wall in Bil’in was met with Israeli tear gas and
stun grenades (video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6uqb9ZuuCY ). 

Later in the evening, we had an evening of camaraderie and solidarity despite attempts to politicize the event by some. The next day, the
delegation visited Nablus (see photos at
http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article5724 ) and on the way back stopped by Beitil and had a demonstration against the closure of roads inside the west bank to Palestinian travel (photos at
http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article5721 ). Two were detained and several injuries were reported due to the Israeli assault on the peaceful demonstration.  All detained in these various demonstrations were mistreated
but were eventually released.

I urge all to come visit us and see what is happening in the “little town of
Bethlehem”: 170,000 people nearly half of them are refugees crowded into 13%
of the original district size of Bethlehem and surrounded by 27 ft high
walls and electrified fences.   Many people describe it as a Ghetto or a
Bantustan (and the Israeli government calls such remaining Palestinian areas
in the Negev and elsewhere as concentration areas).  But on the positive
side, the pressure of the occupation and the test of us make us better human
beings. The hundreds of internationals that participated in these activities
told us how honored and leased they were by having shared a meaningful
holiday season with us. Energized, we now planned much bigger activities for
this summer (stay tuned).  Similarly, the Palestinians who participated in
the demonstrations or who even simply hosted internationals in their homes
or who even saw us on TV or read about us in newspapers all felt a sense of
hope and empowerment.  For me personally, having a house full of
internationals sleeping everywhere eating together, working together, being
attacked by occupation authorities together was the best Christmas gift.
Come to think of it, that is what the message of that prince of peace born
over two millennia years ago was about. We are the descendents of those
first believing Shepherds who saw the star and believed in Jesus. Jesus born
in a country called Palestine was thus Palestinian by birth but when he grew
up he also challenged a Jewish ruler (Herod) put in place by a Western
government.  History does repeat itself although with some variation but the
message of love and peace will eventually triumph. This Christmas from here
in the Shepherds’ field just down the hill from the Church of Nativity, we
sang “this in my heart, I do believe.we shall overcome someday” .. Merry
Christmas.
——————-
My wish this Christmas by Saed Bannoureh http://imemc.org/article/60149
Peace on Earth, even in Palestine! By Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/peaceoneartheveninpalestine/
Palestine: Yet People Celebrate (Christmas 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0wpyhHFOTg
Another Christmas under Siege in the Holy Land By Father Dr. Faisal Hijazin
(Parish Priest of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Ramallah)
http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/2010/12/another-christmas-under-sieg
e-in-holy.html
For more on us Christians here, please visit
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/christianlinks/
——————
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
Author of “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of hope and
empowerment”
http://qumsiyeh.org

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Israeli Confessions

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Merry Xmas beloved Palestine

Xmas in thr Holy Land
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Arrests from Al-Walaja

Description of an arrest. Three of us released after about 10 hours. Five others were kept overnight. Some will have to go to (unfair) trials where Colonial Israeli Judges and prosecutors execute their bureaucratic punishments with no real law other than apartheid racist laws that befit Jewish immigrants at the expense of native Palestinians.

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Mazin Qumsiyeh has been arrested

Mazin Qumsiyeh former of the faculty of Duke and Yale and now teaching at Bethlehem University has been arrested for objecting to an exapnding settlement in a Palestinian town. (details below)

The best time to make contact on arrests is immediately, before anything goes too far. Note from Jesse Qumsiyeh that they’ve already thrown water on the prisoners.

CALL CALL CALL

the U.S. office in Jerusalem for the Territories is

011-972-2-622-7221 or 011-972-2-622-7207

from 1 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time

at all other times for emergencies like arrests, use this number

011-972-2-622-7250

[ I just called so they do know the facts. What they need to see is that lots of people are behind Mazin ]

ask to speak to a duty officer

also make an email JerusalemACS@state.gov

Explain that you’re worried that American citizen Mazin Qumsiyeh will be mistreated, that the reason for the arrest is false, that Israelis have no right to build or expand a settlement on Palestinian land.

The arrest took place in the West Bank, in Al-Walaja, in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem. If you didn’t get Jesse’s email the main part is below

The other person to contact is Richard Blumenthal, the current Attorney General of the State of CT, Mazin’s last address. (Blumenthal was just elected Senator, but he still is AG) I’ve spoken to him in the past about Mazin.

attorney.general@ct.gov

Civil Rights/Torts Department
(860) 808-5160

And let your friends know about this.

—
Greta Berlin

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Direct Action in Palestine

From Thursday, 23 December 2010
To Monday, 27 December 2010		 by  qumsiyeh

Christmas season and with “Free Palestine” on their brightly colored vests, hundreds of international and Palestinian activists (Muslims, Jews, Christians and others) will be gathering in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and other parts of Occupied Palestine to work for the advancement of peace with justice. Between December 22nd and December 27th, this initiative is led by over a dozen Palestinian organizations, aims to bring attention to and confronts Israel’s regime of occupation, colonialism and Apartheid system through a non-violent direct action program in five Palestinian cities (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus) and several villages (including Beit Sahour, Bilin. and Al-Walaja). The action aims at using the world’s focus on Bethlehem at Christmas time to expose the continuing policy of ethnic cleansing and forced population transfer being committed against the people of Palestine. Media are highly encouraged to join these events especially on December 22nd in Jerusalem and on December 24th at noon to 2:30 PM in the Manger square in Bethlehem.

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Palestine: Yet People Celebrate (Christmas 2010)

In this time of year, people around the world celebrate. They celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem Palestine. They celebrate a birth that was meant to propagate a set of ideals to make the world a better place. 2010 years later, that same birthplace is plagued by a regime that practices the exact opposite of those ideals. Bethlehem is surrounded by a racist wall of biblical proportions, by regime which is racist to biblical proportions. Yet people celebrate.

But that is OK. The people of Palestine also celebrate. They need to, as any other people would need to celebrate. After all it is the season to make exceptions. In this season, people make exceptions when it comes to their spending, to their diets, to the way they treat each other. So it is only logical to make an exception by putting an effort for the land, the homes and people of the birthplace of Christmas… for justice in Palestine…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

 

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The Electronic Intifada Campaign: Help keep our reporting strong in 2011

Appeal, The Electronic Intifada, 8 December 2010

Gaza (Matthew Cassel)

To remain a strong, independent publication and an educational resource for the Palestine solidarity and justice movement, The Electronic Intifada needs the support of readers and friends like you. Please make a contribution today.

As The Electronic Intifada prepared to launch its annual campaign to ask our readers and friends to support our independent reporting on Palestine by making a contribution, we found ourselves under attack from a prominent anti-Palestinian organization.

The goal of the attackers, we believe, is to shut us down by pressuring funders to withdraw grants they’ve given us. If we can’t pay our editors or reporters, or maintain our equipment and keep our servers working, their reasoning goes, then there will be one less watchdog to report on human rights abuses in Palestine and to educate our thousands of daily readers about the Palestinian struggle for freedom and the global solidarity movement.

The escalating attacks on The Electronic Intifada and other Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights and civic groups working for justice are evidence that what we do is changing minds. Why else would they try to stop us? But we also know that major organizations which oppose human rights for Palestinians are gearing up for even more aggressive tactics as we have reported.

We are resilient because most of The Electronic Intifada’s funding comes not from a foundation grant but from readers who rely on us every day for solid reporting, prescient analysis, moving features, activism news and a full range of arts coverage and reviews.

As long as we have a strong base of community support, no one can stop us from doing our work. Show your support and help us to keep educating people and inspiring them to work for justice. Please make a contribution today.

Readers like you support our work because they know that the information produced by The Electronic Intifada does more than inform a passive audience. It is a powerful resource in the hands of all who work for justice.

  • Our consistent reporting on Veolia’s involvement in the “Jerusalem Light Rail” linking illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank has provided activists with the information they needed to launch a successful campaign to hold the corporation accountable and make it unprofitable to build infrastructure for the Israeli occupation in violation of international law. In late November, Veolia announced it was pulling out of the project, a major victory.
  • The Electronic Intifada broke the story that the son of Ethan Bronner, The New York Times bureau chief in Jerusalem, had voluntarily enlisted in the Israeli army, raising a serious conflict of interest for Bronner’s and The New York Times’ coverage. Citing our report, the newspaper’s public editor called for Bronner to be reassigned (“Too Close to Home,” 6 February 2010). Although the The Times chose to ignore its ombudsman’s recommendation, our story forced a major institution to publicly acknowledge its own biases and generated broad debate about double standards plaguing mainstream reporting about Israel and the Palestinians.

These are just two examples of how, with your support, The Electronic Intifada makes an impact. Below are some more highlights of our original reporting and analysis over the past year, powerful pieces made possible with the support of our readers. Please read and share them, and remember, we can’t do this work without you.

As we do each year, it is our turn to say we count on you. To make sure we do stay strong in 2011, please take action today to help us meet our $100,000 goal by 31 December. It’s a bigger goal than we’ve ever had because we are doing more reporting than ever. Please do more if you can. Donate now.

Thank you.

Highlights from The Electronic Intifada 2010

Please donate now. Thank you!

 

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