Amoula il Majnoona

altered billboard in Ramallah from "Taste The Occupation"

2008-08-13T02:57:00.000-07:00

A recent action in Ramallah from "Taste The Occupation" which is a campaign against Israeli products and in particular the Shtraws Ice cream (which is Israeli) publicity campaign in Palestine. Shtraws billboards are all over Ramallah.....

الله يرحم شاعرنا الكبير محمود درويش

2008-08-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

this was one of my favorite poems

Hasan Hourani

2008-08-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

a moment....a breath...for Hasan

This post is for my friend Hasan who left us 5 years ago today....

I wrote this in August of 2003:

I see Hasan everywhere..in the streets of Ramallah and New York, on the subway, in Ziryab and in Union Square, in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Whenever I think of Hasan I see him laughing and happy. I was overjoyed when Hasan told me he was coming to New York. I couldn't wait.

Hasan arrived in New York in the spring of 2001 full of energy, big ideas and big plans. He charmed and amazed everyone around him with his joy of life, his free spirit and his dreams. I loved being by his side. Hasan loved people and made many friends from every walk of life and background. There are so many stories to tell about his life in New York. There were the days in Union Square, his dancing, his art projects, his solo exhibition, the demonstrations, the eggs he cooked, September 11th, and much, much more.

Before I left New York last May, he told me he was going to South Africa to live on a beach and work on his book. Months later, I was happily surprised to see him in his beloved Ramallah. The last time I saw Hasan was the night before his death. He came to my house bursting with joy from being back in Palestine. He had just found a house in Jifna in which he was going to
settle in to finish his book.

I left the day after Hasan's funeral. As the plane flew over Jaffa, I looked down at the sea and remembered the necklace Hasan loved to wear. A white spoon with a scoop of blue glass, like a spoonful of sea, hung from his neck. He used to laugh and say he wore it so that he could take the sea with him wherever he went.

I know Hasan will be with many of us wherever we go.

Don't Play Israel

2008-07-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

Don't Play Israel joins other groups in celebrating the list of artists to recently cancel appearances/engagements in Israel. We believe the cultural boycott is gaining in effect.

Recent cancellations include:
Jean-Luc Godard
Bjork
Chris Cornell
Siouxie Sioux
Snoop Dogg

We believe that the hard work of activists and calls issued by organizations such as PACBI have been effective in increasing consciousness of the boycott -- many other artists are refusing to play Israel, but are doing so quietly. The next challenge is to encourage these artists to publicly engage with the boycott.

And much remains to be done. Artists to have recently announced upcoming concerts include:
Laurie Anderson
Mercedes Sosa

Details on how to contact these artists appear on the Don't Play Israel blog:
http://www.dontplayisrael.blogspot.com

Pass on the word... the cultural boycott is spreading.

Peace,
DPI

Slingshot Hip Hop comes to Ramallah finally!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

My friend Jackie Salloum came to Ramallah to show her film last Thursday and we were so lucky to have a live concert after the film.
I love DAM! Thank you!

Here is the trailer of the film:

Untitled (servees) (بلا عنوان‏(سرفيس

2008-07-03T03:35:00.000-07:00

I am exhibiting a new work in this years Jerusalem Show. It opens next Wednesday night so if you are in Palestine please come to the opening and party! There are a lot of great artists taking part in the show.

I can not post this without noting the fact that most of my friends and my family will not be able to come because they are West Bank I.D holders living in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus etc and the Israeli state forbids them from entering Jerusalem.

Untitled (servees) (بلا عنوان‏(سرفيس

"Untitled (servees)" is an audio work located at Damascus Gate (Bab il Amoud) which stands at the start of the road leading to Nablus and onward to Damascus. Once a massive hub of the main regional transport network of serveeses (communal taxis), it had direct links to Beirut, Amman, Baghdad, Kuwait as well as every urban Palestinian center such as Lyd, Jaffa, Ramallah, Nablus, Gaza, Ramle. Damascus Gate was the point where servees drivers used to pick up customers by calling out the names of their various destinations. "Untitled (servees)" recalls that purpose and the once fluid space of movement, connection and exchange and attempts to make visible the fractures and interactions of everyday life within the disintegrating urban landscape. Calling out cities servees drivers recall their destinations.

This audio work is a part of ongoing long-term research, which explores and investigates the disappearing transportation network in Palestine and its implications on the physical and social experience of space. This is a result of the ongoing fragmentation and continued destruction of the urban landscape by the Israeli Occupation.

بلا عنوان (سرفيس)

"بلا عنوان (سرفيس)" هو عمل فنيّ سماعيّ مسجل في "باب العامود" والذي يقع على بداية الطريق المؤدية إلى مدينة نابلس، ومنها تستمر إلى دمشق.

كان "باب العامود" في فترة ما المركز الرئيسي لشبكة مواصلات المركبات العمومية، وكان نقطة الوصل المباشرة لبيروت، عمّان بغداد،والكويت، بالإضافة إلى مراكز مدنية رئيسية في فلسطين، مثل اللدّ و الرملة، يافا، رام الله، نابلس،وغزّة. في ذلك الزمن،كان سائقو هذه المركبات العمومية يتجمعون في ساحة باب العامود ليقلّواُ الركاب عن طريق نداء - بأصوات مرتفعة - أسماء المدن المختلفة التي يقصدونها. وبناءً على هذا التاريخ، يقوم عمل "بلا عنوان (سرفيس)" بإعادة ذكرى ذلك الزمن الذي كانت فيه الحركة حرّة تتدفق بلا عقبات، حيث كان هناك تواصل وتبادل بين الناس. ويحاول أن يظهر التشقق و طبيعة التفاعل في الحياة اليومية ما بين المناطق الجغرافية المدنية والتي في حالة تفسّخ مستمر. وبمناداة أسماء المدن، يتذكر سائقو السرفيسات تلك الأماكن التي كانوا يقصدونها.

هذا العمل السماعي هو جز من مشروع بحث طويل الأمد الذي يتحرّى ويحقق في واقع تلاشي شبكة المواصلات في فلسطين وتداعيات هذا التلاشي وتأثيره على مفهوم الحيّز من النواحِ المادية والاجتماعية؛ وما هذا إلاّ نتيجة استمرار أعمال تشقيق وتدمير الأراضي المتعمدة من قبل الاحتلال الإسرائيلي

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE JERUSALEM SHOW
http://www.almamalfoundation.org/

The Jerusalem Show, edition 0.1, July 9-19, 2008

A Contemporary Art Show in the Old City of Jerusalem

Wednesday, 9 July

19:00 Opening Exhibition Tour with curator Jack Persekian starting from Al-Ma'mal Foundation, New Gate

21:00 Opening Reception , Padico Services, Haret Al-Sa'idiyeh

Participating Artists:

Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Mohammad Al-Hawajri, Jawad Al-Malhi, Basma Al-Sharif, Berndt Anwander, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Phil Collins, Aissa Deebi, Sophie Elbaz, Roza El-Hassan, Hana Farah, Akram Halabi, Emily Jacir, Leopold Kessler, Jumana Manna, Sliman Mansour, Henrik Placht, Judy Price, Nathalie Retivoff, Peter Riedlinger, Nida Sinnokrot, Samir Srouji, Oraib Toukan, Elisabeth Von-Samsonow, Wafaa Yasin, Inass Yassin, Manar Zuaibi

Enacting Emancipation

2008-06-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

Although I am in Ramallah I wanted to post this Toronto exhibition for anyone who may be in that area. This show is very dear to me because it brings together the indigenous peoples of Palestine and North America. The opening is June 28th so please drop by if you live there. We will be doing a panel - I am going to be speaking live from Ramallah on that same day.

James Luna, Apparitions, 2008

http://www.aspacegallery.org/programming.html

When engaging with the similarity of colonial oppression between the Indigenous peoples of North America and Palestine, the late Edward Said stated that the task at hand was 'to universalize the crisis, to give greater human scope to what a particular race or nation suffered, to associate that experience with the suffering of others.' Enacting Emancipation was born from this intention.

This study of the interconnectedness of the First Nations and Palestinian experience was inspired by the sixtieth-year memorial of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe of 1948). The exhibition unravels a universal and international system of colonial technique and strategy, while remaining fully cognizant of the dangers in homogenizing resistant cultures. The curators sought contrast in defining strategies of resistance, which elucidated the fact that the differences of defense were culturally based and inheritably Indigenous.

Together the artists in this exhibition - James Luna, Emily Jacir, Erica Lord, and John Halaka - signify the individualized experiences of Fourth World peoples who have been stripped of context, denied distinction, and disenfranchised from traditional territories. Together they present an immediacy of need in defending land and citizenry, the recognition of sovereignty, and their personal engagements in the quest for freedom.

Denied the Right to go Home

2008-06-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

I am Palestinian – born and raised – and my Palestinian roots go back
centuries. No one can change that even if they tell me that
Jerusalem, my birth place, is not Palestine, even if they tell me
that Palestine doesn’t exist, even if they take away all my papers
and deny me entry to my own home, even if they humiliate me and take
away my rights. I AM PALESTINIAN.

Name: Zeina Emile Sam’an Ashrawi; Date of Birth: July 30, 1981;
Ethnicity: Arab. This is what was written on my Jerusalem ID card. An
ID card to a Palestinian is much more than just a piece of paper; it
is my only legal documented relationship to Palestine. Born in
Jerusalem, I was given a Jerusalem ID card (the blue ID), an Israeli
Travel Document and a Jordanian Passport stamped Palestinian (I have
no legal rights in Jordan). I do not have an Israeli Passport, a
Palestinian Passport or an American Passport. Here is my story:

I came to the United States as a 17 year old to finish high school in
Pennsylvania and went on to college and graduate school and
subsequently got married and we are currently living in Northern
Virginia. I have gone home every year at least once to see my
parents, my family and my friends and to renew my Travel Document as
I was only able to extend its validity once a year from Washington
DC. My father and I would stand in line at the Israeli Ministry of
Interior in Jerusalem, along with many other Palestinians, from 4:30
in the morning to try our luck at making it through the revolving
metal doors of the Ministry before noon – when the Ministry closed
its doors - to try and renew the Travel Document. We did that year
after year. As a people living under an occupation, being faced with
constant humiliation by an occupier was the norm but we did what we
had to do to insure our identity was not stolen from us.

In August of 2007 I went to the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC to
try and extend my travel document and get the usual “Returning
Resident” VISA that the Israelis issue to Palestinians holding an
Israeli Travel Document. After watching a few Americans and others
being told that their visas would be ready in a couple of weeks my
turn came. I walked up to the bulletproof glass window shielding the
lady working behind it and under a massive picture of the Dome of the
Rock and the Walls of Jerusalem that hangs on the wall in the Israeli
consulate, I handed her my papers through a little slot at the bottom
of the window.

“Shalom” she said with a smile. “Hi” I responded, apprehensive and
scared. As soon as she saw my Travel Document her demeanor
immediately changed. The smile was no longer there and there was very
little small talk between us, as usual. After sifting through the
paperwork I gave her she said: “where is your American Passport?” I
explained to her that I did not have one and that my only Travel
Document is the one she has in her hands. She was quiet for a few
seconds and then said: “you don’t have an American Passport?”
suspicious that I was hiding information from her. “No!” I said. She
was quiet for a little longer and then said: “Well, I am not sure
we’ll be able to extend your Travel Document.” I felt the blood
rushing to my head as this is my only means to get home! I asked her
what she meant by that and she went on to tell me that since I had
been living in the US and because I had a Green Card they would not
extend my Travel Document. After taking a deep breath to try and
control my temper I explained to her that a Green Card is not a
Passport and I cannot use it to travel outside the US. My voice was
shaky and I was getting more and more upset (and a mini shouting
match ensued) so I asked her to explain to me what I needed to do.
She told me to leave my paperwork and we would see what happens.

A couple of weeks later I received a phone call from the lady telling
me that she was able to extended my Travel Document but I would no
longer be getting the “Returning Resident” VISA. Instead, I was given
a 3 month tourist VISA. Initially I was happy to hear that the Travel
Document was extended but then I realized that she said “tourist
VISA”. Why am I getting a tourist VISA to go home? Not wanting to
argue with her about the 3 month VISA at the time so as not to
jeopardize the extension of my Travel Document, I simply put that bit
of information on the back burner and went on to explain to her that
I wasn’t going home in the next 3 months. She instructed me to come
back and apply for another VISA when I did intend on going. She
didn’t add much and just told me that it was ready for pick-up. So I
went to the Embassy and got my Travel Document and the tourist VISA
that was stamped in it.

My husband, my son and I were planning on going home to Palestine
this summer. So a month before we were set to leave (July 8, 2008) I
went to the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC, papers in hand, to ask
for a VISA to go home. I, again, stood in line and watched others get
VISAs to go to my home. When my turn came I walked up to the window;
“Shalom” she said with a smile on her face, “Hi” I replied. I slipped
the paperwork in the little slot under the bulletproof glass and
waited for the usual reaction. I told her that I needed a returning
resident VISA to go home. She took the paperwork and I gave her a
check for the amount she requested and left the Embassy without
incident.

A few days ago I got a phone call from Dina at the Israeli Embassy
telling me that she needed the expiration date of my Jordanian
Passport and my Green Card. I had given them all the paperwork they
needed time and time again and I thought it was a good way on their
part to waste time so that I didn’t get my VISA in time. Regardless,
I called over and over again only to get their voice mail. I left a
message with the information they needed but kept called every 10
minutes hoping to speak to someone to make sure that they received
the information in an effort to expedite the tedious process. I
finally got a hold of someone. I told her that I wanted to make sure
they received the information I left on their voice mail and that I
wanted to make sure that my paperwork was in order. She said, after
consulting with someone in the background (I assume it was Dina),
that I needed to fax copies of both my Jordanian Passport and my
Green Card and that giving them the information over the phone wasn’t
acceptable. So I immediately made copies and faxed them to Dina.

A few hours later my cell phone rang. “Zeina?” she said. “Yes” I
replied, knowing exactly who it was and immediately asked her if she
received the fax I sent. She said: “ehhh, I was not looking at your
file when you called earlier but your Visa was denied and your ID and
Travel Document are no longer valid.” “Excuse me?” I said in
disbelief. “Sorry, I cannot give you a visa and your ID and Travel
Document are no longer valid. This decision came from Israel not from
me.”

I cannot describe the feeling I got in the pit of my stomach. “Why?”
I asked and Dina went on to tell me that it was because I had a Green
Card. I tried to reason with Dina and to explain to her that they
could not do that as this is my only means of travel home and that I
wanted to see my parents, but to no avail. Dina held her ground and
told me that I wouldn’t be given the VISA and then said: “Let the
Americans give you a Travel Document”.

I have always been a strong person and not one to show weakness but
at that moment I lost all control and started crying while Dina was
on the other end of the line holding my only legal documents linking
me to my home. I began to plead with her to try and get the VISA and
not revoke my documents; “put yourself in my shoes, what would you
do? You want to go see your family and someone is telling you that
you can’t! What would you do? Forget that you’re Israeli and that I’m
Palestinian and think about this for a minute!” “Sorry” she said,”I
know but I can’t do anything, the decision came from Israel”. I tried
to explain to her over and over again that I could not travel without
my Travel Document and that they could not do that – knowing that
they could, and they had!

This has been happening to many Palestinians who have a Jerusalem ID
card. The Israeli government has been practicing and perfecting the
art of ethnic cleansing since 1948 right under the nose of the world
and no one has the power or the guts to do anything about it. Where
else in the world does one have to beg to go to one’s own home? Where
else in the world does one have to give up their identity for the
sole reason of living somewhere else for a period of time? Imagine if
an American living in Spain for a few years wanted to go home only to
be told by the American government that their American Passport was
revoked and that they wouldn’t be able to come back!

If I were a Jew living anywhere around the world and had no ties to
the area and had never set foot there, I would have the right to go
any time I wanted and get an Israeli Passport. In fact, the Israelis
encourage that. I however, am not Jewish but I was born and raised
there, my parents, family and friends still live there and I cannot
go back! I am neither a criminal nor a threat to one of the most
power countries in the world, yet I am alienated and expelled from my
own home.

As it stands right now, I will be unable to go home – I am one of many.

Waltz with Bashir - Trailer

2008-05-21T05:44:00.000-07:00

I really want to see this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7412088.stm

رام اللة هل ايام

2008-05-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

"Salt of this Sea" Premiere at Cannes and Trailer

2008-05-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

!!!!!!!!!مبروك يا اختي

I am so happy and proud of my sister Annemarie! Yesterday her film "Milh Hadha al-Bahr" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival!!!!! Here is a link to the festival page about her film:

www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/56057.html

And here is a beautiful photo from the site (Photo:Julia Brechler) of them on the stage right before the screening:

The film was supposed to premiere here last week but the Israelis denied my sister entry (see earlier post). That did not stop us from celebrating this momentous occasion with her! We all gathered together here in Ramallah and threw the "RAMALLAH CANNES PARTY (umbilical cord from Ramallah to Cannes)" We all raised our glasses high and got to do a video conference with the Annemarie and some of the cast and crew before they headed off to the red carpet and we spoke to them by phone. We were all together every step of the way.

As soon as the film is scheduled to show here I will post it. In the meantime here is the trailer!

ذكرى النكبة في رام الله اليوم

2008-05-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

ENTRY DENIED: Annemarie Jacir

2008-04-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the letter Annemarie wrote after being brutally denied entry into Palestine yesterday at the Allenby Bridge. She was coming to attend the world premiere of her film and we were all going to celebrate her film and her success with her.

For more information on this unofficial Israeli policy of denying entry:
http://www.righttoenter.ps/

Here is a letter she wrote when she was sent back yesterday:

I have been looking forward to this week for months now – it was to be one of the most important moments for me - the world premiere of our feature film "milh hadha al- bahr" (Salt of this Sea) in Palestine.

The premiere was to take place in Amari Refugee camp in Ramallah, with the cast and crew, the people who helped make this film happen, who believe in it, to be in attendance. An outdoor screening and an occasion to share the completion of a project which has been the result of a five-year struggle. What made this event so special was that it is also a big celebration for us – that we received the incredible news that the film was selected for the Cannes Film Festival as an Official Selection (May 14th – 25th, 2008).

As you may know, the Israeli Authorities have not allowed me to return to Palestine for 9 months now. Because of this we were not able to film a main scene of the film and in the end, the scene had to be shot in Marseille, France. My lawyer has been working now for eight months on the issue of my return home. So for the premiere of the film, I also had an invitation from the French Consulate in Jerusalem, who have been supporters of the film, and the International Art Academy of Ramallah were co-sponsoring the screening. There was nothing I was looking forward to more than fianlly being back in Palestine and sharing the film.

From Amman, Jordan, I took the bus to the Allenby bridge (Sheikh Hussein) in order to cross the Jordanian border and enter the West Bank. I arrived at the bridge at 10 in the morning. The Israelis held me there for six hours, during which time I was interrogated approximately five times. In the beginning I was made to wait in the main room with all the other people crossing. After some time, I was taken to another section in the back, separated from the others, and spent the remaining period of my time waiting there alone. Every now and then people would come in and out of a door, sometimes to ask me questions, sometimes just on their way somewhere else. My telephone was taken from me.

At the end, I was then taken to the general room once more and asked to sit and wait. After about 20 minutes, a woman in a blue uniform (the others wore a different uniform), came towards me with my passport in her hand and four security agents behind her. She handed me my passport and said, "The Israeli Ministry of Interior has denied you entry." I asked if a reason was given. She said, "You spend too much time here." I was then deported - escorted by two of the agents out of the terminal and onto a bus back to Jordan.

I got on the bus. I felt like my legs weren't strong enough to carry me.

Annemarie Jacir

Milh Hadha al-Bahr (Salt of this Sea) GOING TO CANNES!

2008-04-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

The Palestinian film, Salt of this Sea ("milh hadha al bahr"), directed by Annemarie Jacir and starring Suheir Hammad and Saleh Bakri, has been accepted as an "Official Selection" of the Cannes Film Festival 2008.

The Cannes Film Festival takes place in May 2008, which is also the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Salt of this Sea, the first feature film by a Palestinian female director to be accepted to the Cannes Film Festival, follows the story of third generation refugees in search of freedom and is a commemoration of the ongoing Nakba.

In May 1948, Israel was declared a "Jewish state" despite the fact that the majority of the indigenous population consisted of Palestinian Arabs, Christian and Muslim. Zionist leader David Ben Gurion instituted "Plan Dalet" in order to change the demographic make-up of historic Palestine and secure physical control over the territory. What followed is the expulsion and dispossession of 780,000 Palestinians from their homes and land (75% of the population). More than 530 Palestinian villages were depopulated and/or completely destroyed. And the world's largest and longest-standing refugee population was created.

Before Cannes, the film will have its world premiere in Amari Refugee camp in Ramallah with the presence of the film director Annemarie Jacir and main cast.

Milh Hadha al-Bahr (Salt of this Sea)
Palestine 2008
Directed by Annemarie Jacir
Produced by JBA Production
1'43" min.

Soraya, born in Brooklyn in a working class community of Palestinian refugees, discovers that her grandfather's savings were frozen in a bank account in Jaffa when he was exiled in 1948. Determined to reclaim what is hers, she fulfills her life-long dream of "returning" to Palestine. She meets a young man whose ambition, contrary to her, is to leave forever and find a life far away. Tired of the constraints that dictate their lives, they know that in order to be free, they must take things into their own hands, even if it's against the law.

بيت مكان 2008 برنامج اقامة و تبادل الفنانين العرب

2008-03-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

Bush's "vision" is Palestine's nightmare

2008-01-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

The illustration commissioned by the Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re-entry to the Occupied Palestinian Territory that Al-Quds newspaper refused to publish.

From ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9214.shtml

Bush's "vision" is Palestine's nightmare
Sam Bahour writing from al-Bireh/Ramallah, occupied West Bank, Live from Palestine, 10 January 2008

US President George W. Bush landed in Israel yesterday on his first presidential trip to the country. He participated in a press conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, what both men termed a "historic" and "monumental" occasion. After listening to both so-called leaders make their opening comments and fielding questions from journalists, the only groundbreaking revelation I could register was that Bush's naivete, either real or feigned, only served the agenda of one party in the region -- Hamas. The radical Islamists at Hamas could not find a better recruiter for their movement if they tried.

My opinion may be extreme, but then again, I live in extreme limbo under Israeli military occupation, shaped by a policy both men continuously refuse to call by its true name -- state terror.

My opinion is certainly subjective but I started my day by reading a communique from the real world: a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that the background of the issue: on 28 June 2006 the Israeli Air Force bombed the power plant in the Gaza Strip, destroying all six transformers and cutting 43 percent of Gaza's total power capacity. The report states, "households in the Gaza Strip are now experiencing regular power cuts" and notes that "the irregular [electricity] supply causes additional problems. Running water in Gaza is only available in most households for around eight hours per day. If there is no power when water is available, it cannot be pumped above ground level, reducing the availability of running water to between four and six hours per day." The result of this single punitive measure, as stated in this report, is that if Gaza's Coastal Municipalities Water Utility "cannot provide its own emergency power supply because of its own fuel shortages, it has to pump raw sewage into the sea which damages the coastline in Gaza, southern Israel and Egypt."

In another report, released the same day, the World Food Programme spokesperson Kirstie Campbell finds that 70 percent of the population of Gaza has to choose between putting food on the table or a roof over their heads.

Bush and Olmert do not seem to worry there will be any fallout from the disturbing information in these reports, released one day before Bush's arrival. As a matter of fact, the reality that Israel has successfully placed 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, over 50 percent of them children, in the dark and under the most draconian siege in recent history did not even make it to the margins of either leader's speeches.

Much more important issues were on Bush's agenda. The need to realize and work on a "vision" for the future was in the forefront of Bush's mind. "The parties" should now sit down and "negotiate a vision" -- the parties being Israel, the fourth strongest military might in the world and a forty-year-long occupier, and the Palestinians, a stateless people who have been dispossessed by Israel for sixty years and under brutal military occupation by their colonizers for over four decades.

Both Bush and Olmert did send one united message to the world: the two-state solution was still the aim of the negotiations. Reading between the lines, we can infer that to them, the specter of a single democratic state, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, is the most frightening vision of all. To ensure that a one-state solution of Palestinians (Muslims and Christians) and Israelis (Jews, Muslims, and Christians) living side by side with equal national and civil rights in historic Palestine does not materialize, the US and Israel talk about a two-state solution, but in the meantime, the US bankrolls Israel as it continues to create facts on the ground that make any viable Palestinian state impossible.

Olmert was clear beyond a doubt: President Bush has been very, very good for Israel. Olmert was nearly jumping for joy as he praised Bush for increasing the comprehensive US aid package to Israel to a whopping $30 billion.

Journalists constantly raised the issue of Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territory. Again, Olmert said Jerusalem is different, and no one should expect settlements to stop there. As for the other settlements, he said it was complicated and began elucidating the lexicon of "outposts," "population centers," etc. Bush, for his part, was only able to remind us all that Israel has been promising for over four years to stop settlements but has yet to do so. Even that came with a chuckle amongst journalists, as if the human tragedy these settlements are causing was a side show. Rarely has Bush given so persuasive an impression of being detached not just from the facts but from any sort of empathy for the victims of this appalling situation.

But mainly, it looks like Bush came to Israel to speak about Iran. Bush seemed very enthused about threatening Iran from Israel. His glaring inability to articulate a basic understanding of the Palestinian-Israeli issue left seasoned Israeli journalists chuckling in disbelief at the president's replies. The local press corps noted every opportunity seized by Olmert to hitch a ride on each one of Bush's superficial comments, lauding the importance of the Bush visit, the Bush commitment to peace, and Bush's courage in confronting the region's difficulties.

Today Bush arrives in my Israeli-occupied city of al-Bireh/Ramallah. He plans to land two blocks away from my home, in a sports field that I happen to be developing as a commercial project for the nearby Friends (Quaker) School. We were notified today that our street will be one of the many that will be under 100 percent lockdown. We were advised we would be risking our lives if we went to our rooftop to watch the charade unfold. Public notices from the Palestinian police chief warned that absolutely no protests would be tolerated. In short, we were told to stay indoors. Even our local newspaper, Al-Quds, refused to publish as an advertisement a cartoon satirizing Bush's visit submitted by a civil society campaign I work with. So much for running a business, economic development, and freedom of the press. So much for Palestinian democracy too.

As an American and a Palestinian, if I could advise Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on how to greet his American peer today, I would ask him to declare the end of the Palestinian Authority, which Israel has purposefully and systematically destroyed. I would ask him to announce that the Palestinians will not accept Rambo-style diplomacy and will revert to international law as the only reference point for resolving the conflict. I would ask Abbas to request America's support for nonviolent resistance against sixty years of dispossession and forty years of military occupation by calling for a strategy of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it joins the community of law-abiding nations.

But that's not all. If I were Abbas I would tell the world that the Palestinian people will remain committed to the two-state solution until the end of 2008, and after that, if the international community fails yet again to end this nightmare of occupation, the Palestinian people will return to their original strategy of calling for one democratic secular state, where Palestinians and Israelis of all religions can live in dignity and mutual respect as equals -- one person, one vote, with appropriate arrangements for cultural autonomy for all.

Sam Bahour is a business consultant and may be reached at sbahour@palnet.com.

Israel steals Christmas: clergy denied entry to occupied territories

2007-12-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

MAAN NEWS AGENCY
---------------------------

Israel steals Christmas: clergy denied entry to occupied territories

Date: 27 / 12 / 2007 Time: 14:56

Bethlehem – Ma'an – Israeli travel prohibitions put a damper on this year's Christmas celebrations as Christian clergy were unable to reach their congregations in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In late October the Israeli interior ministry cancelled the multiple-entry visas that many foreign clergy possess, issuing instead single-entry visas, and sometimes completely denying access to the very birthplace of Christianity.

The Our Lady of Annunciation Catholic church in the West Bank city of Ramallah cancelled its Christmas celebrations completely, because the priest, Jordanian national Seres Lalkhlisat, could not return to the West Bank from Jordan, where he went to visit his family.

"A church without a priest; it's very hard. People call saying 'we want to hold a funeral, but there is no priest to conduct the funeral," said Anan Abu Saadeh, a teacher at the school affiliated with Our Lady of Annunciation.

Saadeh said Lalkhlisat has worked at two West Bank congregations since 2004, and used to travel back and forth from Jordan freely on his multiple-entry visa, which now has an 'X' drawn through it.

"We are waiting," said Saadeh, "they are always saying 'you have to wait' …they have still not given us a real reason."

Israeli Interior Ministry spokesperson Sabine Haddad told the Associated Press, "According to a request by security officials, we restricted the visas of the clergy." Yet this reasoning leaves Palestinian parishioners like Saadeh puzzled. "He is not a political man; he is not doing something bad," he said of the Priest.

The grassroots Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re-Entry to the Occupied Palestinian Territory says that clergy are only a few of the "tens of thousands of ordinary foreign passport holders of Palestinian and non-Palestinian origin who wish to be with their families, work or study, as well as tourists and pilgrims."

Palestine's small Christian population is shrinking, and Saadeh attributed some the much-discussed 'Christian flight' to Israeli restrictions that limit freedom of worship. "For Christian Palestinians, it's hard to see churches closing, so people are leaving," he said.

Israel controls all but one of the entry points in to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The one Palestinian-controlled crossing, at Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, has been closed since the June due to an Israeli-led international blockade.

Amnesty International estimates that by 2006, at least 120,000 families of various religious affiliations have been denied the right to be together by Israeli travel restrictions.

! اعياد سعيدة ! كل سنة وانتو سالمين

2007-12-18T03:11:00.000-08:00

عيد ميلاد مجيد و عيد مبارك من رام الله

'Palestinian Women Artists' book launch

2007-12-15T02:11:00.001-08:00

Artists Inass Yassin and Vera Tamari standing with Rawan Sharaf (Director of al Hoash Gallery) and Reem Fadda (Director of the Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art (PACA)

We had a very successful event at the Academy the other night which was the launch of the book: "Palestinian Women Artists: the Land = the Body = the Narrative"

The Palestinian Art Court - Al Hoash published the book with the support of the Spanish General Consulate, the Spanish Cooperation Office, and the Three Cultures Foundation.

During the event, Al Hoash also launched the new calender for 2008 featuring artists from the book. The calender is great and makes a perfect gift for the upcoming Eids!

Curator Reem Fadda, academic director of the International Academy of Art-Palestine, was commissioned to be the editor and curator of the book and she has wrote an extensive essay for it.

The book features 41 Palestinian artists and is in 3 languages: Arabic, English and Spanish.
Copies of the book and the calender may be obtained through the Palestinian Art Court - Al Hoash, in Jerusalem, or the International Academy of Art-Palestine, in Ramallah (well actually in Bireh...heehee)

A packed house for the launch!

And from the press: http://ara.today.reuters.com

فنانات فلسطينيات..الارض..الجسد..الرواية) كتاب جديد بثلاث لغات
Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:10 PM GMT

رام الله (الضفة الغربية) (رويترز) - يلقي الكتاب الجديد (فنانات فلسطينيات..الارض..الجسد..الرواية) الصادر بثلاث لغات الضوء على مساهمة الفنانات الفلسطينيات في الفن البصري منذ ثلاثينات القرن الماضي الى اليوم.

ويقدم الكتاب الصادر عن مؤسسة حوش الفن الفلسطيني والذي يقع في 400 صفحة من القطع المتوسط باللغات العربية والانجليزية والاسبانية سردا لاسماء 150 فنانة وصورا ملونة لاعمال متميزة ومتعددة لاحدى واربعين منهن اضافة الى تحليل لهذه الاعمال.

ويستعرض الكتاب بالتحليل ثلاثة ابعاد في اعمال الفنانات الفلسطينيات في الاراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة وداخل اسرائيل وحتى أولئك اللواتي يعشن في المهجر في مجال الارض والجسد والرواية وعلاقة كل من هذه الابعاد بالحياة السياسية التي شهدتها الاراضي الفلسطينية منذ القرن الماضي.

ويشير الكتاب الى ارتباط الفنانة الفلسطينية بالارض "الارض مصدر الهام للعديد من الفنانات الفلسطينيات منذ اكثر من مئة عام وقد خلدت المشاهد الطبيعية الفلسطينية الغنية في لوحات زيتية لعدد من الفنانات مثل نهيل بشارة وصوفي حلبي وفاتن طوباسي وعفاف عرفات."

ويرى الكتاب "تغيرا صامتا ان لم يكن بشكل واع ومستفز من عدد من المؤثرات باتجاه العمل الفني الذي يظهر الجسد وخاصة جسد الفنانة نفسها في عدد من الاعمال."

ويوضح الكتاب ان معظم الفنانات الفلسطينيات اللواتي اتبعن هذا الاسلوب كن يعشن في اوروبا وامريكا "حيث وجدن المجتمع الذي يتقبل اظهار جسد المرأة من خلال الفن."

ويقدم الكتاب استعراضا كاملا لهذه المرحلة التي شهدت استخدام الجسد في الفن.

وتروي الفنانات الفلسطينيات من خلال اعمالهن الفنية حكاية المكان والاوضاع السياسية والاجتماعية والاقتصادية. ويقول الكتاب "قام عدد من الفنانات بانتاج مشاريع مرئية واضحة في محاولة لاعطاء وجهة نظر شخصية للمكان بكافة تعقيداته فسرد القصة بنبرة غير مجسدة اصبح عاملا يكشف وقائع اجتماعية وسياسية وصور لداخل البيت وصور شخصية وتفاصيل المكان تخلق شبكة معلومات متكاملة."

وقالت روان شرف مديرة مركز حوش الفن الفلسطيني في حفل اقيم مساء الاربعاء في الاكاديمية الفلسطينية للفن المعاصر للاعلان عن اطلاق الكتاب "اصدار الكتاب الاول في سلسلة الفن في فلسطين مشروع بدأ بحلم في مثل هذا الوقت من العام الماضي وها نحن نقدم هذا الانتاج لثقافتنا وهويتنا وحضارتنا ومستقبلنا."

وقالت ريم فضة محررة الكتاب لرويترز خلال الحفل "يقدم هذا الكتاب الذي يتناول بالتحليل فن النساء الفلسطينيات من منظور الافكار الارض والجسد والرواية ضمن ترابط."

وأضافت "نحاول من خلال هذا الكتاب عمل اضافة جدية الى المكتبة العربية بلغة فلسطينية اصلية تعبر عن الثقافة الفلسطينية تعمل على التحليل والنقد البناء وتبرز اعمال العديد من الفنانات الفلسطينيات."

ويكشف الكتاب النقاب عن حركة فنية نشطة في الاراضي الفلسطينية تعود الى فترة الثلاثينات كان للمرأة الفلسطينية دور بارز فيها.

وجاء في الكتاب "لقد مثلت الفنانة زلفى السعدي فلسطين في المعرض العربي الاول في العام 1933 في القدس ومعنى ذلك ان شكلا من البينالي او المهرجان الفني كان موجودا في فلسطين التي لم تكن مجرد دولة مشاركة بل كانت البلد المضيف لهذا الحدث.

"والذي يدل على ان فلسطين كانت منتجة للفن لدرجة تتويج ذلك بعقد مهرجان عربي...وفوق ذلك فان فنانة فلسطينية هي من مثلت فلسطين ملقية بذلك الضوء على دور المرأة (الفلسطينية) وموقعها المتقدم في المجتمع."

ويستعرض الكتاب نماذج لفنانات فلسطينيات حظين بمكانة عالمية ومنهن منى حاطوم واملي جاسر وروزليندا نشاشيبي وليلى شوا وجوليان سيرافيم "على سبيل المثال لا للحصر".

وقالت فضة "لقد حرصنا في هذا الكتاب ان يضم اجيالا مختلفة من الفنانات وان لا يقتصر على الفنانات المشهورات في وقت لا نستطيع فيه ذكر جميع الفنانات."

وقالت الفنانة التشكيلية الشابة ايناس ياسين لرويترز خلال مشاركتها في الحفل "هذا الكتاب مرجع مهم باللغة العربية وخصوصية هذا الكتاب انه يتحدث عن النساء الفلسطينيات في الداخل والخارج والشتات اللواتي تتنوع اعمالهن ويمثل ارشفة لهذه الاعمال."

فيما قالت الفنانة التشكيلية فيرا تماري المحاضرة في جامعة بيرزيت وهي في العقد السادس من العمر خلال كلمة لها في حفل الافتتاح "هذا الكتاب مرجع للفن الفلسطيني وهو شامل من انتاج فلسطيني وخبرات فلسطينية شابة ويضم عددا كبيرا من الفنانات."

وقال الفنان التشكيلي خالد الحواراني المحاضر في الاكاديمية الفلسطينية للفن المعاصر لرويترز "هذا الكتاب يقدم اطلاله بالصور على فن المرأة الفلسطينية التي تعيش بظروف خاصة بسبب الاحتلال وكنت اتمنى ان يكون الكتاب بشكل عام عن الفن ولكنه خطوة جيدة."

وأضاف "كون الكتاب بأكثر من لغة فانه يقدم رسالة للعالم ان الفن موجود في فلسطين منذ زمن."

وجاء في مقدمة الكتاب الذي صدر بدعم من القنصلية الاسبانية في القدس ومؤسسة الثقافات الثلاث في حوض المتوسط الاسبانية "يأمل حوش الفن الفلسطيني ان يشكل اصدار هذا الكتاب نقطة مضيئة في عالم الفن والفنانات الفلسطينيات وان يصبح مرجعا هاما وقيما لمحبي الفن...والمهتمين في الاستكشاف ومعرفة الفنانات الفلسطينيات وانتاجهن الفني."

من علي صوافطة

Coptic Church. Why?

2007-12-12T04:37:00.001-08:00

I have been wondering for some time now why on earth someone is constructing a massive Coptic Church in Ramallah. Though we have tons of all denominations of Christian Palestinians, we do not have any Copts.

If someone can please tell me who is building this and for what purpose that would be great.

AGAINST EMAIL

2007-12-09T11:37:00.001-08:00

ramallah is cold, cold, cold...
so staying warm and reading is what i am up to
had to post this. its hilarious and so true!
this is just brilliant! thanks apsara.

for full article go to:
http://www.nplusonemag.com/email.html

"One now recalls those early days of sparse email traffic much as the cokehead recollects the first bumps of powder snorted sweetly up his nose. How quickly pleasure turned to compulsion and unhappiness! Nothing was left, in the end, but anxiety (who am I forgetting to reply to?) and guilt (I know who). And yet the compulsive emailer, addict of the insubstantial, is ultimately even worse off than the substance abuser: no clinic for him to check into. Western civilization has become a giant inbox; it will swell and groan but never be empty till it crashes."

SAVE Shar3 il Maktabeh

2007-12-05T11:37:00.001-08:00

Please come to this important meeting tomorrow if you are here.

the last day of Al Bardaouni's

2007-11-29T23:03:00.000-08:00

Sadly the oldest restaurant in Ramallah - Al Bardauni - served its last customers today. This restaurant has been open since before the Israeli occupation. Ibrahim Boulous opened it in 1962. It is very famous and people from all over the Arab world that used to come to Ramallah pre-Israeli Occupation know of this restaurant. Two famous guests include Jane Fonda and Robert DiNiro.
Its so depressing to lose this historic and important place...they are planning on building a big huge ugly building full of offices in its place....
good bye...

i took one of their sugar packets and a coaster....reem brought one of the plants from their garden to our garden at the Academy.

if you want to see some old photos of the place please go to:

http://www.albardauni.com/

There are some really cool photos which I was going to post here but there were copyrights all over everything so I figured I am not allowed to

the charade that is Annapolis

2007-11-26T22:50:00.000-08:00

ah......Annapolis....
Frankly it is just to distant and irrelevant and removed from reality for me to take seriously. For those of you who are naive enough to eat up the hype here are some excerpts and links:

from Karma Nabulsi's article in the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2216914,00.html

We have not given up

The Palestinian people will not yield to the west's cynical pressure on them to surrender

If you want bad symbolism, you need look no further than the venue. The US naval academy of Annapolis is the current representation of unrestrained global supremacy, from where young cadets are being sent forth to occupy Arab land by force of arms. Appropriate place, then, for the US to host the meeting between Palestinian officials and the Israeli state, with every important government and international institution in obedient attendance. No one has misunderstood the nature of this meeting or is vaguely fooled by what is taking place. What we have at Annapolis is yet another ultimatum to the Palestinian people to surrender their sovereign rights.

The language of the Middle East peace process has become utterly weary, intellectually bankrupted; embarrassing. The tarnished trickery of those tired catchphrases - "last chance for peace", "painful compromises", "moderates against extremists" - is now worn so thin a child would not be taken in. There is no peace process, and hasn't been one for a very long time. It is no secret this conference won't bring an improvement in the intolerable status quo. It is a meeting to legitimise that status quo.

from Laila El-Haddad's article in The Electronic Intifada, 23 November 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9120.shtml

Annapolis, as seen from Gaza

The conference simply generates new and ever-more superfluous and intricate promises which Israeli leaders can commit to and yet somehow evade. An exercise in legal obfuscation at its best: we won't build new settlements, we'll just expropriate more land and expand to account for their "natural growth," until they resemble towns, not colonies, and have them legitimized by a US administration looking for some way to save face. And then we'll promise to raze outposts.

Each step in the evolution of Israel's occupation -- together with the efforts to sustain it and the language to describe it -- has become ever more sophisticated, strategic and euphemistic.

from Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/whathappensatandafterannapolis/

What happens at and after Annapolis

We expect accolades for Olmert merely saying Israel will freeze settlement expansions except in East Jerusalem and the large settlement blocks (the Road map demands a freeze in all Settlement growth including for "natural growth"). The Israeli paper Haaretz actually summed up well "According to the Israeli government sources, the Americans asked Israel whether it preferred to announce a settlement freeze or outpost evacuations. 'Of the two, a settlement freeze is easier than evacuating the outposts, because this only involves a declaration, not a confrontation with settlers in the field,' explained one [government official]." Olmert, like Sharon, will be labeled by the pandering US politicians "a man of peace". The apartheid (hafrada in Hebrew) state will be showered with more US aid (stolen from US citizens to satisfy the Israel lobby). Mahmoud Abbas will be covered in the media only when he talks about how bad is Hamas and thus will be labeled "moderate". Everyone will be expected to attack Iran verbally and soon in other ways and Israel and the US still hope to build a block of "moderates" against Iran by giving the illusions of progress on the issue of Palestine. The daughter of the terrorist who oversaw the bombing of the King David hotel will be praised for speaking eloquently about combating "Arab" and "Muslim" terrorism and thus advance her ambition to move from Israeli foreign minister to a future Prime Minister. It will be a great photo opportunity for all attending. Meanwhile, Gaza will continue to be starved (a creeping genocide) and four million Iraqis and seven million Palestinians refugees and displaced people will get angrier.

Earthquake hits Palestine at 11:15 Tuesday

2007-11-20T08:48:00.000-08:00

[Ma'anImages]

Bethlehem – Ma'an – A an earthquake registering 4.5 on the Richter Scale shook the West Bank at 11:15am on Tuesday.

Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem said they felt the earthquake for a matter of seconds.

Rif'at Sbeih from the southern West Bank town of Al-Khadir told Ma'an that he felt the earthquake in his home, describing his fear as "everything was shaking for a few seconds."

Ma'an's correspondent in the northern West Bank city of Nablus said that residents felt the earthquake, with some even taking to the streets out of fear.

No injuries or damage were reported.

يوم الاستقلال

2007-11-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

I woke up in a bad mood today and tried to ignore the fact that today is our so-called "Independence" Day. I don't think it is necessary for me to expound on the magnitude of the irony of that.

I headed out to the center of town and tried not to remember what happened to me and my sister last year on this day.
See: http://majnouna.blogspot.com/2006/11/almost-got-shot.html

I saw Raed, my favorite policeman directing traffic and I decided to stop and just enjoy. No matter what is going on, seeing him in the manara just makes me happy and changes my mood. Always.
I leave you with this short video clip of him directing traffic (filmed on my crappy little digital camera bess malash)

(By the way on November 4th he was awarded one of the Palestine Prize for Excellence and Creativity by the PA)

3rd Anniversary of the Passing of Yasser Arafat

2007-11-12T23:00:00.000-08:00

Just came back from the commemorative ceremony for Arafat. My friend Ahmed Habash performed a live sand animation entitled "From the Memory of the Sand" with live music on oud by Jamil Sayeh to a packed house.

Then Rashid Masharawi screened his film "From the Diaries of the Siege" which is an intimate portrait of Arafat shot during the seige of 2002. It was really emotional to watch scenes of the invasion now 5 years after living it... in a theater full of all of us who lived it...all together. I can't believe that was 5 years ago...

The night ended with the announcement of the winners of the "Yasser Arafat Achievement Award". 30 people representing the residents of Bilin received the award on stage for their weekly protests and peaceful resistance against Israel's apartheid wall.

Carreta Nagua, Siglo 21

2007-11-10T06:28:00.000-08:00

Check out my good friend Ricardo's animation! He just presented this TRANSITIO_MX02 the Festival of Video and Electronic Arts in Mexico City. He presented this piece in a rickshaw, offering free rides to everyone in the colonial park-Alameda Central and only asked in return that passengers watched the animation.

For more information on his piece please go to:

http://www.ambriente.com/carreta_nagua/about.php

Yazeed, me, and the Qalqilya Zoo

2007-11-09T23:14:00.000-08:00

Yazeed and I decided to head out to the Qalqilya Zoo today. Today was the first time Yazeed has been able to drive his car out of Ramallah and over to Qalqilya in 7 years. (Obviously he hasn't been able to due to the Israeli closures and restrictions on freedom of movement)
I think the last time I was in Qalqilya was in 2004 to document the wall which has completely encircled the town and totally cut it off from its agricultural lands, has separated families and
crushed vital trade links.
The zoo is actually really interesting in terms of public space. There is a playground for the kids, a swimming pool, families and friends gathered in large circles sitting in the gardens socializing and eating together. Its incredibly relaxing and a very calm and peaceful atmosphere. Its also amazingly kitsch, my favorite thing being the wall made out of animal bones inside the museum, sort of reminded me of the Capuchin Bone Church in Rome (its made out of the bones of 4000 monks).

I have been obsessed with the Zoo for some time now for several reasons. When the Israelis entered Qalqilya during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, the male giraffe was killed. Gunfire, tear-gas and explosions were all around the zoo and he panicked and ran frenziedly in circles around his cage ending up slamming his head into a metal bar and he fell to the ground and died. His mate was pregnant and ended up miscarrying from depression. The zoo's doctor decided to stuff both Brownie (the male giraffe) and the child. Three zebras died from inhaling Israeli forces' tear gas during an invasion. He stuffed them too.

Slowly this living zoo is turning into a collection of mummified animals frozen in time. The section of the zoo that hosts these dead animals has become a major attraction. (By the way they built the structure to host the giraffe around him after he was stuffed). The symbolism of this and how it reflects our own situation....our towns being slowly choked to death... is too much.

Brownie is actually on exhibit in Germany at this years Documenta. German artist Peter Friedl visited the zoo and asked to borrow the giraffe for the exhibition. Personally I was really disapointed when I saw Brownie in Germany. He is just standing there in the middle of the exhibition hall, you have no idea who he is, where he came from, what the story behind him is...nothing.

The most depressing part of the day was witnessing the Syrian bear desperately trying to bang his way out of his cage.

No comment

2007-11-09T22:22:00.000-08:00

Ramallah Doldroms

2007-11-07T04:46:00.000-08:00

Looks like we are finally getting some much needed rain. Nothing much to report. The political situation is so depressing and I don't even want to talk about it. I would just be repeating myself anyways.

In short, I have been mainly consumed with teaching my video class.

Some good news is the "Three Jubran" Majaz concert which took place at the Ramallah Cultural Palace last Thursday. They were amazing and it was broadcast live on al-Jazeera. Best of all was that Jawwal fully funded the whole concert! It was the first time that the Jubran brothers play here with everything supported financially by Palestinian money. (Usually cultural events here have European or American funding but this one didn't!).

Some very sad news is that al-Bardauni's is going to close at the end of the month! (this is the oldest restaurant in Ramallah). It has been open since the 50's. In its place they say they are going to build a huge building full of offices. There are already initiatives to try to stop this tragic loss. More on those later.

Lastly, something has got to be done about the toxic fumes from the bloody garbage dump. It is under the responsibility of the Ramallah Municipality. It is horrible. Last night I couldn't even work in my house because my eyes were burning so badly from the smoke. It seems like half the people in my hara have headaches. We need to do something about this. This tradition of burning garbage needs to be stopped. Its dangerous and toxic.

the Jerusalem show

2007-10-27T04:08:00.000-07:00

This exhibition is taking place in various locations all over Jerusalem. The last tour is Tuesday October 30th at 5 PM so if you are joining meet at Al-Ma'mal Foundation, New Gate.

From 6:30 - 8:30 I will be screening my film ENTRY DENIED (a concert in Jerusalem) at the Tile Factory.

Here is a description of my piece:

Austrian nationals Marwan Abado, Peter Rosmanith, and Franz Hautzinger were invited to perform in Jerusalem as part of the 2003 12th Jerusalem Festival -- Songs of Freedom concert series organized by Yabous Productions. Abado, who is of Palestinian origin, was officially invited by the Austrian Embassy in Tel Aviv as well as the United Nations Development Program. He obtained a visa through the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Vienna prior to his arrival.
On July 20th, 2003 Marwan Abado arrived at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport and was immediately detained by the Israeli authorities. After being held for 24 hours in the airport prison, Israeli Security cancelled his visa and he was put on the next plane back to Vienna. He was denied entry into Israel for "security reasons". No further explanation was given.
ENTRY DENIED (a concert in Jerusalem), 2003, was filmed in an empty theater in Vienna, where I asked Marwan and his band to perform the concert exactly as it was to have taken place in Jerusalem, as if they were in Jerusalem.

FOR MORE INFORMATION on the Jerusalem show - artists, works, locations, and partners please go to: http://www.almamalfoundation.org/

Leone d’oro ~ Golden Lion

2007-10-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

Biennale Art 52nd International Art Exhibition Awards of the 52nd International Art Exhibition

Venice, October 17th, 2007

The awarding ceremony of the 52nd International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Davide Croff, has taken place at the Teatro alle Tese dell’Arsenale di Venezia; more than 300 international guests from the national participations and the collateral events, artists and professionals have attended the event. For the first time ever, the awarding ceremony has been organised a month before the closing date of the exhibition, which has been Italy’s most visited art event, with more than 232,000 visitors in about 100 opening days.

While the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement has been assigned by the Board of Directors of the Biennale di Venezia to the artist Malick Sidibé (Soloba, Mali, 1936) at the Giardini della Biennale on June 10th, on the occasion of the official opening to the public, the International Jury, proposed by the 52nd International Art Exhibition Robert Storr and formed by Manuel J. Borja-Villel (president), Iwona Blazwick, Ilaria Bonacossa, Abdellah Karroum, and José Roca has today assigned four Golden Lions and two Honourable Mentions:

Golden Lion to an art critic or an art historian for his or her contribution to contemporary art: “The award for Art Criticism is given for a body of writing characterised by an uncompromising and scholarly attitude towards Contemporary Art practice and to the history of art. The Jury also recognizes in this work a profound knowledge of art from the ‘60 and ’70, and the articulation of the historical avant-gardes in the context of art today. The Golden Lion to an art critic or art historian for his or her contribution to Contemporary Art is awarded to Benjamin Buchloh.”

Honourable Mention to a national pavilion: “The Jury has cited for Honourable Mention a Pavilion that offers an insightful and subtly humorous investigation into the notion of the pavilion and the meaning of national identity, engaging the spectator within a compelling narrative. This special citation is given to the Lithuanian Pavilion featuring the artists Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas.”

Golden Lion for the best national participation: “The Golden Lion for an outstanding national participation is being given to a Pavilion where architecture and cultural history are deployed to generate intelligent and poetic relations between content, visual language and strucural display. The Jury also considers important the artist’s approach to modernity, its utopias and failures in the context of a shared history. The Golden Lion for the best national participation is awarded to the Hungarian Pavilion featuring the artist Andreas Fogarasi.”

Golden Lion to an artist under 40 exhibited in the central international exhibition or in the national participations: “The award for an artist under 40 is given for a practice that takes as its subject exile in general and the Palestinian issue in particular. Without recourse to exoticism, the work on display in the central Pavilion at the Giardini establishes and expands a crossover between cinema, archival documentation, narrative and sound. The Golden Lion to an artist under 40 overall, is given to Emily Jacir.”

Honourable Mention to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition: “There is an installation in the Arsenale that impressed the Jury with its content, presentation and particular relevance to its location. The Jury wishes to give an honourable mention to an artist whose aesthetic projects span a diverse range of strategies, and in recognition of the provocative links he suggests between culture, politics and symbolic representation. The artist given an Honourable Mention for his participation in the central International Exhibition is Nedko Solakov.”

Golden Lion to an artist exhibited in the central international exhibition: “There is a body of work in the Arsenale that presents just some examples of a long and substantial career. The artist in question has continued a critical practice in the context of an often antagonistic political and social situation. He is given this award not only for his ethical attitude and political commitment, but also for a contemporary aesthetic relevance that is unexpected for a practice that spans six decades. The Golden Lion to an artist exhibited in the central International Exhibition is given to León Ferrari.”

new york city

2007-10-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

i am in nyc after 2 weeks out in wyoming writing.
it was incredible out there - i will keep that for me.

flying over nyc...brooklyn...queens.. and staring out the window of the plane down at the city was amazing - it looked denser then i have ever seen it.
so so dense compared to where i been.
thousands of twinkling lights like stars below me.

i love new york. crazy fucking new york city.
it just doesn't give a shit when you leave or when you come back.
and you never come back in the way you left.
you come in one door and you leave through another.

will be back in palestine in a few days.
if any of you are in jerusalem on the 24th please come out to my film screening

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber

2007-10-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

i am out west writing.
one of the other writers out here with us is Julian Rubinstein who wrote:

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts

it is the story of Attila Ambrus which is so damn incredible (its my new favorite bank robber story). This guy used to be seen drinking a whiskey at a bar prior to his robberies, he never ever hurt anyone in his robberies and apparently he had some pretty amazing disguises, he used to give female tellers flowers right before robbing them, and also send the police wine bottles.

Ambrus is currently serving a 17 year sentence in a maximum security prison. Earlier this year Julian went back to the prison to see him...

GAZATON archive

2007-09-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

2007

2006

2005

Palestine Revolution Cinema 1968-1982

2007-09-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

I curated a selection of shorts - the Palestine Revolution Cinema (1968 - 1982) last February and it has been on tour in the US since. The next venue is in Boston on October 7th.
Here is what I wrote on the selection:

Film still from Mustafa Abu Ali's They Don' t Exist (1974)

Notes on Palestinian Revolution Cinema

The New York Arab and South Asian Film Festival will pay tribute to a group of filmmakers who have made significant contributions to various categories of Palestinian Revolution Cinema between the years of 1968 and 1982. Given the current political environment in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon in 2007, it is especially important to screen these films which have slipped through the cracks of history. They are a visual testament to past events and offer us a glimpse of history from the perspective of the people who actually lived it, a perspective not sanctioned by the official US/European meta-narrative of the region. In the context of last summer's Israeli invasion of Lebanon, screening Monica Maurer's film Born Out of Death of the aftermath of the Israeli bombardment of Beirut in 1981 has an ever more present urgency. How does our frame of reference of the current dire and desperate situation for Palestinians shift when we see the 1974 Israeli destruction of the Palestinian refugee camp Nabatiya in Mustafa Abu Ali's film They Do Not Exist?

Film stills from Khadijeh Abu Ali's Children Nonetheless (1980)

A brief history

In 1968 in Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organization founded Aflam Filasteen (Palestine Films). In the beginning, they focused on documenting the struggle through photography. Mustafa Abu Ali, a director with the Jordanian film department, along with photographer Hani Jawharia and cinematographer Sulafa Jadallah (incidentally the first camerawoman in the Arab world), were the force behind it. In 1969, they produced their first film, No to the Option of Surrender which was filmed by Mustafa Abu Ali and edited by Salah Abu Hannood. The film recorded the demonstrations taking place in Amman against the Rogers Plan. Also in 1969, at the invitation of al-Fateh, Jean Luc-Godard traveled to the refugee camps in Jordan and spent time with the film unit. Upon his departure from Amman he donated his video camera, (with a recorder/player vtr -- one of the first models of video) to the group. [*] The first cine camera, an Ariflex BL 16, was provided to the group by Abu Jihad, Khalil Al Wazeer, a Fateh Central Committee member. [**] Previous to this they had been borrowing cameras to do their work. Another key film and the last film from the period in Jordan was With Soul and Blood(1971), filmed and directed by Jawharia and Abu Ali. It was shot during the events of Black September in 1970 when the Jordanian Army massacred Palestinians.

After the horrific events of Black September, Mustafa Abu Ali, along with the rest of the PLO left Jordan and went to Beirut. Hani Jawharia and Sulafa Jadallah were unable to get out of Jordan. Once in Lebanon, cinema activity intensified as other Palestinian factions like the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine started using film as a tool for liberation. At one point in 1973, there was an attempt to form a "Palestinian Cinema Group" which had no allegiance to any faction, but it was only able to produce one film: Scenes of Occupation in Gaza, directed by Mustafa Abu Ali. It was not until 1973 that they actually began to put their names on the films, because their intent was not to be "filmmakers" but to make films for the "revolution". [*] It was in Beirut in 1974 that Mustafa Abu Ali made the film we are screening in this festival: They Do not Exist. Others who joined after the move to Beirut to produce films documenting resistance include Palestinian painter Ismail Shamout, and Iraqi filmmaker Kassem Hawal whose fiction film Return to Haifa (1981) we are screening. Two films that documented the resistance fighting Israel in Lebanon include Kafr Shoba (1975) directed by Iraqi Samir Nimr, and Guns are United, (1973) directed by Lebanese Rafiq Hajjar.

Film still from Kais al-Zubaidi's The Visit (1970)

Meanwhile in the 1960s Syria had become a center for exiled Palestinians as well as pan-Arabists and it was there that the Iraqi filmmaker Kais al-Zubaidi focused his lens on the socio-political situation of the Palestinians. We will screen two films he made during this period and which are both Syrian productions: Away from Home (1969) and The Visit (1970). Kais al-Zubaidi also worked with the PLO film unit in Beirut intermittently. Most recently, Kais has published an excellent anthology called Palestine in the Cinema (2006). It is an archive of the history of Palestinian cinema and lists over 800 films produced by Palestinian, Arab and non-Arab artists about Palestine and the Palestinian people.

Over a period of fourteen years the PLO Film Unit recorded Palestinian history and created films. They documented military actions, revolutionary events, the Palestinian resistance, everyday life in the refugee camps and they promoted the Palestinian national cause. The film unit received filmmakers and writers from all over the world including Argentina, France, Chile, Cuba, and Italy. Some like Monica Maurer, featured in our festival, came to document life and make films in solidarity with the Palestinians. "They used to be amazed that we Palestinians were in the middle of a revolution, of a struggle and we had cinema." [*] Unlike the national cinema that emerged out of Cuba after the Cuban Revolution, and out of Iran after the Islamic Revolution, the Palestinian national Cinema was created and documented life during the revolution. Khadija Abu Ali told me that Cuba's Santiago Alvarez met Mustafa Abu Ali at a film festival in Algeria and exclaimed, "You are the first among all revolutions who had cinema during the struggle". [*] Mustafa Abu Ali recounted:

I remember Alvarez expressing his extreme admiration of my film "Zionist Aggression," saying: "It has achieved the maximum expression with the least means". He was so kind and he insisted on giving me a present of 22 bottles of fine Cuban Rum, which was all he had with him. After a long argument in which he tried to convince me to take them all and if not all, at least half, I accepted two bottles. I never met anybody with such genuinely warm feelings like Santiago Alvarez. [**]

Many of these films were screened and won awards at international festivals between 1969 and 1976 like the Leipzig International Festival for documentaries and short movies, the Palestine Film Festival in Baghdad, the Festival of Young Arab Cinema in Damascus and the Carthage Film Festival. In Lebanon as elsewhere, they had film screenings, they donated footage to whoever wanted to use it, and they also sent out newsreel footage for film festivals to screen prior to films in the same vein as the "War Diaries" presentation in this festival.

Film stills from Monica Maurer's Born Out of Death (1981)

The lost Palestinian Film Archive

After the first Israeli aerial bombardment of Beirut in 1981, filmmaker Khadija Abu Ali began to worry about the security of the archives, so they rented a safer place in Hamra in a basement with air conditioning. [*] It contained thousands of films stored in cans that filled three rooms of floor to ceiling shelves. [*] It was a record of Palestinian history full of political cinema, documentation of the struggle, the resistance movements, daily life and precious historical footage. In between bombing raids during the Israeli siege on Beirut, some of the film unit risked their lives to preserve some of the footage by making their way to the archive and relocating some of the footage. [*] Then there was the 1982 Israeli bombardment on Beirut, the PLO was expelled and the film unit dispersed as they had to relocate. Two years later the Palestinian cinema archive disappeared. For 25 years the archives have been missing and no one knows what has happened to them and whether they were stolen, buried, burned or lost. There have been several individual initiatives over the years to find and uncover the archive, but the effort has been too dispersed. The individuals who have sought out these films in isolation reflect the deep state of fragmentation and the very complicated condition of Palestinians today.

In an effort to resist the erasure of cinematic history and Palestinian memory from the region, we present you with this small selection of films. They preserve a history, they document an era and events, and they show us fragments of both Palestinian narratives as well as the larger Arab narrative.

I want to thank Khadija Abu Ali for all the help she gave me as well as for her endless generosity in sharing her life as well as the lives and histories of these films with me. I also want to thank Kais al-Zubaidi and Mustafa Abu Ali for sharing their insights and anecdotes about these films and their stories with me. Lastly, thanks to all three for reviewing my text and correcting my errors.

Memorial to 418 Palestinian Villages which were Destroyed, Depopulated and Occupied by Israel in 1948

2007-09-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Today I was going through some old video footage and decided to upload some excerpts of us working on this piece...this is from 6 years ago...pre 9/11...it was an amazing time to be an Arab in New York then. Our community was really active and vibrant in intellectual, political and cultural spheres.

These are video excerpts from the making of "Memorial to 418 Palestinian Villages which were Destroyed, Depopulated and Occupied by Israel in 1948"2001. This piece is a document (or the remains) of a 3 month community based project. Over 140 people came through my studio to sew and socialize, often there was live Arabic music. There were lawyers, bankers, filmmakers, dentists,consultants, playwrights, artists, human rights activists, teachers, etc. There were Palestinians (some of whom come from these villages), Israelis ( who grew up on the remains of these villages) and people from a multitude of countries. (I used the archive of Palestinian villages compiled by Walid Khalidi in "All That Remains". )

The Falafel Chronicles on the FM Ferry Experiment

2007-09-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

Today Jamal Rayyis and I did a live, improvisational performance of fragments from our on-going "Falafel Chronicles." We broadcasted live from the Staten Island Ferry which my friends Valerie and Angel have turned into a mobile radio station. Check out their project at:

http://www.fmferryexperiment.net/

There will be a podcast of our performance on their site soon.

in Berlin

2007-06-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

I am in Berlin for a week.

This is the first time I have come back to this city since the day the wall came down in 1989.
I have documentation of that and the heady days which followed and will post it later. I can't believe I was here for that and that I witnessed the whole thing first hand. (I had gone to Berlin completely on accident. I had taken a train from Rome and when I got off the train in Berlin...the events were unfolding right before my eyes....). Anyways more later on what it feels like to be here now after so long .... and all that has happened since then.

Today was the inaugural broadcast of the WUNP// The United Nations Plaza Radio Network hosted by neuroTransmitter.

http://www.unitednationsplaza.org/radio.html

Here are some picts:

Valerie Tevere and Angel Nevarez preparing for the big night.

Regine Basha and Julieta Aranda present Radio Baghdad

A live video feed of the broadcast was projected downstairs at the UN Plaza. Down there you could watch , listen and have drinks. Later there was a party with lots of dancing in the same space.

Stefan Saffer - Der Grüne Punkt

this post is dedicated to Leeza Doreian

2007-06-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

Leeza Doreian is one of my best friends and in New York city she has known me longer and probably knows me better then anyone else. Without her I don't know where I would be. She has taught me so much about life, friendship, love, being a woman and more. She is definitely up there as one of the most incredible human beings I have even encountered in my life.

I wanted to publicly thank her for her hard work and tireless support during the installation of my piece in Venice. I can't imagine what it would have been like to install "Material for a film" without her. Thank you.

She has also been a major pillar in my studio and life for the last several years and her input, friendship, patience, support and love is invaluable.

This is her website: http://leezadoreian.com/

Here is an image of one of my favorite paintings from her Airport series:

"Material for a film" at the Venice Biennale

2007-06-27T07:18:00.001-07:00

I am currently exhibiting a new work at this year’s Venice Biennale. Robert Storr invited me to participate in his exhibition entitled Think with the senses – Feel with the mind.
I am presenting Material for a film (2005 – ongoing). This installation in Venice is comprised of photographs, text, video and sound pieces and was devised in part with the support of La Biennale di Venezia.
Here is a brief text I wrote, one installation shot, and some components from the piece.

Material for a film (2005 – ongoing)

Wael Zuaiter was the first victim in Europe in a series of assassinations committed by Israeli agents of Palestinian artists, intellectuals and diplomats that was already underway in the Middle East. Zuaiter was gunned down with 12 bullets outside his apartment in Piazza Annibaliano, Rome on October 16th, 1972.

In 1979, Wael Zuaiter’s companion of eight years, Sydney born artist Janet Venn-Brown published For A Palestinian – A Memorial to Wael Zuaiter. One chapter, titled Material for a film by Elio Petri and Ugo Pirro, is comprised of a series of interviews conducted with the people who were part of Wael’s life in Italy, including Janet herself. They were going to make a film, but Elio Petri died shortly afterwards and the film was never realized. This chapter was the point of departure for my project.

I went back to Rome in 2005 to continue collecting material for a film.

I visited his friends in Rome, Massa Carrara and elsewhere and I made several trips to Nablus to visit his sister Naila and see his family home where he grew up. I visited Janet Venn-Brown in Rome regularly during these three years. We spent many weeks together, calling on Wael’s old friends and going through her extensive archives. I found a letter Janet had written to Costas Gavras asking him to consider making a film about Wael because she believed that through his story, the story of thousands of other Palestinians could be told.

Wael’s friends during his ten years in Rome included a myriad of cultural leaders, artists, journalists and poets, including Alberto Moravia (with whom he traveled twice to the Middle East with), Raphael Alberti, Antonio Gambini, Bruno Cagli, Jean Genet, Ennio Politi, Piero Della Seta, and Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Janet told me “He was a poet. He was completely lost without poetry.”

Wael Zuaiter in Peter Seller's "Pink Panther"

When Wael was living in Italy he used to sometimes be an extra in films in order to have some money. During my research I discovered that Wael Zuaiter had a role as a waiter when he was an extra in Peter Seller's film The Pink Panther, Rome, Cinecitta Studios, 1963. According to Janet he was so charismatic that the director picked him out of the crowd and offered him a speaking part but each time he got in front of the camera and they said; "Ready! Shoot!" he froze and forgot all his lines.
After Janet described his role to me, I managed to find 3 glimpses of him in the film. Janet told me she was quite disappointed when the film came out, as she sat through it twice only to see that he was a quick flash across the screen.

15/9/2005, Piazza Annibaliano, Roma

15/9/2005
Piazza Annibaliano, Roma

Wael Zuaiter lived here in apartment #20 on the 7th floor. The 93 bus and the 80 bus come here. I am sitting outside across the street from his building eating lunch on Viale Eritrea, wondering which streets he walked down. Did he ever eat here? Where did he buy his paper and cigarettes?

He made a phone call at the Trieste Bar next door before going home as both his electricity and phone bills had been cut because he did not have enough money to pay his bills. Wael entered this doorway to go across the courtyard and enter Scala C, which was the entrance to his wing of the building (to the left).

Where were the Mossad agents hiding? It was around 10:30 p.m. when he headed to the stairwell of entrance C to take the elevator up to his flat. He made a phone call at the Trieste Bar next door before going home as both his electricity and phone bills

He reached the elevator. He was shot 12 times with a .22 calibre pistol with a silencer at close range.

After spending several hours inside his building examining his floor, the courtyard and elevator, I leave. As I am crossing the street to take one last picture of his side of the building I look down and see an old suitcase before me.

la rivoluzione palestinese

Mahmoud

2007-06-17T06:48:00.001-07:00

"Material for a film" goes to Sienna

2007-02-03T06:20:00.000-08:00

I was invited to show the piece I made for the Sydney Biennale at Palazzo delle Papesse. The show "System Error: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning" was co-curated by Papesse chief curator Lorenzo Fusi and New York/Dhaka based artist Naeem Mohaiemen. For more information and images of the show: www.papesse.orghttp://www.papesse.org/w2d3/v3/view/papesse/utf/mostre--36/index_en.html

On Monday October 16, 1972, Wael Zuaiter left Janet Venn-Brown’s apartment and headed to his apartment at no. 4 Piazza Annibaliano in Rome. He had been reading A Thousand and One Nights on Janet’s couch searching for references to use in an article he was planning to write that evening. He took two buses to get from Janet’s place to his in northern Rome. Just as he reached the elevator inside the entrance to the building of the apartment block where he lived, Israeli assassins fired 12 bullets into his head and chest with 22 caliber pistols at close range.

Wael Zuaiter had become the first victim in Europe in a series of assassinations committed by Israeli agents on Palestinian artists, intellectuals and diplomats that was already underway in the Middle East.

Wael ended an article he wrote for the newspaper L’Espresso two or three weeks before his assassination by quoting the English mystic Francis Thompson:

"That thou canst not stir a flower
Without troubling of a star"

Wael Zuaiter's dream was to translate A Thousand and One Nights directly from Arabic into Italian. He had been working on this project since his arrival in Italy in 1962. To this day an Italian translation from the Arabic does not exist, all the Italian translations are from other translations.

Wael had photocopied 4000 pages of one of the oldest Arabic editions from a library in Rome. He asked Laila Baido, a woman from Sardinia living in Rome, to help with the translation and they worked on it for many years. Janet and I searched for her last December, so I could see his xeroxes and their translations of the first book, but no one knew anything regarding her whereabouts.

The night Wael was killed he had volume 2 of the book in his pocket. Twelve of the bullets entered his body but there was a thirteenth bullet which pierced through the book and got lodged in its spine. Janet kept this book hidden for thirty years, recently she donated it to the Wael Zuaiter Center in Massa Carrara. On December 5th, 2005, I took a train to Massa Carrara to meet his old friends and to document the book. I photographed each page the bullet had gone through, until I could no longer see marks or imprints from the bullet.

I went into training at a shooting center in Sydney, Australia to learn how to use a gun. After my training, I shot 1000 blank white books with a 22 calibre pistol. The same gun the Israeli Mossad used to hunt and kill Palestinians in Europe.

7 Palestinians Killed by Palestinians

2006-12-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

28 injured.

I have been too depressed to write anything or post since this descent into madness began.
But today I want to mark.
Record that 7 Palestinians were killed by their own people.
The highest number of dead in a day since this started.

I only have 5 of their names. I will work on getting the names of the other two:

Ismail Abu Al Kheir
Mohammad Kassab
Mohammad Harazin
Shadi Mohammad Tahir
Omar Nadir

Here in Ramallah, things have been extremely tense. Everyone is trying to go about their day as normal: going to work, dropping off the kids at school, meetings, etc but the air is so tight....
Everyone is on edge....you feel it even as we all try to act normal. The laughter is too hard, the effort too forceful....and there is fear. Fear in our own streets from ourselves. No one knows anything anymore.

From my view it seems that everyone has a gun (and that nobody knows how to use them). Thank you America and Israel for pumping the weapons in here.

This thought leads me to maybe a positive note? If you took my neighborhood in NYC and completely sealed it off behind a massive apartheid wall and cut people off from their families and their jobs forever, and then forbade anyone from coming and going, and then stopped letting in food supplies, and then cut off the electricity for weeks on end, and then only allowed weapons to make its way into the ghetto..... MAN there would be hundreds dead. No way in hell could that neighborhood handle all these weapons.....so we are actually doing pretty good compared to how people in places like Berlin, New York, London would act in such horrific conditions.

Meanwhile, everywhere I turn I see friends of mine working on getting out of here. Khalas enough is enough.....there is no future they say. Who wants to live in a ghetto behind concrete with 18 year old armed Russians with M-16's threatening you and your children? With no room to move or grow.
Suffocation.

Well...I stocked up on food and water just in case but hopefully the worst is over and this won't continue when I wake up tomorrow.

for my father

2006-12-14T21:25:00.001-08:00

I was 13 years old standing next to my father in Bethlehem one sunny and windy day when he took my hand and pointed to the settlement of Gilo and said: "See baba, see there?". Then my eyes followed his finger as it moved across the landscape and stopped at the settlement of Har Gilo; "and there. See? They are going to build settlements just like those all around us". Then with his arm still outstretched, we turned in a circle and I watched his finger pointing at the horizon line around Bethlehem and Bayt Jalla, he said "One day they will encircle us."

This post is for my father Yusuf Nasri Suleiman Jacir. My father who taught me what it means to be free, what justice is, how to fight, and who gave me his love for Palestine. He is my biggest hero. He is the most giving and loving person I have ever known in my entire life. His first priority has always been his family and he did anything he could to make us happy.

If he could have done what he wanted in his life he would have been a professor. That was his dream. For him this was the highest and most honorable profession. No one deserved more respect than a teacher. But a poor man from Bethlehem, with a family to support and family back home to take care of, could not afford to indulge in such bourgeoisie fantasies.

He fought hard to get where he is and he did it all by himself. Nothing was handed to him. He always had a lot of hardship in his life but he made it through and he did a great job. Because of him, I know that it is possible to do anything, at any age and that it is never too late.

My father was born and raised in Bethlehem where, although he came from a historically famous and wealthy family (our family tree goes back to 1500), he grew up poor. The Jacir family had gone bankrupt in the 30's and lost absolutely everything. What remains of their legacy is the historic "Jacir Palace". My great grandfather Suleiman built it in 1910 with the intention that him and his 5 brothers families would all live in the house together, and they did for a short time but then the family lost everything and his dream was lost forever. Suleiman had quite a reputation around the region for his incredible generosity, everyone knew that if you were hungry you could go there and he would feed you.

The Jacir “palace” is currently owned by Padico and is an International Hotel but prior to this it has had an interesting history of occupants. In the 40’s the British used it as a prison. In the 50’s it was a private school called Al-Ummah, and in fact my grandfather Nasri taught there. Al-Ummah was originally located in Al-Baqaa’ in Jerusalem but after the 1948 catastrophe it was reborn in Bethlehem. Later the house became a government secondary boys’ school and then at a later stage was transformed in to a government girl’s school. Ironically, I saw recently in an Israeli tourist guide the Jacir palace described as built by a "Turkish Ottoman Merchant". Not surprising as they are working on all fronts to erase and distort our history.

My father did not have the opportunity to go to college until the age of 33. He was newly married with kids on the way, and working a full-time job and yet he managed to get his B.A.. He kept struggling so that eventually he got his master's degree at the age of 39 from the University of Chicago which was a major achievement. Of course he could have never accomplished this without the help and support of my mother who worked a retail job selling clothes, and did things like hand sew clothes for us to wear. My father would work full-time and take night courses, and then he would come home where my mother would have dinner waiting for him. Right after he was finished eating, she would make him study until the wee hours of the morning. He said there was no way he could have done it without her. Her background was different then my fathers. She was well-educated at a young age and already had a bachelors degree at the time of her marriage. Her dream was to get a masters degree which she started to slowly work on after getting married.

Eventually my father decided he was willing to go and live in a country where he would be deemed a "guest worker" and be made to feel estranged. This was Saudi Arabia and he accepted it so that his kids could have a better life then he did. Most importantly he wanted us to have a chance to have what he couldn’t get until he was in his mid-30's - a college education. Saudi Arabia was not easy for my parents and they had to make huge sacrifices and adjustments. They were forbidden from practicing their religion and their culture. They were forbidden from holding hands, or displaying any signs of public affection. Their children could not study in an Arabic school because we were not Saudi nationals so the only option was the foreign schools. There was no cinema, no dance, and no theater. At one point my mother found out about a dance teacher who was secretly teaching and she immediately signed me and my sister up....but alas the teacher was found out and promptly thrown out of the country (along with my 8 year old dream of becoming a professional dancer). All foreign teenagers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at that time were forced to leave to pursue their high school education outside the country as it was forbidden for them to stay. Coming from a traditional Bethlehem family you can imagine what a sacrifice this was for my father to have to send his children away from him. It was unheard of and heartbreaking for him. I will never forget the day I left home for Italy at the age of 14, my father (who was always open and free with his emotions which is another reason he is my hero) wept openly as he hugged me good bye.

In Saudi Arabia, my mother could no longer pursue her Masters degree and had to give that up. She managed of course, and became the first Arabic teacher at the American School in Riyadh. She also got involved in several Saudi women's groups. Best of all, was that she refused to wear the black abaya. She thought it was too dark and depressing and decided to make her own abaya. Her abaya was also black, and followed the rules by covering her body head to toe, but her abaya was covered in giant brightly colored flowers - they were pink, purple and green. When I was a young girl I was embarrassed at the way she stuck out of the crowd and wished she would wear a plain black one like me and my sister, but now when I look back at it I am proud.

But we were close to Palestine. We were near our homeland and for my father the most important thing was being able to go back as much as we could. We went back (sometimes three times a year) in the 70's and 80's via Jordan and the infamous bridge where I have many deep memories of being stripped searched as a child, and having things like my chewing gum confiscated. Working in Saudi Arabia also gave my father the ability to support his family still in Bethlehem. When I was growing up, he worked almost 7 days a week, office hours were not 9 - 5, they were 8 a.m. to midnight. He would come home for dinner but then he would have to rush back to the office where I always felt he worked like a slave. In Bethlehem, it seemed our family and other people had no idea what our lives were like outside Palestine and I heard them say many things. It didn't matter what we said, they had a fantasy in their mind about how we lived and nothing would change that. When I would complain about this to my mother, she would just quietly say "let them talk".

I remember walking the streets of Bethlehem as a child and holding my fathers hands, I was always in awe as it seemed everyone knew him, everyone! My father never did resolve the fact that his children were growing up away from his parents and extended family. This fact hurt him and has always made him doubt if he made the right decision to leave Palestine.

Before my father got married and went to college he worked in Hebron from 1962 until 1969. He was working for UNRWA as the Area Welfare Officer for the Hebron and Bethlehem areas. The UNRWA headquarters was in Hebron and it's area covered Bethlehem and all the surrounding villages and refugee camps. My father's specific job was that he was in charge of case work, youth activities, welfare distributions, and sewing centers, in Bethlehem, Hebron, Arroub Camp, Fawwar camp and Deheishe camp. He also supervised case workers, youth leaders and sewing center supervisors. This job gave him the opportunity to travel to the USA for the first time in 1966 as a representative of Jordan to the Chicago International Program for Youth Leaders and Social workers. He spent 4 months in America and visited New York, Washington and Chicago. As a joke, they decided to dress in traditional Arab costumes when they flew to America to play with the American’s stereotypes of who we Arabs are.

During his eight year time period as a social worker, he used to commute daily to his work in Hebron from Bethlehem on the Hebron/Bethlehem bus. It was bus number 23. This bus originated in Jerusalem and made its way along the Jerusalem-Hebron road through Bethlehem and onwards to Hebron. He tells me that he had fun on his daily bus ride. In those days it was a long trip, depending on the weather and traffic it normally took anywhere from 40 to 50 minutes for him to get to the UNRWA office.

I tried to find this bus a few weeks back. It no longer runs. It stopped running ten years ago. There is also no way to get from Bethlehem to Hebron now on the Jerusalem-Hebron Road as the Israelis have chopped it into pieces and blocked it in several places. I tried to follow its route but instead of the wide open road, I found various checkpoints and at several points the wall completely closing the road. It seems like only a few years ago when I could follow this exact route.

My father was in Hebron at work when the war broke out on June 5, 1967. He managed to return to Bethlehem on UNRWA transportation from the Hebron office to the UNRWA office in Bethlehem. From the UNRWA office in Bethlehem he walked home to his house as the Israelis were shelling the city.
Meanwhile my mother at the same time was on her way from Amman to Bethlehem by car. Her car was attacked by the Israeli army and run over by a tank. She spent three days hiding in the hills and made it back to Bethlehem on foot.

My father eventually realized that UNRWA was created to ensure that we remain beggars and never create the means to help ourselves. UNRWA seemed to do nothing but keep us stagnate and in a state of permanent waiting.
He left.

*******

This photo essay was taken the day I tried to follow Bus Number 23’s route, my father’s daily commute to Hebron.
He was right.
They have completely encircled us, not only by the settlements, but by the wall, and the by-pass roads.
Bethlehem is a ghetto.

Bus No. 23

2006-12-14T01:30:00.000-08:00

Two kilometers outside Bethlehem coming in from Jerusalem is Jebel Abu Ghneim which was once a green forest with 60,000 pine trees, and hundreds of animals and plants. The land's owners are from Bethlehem, Bayt Sahour, Sur Baher and Um Tuba. In 1997, the Israelis began destroying the forest by uprooting all the trees in order to build Har Homa settlement. Now I see there is new construction on the bottom of the mountain as well.

I could not continue on the historical road which connects Jerusalem and Bethlehem and Hebron ( bus number 23's route) because the wall chopped it here.

Standing in front of the wall and looking to the right I saw the wall criss-crossing across the landscape and cutting Bethlehem off from her agricultural lands.

In order to enter Bethlehem, we had to make a left and get off the Jerusalem-Hebron Road. Here we are stopped at the first checkpoint and we are looking ahead. Soldiers are checking our passports.

After passing through the first checkpoint, we made a right and we were able to enter Bethlehem through the large gate. You can see a tourist bus on its way out exiting the city. Palestinian I.D. holders can not enter or exit from here.

In case you didn't notice in the other picture, the Israel Ministry of Tourism strung up a poster about "peace" ON the wall which has turned the city of Bethlehem into a ghetto. This is one of the most vile ironies of a tourist poster I have ever seen.

Once inside Bethlehem, I made a right to try to get back to the Jerusalem-Hebron Road.

We got lost and ended up in what seemed like an endless maze of wall.

Everywhere I looked I saw the wall, in all directions.
Here we got out of the car and had to walk. I wanted to get to the Jerusalem-Hebron Road and examine the area around Rachel's Tomb and we couldn't drive since the road was blocked, chopped and split in several places.

This is Claire Anastas' house. It is surrounded all all three sides by the wall.

Back on the Jerusalem-Hebron Road businesses have been shut down as the wall has completely shut them in (or out). As you can see there is no road here, it is more like an alleyway - the rest of the once wide road is on the other side of the wall - part of Rachel's Tomb.

Here facing the direction of Hebron, the Rachel's Tomb complex on the right behind the wall. The road to the left of the house leads to Manger Square. Rachel's Tomb and the surrounding area which they have enclosed behind the wall is all Bethlehem's land. In September 2006 the Israeli government offically annexed it as part of Jerusalem.

This is the southside of Rachel's Tomb. Rachel's Tomb now has two settler families living in it. They are building a yeshiva and plan to have 400 apartments for Israeli settlers. It won't be long until we end up like Hebron...

This is the view from the northside of Rachel's Tomb, and the Llama Brothers souvenir shop cut off from the rest of Bethlehem.

Along the side of the wall and the Llama brothers souvenir shop.

We backtracked and walked along the road in the direction of Jerusalem until we reached the wall. (This is what the other side of the Jerusalem-Hebron Road which I couldn't stay on looks like. See second picture.)

This is where Palestinian I.D. holders have to line up to enter or exit. There will only be two entrances in and out of Bethlehem.

We went back to the car and found our way back to the Jerusalem-Hebron Road past Rachel's Tomb, but to get to Hebron we made a right at Bab Al-Zaq and headed to Bayt Jalla instead of going straight. There was no way to stay on this road as the road was cut off again before Dheishe Camp. We stopped at the top of Bayt Jalla to see the olive trees the Israelis had chopped down. This marks the route of the wall as it snakes its way up here. All of Bayt Jalla's agricultural lands will be on the other side cut off from her people. The next time I stand here I will not be able to see this vista, I will only see grey concrete.

This is Hebron's old market. The last time I was here was 2000. It was a bustling commercial and cultural area then. Now it is a ghost town. The city of Hebron is surrounded with checkpoints, road blocks and military barriers cutting roads leading to other parts of the city. The most violent settlers in the West Bank live in the center of Hebron in homes they stole from Palestinians. They routinely attack Palestinians in an effort to get them to leave. They are heavily guarded by 2000 members of the Israeli Army.
Please see: http://www.cpt.org/csd/campaign.php

Is this Bethlehem's future?

Security Chaos

2006-12-13T05:44:00.000-08:00

Fatah - Hamas
Hamas - Fatah
Fatah - Fatah

"International Human Rights Day"

2006-12-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

December 10th, 2006

Press Release

On the Occasion of the "International Human Rights Day"
Occupation and Siege are a Systematic Policy of Impoverishment of Palestinian People

Today marks the 58th anniversary of the International Human Rights day. It is the day the UN declared the issuance of the "International Declarations of Human Rights" to put new international foundations for enforcing and respecting the sacred life and dignity of human beings.

It might be a co-incidence for the birth of this declaration with the anniversary of the Palestinian uprooting in 1948, still experienced by Palestinians up until today.

This year, the occasion is designated to focus on efforts of eliminating poverty worldwide under the theme "Fighting Poverty is a Matter of Obligation not Charity" for the mere fact that poverty is a genuine dilemma penetrating all over the world, particularity in developing countries.

This occasion comes as Palestine and the whole region are immersed in continuing incidents of violence, political instability, and violations of human rights. Although the Israeli unilateral disengagement plan from Gaza led to absence of the physical existence of Israeli army from inside Gaza, it did not end the effective control of Palestinian civilian life; thus converting Gaza into a big prison with tremendous political, and socio-economical problems and challenges.

Israel has continued its policies of assassination, closures, expansion of settlements, and building the separation wall in the West Bank. Israel continued with its policy of strict political and economical siege, through policies of closures, restrictions, and more than 520 checkpoints partitioning the whole OPT and restricting freedom of movement. Israel persisted to use the policies of political assassinations, targeting innocent civilians and objects, confiscating land, uprooting trees, demolishing homes, and preventing citizens from using their natural resources such as land, water, and fishing wealth.

All such measures lead to impoverishment of Palestinian people through systematic policies of deprivation of resources including; natural resources and developmental and humanitarian assistance provided to Palestinians by the international community. In a recent report published by UNRWA, it was indicated that more than 64% of Palestinians live under poverty line. The report also mentioned that the conditions are alarming, where more than one million Palestinians in the OPT live in extreme poverty.

The unjust siege imposed by the international community, following the Palestinian democratic elections and the constitution of the Palestinian government by Hamas, contributed further to a huge increase in poverty and unemployment amongst Palestinians, particularly after the inability of the PA to pay the salaries of more than 160,000 public servants for the last 10 month. Consequently, such situation led to dangerous humanitarian and psychological repercussions.

Poverty has serious negative consequences on the psychosocial functioning of individuals, leading to an increase in mental disorders in general. For poor people, there is more increase in depression, anxiety, and somatization disorders. Moreover, poverty contributes to an increase in the rate of relapses among mental health patients.

The psychological suffering is reflected in the high levels of domestic, tribal, and community violence in general. Such violence is the main factor in the continuation of violence and instability in the whole region.

The international community has a responsibility today more than ever to find new mechanisms to enforce international law and ensure adherence to it. They should work on ensuring that all human beings, wherever they are, have equal opportunities and access to resources, which will lead to enforcement and protection of human rights, dignity, and achieving security & peace worldwide.

On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, we at the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, call upon the international community, especially the signatories of the 4th Geneva Convention, and human rights organizations to fulfill their responsibilities and urge all countries to respect articles of international law. We, also, urge them to pressure Israel to prevent its continued violations of Palestinian human rights with all of its forms, and to urgently act on lifting the political and economical siege imposed on the Palestinian People.

Again, on the International Human Rights Day, we hope to convert the slogan "Fighting Poverty is a Matter of Obligation not Charity" into a reality.

Gaza Community Mental Health Programme

--------------------------------

2006 10 ديسمبر

بيان صحفي
بمناسبة اليوم العالمي لحقوق الانسان
"الاحتلال والحصار سياسة ممنهجة لإفقار وقهر الشعب الفلسطيني"

يصادف اليوم الذكرى الثامنة والخمسين لليوم العالمي لحقوق الإنسان وهو اليوم الذي أعلنت فيه الأمم المتحدة صدور الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسان ليضع أسس عالمية جديدة في تعزيز قيم وإحترام قدسية الحياة والكرامة الإنسانية.

وربما كان من المصادفة أن تتزامن ولادة هذا الإعلان مع ذكرى نكبة فلسطين التي ما زالت تداعياتها تتفاعل حتى يومنا هذا.

و في هذا العام تخصص الامم المتحدة هذه المناسبة للتركيز على قضية الفقر في العالم تحت شعار (محاربة الفقر قضية إلتزام لا إحسان) والتي أصبحت معضلة حقيقية تمس قطاعات واسعة من البشر في دول العالم كافة وخاصة الدول النامية.

إننا بهذه المناسبة نشدد على أهمية وضرورة أن تكون مبادئ الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسان وما تلاها من إتفاقيات ومواثيق ذات العلاقة تراثاً إنسانياً أخلاقياً وقانونياً ملزماً للعلاقات بين الدول خاصة فيما يتعلق بالصراع العربي الإسرائيلي.

كما وتأتي هذه المناسبة بينما لا يزال الشعب الفلسطيني يتعرض للعدوان الاسرائيلي وتخترق حقوقه الانسانية بشكل كبير. فلا زالت إسرائيل تطبق حصارها السياسي حاجز يقطع أوصال الارض الفلسطينية. هذا و تستمر اسرائيل 520والاقتصادي الخانق على الشعب الفلسطيني عبر سياسة الاغلاق والحصار والحواجز حيث يوجد أكثر من أيضاً في إتباع سياسة الاغتيال وقصف المدنيين والاعيان المدنية سرقة الارض وبناء جدار الفصل العنصري وإقتلاع الاشجار وهدم المنازل ومنع السكان من إستغلال مصادرهم الطبيعية كالاراضي والمياه والثروة السمكية.

إن كل هذه الممارسات تؤدي بالضرورة الى إفقار الشعب الفلسطيني عبر سياسة ممنهجة لحرمانه من مقدراته بما فيها مصادره الطبيعية والمساعدات التنموية والانسانية التي % من أبناء الشعب الفلسطيني تحت خط الفقر حسب ما ورد في تقرير وكالة الغوث الدولية (الأنروا) والتي ذكرت فيه أن هذا الوضع 64يتلقاها، وهو الأمر الذي أدى إلى أن يعيش ينذر بالخطر حيث يعيش أكثر من مليون فلسطيني في غزة والضفة في فقر مدقع وانخفاض معدل الدخل الفردي إلى أقل مستوياته.

ولقد ساهم الحصار الظالم الذي فرضه المجتمع الدولي عقب نتائج الانتخابات الفلسطينية والتي شهد العالم بنزاهتها وفوز حركة حماس وتشكيل الحكومة الفلسطينية الى إزدياد ألف موظف منذ حوالي عشرة أشهر الامر الذي أدى إلى 160هائل في معدلات الفقر والبطالة بين الفلسطينيين وخاصة بعد ان عجزت الحكومة عن تسديد رواتب ما يقارب من تداعيات إنسانية ونفسية خطيرة.

إن للفقر نتائج خطيرة على الحالة النفسية والاجتماعية للانسان، حيث يؤدي الفقر إلى ازدياد معدلات الاضطرابات النفسية بصورة عامة لدى طبقة الفقراء حيث يشيع الاكتئاب النفسي والقلق والاضطرابات الجسدية الناجمة عن أسباب نفسية، كذلك يساهم الفقر بحدوث انتكاسات مرضية على نطاق واسع لدى المرضى النفسيين.

إن هذه المعاناة النفسية تعكس نفسها في مستوى عالي من العنف الاسري والعشائري والمجتمعي بشكل عام . وبذلك تكون أحد عوامل التوتر الدائم والعنف وعدم الاستقرار، وإن أي تغيير حقيقي باتجاه السلام والهدوء يجب أن يترافق بالضرورة مع احترام الحقوق الاساسية للانسان ومن أهمها الحق في حصوله على إحتياجاتها الاساسية.

إن على المجتمع الدولي مسئولية كبرى لايجاد آليات فعالة لتطبيق القانون الدولي وضمان إلتزام كافة دول العالم به وكذلك العمل على حصول الانسان أينما كان على فرص متساوية من المصادر الحياتية والطبيعية مما سيؤدي إلى تعزيز وحماية حقوق الانسان وكرامته وتحقيق الامن والسلم في العالم.

إننا في برنامج غزة للصحة النفسية نطالب جميع الحكومات ومؤسسات الأمم المتحدة ومؤسسات حقوق الإنسان للضغط على إسرائيل من أجل منع انتهاكات حقوق الإنسان في فلسطين بكافة أشكاله من جهة وضرورة الاسراع في رفع الحصار السياسي والاقتصادي المفروض على الشعب الفلسطيني.

أخيراً وفي هذه الذكرى فإننا نتطلع إلى تحقيق المزيد من السلام والعيش الكريم للإنسان في كل مكان عبر تطبيق روح ونصوص الاعلان العالمي لحقوق الانسان وكافة الاتفاقات الدولية التي تلته ليتحول حقوق الانسان الى حقيقة واقعة تخدم الانسانية والعدالة والسلام.

برنامج غزة للصحة النفسية

------------------------------
Please visit our site:
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme
www.gcmhp.net

George Wassouf and Ramallah epidemics

2006-12-08T02:58:00.000-08:00

I love George Wassouf. I love his crazy, deep, husky voice. I have been sick with bronchitis for the past week, which according to the doctor I saw yesterday is a big epidemic in Ramallah lately.

The other epidemic going on here these days is a string of robberies. Yes my friends, Ramallah is no longer the safe place it once was. In the past two weeks alone, 4 of my friends have had their cars stolen and everyday you hear someone mention that someone or other's car disappeared in front of their house, or restaurant, or at the checkpoint. There have also been several purse snatchings in the city (now you have to keep an eye on your belongings all the time when in restaurants or in the market, etc.). I have heard of several house break-in's. One of those break-in's include dear Vera Tamari who awoke in the middle of the night to find a man standing in the doorway of her bedroom! Luckily nothing bad happened and he ran out of the house.
A funny aside is that when the shurta (police) arrived to search her house and around outside they did not come equipped with flashlights. Not a single one of them. So Vera had a huge gang of shurta searching all around the outside of her house in the dark using the light of their cell phones as flashlights!

This is the store where the Wassouf debates take place, right next to the pharmacy.

Anyways, I had enough strength to make my way to my favorite music store in Ramallah yesterday to engage the owner in our usual argument as to whether George Wassouf is Syrian or Lebanese. I say Syrian. He says Lebanese. This has been an ongoing debate between us for the last several years. I don't want to put an end to it, I like this tradition of ours. I welcome anyone's comments on this matter.

(I also had enough strength to make it to my friend Shuruq's birthday party but left rather early. Dancing while coughing up your lungs is NOT sexy. Dancing in a living room thick with cigarette smoke also doesn't help when one is sick. I don't recommend it.)

Lastly, I have not written about the political situation on the ground here for awhile and I am sorry. It is just too depressing. The mainstream media focuses on pretend news stories about unity governments, Abu Mazen's meetings, and the endless stream of so-called ceasefires, meanwhile the real news takes place in the shadows. The journalists focus on reporting on what happened in the latest round of unity talks......meanwhile the march of death and destruction goes seemingly unrecorded. The real story (among MANY others) is the fact that there are entire sections of Beit Hanoun gone.
Just like that.
Disappeared.

Iraqi Dates have arrived in NYC

2006-12-07T23:34:00.000-08:00

My friend Michael Rakowitz had made one of the best art projects I have seen in New York city in a long time. He re-opened his Iraqi grandfather's import export company on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Here is the latest update on the store and more information:

Dear Friends,

It's been a long journey, but 10 boxes of Iraqi dates have made it through U.S. Customs, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspections, and are finally for sale on my store's shelves.

The initial one-ton shipment of Iraqi dates (khestawee type)was originally scheduled to be recieved in early October by my company, Davisons & Co.--a resurrected version of my grandfather's import export company that he operated out of Baghdad and subsequently New York after he fled Iraq in 1946. The dates were part of a deal to ship one-ton of the dates from Hilla, Iraq to our storefront in Brooklyn, NY, signed by our company and Al Farez Co. in Baghdad. The import was arranged through Sahadi Fine Foods in Brooklyn, NY.

The shipment left Baghdad in early October, literally days after the dates came down from the palm trees. They were to travel by truck to Amman, Jordan where they would then be shipped by air direct to JFK International Airport. On the way, however, the truck carrying the dates waited in a line of cars, reported to be days long, of Iraqis fleeing the sectarian violence and trying to gain entry into Jordan to seek refuge. Once at the border, the truck was turned away like so many of the Iraqi refugees, and was sent back to Baghdad because the shipment required a certificate declaring it free from radiation. After receiving said certificate, the truck returned to the border, only to have the Jordanian officials turn the driver away again, this time because of "security concerns." The truck then headed north to Syria, where it made it through to Damascus Airport and was then held by security officials because a form had not been completed by the truck driver that would cost Al Farez 1200 USD to have completed on the Syrian end. After yet another week, the Syrian officials released the shipment, whereupon the Sales Agent for Al Farez, Khairi, discovered that the dates had basically cooked after shuttling back and forth for three weeks in a hot truck and were not suitable to be exported. The dates were to have been sent from Damascus to Cairo, Egypt, then onward to the US.

In the end, the dates traveled the exact same path as an Iraqi refugee, many of whom sought entry to Egypt, once the Jordanian border was tightened in the early fall. They never reached their destination, much like the fleeing Iraqis.

However, in a new deal agreed upon on 7 November, 10 new boxes of 4 varieties of dates were shipped via DHL from Baghdad to the USA. We are pleased to announce that just yesterday, the FDA released the dates into our possession and they are now on sale in our store in Brooklyn. The dates are packed in boxes, clearly labeled "Product of Iraq," believed by many importers to be the first such item to enter the USA in over 25 years.We will be from 10 AM-7 PM daily, as always, and our last day of business is scheduled to be Sunday, 10 December.

Due to the very low quantity of dates in our store (we were supposed to have 200 boxes, now we only have 10), we will be limiting the amount per customer to accomodate the high number of pre-orders.

You can read more about the history of the transaction at the following blog. It is the project page for "Return" which is presented as part of Creative Time's "Who Cares" initiative.

http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2006/whocares/projects_rakowitz.html

I will be updating the blog tomorrow morning.

Also, please check out Christine Lagorio's excellent article about the project, posted today at cbsnews.com

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/05/national/main2231675.shtml

Very special thanks to Creative Time for their support and presentation of this work, and for extending the project six weeks beyond its intended closing date, in order to accomodate the arrival of the dates; to Atlantic Assets and Art Assets for the donation of the storefront space, and for agreeing to the extension of the project; to Pat Whelan and Sahadi Fine Foods for their collaboration on the import of the dates and handling all bureaucratic channels, facilitating their already difficult arrival; to Rick Morana at C-Air Customhouse Brokers for courageously agreeing to oversee an import that most would have rejected; and to Atheer Al Azawi, Khairi Fares, Suzan Othman of Al Farez Co., Baghdad/Amman, and Fallah Farms in Hilla, Iraq, for collaborating with me and establishing a new business partnership that will hopefully open as many as eyes as it will sweeten mouths.

Michael Rakowitz
Proprietor
Davisons & Co.
529 Atlantic Ave.
Brooklyn, NY
11217
tel: 917-692-5592

Israel Demolishs Bedouin Village

2006-12-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

The Government of Israel Demolished an Entire Bedouin Village Today in Negeb

At 5:00am hundreds of police people accompanied six bulldozers and demolished 17 homes and 3 animal shacks in the village of Twail Abu-Jarwal. The entire village is demolished. People are sitting by the piles of tin that were their modest dwellings and wondering what to do, where to go even their family cannot host them, as no one has a house standing.

This is the fourth time this year that the government demolished in this village. This time they got it "right" - no house is left standing.

But the villagers have nowhere to go to. They lived on the outskirts of the Bedouin town of Laqia, the old folk paid for plots of land to build homes in the 1970s, they still hold on the receipt, hoping someday to receive the plots. For the last 30 years they have been living on land belonging to others, in shacks, the housing becoming ever more crowded, until there was no room left for another baby. They turned to the government for a solution - the option for joining the rest of the residents of Laqia, in a regular house, on a regular plot of land. But the authorities had no options for them. The owners of the land on which they were living requested that they leave - 30 years is enough. So eventually they left back to their own ancestral land - only a couple of miles south of Laqia - by the old ruined school, by their old cemetery. The adult sons built their old mother a modest brick home. The rest built tin shacks.

A year ago the government came and destroyed several houses - including the brick home. Some of the people of Twail Abu Jarwal rebuilt, some moved into more crowded homes with their adult siblings. The government came nine months later and demolished 7 more homes. Again, some rebuilt their shacks, some moved in with family. The government came back last month and just to harass, uprooted fences, holding the sheep. And now they came in order to make sure the work is complete.

Israel's Minister of Interior, Roni Bar-On, two days ago was invited to give answers to the Internal Affairs Committee in the Knesset, as to what solutions the government is advancing in order to solve the issue of the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev, and why the government is demolishing homes while these people have no "legal" options for building homes. Bar-On claimed that everything is just fine, he is doing all he can to deal with this issue, but a criminal must be punished, and therefore all the "illegal" Bedouin homes in the Negev must be demolished. He claimed that as far as he is concerned, there are not enough demolitions in the Negev. And now he has proved that he is a man of his word - 17 homes demolished in one foul swoop.

Of the 150,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel living in the Negev, over 50% live in villages that the government as policy has left "unrecognized" , meaning that there are no options for building permits, as well as running water, electricity, roads, sewer systems and trash removal, additionally there are very minimal education and health facilities. This policy's aim is to force the Bedouins off their ancestral lands and to concentrate the Bedouins in urban townships, regardless of their wishes or their culture. However, there are also no options for living in the concentration towns the government has built, as there are no available plots of land for homes, as in the case of the families of the Twail abu-Jarwal village. Therefore the government can "legally" demolish the homes of 80,000 members of this community, while they cannot build one "legal" home.

We need help! Both financial and political.

* Please donate to help the people of the village re-build their homes (tin shacks that stand as homes...) Checks can be sent to RCUV - al Awna Fund (the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages), POBox 10002, Beer Sheva, zipcode 84105, ISRAEL.
* Please write to your representatives! And tell of the quiet and brutal demolitions of homes and lives in the Israeli Negev, demand that they do something about it.

For more information: Yeela Raanan, 054 7487005. yallylivnat@gmail.com.
Civil Society Activities Coordinator, Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages.

The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages is an NGO and was created in 1997 as the representative body for the residents of the 45 Bedouin unrecognized villages in the Israeli Negev. Hssein al-Rafaia is the elected head of the RCUV.
Emily Jacir

OLMERT is BAD for the JEWS

2006-12-04T01:04:00.000-08:00

I went to Haifa today to help my sister with auditions for her film. I will spare you the (yawn so boring and typical) checkpoint fiasco stories from our trip.
We were waiting at a red light once we were "inside", when I noticed this bumper sticker. At first I thought it was from some cool anti-occupation Israeli group. Then I thought, no, more likely this sticker comes from the contingency of the Israeli public who come from the extremist position of thinking Olmert is too lenient with the Palestinians and not ethnically cleansing fast enough...

Investigation of STARS & BUCKS

2006-12-03T05:23:00.000-08:00

Last June, my friend Cathy sent me an email entitled "Only in Ramallah", attached to it were photographs of the new "Stars & Bucks Cafe" which had opened up in the center of Ramallah. Today was a sunny but cold day and so I decided it was time to investigate and take my own photos of this coffeeshop which now overlooks the Manara.

This new illumination in the Manara which beckons me at night with its powerful green glow...

I went inside to find out that although the logo is akin to that of "Starbucks", that is where the similarity ends. This is the entrance...once inside you are immediately greeted by a layer of smoke hovering in the air from all the arghiles....

Unlike Starbucks, the menu items here include arghile, as well as other Ramallah restaurant staples such as nachos, chicken fingers, french fries, ice creams and cakes, and a myriad of sandwiches (including of course mortadella). Here is a view of some tasty looking cakes, fruits ready to be turned into succulent juices, and arghiles waiting to be smoked.

The best thing about Stars & Bucks Cafe was the view of the Manara. You can sip your coffee, smoke your arghile and watch the world below you in all its hustle and bustle swirling around the lions.

Suheir and me

2006-12-02T06:05:00.000-08:00

break (balance)

everything is

looking for balance
in my body

this the thing

everything
once broke open deluge original ark stark naked fallen stars

ana beside river myself
humble prayers broke
pity please don’t become me

way poet starts poem
in full moon
in box empty
waving for a call
a soweto sunset

space habibi in head wa heart
not math space in daily

at dawn reach for ra wa kiss sky

my homegirl’s morning counting gaza bodies
she will tell you the dead do not kiss
wa curly hair needs tending

there in no remainder melting dice craps all gamble tipping
point internal compass wa complicit wa content wa violent

way poem ends poem

Leila Khaled tag on the wall

2006-12-02T02:36:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo I took of one of my favorite tags

waiting for a servees in Bayt Hanina

2006-12-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

Harassment Of Senior Academic at Ben Gurion Airport

2006-11-30T13:42:00.000-08:00

another one for our records.

Dr Shahoub-Kevorkian is a scholar of international repute whose work spans criminology, social work, gender and violence in Palestinian and Israeli-Palestinian societies.
emily

Dear friends,

It is time that victims start to speak up about their humiliations and abuse.... every non-Jew who has lived in Israel has gone through one form of humiliation or another in many contexts by the leading Israeli power. This is not a tirade against Jews or the Israeli people, it is an indictment of an abusive authority, it is a way of giving voice to the victims, the unheard.... in hopes of changing the way things are now.

Yesterday, my mother who is a Hebrew University professor of Criminology in
Israel, an Israeli citizen no less, went to the airport to fly to Tunisia to attend a conference on women's rights. What happened to her in Ben Gurion airport was a humiliating experience that many of us non-Jews have gone through in this Israeli airport, but always kept quiet about it and did not let them pay for their abuse towards us. It's time to say ENOUGH! It's time for the voices of the muted to be heard. Abuse is not only physical; there is also mental and emotional abuse that can be more painful in the long run...

Please read the e mail that my mother sent to her friends, waiting for her in Tunisia....

Maro Kevorkian

_____

EMAIL FROM:

DR NADERA SHALHOUB-KEVORKIAN
LAW FACULTY, HEBREW UNIVERSITY JERUSALEM

TO THE ORGANISERS OF THE CONFERENCE IN TUNIS

I am so sad to inform you that the Israeli security forces in the airport have effectively prevented me from participating in the conference on: Women and Sexual Reproductive Rights held in Tunis.

The process of humiliation by the Israeli security forces started when we reached the airport gate. As you all know, I live in the Old City of Jerusalem, and I use the available transport from my area. The moment the security forces learned that both the driver and myself live in East Jerusalem, they asked us to park the car on the side, take all our/my luggage, and follow them for a body and luggage search. A young soldier in a small room in the airport gate searched me, asked me to take off my shoes, took my and the driver’s mobile phones and asked us to wait for almost 40 minutes until they finished checking the car’s body and engine.

After all this process, I managed to get inside the airport, and there, the process of humiliation continued. I was the only one to wait for a long time. I knew that they were doing a security check on my name, address, and other information. A young female soldier tried to help out and started convincing her superior to allow me to pass. It took her a while; then she came, asked me to put my luggage in the x-ray machines and pass. Afterwards, another security agent asked me to bring all my belongings and follow him for an additional search.

Here, something like 3-4 security personnel were checking my one small bag, my computer bag and my carry-on purse. They started taking off the clothes and other items from my luggage - shoes, under-wear, make up, medicine - and placed them in such a messy manner on a long counter. I was the only one that was searched. I did not know what to look at or what to do. My reading material was all over the counter, mixed with my clothes and shoes. Young men were emptying my make up kit and spreading out my medication; one took a picture of my girls, and the other security guy pulled my shoes out of the luggage and put them on top of the picture. My visiting cards, my papers, everything was scattered with all my belongings in such a disrespectful manner... I stood there, not knowing what to do.

I nearly cried when I saw my reading materials falling on the floor, and the pages scattered... I asked the female security personnel who was checking my printed material not to mix between the various articles; she replied (with so much vulgarity) that I could find the pages and organize them later on. While I was trying to explain to her that my reading and printing material should be kept intact, I saw another security man fetching my wallet, while pulling out all the credit cards and putting them on the counter, and emptying my purse in such a humiliating manner.

His friend on the other side was picking up my underwear, one item after the other, and joking about my bras to his friends in Hebrew - thinking that I didn’t speak the language. They also took my cell phone and I was unable to call anyone for help. At one point, the phone was ringing and I asked one of them to give it to me, and he did – but I missed the call, and he took it back.

The whole scene of people mixing all my things together - while I was standing mesmerized, captivated by their inhumanity, failing to follow up on who is doing what, where and how - was horrible and painful. I could not hold back my tears, wondering how much humiliation, shame and degradation one could accept in the name of ‘security’. When I went to get me a tissue to wipe my tears from my purse, a security officer screamed at me that I must not touch the purse.

While I was in this state, and while my belongings were so dispersed and scattered all over the long counter, the security officer in charge came and told me that I could not take my reading material to the plane. I started explaining to him - with tears and so much anger - that I need to read on my way, and it is a 5-hour flight and my reading material is crucial to me. It took me a while arguing with him and another security officer. Eventually, I managed to get their approval to take all the pages that they had scattered and messed up with me to the plane.

Time was flying; I was about to miss my flight. A very polite young female security officer told me that she would book me a seat, so as to be ready. She actually did book me a window seat. In a short time, the head of the security officers came and told me that I could not take my laptop with me to the plane. Again - and while being so hurt, while seeing them joking when looking at my clothes, ridiculing me while dropping my tooth brush on the floor, my money scattered on the counter and much, much more- I started explaining to them that I could not leave without the laptop. In trying to calm myself down, and decrease my feeling of hurt, I asked the head of the security to call his superior.

His superior came (Tal Vardi (# 14544 - he gave me this name following my request). He was disrespectful, so rude and abrasive. I explained to him how important my laptop is to me, I told him that I needed to prepare my lecture, and that a laptop from Israel would never reach Tunisia (there was a high probability that it would be lost or stolen). He kept on telling me that I could not take the laptop with me. Then I told him that if that is a rule, they should inform people that laptops are not allowed on the planes and that security forces cant just invent this without prior notice. Tal Vardi replied on such a humiliating and sarcastic manner (while having all his staff around him): “So next time I need to call you and talk to you before you fly? Do you think that we have time for you?"

At that moment I decided that I should call for additional help, as Tal Vardi refused to talk to me entirely, and left me alone. At that time, three security people were packing my stuff up in such a mess, pulling the computer’s battery out and wrapping the laptop without even getting my approval. I called Bilha Cohen, the secretary at the Institute of Criminology, and she gave me the phone number of the Dean’s office. I then called Aliza, the Dean’s secretary. She gave me his home number, and I called him; his wife passed him over to me, and he said that he could not do anything, and that I should call his deputy, she should be the one that could help me out. By that time I was 20 minutes from my flight.

I called his deputy, and there was no one in the office, and my computer was now wrapped, and about to be sent to Tunisia - as planned. I then started yelling, while trying to explain, but this time with so much anger, and told them that their way of treating people was not human. I said that I had allowed them to check everything in my luggage, that I had cooperated, but despite this, they had treated me with such a rude and inhumane manner. Their refusal to allow me to take my laptop with me, even when I was willing for them to hand it over in the airplane was unacceptable; as was their refusal to even talk to me or calm me down - they all left me sitting on that long counter alone, 15 minutes from my flight, trying to find a way out.

Their way of talking, their methods of poking fun at me, and their disrespect, made me tell them: ‘I am not flying’. I pulled my luggage, unwrapped the laptop, and left the place.

This whole process of humiliation took between 1:40- 4:30 pm. I ended up with bad chest pains, dizziness and illness, which led to vomiting and the feeling of such humiliation. I called some friends to help me out, such as Einas from Mada Organization, and Mr. Jaafar Farah and Adella from Musawa Organization. They called me numerous times, trying to calm me down, asking some activists from the office and the airport to help out. I also called my friend Dorit Roer-Streir, but no one was able to change the situation. I left the airport eventually, unable to breath, walk or function.

I am sorry again to miss you, to miss learning from the conference and to miss sharing my work with you, but must state that there is a limit to the amount of humiliation that one could take, and I felt that the whole process of turning me - a Palestinian woman - into a naked entity, with no value, no voice, no respect and no power to fight back at this ‘demonization’, made me refuse to fly. How could I fly as a human, when all they wanted to do is to strip me from my humanity, using all the power they have, while stealing from me even my ability to protect my girls' picture, my writings, my reading material, my laptop and my other personal belongings? It was indeed horrible to experience the way a system of oppression tries to turn us from humans to a metamorphised terrified being.

Please accept my apologies, and please write back to my university and to the Israeli state and ask them to stop depriving us from our ability to participate in conferences, to acquire knowledge, to get each others' support, and stop using our bodies/lives and their security reasoning to marginalize, ostracize, and humiliate us.

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian (November 16th, 2006)

Ahmad Habash's "flee"

2006-11-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

This video is so incredible and absolutely beautiful. My friend Ahmad made it for the Summer 2006 Palestinian Filmmakers Collective. The screening of all these films was a few days ago here in Ramallah.

Both established as well as new Palestinian filmmakers came together in a project that would reflect the “mood” of this summer. In three minutes or less, filmmakers were restricted to using one-shot to tell their stories. Despite the fact that Palestinians have been dispersed across the globe, with the majority of them unable to come to their homeland, “Summer 2006, Palestine”, initiated by the Palestinian Film Collective, was limited to those filmmakers who live in Palestine.

The result is a unique collection of short films from across Palestine, delving into the personal, the political, and the poetic – the spirit of a people struggling for freedom.

A mosaic of 13 short films less than 3 minutes in length, reflecting in one shot, the mood of summer 2006.

Genocide or Erasure of Palestinians

2006-11-27T12:45:00.000-08:00

Some of you may remember my email of April 18th "Friends. let us call it like it is, this is genocide."
A few of you wrote to me expressing concern about my use of the word "genocide" and found it quite problematic in fact.
I quote from a friend: "Thank you for your email -- I have circulated it appropriately despite that fact that I don't agree, however, with calling the systematic destruction of Palestine which you describe as a "genocide", because I'm not sure what word we will have left to use when the systematic, large-scale murder begins."

I responded quoting Article 2 from the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on the definition of genocide:
Article 2
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Here is an article about this very matter :
"You can argue over terminology, but the truth is evident everywhere on the ground where Israel has extended its writ: Palestinians are unworthy, inferior to Jews, and in the name of the Jewish people, Israel has given itself the right to erase the Palestinian presence in Palestine -- in other words, to commit genocide by destroying "in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group."

Salamz
e

http://www.counterpunch.org/

November 27, 2006

Does It Matter What You Call It?
Genocide or Erasure of Palestinians

Counterpunch ~KATHLEEN and BILL CHRISTISON ~ Having at that point just completed our fifth trip to Palestine since early 2003, we should have had the courage and the insight to call what we have observed Israel doing to the Palestinians by its rightful name: genocide.
During an appearance in late October on Ireland's Pat Kenny radio show, a popular national program broadcast daily on Ireland's RTE Radio, we were asked as the opening question if Israel could be compared to Nazi Germany. Not across the board, we said, but there are certainly some aspects of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians that bear a clear resemblance to the Nazis' oppression. Do you mean the wall, Kenny prompted, and we agreed, describing the ghettoization and other effects of this monstrosity. Before we could elaborate on other Nazi-like features of Israel's policies, Kenny moved on to another question. Within minutes, while we were still on the air, a producer handed Kenny a note, which we later learned was a request from the newly arrived Israeli ambassador to Ireland to appear on the show, by himself. Several days later, on the air by himself, the ambassador pronounced us and our comparisons of Israeli and Nazi policies "outrageous."

What else? We were not surprised or disturbed by his outrage. We had just spent two weeks in the West Bank witnessing the oppression, and it was a sure bet that, even had he not been fulfilling his role as propagandist for Israel, the ambassador would not have known the first thing about the Palestinian situation in the West Bank because he had most likely not set foot there in any recent year. In retrospect, we regret not having used even stronger language. Having at that point just completed our fifth trip to Palestine since early 2003, we should have had the courage and the insight to call what we have observed Israel doing to the Palestinians by its rightful name: genocide.

We have long played with words about this, labeling Israel's policy "ethnocide," meaning the attempt to destroy the Palestinians as a people with a specific ethnic identity. Others who dance around the subject use terms like "politicide" or, a new invention, "sociocide," but neither of these terms implies the large-scale destruction of people and identity that is truly the Israeli objective. "Genocide" -- defined by the UN Convention as the intention "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group" -- most aptly describes Israel's efforts, akin to the Nazis', to erase an entire people. (See William Cook's "The Rape of Palestine," CounterPunch, January 7/8, 2006 for a discussion of what constitutes genocide.)

In fact, it matters little what you call it, so long as it is recognized that what Israel intends and is working toward is the erasure of the Palestinian people from the Palestine landscape. Israel most likely does not care about how systematic its efforts at erasure are, or how rapidly they proceed, and in these ways it differs from the Nazis. There are no gas chambers; there is no overriding urgency. Gas chambers are not needed. A round of rockets on a residential housing complex in the middle of the night here, a few million cluster bomblets or phosphorous weapons there can, given time, easily meet the UN definition above.

Children shot to death sitting in school classrooms here, families murdered while tilling their land there; agricultural land stripped and burned here, farmers cut off from their land there; little girls riddled with bullets here, infants beheaded by shell fire there; a little massacre here, a little starvation there; expulsion here, denial of entry and families torn apart there; dispossession is the name of the game. With no functioning economy, dwindling food supplies, medical supply shortages, no way to move from one area to another, no access to a capital city, no easy access to education or medical care, no civil service salaries, the people will die, the nation will die without a single gas chamber. Or so the Israelis hope.

Surrender vs. Resistance
A major part of the Israeli scheme -- apart from the outright land expropriation, national fragmentation, and killing that are designed to strangle and destroy the Palestinian people -- is to so discourage the Palestinians psychologically that they will simply leave voluntarily -- if they have the money -- or give up in abject surrender and agree to live quietly in small enclaves under the Israeli thumb. You wonder sometimes if the Israelis are not succeeding in this bit of psychological warfare, as they are succeeding in tightening their physical stranglehold on territory in the West Bank and Gaza. Overall, we do not believe they have yet brought the Palestinians to this point of psychological surrender, although the breaking point for Palestinians appears nearer than ever before.

The anger and depression, even despair, in Palestine are palpable these days, far worse than we have previously encountered. We met two Palestinians so discouraged that they are preparing to leave, in one case uprooting family from a Muslim village where roots go back centuries. The other case is a Christian young person, also from an old family, who sees no prospects for herself or anyone and who feels betrayed by her Catholic Church for having abandoned Palestine's Christians. She would rather just be elsewhere. A Palestinian pollster who has tracked attitudes toward emigration recently reported that the proportion of people thinking about leaving has jumped from about 20 percent, where it has long hovered, to 32 percent in a recent poll, largely because of despair arising from intra-Palestinian factional fighting and from Hamas' inability to govern thanks to crippling Israeli, U.S., and European sanctions.

Nothing like one-third of Palestinians will ultimately leave or even attempt to leave, but the trend in attitudes clearly points to the kind of despair that is afflicting much of Palestine. One thoughtful Palestinian writer with whom we spent an evening feels so defeated and so oppressed by Israeli restrictions that he thinks Hamas should abandon its principled stand and agree to recognize Israel's right to exist, in the hope that this concession might induce the Israelis to lift some of the innumerable restrictions on Palestinian life, end the military siege on Palestinian territories and the land theft, and in general ease the day-to-day misery that Palestinians endure under occupation. Asked if he thought such a major Hamas concession would actually bring meaningful Israeli concessions, he said no, but perhaps it would ease the misery a little. It was clear he holds out no great hope. His village's land is gradually disappearing underneath the separation wall and expanding Israeli settlements.
We met westerners who have lived in the West Bank, working on behalf of the Palestinians for various NGOs for a decade and more, who are planning to leave out of frustration at seeing the situation worsen year after year and their own work increasingly go for naught. Many other western human rights workers and educators, particularly at venerable institutions like the Friends' School in Ramallah and Bir Zeit University, are being denied visas by the Israelis as part of their deliberate campaign to keep out foreign passport holders, including thousands of ethnic Palestinians who have lived in the West Bank with their families and worked for years. The Israeli campaign to deny residency and re-entry permits is a deliberate attempt at ethnic cleansing, a hope that if a husband or wife is barred, he or she will remove the rest of the family and Israel will have fewer Palestinians to deal with. In addition, the entry denial campaign targets in particular anyone, Palestinian or international, who might bring a measure of business prosperity to the Palestinian territories, or education, or medical assistance, or humanitarian assistance.

The campaign against foreigners who might help the Palestinians or bear witness for them became particularly vicious in mid-November when a 19-year-old Swedish volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement escorting Palestinian children to school was brutally attacked by Israeli settlers in Hebron as Israeli soldiers watched. The young woman, Tove Johansson, was walking through an Israeli army checkpoint with several other volunteers when they were set upon by a group of approximately 100 settlers chanting, "We killed Jesus, we'll kill you too!" A settler hit Johansson in the face with a broken bottle, breaking her cheekbone, and as she lay bleeding on the ground, the settlers cheered and clapped and took pictures of themselves posing next to her. The Israeli soldiers briefly questioned three settlers but made no arrests and conducted no investigation. In fact, they threatened the international volunteers with arrest if they did not leave the area immediately. The assault was so raw and brutal that Amnesty International issued an alert warning internationals to beware of settler attacks. The U.S. media have not seen fit to report the incident, which was clearly part of a longstanding effort to discourage witnesses to Israeli atrocities and deprive Palestinians of any protection against the atrocities.

Palestinian resistance does figure in this dismal story. In the same small village where one of our acquaintances is uprooting his family, others are building, building small homes and multi-story apartment buildings, simply as a sign of resistance. International human rights volunteers are still trying to reach the West Bank and Gaza to assist Palestinians. When we told one Palestinian friend about our conversation with the writer who wants Hamas to concede Israel's right to exist, his immediate reaction was "absolutely not." He is himself a secular Muslim, a Fatah supporter, does not like Hamas and did not vote for Hamas in last January's legislative elections, but he fully supports Hamas's refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist until Israel recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to exist as a nation. "Why should I recognize you until you get out of my garden?" he wondered.

Our friend Ahmad's views reflect the general feeling among Palestinians: a poll conducted in September by a Palestinian polling organization found that 67 percent of Palestinians do not think Hamas should recognize Israel in order to satisfy Israeli and international demands, while almost the same proportion, 63 percent, would support recognizing Israel if this came as part of a peace agreement in which a Palestinian state was established -- in other words, if Israel also recognized the Palestinians as a nation. Surrender is not yet on the horizon.
On the possibility of pulling up stakes and leaving Palestine, Ahmad was equally adamant. "Why should I leave and then have to fight to get back later? Empires never last." He mentioned the Turks and the British and the Soviets, "and the Americans and the Israelis won't last either. It may take a long time, but we can wait." He was angrier than we have ever previously seen him, and more uncompromising -- and with good reason: the separation wall is now within a few yards of his home and demolition is threatened. Ahmad and some neighbors have been fighting the wall's advance in court and succeeded in stopping it for over a year, but construction is moving ahead again. He already has to drive miles out of his way to skirt the wall on his way to work and will be able to exit only on foot when the wall is completed -- assuming his house is not demolished altogether.

But he is not giving up. He thinks suicide bombers are "a piece of shit," but he believes the Palestinians have to resist in some way, if only by throwing stones, and he sees some kind of explosion in the offing. If Palestinians do nothing at all, he said, "the Israelis will just relax" and will feel no pressure to cease the oppression. Palestinians everywhere are keeping up the pressure. Haaretz correspondent Gideon Levy described a cloth banner displayed in Beit Hanoun immediately after Israel's devastation of that small Gaza city during the first week in November. "Kill, destroy, crush -- you won't succeed in breaking us," declared the banner.

Palestinians in Beit Hanoun, as well as throughout Gaza and the West Bank, have been putting up resistance to their own incompetent, quisling leadership, as well as to Israel. It has not escaped the notice of the Palestinian man in the street that, while Israel slaughters men, women, and children in Beit Hanoun and continues its march across the West Bank, Palestinian Authority President Mamhud Abbas has been cooperating with the U.S. and Israel to undermine the democratically elected Hamas government. The U.S. is arming and training a militia that will protect Abbas' and Fatah's narrow factional interests against Hamas' fighters, in what can only be termed an open coup attempt against the legally constituted Palestinian government.

Few Palestinians, even Fatah supporters, condone this U.S. interference or Abbas' traitorous acquiescence. "Fatah are thieves," a local leader who is a Fatah member himself told us. "Hamas won because we wanted to get rid of the thieves." He thinks that if there were an election today, "ordinary people" -- by which he means people not associated with either Fatah or Hamas -- would win. In each house, he said, "we find one son with Hamas, another son with Fatah, so how is a father going to support one or the other?" It is perhaps this knowledge that they cannot fight each other without destroying the nuclear and the broader Palestinian family, and that they must not succumb to Israeli and U.S. schemes to fragment Palestinian society, that have motivated the intensive Palestinian efforts to achieve some kind of unity government.

Around the West Bank
In Bil'in, the small town west of Ramallah that has seen a non-violent protest against the wall by Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals every Friday for almost two years, the village leader, Ahmad Issa Yassin, talked about the lesson his youngest son learned after being arrested last year at age 14 in an Israeli raid. "He is more courageous now, more ready to resist," Yassin said. "So am I." We first met this boy a few months before his arrest, a particularly friendly young man with a sweet smile. He greeted us again this year with another warm smile and bantered with us as we took his picture. He gave no hint of having spent two months in one of Israel's worst prisons or of the horror of having been arrested in a Nazi-style middle-of-the-night raid. Perhaps he threw stones at the Israeli soldiers who converge on his village at least once a week and respond to non-violent protests with live ammunition, rubber bullets, teargas, concussion grenades, and batons. This boy was no terrorist. On the other hand, the Israelis may have turned him into a young man willing to fight terror with terror a few years from now.

Yassin walked us to his olive grove, half destroyed, on the other side of the wall. The Israelis allow the villagers access to lands that now lie on Israel's side of the wall, but there is only one gate, manned by Israeli soldiers who may or may not bestir themselves to open it. The villagers' names are all on a list of Palestinians authorized to pass through the gate. At this particular village, one of many whose lands have been cut off from the village, protesters have established an outpost or, as they call it, a "settlement" on the Israeli side to stake a claim to the land for the village even though it now lies on Israel's side in the path of an expanding Israeli settlement. The Palestinian "settlement" consists of a small building, a tent where a couple of activists maintain a constant vigil, and a soccer field for a bit of normality.

Yassin took us uphill on a dirt path running alongside the wall, which in this rural area consists of an electronic fence, a dirt patrol road on each side where footprints can be picked up, a paved patrol road on the Israeli side, and coils of razor wire on each side -- encompassing altogether an area about 50 meters wide, where olive groves once stood. We waited at the gate in the electronic fence while Yassin called several times to the Israeli soldiers, whom we could see lounging under a tent canopy on a nearby hillside. When they finally came to the gate, they checked Yassin's name against their list of permitees, recorded our names and passport numbers, and officiously warned us against taking pictures in this "military zone." As we made our way across country to the Bil'in outpost, Yassin pointed out olive trees burned and uprooted by Israelis and, at the outpost right next to the stump of a tree that had been cut down, a new tree sprouting from the old one.
We talked for a while with a Palestinian activist from the village and a young British activist who had both been sleeping late into the morning, after enjoying a Ramadan meal, the Iftar, late the night before. When we returned to the gate, the Israeli soldiers were even slower arriving to open it, obviously totally bored with their duty. The following Friday at the weekly protest, they enjoyed a little more excitement as protesters managed to erect ladders to scale the fence. The soldiers responded with batons and teargas.

The resistance goes on, but so does the Israeli encroachment. We took away with us two striking impressions: the little olive tree being carefully nurtured as a sign of renewal and resistance, and in the near distance the constant sound of bulldozers and earth-clearing equipment working on the Israeli settlement of Modiin Illit, being built on the lands of Bil'in and other neighboring villages.

Elsewhere, signs of the Israeli advance override the continuing signs of Palestinian resistance. In the small village of Wadi Fuqin southwest of Bethlehem, a beautiful village sitting in a narrow, fertile valley between ridge lines that is being squeezed on one side by the wall, still to be constructed, and on the other by the already large and rapidly expanding Israeli settlement of Betar Illit, we saw more destruction. The settlement is dumping vast tonnages of construction debris down onto the village, so that its fields are gradually being swallowed. This was more evident this year than when we visited last year. The settlement's sewage often overflows onto village land through sewage pipes evident high up on the hillside. Israeli settlers swagger through the village increasingly, as if it were theirs, swimming in the many irrigation pools that are fed by natural springs dating back to Roman times.

In the village of Walaja, not far away to the north, nearer Jerusalem, Ahmad took us to visit friends of his. The village is scheduled to be surrounded completely by the wall because it sits near the Green Line in the midst of a cluster of Israeli settlements. We sat in a garden of fruit trees with a family whose house is on a hill overlooking a spectacular valley and hills beyond. Jerusalem sits on another hill in the distance. We commented that, except for the Israeli settlements across the valley, the place is like paradise, but our host responded with a cynical laugh that actually it is hell. Even beautiful scenery loses its appeal when one is trapped and surrounded.

In another encircled village that we visited last year, Nu'man, the approximately 200 residents are also trapped between the wall, now completed, on one side and the advancing settlement of Har Homa, which covets the village land, on the other. Although last year, with the wall incomplete, we could drive in, this year we were denied entry at the one gate in. With Ahmad, we tried to talk to four obviously intimidated young Palestinian men waiting across the patrol road from the gate to gain entry to their homes, but the Israeli soldiers told them not to talk to us; one of them said a few words to Ahmad but never took his eyes off the Israeli guardpost. We drove off and left them to their plight. We could have tried to get to the village with an arduous cross-country walk, but we did not.

"Grand" Terminals
With the near completion of the separation wall, the Israelis have systematized the West Bank prison. Since August 2005, the number of checkpoints throughout the West Bank has risen 40 percent, from 376 to 528, according to OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which carefully tracks the numbers and types of Israeli checkpoints, as well as other aspects of the Israeli stranglehold on the Palestinians. As part of the systematization, a series of elaborate terminals now manage the humiliation of Palestinians at major checkpoints, particularly around Jerusalem. The terminals are huge cages resembling cattle runs, which direct foot traffic in snaking lines that double back and forth. At the end of the line are a series of turnstiles, x-ray machines, conveyor belts, and other accoutrements of heavy security. Any Palestinian entering Jerusalem from the West Bank to work, to visit family, to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, to go to school, or for medical treatment must have a hard-to-obtain permit from Israel. The turnstiles and other security barriers are controlled remotely by Israeli soldiers housed behind heavy bullet-proof glass.

The cages are currently painted a bright, cheerful blue, but it's a fair bet that when they are older and worn, the paint job will not be renewed. Adding to the false cheer, the Israelis have erected incongruous welcoming signs at the terminals. Most egregious is the giant sign at the Bethlehem terminal. "Peace be with you," it proclaims in three languages to travelers leaving Jerusalem for Bethlehem. This is on a giant pastel-colored sign erected by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, as if travel through this terminal were the ordinary tourist lark. At the Qalandiya terminal between Ramallah and Jerusalem, a large cartoon-like red rose welcomes Palestinians with a sign in Arabic. Early this year when the terminal was opened, the rose was on a sign that proclaimed, in three languages, "The hope of us all." Apparently embarrassed at being caught so red-handed in their hypocrisy, the Israelis removed the sign, preserving only the rose, after a Jewish activist stenciled over it the words that once graced the entrance to Auschwitz, "Arbeit Macht Frei" -- work makes you free. There is still a sign saying in three languages, "May you go in peace and return in peace." The Israelis still don't really get it.

Nor do the Americans. The terminals, advertised as a way to "ease life" for Palestinians by prettying up the checkpoints of old and making passage more efficient, were paid for out of U.S. aid monies designated originally for the Palestinian Authority (before the Hamas election) but diverted to Israel's terminal-building enterprise -- helping Israel make Palestinian humiliation more efficient. Steven Erlanger in the New York Times, among others, fell for the scam, noting when the Bethlehem terminal opened in December last year that the terminals were aimed at "easing the burden on Palestinians and softening international criticism." He labeled the Bethlehem terminal a "grand" gateway for Christians visiting Jesus' birthplace -- not acknowledging that Christians had been visiting for two millennia without benefit of turnstiles and concrete walls.

The burden on Palestinians has not been significantly eased as far as we could tell. We spent some time watching at several of the terminals -- feeling like voyeurs of Palestinian misery. At Qalandiya, about 100 people stood waiting to pass through three locked turnstiles. A young Israeli woman soldier sat in a glassed-in control booth barking commands at them. Our friend Ahmad speaks Hebrew as well as Arabic and could not even make out which language she was speaking in. There was no reason for her anger or for her decision to lock the turnstiles. When she saw us observing, carrying a camera, she shook her finger in an apparent warning against taking pictures. They don't like witnesses. Immediately after this, she unlocked the turnstiles.

We walked through after everyone else who had been waiting, and Ahmad took us to the waiting area on the other side where Palestinians from the West Bank apply for permits to enter Jerusalem. About 50 people were waiting. A middle-aged man walked up to us and began telling his story. He was scheduled for neurosurgery at Maqassad Hospital in East Jerusalem in two days, according to a certificate from the hospital, written in English and clearly intended for Israeli permit authorities. He had already been waiting for six days -- three futilely sitting in this waiting area and a previous three when the Israelis had closed the terminal altogether for Yom Kippur. He was beginning to fear he would never get his permit and, as he expressed his frustration and desperation, he began to cry. He asked that we take his picture holding the certificate and tell the world. We did, but we will never know if he obtained his permit in time, or at all.

At another terminal, leading from al-Azzariyah, the biblical Bethany, into Jerusalem, a soldier screamed at us -- quite literally, his face red, blood vessels standing out on his neck -- when he saw us taking pictures of his soldier colleagues questioning Palestinians before they entered the terminal area, a pre-screening for the screening at the terminal. We told the soldier we thought pictures would be all right; this terminal was run after all by the Ministry of Tourism and so must be a tourist attraction. But our flippancy didn't go over well. He pushed us toward an exit gate, screaming that this was the "Ministry of Gates" and that we had to get out. We managed to remain inside until Ahmad, who was talking to another Israeli soldier, finished and exited with us. Maybe we saved one or two Palestinians from scrutiny by distracting a couple of soldiers -- or maybe unfortunately we just delayed them further.

At a third checkpoint, this a makeshift one set up temporarily at an opening in the wall where the concrete barrier is still incomplete, we watched as a growing crowd of Palestinians wanting to enter Jerusalem to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque tried to negotiate with two young Israeli soldiers. It was a Friday in Ramadan and, although these Palestinians had permits to enter Jerusalem, their names were not on the authorized list at this particular checkpoint. They had to go, according to Israel's administrative fiat, to the main terminal from their area into the city. As the crowd gathered, more Israeli soldiers arrived. The crowd included women as well as men, and several children. Being watched by a couple of Americans who probably appeared more patronizing than helpful clearly did not improve the mood of most of the crowd.

One little boy of about five, dressed neatly in a tie and pressed white shirt, stood looking at the commotion for a few minutes, standing slightly apart from his father, and suddenly burst into tears. A few minutes later, the soldiers exploded a concussion grenade, and most of the crowd dispersed. It's the Israeli way: make them cry, run them off in fear. We left, embarrassed by our own inadequacy.

Terminology
Is it genocide when a little boy is made to cry because belligerent armed men intimidate him, intimidate his father, and ultimately run them off; when they are forbidden from performing their religious ceremonies because a belligerent government decides they are of the wrong religion; when their town is encircled and cut off because a racist state decides their ethnic identity is of the wrong variety?

You can argue over terminology, but the truth is evident everywhere on the ground where Israel has extended its writ: Palestinians are unworthy, inferior to Jews, and in the name of the Jewish people, Israel has given itself the right to erase the Palestinian presence in Palestine -- in other words, to commit genocide by destroying "in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group."

As we debate about and analyze the Palestinian psyche, trying to determine if they have had enough and will surrender or will survive by resisting, it is important to remember that the Jewish people, despite unspeakable tragedy, emerged from the holocaust ultimately triumphant. Israel and its supporters should keep this in mind: empires never last, as Ahmad said, and gross injustice such as the Nazis and Israel have inflicted on innocent people cannot prevail for long.

Kathleen Christison is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of Perceptions of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession.

Bill Christison was a senior official of the CIA. He served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis. They spent October 2006 in Palestine and on a speaking tour of Ireland sponsored by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

They can be reached at kathy.bill@christison-santafe.com.

Ramallah Birthday DAM!!!!

2006-11-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

Had the MOST incredible birthday yesterday!
First DAM had the debut of their new album in Ramallah.
The show was completely packed! People couldn't get into the Kasaba.
Tamer did a shout to me for my birthday from the stage : )

THANK YOU!

Then we danced all night at my birthday party.

Me, my sister, and Suheir Hammad's words

2006-11-18T11:41:00.000-08:00

break (for love)

heavy breathing drum machines

west banked sisters hold each curly heads ducked ducked loose
bullets tight soldiers loz eyed oranges in blood explosion of hair

the weary shoulder sacred
the pulsing wrist sacred
the clasped hand temple
the smoking chest temple
sister holy fly sister holy

terra material prima wa an lapis azure flame wa scarlet star ana mud
wa huddled into shelters wa centers off balance bastana vision wa
epiphany

zooted wa cased
air yo dynamic
w’ana mashi layale sawah
drum skin stretched far

rayah when my sapphire dusted dream static supreme

dream
crashed bombs everyone around me
dream
sash green wa gold coins surround me
dream
flash dear god flood within me

tremor moon seas moan treble please sing trouble keys

"Our Independence Day" or "I almost got shot today" or "My dealer comes to Ramallah"

2006-11-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

Today is November 15th.
Today is our supposed "Independence Day"
A joke.
Was almost killed today.
This will be brief and inarticulate. I am still in shock.

I do not remember now the exact time.... around 4:25 p.m. Ramallah time.I was so happy and excited. I had finally convinced my dealer from New York to come see me in Ramallah.
I wanted her to see our Palestine, she would understand my work better etc etc....
Carolyn arrived last night. We had spent the morning going to cultural centers, namely PACA and Riwaq. Then I took her to Amari Refugee Camp for the afternoon.
All was cool.

My sister, Carolyn and our friend Mohammed had lunch, and then we gave her a tour of the Muqata. Afterwards we returned to the center of town and were driving down the main street of Ramallah, Rukab Street. We stopped and Mohammed and I hopped out of the car to buy kanafa. Of course she had to try our delicious kanafa!! We hopped back in the car. It was a beautiful afternoon the streets were packed full of people. We stopped again to let Mohammed out so he could get his own car and we continued down Rukab street on our way.
We were headed to Mohammed's restaurant to chill out, eat our kanafa, and let Carolyn take in the intensity of all she had seen.

We were just a block away from Ziryab Coffee Shop when all of a sudden to our immediate right a van pulled up and stopped at a 90 degree angle. We couldn't drive forward because part of his van blocked us in. The doors opened and mostarabeen (Israeli army dressed as Arabs hopped out) with giant machine guns and started shooting. We were trapped.

After this point it is hard to remember what happened. We all ducked down, trapped .....to our left another van full of mostarabeen shooting away. We were surrounded.
A man with his 5 year old daughter to our right throws his daughter to the ground. Then he grabs her and makes a run for it into a shop.
Damn it. I was calm. There was shooting from M-16's all around the car.
It was hot. I was hot hot hot. I couldn't focus on anything else. My scarf was suffocating me. I was burning up with heat. I took off my scarf. I focused on trying to figure out how to take off my coat. Annemarie's phone rang - it was Mohammed (he had just gotten out 2 minutes earlier) - "Be careful there are mostarabeen in town!" - When I heard my sisters voice in the way she responded to him - Ithe reality of what was going on set in. She was trying to cover her face and head because we were sure we were about to be covered in broken glass. I have never heard my sister voice sound like that in my entire life. Panic began to set in. All I could think of was my sisters safety. God forbid anything happen to her. I grabbed her hand. She was in the front I focused on her back (her dear blessed back)as we huddled as low as we could to the bottom of the car. Shooting shooting shooting. My sister. My sister. that is all I cared about.
Oh no!God damn it! Carolyn is next to me. I am responsible. I brought her to this place! Shit. I apologized to her over and over. She kept peeking to see what was going on! I begged her to keep her head down.

I was so hot. I focused on rolling the window down. Annemarie locked the car doors. I decided to roll the window back up.

Our car got hit.
I make a note of it out loud. So does Carolyn.
No word from Annemarie. I call out to her fearing that she is silent because she has been hit.
She hasn't been.
More shooting.

Shooting continued all around us. I kept repeating to everyone keep your heads down - keep your heads down....
Panic began to set in. We were completely exposed. I peaked up to see Israelis in uniform now shooting in our direction.
I started trying to make a plan as to when I would open the car door and make a run for it.

I peaked again to see some Israelis were beating the shit out of a Palestinian man and throwing him into their van.

The van full of mostarabeen next to us got back into their van. As we were in their way they smashed into our car and sped off. Meanwhile in front of us and to the right the Israelis started to pull back.
Kids started throwing stones. They shot at us again. They started pulling back again.
I started feeling safe a little again. Now we might have a window to get out.
The next thing I knew the kids and shebab were along side our car (they were heading towards the injured - when they looked in and saw us in their they were horrified. To see that we were in the front row - right in the line of fire this whole time - huddled in the car. A friend of Annemaries stopped running with the men and ordered us to reverse backwards. he helped us get out.
We parked and jumped out of the car and ran into a space between two buildings for shelter.
I saw a friend of mine. He asked if I was alright - I showed him the bullet hole in our car that made it's way along the length of the whole car and exited out the back.
He said we were lucky it did not hit the gas tank.
( I had not even thought of that! )

Anyways, in short the Israelis came in - in the middle of the day - onto the main street of Ramallah - the most crowded street and attacked us on our "Independence Day".
We are alive and not injured. We are okay.
I do not know if the rental car insurance covers bullets from Israeli M-16's, or dents from being crashed into by "mostarabeen".

And so it goes, another day in Palestine.
This is not a story.
It is a small nothing in the larger context of what happens on a daily basis here.
I am sure it won't be on any news.
Another day in Palestine.
Another Independence Day gone by.

But I am with a bottle of arak and good friends now. God damn. Damn. Damn.
What could be better after a day like today.
Thank the god for arak. Thank god for friends.

Palestinians transport an injured youth to a hospital after he was shot by Israeli special forces during an undercover Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 15 November 2006. Eyewitnesses reported that one Palestinian was arrested and two others were injured. (MaanImages/Fadi Arouri)

Screw Palestinians

2006-11-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Screw the Palestinians, Full Steam Ahead
The Democrats Don't Care
By KATHLEEN and BILL CHRISTISON

At a panel on the defense and foreign policy impact of the midterm election, sponsored two days after the election by Congressional Quarterly, Steven Simon, late of the Clinton administration and still a member of the Democratic, pro-Zionist mainstream at the Council on Foreign Relations, pronounced on prospects for Palestinian-Israeli peace and essentially declared it not worth anyone's effort. Using words, a tone, and a body language that clearly betrayed his own disinterest, he said that Hamas is "there" (exaggerated shrug), that the Israeli government is in turmoil after its Lebanon "contretemps" (dismissive wave of the hand), that both sides are incapable of significant movement, and that therefore there is no incentive for anyone, Democrat or Republican, to intervene (casual frown indicating an unfortunate reality about which serious people need not concern themselves). There is simply no prospect for more unilateral Israeli withdrawals and therefore for any progress toward peace, Simon said in conclusion -- signaling not only a total lack of concern but an utter ignorance of just what it is that might bring progress, as if Israeli unilateralism were truly the ticket to peace.

Thus spake the Democratic oracle. Not that anyone who knows the Palestinian-Israeli situation from other than the selective focus of the Zionist perspective had any expectations in the first place. No one ever thought the new Democratic Congress would hop to and put pressure on Israel to make peace. Just remember John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, to say nothing of Bill Clinton, when any question of the Democrats' stance arises. And don't forget Nancy Pelosi, who rushed to condemn Jimmy Carter for using the word "apartheid" in the title of his new book and for whom, according to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency profile, support for Israel is personal and "heartfelt." One Jewish activist and long-time friend described her as "incredibly loyal" (interesting term) and as feeling Jewish and Israeli issues "in her soul."

But Simon's brief disquisition on the futility of even making an effort was particularly striking for its profound dismissiveness and its profound blindness to what is and has been going on on the ground. Simon's "contretemps" in Lebanon was no mere embarrassing misstep but a murderous rampage that killed 1,300 innocent Lebanese and dropped over a million cluster bomblets in villages across the south, left to be discovered by returning residents. But the Democrats don't care, and Steven Simon considers this hardly worth a second thought. Israel gets itself in trouble, showing its true brutal nature in the process, and this gives Simon and the Democrats a handy excuse to avoid doing anything.
Eighteen Palestinian innocents in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip were murdered while sleeping in their beds a day before Simon spoke, killed by Israeli shellfire, round after round fired at a residential housing complex -- 16 members of one extended family and two others who came to help them after the first round exploded. The Democrats don't care. Steven Simon considers this not worth a mention.

In the six days preceding this incident, Israel assaulted Beit Hanoun the way it assaulted Jenin and Nablus and other West Bank cities in 2002 -- a murderous assault reminiscent of Nazi sieges or of the Russian siege of Chechnya, in which in these six days 57 Palestinians were killed, to one Israeli soldier. The dead include Palestinian fighters and a large number of civilians, including children and including two women shot down in the street while attempting to lift the Israeli siege of a mosque. The mosque was leveled. The Democrats don't care. Steven Simon considers this not worth a mention.

In the four months preceding this six-day siege, the Israelis killed 247 Palestinians in a prolonged attack on Gaza. Of the dead, two-thirds are civilians, 20 percent children. Of nearly 1,000 injured, one-third are children. The Democrats don't care. Steven Simon considers this not worth a mention.

Israel is planning a larger siege of Gaza, concentrating not just on Beit Hanoun in the north but on Rafah in the south, ostensibly to unearth arms-smuggling tunnels. This has been going on for years; Rafah has been the scene of Israel's murderous pummeling periodically since the intifada began -- in 2003 when Rachel Corrie was killed trying to protect the home of an innocent family from demolition, in 2004 when hundreds of homes were demolished in multiple sieges and a peaceful protest demonstration was strafed from the air. But the Democrats don't care. Steven Simon considers this not worth a mention.

Gaza, of course, is not the only Palestinian territory being raped and pillaged. Its 1.4 million residents are the most distraught -- living imprisoned in a territory with the highest population density in the world, walled in with no exit except as Israel sporadically allows, being deliberately starved by the official policy of Israel, which dictates to the U.S., which dictates to Europe, vulnerable to constant Israeli assault. But the West Bank's 2.5 million Palestinians are not much better off. They continue to be killed by Israelis and squeezed by Israel's separation wall, by settlement expansion, by movement restrictions, by theft of agricultural land, by diminishing economic opportunity, and by massive Israeli-fostered unemployment. Their death toll is only minimally less than Gaza's.

This obscenity of oppression and murder does not faze the Democrats or any of Israel's Zionist supporters in the U.S. Whatever Israel wants is all right with the Democrats. The 110th Congress will screw the Palestinians just the way the Republican 109th did.

Kathleen Christison is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of Perceptions of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession.

Bill Christison was a senior official of the CIA. He served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis. They spent October 2006 in Palestine and on a speaking tour of Ireland sponsored by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

The Body in Pain - Botero's Abu Ghraib

2006-11-13T00:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061127/danto

The Body in Pain
Arthur C. Danto

Colombian artist Fernando Botero is famous for his depictions of blimpy figures that verge on the ludicrous. New Yorkers may recall the outdoor display of Botero's bronze figures, many of them nude, in the central islands of Park Avenue in 1993. Their bodily proportions insured that their nakedness aroused little in the way of public indignation. They were about as sexy as the Macy's balloons, and their seemingly inflated blandness lent them the cheerful and benign look one associates with upscale folk art. The sculptures were a shade less ingratiating, a shade more dangerous than one of Walt Disney's creations, but in no way serious enough to call for critical scrutiny. Though transparently modern, Botero's style is admired mainly by those outside the art world. Inside the art world, critic Rosalind Krauss spoke for many of us when she dismissed Botero as "pathetic."

When it was announced not long ago that Botero had made a series of paintings and drawings inspired by the notorious photographs showing Iraqi captives, naked, degraded, tortured and humiliated by American soldiers at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, it was easy to feel skeptical--wouldn't Botero's signature style humorize and cheapen this horror? And it was hard to imagine that paintings by anyone could convey the horrors of Abu Ghraib as well as--much less better than--the photographs themselves. These ghastly images of violence and humiliation, circulated on the Internet, on television and in newspapers throughout the world, were hardly in need of artistic amplification. And if any artist was to re-enact this theater of cruelty, Botero did not seem cut out for the job.

As it turns out, his images of torture, now on view at the Marlborough Gallery in midtown Manhattan and compiled in the book Botero Abu Ghraib, are masterpieces of what I have called disturbatory art--art whose point and purpose is to make vivid and objective our most frightening subjective thoughts. Botero's astonishing works make us realize this: We knew that Abu Ghraib's prisoners were suffering, but we did not feel that suffering as ours. When the photographs were released, the moral indignation of the West was focused on the grinning soldiers, for whom this appalling spectacle was a form of entertainment. But the photographs did not bring us closer to the agonies of the victims.

Botero's images, by contrast, establish a visceral sense of identification with the victims, whose suffering we are compelled to internalize and make vicariously our own. As Botero once remarked: "A painter can do things a photographer can't do, because a painter can make the invisible visible." What is invisible is the felt anguish of humiliation, and of pain. Photographs can only show what is visible; what Susan Sontag memorably called the "pain of others" lies outside their reach. But it can be conveyed in painting, as Botero's Abu Ghraib series reminds us, for the limits of photography are not the limits of art. The mystery of painting, almost forgotten since the Counter-Reformation, lies in its power to generate a kind of illusion that has less to do with pictorial perception than it does with feeling.

The Catholic Church understood this well when, in the final session of the 1563 Council of Trent, it decided to use visual art as a weapon in its battle with the Reformation. One of the pillars of the Reformation's agenda was its iconoclasm--its opposition to the use of religious imagery, over which the church enjoyed a virtual monopoly. The Reformation feared that images themselves would be worshiped, which was idolatry. The Catholic response was to harness the power of images in the service of faith. Artists were instructed to create images of clarity, simplicity, intelligibility and realism that would serve as an emotional stimulus to piety. As the great art historian Rudolph Wittkower observed:

Many of the stories of Christ and the saints deal with martyrdom, brutality, and horror and in contrast to Renaissance idealization, an unveiled display of truth was now deemed essential; even Christ must be shown "afflicted, bleeding, spat upon, with his skin torn, wounded, deformed, pale, and unsightly," if the subject requires it. It is these "correct" images that are meant to appeal to the emotions of the faithful and support or even transcend the spoken word.

It took more than twenty years for artists to devise a style that executed these directives, and there can be little doubt that the art of the Baroque was successful in its mission. The art achieved extraordinary precision in the depiction of suffering and hence in the arousal of sympathetic identification. It is often noted that we live in an image-rich culture, and so we do. But most of the images we see are photographs, and their effect can be dulling, if not desensitizing. To elicit the kinds of feelings at which the Counter-Reformation aimed, photographs now often need to be enhanced. Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ is not realistic in the sense in which photography is realistic: It is enhanced and amplified, showing Jesus "afflicted, bleeding, spat upon, with his skin torn, wounded, deformed, pale and unsightly," in a manner that would have pleased the Council of Trent. Sontag was right: Photography must be augmented--with text, she proposed--if we are to feel the pain it shows. A picture may be worth a thousand words, as the cliché goes, but a photograph does not speak for itself. At the least it requires the skilled augmentations of Photoshop--at which point, of course, visual truth is sacrificed on the altar of feeling.

The Abu Ghraib photographs are essentially snapshots, larky postcards of soldiers enjoying their power, as their implied message--"Having a wonderful time.... Wish you were here"--attests. The nude, bound bodies of the prisoners are heaped up like the bodies of tigers in Victorian photographs of smiling viceroys displaying the day's hunt. There must be a quantitative impulse in the expression of gloating--think of the strings of fish held up in snapshots taken after fishing trips, yellowing on the walls of seafood stores. In another artistic response to Abu Ghraib, British painter Gerald Laing lifted the backdrop of Grant Wood's American Gothic but replaced the two farmers with the American MPs Lynndie England and Charles Graner, signaling thumbs-up with their blue-rubber-gloved hands above a pile of bare-bottomed bodies. The Americans are in bright poster colors, while the bodies are gray and evidently cut from a newspaper photograph, reproduced with the dots of a coarse Benday screen. It is witty and a bit sickening, but it does not call up the feelings of a Baroque evocation of martyrdom.

Or, for that matter, of Botero's Abu Ghraib series, which draws on his knowledge of the graphic, even lurid paintings of Christ's martyrdom by Latin American Baroque artists, in which Jesus bleeds from the crown of thorns, or from the wounds left by lance points in his ravaged chest. Abu Ghraib, in Botero's rendering, also evokes Baroque prisons, like those one sees in the paintings titled Roman Charity, where a visiting daughter breast-feeds her chained father in the gloomy light of his cell. Although the prisoners are painted in his signature style, his much-maligned mannerism intensifies our engagement with the pictures. This is partly because the prisoners' heavy flesh--broken and bleeding from beatings--looks all the more vulnerable to the pain inflicted. While their faces are largely covered with hoods, blindfolds and women's underpants, their mouths are twisted into expressions of pain or agony. Their arms and sometimes their legs are bound with thick rope, and sometimes a figure is suspended by his leg, or tethered by all four limbs to the criss-cross of bars that form a cell wall. Everyone is nude, except when wearing female underwear, which the Americans evidently considered the supreme form of humiliation. In some paintings, a prisoner is sprayed with urine by a guard who lies outside the frame. Broomsticks protrude from bleeding anuses; hooded men lie in their feces. Several of the paintings feature savage dogs that look like demons in medieval scenes of hell.

None of these works are for sale--Botero has said he has no interest in profiting from them. He has offered them as a collection to a number of American museums, but none have been willing to accept them, I dare say for the same reason that the Marlborough Gallery, when I visited the show, had someone searching bags and backpacks--not a common sight in commercial galleries.

Botero rather ingenuously suggested that, just as few would remember Guernica were it not for Picasso's painting, Abu Ghraib might be forgotten if he did not make this series. But Abu Ghraib was a world event, rather than an incidental horror of war like Guernica. Yet unlike Picasso's painting, a Cubist work that can serve a purely decorative function if one is unaware of its meaning, Botero's Abu Ghraib series immerses us in the experience of suffering. The pain of others has seldom felt so close, or so shaming to its perpetrators.

2nd Anniversary of Arafat's Death

2006-11-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

It is November 11th.
When I woke up this morning there was excitement racing all through Ramallah.
Buses were pouring in from all over the West Bank full of people singing and flags being flying out the windows.
There were processions, parades, boy scouts, dancing, music, speeches, the works... for this the second anniversary of Arafat's death. (Thankfully they did not allow any weapons into the muqata. It is always so annoying when people shoot into the air and someone always gets killed accidently. )

I am not sure why it was SO HUGE. Last year really wasn't anything compared to this! The streets were jam packed - almost looked like the day when he came in from Egypt in helicopter for his funeral and burial.

Foolish Abbas strung up posters all over the city with an image of himself sitting next to Arafat. How transparent...

I am not sure why but I felt hopeful and excited today when I saw all of us in the streets - there was an amazing energy in the air.

Anyways just sending you 2 news articles about today and a short little video clip I shot inside the muqata during the events.

This video is for the person who wrote to me from Beirut today and told me they cried when they watched Arafat's funeral on tv today.
I wanted to send you some lightness of being, some joy, some hope.

Tributes to President Arafat on the second anniversary of his death
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17036

Thousands of Palestinians commemorate two-year anniversary of Arafat's death
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/786475.html

Still Counting Dead

2006-11-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

November 9, 2006
We are still counting our dead.
A breath.

I just want to first of all say thank you for the love, the support, the hugs, the time given to ask me "how are you" (and the time given to listen), the kisses, and everything else from my friends out there. Getting your emails and calls makes me so happy always. I love hearing from you no matter where I am on this earth or where you are. Thank you.
I am blessed to have you in my life.

At this moment in time I especially want to send a shout out to Tarek, Rula, Laleh and Annemarie for the past few weeks.

Sorry in advance that this email will be scattered and disjointed. Other then that I had wanted to write awhile back and talk about being in Nablus for a week for the Eid while the Israelis invaded (and of course it was not in the news). The morning of the Eid they circled above in the skies with their F-16's as a form of psychological warfare and terror. I heard they were doing the same thing in Beirut at the same time.

Another disturbing incident which I may write about later in detail was that I crossed a checkpoint with a baby for the first time in my life. My best friends baby. I love that baby. I have always thought of myself as rather fearless and unaffected while crossing checkpoints. No big deal. Normal. But my whole perception of reality changed when I was with that baby. Here I was with a beautiful, innocent, green, little human being. His eyes were open wide as he was taking in everything around him. I was terrified. I couldn't feel part of my body. It was Howara and we had M-16's trained on our heads the whole time like normal. The ugliness of the war machine was all around us. I only wanted for that baby never ever to be exposed to such violence. I had no way of protecting it. I had no way of shielding him from the horrible reality all around us.
Another element to this story, is that last spring I learned how to shoot a gun for one of my art projects. I think this has also changed how I feel when having all these 18 year olds pointing guns at you all the time. now I know how damn easy it is. Now I know how really unsafe I am.

Lastly on a lighter note, besides the usual flood of European women living here (and yes it is true it is mainly women who are in the NGO's, activist, etc) there seems to be quite a large contingency from France in particular at this time. You see them at all the bars and nightclubs with their Palestinian boyfriends. Lots to say on this phenomenon. Maybe I will later.

A couple of things:
For those of you who think the Democrats are different than Republicans:
Pelosi Attacks Iraq's Prime Minister For Not Supporting Israel's Destruction Of Lebanon
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/25/18291463.php

Israel Comes First
http://www.counterpunch.org/frank05312005.html
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Israeli forces beat schoolchildren demonstrating in Jerusalem; use excessive violence against 10-year-olds
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=16979
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Palestinian Solidarity with Qaxaca in NYC this Saturday but first this statement:
http://stopthewall.org

The Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign Honors the Martyrs of Oaxaca.

Jerusalem, November 3, 2006: In this dreadful Autumn of death and destruction, the Palestinian and Mexican people are united more than ever in a common history, mourning and struggle.

In Palestine in the last 48 hours a new massacre has been perpetrated. 20 martyrs from the refugee camp of Beit Hanoun have been added to the hundreds of victims that have been killed since June, when the Occupation forces launched another ruthless offensive in the Gaza Strip.

In the same way, since June the Mexican government has started to use all the destructive force of its military against the 70,000 educational workers in Oaxaca who struggle for their rights. The same government that followed the demands of the US government to send its soldiers to invade and massacre the Iraqi people today turns these weapons against its own people in defense of imperialist interests.

We mourn the dead of Oaxaca as we mourn our own and we take courage from the determination in the struggle that this people has shown in response to the repression. They have united their voices in the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO): some 350 organizations have taken back the city and struggle to overthrow the corrupt government of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

If the government wanted to crush this movement with the invasion of the 29th October and the murder of the protesters, we now know that this goal has not been achieved and that the activists of the APPO know how to respond to the latest brutal attacks.

We know that the Mexican Intifada continues and spreads to other states of the nation.

As Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign representing some 50 popular committees that struggle day after day in the villages ghettoized by the wall and besieged by the complex mechanism of Zionist repression and expulsion, we want to let you know that you are not alone, that your struggle is our struggle.

60 years of occupation, dispossession, daily murder and eventually the attempt to transform Palestine into a giant open air prison were not enough to destroy the determination of the Palestinian people. The majority of our people has been expelled from their land and struggles for the return to their homes, the rest of us resists apartheid and a life in open-air prisons behind walls and razor wire.

The experience of these 60 years of resistance enable us to recognize our brothers in the Mexican indigenous communities who have resisted genocide for over 500 years. We salute the resistance of the people of Oaxaca against a corrupt puppet government and see in it a new point of reference for the struggle against imperialism.

We join the call of our Mexican comrades to demand:
1. That Ulises Ruiz Ortiz immediately step down from his post as governor of the state of Oaxaca. His authoritarian policies are at the root of the bloodshed and the struggle. His permanent presence is the main obstacle to a political solution.

2. The immediate withdrawal of the Federal Preventive Police from the city of Oaxaca.

3. The immediate end to all forms of repression, the liberation of the arrested and the detained and the return of the disappeared.

4. Unconditional respect for Human Rights and the guarantee of safety for all, in particular the members of the APPO.

5. The punishment of the intellectual and material authors of the murders perpetrated by the paramilitary groups of the state.
We further remind the Federal Government that it holds the responsibility for the repression and assaults on the population and organizations of Oaxaca.

We join all those that ask a political solution and the respect of the demands put forward by the APPO.

Jamal Jumaâ€™
Coordinator of the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign

The Ad Hoc Coalition for Justice in the Middle East
in association with Desis Rising Up & Moving (DRUM) present

RESIST THE APARTHEID WALLS!
From Palestine to Mexico
Stop Israeli and US Aggression

Saturday November 11
Judson Memorial Church: Washington Square Park, Manhattan
1:30 PM: Workshop
3:00 PM March

President Bush signed into law a House bill to build 700 miles of double-layer border wall between the United States and Mexico. Identical border-wall legislation helped to spark marches by millions for immigrant rights last spring. This multi-billion dollar US wall will further separate border communities, break apart families, and increase the number of deaths on the border as immigrant workers are pushed deeper into the desert.

Israel, with US support, continues it's assault against the Palestinian people, through daily killing and the construction of a 400 mile Apartheid Wall that reaches 15 miles into the Occupied Territories. The wall's path threatens to annex as much as 50% of the West Bank to Israel, and confiscate 90% of Jerusalem. In building this wall, Israel is razing Palestinians' land, destroying their homes, and turning Palestinian villages and towns near the Wall into isolated ghettos.

Elbit Systems limited, an Israeli company building and profiting from the Wall in occupied Palestine, has been awarded a contract, along with Boeing, to build the US’ wall. Elbit will import Israeli military technology, tested on Palestinians, for use against poor immigrants here.

Please join us for a slideshow and report-back by members of DRUM who will share their first-hand accounts of the walls in Palestine and Arizona from recent visits. Learn how the fight against racist travel bans, for dignity, and against militarized borders link the struggle for immigrant rights in the U.S. to the struggle for freedom in Palestine!

Bring signs and flags. After the workshop, we will take it to the streets and bring the Wall to New York!

This event is being held in conjunction with the International Week Against the Apartheid Wall called by Stop the Wall: Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (www.stopthewall.org)

Saturday, November 11th
1:30 PM: Workshop
3:00 PM : March
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
New York, NY
A, B, C, D, E, F and V to West 4th, or 1 train to Christopher St.

To endorse, and for more information and downloadable flyers please visit www.mideastjustice.org
Or email: justiceME@gmail.com

The Ad-Hoc Coalition for Justice in the Middle East includes: The New York Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, Jews Against the Occupation - NYC, International Socialist Organization, International Solidarity Movement - NYC, Solidarity, Socialist Action, the National Council of Arab-Americans, the Network of Arab-American Professionals of NY-PC, and the WESPAC Foundation.

Rhythms of August Postponed

2006-11-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

Woke Up To Massacre

2006-11-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

November 8, 2006
I woke up this morning at 8:50 a.m. and already we had 22 dead. 18 in Gaza and 4 in the West Bank. And the toll is rising. The Israeli tanks opened fire on several homes as the residents were sleeping. You don't really expect a diary entry from me do you?

On Tuesday Israeli troops had completed their largest military operation in Gaza in a year on Tuesday after killing 60 Palestinians in a week-long incursion in the Beit Hanoun area.

We are now in three days of mourning this massacre this morning here in Palestine.

I am sending this out only because in my despair today, my friend told me that I should. That the world does care...and that I should send images....

Again I send you this poem which Mahmoud wrote in 2002

The siege is lying in wait.
It is lying in wait on a tilted stairway
in the midst of a storm.

We are alone. We are alone to the point
of drunkenness with our own aloneness,
with the occasional rainbow visiting.

We have brothers and sisters overseas..
kind sisters, who love us..
who look our way and weep.
And secretly they say
"I wish that siege was here, so that I could…"
But they cannot finish the sentence.
Do not leave us alone. No.
Do not leave us alone.

Our losses are between two and eight a day.
And ten are wounded.
Twenty homes are gone.
Forty olive groves destroyed,
in addition to the structural damage
afflicting the veins of the poem, the play,
and the unfinished painting.

(Mahmud Darwish, A State of Siege, 2002, translated by Ramsis Amun)

Date: 08 / 11 / 2006 Time: 09:28

A Palestinian father despairs after his
whole family was killed in Beit Hanoun
(MaanImages)

Gaza - Ma'an - Israel has renewed its assault on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 20 Palestinians on Wednesday morning.

Palestinian medical sources reported that dozens of Palestinian citizens had been killed or injured in an Israeli artillery bombardment of Beit Hanoun in the north of Gaza Strip. A large number of women and children were also injured in the shelling.

The sources said the preliminary number of the citizens killed is 18, but rising. In addition, more than 35 were injured. Many of the dead arrived at the hospital fragmented in pieces.

The bombing targeted the house of two brothers, Sa'ed and Sa'di Al-'Athamneh from Al-Kafarneh district in the town of Beit Hanoun.

Eleven members of the Al-'Athamneh family were killed, including a one-year old girl. The killed are:

Ne'meh Al-'Athamneh
Mohammed Al-'Athamneh
Mahmoud Al-'Athamneh
Mahdi Al-'Athamneh
Sa'ed Al-'Athamneh
Mohammed Al-'Athamneh
Fatmeh Al-'Athamneh
Nihad Al-'Athamneh
Arafat Al-'Athamneh
Dima Al-'Athamneh (1 year old girl)
Another young girl, Ala' Al-'Athamneh

The medical services are identifying the rest of the dead but it is proving difficult to identify them due to their fragmented bodies and the critical condition in which they arrived at the Kamal 'Udwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya. In Kamal 'Udwan Hospital, there are 12 dead and in Kamal Naser Hospital there are 4 dead. The number of people killed is raising by the minute.

Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli artillery bombed the houses while the residents were sleeping, resulting in the large number of casualties. Palestinians are comparing this massacre to the Qana massacre by the Israeli army in south Lebanon 3 months ago.

The government spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, appealed to the international community on the Al-Jazeera satellite channel to mobilize and stop Israel carrying out such massacres against unarmed Palestinians.

Reports are also coming in that armed Palestinians are firing at the European Union building in Gaza City.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Amir Peretz have expressed their "regret" over the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Beit Hanoun. The two men also said that they will offer the Palestinian Authority urgent humanitarian assistance and immediate medical care for the wounded.

Peretz also ordered an urgent investigation into the bombardment and a halt to artillery fire at the Gaza Strip until completion of the inquiry into the circumstances.

Gaza & Poem

2006-11-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

November 4, 2006

The death toll since the start of the Israeli incursion to Beit Hanoun
and northern Gaza on Wednesday has reached 40 Palestinians killed, and
more than 200 injured; 30 of them in critical condition.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, incursions into Bethlehem, Nablus, Khalil
and more....doesn't make the news anymore.

Everything shut down today.

Love to all my peeps from Ramallah il muhtallah.

Here is a poem Mahmoud wrote in 2002.....

The siege is lying in wait.
It is lying in wait on a tilted stairway
in the midst of a storm.

We are alone. We are alone to the point
of drunkenness with our own aloneness,
with the occasional rainbow visiting.

We have brothers and sisters overseas..
kind sisters, who love us..
who look our way and weep.
And secretly they say
"I wish that siege was here, so that I could…"
But they cannot finish the sentence.
Do not leave us alone. No.
Do not leave us alone.

Our losses are between two and eight a day.
And ten are wounded.
Twenty homes are gone.
Forty olive groves destroyed,
in addition to the structural damage
afflicting the veins of the poem, the play,
and the unfinished painting.
(Mahmud Darwish, A State of Siege, 2002, translated by Ramsis Amun)

ramallah rain...

2006-10-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

This One Is For The Poets

2006-08-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

August 11, 2006
"I heard you in the other room asking your mother, 'Mama, am I a Palestinian?' When she answered 'Yes' a heavy silence fell on the whole house. It was as if something hanging over our heads had fallen, its noise exploding, then - silence.

Afterwards...I heard you crying. I could not move. There was something bigger than my awareness being born in the other room through your bewildered sobbing. It was as if a blessed scalpel was cutting up your chest and putting there the heart that belongs to you...I was unable to move to see what was happening in the other room. I knew, however, that a distant homeland was being born again: hills, olive groves, dead people, torn banners and folded ones, all cutting their way into a future
of flesh and blood and being born in the heart of another child...Do you believe that man grows? No, he is born suddenly - a word, a moment, penetrates his heart to a new throb. One scene can hurl him down from the ceiling of childhood onto the ruggedness of the road."

-Ghassan Kanafani, in a letter he wrote to his son
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

this email is for the poets....
it is poetry and only poetry that has ever helped me make it through in the darkest hours of my life.

but first two links.....
An incredible video made right here in Bushwick directed by Waleed Zaiter and crew
It is being presented on Electronic Lebanon.
http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article5473.shtml

and Patti Smith wrote a song about Qana (you can download it)
http://www.pattismith.net/news.html

emily
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

- a poem written by my homegirl Suheir Hammad.... last November we were together in beirut. that was the last time i was there.....November....

wind (break) her

fairuz turquoise dawn ears ring
voice diwan detroit divine
smoke full lips fall on back baalbek
museum mezze sabra jordan black
june in jersualem

bi albek
almonds coffee darwish
the eighties the ground the zeroes
tabla in brooklyn air so thick beat hung there
hips reflected the breath someone was drumming
to accompany the dying and the living
somewhere far and somewhere close

a sweeping
find shelter in a cross
a reckoning
find none at all
people looking to be seen
even if the last moments
even if after life

last fall her birthday
i ask my homegirl what she wants
bi albek
she leaps to fall in love
i offer earrings and we kiss the beirut
sky color of bruised healing

kiss it born
kiss it ill
kiss it youth
kiss it prison
kiss it collective
kiss it punishment
kiss it viral
kiss it infected
kiss it missing
kiss it childhood
kiss it water
kiss it dignity
kiss it burning
kiss it alone
kiss it so alone
kiss it kiss it

habibi wants the moon
but the moon is far away

a city in exile

bi albe ana nar

curl of flame jeweled arms
flash smile flash flesh perfect cut damage is tapestry vintage
design with no weapons dress to kill
it means you don’t die
from the powerlessness of it
from the leap to fall in love
from believing in rebuilding

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
the other night i re-read this poem by Mahmoud Darwish. i read it silently. i read it out loud. i re-read and remember all the other countless times i have read it. the words slippery. the weight heavier. the sky smaller now....

The Earth Is Closing on Us

The earth is closing on us, pushing us through the last passage, and
we tear off our limbs to pass through.
The earth is squeezing us. I wish we were its wheat so we could die
and live again. I wish the earth was our mother
So she'd be kind to us. I wish we were pictures on the rocks for our
dreams to carry
As mirrors. We saw the faces of those to be killed by the last of us in
the last defense of the soul.
We cried over their children;s feast. We saw the faces of those who'll
throw our children
Out of the windows of this last space. Our star will hang up mirrors.
Where should we go after the last frontiers? Where should the birds
fly after the last sky?
Where should the plants sleep after the last breath of air? We will
write our names with scarlet steam.
We will cut off the hand of the song to be finished by our flesh.
We will die here, here in the last passage. here and here our blood
will plant its olive tree.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

and lastly Aissa Deebi, a Palestinian artist from Haifa sent me this poem written by Taha Mohammed Ali, a poet from Nazareth
(er I cam including two slightly different versions for translations sake....)

Revenge: This poem was written by Nazareth poet Taha Mohammed Ali and translated from Arabic by Sasson Somekh. Line breaks have been replaced with dots in the version below due to space limitations.

Sometimes…I wish to hold…A duel…With the man…Who killed my father…And demolished my home…And turned me into a refugee…In the narrow land of man;…If he kills me…I will find my rest…And if I take his life…I will have taken my revenge.

But…If I learn…In the duel…That my adversary has a mother…Who awaits his return…Or a father…Who presses his right hand…To his chest, over the heart,…Whenever his son is late in coming--…Then I will not kill him, if…I should gain the upper hand.

By the same token…I will not slay him…If it comes to my attention…That he has brothers and sisters…Who love him…And miss him…At all hours,…Or he has a wife who anticipates his arrival…And children who suffer from his absence.

And his gifts gladden their heart…Or if he has…Friends and comrades…Or neighbors and acquaintances…Friends he met in prison…Or lay beside his hospital bed…Or old schoolmates…Who ask after him…At every opportunity…And send him regards.

But if he is alone…Like a branch chopped from a tree…Neither friends, comrades nor neighbors…No acquaintances, not a father, not a mother…And no partners to his path…I, then, shall not add anything of my own…To the pain of his solitude…The suffering of his demise…The bleakness of his oblivion…I will be content to ignore him…If I encounter him on the road,…And will convince myself…That ignoring him…In itself…Is a kind of revenge. (Ha’aretz, Culture and Literature, 6/23/06)

REVENGE

At times …
I wish I could meet
in a duel
the man who
killed my father
and razed our home,
expelling me into
a narrow country.
And if he killed me,
I'd rest at last,
and if I were ready—
I would take my revenge!

*

But if it came to light,
when my rival appeared,
that he had a mother
waiting for him,
or a father who'd put his
right hand over
the heart's place in his chest
whenever his son was late
even by just a quarter-hour
for a meeting they'd set—
then I would not kill him,
even if I could.

*

Likewise …
I would not murder him if
it were soon made clear
that he had a brother or sisters
who loved him and constantly longed to see him.
Or if he had a wife to greet him
and children who
couldn't bear his absence
and whom his presents thrilled.
Or if he had
friends or companions,
neighbors he knew
or allies from prison
or a hospital room,
or classmates from his school …
asking about him
and sending him regards.

*

But if he turned
out to be on his own—
cut off like a branch from the tree—
without a mother or father,
with neither a brother nor sister,
wifeless, without a child,
and with no kin or friends or neighbors
and neither colleagues nor companions …
then I'd add not a thing to his pain
within that aloneness—
not the torment of death,
and not the sorrow of passing away.
Instead I'd be content
to ignore him when I passed him by
on the street—as I
convinced myself
that paying him no attention
in itself was a kind of revenge.

Nazareth, 2006

What they did to Maysoon

2006-08-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

August 6, 2006
I want to tell you the story of what happened to my friend Maysoon Zayid when she left Ben Gurion Airport a few days ago to fly back to NYC.
Since she told it to me, it has grown from a little hole inside me into a huge gaping wound. I have become consumed with it, this one detail of one woman's crossing.

I want to write it to you particularly because I have no right to tell this story.
There is always a worse story, so we never have the right to tell our stories.
Stories which are all part of the Israeli matrix of occupation and touch every aspect of all our lives and our bodies. These stories are not to be told because there is always someone whose home has been demolished, someone whose family member was shot before their eyes, someone who was imprisoned, detained and tortured....there is always the bunker bombs, cluster bombs, civilians crushed under the rubble of buildings, families killed while picnicking on beaches..... do I need to go on?
Can I still tell this story in the face of such large scale horror?
Can I resist?
Can we hear, mourn and acknowledge Maysoon's story for what it is, what it was, and how deeply damaging and brutal something like this can be?
How calculated every arm of the Israeli machine is.

She called me when she landed in NYC and said "Emily you won't believe what happened to me at Ben Gurion Airport."
The ugliness of the occupation and the years of damaging experiences reared their ugly head inside me when my first thought was a bitten and ironic "What?"
Big deal! I thought. What could she possibly tell me that is so horrific?
My own experiences flashed through my mind....the time they smashed my G4 laptop in half so a huge chunk was hanging off of it, the countless tapes, film, pictures and more that they have ever confiscated, the strip searches, the humiliation of being strip searched by a man, when they emptied the vodka bottles I brought back for my peeps in Ramallah and filled them with water.......my dear sister who left Ben Gurion a few months ago and had everything she was carrying confiscated. She was only allowed to board the plane with her passport. She is a writer and filmmaker and loves to write on planes but they would not allow her a pen and paper. The sandwich she made in her home in Ramallah was taken from her. She made it because she has blood sugar issues and she needed that sandwich to make it through without getting sick and weak. She explained this to the Israeli security who looked at her with stealy eyes and told her to drink coffee....my sister. My uncle with cancer whose prosthesis they forcibly removed and on and on and on....

Before I continue, just a note that Maysoon has cerebral palsy and went through this whole process in a wheelchair at Ben Gurion airport.

Maysoon began "Emily I was strip-searched"
Me: "Oh yea so? Everyone gets strip searched." A disgusting reaction I know. I couldn't help myself. Yes it is shameful when you are so damaged that that is your first thought.
I can not forgive myself for that reaction.
Maysoon continued "They took everything. They left me naked in the room and when they returned with my clothes they had taken my maxipad."
What?
"Yes and then I told them I need one and they said they didn't have any."
She proceeded to tell them she had more in her hand carry-on. They wouldn't let her touch her stuff for "security reasons".
Nor would they give her one maxi-pad from her bag.
They would not let her travel with her carry-on luggage on the plane.

My friend Maysoon was made to bleed for hours in the airport all over herself in a wheelchair.

As if that wasn't enough. She was also not allowed to touch her medication(also in her hand carry-on). She has cerebral palsy and needs to take special medicine or else she will throw up on the flight.

Several hours later she finally boarded Continental Airlines. The stewardess looked at her in disgust when she entered the plane.
Maysoon looked up at her and said "They took my maxi-pad."
The stewardess' ramaged through their belongings and managed to produce a pair of shorts etc for her to wear.

She threw up 7 times on the flight as she was not allowed to take her medicine.

Are there words for such horror and brutality?
The policy of treating Palestinians in the most dispicable manner at border crossings has been in place for years in an effort to brutalize people to such an extreme that they will not return.
I remember it all.
Every crossing from Jordan when I was a kid in the 70's, and later through Ben Gurion in the 80's. I will not forget.

I will never forget what they did to Maysoon.

Maysoon who is a comedian, an actress and an activist.
She herself is writing down this story in greater detail when she is able to. And I will forward it to you then.
See her website:
http://www.maysoon.com/

Here is a link for a recent border crossing story written by a European-American.
A European-American, not a Palestinian-American, can visit Palestine
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5409.shtml

Cultural Boycott of Israel

2006-08-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

YOU can do something.
Also see:
Edinburgh Film Festival Returns Israeli Money
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5377.shtml

Greece Withdraws from Israel Film Festival
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060801/ennew_afp/mideastconflictlebanon_060801170709

http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=315_0_1_0_C
Palestinian Filmmakers, Artists and Cultural Workers Call for a Cultural Boycott of Israel
August 4, 2006

Dear Filmmakers & Artists,

During the past few weeks we have borne witness to the escalation of Israeli
aggression into open war on both Palestine and Lebanon.

With Israel’s invasion of Gaza on June 27th, 2006, ministries and educational institutions have been destroyed, as has the plant that supplies nearly 50 percent of Gaza's electricity. Bridges, roads, dozens of homes, and hundreds of dunams of agricultural land have also been destroyed. Sixty-four elected Palestinian legislators, cabinet ministers and officials have been detained without charge.

On July 12th, Israel brought its campaign of collective punishment and military violence to Lebanon, with "Operation Just Reward". A complete assault, via land, sea, and air, of the Lebanese population and infrastructure has led to total destruction. In just 3 weeks, almost 1 million Lebanese civilians have been displaced and the death toll has reached 900 Lebanese and 160 Palestinians, with a UN count saying one-third of the dead are children.

Additionally, in violation of international law, Israel continues to occupy Gaza, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and Syria’s Golan Heights. In violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel continues to hold 9,600 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails and detention centers without due process, among them 130 Palestinian women and 388 children, many of them taken from their homes in the middle of the night.

We, the undersigned Palestinian filmmakers and artists, appeal to all artists and filmmakers of good conscience around the world to cancel all exhibitions and other cultural events that are scheduled to occur in Israel, to mobilize immediately and not allow the continuation of the Israeli offensive to breed complacency. Like the boycott of South African art institutions during apartheid, cultural workers must speak out against the current Israeli war crimes and atrocities.

We call upon the International community to join us in the boycott of Israeli film festivals, Israeli public venues, and Israeli institutions supported by the government, and to end all cooperation with these cultural and artistic institutions that to date have refused to take a stand against the Occupation, the root cause for this colonial conflict.

We call upon you to take a stand in order to appeal to the Israeli people to give up their silence, to abandon their apathy, and to face up to their responsibility in the destruction and killing their elected government is wreaking. To the Lebanese and Palestinians terrorized by this Army's planes, bombs and missiles, this silence, apathy and lack of action from Israelis, are regarded as complicit in the ongoing war crimes, as for those Israeli artists, academics and intellectuals who continue to serve in the Israeli army they are directly implicated in these crimes.

We call upon you to give way to action that would replace words spoken too often and forgotten too quickly. We call upon you to make your voices heard in calling for an end to this bloodshed and an end to this oppression that has lasted too long.

To endorse or answer this call for a cultural boycott of Israel please send an email with your name, position and country to pal.filmmakers@gmail.com

hey guyz this is a WEIRD lebanon video for real

2006-08-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

this so SOOO strange!

Ali La Pointe/ Zena's words on the New York streets/ NYC Protest info

2006-07-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Zena's words chalked on a wall in NYC by Lauren Macdonald.

I was teaching students at a workshop yesterday. In the evening I showed them Battle of Algiers. Remember Ali la Pointe's head butt at the begining of the film? When the french racist tripped him?
ah it seems so so far away now

Zidane Zidane Zidane.
Zizou and that magnificant, elegant, animalistic, brilliant, poem of a headbutt.
what a strange prelude to this madness.
(oh by sheer coincidence an Irish friend sent me an email about a "belfast kiss" yesterday. love the irish!)
More on the workshop in a bit.

i have been feeling like i have my own war room going on. a headquarters of sorts with phone and email and sms etc. Recently i have started receiving messages in my inbox which start by saying "Dear Sirs" and then I am asked to find loved ones in Lebanon,...can you help me find so and so or so and so. Last I heard from the American consulate was such and such.....Here is the most recent from one hour ago:

"Sirs; can you give me any advice on where to get info about US citizens (Lebanese born) in ad D'way near Nabitayah. The US embassy is dealing with no. Lebanon only. I don'have my friend's passport no. or birthdate, but I have managed to get a registration through to the embassy. The State Dept is giving the same "guidance to So. Lebanese US citizens as it has for a week: register with embassy;listen to radio."

My inbox is also filled to the brim with endless petitions and "letters of condemnation" and in the midst of it all anjali k writes to me and says:
"-- i was struck a few days ago by something alex cockburn said on counterpunch about the left holed up in dark rooms on their computers --- mistaking a medium for a movement. it's hard ---"

Zena word's .......
Harrell Fletcher is the Artistic Director for a three-week, intensive program summer program, focusing on expanded ideas of art-making and creativity in relation to collaboration, community involvement, and activism. He invited me to teach there so yesterday I went. I gave a lecture in the morning and then in the afternoon I was asked to give the students an assignment that they could do in 2 hours. I decided to print emails from my inbox from the last two weeks. I also printed out the information about the Americans speed rushing bombs to Israel and spoke about the absurdity of the question Americans ask about wether to get involved or not when they are 100% involved! I gave each student a different email, and a copy of the article and told them to go out into the streets and do something in the public sphere based on their interaction, (or reaction) or whatever with the emails....

i wanted to share a few of the projects with you of the students who got Zena's emails.

Jennifer Delos Reyes was struck by Zena's description of her dog. Jennifer also had noticed how people in the Chelsea district all have dogs and LOVE their dogs so she subverted "lost dog" posters. She made a bunch of posters and underneath the dog she put Zena's description of her dog and how dogs can't be evacuated -- on another poster was the description Zena gave us about her friend's dog. I think I loved this so much because it reminded me of what we used to say in Palestine whenever we were attacked by Israel: "I wish we were animals, then at least the animal rights activists would do something to help us!" The contact number on Jennifer's lost dog posters was to a site that is taking donations to help Lebanese civilians that Zena wrote about in her email.

Lauren Macdonald took excerpts from Zena's email and wrote them all over Chelsea, for example, "Last night was probably the most frightful night of my entire life - Zena", and then she wrote the blogspot address.

Another girl re-wrote Zena's email over and over and over on white lined paper and then folded each one up and "accidentely" dropped them on the street. She did change the words on the first page, every time Zena said Beirut she changed it to "you" so that it would sound even more like a love letter. But aon the second page it said beirut and had the blogspot address. Capitalizing on peoples curiosity and nosiness on finding such a private letter in public on the street she subverted love letters to suck people in.

Elena walked around reading her email out loud in a pitch reminiscent of hysteria but with control, intensity and force. I actually cant describe how strong and powerful it was. How completely focused she was. Even while an African American fellow was yelling about how he hoped more bombs would drop, and that he loved christian zionists etc she just kept it up....She was unrelenting.

But the scariest of all. Oh god my stomach hurts when I think of it. One of the students was
sitting outside, and he was focusing on the information about the Americans speed ordering bombs....he saw a postal worker and asked him if it was possible to mail a bomb! Struck by the idea that the USA could mail bombs to people, he thought why can't he. He then went around the neighborhood interviewing other postal workers about this possiblity!!! And at the peak of this he actually went INTO the post office ( now with another student who had a camera hidden in his bag to record everything) to ask them directly!!!!! And might I mention that neither one of them is American - one from Puerto Rico and the other from Albania. How the hell he didn't get arrested is beyond me. This could have gone down so so SO BADLY! I can just see them getting arrested, and saying that their Palestinian teacher gave them these emails from Beirut and Gaza and and and....oh god! We would have all been locked up. And folks it is serious. Had I known he was going to do that I would have stopped him!
And as you know the FBI is stepping up "visits" to my people.....well of course we Palestinians are used to this, we been recorded, taped, watched, "visited" since 72....only after 911 a whole bunch of other folk ended up joining our plight....other Arabs, South Asians,...welcome to our world babes...
http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=2856

Lastly, there is a protest today in NYC and tomorrow in NYC so if you are here PLEASE COME!

FRIDAY PROTEST 28 JULY
Stop the war Stop the Killing
When: Friday 28 July, 3:30 to 6:30,
Where: Israeli Mission at the UN, 2nd Ave , between 42nd and 43rd Sts.
What: Join us in Saying NO to ISRAELI WAR of aggression against Civilians and Infrastructure in PALESTINE & LEBANON. We MUST continue the pressure.
Sponsored by: Arab Muslim American Federation, National Council Of Arab Americans, International Action Center, Troops Out Now Coalition , Alawda New York , Al-Khuli Islamic Center, ICNA N.Y, MAS New York.

SATURDAY PROTEST 29 JULY
March Across the Brooklyn Bridge
When: Saturday, July 29,
(MEETING AT 2 PM IN CADMAN PLAZA)
- Stop U.S.-Sponsored Israeli Terror
- End the occupation of Palestine
- Stop the invasion of Lebanon
- Stop U.S. Aid To Israel
- Free Arab Political Prisoners in Israel

*** MARCH ACROSS THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE ***
Saturday, July 29
2 PM
Gather at Cadman Plaza Park, Brooklyn

Called by the Ad-Hoc Coalition for Justice in the Middle East which was formed in response to Israel's attacks on the people of Palestine and Lebanon. We organized a petition, signed by more than 1000 organizations and individuals, that we delivered to the office of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. We have also organized several actions against Israel's brutal assaults, including, most recently, a demonstration of 1,500 people infront of the Israeli mission to the UN. Come help us organize!
For more information e-mail: protectpalestine@gmail.com
Called by the Ad-Hoc Coalition for Justice in the Middle East.

terrorist donkey killed, ohio professor detained in israel, Ramallah diary from my sister, and 10,000 palestinian prisoners

2006-07-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

While the world focuses on Lebanon, the Israelis work work work away in Gaza and the West Bank...

24 Palestinians were killed in Gaza yesterday. 70 were wounded.
Israeli troops killed on twenty-four Palestinians, including three children, on Wednesday, and injured at least 70 residents in Al Sha'af in Al Shijaeeya neighborhood, east of Gaza City
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20380&Itemid=1

911 in Nablus
In Nablus last week 6 were killed and 80 wounded.
http://www.thecornerreport.com/index.php?p=644&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#more644

IDF kills 4 Palestinians in Jenin and Gaza
(TODAY)
http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/201279

I heard that the Palestinians are going to release the Israeli soldier. The 1 Israeli (soldier!) who is being held prisoner by Palestinians, meanwhile 9,599 Palestinians (men, women, children, civilians, etc) are currently imprisoned by Israel. Oftentimes these prisoners are snatched from their
homes in the middle of the night, or while cultivating their fields etc., or they are taken by undercover Israeli squads who invade cities and usually kill a civilian or two while making the arrest.They are tortured in these Israeli detention and interrogation prisons.
There are currently 425 children behind bars currently.
Children as young as FIVE years old have been detained.
and as I write this the Israeli army is kidnapping people left and right....here is the ticker.....
Army takes a child as prisoner from Azaria, near Jerusalem 15:47
Army invades Beit Furiq and takes three prisoners 15:46
Army takes four prisoners from Yatta and Hebron 15:45
Army takes one prisoner from Al Khader village

Palestinian detainees tortured, facing bad mental and health conditions
http://sumoud.tao.ca/?q=node/view/691

I refused and he hit me about 14 year old Taher Ouda
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=458&CategoryId=3

There were so many stories about children detained and tortured from the Defense for Children International Website that you should just go yourself to the list: http://www.dci-pal.org/english/doclist.cfm?categoryid=3

Speaking of detainees Akron University professor Ghazi Falah has been held since July 8th!
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/9518934/detail.html?subid=10101081
The following website has just been set up to draw attention to the plight of Prof. Ghazi Falah (geography professor at the University of Akron and the editor of Arab World Geographer), who has been detained in an Israeli prison without access to his lawyer since July 8.
http://muehlenhaus.com/ghazi/
Please take a moment to send a letter to the US and Canadian embassy officials in Israel as well as to the Israeli authorities (click on "You can help Ghazi here") to help ensure his fair and humane treatment. His friends, colleagues and family are very worried about him.

Two things you should check out on Electronic Intifada:
Ramallah to Rice "Screw your new Middle East!"
Huge demo in Ramallah against that war monger Rice! Go to and you will see a picture of my sister!!! : )
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5250.shtml

Terrorist Donkey Joins Family in Death
Palestine, 25 July 2006
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5225.shtml

And lastly here is a diary entry from Ramallah.....

Hi all,

Keef kum? I am exhausted we had a protest today because Condi Rice came to Ramallah today. Can you fucking believe that? She has the nerve to show her face here after all this shit the US has unleashed on the world once again. But it was amazing, there were 1,000 people there from all the different factions, political groups PFLP, DFLP, Fateh, Hamas, independents, communists, women's organizations, al Haq, Mubadara, ISM, students, etc. Of course all the journalists ran like lemmings to the one woman there whose face was totally covered and holding a photo of Nasrallah.

The CIA took over Ramallah with their security and blocked us from coming anywhere near the Muqata where she was. The Palestinian police were there in their role as police-dogs. Things actually got somewhat violent... very depressing.

We went up to visit friends in Haifa a few days ago to see them, make sure they are ok, etc. It was so strange. Haifa is a ghost town, totally dead. Every Israeli has hit the road and gone away to Jerusalem, Aqaba, New York. We felt like the only people still left were our Palestinian friends there, and the Russian immigrants.

Several times, the air raid sirens went off and people went for cover. To us, it was somewhat ridiculous. I know that must sound funny, maybe even insensitive. But compared to what's happening in Lebanon and Gaza, it's goddamn paradise up there in Haifa. I mean, every now and then the sirens go off and a rocket will hit somewhere. And it's scary because someone will probably be injured or die from it but it's so minimal. I mean, it's so..so nothing..so exaggerated in the news. We'd hide for a few moments, and then come out again and continue as normal. Can you imagine anyone in Gaza or Lebanon having that privilege? It just didn't feel dangerous there or unsafe to us. Even Ramallah on any given day of the week, is scarier than that with the Army entering, shooting and blowing up things, or under-cover Israelis kidnapping people from the middle of town. And you know Ramallah is the best place to be in the West Bank people still have food here, fuel, work...

It' summer the time of film festivals. Good news this week a few of us were invited to the Locarno Film Festival. I noticed the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs listed as a co-sponsor. They are carpet bombing Gaza and Beirut and then go and sponsor film festivals in Europe as if everything is normal. We of course protested to Locarno and said we would pull our films out if they chose to work with a government organization the same government that is carrying out ethnic cleansing, and suffocating and massacring our friends and family. Thankfully, Locarno took our concerns seriously and dropped them.

Ramallah is more or less quiet. While all eyes (or at least some eyes) are on Lebanon, the land confiscations continue, the Wall comes to completion and the checkpoints only grow more permanent. Kalandia was closed several times this week. Emily, you won't recognize it when you come. Nablus is under attack. A Five year old girl and a nine-month old baby were just killed in Gaza. The land shrinks. People are really, really depressed. They have managed to squash us into the ground and most people no longer have the energy to hope anymore.

I love you all.
Emily everyone misses you and constantly asks about you. Ta alee!!!

xo,
a

ps. Just got a call from a friend. The Army was in town last night - I didn't even know! - they went to his families house and blew up the door to their neighbors house and then ran amok all over the camp shooting and harrassing everyone.

from me and from Zena and Rasha in Beirut

2006-07-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hello friends
This will be my last forward from Zena as she now has her own blog and you can go yourself everyday as well as add your comments. Also Rasha's diary from day 8 of the siege is included below....she says that "writing has become increasingly difficult"....

My inbox is flooded with personal accounts from friends and loved ones in Lebanon and I don't know what to do. There is a kind of voyeurism that makes me extremely uncomfortable when I imagine lefties around the world sitting at home reading these accounts. I am aware of how quickly it has become "normal" what is happening in Lebanon. Perhaps most frustrating is the similarities between these accounts and all the accounts which came out (and are still coming out) of Palestine during this intifada including my own siege diaries...

I am sure there will be conferences organized, teach-ins and always the "hero" filmmaker who will risk life to make a documentary, the readings, the art exhibits, and the art world will eat the Lebanese artists like pieces of chocolate .......

And in the end nothing will have been changed or stopped. Is this all fodder for entertainment? Something for people to write about, make art about, make films about, cry about, complain about, shout about, and then go home and live while the bombs drop and entire countries are destroyed....

Last night I attended a crowded meeting of activists, artists, everyone planning protests, vigils, media campaigns, posters and graffiti, t-shirts......it felt like a re-play of meetings and ideas from organization meetings from the year 2001,.....how many times must we re-live this? Will our lives always be cyclical? How many generations have to live through these Israeli horrors. Can't we have one generation, just one that does not have an experience of being brutalized, bombed, shot at, imprisoned, exiled, home blown up?
Just one.
Watching the generation of my parents having to re-live all this yet again....how many times 1948? How many?

I walk around and there is a huge ball of pain deep within me that threatens to come up every once in awhile and flood everything around me with tears and there is a kind of deep inner scream from the depths of my belly that also threatens and when it does make its way out I am afraid it will have such a force that my body might rip open.

Please forgive my bitterness.
Please read my beloved Zena and my beloved Rasha's words...two beautiful and amazing women on this earth.....

Salamaat
Emily

Hi everyone,

I want to tell you that I have not stopped writing.

It has become difficult for me to email my writing to my mailing list.. I
also noticed a lot of people were receiving it in their junk boxes, because
I am mass emailing. Also, mass emailing could spread viruses and spam..i got
a weird email in my inbox today.

So, a friend set up a blog for me, and I have been posting there regularly.

I will not be mass emailing anymore, so please please check my blog daily.

http://beirutupdate.blogspot.com/

You can leave comments on it too.

We have heard that our writings from this end of the world are reaching
people globally. It is a great sign. We need to be heard. Keep writing. Keep
taking pictures. Keep filming... Keep on...!

Please don't forget about me because I am not appearing in your inbox. And
please, please pass the website around.

I can not thank you enough for all your love and support. Your good
wishes... You efforts in taking action. Your desire to spread the news. Your
unconditional faith in humanity.

As a people guided by love, we will get through this.

With love,
Always,
Zena el-Khalil

Dear All,

I have to confess that writing is becoming increasingly difficult. Writing, putting words together to make sentences to convey meaning, like the small gestures and rituals that make-up the commonplace acts of everyday life, has begun to lose its meaning and its cathartic power. I am consumed with grief, there is another me trapped inside me that cries all the time. And crying over the death of someone is a very particular cry. It has a different sound, a different music and feels different. I dare not cry out in the open, tears have flowed, time and time again, but I have repressed the release of pain and grief. My body feels like a container of tears and grief. I am sure it shows in the way I walk.
Writing is not pointless per se, but it is not longer an activity that gives me relief. The world outside this siege seems increasingly far, as if it had evacuated with the bi-national passport holders and foreigners.

The past few days have been MURDEROUS in the south and the Beqaa Valley. The death toll has been increasing in a horrific exponential envigorated with the White House giving a green light for the military assault to persist. Beirut has been spared so far, but not the southern suburbs. Today is Day 12 of the war, the Israeli military has conducted 3,000 air raids on Lebanon in 12 days. Out of the total deaths so far, which range close to 400 (numbers are not definitive), almost 170 are children. The numbers of the displaced are increasing by the hour. Have you seen the pictures of the deaths? The mourners in Tyre? Have you seen the coffins lined up? And the grieving mothers.
It is impossible not to grieve with them, it is impossible to shut one's ears to their wailing. It haunts me, it echoes the walls of the city, it bounces off the concrete of destroyed bridges and buildings. In trying to explain what drove Mohammad Atta to fly an airplane into one of the towers of the World Trade Center, someone (I forget whom- sorry facts-checkers) once said to me that Atta must have felt that "his scream was bigger than his chest". That description stayed with me, I don't know if I agree with it, or if that's how Atta felt in reality, but it comes back to me now because I feel that my grief is bigger than my chest and I have no idea how to dissipate it.

The Southern Suburbs
I accompanied journalists to Haret Hreyk two days ago. I suspect I am still shell-shocked from the sight of the destruction. I have never, ever seen destruction in that fashion. Western journalists kept talking about a "post-apocalyptic" landscape. The American journalists were reminded of Ground Zero. There are no gaping holes in the ground, just an entire neighborhood flattened into rubble. Mounds, and mounds of smoldering rubble. Blocks of concrete, metal rods, mixed with furnishings, and the stuff that made up the lives of residents: photographs, clothes, dishes, CD-roms, computer monitors, knives and forks, books, notebooks, tapes, alarm clocks. The contents of hundreds of families stacked amidst smoking rubble. A couple of buildings had been hit earlier that morning and were still smoking, buildings were still collapsing slowly.
I was frightened to death and I could hear my own wailing deep, deep within me.
I stopped in front of one of the buildings that housed clinics and offices that provide social services, there seemed to be a sea of CD-Roms and DVDs all over. I picked up one, expecting to find something that had to do with the Hezbollah propaganda machine (and it is pretty awesome). The first one read "Sahh el-Nom 1", the second "Sahh el-Nom 17". "Sahh el-Nom" was a very popular sit-com (way, way before the concept was even identified) produced by Syrian TV in the 1960s. It was centered on the character of "Ghawwar el-Tosheh", who has become a salient figure in popular Arab culture. I smiled mournfully, at the irony. Around the corner passport photos and film negatives covered the rubble.
Haret Hreyk was a residential area. The residents, I was told by our driver who lived a few blocks away, were evacuated by Hezbollah to other places before the shelling began. Those who refused to leave then, left after the first round of shelling. Haret Hreyk is eerily ghostly, there are practically no people left in that neighborhood. In the two hundred meters radius removed however, life is on-going. Residents testified that Hezbollah was securing food, electricity and medicines to all those who stayed.
Haret Hreyk is also where Hezbollah had a number of their offices. Al-Manar TV station is located in the block that has come to be known as the "security compound" (or "security square"), the office of their research and policy studies center, and other institutions attached the party. It is said that in that heavily inhabited square of blocks, more than 35 buildings were destroyed entirely.
Hezbollah had organized a visit for journalists that day, as they had the day before. They provided security cover for the area for the international media cameras to document the destruction. There was a spokesperson greeting journalists. A small rotund man, dressed in a track suit, fancy sunglasses, a two-day old stubble carrying two state of the art cell phones. He spoke in concise soundbites and was affable. There was nothing menacing about his demeanor, in fact were it not for the destruction around him he looked more like he would be an assistant to Scolari (similar dress code and portend) than part of the media team of a "terrorist organization".
The security apparatus of Hezbollah was also impressive, underscoring the identity of Hezbollah. They were all affable, welcoming, dressed casually and unarmed. They all held walkie-talkies, and when looming danger of another Israeli air strike seemed tangible, they all ushered the group of some 30 (and more) journalists to clear the area. They issued their warnings calmly and confidently.
One of the buildings was still burning. It had been shelled earlier that day at dawn. Clouds of smoke were exhaling from amidst the ravages. The rubble was very warm, as I stepped on concrete and metal, my feet felt the heat.

Israeli Warfare Mystery
Doctors in hospitals in the south have testified on television that they a number of bodies that have reached them have an unusual, unfamiliar skin color. Some of surviving injured exhibit a pattern of burns that doctors have also never seen before. The question is beginning to get attention for the world community of physicians and human rights organization. Israel is suspected of loading its missiles with toxic chemicals. The fear, in addition to their toxicity being immediately lethal on its victims, is that the waters and earth may now be poisoned. The inhabitants of the south may have to suffer from Israel's wrath for a very, very long time, in chilling cold blood.
The as-Safir newspaper, the second largest running daily in Lebanon, has taken up the task to investigate the question.
Beyond the crime of toxic poisoning, the type of shells and bombs used is also astounding. I met a woman who was displaced from the borderig village of Yater. She is a native American, blue blood and apple pie, but with a hijab. She, her husband, her three babies and her husband's family, a total of 14 people were trapped in one room in their house in Yater. On the 6th or 7th day of shelling, she cracked and her kids could not longer handle the violence. Risking their lives, they jumped into their car, and decided to take their chance. They drove straight without stopping, taking circuitous ways when the main roads were impossible to tread. They expected to die on the road. After 14 hours of driving they made their way to the US embassy in the northeastern suburbs of Beirut. They were not aware of evacuations. They were lost on the way, and someone stole her husband's wallet with the 400$ in cash they carried (the totality of their fortune), his green card and her US passport. I came across her at the US embassy compound. She was trembling. She could barely tell her story coherently. She repeated over and over that she had seen houses fly, that the shells made the houses fly in the air and then collapse on the ground. She repeated that she ought not to have gone to the window, but she could not help it, she was curious, and she saw the houses fly.
As a holder of US passport (and real native) she had been allowed into the embassy. Her husband, only a green card holder, was not. The US embassy changed their policy, I was later told by people and journalists, but at various stages in the evacuation, green-card holders were not included in the evacuations plan. Pardon me, in the plans for "assisted departures".
I don't know what happened to the American mother from Portland Oregon and Yater south Lebanon. I know her babies are lactose intolerant and their only food was the stock of soy milk she had with her. She was very young, a face earnest, her skin transluscent white. In her pale blue eyes there was despair and fright that she will not recover from for a very long time.

The Displaced
The displaced have been dispersed in the country. They have been placed in schools, universities, government owned buildings. Aid is arriving, but still in chaotic manner. Volunteers are beginning to get tired. However nothing compares to the distress of the displaced. They are in a state of complete emotional upheaval. Their presence has already changed the habits and rituals of the neighborhoods where they have been placed.
As the sun begins to set and the harshness of its rays begins to dim, you find families strolling on Hamra street (a main commercial thoroughfare in West Beirut). Shops are closed, sandwich shops are closed, cafes are intermittantly open, but the sidewalk provides an opportunity to escape the confinement from the shelter where they been relocated. You can see it in their walk, their body language. Their pace searches for peace of mind, not for a destination, their lungs expand drawing in oxygen to inspire quietude and calm, not for cardiovascular pressure. They have a deep, mournful, sorrowful gaze. They left behind their entire lives, maybe even their beloved.
In Ras Beirut, small backstreets have come to life. To escape the heat of indoor confinement, displaced families relocated to old homes or government-owned buildings, have grown in the habit of placing plastic chairs and their narguiles on small front porches or entrance hallways of buildings. I had to walk home after a long day of working with journalists, two nights ago, and as I zigzagged through these back streets, I was comforted by their gentle presence. They chatted, softly, quietly, huddled in groups, watching the night unfold, fearful of the sound of Israeli warplanes.
The ceaseless newscast from a radio kept everyone informed. It too sounded softly. It was a gentle summer night, and the families dispersed and uprooted surrendered to the gentleness of the night.
On the next block, three young woman stood in line, queuing for access to a public payphone. That too has become a familiar sight in Beirut. People lining at public payphones. They stood, clearly tired but resilient. To my "good evening", I was greeted back with smiles and another "good evening". I was relieved to see that they felt safe, that they roamed the city at night without qualms. How long can they afford to pay for these phone calls is another question. There is a definite need for a long term plan. This emergency solution will soon reach a crisis, and state structures need to be prepared to face the anger and frustration of nearly 500,000 people.
On the next block, a Mercedes car packed with people was parked at a corner, in front of the entrance of a building. The car's doors were flung open and the radio broadcast news. It was a visit. Two displaced families on a nightly visit. Everyone was gentle, and a soft breeze blew with clemency.

US Speeds Bomb Delivery

2006-07-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

July 22, 2006
I am horrified and sick to my stomach.
I feel like throwing up.
The Israelis are massing on the border, all the foreigners are leaving and now the Americans are rushing in weapons.....I am so fucking scared....
what are they planning? what are they planning?
I can't even describe to you the dread and fear I feel inside me....

Over 300 Lebanese civilians have been killed. Air attacks have destroyed all parts of the civilian infrastructure and today targeted transmission towers for television stations and mobile phones in the north. 500,000 have been forced to leave their homes and what do the Americans do??
Send a peace envoy?
Support a cease-fire?
NO!
They send WEAPONS!
When will the American people take responsibility?
Do they not realize that their hands are dripping with blood?
They speak about it as if America is not involved.
I even just saw a poll on CNN where they asked the American people if they should get involved or not!!!???? How laughable is that?!!!!
AMERICA IS IN INVOLVED!

There truly are no words to describe this move by the American Administration.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/world/middleeast/22military.html

July 22, 2006

U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis

By DAVID S. CLOUD and HELENE COOPER

WASHINGTON, July 21 The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of
precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment
last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in
Lebanon, American officials said Friday.

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with
relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials
said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others
because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the
Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Irans efforts
to arm and resupply Hezbollah.

The munitions that the United States is sending to Israel are part of a
multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel is
able to draw on as needed, the officials said. But Israels request for
expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described
as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication that Israel
still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that she would head to
Israel on Sunday at the beginning of a round of Middle Eastern diplomacy.
The original plan was to include a stop to Cairo in her travels, but she
did not announce any stops in Arab capitals.

Instead, the meeting of Arab and European envoys planned for Cairo will
take place in Italy, Western diplomats said. While Arab governments
initially criticized Hezbollah for starting the fight with Israel in
Lebanon, discontent is rising in Arab countries over the number of
civilian casualties in Lebanon, and the governments have become wary of
playing host to Ms. Rice until a cease-fire package is put together.

To hold the meetings in an Arab capital before a diplomatic solution is
reached, said Martin S. Indyk, a former American ambassador to Israel,
would have identified the Arabs as the primary partner of the United
States in this project at a time where Hezbollah is accusing the Arab
leaders of providing cover for the continuation of Israels military
operation.

The decision to stay away from Arab countries for now is a markedly
different strategy from the shuttle diplomacy that previous
administrations used to mediate in the Middle East. I have no interest in
diplomacy for the sake of returning Lebanon and Israel to the status quo
ante, Ms. Rice said Friday. I could have gotten on a plane and rushed over
and started shuttling around, and it wouldnt have been clear what I was
shuttling to do.

Before Ms. Rice heads to Israel on Sunday, she will join President Bush at
the White House for discussions on the Middle East crisis with two Saudi
envoys, Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, and Prince Bandar bin
Sultan, the secretary general of the National Security Council.

The new American arms shipment to Israel has not been announced publicly,
and the officials who described the administrations decision to rush the
munitions to Israel would discuss it only after being promised anonymity.
The officials included employees of two government agencies, and one
described the shipment as just one example of a broad array of armaments
that the United States has long provided Israel.

One American official said the shipment should not be compared to the kind
of an emergency resupply of dwindling Israeli stockpiles that was provided
during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when an American military airlift helped
Israel recover from early Arab victories.

David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said: We
have been using precision-guided munitions in order to neutralize the
military capabilities of Hezbollah and to minimize harm to civilians. As a
rule, however, we do not comment on Israels defense acquisitions.

Israels need for precision munitions is driven in part by its strategy in
Lebanon, which includes destroying hardened underground bunkers where
Hezbollah leaders are said to have taken refuge, as well as missile sites
and other targets that would be hard to hit without laser and
satellite-guided bombs.

Pentagon and military officials declined to describe in detail the size
and contents of the shipment to Israel, and they would not say whether the
munitions were being shipped by cargo aircraft or some other means. But an
arms-sale package approved last year provides authority for Israel to
purchase from the United States as many as 100 GBU-28s, which are
5,000-pound laser-guided bombs intended to destroy concrete bunkers. The
package also provides for selling satellite-guided munitions.

An announcement in 2005 that Israel was eligible to buy the bunker buster
weapons described the GBU-28 as a special weapon that was developed for
penetrating hardened command centers located deep underground. The
document added, The Israeli Air Force will use these GBU-28s on their F-15
aircraft.

American officials said that once a weapons purchase is approved, it is up
to the buyer nation to set up a timetable. But one American official said
normal procedures usually do not include rushing deliveries within days of
a request. That was done because Israel is a close ally in the midst of
hostilities, the official said.

Although Israel had some precision guided bombs in its stockpile when the
campaign in Lebanon began, the Israelis may not have taken delivery of all
the weapons they were entitled to under the 2005 sale.

Israel said its air force had dropped 23 tons of explosives Wednesday
night alone in Beirut, in an effort to penetrate what was believed to be a
bunker used by senior Hezbollah officials.

A senior Israeli official said Friday that the attacks to date had
degraded Hezbollahs military strength by roughly half, but that the
campaign could go on for two more weeks or longer. We will stay heavily
with the air campaign, he said. Theres no time limit. We will end when we
achieve our goals.

The Bush administration announced Thursday a military equipment sale to
Saudi Arabia, worth more than $6 billion, a move that may in part have
been aimed at deflecting inevitable Arab government anger at the decision
to supply Israel with munitions in the event that effort became public.

On Friday, Bush administration officials laid out their plans for the
diplomatic strategy that Ms. Rice will pursue. In Rome, the United States
will try to hammer out a diplomatic package that will offer Lebanon
incentives under the condition that a United Nations resolution, which
calls for the disarming of Hezbollah, is implemented.

Diplomats will also try to figure out the details around an eventual
international peacekeeping force, and which countries will contribute to
it. Germany and Russia have both indicated that they would be willing to
contribute forces; Ms. Rice said the United States was unlikely to.

Implicit in the eventual diplomatic package is a cease-fire. But a senior
American official said it remained unclear whether, under such a plan,
Hezbollah would be asked to retreat from southern Lebanon and commit to a
cease-fire, or whether American diplomats might depend on Israels
continued bombardment to make Hezbollahs acquiescence irrelevant.

Daniel Ayalon, Israels ambassador to Washington, said that Israel would
not rule out an international force to police the borders of Lebanon and
Syria and to patrol southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has had a
stronghold. But he said that Israel was first determined to take out
Hezbollahs command and control centers and weapons stockpiles.

Thom Shanker contributed reporting for this article.

Yahoo! News
US speeds up bomb deliveries to Israel

Sat Jul 22, 5:51 AM ET

The United States is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel,
which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air
campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, citing unnamed US officials.

The decision to expedite the weapons to Israel was made with relatively
little debate within the administration of President George W. Bush, the officials
said Friday on condition of anonymity.

The New York Times reported Saturday the disclosure threatens to anger Arab
governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is
actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to
Irans efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.

According to the officials, the munitions being sent are part of a
multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel is able to draw on
as needed.

But Israels request for rush delivery of the satellite- and laser-guided
bombs was described as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication
that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike, the newspaper
said.

The new US arms shipment to Israel has not been announced publicly, and the
officials who described the Bush administrations decision to rush the munitions
to Israel would discuss it only after being promised anonymity.

Pentagon officials declined to describe in detail the size and contents of
the shipment to Israel, and they would not say whether the munitions were being
shipped by cargo aircraft or some other means, the Times said.

An arms-sale package approved last year provides authority for Israel to
purchase from the United States as many as 100 GBU-28s, which are 5,000-pound
(2,268-kilogram) laser-guided bombs intended to destroy concrete bunkers. The
package also provides for selling satellite-guided munitions, the newspaper said.

One US official said normal procedures usually do not include rushing
deliveries within days of a request. That was done because Israel is a close ally in
the midst of hostilities, the official told the Times.

Letter From Israeli Filmmakers

2006-07-22T10:34:00.001-07:00

a letter to Palestinian and Lebanese filmmakers
to coincide with the opening of the Arab Film Biennial in Paris July 22nd

(French follows)

We, the undersigned Israeli filmmakers, greet the Arab filmmakers who have gathered in Paris for the Arab Film Biennial. Through you, we wish to convey a message of camaraderie and solidarity with our Lebanese and Palestinian colleagues who are currently besieged and bombarded by our country’s army.

We unequivocally oppose the brutality and cruelty of Israeli policy, which has reached new heights in recent weeks. Nothing justifies the continued occupation, closure, and oppression in Palestine. Nothing justifies the bombing of civilians and the destruction of infrastructures in Lebanon and Gaza.

Allow us to tell you that your films, which we try to see and circulate among us, are extremely important in our eyes. They enable us to know and understand you better. Thanks to these films, the men, women, and children who suffer in Gaza, Beirut, and everywhere else our army exercises its violence - have names and faces. We would like to thank you and encourage you to keep on filming, despite the difficulties.

For our part, we will continue to express through our films, with our raised voices, and in our personal actions our vehement opposition to the occupation, and we will continue to express our desire for freedom, justice, and equality among all the peoples of the region.

Nurith Aviv / Ilil Alexander / Adi Arbel / Yael Bartana / Philippe Bellaiche / Simone Bitton / Michale Boganim / Amit Breuer / Shai Carmeli-Pollack / Sami S. Chetrit / Danae Elon / Anat Even / Jack Faber / Avner Fainguelernt / Ari Folman / Gali Gold / BZ Goldberg / Sharon Hamou / Amir Harel / Avraham Heffner / Rachel Leah Jones / Dalia Karpel / Avi Kleinberger / Elonor Kowarsky / Edna Kowarsky / Philippa Kowarsky / Ram Loevi / Avi Mograbi / Jud Neeman / David Ofek / Iris Rubin / Abraham Segal / Nurith Shareth / Julie Shlez / Eyal Sivan / Yael Shavit / Eran Torbiner / Osnat Trabelsi / Daniel Waxman / Keren Yedaya

Nous, cineastes israéliens , saluons tous les cineastes arabes réunis à Paris pour la Biennale du cinema arabe . A travers vous, nous voulons envoyer un message d'amitié et de solidarité à nos collegues Libanais et Palestiniens qui sont actuellement assiégés et bombardés par l'armée de notre pays.
Nous nous opposons categoriquement à la brutalité et à la cruauté de la politique israélienne, qui a atteint de nouveaux sommets au cours des dernières semaines. Rien ne peut justifier la poursuite de l'occupation , de l'enfermement et de la repression en Palestine. Rien ne peut justifier le bombardement de populations civiles et la destruction d'infrastuctures au Liban et dans la bande de Gaza.

Permettez nous de vous dire que vos films, que nous nous efforcons de voir et de faire circuler autour de nous, sont tres importants à nos yeux. Ils nous aident à vous connaître et à vous comprendre. Grace à ces films, les hommes, les femmes et les enfants qui souffrent à Gaza, à Beyrouth, et partout où notre armée déploie sa violence, ont pour nous des noms et des visages. Nous voulons vous en remercier, et vous encourager à continuer de filmer, malgré toutes les difficultés .

Quant à nous, nous nous engageons à continuer d'exprimer, par nos films, nos prises de paroles et nos actions personelles, notre opposition catégorique à l'occupation et notre désir de liberté, de justice et d'égalité pour tous les peuples de la région.

Nurith Aviv / Ilil Alexander / Adi Arbel / Yael Bartana / Philippe Bellaiche / Simone Bitton / Michale Boganim / Amit Breuer / Shai Carmeli-Pollack / Sami S. Chetrit / Danae Elon / Anat Even / Jack Faber / Avner Fainguelernt / Ari Folman / Gali Gold / BZ Goldberg / Sharon Hamou / Amir Harel / Avraham Heffner / Rachel Leah Jones / Dalia Karpel / Avi Kleinberger / Elonor Kowarsky / Edna Kowarsky / Philippa Kowarsky / Ram Loevi / Avi Mograbi / Jud Neeman / David Ofek / Iris Rubin / Abraham Segal / Nurith Shareth / Julie Shlez / Eyal Sivan / Yael Shavit / Eran Torbiner / Osnat Trabelsi / Daniel Waxman / Keren Yedaya