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Photos ... Palestine

Children of Palestine

Don’t Say You Didn’t Know!!

Defiance and World Support

Attacking medics, ambulances and press

The home of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haneyeh

School in Palestine

Don’t Say You Haven’t Seen!!

Nakba, the Palestinian Catastrophe

Gaza Genocide

Don’t Say ″They Told Me So″ !!

Facts and Figures

Gaza (sorry, very disturbing)

Israel used illegal weapons in Gaza and Lebanon (sorry very disturbing)

Don’t Say ″The Media Didn’t Tell Me″ !

The Land is Yearning To Be Reunited with Her Loved Ones !!
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Gilad Atzmon: Time Is Ripe For A Paradigm Shift

It is slightly embarrassing for me to admit that sometime Zionists are actually well ahead of our favourite intellectuals in understanding the depth of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It is not that they are more clever, they are just free to explore the conflict without being subject to the tyranny of ‘political correctness’, also being proud nationalist Jews- they do not need the approval of the Jewish left thought police.

I have recently come across a short Haaretz article by Israeli writer A.B. Yehoshua*.

Yehoshua is a proud Zionist, He believes in the right of his people to dwell on Palestinian land. He is also convinced that the Jewish state is the true meaning of contemporary Jewish life.

I guess that Yehoshua loves himself almost as much as I despise everything he stands for and yet, I have to confess, he seems to grasp the depth of the Israeli Palestinian conflict’s parameters slightly better than most solidarity activists I can think of.

In his Haaretz article Yehoshua stressed that Zionism was “something original and one of its kind in human history- A folk arrived at the homeland of another folk attempting to replace the old identity with a new/old identity”. Yehoshua also counters the faulty colonial paradigm and practically repeats my own theses almost word by word. “There was also no (Zionist) attempt to impose a colonial regime, since the Jews had no (mother) state that could have sent them to perform a colonial conquests like in the case of England or France.”

Yehoshua, is certainly correct here, as much as some amongst us are contend to argue that Zionism is a ‘colonial project’ and Israel is a ‘settler State’, such a position has no ground and cannot be supported factually or historically. The Colonial paradigm is simply a fantasy that is clumsily imposed on our discourse in a desperate attempt to make the Israeli/Palestinian conflict meaningful within a decaying Marxist discourse.

Yehoshua continues, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict will not be resolved because it's a totally unique conflict in human history. “There is no historical precedence for a nation that decides to return to its ancient homeland and establish its sovereignty there.” Whether the conflict will be resolved or not is indeed a crucial question. I am not so sure that Yehoshua knows the answer or even can contemplate a reality in which the Jewish State belongs to the past. However, Yehoshua is obviously correct in his reading of the uniqueness of the Zionist history. We are dealing here with an exceptional and unprecedented national aspiration driving by racist impetus. But Yehoshua takes it further. “Thus,” he says, If we all accept that the modern return of Jews to Zion is a unique event in human history – then the Palestinian people, unlike any other people, had to face a totally unique phenomenon.” If we accept that Zionism is an abnormal political ideology and practice, then, Palestinian nationalism (that is defined by negation to abnormality) must be also a unique to say the least.

I must admit that Yehoshua’s stand is well argued and totally valid. However, it means that all comparative models such as the colonial paradigm are doomed to crash. Jewish nationalism doesn’t fit into any available template, it formulates a model of its own.

According to Yehoshua, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is not really about territorial issues. “Territorial issues can be resolved” he says. “In our conflict, both sides, struggle over national identity of the whole country.” Yehoshua offers here a very interesting insight that cannot be uttered within the boundaries of the Left discourse. For both parties, especially the Palestinians, he says, “it is unclear what is the size of the people it is up against, is it only the Israelis or is it also the Jewish Diaspora as a whole.” Yehoshua raises here an issue I myself have been stressing for years. It is far from being clear to anyone (including Israelis and Jews) where Israel ends and the Diaspora starts. It is also far from being clear where the Israeli ends and the Jew starts. I guess that for most contemporary Jews it is even far from being clear anymore where Zionism ends and Judaism starts. In the contemporary Jewish world there are no clear dichotomies. We are dealing with a spineless elastic metamorphic identity that shapes itself to fit every possible circumstances. This may explain how come the Jewish state can dually operate as an oppressor and a victim simultaneously.

The Israelis, according to Yehoshua are also subject to a similar confusion. They also cannot figure out whether it is just the Palestinian people they are up against or is it the whole Arab nation or even the entire Muslim world. For Yehoshua, the conflict “lacks a clear demographic boundaries. This fact alone creates an initial deep distrust between the two peoples that prevents a possible solution.”

Yeshoua is far from being a brilliant mind, yet, he manages to analyse the conflict correctly just because he is free to think out of the Leftist box. Being a proud Israeli Jew he is free to say what he thinks without the need to appease half a dozen so-called ‘progressive’ Jews. Yehoshua’s analysis makes a lot of sense to me though we draw the complete opposite conclusions. I believe that the Palestinian solidarity discourse better liberate itself of any form of dogmatic political thinking. It is about time and look at the conflict for what it is. We must engage in a true plural debate and emancipate ourselves of any traces of rigid and anachronistic thinking.

* The article has now disappeared from Haaretz site. You can upload an Hebrew version here.
The English version just appeared here.
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In case you missed it: Truth in Stuttgart

THIRD PALESTINIAN INTIFADA: All Arabs to March on Israel on May 15th

April 24, 2011 posted by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat ·

“With those powerful political storms rolling up the Middle East, and with this unstoppable and unpredictable domino effect of popular uprisings, how long before we watch the Israeli domino piece fall down”

“And if dictatorships are not tolerated in the Arab world anymore, why the Israeli quasi-dictatorship over the Palestinians should be any exception”

Dr. Ashraf Ezzat

All of The popular uprisings that swept through the Arab world have been preplanned and officially launched on facebook pages weeks in advance.

Pro-Israel lobbying. An Israeli Cabinet minister, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and a massive American-Zionist campaign have succeeded in pressuring Facebook into removing the “third Intifada” page, which clearly calls for an all-Arab uprising against Israel.
According to the facebook “cause” page, the plan for the intifada would go as follows;

Friday, May 13th
 In Egypt, the epicenter of the Arab world, the biggest Arab country and from Tahrir square at the heart of Cairo where the whole Arab spring has sprung and gained fervent momentum, this massive Arab intifada will be launched.
Millions will gather once again in Tahrir square at the heart of Cairo but this time to call for all Arab-march toward Israel.
This mass protest will come two days prior to the actual march, as a clear message to Israel and the rest of the world that liberating Palestine is the core cause for every Arab in the Middle East. And that restoring Jerusalem is all Arab’s sacred mission
 
Sunday, May 15th
 To commemorate the Palestinian exodus day 1948 ( Nakba) when well over 750000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled out of their home land by Israel, similar number of Thousands angry Arab protesters from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon along with their Palestinian brothers from Gaza and the occupied west bank will advance toward Israel in what they call, the third intifada



Profile photo of the
third Intifada on facebook



In their march they will be denouncing the ongoing Zionist occupation of the Arabic land of Palestine and calling for internationally recognized independent Palestinian state over its legitimate pre-1967 borders with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital.

Those fair Palestinian demands have been begged for by all ways known to diplomacy over the last 60 years. But since diplomacy has utterly failed the Arabs of Palestine and since politicians have granted them nothing except despair and Diaspora, they thought it was time they put their life into their own hands.

And what could be more timely than this Arab spring, which

a lot of Arabs could not see or rather imagine approaching its full bloom without Palestine included.

This revolutionary plan that has been publicly posted on a facebook “cause” page and given the daring title “the third Palestinian Intifada” as there has been two Palestinian Intifada- uprisings- before. The first was sparked in 1987 and the second or what is known as the Aq’sa intifada in 2000, during both uprisings, Israel had to live through years of domestic unrest and worldwide condemnation of its apartheid and oppressive policy toward the Palestinians.

But as this “cause” page managed to attract almost 300000 fans and incredibly growing number of visitors in just few days Israel grew restlessly nervous about it. And nervously restless Israel acted in response.

What was worrying Tel Aviv is the fact that, so far, all Arab uprisings have been kicked off on facebook pages. So, under the boiling situation in the Arab world this facebook call couldn’t be underrated nor neglected.

Bullying facebook

With the unbelievably growing traffic to the facebook page and the spread of the call for a third intifada Israel couldn’t just stand watching underneath its big sign that reads “The only democracy in the Middle East”
Quickly switching signs, Israel grabbed the “Israel-hating and anti-Semitism” sign and put on its despotic mask, and before the administrators of the third intifada knew it, Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s Minister of Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, on the last week of March wrote Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook co-founder and told him ..

“the social network site has great potential to rally the masses around good causes, and we are all thankful for that. However, such potential comes hand in hand with the ability to cause great harm, such as in the case of the wild incitement displayed on the Third Palestinian Intifada page”

Third Intifada

A facebook statement said on Monday of the first week of April that whiles the “third Intifada” page “may be upsetting for someone, criticism of a certain culture, country, religion, lifestyle, or political ideology, for example — that alone is not a reason to remove the discussion.”

At that point it was clear to Israel that this Zuckerberg is not getting the message, Israel didn’t not seek his eloquent definition of the site’s terms for freedom of speech, removing the page that what Israel wanted. So Israel, with its Zionist lobbies and pro-Israel campaigns began to pull some strings and show some muscles and it did not take long before Mr. Mark Zuckerberg came to his senses and reevaluated the page as inciting violence against Israel.

And to make sure this will always be a lesson, learned the hard way, less than a week after facebook removed the intifada page; Zuckerberg was hit by a law suit seeking more than $ 1 billion in damages, for doing too little too late. The law suit has been filed by one of the American Zionist puppets- let off the leash- by the name of Larry Klayman.

After the page was no longer available on Tuesday, ADL director Abraham Foxman commented ..

“By taking this action, Facebook has now recognized an important standard to be applied when evaluating issues of non-compliance with its terms of service involving distinctions between incitement to violence and legitimate calls for collective expressions of opinion and action. We hope that they will continue to vigilantly monitor their pages for other groups that call for violence or terrorism against Jews and Israel.”

But that will be mission impossible, for how could facebook go after thousands of Arab users who replaced their profile photos with the poster photo of the third intifada. Will facebook be able to pull down the other pages that began to play the same intifada tune?

Why can’t Israel face the truth, it is crystal clear, it needs no terrorizing of Zuckerberg or Goldstone. Arabs will never accept Israel as a neighbor state as long as Palestine is being systematically wiped off the map by the Zionist military dictatorship.

Israel could intimidate facebook but not the millions of awakening Arabs.

If facebook to block any page or any account that speaks unfavorably of Israel that will mean that Mr. Zuckergerg is going to sacrifice the hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims who are already using facebook worldwide.

Could facebook, contrary to its previous boosting role to the Arab uprisings, save the Israeli domino piece from falling?

That is yet to be seen.

For more articles by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat visit his website  

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Hamas: Obama peace plan threatens refugees' right of return

[ 23/04/2011 - 03:50 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas's refugee affairs department has condemned a plan by US President Barack Obama to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as it poses a serious threat to the Palestinian refugees' right of return to their occupied homeland.
The Palestinian resistance movement called on the Arabs and Muslims to support the Palestinians in their struggle towards returning to and liberating their land.
In a statement released on Saturday, Hamas expressed utter rejection of the draft and emphasized the legal, unwavering right of Palestinian refugees to return to their land.
”Statements such as these will only increase the Palestinians' determination to stick to their rights, to their land, and to their right of return,” the Hamas statement says.

The refugees department called the US plan an attempt to ”circumvent the right of return and infringe on the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees”. It added that the US's use of its veto power to strike down a UN decision to end settlement activity in the Palestinian territories further proved that objective.

Hamas called on the Palestinian parties that continue to hold that negotiations are the way to victory and liberation to re-assess their views and reject the US proposal.
The plan consists of four items, namely that the Palestinians relinquish the right to return, Israel recognizes a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, Jerusalem becomes the capital of both Israel and Palestine, and Israel is guaranteed security.

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Third intifada website bypasses Facebook closure - Abbas: I won't allow a new intifada

Abbas: I won't allow a new intifada

[ 20/04/2011 - 03:26 PM ]

TUNIS, (PIC)-- De facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said that he would not allow the outbreak of a new intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation.

Abbas, speaking to Tunisian journalists on Wednesday during his current visit to Tunisia, said that as long as he remained president of the Palestinian Authority he would not allow the eruption of a new intifada.

"I won't allow any security or military flare-up in the West Bank or any other Palestinian area," he said, adding that he wants to preserve the life of the Palestinians. "Those who speak about resistance or armed intifada let them do that away from the Palestinian people," he said.

Abbas also said that the PA was interested in resuming serious negotiations with Israel over "key issues".

Third intifada website bypasses Facebook closure

[ 20/04/2011 - 02:13 PM ]

WASHINGTON, (PIC)-- Palestinian youths in the United States have launched a website similar to Facebook to support calls for a third intifada (uprising) against Israel on May 15 timed to commemorate the Palestinian Nakba.

The organizers said the site, dubbed Al-Quds Moon, was launched to support the ”struggle of the Palestinians to restore their full legitimate rights as stipulated by United Nations resolutions”.

They confirmed the site does not follow the agendas of any political parties, but only the Palestinians in the occupied territories, according to the introduction page.

They added that the site is not subject to the control as was the case for a popular similar websites hosted by Facebook; and it cannot be blocked by U.S. authorities because it supports a peaceful uprising.

The organizers also clarified that the page is not a substitute for the multiple Facebook pages serving the same cause. ”It is complementary to these efforts,” they said, ”and it could serve as a substitute if the Facebook administration shuts the pages down.”

The site has many of the same features as Facebook and allows members to create groups, upload photos and post videos as well as to write blogs and chat using voice and image.

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Maqdesi slams Israeli decision to introduce independence paper into schools

[ 20/04/2011 - 01:59 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Al-Maqdesi foundation for society development strongly denounced the Israeli ministry of education for deciding to introduce, as of the new academic year, the (alleged) declaration of Israel's independence into all Palestinian schools in the occupied lands including Jerusalem.

The foundation said the Israeli ministry of education ordered on Sunday in a booklet all private and municipal schools to post the declaration of independence in a place where all students and teachers can read it.

This decision has been taken as Israel's independence festival is approaching, it said, adding that it is part of Israel's comprehensive scheme to Judaize the awareness and mindset of Palestinian students.

One month ago, the Israeli ministry ordered all Palestinian schools to only buy books printed by the municipal administration. It also altered the curriculum for the years 2011-2012. This decision intends to change and control the way subjects are taught and make them only according to the Zionist and Jewish teachings and perspectives.

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Popular committee planning march to occupied Palestine borders

[ 16/04/2011 - 09:59 AM ]

AMMAN, (PIC)-- The Jordanian popular committee to commemorate the Nakba (catastrophe) announced it was planning a march to the Jordanian borders with occupied Palestine on the 64th anniversary of the Nabka on 15th May.

Tawfik Abu Ershaid, the committee's spokesman, said on Friday that the march would pose as a symbolic return of Palestinian refugees to their occupied homeland.

He added that a massive sit-in and rally would be organized in front of the UN offices in Amman among other events that would be organized over a week to remember the Nakba back in 1948 when Zionist gangs usurped the land of Palestine and declared the state of Israel.

 The committee urged Jordanians in general and Palestinian refugees in Jordan in particular to participate in the events.

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Israeli education ministry launches Land Day witch hunt

Report, The Electronic Intifada, 13 April 2011

Palestinians mark Land Day in Jaffa, March 2011. (Oren Ziv/ActiveStills)

Educators and students who took part in the 35th annual Land Day commemorations on 30 March are being investigated by the Israeli education ministry, which sent letters to Palestinian schools inside Israel demanding to see attendance reports.

Land Day is the annual day of remembrance for six Palestinians with Israeli citizenship gunned down by Israeli forces in 1976 during a general strike in protest of expanded land confiscation inside the state. Since Land Day protests began, many Palestinian citizens of Israel, across all sectors, have engaged in general strikes on 30 March.

The Alternative Information Center reported that "Dr. Orna Simchon, director of the [Israeli] Education Ministry's northern district, sent a letter to Palestinian schools in the region on Land Day, demanding to know whether classes were held that day and if not, why. They were also asked to immediately report the attendance records for the day, including lists of teachers who had and had not come to school" ("Israel Begins Witch Hunt against Palestinian Educators, Pupils who Honoured Land Day," 6 April 2011).

The Follow-up Committee on Arab Education - Israel responded to the investigation, sending a letter to members of the Knesset (Parliament) and the Ministry of Education.

The letter stated, in part: "We wish to emphasize that this is the full right of the Arab population, as a national minority and as citizens with equal rights, to conduct a strike in order to protest policies of discrimination and home demolitions, together with the worrying racist tendencies that have picked up speed in the state, in addition to the raging racism that is expressed by, amongst other ways, racist legislation that pushes Israel to become an apartheid state."

The letter demanded that education ministry officials cease the investigations and "persecution of the Arab teachers," and added that "[s]uch inexplicable steps serve solely to increase the feeling of distrust of the Arab public in the system and the alienation amongst Arab pupils, teachers and parents."

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Palestinian schools in Lydd were personally visited by education ministry representatives, who conducted "surprise visits that morning and checked which teachers were absent" ("Education Ministry hunting for Arab teachers absent on Land Day," 11 April 2011).

A teacher told Haaretz: "We felt like we were under a military regime ... Like they were searching for criminals."

This attack on Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who participate in actions that commemorate Palestinian struggle and resistance comes on the heels of the Knesset recently passing the so-called Nakba Law, which criminalizes recognition of the expulsion of more than 750,000 indigenous Palestinians during the establishment of the State of Israel in 1947-48.