Déjà Vu

June 23, 2014

The events of this past week brought back flashes of the brutal scenes that are still embedded in our memory  from 2000 when Israel invaded the Palestinian territories and  went on a rampage to terrorize the Palestinians.  Ever since the three youth settlers disappeared from Gush Etzion  settlement  in the Hebron area, Israel went wild.    Without even waiting to hear who had claimed the kidnapping,  which up to this day nobody claimed, Mr. Netanyahu announced emphatically that he knows for sure that Hamas was behind it.  If he is  that sure and his sources are so accurate, how come he has no clue where the young lads  are?  Irrespective of who is responsible, the reaction of Israel could not have been spontaneous.  It seems the plan was all set for the right time.  What the army is doing in the Palestinian Occupied Territories is a systematic plan of terrorizing the people to an extent that will provoke them to resort to violent struggle, so that Israel can be justified in doing anything to the Palestinians and blaming it on the Palestinians themselves.  If their main concern is to find the young boys there is no reason to storm offices, universities and homes and destroy anything that comes their way.  Even food stuffs were not spared as we watched an elderly man pointing to the mixture of rice, flour, salt and sugar all dumped together and on top of them the detergent.  Birzeit university was not spared, and they ended up taking two young boys who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  But it was not the only university that has been stormed.  For all of you who are familiar with This Week in Palestine which I forward to you monthly, the Turbo offices where it is published was another victim of the latest rampage.  Here is a statement of Sani Meo, its general manager.  You can check the university website http:birzeit.edu for the statement of the university.  Until when are we supposed to bear all this and have more young people killed and imprisoned daily? 

PRESS RELEASE FROM THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE MAGAZINE

On Sunday, 22 June, at around 4:00 AM, Israeli Occupation Forces broke into the company premises of Turbo Computers and Software Co. Ltd., a graphic design firm

established in 1985 and publisher of This Week in Palestine magazine, and into the premises of its sister company, Jeel Publishing Co. Ltd., publisher of the Arabic youth

magazine Filistin Ashabab. Seven computers including the servers were confiscated, severely hampering the companies' operating capacity.

As private-sector companies, we deplore such an action which not only clearly violates our personal rights, including freedom of expression, but also jeopardizes the livelihood of our employees. During our 28-year history, we have had no affiliation with any political faction. Our work includes graphic design and print-management services offered to a large number of institutions, both local and international, including the Office of the President. This Week in Palestine is a 15-year-old nonpolitical cultural publication that promotes and documents Palestine, and Filistin Ashabab is a platform for Palestinian youth to express and develop their writing skills as well as their photography and artistic skills.

We call upon the international community, particularly the US and the EU authorities that have been trying to encourage the development of the Palestinian private sector, to voice its opinion on these barbaric actions and recognize the obstacles that we face as a people under military occupation. Our full economic potential will never be realized if actions like this continue – actions that threaten our investments and, more importantly, the livelihood of our people.

The attack on This Week in Palestine and Filistin Ashabab is a message to our readers that they might be deprived of access to these two independent Palestinian publications. But we want to assure them that we will continue to publish both magazines, despite the hardships, in order to continue to play our part in building the independent, secular, and pluralistic society that we all dream of.

We question the uncivilized manner in which we were violated and our computers confiscated. With today's technology anyone with adequate resources can easily tap into any system and have total access to its files. As totally transparent companies, we have nothing to hide and we pose no security threat to anyone.

We demand the immediate restoration of our computers, and we hold the Israeli authorities responsible for the integrity of the data that we have collected and worked on

for over two decades. Finally, we reserve the right to claim reparation for damages incurred, and to consider legal action, both locally and internationally.

Sani Paul Meo

General Manager