How Many More?

 

How many more need to be killed in the Gaza Strip before this genocide comes to an end? How many more need to be buried alive under the rubble before the international community takes action against this ongoing ethnic cleansing process of a defenseless people? Thanks to university students and people of conscience who went out to the streets to say “enough is enough. Israel has pulled wool over our eyes for too long now.” 

 

Nobody can claim ignorance of the true facts anymore. The justification used by the US that Israel, an occupying force,  has the right to defend itself was never justified in the first place, and does not hold water anymore, especially that the Gaza Strip has been under Israeli siege for the last sixteen years,  and has been considered the largest open air prison by many human rights organizations including international and Israeli ones.  

 

From day one after October 7, the Israeli PM was determined to wipe out  the Gaza  Strip.. Why was he not stopped there and then? The Israeli hostages could have been released with the exchange of Palestinian prisoners without any need for all this brutality.  Therefore,  it was no surprise that the lives of two hundred Palestinians had to be sacrificed recently, for the salvaging of four hostages.  Is it plausible that the ego of one man can bring about so much disaster while the world is watching until a new battlefield expands beyond the Lebanese border. Over 150,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday the 22^nd of June,   calling for the end of the mandate of Netanyahu’s government, and requesting  a deal to release the hostages.  Today those protestors announced an open-ended general strike in Israel as of July 7 until a cease fire is implemented.  Dare we hope???? 

 

The Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails are having their share of the brutality of the Israeli occupation, and many towns in the occupied territories,  have been raided continuously. In fact, what triggered me to write this reflection is the sight of a wounded Palestinian during an Israeli raid to the city of Jenin tied to the windshield of the military vehicle to guarantee the Israeli security and a safe exit from the area.  Ironic indeed that the “most moral army,” needed an injured Palestinian to guarantee its safe exit from Jenin,  a town that  has been  raided continuously.  Surely many of you might remember how an Israeli soldier dressed as a woman walked into the Jenin hospital some time ago and shot dead one of the injured freedom fighters who was being hospitalized.  How moral is that?  

 

Enough is enough.  So I hope the international community will make a special effort to put an end to this carnage, and the ICJ will have its say  before Israel drags all its allies into a third world war.  Salaam, Samia

Shadi's Court Session

 Dear Friends, 

I promised to get back to you after the court session for Shadi’s case today, which has been lingering  on  since his arrest on the 18th of  October 2022.  The session was a long one  starting at 9:00 a.m but I finally got the following report from his mother.  Some of you might have received the outcome from her already.  She reported that in general it was not too bad.  The lawyers defending Shadi were able to challenge every claim and highlight every breach that occurred during the investigation.  Through threats one of the investigators somehow forced the main defendant, Khaled Abu Asab, to say that he knew Shadi Khoury, the Christian, to establish the charge.  Even though at the beginning of the investigation,  he had  said that he did not know Shadi at all.  The lawyers showed through documents and video how Khaled was coerced into saying that Shadi had participated.  

Today, five people were interrogated:  two investigators, two fingerprint experts, and a communication expert.  Each one of them had clear procedural breaches and missing links, especially regarding the fingerprints. Under normal and civilized circumstances the case would have been dropped, but then we know this court is not functioning under normal nor civilized conditions, so we do not know what plans the judge has for Shadi.  What is important at the moment is that Shadi will be graduating from high school – The Friends School in el-Bireh- Ramallah on the 2nd of June.  And the next court session will be September 9.  So I hope we will all have a nice summer break.