Too Little, Too Late, Mr. Obama.

Dear Mr. Obama:  

I still recall that day when I watched with awe and great respect your inauguration ceremony while I was visiting the USA.  As I wrote to you on January 22, 2009,  you were indeed an inspiration and a source of hope not only for the Americans  but for me as a  Palestinian,  especially when you focused on  the issue of justice.   An issue  which   was also  stressed  in the sermon of  Rev. Sharon Watkins during the National Service,  the day after your inauguration.   At last, I thought that the USA as a super power, and its good and genuine people deserve a leader of your intelligence and stature.  Now that the new elections are close, may the Lord have mercy on the Americans and the rest of the world irrespective of who gets elected. 

For the last eight years we have been waiting for some action that would really make you worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize which you received upon your election as president.  Not only did you not help in bringing justice and peace to our region, your unwavering support for  the state of Israel financially and through the American veto at the UN, made it possible and easier  for Israel  to continue  flouting  international law.  While your statements regarding settlements and confiscation of Palestinian land did not go beyond the rhetoric of condemnation, it was not surprising that Israel has been able  to get away with all the violations of human rights and international law, as well as ignoring  the stated policies of the US itself regarding settlements and confiscation of land.

With the signing of your last agreement with Israel for the amount of $38b for the next ten years, you are actually rewarding Israel and helping it use the arms bought according to that agreement to crush the Palestinians and further oppress them as they continue to struggle  for their basic rights and for liberation from a brutal military occupation.  I am sure  you could have used that enormous amount of money to meet the many domestic challenges that are facing the USA these days such as health care, education, homelessness and hunger.

It was interesting to hear your recent speech at the United Nations.  You  suggested that “we must go forward, and not backward” stressing that democracy,  human rights and international law that you forged remain the firmest foundation for human progress in this century.  You further stressed the fact that more people than ever are free to choose their own leaders.  I was wondering what democracy are you referring to?  The democracy imposed by the US through wars and the destruction of  whole countries,(like Iraq,  Libya and Syria)  or the democracy in which the results of democratic and transparent elections (as in the case of the Palestinian Territories) were not accepted by the US government?  Of course I realize that some of that took place before your first term.  But not much has changed since then, especially regarding the human rights as well as the national rights of the Palestinians.. The shuttle diplomacy of Mr. Kerry proved as futile as his recent mediation with the Russians in Syria. 

It was  refreshing to hear you say that you have had your share of mistakes.  However there is a lot to atone for, and I am just wondering if you will have time to atone for those mistakes.  We continue to hear  news about a possible legacy that you plan to leave in November through an initiative that will set new parameters for the two state solution.   Whether this is true or not, you have unfortunately   missed many opportunities during the last eight years, and  while you were still holding the reins.  Dare we hope, or will this last minute initiative be Too Little Too Late.

Samia Khoury

A Concerned Palestinian Grand-mother

Reflecting on Terrorism

On the 27^th of July,  I had to take my car to be serviced at the Chevrolet garage in Talpiot on West Jerusalem.  On my way back, my cousin drove me  through areas that were so familiar to me in West Jerusalem when we were living there before 1948.  It was a very strange feeling, as the same buildings were  still there, but not the same people.  Driving in front of  the  King David Hotel and  the YMCA across the street, evoked the memory of  July 22, 1946, almost  seventy years ago to date, when the wing of King David Hotel that housed  the Secretariat of  the British Mandate Government was bombed, killing  91 people and injuring more than 50, including British, Arabs, and Jews.    It was officially announced that the bombing was a terrorist attack carried out by the Irgun, a militant Zionist underground organization which was headed by Menachem  Begin. The bombing of the Semiramis Hotel in January 1948 killing all the members of the Palestinian owners of the Hotel was another heinous act of terrorism by another Jewish underground organization, the Haganah.  The intention of the Jewish underground at the time, was to instill fear in the British Mandate and the Arab Palestinians so that they would leave Palestine.  The Deir Yaseen massacre on April 9, 1948 led exactly to that, when the Jewish underground drove  around Jerusalem in their tanks with some of the survivors of that massacre and urging all Palestinians to leave lest they face the same fate like those who were massacred in Deir Yasseen. 

These incidents were part of our first experiences with terrorism and terrorist acts, which have become a daily event in this crazy world of  ours.  However it is often forgotten who the first  perpetrators of terrorism in our region were.  During that period  Menachem Begin, was wanted by the British mandate government,  yet he was officially received by the British Royal Court during his term as  Prime Minister of Israel between 1977-1983. 

However,  it is ironic that the source of our worry   these days might not  be ISIS or Al-Qaida that  should be controlled by the powers who created them, if they wish to do so.  It is those   phenomena beyond human control, like natural disasters and viruses such as  the Zika virus that might become the nightmare.  No weapons, bombs,  drones or even knives can prevent  a bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito.

Missed Opportunities

As Palestinians,  we have always been blamed for having missed on many opportunities and generous offers that could  have guaranteed our liberation and independence.   It is always easy to claim so in hindsight.  But the  choices we have been offered were always either bad choices or worse choices.  So no  sane Palestinian would have accepted  any of those offers, whether it was the  partition plan of 1947 or the "generous offer" of Ehud Barak, or the ongoing peace negotiations under which new realities have been created and which had obliterated the Palestinian right of return in accordance to UN resolution 194 on December 11, 1948.   But the history of the partition of Palestine and the process of the ethnic cleansing of its indigenous Palestinian population is  well known by now.  Thanks to the many historians, including Israeli historians, such as Ilan Pappe and others who refuted the Israeli claim that the Palestinians left their homes and towns in 1948, on their own and basically at the request of Arab leaders.

Britain and the USA played a major role in the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, and despite all UN resolutions to redress the glaring injustice done to the Palestinians at that time, they continue to hinder any action towards granting the Palestinians their legitimate rights, including the right of return.  That is why I felt that rating Mr. Obama should be related to  the  many missed opportunities during his two-term office as president of the USA.  Without putting an end to that grave injustice, there will never be peace or security for the whole region. 

The election of Mr. Obama was a turning point in the tradition of the US elections, and the American people were ready for that change.  Nobody could have done that better than Mr. Obama, especially that  we were hoping he would live up to the responsibility granted to him by the Nobel  peace prize that he was awarded a priori.  Of course there was the Iran deal, and the reconciliation with Cuba as well as the closure of Guantanamo, but the real test to make him deserve that prize would have been by solving the Palestinian problem, a grave historical injustice which we all felt at the beginning of his term that he would genuinely address.    Yet he eventually fell in the same pattern of his predecessors, caving in to Israeli demands and vetoing any resolution that was not in favor of Israel, as well as shielding Israel continuously from any measures for violating international law and United Nations resolutions, despite the personal humiliation that he was exposed to by the Israeli Prime Minister.

Of course we realize the strength of the Israeli lobby in the USA, without which no president gets elected, but once Mr. Obama was elected for a second term, there was his missed opportunity.  He could have been an  honest broker, abiding by the same standards wherever human and political rights were violated.   He would have gone down in history had he been able to stand up for the Palestinian  legitimate  rights against the ongoing Israeli aggression and dispossession which according to international law are

illegal, and his Nobel  peace prize would have been well earned.  Dare we hope that he will seize the opportunity of the remaining period of his term to take a courageous stand and really make a difference???

Some of you might have read my letter to Mr. Obama which was published as Appendix VIII in my book Reflections from Palestine: A Journey of Hope.  I had written it to Mr. Obama after watching his inauguration speech in January 2009, while I was visiting the US at the time.  It is below.

January 22, 2009
Mr. Barack H. Obama
The President of the USA
The White House
Washington, DC


Dear Mr. President:
I watched  with awe and great respect your  inauguration ceremony while I was visiting the USA.  You were indeed an inspiration and a source of hope not only for the Americans  but for me as a  Palestinian,  especially when you focused on  the issue of justice.   An issue  which   was also  stressed  in the sermon of  Rev. Sharon Watkins during the National Service,  the day after your inauguration.   At last, I thought that the USA as a super power, and its good and genuine people deserve a leader of your intelligence and stature. 

But somehow,  Mr. President I was rather  disappointed when you spoke after the announcement of the appointment of  Senator Mitchell as a special envoy to the Middle East.  You highlighted your commitment to the security of Israel without any reference to the word "justice."  The grave injustice that was inflicted on the Palestinians upon the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and the occupation of the rest of the Palestinian Territories in 1967 is at the core of the Middle East conflict. So without justice, and peace no security can be granted to Israel or  the whole region.  In fact without  the justice  that was granted to your people in the aftermath of  the civil rights movement, you would not be where you are Mr. President.  So my heartiest congratulations to you Mr. President.  The world is looking forward to that great change under your leadership. 
 
So please do not let us all lose the spark of hope that  was rekindled with your inauguration speech, and let justice be at the back bone of your domestic as well as foreign policy, especially for us Palestinians who had lost hope when Israel failed to withdraw from the occupied territories in compliance  with UN resolution 242, and  after the Oslo peace accords withered in thin air despite all the futile negotiations.   Had the injustice inflicted on the Palestinians been redressed without delay   there would  have been no reason for Hamas to surface and to resort to arms struggle twenty  years after the  occupation.  Surely Israel has the right to defend itself, but not when it is occupying and oppressing other people.  In your speech this morning Mr. President you did not even  allude to the occupation,  and you put the occupier and the occupied on the same level.  You are a well learned and well informed leader, so you certainly are aware  that the Palestinians did accept to establish their state on only 22%  of historic Palestine.  The Arab initiative which you referred to in your speech is based on that offer as well.  It is up to Israel now to prove that it is genuinely serious about peace.

So if you are truly committed to the security of Israel Mr. President, please do  help Israel end its occupation of the Palestinian Territories.  You have enough resolutions, peace agreements,  and initiatives for Mr. Mitchell to work with, which could cut down  the time and expense of  another American shuttle diplomacy.  Then you Mr. President,  the secretary of state and Mr. Mitchell will go down in history for  ushering a new era of justice, peace, and security for both the Israelis and Palestinians. 

Respectfully yours,

Samia Khoury
A Concerned Palestinian Mother

The Policy of Confiscation

Living under the Israeli occupation, we are damned if we are alive, and we are  damned if we are dead.  This is how I felt when I was watching the parents of a fifteen-year old boy receiving the body of their son Hassan Manasrah after he was shot and killed seven months ago, but his body remained “confiscated” during all this period.  And to add insult to injury the funeral had to take place at night with only 40 persons allowed to attend. Over and above,  they had to pay a guarantee of  NIS20,000 (around $5000) which would also be “confiscated” should they violate the conditions set  for his funeral. 

Under what law in the world can this happen?  Even world-renowned  criminals who are executed are entitled to a decent burial.  As if it is not enough that ever since 1948 the confiscation of Palestinian land has been ongoing under a variety of justifications, now it seems that the  most recent innovative and demonic  measure of the Israeli occupation forces,  is to “confiscate” the bodies of Palestinian martyrs .   Of course one could consider our young men and women who have been languishing in Israeli jails, many of them without charge or trial as being “confiscated” as well. 

After a lot of international pressure the Israeli government decided to start releasing the bodies of the young Palestinians before the month of Ramadan.  Soon after three bodies were released last night including that of Hassan Manasrah, Ala’ Abu Jamal, and Fouad Abu Rajab Tamimi,   the occupation forces announced that it will not pursue the policy of releasing the bodies.  Not surprising now that the Minister of Defense is non-other than the right wing Avigdor Lieberman from the extreme right, who has very openly called for capital punishment to be applied to Palestinians only . 

A number of years ago when Jorg Haider, the notorious right wing leader,  was elected in Austria, the whole world was up in arms against him until he was forced to resign.  When it comes to Israel, there might have been  some voices objecting to the  appointment of Lieberman but certainly not loud enough to bring about a change in the decision of the Israeli prime minister.  Currently the Israeli military is still withholding nine bodies, seven of them from Jerusalem.  Why?? Can any decent and sane mind answer my question.  Isn’t killing them and punishing their families by blowing up their homes sufficient?

How does Israel get away with it?

In his new book, War Against The People, Jeff  Halper poses theis question in the introduction of the book:  “How does Israel get away with it?”   A question we so often pose ourselves,  as victims of this brutal occupation.  Indeed how does it??  The oppressive measures it has used are no more surprising, and when we think it cannot get worse, it actually does get worse.  Yet it is  unacceptable indeed that the international community should over-look such a grave injustice and allow the occupation of the Palestinian people to linger on for forty nine years after their dispossession sixty eight years ago.  Where is the world’s conscience?  And where is the United Nations that does not hesitate to impose sanctions on countries that do not abide by international law, yet seems to turn a blind eye to  the atrocities that are taking place in our region.  Under the pretext that Israel has the right to defend itself, it continues to get away with it.  And even when a resolution is passed, the UN runs short of a mechanism to implement it. 

Indeed  every country has the right to defend itself within its secure borders, but not when its borders are not defined and continue to expand;  and certainly not when it  is occupying another people and continues to covet their land, their homes and their holy places.   The daily violations by Jewish religious extremists of the status quo agreed upon in 1967 for visiting the Noble Sanctuary, one of the holiest Muslim sites,  has triggered a lot of confrontation and violence.  The agreement clearly allows Jewish visitors,  just like any other visitors, to visit the site through the visitor’s gate, with the permission of the Muslim authorities in charge of the compound of the Noble Sanctuary.  The problem is that those Jewish religious extremists continue to create havoc and to provoke the Muslim community by entering under the protection of the Israeli police from a special  entrance and  performing religious rites on the site. All this is in violation of the Status Quo agreement of 1967.   According to OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 30 Israelis, mostly  soldiers, have been stabbed to death, whereas 187 Palestinians have been shot and killed by Israeli soldiers,   during the last few months. 

“Shoot to kill” is the new policy of the Israeli army, even when the victim has been “neutralized, ”  as we saw clearly on the TV screen when  the Israeli soldier Elor Azarya  shot the Palestinian Abdel-Fattah el-Sharif from Hebron. The rally in support of  Elor at the Rabin Square in Tel Aviv claiming him as a hero is very significant, and that explains exactly how they continue to get away with it. Of course had there not been a camera on the scene, the incident would not have been documented.    A couple of days ago,  a  Palestinian pregnant mother of two children,  Maram Abu Ismail,  and her brother Ibrahim Taha entered through the wrong lane into Qalandia check point, and were  shot to death.  Even if they had planned to attack the soldiers, it would have been very easy for the soldiers to shoot at their legs and neutralize them.  But they did not give them a chance to be questioned why they were in that lane.    And to add to the inhumanity of the shooting, the Palestinian ambulance was not allowed in to assist them until they bled to death. 

Amidst all this France comes up with a new initiative for an international conference.  We can see this as getting on the hamster wheel for  an endless round of negotiations once again. For more than twenty years, the negotiations proved to be futile, and in fact disastrous as they simply  provided an opportunity for Israel to establish new facts on the ground, and to grab more land.  So if France and its allies are really concerned and serious about this initiative,  it can exert  all its effort  on putting an end to the occupation as a starter.  We have given up on the US as an “honest broker,” and there are no signs of hope coming out of the  American elections campaign. In fact without the moral and financial support of the USA, Israel would not have been able to get away with it. 

I just received the Gush Shalom ad for the week which I thought was significant and worth sharing with you:

No amount of American aid Can ensure the future of a country which lives by the sword and rejects the chance of reaching peace!

So Israel will have to make a choice:  To continue to live by the sword or to abide by the words of its prophet Micha: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micha 6:8)

The Only Survivor of the Dawabsheh Family

This past week, the five-year-old Ahmad,  the only survivor of the Dawabsheh family, was released from hospital.  Ahmad’s  home in Douma, in the Nablus area of the Palestinian  occupied territories, was burnt by Israeli settlers on July 31, 2015.    His 18-month-old baby brother was scorched to death and died immediately after the attack,  while  his parents died later on in the hospital  where they were being treated for their severe burns.    Ahmad was at a complete loss searching for his parents as his grandfather and the extended family gathered to welcome him back home, where there was no more a home.

At his young age, Ahmad is already  a football fan.  And with a welcoming initiative from the Real Madrid football team, Ahmad’s  grandfather accompanied the little boy to Madrid to meet Christiano Ronaldo, who is very popular and well known among the Palestinian football fans.  Ahmad had a warm welcome in Madrid not only by  Ronaldo, but by the rest of the team and their Manager, the French retired player  Zinedine Zidane, who seemed to have worked behind the scenes to arrange for Ahmad’s visit.    

Our local TV station showed Ahmad last evening enjoying his visit and running around the field while the team were signing their names on his special Real Madrid shirt with his name on its back, and which he was  wearing with pride as the signatures were being added.  The team also presented him with a football,  signed by its members,  which I am sure he will cherish for the rest of his life.  I just wonder what the future will hold for this little boy who still needs to go back to hospital for further medication and follow up. 

 I am also  wondering what is going go in the mind of this little boy.  Is he aware of the brutal death of his family.  Or will he see the good in people who made this special visit to Madrid a memorable one.  It is a blessing his grandfather is still around to take care of him.  But crimes like that of the Dawabsheh family should never happen to anybody anywhere,  otherwise  there will be  no room for humanity anymore.  So much has happened since July 2015, and more than two hundred children have been killed by the occupation forces.  Only last week Israel’s Air Force killed 10 year old Yassin Abu Husa and his sister Asra 6 in Gaza,  supposedly in retaliation to a rocket fired from Gaza by a splinter group, that fell on an open field and hurt no one.  Yassin and Asra were certainly not carrying knives or being a threat to the security of the soldiers.   

When will this occupation and its brutality ever come to an end so that  the young people can enjoy their childhood, and have fun going to school and playing football??  

Reflecting on Another Concert

Friday, February 20, 2016 was a memorable occasion as many people from Ramallah and Jerusalem  gathered at the Naseeb Shaheen Auditorium at Birzeit University to attend a concert.  We were sorry that Naseeb had passed away before seeing this great achievement completed.  In fact the auditorium is the fourth building on the campus contributed by the Shaheen family.   

The young musicians of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music were privileged to join the Palestine National Orchestra and a few  guests from the Geneva Conservatory of Music in the last of three performances under the baton of the Swiss and Australian conductor Elena Schwarz.   They had already been in  Bethlehem, and in Nablus at  Al-Najah University.   The program included a composition by Salvador Arnita, a Palestinian who had taught at Birzeit when it was a high school before 1948 (Images of Palestine, from Suite no. 4 “Oriental Sketches.”  It also included “Wedding,” composed by the renowned Syrian composer Kinan Azmeh, who was the first Arab to win the top prize at the Nocolay Rubinstein International Competition in Moscow in 1997. 

Dima Bawwab a young Jordanian Soprano excelled in Puccini’s Quando m’en vo, from “La Boheme,” and O mio babbino cara from “Gianni Schicchi.”  She also sang  Agustin Lara’s Grenada which was beautiful and lively,  especially with the accompanying percussions.  Attached is a photo. 

As I was listening and watching the bright faces of those young musicians,  while enjoying the comfortable seat in this beautiful and newly inaugurated auditorium, I tried to forget for a moment all about the occupation outside this small haven.  Yet I could not help but wonder.  Will this nightmare ever come to an end?   Despite what we have gone through, we have been able to establish universities and institutions and hold on with our “Sumud” trying to provide our youth with a glimpse of hope for a better future.    Will that day ever come?   Don’t we deserve a better life?  Don’t all those young people languishing in Israeli jails have a right to freedom.  I kept hoping this concert will be a celebration for the freedom of Mohamed Al-Qiq, a graduate of Birzeit University who has been wrestling for his life after a long hunger strike in protest of his administrative detention without charge or trial.

  

On the way to the car I was sharing my thoughts with Leen,  the ten-year old granddaughter of my sister.  She held on my hand and said:  I think we should do something about it!  With the wisdom of children,  I rest my case.  Samia