UNRWA

 On January 30, 2025 Israel announced officially the closure of UNRWA in Jerusalem, adding another blemish of shame to the international community for its failure to implement the United Nations resolutions concerning the question of Palestine.   For those of you who might not remember why UNRWA was established in the first place and what its mandate was supposed to be, I would like to remind you that it was indeed established as a temporary relief organization in the wake of the 1948 war and the expulsion of around 750,000 Palestinians from their homes upon the establishment of the State of Israel.  UNRWA was established as a temporary organization because the United Nations had also passed resolution 194 which stipulated the return of all Palestinians who were forced out of their homes or had fled out of fear upon the establishment of the state of Israel.  Of course, this resolution was never implemented because Israel refused to implement it and The United Nations failed to take any action against Israel.   But in the meantime, it had to exert its energy on raising funds for UNRWA to enable it to continue providing services for those Palestinian  refugees who were spread out in the region (including the Palestinian territories Jordan,  Syria,  and  Lebanon. )  So, the funding of UNRWA, and its health, educational, and social services  was always at the mercy of those countries who footed the bill of UNRWA.

Ordering UNRWA at this very crucial time to close its offices in Jerusalem, and to prevent its services in Gaza which has been practically razed by the Israel forces in the wake of October 7, 2023 is not surprising.  The world has been watching the intensive raids on other refugee camps in the occupied territories like Jenin and Tulkarem.  So will the international community just continue to watch and record numbers, or will this international body eventually have enough guts to stand up and challenge all those violations. 

On the first of February, there was another exchange of prisoners.  The whole episode of taking hostages by Hamas was for the purpose of exchanging them with Palestinian prisoners who have been languishing in Israeli prisons for years without any hope for their release.   Even upon the signing of the Oslo Accords, Israel did not abide by the stipulation of releasing all the prisoners.  At long last, this is happening now.  However, I   could not help but wonder whether with some wisdom, this exchange could have happened without bringing so much devastation and suffering to the whole population of Gaza as well as so much anxiety to the Israeli families of the hostages   Any way anybody who was watching the process of the exchange of the hostages with the release of the prisoners could see clearly that the hostages looked quite well, while  most of  the Palestinians prisoners looked sickly. 

 I hope this is a wake-up call for all the people of this land, their leaders, and the world community to realize that Justice and only justice will bring peace and tranquility to this land, so called “Holy”.  So please Mr. Trump do not exert your pressure on Egypt and Jordan to take the people of Gaza because these are not refugees from other countries.  They are Palestinians, from Gaza or Palestinians made refugees from their original villages and homes around Gaza when they were ethnically cleansed in 1948 upon the establishment of the State of Israel, and were replaced by Jewish immigrants who came from Europe, and other parts of the Western World.  

The Irony of Concern

 Mr. Biden expressed his concern regarding the latest massacre at Al -Taabe’en School in Gaza where  hundreds of people mostly women and children were killed when Israel bombed the  school sheltering Gazans taking refuge after fleeing their homes to safer places as Israel continues its genocide in the Gaza Strip. 

How ironic indeed that he should express his concern when all he has been doing since this war on Gaza started, was to support Israel morally, financially and with endless armament to finish the job that his friend Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to do from day one after October 7.  “Welcome to Hell” is the latest report by B’tselem, the Israeli Human Rights organization describing the conditions of the prisoners and their being sexually abused.  I could not finish the report and I could not even watch the news that evening after I read all about it.  Maybe it will be a good reading for you Mr. Biden before you go to sleep, especially if you are really concerned.

I know the concern of Mr. Biden is meaningless, more so now that he is a lame duck.   But he has done more than enough damage during his years in office, and so did previous presidents, and probably so would future presidents do.  That is  why it is not  surprising that Israel is allowed to  get away with this genocide with the blessing and support of the USA and its allies, who continue to shield Israel no matter what it does.  Dare we hope that the successor of Mr. Biden will have guts to say enough is enough? 

At one time the European Union expressed its concern as well, when settlers demolished some schools that the European Union itself has actually built in a remote area for  Beduins.    

Expressing concern without action like  (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions,)   is meaningless, especially in view of the  extent of that genocide which has been publicized  by local and international media, over and above the ICJ hearings.     

Ironically Israel has shut down Al-Jazeera English channel, and now it is targeting Al-Mayadeen to block the dissemination of  news.     For a sophisticated country in technology,  Israel should realize that the news will get out eventually,  challenging all their technology.  Unlike the  massacres and ethnic cleansing of 1948,  that were  discovered at a later stage,  the ethnic cleansing of  Gaza since October 7 has been covered widely and there are already records of the  numbers who have been killed or buried under the rubble including  press personnel who have been targeted as well as medical teams, who have lost their lives in the process of salvaging the victims of this genocide, most of whom have been women,  children and elderly people. 

Will you continue to be concerned Mr. Biden? Or  will you put an end to your  blind support to Israel?  We know where you stand Mr. Biden,  but if you are a true friend of Israel as you claim to be you won’t encourage it to  walk the path that will take it and the whole region down to hell when doom’s day comes.

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.  

Tafa el Kale

One of my friends recently wrote to ask recently to ask why he has not heard from me lately.    Indeed, I have not written a reflection for some time.  What can I say or write anymore when the brutality is so glaring and the war on Gaza has been headlines in all the media.  Nobody can claim ignorance of the facts anymore, especially after all the protests of the university students in the USA and other countries.  Yet the attack of the American police looked very familiar and not much different from the brutality of the Israeli police against Palestinians demanding their rights in their homeland. 

In our Sabeel weekly prayer Zoom meeting, I often ask: I often ask: “Until when dear Lord, until when?” And I even shared the concern of a friend of mine who had challenged my faith by saying: “If there was a God, how can He allow so much suffering to take place?”  But after the recent rounds of negotiations regarding the release of hostages and the invasion of Rafah, and the intransigence of the Israeli PM despite Mr. Biden’s threat regarding the shipment of bombs, I felt that the situation was becoming more hopeless than ever and as we say in Arabic “Tafah el Kale” meaning literally "The vessel is full to the brim and has overflowed, or that, matters have gone too far," an expression which we use when we are at the end of our tethers.  How many more people, mainly children, women, journalists, medical staff and others need to be killed   before the USA, the UK and most of the European countries dare say to Israel “Enough is enough.”

This coming week Israel will be celebrating its Independence Day, while we, the Palestinians, will be commemorating the seventy sixth anniversary of our dispossession, “Nakba.”  And while the European Jews mainly of German origin continue to be compensated for their losses during the holocaust, Israel refuses restitution and our right of return, or even to acknowledge the rights of the Palestinians in their historic homeland, despite the fact that many of those Palestinians are still in the land and live very close to their original homes.  In fact, many of the victims of the Gaza Strip are refugees or descendants of refugees who ended up in Gaza after they were evicted from their homes in 1948.  And ironically, whoever criticizes this double standard is labeled as antisemitic. And woe to him or her who gets stuck with such a label.  Thanks to Norman Finkelstein, a descendent of Holocaust survivors himself, as well as many other Jews:  historians like Ilan Pappe, writers like Miko Peled and his sister Nurit Peled E-Hanan and so many others, including Jewish Voice for Peace who continue to raise their voice for justice and Peace.  But it seems that this war is the war of survival for the PM and his right-wing government with a Samson mentality who is willing to take down the whole country with him, including the Israeli hostages rather than appear to have lost the war.  

Just as I was finishing my reflection the vote at the UN regarding the upgrading of the observer-member status  of the State of Palestine took place.    It was indeed encouraging to see the number of countries voting for Palestine.  Yet not surprising to see that the US continues to lead the vote against that membership, let alone its upgrading.    I  call it the hypocrisy of  democracy, especially after Mr. Biden himself had announced during the war on Gaza that the two-state solution is the  only way to  guarantee peace in the region.   I rest my case.

Mother's Day in Palestine

Yesterday, March 21 was Mother’s Day in the Arab World.  It was chosen to coincide with Spring, and the weather today is a truly Spring Day.  But unfortunately, the political weather is as gloomy and morbid as ever. 

Despite the fact that I am blessed with having both my children and some of the grandchildren around to celebrate the day with, I could not but think of all the mothers in Gaza who have  lost their children in this unwarranted war.  Over and above the children who lost their mothers as well as their fathers and other siblings.  Let alone all the Palestinian mothers whose children have been languishing in Israeli jails for years. 

On this usually joyful occasion, please think of those bereaved mothers, and those orphaned children on this special Mother’s Day in Gaza

In the meantime, we continue to wonder how  the world can watch such a genocide, especially when the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared  emphatically   and openly  after October 7 that he was going to raze Gaza completely.  And razing it is what he has been doing since day one.  Netanyahu does not mince words.  What he says he does.  So all those shuttle trips of Mr. Blinken and meetings with Arab leaders to discuss a ceasefire and the day after,  are futile as long as the US is still supplying Israel with money and arms.   Furthermore,  we all remember how Mr. Netanyahu had displayed a map at the UN session showing Israel from the river to the sea, with no Palestine. 

How long will Mr.  Biden and his Western allies continue to block all efforts to put an end to this genocide?  

Remembering Rachel Corrie

 

March 16, 2024  marks the  twenty first anniversary of the slaughtering of  Rachel  Corrie,  from Olympia,  Washington in the USA,  by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza.  What is happening in Gaza today is not a reaction to  the events of October 7,  2023,  but an on  going genocide that started seventeen years ago when Israel turned  the Gaza Strip into an open prison.  Rachel, 23 years old,  was volunteering in Gaza and was trying to stand in the way of a bulldozer to  prevent it from demolishing a Palestinian home.  Nobody with any sense of humanity could have believed that the bulldozer driver would not stop at the sight of this young woman  waving and  blocking the road to deter him  from proceeding to demolish that home in Gaza.   But without any compunction and in a most brutal manner, Rachel was no more, swallowed by  that monstrous machine. 

As we remember that day,   we Palestinians are never  surprised at what Israel is capable ofdoing including  the genocide that is taking place in Gaza . My generation who lived through the Nakba has witnessed atrocities of such magnitude, but they were not exposed to the whole world to see for months on end.  What is sad and unacceptable is that Israel not only has been   able to dispossess the Palestinians and violate international law with impunity, but furthermore,  it gets rewarded by the USA and its allies for its ongoing plan of our dispossession. All this under the guise of “its right to defend itself,” despite the resounding protests of masses of human beings around the world. 

Please remember Rachel Corrie on this day and here is the link to the foundation side established by her parents after their great loss. Rachelcorriefoundation.org

Bless you dear Rachel.  You will always be remembered by all the Palestinians and especially the people of Gaza who are going through what you have gone through.