The UN vote

Ironic indeed that 2014 which was declared by the UN as the year of solidarity with the Palestinian people ended up with a failure of the UN to pass a resolution to end the Israeli occupation. If the UN cannot apply its own laws regarding the inadmissibility of the acquisition of land as a result of war, then it certainly should be considered redundant and rightly so from the way that they allow Israel to violate international law with impunity.

Indeed a very shameful performance on behalf of the US, Canada and Australia which voted against the resolution and the United Kingdom for abstaining. One would think that the United Kingdom, after the symbolic vote of its Parliament, would take an honorable stand to make up for the plight of the Palestinians at the end of the British Mandate of Palestine 66 years ago, and for the role of the Balfour declaration in the establishment of the state of Israel on Palestinian land.

Wishing you all a peaceful New Year if that is possible under such a biased world order. Samia

Christmas Message

December 23, 2014

 

Dear Family and Friends:

 

One of the well known Christmas songs “I’ll be home for Christmas”  which my generation remembers for being first recorded by Bing Crosby in the forties, was on the program  of the Christmas concert we attended at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies – Brigham Young University.

 

As I listened to the beautiful tenor singing it, I could not help but think of  all those  who won’t be able to make it home for Christmas, by no choice of their own.  And that is when the song becomes so meaningful when you think of the many soldiers serving on foreign land, the refugees, the prisoners, and the many young Palestinians  who have been denied their right to come home or be united with their families because of absurd laws under a military occupation or because their  homes were demolished and they have no shelter in this bitter cold weather.

 

So I hope all of you who are gathering with your families for Christmas,  will indeed feel grateful for this blessing without having to worry about check points or denied entry.

Have a joyful Christmas and best wishes for peace and good health throughout the New Year.  Samia

 

P.S. I thought you might enjoy this short Christmas animation

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LICL71mtbbI

 

 

Reflecting on the events of November 18, 2014

Watch this and then you will understand why so much violence  is encompassing Jerusalem.

http://wp.me/p2HBz8-2vI

 

It did not start with the kidnapping of the three young settlers which Israel claims to be  the reason for retaliation on all fronts.  It did not start with the occupation of the Palestinian Territories in 1967.  It has been an ongoing dispossession ever since 1948 even after the Palestine National Council recognized Israel on 78% of historic Palestine in 1988.  The onslaught on  East Jerusalem has been going on with a clear agenda that  Jerusalem is the united eternal capital of Israel, with a plan to build the Temple to replace El-Haram El-Sharif. 

Ironically Har Nof where the events of today took place is originally  a Palestinian suburb  adjacent to Deir Yaseen where the infamous massacre of the Palestinians took place in April 1948.  That was the spark that  terrorized the Palestinian residents of West Jerusalem that led to their exodus.  

Yes indeed it is  brutal and completely unacceptable to attack worshippers in their place of worship, as was the attack of settler  doctor,  Baruch  Goldstein,  on  Muslim worshippers during the month of Ramadan at the Hebron Mosque in February 1994?  Twenty nine Palestinian were killed and 125 wounded at the time.  The epitaph on Goldstein’s  tombstone calls him a martyr with clean hands and a pure heart. 

 As much as I believe in un-armed resistance,  it is very sad to realize that the futility of the negotiations and the  failure of the peace process to end the occupation,  on top of Israeli provocations, are all leading  the Palestinian population of Jerusalem to desperation as they feel  completely abandoned.  While the International community continues to claim the annexation of Jerusalem as illegal and so are  the settlements, and the demolishing of homes, no action has been taken  to reverse the realities that Israel continues to create on the ground.    The young people of Jerusalem  cannot sit still any more,  simply watching and resisting peacefully while their holiest site El-Haram El-Sharif is  being coveted and taken over while the world is watching.  The more desperate those young people become, the more violence will prevail.  We continue to hope for some wisdom to prevail and a definite  resolve on behalf of the international community to put an end to Israel’s impunity and spare both people further suffering.   

 

Remembering November Anniversaries

I have been reflecting on the many anniversaries during the month of November, aside  from the fact that I turned 80 last November on the day my book “Reflections from Palestine – A Journey of Hope” was launched, and that the birthday of my granddaughter’s best friend Juman, falls on the 2^nd of November.  I am sure neither Juman nor her mother had much choice in determining that day to coincide with  the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 which the Palestinians consider to be the root cause of  their  dispossession.

 But then November 9 was the twenty fifth anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall.  Whoever thought that wall will ever collapse?  That is why this is a very meaningful day for us, the Palestinians,  as it gives us hope that the infamous Separation Wall  which separates  the Palestinian territories from each other in the name of security, will eventually collapse some day.   However the 19^th  anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin  on November 4 continues to remind us that the whole peace process was a farce, and led us  nowhere,  while at the same time  it shielded Israeli impunity as it continued to create new realities on the ground. 

November 11  is Armistice Day,  or Veteran’s day as it is called in the USA, which marked the end of World War I in 1918. Again it makes us wonder at the brutality of wars.  As if the loss of many lives in both World War I and World War II was not enough, the colonial powers continued to  wage so many wars in other peoples’ countries and under a variety of  pretexts.  Will November 11  ever make those powers realize that wars are not about solving problems but about greed, sale of armament, hegemony  and devastation.  Devastation not only of  the land and its natural resources, but devastation of humanity and the mushrooming of new radical movements.  It is very hard under the circumstances, where we watch regions torn apart, to envisage any  hope for an armistice day for our region or peace around the whole world.

 Ironically November 11 is also the tenth anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat.  I remember I was in Hawaii at the time and we stayed up late with my cousin Diana and her husband Jerry to watch the end of an era for the Palestinians.  Of course Israel has claimed him to be “no peace partner” despite all the concessions he made for the sake of peace.  In fact November  15 is  the 26h anniversary of the Declaration of the  Independence of the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders, and it is an official holiday in Occupied Palestine.  I still do not know what we are celebrating, after making such a compromise and  still not being independent on that 22% of our historic Palestine.  But I know the teachers and students are happy to have a long week end off.  I still remember when November 14 was an official holiday during the Jordan times, as it was the birthday of King Hussein.    Salwa,  the  school principal at Rawdat El-Zuhur had the same birthday, so her birthday was always an official holiday.   

Upbringing and Education

My article on Upbringing and Education was contributed to the November issue of This Week in Palestine on education.

The ministry in charge of education is called Tarbiyeh wa Ta’aleem in Arabic, which literally means “upbringing and education.” So education not only means finishing a syllabus, which includes languages, sciences, and social studies, but also building character and instilling in children the moral values that make good citizens who care for the common good. Unfortunately, tarbiyeh is practically non-existent in most schools. Although there are some schools that have very strict rules in order to guarantee discipline and a well-behaved class, this does not mean at all that moral values are built into the system. The students end up behaving well for fear of the administration or the system of punishment, but that does not create a permanent transformation.

We have a tendency to blame all the bad things that affect our community’s behaviour on the occupation. There is a lot of truth in that, especially because we are all in a permanent state of frustration – when we are forced to wait for hours at checkpoints to be able to get to work and earn a living, or when our homes are demolished, or when the breadwinner does not come home at the end of the day because he was picked up by the army and thrown in jail. Yet there is still a lot that we can do to improve our lives. One example concerns the unethical behaviour of drivers, especially at Qalandiya Checkpoint. Instead of staying in line to ensure a smooth crossing for everyone, each driver thinks of outsmarting the other, irrespective of the confusion this creates and how it affects public welfare. In fact, every driver feels that he or she is the only one who is in a hurry and that everybody else is on a leisure tour. Actually, we are subconsciously angry at the occupation but we take it out on each other.

Respect for the rights of others starts from kindergarten, and teachers and parents have a great responsibility to instil moral values in the children in order to create a generation of good citizens who care for the common good. Parents and teachers are supposed to be role models. If the children watch their parents throw tissue paper from the car window, they are bound to do the same with their own trash. And if they hear their parents cursing at the checkpoint and picking a fight with the car that just passed them, then those children will surely see nothing wrong with picking a fight with their own classmates. It is not surprising that the violence of the occupation has found its way into schools and homes. For this reason it is very important that the schools have programs that allow children to vent their anger and to help them use their energies in positive ways. Very often I pass by a school at the end of a school day, and it is unbelievable how rough the children are with each other. In fact, the teachers are often unable to control the children. We must realize that there is something very wrong and that we risk losing a whole generation. So what can we do? How can we put an end to this phenomenon? What kind of an education system do we need in order to bring up a generation that is caring and committed to moral values?

A remarkable spirit prevailed during the first Intifada as everybody struggled willingly for the same cause with discipline and cooperation. But at the same time, while the authority of the military was eroded, so was every other kind of authority, whether at home or at school. The young people took upon themselves a big responsibility and lost much of their childhood; a childhood that could not be retrieved as they became, overnight, responsible young men and women. The spirit of rebellion against all authority was a natural reaction. I remember once asking a young boy to pick up a bottle that he had thrown onto the street. He replied, “Let the municipality pick it up.” This is when I realized that neither home nor school alone can repair the damage that has been done. Gone are the days when a young boy would heed my request. It now takes more than a request. We need to build on the spirit of cooperation and discipline that we all experienced during the Intifada in order to heal the brokenness of our society; a society that is still not liberated from occupation. We need a built-in system in our schools that stresses moral values and teaches ethics as one of the compulsory subjects.

Unfortunately many of the teachers themselves have been born and brought up under this brutal military occupation, while their own parents were struggling to make a living. So it is not surprising to see a lot of frustration reflected throughout the community. Anger and frustration do not help the process of healing or of bringing up a healthy generation. Frustration is very contagious. Thus we need teachers who consider teaching to be a vocation and who radiate joy and hope in order to provide children with a wholesome education that includes good citizenship practices and an appreciation of the common good.

Given that many of the contributors to this issue will write about the educational syllabus and the standardized exam that encourages memorization instead of innovative and critical thinking, I will not touch on this subject. But I want to appeal to those who have anything to do with the school curriculum to include at least two periods of ethics a week in the school timetable, starting from the early childhood years. They can even be part of the religious education periods. It would be worth experimenting on combining both Muslims and Christians during these periods that would encourage tolerance and acceptance of the other.

Many schools and teachers can integrate ethics throughout the curriculum. At the same time I hope that the Ministry of Education will realize the need for this and that both parents and teachers will cooperate in bringing up a new generation that will enjoy living in a society that respects and promotes the common good. We need to give our young generation the hope that this is possible and that they can have a role in this change.

 

In Memory of Elizabeth Palmer

This morning I received the sad news of the passing away of Elizabeth Palmer a past World YWCA General Secretary and a visionary leader.  I was privileged to have known this remarkable woman as early as the seventies of the last century and to be exposed to the World YWCA through her.  She impressed me as a role model for leadership at the first YWCA international meeting that I attended on the Status of Women in Geneva.  Her charisma, and her commitment were so obvious.  During her term, she always  showed special attention and care and encouragement to the associations that were less privileged and were in conflict areas.  It was due to that encouragement and perseverance that many associations in Africa and the Middle East were able to stand on their feet and move forward.   

 

During world Y meetings that were conducted in English, she was even sensitive to those whose English was not their mother tongue.  She made it a point to remind the participants of the fact  that English is not the language of most of the YWCA associations, so she asked members to speak clearly and simply.  It was during that  meeting in Geneva  that I heard the acronym NGO for the first time.  And once again it was Elizabeth Palmer who drew our attention to the fact that many of the participants were not aware of what NGO  stood for as well as other acronyms used by the international community.  She insisted that when we speak,  make a presentation or write a statement we should be careful to mention the acronym  in full, at least the first time, and not take for granted the fact that it is  well known to everybody.

 

 The last time I saw Elizabeth was in London when we met at  the special celebration of the YWCA of Great Britain.   It was lovely to see her maintain her interest in the YWCA  despite her retirement and age.  I won’t be surprised that she never stopped being active or following up on YWCA issues until the last days of her life.  Bless her soul; she will be greatly missed as she left her mark on many associations.  May she rest in peace. 

Deeply Concerned

October 2, 2014

 

State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said the US was “deeply concerned” over Israel’s move to advance construction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood. “This step is contrary to Israel’s stated goal and it would send a very troubling message if they proceed with tenders or construction,” Psaki said, adding the move would “call into question Israel’s ultimate commitment to a peaceful negotiated settlement.”

 

How kind of the US and Mr. Obama to be deeply concerned.  Ironically this is not the first time nor  does it seem to be the last time that the US gets a slap in the face when it attempts to order Israel or even request the halting of  construction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood.   But should we be surprised that Israel would not heed  such a request, when it knows that no matter what it does, the US will continue to support it.  Such actions do not at all indicate any interest in peace.  So please Mr. Obama spare us further concern.   If  you are truly and sincerely and deeply concerned about real peace then it is time to take action.  Here is your chance to allow the UN Security Council resolution circulated by the Palestinians to pass without your veto.  The draft calls  for a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and East Jerusalem by 2016.  It also calls for “a just resolution” of the status of Jerusalem as the capital of two states, and of the Palestinian refugee problem. 

Let’s hope and pray that Yom Kippur,  will truly and genuinely be a day of fasting and atonement for the Jewish people,  and not just a routine cleansing of the soul and  slate to start filling it again the next day with violations of human rights.   

 

The Referendum

I was listening to the news this morning announcing that today’s referendum in Scotland will determine the future status of Scotland.  The commentaries definitely expressed the fury of the British government and a lot of English people.   However the first thing that came to my mind was the Psyches Piccot agreement of 1916* when our whole region known as Greater Syria or the Levant  (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq) was split up and divided between colonial powers by no choice of its people or any sort of referendum.  Ironically Britain and France were the  major partners of  that agreement.  As if that was not bad enough it had to be followed by the Balfour Declaration.   And ever since,  we have not enjoyed the liberation, democracy and peace that we were promised should we  help the allies to bring  an end to  the rule of the Ottoman Empire which had lasted for  four hundred years.  I just hope the Israeli occupation does not last that long.  However Israel proceeded with the same colonial mentality of divide and rule.  It might be worthwhile reading the document “A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties, ”  which was brought to my attention through a recent article by Ali Kazaz in which he mentions that the strategy aims to encourage separatist groups to establish religious and sectarian states in the region in order to justify the establishment of its Jewish State and to weaken and destabilize the Arab countries, fuelling endless sectarian wars between Arabs and Muslims and to prevent Arab unity.  And yes indeed that is what is happening,  even after the very tragic events in Gaza with all the devastation and loss of lives.  Will we ever be able to stand up against this trap? Samia



*From Wikipedea:The Sykes–Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a secret agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and France,[1] with the assent of Russia, defining their proposed spheres of influence and control in the Middle East should the Triple Entente succeed in defeating the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The negotiation of the treaty occurred between November 1915 and March 1916.[2] The agreement was concluded on 16 May 1916.[3]

A Nice Break of Good News

After thirty years of marriage, and thirty years of struggling with lawyers and the Israeli ministry of interior’s oppressive measures for family reunification,  my daughter  Dina was able to get a one year permit for her husband to live with her in Jerusalem.   Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, which were supposed to bring about peace to the region, Jerusalem was placed  out of bounds for  Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.   So my daughter’s husband, Yousef Nasser,  who is from Birzeit and  has a Palestinian Identity Card could not live with her and his three  children in Jerusalem, nor could they join him in Birzeit, because that would deprive them of their right of residency in Jerusalem, the city of their birth, and that of their forefathers.   How unfair.  So her only choice was to be a week-end wife and make the best out of it under the circumstances.  How many family occasions he missed that it became normal for him not to be part of those functions.  Yet it was very hard for the whole family when he was terribly missed on certain occasions like the time his daughter was hospitalized for a month and a half after a serious fall, as well as  on  many other happy occasions.   

When Dina told me on Monday morning  that they had an appointment at the ministry of interior I kept praying and hoping that their ordeal would be over soon.  So when she called to say they got the paper, I thought it was the paper approving the family reunification, but it turned out to be indeed an approval for family reunification which begins with  another ordeal of a yearly permit.  At the end of the year and to renew this permit they  need to provide all the necessary documents that they are  actually living in Jerusalem.  a document that would grant him a one year permit to be in Jerusalem.  What an anti-climax was my daughter’s first reaction.   After such long years of  deprivation of a normal family life, and  when all three children  are pursuing their studies abroad, and  no more around us, we can now  be together ”   But when  as Palestinians  we were never granted the justice that we deserved, and never had the best of choices,  a permit becomes an achievement and a sign of hope for further permit renewal.    This is the story of our life as well as that of  thousands of others.   

The great escape.

Just a comment

The following item came through the news from Chanel 4 in London:

Tensions in the world's other great trouble spot, Ukraine, have flared up rather alarmingly. Ukranian President Poroshenko says that his forces destroyed a large part of a Russian military convoy, which, he claims, entered Ukrainian territory overnight. If that's true, it marks a major escalation in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Russia's ambassador to the UK has been called into the Foreign Office after reports that Russian forces had entered Ukraine. Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, has said he's "very alarmed" by the incursion, and Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has condemned a "continuous flow of weapons and fighters from Russia into eastern Ukraine".

With the latest Israeli   invasion on a besieged Gaza,  and the  great numbers of demonstrators  expressing their solidarity with the people of Gaza, was the  ambassador of Israel to the UK called into the Foreign Office?  Was the Foreign Office alarmed?   God forbid.  Israel has the right to defend itself !!!  What hypocricy and double standards.  For that matter even the two Arab countries who have a peace agreement with Israel,  mainly Jordan and Egypt failed to do that as well.  What a shame when we continue to hear the Arab rhetoric about their commitment to the  Palestinian cause and Jerusalem is in their heart.  We are told that they need to maintain that relationship to be able to help in being mediators.   This is nonsense.  We have seen where all this has led us to since the negotiations started after Oslo. They simply give Israel a stepping stone into the Arab Economic world.   None of them, and not even the UN was able to halt the brutality of the occupation and the  settlement  policy of Israel.   They have not even been able to halt the daily incursions into  Al-Aqsa  mosque in Jerusalem, and in no time its status will change,  that is if it will still be there, while the Arab and Muslim world is watching.  Thanks to the five  Latin American Countries, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and El-Salvador  who had the courage to raise their voice against the Gaza Genocide by calling their ambassadors from Tel Aviv.  

From Gaza Day 6

Today is day six in Gaza, the day it all starts getting to you. Yesterday we went out to look around and started saw the devastation. Homes destroyed, pharmacies, doctors’ surgeries…all blatant violations of the Geneva Conventions. I was still detached, I went around with my colleague Dr. Haytham, accompanied by old friends from Gaza. Dr. Yehia drove us around; we started in the Shejaieh neighborhood and Hay al Tuffah. The destruction, the putrid smells – I could see his pain as he showed us where was born and where his children were born. They destroyed my memories, he said. I could see him taking in a deep breath as he said this was enough for today…we were both seeing this destruction for the first time.
Today I knew why he was so reluctant to go through this. I realized what was around the corner. We drove by the site of where the Wafa hospital was. Total destruction – unrecognisable. The site included the old hospital building, the new hospital building, the old people’s nursing home and a centre for disabled children. Also near them was a school that was shelled…..WHAT THE HELL! Next to it was a huge home with the family sitting outside, looking, hoping, talking. Yet the smell of rot and flies all around were nagging on everyone’s mind. Could it be someone was still under all this rubble? They were trying to justify it. Perhaps it’s a cat or some crushed animal. Will it work, I wonder – the smell lingers in the air.
Then we reached Shejayieh. It looked like Hiroshima. Like the bomb had struck again. Again, no words could describe the scale of the devastation. I could not focus anymore, which heroic stand this was and which borders? One thing was for sure, it was total annihilation. HOW COULD THE WORLD have sat back silently?! How. As we approached, the people there ran up to our bus thinking we were the ambulance coming to the rescue as they had identified some body parts…
We got out and faced the public. We did not dare take out our cameras. There was a lot of tension and anger. People started telling us their stories, the children, the women, the men. We then came to the destroyed home of a great grandmother who had lost her son and his family and now they were digging up her daughter who herself was a grandmother…and most probably the body of her daughter next to her. It was pieces of a body. Hearing that great grandmother relate her story really moved me and made me realize how much I was part of this reality. In the operating room it was easy to shut out the emotions and let the adrenalin work its way into action.
We waited until the ambulances arrived. We did not want to leave before. The situation was very tense and delicate. What a stench, what a sight. I remembered the man sleeping in the hospital who had told me the first day and the third day, where do I go? Have you seen Shujaieh? We do not know where the house was or where the road was….
The children there were very proud. One did not have shoes on his feet. They related heroic stories of the resistance and of the Israeli army running away and fleeing, leaving their stretchers behind them. If fact the borders were very close, just there. The camera in the sky was watching us. We were taken later to a hill in the liberated part of Gaza where the colony of Gush Katif stood. We were thanked for our efforts and invited to lunch. We met up with our colleagues from the south who had done a similar tour visiting Khuzaa, where resistance fighters were assassinated on their way to fight.
Inside the bus we were sweating in the heat, outside all we could see was destruction. The Gaza beach did not look as liberating or happy as it usually did. As we drove along, there was the coffee shop that was shelled, killing the youth who were watching the world cup match. A few meters more, another site, another home and so on – how could anyone look at the beach…..
We finally got back to Shifa hospital. I asked my colleague Shabaan to come and meet us as we went out to get something for Haneen to cheer her up. We went to a toyshop and a lady asked if she could buy something for the children in the hospital to cheer them up. After I chose what to get, she bought them and gave them to me, asking me to deliver them to the hospital.
We went to see Haneen and her aunt was there. Her face looked more swollen and her hands warm, she had a fever. She thanked us for the colourful image poster and I hung it up so she can look at. We also got her a balloon and a teddy bear. Some toys were already there. Again, she asked me about my daughter and wanted to see a picture. I could not pull up one of Haya, so I promised her to come tomorrow and show her. Her father arrived and she asked him about her mother, hoping she were ok…I later found out that Haneen still has a third sister in the hospital being treated from shell burns and that she was undergoing surgery tomorrow for a muscle transplant. I really hope she does not lose her arm. I asked her father what was happening, he said they will send her to Scotland for surgery. I asked when, he did not know.
On my way going to say goodbye to my colleagues in the operating room I saw a boy being brought in for a wound debridement. As he was in a lot of pain I looked at his foot and it was gangrenous. He was writhing in bed. I got closed to him and asked what was happening. I am scared, he told me. Of what? I asked. It is painful. Even without being touched? Yes, he said. When I asked him his name, it was Omar. They were trying to hurry him in I asked them to stop. I am ‘Im Omar,’ my eldest son is also called Omar, I said, so I am allowed a few seconds. I knelt closer to him and assured him that they will give him some medicine in the IV that will put him to sleep so he will not feel the pain of the dressing and we will see what to do when he wakes up. I stepped out of the theatre and called my friend Shaaban, hoping he will bring me a balloon and a toy for Omar. As soon as Shaaban answered the phone I was chocking up with tears. It was too much to bear these children surviving the shelling like this. Omar will lose a limb and Haneen might too – the pain has just started.
When Shaaban came I went to see Omar. He was fast asleep. He will be coming to Jerusalem tomorrow. They do not know to which hospital yet. I told his parents to insist as each day he will lose more of his limb.
I asked about Scotland. It will take six months for any transfers. I hurried to my computer to find Magda – my colleague, a surgeon from Scotland. I know she will help………but who will take care of the children??????

A second message from Gaza

This is the second message from Dina from Gaza

(10:17 pm 5th of August 2014) almost 20 hours after her first.

We woke up today to the sound of thundering, followed by the sound of an F16 fighter jet. I jumped out of bed hoping the ceasefire hopes we went to bed with were not shattered. I looked at my watch and saw it was seven thirty in the morning. I realized that this must be the usual cycle (as people say) before the ceasefire was in effect at eight. I was relieved, I felt the buzzing sound outside sounded different. My colleague, Dr. Dina, with whom I share a name and a room, laughed. She thought the buzz had never stopped, so how could it be different? In fact it was outside. The small selling stalls on the floor selling flip flops, underwear, t-shirts, shorts…

The mats and cardboards were gone from the balcony, yet the makeshift tents were there. People were arguing, discussing going home or waiting. To go check their homes, or to wait. Like every morning on the walk to the hospital passing the morgue we encounter death, today another martyr in another ambulance. We walked past a young man crying and pulling at his hair and a woman in the car in tears.

I reach the operating room as I do each morning and there was a happy atmosphere. No casualties today, nothing to do this morning. I did not even feel like holding my chlorine based wipe and going around with it. I decided to visit Haneen.

Dr. Haytham, my colleague and I went in. How are you? We asked. Ok she said, her head tilted to the side. What happened to my sister? I do not know, I said, but I will ask. What happened to my father? We saw him in the emergency room, he is ok, perhaps he is in the hospital or he has been sent home, I answered. What home? I bit my tongue. There is no more home. I said perhaps to someone’s home from the family. But I promised we will ask. Finally she asked about her mother. I had no idea…Tell me what happened to them. I promised again I would ask. She asked me once more about my daughter. How is she? She is well, I said.

Again, she asked about her sisters.

I went to the operating room and asked to find out. The nurses helped find a relative who came a few hours later. He had tears in his eyes. Haneen’s mother had passed away, her two sisters, her uncle and her cousin from another uncle. That was the baby that had come in that morning with her…

This afternoon, my colleagues from Gaza insisted on taking us around. The damage, the destruction, the awe, the smell of rot. It was Jenin revisited a million times over!

I have still not made it to the Shejaieye proper, there it is total annihilation…

We are not the heroes. It is the Gaza people that are the heroes as they survive and live on through all this pain.

From my daughter Dina from Gaza

My daughter Dina has been in Gaza with a medical team from the Augusta Victoria Hospital since last Friday.  We are expecting them back tomorrow "Inshallah" as we always say in Arabic (God Willing) 

She sent us two messages from there which I am posting.  

Today was day four in Gaza. The first two days were like limbo. We felt we were in Gaza but not yet feeling what was happening around. We live in the hospital compound: eat in the compound, work in the compound, sleep in the compound. We see the injured, hear the ambulances, see the bodies and people strewn around everywhere - still it does not sink in. Yesterday evening things started to get real when I saw a child sleeping with his father in the open air on a piece of cardboard. He was there in the morning, there in the evening, and again this morning and this evening. I wonder where is his mother, where is his family? The stories one hears about entire families being annihilated, completely erased from the national registers of citizenship makes your hair stand on end! But still, it does not sink in. Perhaps because I am in the operation room and used to seeing people injured. Then reality hits when the shelling in Jabalia starts. At ten in the evening we receive a lady in her sixties. She is full of dust, full of earth and full of holes throughout her body. Head lacerated, thighs lacerated, leg crushed. I think of where she could have been sitting, what were her thoughts when the shell hit…I thought of mom, I thought of all the older women I know.

When the bombing started this morning, it was children. Our first patient was a little boy around six years old. He had massive lacerations to his groin, abdomen, face and head. He had burns all over his body as well. We were able to manage him in the theatre. I wait to see how he is doing. Then comes Haneen. She is an eight year old; my colleague from the emergency room, Dr. Haytham informed me that a child is coming up with her hand hanging on her side. I went up to Haneen who was waiting calmly in the holding bay. Her eyes were closed. She had a bandage across her head; her eyes were closed because of the swelling from the oedema and the burns to her face. I approached her and held her, and greeted her, and informed her of my name. I held her little hand on the injured side. I told her that I will be with her - she held my fingers. She informed me that her hand hurts. I told her that it was injured and that we will try and fix it. She then asked me about her father and two sisters. I told her that her father was waiting for her. I could not tell her that her sister had died. I still could not tell her that later that evening, her other sister was brought in dead from under the rubble…they were both less than four years old.

I saw Haneen in the ICU later. She was awake and extubated. I greeted her and told her that I was Dina. One eye was now open. She asked me if I had a daughter, I said yes. She asked me what is her name. I said Haya. She said that is a pretty name.

It was a tough day that ended with hopeful news. The plane up above, called zanana (drone) keeps buzzing all around. My colleagues from Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem arrived today with supplies. I felt proud to greet them. The Hospital had done an excellent job sending supplies and individual packs to each of us. They were greeted and their support appreciated. Being there is all that matters. On a personal level, I feel responsible for a big group now. It is very nice to have Dr. Haytham here; he is a wonderful professional colleague. My other colleagues are in Nasser Hospital in Rafah (South of Gaza), treating the injured and witnessing the toll of martyrs. One other colleague is at Al Aqsa Hospital working in surgery.

The smell of blood and death is around the young and the old. Each day we are greeted with the car coming to take the martyrs. Our room is close to the mortuary. You look at the faces of people here - they are all stunned. A nurse on duty looks deeply sad - her son comes with her to work. My friend Bassam from Gaza came to visit me and brought me a lot of goodies to eat. I distributed them among our team and colleagues. I was worried when I looked into his eyes and saw how red they were. The strain on his face was apparent. His son had a close call, and his nephew has ben injured. They are children. They were playing in the street and had just stepped into the house….

The nursing director had to take a deep breath as he recalled all the children that he had seen. We will need time to heal she said, the pain will take time. The stories are overwhelming and the loss has not yet stopped.

The price of freedom and the price of oppression

The price of freedom has always been high.  There is hardly a liberation movement in history that did not need to resort to violence before achieving its liberation and right to self determination.  All along history so many lives have been lost while people were struggling for their freedom and rights.  And unfortunately,   in most  cases it was only an armed struggle that helped people achieve their goals.  Indeed there were some  cases of peaceful resistance and civil disobedience which were  very often just as costly in human lives because the people seeking independence were not  spared the brutality of their oppressors.  

The Palestinians are not any  different.  Yet what makes our story a sad one, is that we tried both the armed struggle and the peaceful resistance, and we did not succeed in either.  Not because we are stupid, or not united or not peace loving,  but because we have a unique adversary with an agenda of turning the land empty of its people so that the myth on which they created their state becomes a reality “A land without people for a people without land.  The Palestinians have eventually realized that since the  US with all its might as well as the UN could not challenge Israel and make it budge, then it was time to come up with an innovative strategy and tools of resistance.  Even amidst all this barbaric invasion the UN failed to impose any sanctions on Israel.  And on the contrary, the US made a commitment of further aid to Israel ($230m)  from the American tax payers despite the demonstrations of the American citizens against this invasion, contrary to the legislatures. 

After seven years of siege by land air and sea,  and after the failure of all the peace talks and the building and expansion of Israeli settlements all over Palestine,  it would certainly be naïve to think that the Gaza people were not going to resort to innovative means to liberate themselves from their oppressors. So this is not about Hamas and the rockets.  It is about the whole Palestinian population crying out Enough is Enough.   What makes you wonder sometimes is why  the oppressors never seem to learn from history that no oppressive regime whether a kingdom, empire,  or a union could survive for ever.  So the price of oppression is no less costly than the price of freedom, and invading Gaza after a seven-year siege,  was not going to be a picnic for the Israeli army.  Once again I appeal to the Israeli mothers and wives of those soldiers to raise a voice of sanity and compassion.

I took another break yesterday evening from the horrors of the TV screen and attended a special mass at our parish church in Beit Hanina.  Bishop Shomali officiated along with the parish priest, and the Apostolic Delegate had a special prayer at the end of the service as well.  I know it is very difficult to pray these days, and so many believers wonder where God is in the midst of all this brutality, but we cannot afford to lose our faith nor our hope.  The whole service was very meaningful and after the blessing we all joined in singing “Mawtani” the famous national anthem, meaning “my land” More than ever people felt united for the one cause.  The youth carried a plaque that was placed near the alter which I am attaching.  

For those who do not read Arabic.  It says:  We are all one: The pain (the wound) is one.  And we prayed for Syria and Iraq as well.  But once again I say that it is going to take much more than our prayers to put an end to this genocide.  

A prayer for Gaza

Prayers for Gaza

Samia Khoury

July 22, 2014

 

 

Today I had a short break from the news and the TV set as I joined Sabeel for  a special service held at the Dominican church  for the people of Gaza.   This church where Yousef and I celebrated our wedding, fifty four years ago, has become a symbol for special prayers held by Sabeel.  The occasions have been many and seem to be endless.  Iraq Syria,  Palestinian prisoners, and now the people of Gaza for a third round of invasions.  

 

No words can describe the brutality of what is happening in Gaza.  With the sophisticated media nowadays, nobody can claim ignorance of this genocide.  We watch TV day and night and see bodies torn apart and people lifting children from under the rubble.    We also  prayed for the Christians  of Mousel in Iraq who are being evicted from their homes or killed.  Not much different from the action of  the sophisticated army of the only democracy in the region shelling a defenseless population under siege.  Thanks to Mr. Bush and Blair for starting this war in Iraq and which, ever since,  had created havoc in the region and more refugees.  It also  brought about all sorts of radical movements that are  to the advantage of nobody but Israel,  as the world turns a blind eye to  how it has been systematically  dispossessing the Palestinians ever since 1948.    The barbaric war on Gaza is  another Nakba.   

 

Despite the grave tragedy and the massacre of whole families in Gaza totaling to over  660 until this evening and thousands injured and homes demolished we find the reaction of the UN and the US not up to the gravity of this beastly  invasion.  In fact it is unbelievable when the US president claims that Israel has the right to defend itself, instead of having the courage to force Israel to lift the siege on Gaza and to withdraw from the occupied territories.  This sounded like the understatement of the year  when an occupying force needs to defend itself from the occupied.  And what  makes  the Israeli narrative more ridiculous and nonsensical is the claim of all  spokespersons that Gaza is not under occupation, and that Israel withdrew from it completely eight years ago.  Really did they?  Who then controls this hugely condensed area whose population is mostly from refugees evicted in 1948?   

 

The people of Gaza  have been under siege for the last seven years,  with no access to land, air or sea.  So is the world surprised that they had to be creative and innovative in finding means to liberate themselves from this big prison and all the brutality of one attack after the other while the world was simply watching without taking any action. Enough is enough.  Those  people  could not wait any longer  for the wishy washy stand of the brokers of peace, the UN  or the Arab leaders and took matters in their own hands.  And at this stage it seems that all the Palestinians are behind them in their right to resist this brutality, despite the high price they are paying with human lives.  But for a desperate population the cry ends up being either freedom or death.  Is anybody listening?  Just envisage your own domestic animal cooped up in a small area, and felt cornered how ferocious it can be and  what damage it would do to be able to get out, and you might end up being its first victim.  The people of Gaza are human beings,  who  deserve a dignified life.    

 

Mr. Kerry wasted his time and energy like his predecessors in trying to forge a peace that could not be possible while Israel continues to flout all agreements and UN resolutions as well as international law.  Indeed as long as Israel can maintain the status quo and  get away with it by being above the law,  why should it bother to heed to the UN, Mr. Obama or Mr. Kerry?  They are all irrelevant as far as Israel is concerned.  But now  they got a taste of the suffering that they have inflicted on others for years.  Would these mothers and wives losing their loved ones make a difference, or will they become as arrogant as their leaders and more aggressive and revengeful and increase the loss of lives on both sides?

 

In his homily, Patriarch Sabbah  said that there is a  need for the transformation of leaders with a change of heart,  and a change of vision whereby all humans are equal and all people deserve to have their own freedom and sovereignty, and to  live   in dignity,  and security.  As I shook hands with the Patriarch, the Bishops and the clergy after the service I told them  I was hoping  the doors of the heavens were open to hear our prayers.  It is indeed going to take much more than our prayers to bring an end to the atrocities and massacres in Gaza.

Sound of Music

At the counter of the supermarket I ran into a friend who seemed very tense because she had family in Gaza.  But then Gaza has been the centre of  our attention and all what we have been talking about recently.  In fact asides from the distraction of the world cup, I have been flipping from one station to another to keep up with the reality on the ground.   My e-mail box has been inundated  with articles, youtubes,  as well as appeals, and  petitions that I am still trying to go through.  As my friend and I were ready to pick up our bags, a young boy standing by,  and  who apparently heard our discussion felt at liberty to contribute a comment:  “It is Hitler who needs to be blamed for all this; they are doing to us what he did to them.”  My friend and I were dumbfounded.   “How do you know about Hitler?” I asked him.  “From the Sound of Music”  he answered. 

I remembered how many times I had watched that lovely musical with my own children, and how the Trap family had to escape from  the Nazis.  I do not think that little boy realized that it was practically taboo to make an analogy between the Nazis and Israel.   However,  more voices nowadays and even Jewish voices are making this analogy as well as  being critical of Israel for having used the Holocaust to justify all the human rights violations against the Palestinians.  In fact I  had quoted  the famous Israeli singer Yaffa Yarkoni in my book Reflections from Palestine – A journey of Hope when she said: “When I saw the Palestinians with their hands tied behind their backs, young men, I said,  it is like what the Nazis  did to us.  We are a people that lived through the Holocaust, how can we be capable of such a  thing?”  Although Yaffa has passed away a few years ago,  there are many other Jewish voices  who are posing this question to the Israeli government.  But Mr. Netanyahu with his arrogance and megalomania, and using different pretexts  is  determined to wage a genocide against the Palestinians, and not only in Gaza.  In his press conference on Friday The Times Of Israel reported that he made it explicitly clear that he could never, ever, countenance a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank. He indicated that he sees Israel standing almost alone on the frontlines against vicious Islamic radicalism, while the rest of the as-yet free world does its best not to notice the march of extremism. And he more than intimated that he considers the current American, John Kerry-led diplomatic team to be, let’s be polite, naive.

Let us not fool ourselves that the cycle of violence needs to stop.  There is no symmetry between the occupiers and those resisting the occupation.   What needs to stop is the occupation, the  ongoing Nakba and the dispossession of the Palestini

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

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