Christmas 2020

The Little Town of Bethlehem is not celebrating

It was the first to be hit by a virus so invading

Tourists carried it during a flourishing season

Causing a complete lockdown of all the region.

Easter has gone and now it's Christmas time

It's getting worse and the virus is in its prime

The Christmas tree stands lonely in the square

No choirs or pilgrims, a scene so sad and rare

With the news of the vaccine, hope is rising

Holding onto hope for us is not surprising

Hope has been the secret of our surviving

Despite the occupation ever so brutalizing

As we face this monster of a pandemic altogether

The least we can do is to be kind to each other

May the spirit of Christmas continue to prevail

And may justice, peace and liberation tip the scale

An Open Letter to the European Union On the UN Human Rights Day

 

For the last few days,  we have been hearing  about the European Union contemplating  to impose sanctions on Turkey.  I am not going to indulge in the reasons justifying those sanctions.  However,  on this 10^th day of December,  I want to seize the occasion of the United Nations Human Rights Day to pose a question to the European Union,  that  has been watching the daily violations of Palestinian human rights by the Israeli occupying forces including the demolition of schools which the European Union itself  has provided funding for.  When will the European Union think it is appropriate to consider or in fact to actually impose sanctions on Israel?  After the visit  to the site of the schools and the wide coverage it had on the media,  all that the European Union Representatives did was to condemn the action.  Israel could not care less, and it has become immune to any condemnation of its violations in the occupied territories.  Even when it kills young people,  it claims that it has a right to defend itself.

 

However,  I am sure Israel  won’t be that  immune if it is made to feel the brunt of its violations by some action on behalf of the international community.  So I am wondering what it is going to take for the  European Union to consider imposing sanctions on Israel, for its continuous  violations during its 53 years of a military occupation, which in itself is a violation of  the United Nations resolution 242 passed by a unanimous vote of the Security Council  on November 22, 1967  for the withdrawal of the Israeli forces based on the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.

Reflecting on the Power of Hope

For  the last few days I have been reading a book about the Palestinian poet from Beit Sahhour,Anton Shomali (1914-1979) written by Aziz Al-Asa, a writer and a  researcher. Many of you remember Beit Sahhour not only for the YMCA Shepherds field service during the Christmas celebrations, but for its civil disobedience against the Israeli occupation during the first Intifada which had erupted in 1987.  By then Anton Shomali had passed away.  

  

However, the writer highlights the poetry of Anton which seems to be a documentation of the different historical periods of Palestine, some of which the poet himself  lived through.  There is a reference to the Crusaders, the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate, the Nakba of 1948 as well as the Israeli occupation of June 1967. 

 

It seemed ironic that while I was reading one of the poems which was an Ode to Hope, I received a notice from a Palestinian-American friend,  Mary Trolan, about a new book: 

A History of False Hope: Investigative Commissions in Palestine, by Lori Allen.  

 

Ever since I can remember, we have been struggling and hoping for justice in our own land.  When we were still in school we heard of one commission after the other coming to study the options for a solution for  Palestine.  No wonder the title of Lori Allen is A History of False Hope.   Why in the first place was there a need for a solution for Palestine?  Is it because Palestine as well as other  countries of the Middle East have always been coveted by colonial powers?  Our parents thought that their liberation  from the Ottoman Empire was truly a new era of Independence, and that the law of the Jungle,  “Might is Right”  had come to an end with the establishment of  the United Nations in 1945 after  the end of World War II.    Unfortunately that did not happen, and the British and French  ended up being the new colonial powers in the region dividing greater Syria according to their own vested interests.   

 

Palestine fell under the British Mandate for twenty five  years, during which the  British  facilitated the implementation of the Balfour declaration* which eventually led to the partition of Palestine by the UN resolution 181 on November 29, 1947, and the dispossession of the Palestinians for not accepting the partition plan.  How could the Palestinians  have accepted to partition their  own land? As if that was not enough,  the UN allocated 56% of Palestine to the Jewish population who owned only 7% of the land at that time. 

 

Once again the United Nations adopted resolution No. 194 on December 11, 1948 to allow  the return of all the  Palestinians who were forced out of the country by the Jewish militias or who fled in fear.  The injustice was so glaring that we were sure it would be redressed.  That is why we never ceased to hope,  not  even after the occupation of the rest of the Palestinian territories in the wake of the June 1967 war.  Once again the United Nations passed a resolution 242 on November22, 1967  for the withdrawal of the Israeli forces based on the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.  Although that never materialized,  we were  still hoping despite the failure of all the peace negotiations, and  the hopelessness of the situation.  But we do realize that the impotence of this international body seems to be so apparent only when Israel is concerned, and which has always been shielded by the USA.

 

However we keep hoping,  because this is bound to change eventually.  With the lockdowns all over the world due to the Covid 19 pandemic we see more and more webinars taking place in favor of the rights of the Palestinians, and more books published in favor of Palestinians as well which was not possible ten years ago.  That is why we keep quoting the renowned  Arab poet from the Abbasside era Al-Mutanabi, which translates from Arabic as follows:    “Life would be unbearable without a glimmer of hope.”   On the other hand, in his Ode to Hope,  Anton Shomali writes:

 

O HOPE
Without you no one would have rebelled ,no one would have feared
Without you no one would have labored , no one would have worked hard
Without you despair would have darkened the  conscience of every man
Without you life would have become meaningless , abandoned and man idle and dependent
Without you the world would have become a grave for every kindness and every good deed. (Translated from Arabic by Tania Nasir)

However we have to realize that Hope, like Faith, without deeds is dead.  
So as we continue to hope for justice and independence to prevail, we and all our friends who support us, have to work towards that goal in deeds and not only in words.  

 

 

*The Balfour Declaration.

His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country

This Week in Palestine, Personality of the Month: Dina Nasser (my daughter)

Personality of the Month

Dina Nasser

Dina Nasser is a Palestinian public health nurse with a post-graduate specialization in operating room nursing. She received her RN degree from the Nightingale School of Nursing, St. Thomas’ Hospital, in London, United Kingdom, and her operating room specialization at Lewisham Hospital School of Nursing before obtaining her master’s degree in public health at Birzeit University. Her main areas of expertise are infection prevention and control and emergency-care training.

Dina has dedicated the majority of her career to improving the quality of health care services for all Palestinians. She has 35 years of clinical experience in the Palestinian health system and in the capacity building of health professionals. Her work has led to the development of national protocols and guidelines for infection prevention that have been endorsed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. She has the ability to work with teams and adapt current settings to international standards to mitigate the risks of work in environments with limited resources in fragile economies. She is both a mentor and a role model for the new generation of nurses.

Dina facilitated the development of the infection-prevention program at Augusta Victoria Hospital and played a leadership role in the team working to ensure sustainability and alignment with international standards required for the International Joint Commission accreditation.

She began her clinical career at Makassed Hospital as an operating room nurse where she set out safety and infection-prevention standards. She worked with a Norwegian NGO to support operating room nurses who trained at Al-Ittihad Hospital in Nablus and helped develop the national curriculum for operating room nurses taught at Al-Quds University. Dina then assumed the position of deputy field nursing officer at UNRWA, moving on to the post of field nursing officer, where she remained for eight years, supporting the capacity building of nurses, promoting teamwork, and fostering the adoption of systems and standards in infection prevention and control for Qalqilya Hospital, particularly in the operating rooms.

She is among the founders of Juzoor for Health and Social Development and set up the first American Heart Association training center in Palestine, where she remains on the national faculty for basic life support, preparing new instructors and supporting national centers.

At Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) on the Mount of Olives, Dina started as a part-time health adviser in 2008 and served as the chief operating officer (COO) from 2019 to November 2020. In 2014 and 2018, she led the AVH missions to Gaza during some of the most tumultuous times, liaising effectively with stakeholders and the WHO in supporting care for the injured.

Dina has presented the work of the AVH infection prevention team at three conferences of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control (APIC) in the United States. At an APIC plenary session in 2019, she presented AVH’s national engagement in addressing antimicrobial stewardship and infection-prevention practices through a quality-improvement collaborative effort of 22 hospitals, including all Ministry of Health hospitals.

Her accomplishments in putting in place the protocols of infection prevention and hand hygiene at AVH became all the more important during the COVID pandemic when, as COO, she played a pivotal role on the front line with the emergency response team, supporting the staff and working with the ancillary teams to ensure readiness and safe practices to safeguard the health of AVH staff and patients.

Reflecting on the pandemic, she says, “I am grateful that we achieved some advances in hand hygiene during our national quality improvement collaborative, even though some health managers had been skeptical about our efforts in focusing on hand hygiene. Imagine what would have happened under COVID had the nation been three years behind!”

Guided by the nursing code of practice, Dina is a leader and a resource. Yet when the need arises, she works hand in hand to get the job done. She is particular about work quality and always encourages teams to communicate effectively and do better. Her trademark debriefing questions: “What went well? And how can we do better?”

Reflecting on All Saints Day

 Today the Catholic Church as well as other  Christian Churches  celebrate All Saints Day.  The number of saints  had  increased along the years, that it seemed more appropriate to allocate one day for all of them together.  

 

As I watched the Sunday service on TV this morning, and which has become the norm ever since the Corona Pandemic, there was a special prayer for all those saints.    However I could not help but think of the many saints who are living amongst us and we hardly recognize them, let alone say a special prayer for them.  

 

Did we ever think of the many anonymous angels of mercy whom we do not recognize because we do not see them when they lend a hand to an elderly or a handicapped person,   or when they knock at the door of a lonely person to give him or her some solace.  I can think of some teachers with special compassion who have made a whole difference in the life of  school children particularly those with special needs.  And during this pandemic I cannot but think of all those nurses and medical teams who have been on the go continuously to save lives.  What they have been  doing is beyond their duty.

 

And of course under this oppressive occupation,  there are those who check on families whose children have been in prison for years and years with no hope of having them released in their  life time.  But then could we not consider some of those prisoners themselves as saints, like Maher El- Akhras who has  been detained without charge or trial and is in his 97^th day of a hunger strike and is willing  to sacrifice his life,  so that the brutal and illegal  Administrative detention is completely abolished.  A detention Israel inherited from the British mandate gives Israel the right to hold anybody under administrative detention for a certain period without charge or trial,  and which could be renewed  continuously. 

 

So on this All Saints day, please  pray for Maher, and maybe a prayer for some compassion on the part  of the Israeli military  will help release Maher. 

The Commercial Press “Habesch”

Yesterday I watched a video in which Tewfic Issa Habesch, the grandson of Tewfick Habesch, the founder of the Commercial Press in Jerusalem one hundred years ago.  In the video he explains how despite losing everything from machine to building in the western part of Jerusalem in 1948 where the press was located, his grandfather was determined to resume the work of the Commercial Press in the city. So he subsequently rented a temporary building in the New Gate of East Jerusalem until they were able to move to their own premises on the Asfahani Street, where they have been based before the 1967 war. 

Listening to Tewfic relate the achievements of the printing press, I began to reflect on my personal connection with it ever since I returned from university in the USA in 1954 and started work, at what was then Birzeit College. My father, Musa Nasir,  had introduced me to them so as to be sure we resumed our printing jobs at the Commercial Press because they were both efficient and meticulous with their work.  Issa, the son of the founder had also just returned from abroad after finishing his studies to be qualified to work with his father.  It was the Commercial Press that printed the first emboss for the ubiquitous Olive Tree Logo design of Birzeit College, which was conceived especially for the college by George Aleef, the Russian art teacher at Birzeit before 1948.  The same logo which appeared on the cover of the College Magazine “Sawt Al Kulleya” also printed by the Commercial Press in Arabic and English before 1948.  They also printed a book by my father in 1966 “Toward a Solution to the Palestinian problem: A selection of speeches and writings between 1946-1966

Having said that, and as far as Birzeit was concerned, the most outstanding job that the Commercial Press “Habesch” did was the printing of the first university diploma in Palestine granted by Birzeit University in 1976.  The logo of the Olive Tree appeared within  the name of the university, which was designed by the renowned Jerusalemite calligrapher Mohammed Siam. 

Of course I cannot but give credit to Issa’s sister Beatrice, who was always there at the Commercial Press following up on details. She was an amazing proofreader, who ensured the correct spelling and accurate typeset for printing. This was long before the digital revolution in printing had changed print.  Later, after I got married and settled in Jerusalem, I worked closely with Beatrice as the Commercial Press did all the printing jobs material for the YWCA and Rawdat el-Zuhur with whom I volunteered. I remember my uncle Labib Nasir who was the General Secretary of the YMCA, telling me that they did all their printing at the Commercial Press. In addition to our wedding invitations, which were printed at the Commercial Press, my husband Yousef Khoury also had all his official stationery for his engineering office done there.    

It is therefore with great sadness that I learnt of the decision to shut down the Commercial Press “Habesch.”  Tewfic, who is the third generation involved in running the Commercial press, and who helped modernize the printing methods of the press announced at the end of the video that the press had to shut down due to the consistent closures and crippling restrictions Palestinian Jerusalem is placed under by Israel. Its isolation from the rest of Palestine made business near impossible. I could not but shed a tear. 

It has become very clear that the Israeli measures,  against the indigenous Jerusalemites is to make their daily lives unbearable and near unlivable.  It was shortly after the June 1967 war that Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem and claimed the united Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel. Despite the fact that the United Nations considered this act as illegal,  Israel established a new reality by its actions on the ground.  It imposed very high taxes and confiscated property when people were not able, or refused to pay .  And of course the situation became worse for the people of Jerusalem when after the Oslo agreement, Israel sealed off Jerusalem, whereupon Palestinians from outside the city could no longer move freely in or out of the city, which had been the centre of life, culture, shopping and medical services for all Palestinians.  Military barriers and checkpoints were placed at the entrances of the city and permits were only granted to few people and for special purposes. 

With determination the Jerusalem institutions have been doing everything possible to keep going and to help people stay put.  Cultural events, and musical programs have been  especially important to keep the Palestinian voice heard in Jerusalem and to help in the “Sumud” of the people .  However Israel continues to enforce new and innovative measures on the Palestinian Jerusalem institutions.  We all remember how the Orient House was the first institution to be shut down, followed by the Chamber of Commerce.  And the most recent victims of this policy were  the Palestinian TV as well as the Palestinian Education Department, not withstanding  the continuous harassment of the governor and the minister of the Jerusalem affairs. 

Undoubtedly all those measures and restrictions have posed a lot of difficulties on the Palestinian Jerusalem institutions in particular, and community at large. It is very clear that the decision to close down the business of the Commercial Press “Habesch” was not an easy decision, as all options have been exhausted.   Many blessings on this institution that has maintained its professional integrity for the last 100 years despite the relentless onslaught on the city.

Yom Kippur 2020

Dear Friends:  It is Yom Kippur once again, and we are all locked down in our homes and unable to move.  Nothing new since the Corona pandemic has continued to be on the rise.  As a reminder of that day, I refer you to what I had written on Yom Kippur last year which was posted on my blog on October 9, 2019.  Israel,  which claims to be the only democratic state in the region,  insists on being a Jewish state, when 21% of its population is non-Jewish, and they do not have the same privileges as the Jewish population.  However  Mr. Netanyahu is always taking pride in quoting  the Bible in Hebrew on various occasions, and sometimes  incomplete quotations, to suit the occasion.  Even during the normalization ceremony with the Gulf states under the auspices of the US in the White House,  he managed a prayer in Hebrew by King David:  'May God give strength to his people, may God bless his people with peace.'

However when it comes to a quotation from  prophet Micah 6:8, Netanyahu fails the test as a good Jew, and especially on Yom Kippur.  “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness and walk humbly with God” 

He is certainly not doing justice to the Palestinians, and not even for a large sector of the Israeli citizens,  neither is he treating people with kindness, not even members of his own party or government.  And of course he is not walking humbly with God.  One of the Hebrew papers compared him recently  to a peacock, a very arrogant and proud species.  Where is all this leading to?

If Israel cannot have peace with its adversaries, no normalization with friendly countries will bring about peace to the region.  So I hope Mr. Netanyahu will be honest for a change on this holy day and make the proper vow to bring about justice to the region and to love kindness and walk humbly with God. 

Tony Blair

I am attaching a reflection on Tony Blair which I had written in 2007, to remind my readers why it is not that easy to delete Tony Blair. In his capacity as Prime Minister of the UK (1997-2007) Tony Blair played a crucial role in the Gulf war, a war waged by the US and the UK on Iraq in 2003. A war based on false assumptions that Iraq had nuclear weapons. A war that could have been avoided, sparing so many lives and the devastation of the whole region, which seems to be suffering from its effects up to this day. But then in his capacity as a special envoy to the quartet (2007-2015) to help in implementing the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel, he was a complete failure, and the peace process seemed to be simply a process leading us to no where.

 Yet once again Tony Blair’s name appeared recently in playing a major role in initiating the first steps to the normalization between the Emirates and Israel, in an article written by Ariel Kahana in the Israeli paper “Isarel Hayom.” Is Tony Blair still itching to connect his name with peace in the region? I am sorry Mr. Blair, you lost that opportunity twice. First in your capacity as Prime Minister, when the UK could have atoned for the Balfour Declaration and recognized the State of Palestine. And second as a special envoy to the Quartet to enforce the peace process, when you could have sanctioned Israel for not implementing the United Nations resolutions.

Both Israel and the US are making a big hoopla out of the normalization with the Emirates and Bahrain, and there are already many cartoons on the social media showing a long queue of other Arab countries following suit. Security has always been a priority for Israel. So under the guise of “security”, Israel has violated all human rights according to international law, and refused to abide by United Nations resolutions, or the Oslo accords which were initiated by the PLO, and signed by Israel under the patronage of the USA. That is why any country that has never been at war with Israel will ever be able to guarantee peace or security for Israel as long as it continues to occupy the Palestinian land and deprive the Palestinians of their inalienable rights.

Tony Blair
By Samia Khoury
September 28, 2007

Today I saw my friend who has been urging me to print the collection of my reflections, so I decided not to delay this task any longer, As I started looking through my documents I found a file that read "British Prime Minister Tony Blair". To my surprise when I checked the file it was empty. I must have planned to write something and for one reason or another I did not, or my mood must have changed and the inspiration slipped away. So I decided to delete the file since there was nothing in it. But to my surprise again, I got a flashing sign saying "cannot delete Tony Blair."

How ironic I thought; indeed one cannot delete Tony Blair. When we thought there was a change in the British government he popped up again as the special envoy of the Quartet. Was Tony Blair supposed to resuscitate the body that has not given a sign of breath since its creation? Or was he supposed to give hope to the Palestinians in a hopeless situation? Tony Blair, the Prime Minister was in a much stronger position to enforce a settlement and bring about justice to the people who were victims of the British Mandate policy. It was a golden opportunity for Tony Blair to atone for the policies of his predecessors. Unfortunately he wasted his brilliant career on a futile war that brought so much misery to the region as well as great losses amongst his troops. So I am not deleting Tony Blair because I filled up the file with this reflection.

As an optimist by nature, I want to hope against all odds that next time Blair is in our country his smile will be a genuine one, and a true reflection of moving ahead towards justice, liberation and healing.

Woe to the Powerless!!

Woe to the Powerless!!!!

Samia Khoury 

2020 seems like a year we would like to remove from our memory during this century.  With life being toppled upside down for everybody all over the world due to the Corona Pandemic,  forces of evil still find a way to strike again and again 

We hardly got over the shock of the explosion in Beirut on August 4,  and the loss of so many lives  along with the destruction of a large area of the city when we got another shock  on August 13, with the breaking news of the United Arab Emirates' recognition of Israel and the normalization of  their relationship on all levels.  Why would the Emirates do that at a time when the Palestinians are at their lowest ebb, and they need the support of all their Arab neighbors to sanction Israel instead of allying with it.  A promise for full Arab States relationship with Israel was stipulated clearly  in the Saudi initiative at the Arab summit meeting in Beirut in  March 2002,  provided Israel  ended its occupation and withdrew from all the Arab  territories it occupied 1967, in accordance with Security Council 242 and 338.  However the Israeli  occupation has been further entrenched by the establishment of settlements all over the West Bank.  So is the UAE rewarding Israel,  or is it encouraging other Arab countries to do likewise, and further abandon the Palestinians?   It is shameful indeed and no justification is acceptable.    

My first reaction was that  Israel won once again,  and succeeded in driving a wedge in the midst of the Arab countries.   All colonial countries are experts on the policy of “divide and rule”.   As a Palestinian,   I was old enough to remember this kind of policy  during the British Mandate, and later on I  learned that it happened wherever the British Empire ruled.  So ever  since the creation of the State of Israel which was a by product of the British Mandate,  such a policy continued to prevail, except that the major player now supporting Israel is the USA.  Without its unequivocal moral and financial support, Israel could not have been able to maintain the occupation of the Palestinian Territories. And during the term of Donald Trump, the USA has been exceptionally generous with Israel and rewarded it with  a United  Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,  the Deal of the Century, and this latest  UAE initiative.   In  the meantime, and very sadly  the wedge between the Palestinians continues to prevail.  However the words of Condoleeza Rice, the US Secretary of the Sate from 2005-2009,  and who was the National Security Adviser to President George Bush during the invasion of Iraq,  become so pertinent at such a time  as she had   declared  at that time that the USA  wants to see a New Middle East. Who else but Israel, their ally in the region, who would help them attain that, being Israel’s  wish as well?   Since then we have seen what happened in Iraq, Syria, Lybia, and all the region in general.  So with this latest announcement what else is new?    
 

My second reaction, to the deal was that the “wizard”  Bibi Netanyahu as he was referred to by one of the Hebrew papers, as well as the business man, Donald Trump are facing problems and challenges  in their political careers and up coming elections in the US and another  possible  election in Israel.  What better distraction and promotion could they get than striking such a deal at such a time.  And especially that all three of them,  the UAE,  Israel,  and the USA share a common enemy – IRAN-.  

Yet,  I could not help but reflect on the Oslo Accords by which the Palestinians accepted to establish their state on the 1967 borders for the sake of peace.  We were given the impression that peace was really around the corner;  our deported young men would  be allowed to come back and the prisoners would be released.     Yes many of the deportees did come back, but many of the prisoners are still languishing in Israeli jails.  

To start with, the Palestinians recognized Israel,  whereas  Israel did not recognize the State of Palestine, but it recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization.  Representatives of the Palestinian National Council amended the PLO  charter to renounce the armed struggle as a means of liberating the country, whereas the International law stipulates  “the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle". And the worst part of the deal besides dividing the occupied territories into areas A, B, and C,  was to  defer the  following basic issues, Jerusalem, borders, refugees, and settlements, till the end of the first phase of the negotiations, which was five years.  

And the five years went on for  four times five, until  all negotiations came to an end and the Palestinian Authority cut all relations and coordination with Israel as well as  the USA for not being an honest broker.   In the meantime Israel had created a new reality on the ground by establishing settlements all over the occupied territories, and by announcing Jerusalem as its capital and moving the USA  embassy to it.  

Once again the Palestinians are paying the price.  And throughout our history, and despite all the compromises that we have made for the sake of peace,   we were never offered a fair deal.  We were demanding justice, and we even made a compromise on it and were willing to settle for a  relative justice,  but even that we were denied, because we were powerless.  Yet all along we were  being accused of “never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”   That opportunity was either a bad one or a worse one.  While we have been so powerless under occupation we still  had faith in our just cause and were counting on the international community to pressure Israel to abide by international law and the United Nations Resolutions.  But apparently in an era of power and domination,  neither justice nor the United Nations resolutions seem to work.  The title I chose for this reflection “Woe to the powerless”  could not be more true than in those times when our cry is not only the cry of the powerless but a cry in the wilderness, when even our closest friends are not listening.  

My family and friends continue to wonder why I even bother to go on writing.  I am starting to wonder myself, but amidst all this hopelessness,   can I really lose hope? Of course not.  History has taught us that no injustice or empire can last forever.  

IT IS HIGH TIME!

Ever Since Israel announced its plan to annex the  Jordan Valley of the Palestinian Territories, we started hearing international voices against such a move.  Voices that were never raised against all the illegal actions of Israel in the occupied Territories including the annexation of East Jerusalem as well as other areas on which the settlements have been built.      

Ever since the United Nations Partition plan of 1947 that enabled the establishment of the State of Israel,   Israel has been flouting all United Nations resolutions.  Furthermore, it has violated all international law and human rights accords in both the areas of Palestine whether acquired by the Partition scheme and the war of 1948 or by the June 1967 War.  However the discrimination against the Palestinians who became Israeli citizens overnight in 1948 and the absurd  absentee law imposed on them while they were still in the  country is in itself a whole story documented by many Palestinians as well as Israeli historians.  

I am focusing in this reflection on the occupied territories of 1967,  and when Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem, shortly after the June war.  Despite the consensus of the international community to consider East Jerusalem part of the occupied territories, Israel claimed Jerusalem as the united capital of  Israel, and urged the US  to have the American embassy moved to Jerusalem, which  was eventually fulfilled during the era of president Donald Trump.  We have heard previous presidents in their campaigns promising such a move, but none of them took such a bold step.  And no voices were heard at the time  against the annexation of East Jerusalem.    

Unfortunately in the aftermath of the Oslo accords signed between Yasser Arafat on behalf of the PLO  and Ishaq Rabin on behalf of Israel, and during the peace negotiations, the fate of Jerusalem as well as other basic issues like borders,  and the right  of return of the refugees  were deferred to the end of the first five years of negotiations that were meant to focus on building trust.  Well twenty years of negotiations were over with neither trust nor solutions for any of the issues, and security seemed to be the only priority for Israel.   In the name of security and a continuous reminder of what happened to the Jews in Europe,  Israel made the whole international community committed to safe guard its security, and created such  an atmosphere whereby criticizing Israel was considered anti-Semitic, thus silencing so many voices who did not wish to be accused of being  anti-Semitic. And of course the USA was always there to support Israel morally and financially and to shield it from any international action.   

Well  it looks like Israel has stretched its luck a little bit too much by coveting the Jordan valley and its plan to annex it to Israel to ensure a safe border.  Not that Israel has ever determined its borders.  So now we hear the voice of some of Israel’s staunch supporters from the American Congress when on June 25,  200 Democratic House members called on Netanyahu “ to scrap the plan to  illegally annex the Jordan Valley” which amounts to 30 percent of the West Bank .  Furthermore Rep.   Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  along with a dozen Democratic lawmakers, issued  a letter on June 30,  addressed to US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo expressing serious action. “Should the Israeli government continue down this path (of annexation), we will work to ensure non-recognition of annexed territories as well as pursue legislation that conditions the $3.8 billion in US military funding to Israel to ensure US taxpayers are not supporting annexation in any way. ”   This is definitely a new tone coming out of the Congress.  Over and above, the usual allies of the USA in support of Israel like the French and the British and other European countries ,  who have also raised their voices,  threatening with sanctions.  

For decades we have heard nothing but  words and resolutions with no action.   So dare we hope that this small percentage  of courageous voices will encourage others to stand with what is right and legal.  And again  dare we hope that Britain might be in the fore front to atone for the original sin as well as France who played a major role in providing the nuclear reactor to Israel,  to have enough courage with other countries as well,  to say enough to the Israeli occupation and to recognize the State of Palestine along with the 138 countries who have done so. 

George Floyd and Eyad Hallak

George Floyd and Eyad Hallak

The scene of an American policeman pinning down George Floyd,  an African American was a very familiar scene for us in Palestine.  The sight of our young men facing  the brutality of the Israeli police is so common, that it hardly hits the news any more unless somebody by chance was there to document the incident by video.  But this past week it was ironic that the shooting of an autistic young Palestinian Eyad Hallak which coincided with the murder of George Floyd was actually documented,  and so was the yelling and pleading of his teacher to stop shooting  but to no avail.  Had the police thought that they were under threat, as they usually claim, why not shoot at his legs.  But no,  the policy these days is “shoot to kill”

I could not resist making an analogy as I watched the reaction to both murders. In the US “hell broke loose”  and not only in Minnesota where the incident took place but in many other states as well.  In Palestine the reaction was minor comparing to the US because the brutality of the Israeli policy to any protests can be just as brutal as the murder itself. I am not sure how many Americans realize that the American police have been getting a lot of training in Israel.  They consider it a privilege to be trained under such an “efficient” system that guarantees “Security.”  However, I doubt that they have learned the lesson.  

Both the USA  and Israel claim to be a model for democracy.   While  the USA continues to support Israel blindly,  it takes pride in announcing on every occasion  that they share  common values.  Indeed racism is one of those values.  The photo of the American police man kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, and the scene of the Israeli policeman  shooting an Ethiopian Jew  mistaken for an Arab, certainly says a lot about those common values. 

Tomorrow  we commemorate 53 years of Israeli occupation.  Is it not time for both the USA and Israel to stop and think what a difference peace would have made for the whole region?   Will they ever learn that Justice is the only guarantee for Security,  which will eventually  bring peace, and prosperity to the whole region? Dare we hope that after all what the whole world went through during the “Corona” Pandemic,  we would be humbled to set new  priorities towards humanity and the planet we share?

E-mail Communication

In the early days of Sabeel in the nineties I got introduced to communication via e-mail.  And as the work was expanding we were  getting  lots of visitors.  Meeting new people and keeping in touch, an e-mail address seemed to be the perfect solution. With new  participants in the Sabeel International Conferences my  e-mail list was getting longer and longer, that  eventually I had to make lists of groups according to regions or sometimes according to organizations, local as well as international.   The best part of this means of  communication was efficiency in delivering a message on time,  over and above being spared a trip to the post office. But above all it was a means of disseminating information and details of what was happening in the Occupied Territories that never got to reach the media.  Many stories that I had sent were a basic source of information for my book,  Reflections from Palestine: A journey of Hope that was published in 2013

Very often I lose touch with friends not knowing what has become of them.  However what really breaks my heart  is when I hear of the passing of a friend, and I need to remove the name from one of my lists.    The procedure never fails to bring a tear to my eye as I mark the name and press “delete.”  Indeed the name of that dear person has been deleted but his/her memory will always be there.  Recently and within a few months I lost three dear friends,  Albert Aghazerian, Ramzi Rihan, and Rev. Rafik Farah.  Bless their souls, and bless you  all my friends.  Stay safe and well.  Samia 

The Corona Lockdown

As the discussion continues on easing the Lockdown that has paralyzed the whole world, I could not but reflect on a quotation by one of the Palestinian refugees the day she arrived in Birzeit in 1948.  The Palestinians from Ramleh and Lydda were evicted by the Israeli army in the hot month of July 1948 and forced to walk for two days before they found refuge in Birzeit and Ramallah.  

Many books were written about this part of the Palestinian catastrophe,  and I alluded to it in my book -  Reflections from Palestine: A Journey of Hope.  Prof Reja-e Busailah  describes that walk  meticulously and so vividly in his book “In the Land of My Birth” when at the age of 19 he joined the people of Lydda in this exodus march.  

As we continued to listen to the various personal stories of a number of those exhausted refugees,  one lady was ever so grateful that she arrived alive, realizing the loss of life that took place on that journey and among those  who stayed behind.  Referring to what she had left behind, she said: “Property cannot bring back life, but life can bring back material belongings.  Yes indeed many of the Palestinians who survived that Nakba, in fact,  get credit for the development of many of the Arab countries as well as a number of institutions in different parts of the world.  

When the Corona Pandemic invaded the world, one of the earliest governments that took action on a lockdown was that of  Palestine.  It was a wise decision because, a country under occupation with limited resources and access to facilities, could not afford the luxury of procrastination.  Ironically the most developed countries like the US was late to react, and the statistics on the loss of life says a lot. 

However, after a two-month lockdown it is not surprising that  business people are starting to worry and the pressure to go back to normal life has already started.  We have watched people on the beaches, out in stores, but the apprehension is still there.  Will money be more dear than life, or could there be a compromise?  I could not help but think of that old lady from Ramleh “Property cannot bring back life, but life can bring back material belongings.”