Christmas Greetings

Dear Family and Friends:

 This is a very special time for all of us as a family as we gather for Christmas and  give thanks for having Shadi with us during this festive season.  Not only do we want to wish you a Merry Christmas, but we  want to thank you specially for  all your support and solidarity during Shadi’s ordeal.  Although he was released for house arrest,  at least he is at home, and he was  able to study on-line before the Christmas break.  

He was also able to watch many of the World Cup games including the final one.  I am attaching a photo of both of us as he welcomes me to their home for the final game.  But the latest good news is ironic indeed, but  he was  granted  a  permit to go to church on Christmas Sunday,    after which all the family, my two children, their spouses and seven grandchildren will be  around for the Christmas lunch.   We have an extra addition this year, my first great- grand son,  Sary Zabaneh, son of Faris and Zeina,  Shadi’s oldest  sister.   So there is a lot to be grateful for, and we hope there is a lot for you as well  to be grateful for,  despite all the absurdities of the political scene all over the world, and especially in our area from where the first message of peace was proclaimed.

With love, and warm wishes for a blessed season, peace and good health throughout the year. 

The legacy of Colonialism

I have always enjoyed reading, but more so during these days  when I really need to take a break from the realities of every day. One of the most recent books I got engrossed in reading was “The Island of Missing Trees” by the British Turkish Novelist Elif Shafak. Although the latter part of the book takes place in England, most of the events take place basically in Cyprus where a fig tree standing in the courtyard of  a tavern  is often quoted in the book. One special quote  that hit a chord with me. “But on an island plagued by years of ethnic violence and brutal atrocities, humans were not the only ones that suffered.”   How very true, especially for us Palestinians when we say in Arabic that the occupation has hurt the humans, the trees and the stones.  In Arabic it rhymes  “Al Bashar wal Shajar  wal Hajar.” The number of young and old prisoners is in thousands.  We have seen so many olive trees being cut, or burnt depriving the owners of their only source of income for the whole year.  And then the number of stone houses that have been demolished is countless.

But then Cyprus is not the only victim of British Colonialism.  The policy of divide and rule prevailed, causing havoc wherever they were and whenever they left.  Palestine is still reaping the evil effects of the  original sin of the Balfour declaration in 1917, without even as much as an apology to  the generations who have been suffering due  to that declaration, and its effects since the Nakba of 1948.  An ongoing Nakba indeed, especially that  more recently, the number of our young men who are being 

Until when can this go on?  Will the United Nations and the  International  community continue to accept the justification that Israel has the right to defend itself, and that criticizing  Israel for its atrocities in the Palestinian Territories is considered  antisemitic?  Enough is enough, and let us call a spade a spade.

Shadi's Release

 

I promised you won't hear from me until Shadi was at home.   Well, it happened sooner than I had thought.  The court session for the appeal of the District Attorney took place this morning and the judge ruled his release for house arrest. He is on his way home now, and the whole neighborhood is preparing his favorite dish of “Koussa wa waraq” (Stuffed zucchini and vine leaves.)  House arrest might be a long process, but at least he is at home with the family, and his dog Abboud, and he will be doing his studies on-line, especially that his school has been so supportive.  And of course, he would be joining the family in cheering his favorite teams in the World Cup games.  This first Sunday of Advent was a good omen, and will remain a memorable day for Shadi and all the family and his friends.   Thank you all for prayers, for your great support, solidarity and friendship, and for all the pressure you had exerted, which I am sure has helped a lot. So, with this note, our nightmare is over.  Have a blessed Advent season.  Samia

Shadi Missed my 89th Birthday

Dear Friends,

I want to thank you once again for your queries and for your solidarity with us during these difficult times.  Many of you have been in touch, so I want to  apologize for not sending you an update  on the court session of the 23^rd because I was hoping that Shadi will be with us on the 24^th and will make my 89^th birthday extra special. But it was not meant to be,  as the occupation continues to deprive us even of the glimpse of hope that we hold on.

Despite the judge’s ruling later on in the day  to release Shadi  and other children  for “house arrest,” the Attorney General (ironically a woman) appealed against  the judge’s  decision.  

So you will not hear from me until I see Shadi at home.  But I hope you will continue to hold Shadi and all the children in your prayers, especially during this Holy season.  With deep appreciation   for your support of our just cause.    Samia

And wait...

 

Thank you all very much for your queries.  Actually after the court session on the 2nd he and other young people were transferred to the Ramleh prison where they spent the night  and yesterday they moved them  to Damoun in the North of the country awaiting another trial on November 14.  Actually the lawyer thinks they are better off there than the infamous detention and interrogation centre of Room No. 4 at the Russian compound in Jerusalem.  During his last day there he was beaten because he was singing.  They even deprive them of a moment of joy.  With deep appreciation for your concern and solidarity, and for all what you have been doing for  Shadi and all the children prisoners. Samia 

And We Wait....

Shadi Updates

Friday, October 21, 2022 

Shadi's father, his aunt and sister just got back from the court session at the Russian compound, and I am sorry to report that Shadi's arrest under interrogation has been extended until Tuesday. So unfortunately I have nothing new to report except that the whole episode is part of the occupation policy to terrorize those children. Please hold Shadi in your prayers and keep on the pressure for his release without further delay. With gratitude for your concern.; Samia 

Sunday, October 23, 2022 

For those of you who have been very supportive and concernedabout Shadi’s arrest, I just want you to know that there is nothing new yet. His arrest under interrogation has been extended till Sunday when there will be another hearing at the Russian compound. His lawyer had appealed the extension, but it was refused this morning at the Central Court House on Salah Eldin Street. However, it gave the family a chance to see him. Up to date he was beaten under interrogation on Tuesday the day of his arrest, he has not had appropriate medical care for his injuries that he sustained during his arrest with clear marks on his neck trunk arms and face. He reported today how they tighten the shackles on his hands and legs further whenever he complains of their tightness. We will wait for the next hearing on Sunday at the Russian compound. Please keep the pressure on so that Shadi will come back home and to us and to his school as soon as possible. Thank you all for your support and solidarity. Gratefully, Samia and the family. 

Today: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 

I was hoping to share with you some good news about Shadi at the end of the day. Unfortunately there has been another extension to his detention since a week ago. The judge was not presented with any charges against Shadi, yet he decided to postpone the court session till Thursday. Your support and pressure have been a great help, and I hope Thursday will see the end of this nightmare for Shadi and all the family. He seemed concerned about the football results today as he is quite a fan, but somebody managed to tip him on the results as he was getting into the bus after the session. I actually listen to the sports section on Monte Carlo every morning so I can discuss the latest news with Shadi when he stops by in the evenings. I do miss our evening chats, but the one who misses him most and is unable to express his feelings is the family dog, "Abboud” who was found sleeping in Shadi’s bed last night. Thank you again for your support and solidarity.

Shadi

In the early hours of this morning the Israeli occupation forces, consisting of a troop of around 12 persons consisting of army and secret service, stormed my son’s house after breaking the gate at the entrance of the compound in which we all live, so as to arrest his younger son Shadi Khoury, a sixteen-year-old child, a student at the Quakers Friends School in Ramallah. They beat him until he was bleeding all over the room and along the path on the way out of the house dragging him barefoot and blindfolded not allowing the parents to see where the blood was coming from. Shadi was taken to the interrogation section in the police compound called “the Russian compound” Shadi, a child, is being “interrogated” without the presence of his parents or a lawyer, a tactic used systematically to terrorize children into submission, and ultimately using their own words to incriminate them. Shadi is a case among so many Palestinian children that are being harassed, tortured and imprisoned for no reason other than being a Palestinian seeking to live in dignity and freedom in their own country. As an 89-year-old grandmother who has lived through the Nakba, the 1967 war, the first and second intifadas, I continue to ask you my friends: “Until when will this grave injustice go on?” Because you care for human rights, and the rights of children, I am asking you to take action now and contact your parliament or congress representative, to put an end to these grave injustices especially against our children as well as our whole population living under a brutal military occupation. Shadi should not be sleeping in a prison cell. He is a child and should be home with his family. Samia

Déjà vu

After Hurricane Ian in Florida subsided, our  Palestinian friend, married to an American,   stood by Fort Meyers Beach watching the site where  her home with all its precious belongings  once stood.  Indeed, it was a déjà vu feeling as she recalled what her parents and grandparents had told her about the Palestinian Nakba of 1948 long before she was born.  At that time around three quarter of a million Palestinians lost their homes and were forced out of Palestine to make room for the establishment of the State of Israel on their land. That is why we cannot help but empathize with such a loss.

 

I was watching President Biden’s visit to the area. So hopefully some compensation will be provided to help those young people reestablish themselves and not remain refugees forever.

Charity starts at home!!

What keeps bugging you Mr. Biden?  You and your administration kept provoking Russia until it attacked Ukraine.  Are you happy now?  You are safe in your White House and so is your administration, while thousands of Ukrainians ended up as refugees and victims of your policies, and you are still sending them arms.  It seems that all the US administration is  capable of doing is producing arms and sending them to areas of conflict - adding  fuel to the fire, over and above imposing sanctions here and there.  Why on earth are you now sending arms to Taiwan?  Has the US not done enough harm in so many parts of the world?   If you are so concerned about democracy and the welfare of people, take care of your own first.   The money that you send to Israel alone to support and maintain an illegal occupation can feed and shelter all the homeless and those who have no medical care in your own country.  Charity starts at home!!!!!.       

Do we really need a miracle?

 In one of the Palestinian outlets, the following item appeared after the visit of President Biden with the Palestinian President Abbas in  Bethlehem.   “President  Biden responded to the demands of President Abbas that he would need Jesus Christ to fulfill his demands.”  This means that the demands need a miracle.  Amazing when all it needed to create the state of Israel in 1948 and dispossessing the Palestinians was a vote at the UN supported basically by the US.  The US knows very clearly that without its moral and financial support Israel could not have been created nor continued to exist or get away with all the violations that deprived the Palestinians of their rights.  So Mr. Biden we do not need one of Christ’s miracles.  We need one of the US moral stands without making a mockery of the UN institution with the Veto right whenever Israel is at fault.  We have seen the US for its own vested interests sanctioning countries here and there for lesser reasons than what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians.  Yet the US administration continues to shield Israel no matter what it does.  The mere fact that it was willing to sacrifice its own marines in the case of the USS Liberty during the June 1967 war rather than embarrass Israel,  as well as the handling of the killing of the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh,  proves that the miracle is in the hands of the US which is very well informed about the situation on the ground.

The Illogic of the Logic

Every time I think the USA has broken its own record in the illogical statements of shielding Israel’s violations of international law and human rights accords, it surprises us again with another absurd statement. 

 

Two days ago, our local papers announced that the USA has removed the name of the Jewish movement “Khana Hai” from the list of terrorist organizations. For those of you who might have forgotten, Khana Hai was behind the massacre of Palestinian Muslim worshippers at the Ibrahimi mosque  in Hebron on February 25, 1994, as well as other terrorist acts against Palestinians.  Ironically however, the PLO, The Palestinian Liberation Organization, which signed a peace agreement with Israel under the umbrella of the USA, on the White House Lawn on September 13, 1993,   is on the USA list of terrorist organizations.  Indeed, the irony of ironies.     

Analogy

I could not help but make an analogy between the fully armed Israeli police with the bulls of Spain.  The moment the Palestinian flags went up by the Jerusalem community gathered in front of the morgue to carry the  coffin of  Shireen Abu Akleh to church, the police stormed the hospital and started beating the people right and left.  The sight reminded me  of how the bulls charge the moment they see the red flag.

 

The brutality was beyond description.  I could not but wonder,  “how long Dear Lord, how long?”  How many more Palestinians need to be killed and imprisoned before the International community, and especially the USA, will rise  up to its responsibility beyond mere concern?  Even when they kill our people we are not allowed to mourn them with dignity.  Everybody watched how the coffin almost fell on  the ground as the police were beating the young men carrying it. I do not think any Palestinian martyr during all those long years of occupation had crowds of Christians and Muslims praying together  as they did for Shireen’s  soul   to rest in peace.  “Al-Fateha,” as well as the “Lord’s  prayer”  were recited  She represented all Palestine.

 

A specific verse  of Bob Dylan’s song “Blowin’ in the wind”  came back to me this evening as I was writing this:  “How many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free?  The answer my friend is blowing in the wind”  I hope not after all that suffering and dispossession of seventy four years.  However, I hope and pray that  Shireen’s assassination will be the spark that will light the torch of our freedom and the end of this brutal occupation

Easter Reflection

The sight  of the Ukrainian refugees  running away from their homes to seek  refuge in safe areas, was very sad and moving indeed.  Loud voices of condemnation were raised mostly by the Western and European countries, demanding sanctions on Russia. 

 

As sad as it is, for us Palestinians the sight evoked very sad memories of our own   eviction from our homes and our country which ceased to exist in 1948.  Not only because of the eviction, but because of the massacres and the razing of whole villages, which  took place at the time, some of which were only made public many years later on by the Israeli new historians.  It was a  historical event known as “the Nakba” (Catastrophe), which  turned out to be an ongoing Nakba to this day, as Israel continues to deprive the Palestinians  of their right of return according to UN GA  resolution 194  on December 11, 1948  and refuses  to withdraw from the rest of the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967 according to UN security Council resolution 242 on November 22, 1967.  Never has the international community come up with the word “sanctions” regarding Israel, despite its flouting of UN resolutions, and its violations of Palestinian human rights.    

 

The maximum that we hear from the European community is “concern” for what the Israeli forces are doing in the Palestinian Territories.  And the USA  comment on the settlements as not being conducive to peace.  A peace process that was initiated by the Oslo accords proved useless and redundant, only to confirm that Israel was never serious about peace.

 

Never has the  glaring double standards and hypocrisy of the international  community been so exposed as it has been during the invasion of Ukraine   Last year when sanctions were imposed on Iran and other countries I wrote one of my rhymes which is just as relevant these days. (Attached)

 

Will anybody dare suggest sanctions on Israel?  Of course not.  Israel has been getting away with all the violations of Palestinian human rights under the guise of security. Three renowned organizations monitoring the region, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and Human Rights Watch came to the conclusion in their reports  recently,  that Israel is an apartheid state.   Of course Israel refuted their reports and labeled them as anti-semitic.  Ironic indeed when one of them is an Israeli organization.

 

Does the Israeli government stop to think why those  young Palestinians go on a shooting spree in the Israeli towns?  Nobody loves to die or enjoy being shot to death.  But  when life becomes meaningless  under  a  brutal Israeli occupation, and a glimpse of hope is completely lost, not much option is left for them. It is high time Israel realizes that it will never feel secure while it continues to deprivc the Palestinians of their freedom and their basic rights.  Furthermore, it allows  the settlers to terrorize the Palestinians in their  towns, in their fields, vineyards and olive groves, as well as in  their holy places, all under the protection of the Israeli police force.  When will all this madness and brutality  come to an end? 

 

In this holy season for all the people of the Holy Land, Christians, Muslims and Jews,  dare we hope that justice, security and peace will eventually prevail, and the lives of so many people  be spared, and we can truly and joyfully celebrate Easter, Ramadan, and Pesach?