Jerusalem

Jerusalem… There is not a single Palestinian who can imagine or think of Palestine without Jerusalem. I have more reasons than one to think the same.

The Israelis on the other hand say that Jerusalem is Jewish, has always been and will always be. Of course an idiot can identify the fallacy in that argument. In the first place, a city can never belong to a people in the manner these people are claiming. Second, Jerusalem has been there long before David ever made it the capital of his kingdom, and since its establishment, its people have always lived there. They lived through the rise and fall of the Jewish Kingdoms, they lived through out the Romans, and the brief return of the Jews, and the subsequent Roman victory. They lived there through the Arab Caliphate, the crusades, the return of the Arabs and the Ottomans. They lived there through the British and Israeli occupations, and as they did previous conquerors, they will outlive the current ones.

Most importantly though, if the city so rightly belonged to the Jews, why do we see a vicious campaign to erect the Arabs? After all, if that claim was right, were did these Arabs come from?

Israel is clearly trying to change the whole face of Jerusalem, making it more Jewish than it has ever been. In the process, thousands of Arabs are losing their right to live in the city they called home, long before Israel was born. Their homes are being destroyed, and their families are split apart.

In Ma’amanillah, a commercial centre just outside Jaffa gate, I saw whole buildings which have been brought from elsewhere in Palestine and rebuilt as shops, malls and pubs. I thought how would the person who owned that house feel to see it moved from where he had built it, and used by someone else without him being consulted.

Yesterday, as I walked through the city, I noticed the Mezuzah at Jaffa Gate. As if, that gate was a gate to a Jewish home. I used to play around those gates, long before all those who touched it and kissed their hands came to this land. And now, I have to climb up and down the mountains to get there, while they can pass through the gate, and kiss their Mezuzah whenever they like.

In any case, her smile inside the old walls, where more than enough to deserve the climb to city.

A place among enlightened nations

This week was eventful. Israel launched its Farsi radio, beginning its broadcast with Nairuz greeting by president Peres, who urged the Iranian people 'to reclaim their place among enlightened nations'. It must be a twisted definition of enlightened that he refers to. Forget the masccares he orchestrated and led in his career, for on the same day we were destined to learn of a new fiasco with Israeli army recruits at its centres. It appears that these young, brainwashed boys tend to celebrate their murderous career by printing T-shirts with slogans and cartoons that illustrate their exprience in the army. The picture on the left (courtesy of Maan News), an example, portrays a young Palestinian boy in the target range of a sniper shot, with the words "the smaller, the harder". Not much further can be said about this.
Today, was the launch day of "Jerusalem, Capital of Arab Culture" a year long of cultural events focused around the city and its contribution to Arab culture, a contribution that cannot be denied even by the most stubborn of Zionists. The 'enlightened' State of Israel waged a war against the events of launch spreading thousands of its police and border guards around the city, detaining organisers, invading monasteries, schools, universities and cultural centres in their attempt to stop the events.
It is ironic that a country that claims to be a light unto the nations would use such barbaric force to put an end to cultural celebrations of this kind.

ICC

The world cheered the decision by the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant of arrest for Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with the ongoing conflict in Darfur. The warrant lists 7 criminal counts based on the Rome Statute. These are:

1. Murder (Article 7(1)(a));

2. Extermination (Article 7(1)(b));

3. Forcible Transfer (Article 7(1)(d));

4. Torture (Article 7(1)(f));

5. Rape (Article 7(1)(g));

6. Directing attacks against civilians (Article 8(2)(e)(i)); and,

7. Pillaging (Article 8(2)(e)(v)).

I always believed that what the Sudanese government and its sponsored militias were doing in Sudan is a crime against the people of Darfur. I always felt for those unfortunate civilians who were attacked, and whose homes were destroyed, villages torched down, women raped.

One of the argument Zionists and supporters always used to suppress any case or argument against Israel, was the referral to the human rights situation in Sudan, asking the rhetorical question “why is Israel always blamed while other countries can do as they wish?”

Well, I guess the ICCs decision clears the way in response to this question. So The Court’s decision to issue a warrant for the arrest of a president while in office, is a precedent. The Court, however, believes that the Rome Statute does not provide any exemption or immunity based on official capacity.

So, maybe now the Court can turn its eye to another part of the Middle East where clear violations of the Rome Statute have been committed. Israeli leaders current and past can be tried for a hell more crimes than those seven. I will try here to list my counts:

1. Article 7/1/a- Murder: There are numerous cases of murder committed by the Israeli army. The consecutive chiefs of staff, ministers of defence, and prime ministers are liable for prosecution under this article based on their direct and indirect responsibility of coordinating, designing, leading and promoting the events that led to such cases, as well as their hierarchical control of the “apparatus” of the State of Israel that implemented this crime.

2. Article 7/1/b Extermination: (as per 7/2/b) “the intentional infliction of conditions of life, inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population.” The responsibility of Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barack and the Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, in particular for the siege of Gaza and the prevention of urgently needed medical supplies, food and electricity which lead to over 300 deaths among Palestinians requiring medical attention.

3. Article 7/1/d Deportation or forcible transfer of population: Several cases of this crime have been committed and documented. The most notable of which are the two massive waves of transfer of population in 1948 and 1967. Currently, the Israeli Government is not fulfilling its obligations to stop the Settlers Militia from enforcing such transfers. The village of Yanoun in the centre of the West Bank is one example of forced transfer. Tana village, with supreme court support is due for demolition by the State of Israel.

4. Article 7/1/e Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law: There are over 10,000 prisoners in Israeli Prisons. Many of them sit there on Administrative Detention which is renewed endlessly. Many others are serving absurdly high sentences reaching for some over 1200 years (yes, one thousand two hundred years).

5. Article 7/1/f Torture: Israeli Supreme Court (of Justice?) has made several rulings allowing the Shin Bet to exercise torture against Palestinian prisoners. The Shin Bet is the Government’s National Security Agency, it falls under the authority of the Prime Minister

6. Article 7/1/h Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court.

7. Article 7/1/j The crime of apartheid: (As per 7/2/h) ‘The crime of apartheid’ means inhumane acts of a character similar to those [mentioned above], committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.

8. Article 7/1/k Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

9. Article 8/2/a/i Wilful Killing. Several documented cases of wilful killing can be raised under this article. Many of those gained international fame such as the case of the assassination of Salah Shehada.

10. Article 8/2/a/ii Torture and Inhumane treatment. Several documented cases most notably the actions of Israeli army on roadblocks across the West Bank.

11. Article 8/2/a/iii Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;

12. Article 8/2/a/ iv Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly. Many such cases exist. In the early fifties Israel transferred the ownership of millions of dunnums of land to the KKL/JNF. These lands were owned by Palestinian refugees, by the transfer Israel ensured that these lands will only be used by Jews as KKL regulations forbid selling property to non-Jews.

13. Article 8/2/a/vi Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;

14. Article 8/2/a/vii Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement;

15. Article 8/2/b/i Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;

16. Article 8/2/b/i Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives;

17. Article 8/2/b/iii Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;

18. Article 8/2/b/iv Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;

19. Article 8/2/b/v Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives;

20. Article 8/2/b/viii The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory;

21. Article 8/2/b/ix Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives;

22. Article 8/2/b/xvi Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;

23. Article 8/2/b/xix Employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the core or is pierced with incisions;

24. Article 8/2/b/xx Employing weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of armed conflict, provided that such weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare are the subject of a comprehensive prohibition and are included in an annex to this Statute, by an amendment in accordance with the relevant provisions set forth in articles 121 and 123;

25. Article 8/2/b/xxi Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;

26. Article 8/2/b/xxiii Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;

27. Article 8/2/b/xxiv Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;

28. Article 8/2/b/xxv Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions;

So Twenty eight counts. Of course these have been committed by various Israeli politicians since the establishment of the state, but I am sure current politicians have a criminal responsibility over many of these. The only problem we have is that no one will file a case on behalf of the Palestinians. The double standards that plague international organisations will necessarily mean that the ICC prosecutor will not file a case on his own as he did in the case of AlBashir.

I am sure with some research all of these crimes can be documented and presented as a complete case. Maybe, just maybe, at one point we would be able to launch such a suit.

Miracles

Palestinian nationalism might be recent phenomenon, But so is Jewish nationalism. Despite finding its roots the 3000 year old history of the Jews, this form of nationalism only started as a real movement in the late 1800. It wasn't this history that made the Jews a single nation, Jews around the world never identified with Zionism. That's why the state had to carry out its aliyah programmes to bring in Jews from Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and elsewhere (ah! BTW this is not a miracle from G-d, it is the result of Mossad work and a lot of money). These groups may now have this sense of Israeli patriotism but it wasn't there 60 years ago.
The root of the story is not if Palestinian nationalism existed or not before 1967 (and it did because traces of an independent Palestinian national movement can be traced as far back as mid 1800's- read Baruch Kimmerling and Yoel Migdal, "The Palestinians").
The root of the conflict is not in religion either. You believe that G-d gave the land to Israel. I don't believe that. So what makes your belief an argument in a conflict like this one? you can use your belief to justify to yourself what you are doing. But to the whole world it doesn't make sense because the world doesn't believe in a God that gives away land like a feudal lord.
The essence of the problem is that when Israel was established, hundreds of thousands of people lost their possessions, livelihoods, and lives. These people are scattered around the world, just like the Jews were in their diaspora. And these people have one objective, to go back to their homes.
Now please spare me the arguments of War and attacks by Arabs. As Palestinians we are not responsible for the failure of incompetent Arab armies who were (ALL of them) under British leadership. These armies were there to fake a war not to fight one. They have even facilitated the Israeli war effort.
Israel may have created a flourishing economy. An economic miracle i would say (but not a divine one). But if you examine closely how this happened you will find out that if you take over 3 million dunums of land, and transfer their ownership to one entity (KKL), and bring hundreds of thousands of low skilled workers to till them, then it is easy to create wealth.
In fact the reason that made Israel so rich is the same reason that made the Palestinians so poor. You cannot steal all they own and claim that they are not helping themselves. You can't steal all they own and boast about your ability to make the desert bloom.
The Palestinians want to go back to their homes and live peacefully. They don't have anything to do with All the gods of the world and all their promises.

Jerusalem

In response to quoting Psalm 137 in my previous post, I got this reply.

Our ancestors composed this tearful lament over 2500 years ago. Exiled from their beloved land, they sat down and mourned by the rivers of Babylon.

The Jewish people never forgot Jerusalem. 3 times a day, we pray in the direction of Jerusalem and ask G-d that "our eyes may behold in mercy Your return to Zion". For 2000 years, 3 times a day without fail, we looked towards Jerusalem and prayed for its rebuilding. We observe 4 fasts anually over the destruction of Jerusalem, culminating in the fast of the 9th of Av, the most tragic day i nthe Jewish calendar, when both Temples were destroyed. At the end of every Yom Kippur fast and Passover seder, we declare: "Next Year in Jerusalem!"

Jerusalem is mentioned 700 times in the Hebrew Bible. It is never mentioned in the Qur'an. Muslims pray towards Mecca, with their backs to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was never the capital of any Muslim nation. The only times Jerusalem was a capital was when Jews ruled Israel: during the Davidic kingdom, the Hasmonean dynasty and in the modern state of Israel.

G-d has returned Jerusalem to us after 2000 years of longing, mourning, hoping and praying. Never will we be distanced from her again.

I amuse myself with the many similarities between the Palestinian and Jewish peoples. The Hebrew bible is a chronicle of the Jewish people written almost as an autobiography summarising events and lessons learned in over 3500 years of their history. For Jews the 'national' is so entangled with the 'religious' that both may seem as one. That's primarily because the bible, a religious text, is also their national narrative.
Palestinians are not a religious group in their own, despite being overwhelmingly Muslim, their history and plight is not a religious matter but rather a national one. But Palestinians have the same nostalgia to the very same places that Jews have longed for. The Hebrew bible has seven hundred mentions of Jerusalem, But if you survey Palestinian literature and culture in the past century you will find that Jerusalem is at the heart of the Palestinian national identity. There is no single Palestinian home I have entered that did not have a picture of Jerusalem. Not in Palestine, not in Jordan and not in Syria and probably not anywhere else in the world. So the attachment to the symbol is ever present. At the beginning of every year, on Land Day, on Nakbeh Memorial day, on Independence Day and every other national or religious event, we Palestinians which each others three things: Return, Independence and a state with Jeruslaem as its capital.
I don't believe in God. It is So obvious that G-d did not return the Jews to Jerusalem. It was the efforts of Zionist leaders and the grace of the government of the United Kingdom and the continuous military build up in the twenties, thirties and forties of Jewish armed power which fought against the British and the Palestinians. Then Israel was established, and it did unto the Palestinians what the Romans did unto the Jews. The same distruction of their property, dispossession, and exodus. But, just the same, we will have our own Bar-Kochba, and that state will last.

O Jerusalem

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.

2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,

3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill .

6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.

7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
"Tear it down," they cried,
"tear it down to its foundations!"

8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-

But I am too much of a humanist to spell out the last verse.

Marketing

After the cannons have hushed down a little, it is time to inspect the damage in Gaza. Initial estimates say that Israel have bombed Gaza with around 1000 tonnes of bombs. This is a little less than half of the tonnage dropped by the Brits on Dresden during the Second World War. Allegations of war crimes have evidence from all around Gaza with Red Cross testimonies and evidence in support of these allegations. The world voiced its concerns against what was happening throughout the past three weeks, with major demonstrations going out in almost all parts of the world. But what will this lead to? Sanctions against the rogue state? War crimes tribunal? personal trials of those who led the massacre that killed more than 1200 Palestinians in just three weeks?
Of course none of that. All of this will lead to only on thing: a huge marketing/PR campaign! This campaign has been going on since the beginning of the war. It attempted to deviate public attention from the grotesque abuses of human rights committed in Gaza and focus it on the number of rockets being fired.
Inside Israel, the bait has been taken easily. You rarely see an argument in the press against the war of even slightly mentioning the plight of Palestinians. All you could see over the past three weeks are articles of praise for the boys in the field as they went on a rampage whose resemblance can be found in stories of medieval wars when the victor sows destruction unto the families of the loser. Even the pictures you saw in Israeli press, they were either of soldiers showing their heroism, or of a bombing of structure, show from afar, and labeled as a terrorist infrastructure. The Israelis didn't see what their hands did to little kids of Gaza. Their press didn't tell them about the use of white phosphorus and what it does for its victims. (By the way, if this weapon is so illegal, who makes it?)
Unto the world a new campaign will be unleashed. The will show Israel both as a country that stands strong against terror, yet a country that is so peaceful. The world will forget what happened in Gaza. After all, who would want to remember those horrific pictures? Only a few committed souls will continue to be agonised by the presence of beast amongst the nations of the world.
The rest will just live as they always did, and when they will hear of Israel in a couple of months they will think of sandy beaches, the dead sea, good universities, maybe a football match or a singer in the eurovision. And some, only some, will have a distant memory of a war that took place here, they will not remember the details they will however remember that there was a terrorist group involved.
It's elementary, in a capitalist world, you can market anything, even a war criminal.