Me vs. the occupation

For a while I dealt with this conflict as if it was far away...as if it was a series of events that touched other people and not me. I would get depressed when I feel its impact on me: when I drive down one road which I might not be able to drive through again; or, when a roadblock stops me from getting home. Through all of that, I thought my personal safety was always protected. I thought that the peaceful little town I live in will shield off all those stories I read so frequently. It is not that I did not sympathise with the characters in these stories, or that I felt unattached to them. I just never felt their feelings. I never knew the uncertainty that overcomes them about their most basic right: their right to live. Well, living in Palestine, you won’t be able to escape for long. That is what I have just learnt recently.

Last Saturday, we thought that we had enough of working non-stop and the daily routine of Ramallah, so we decided to go down to Jericho for BBQ. We found a friend who was willing to let us use their house, and so we went to enjoy our time. Coming back, we were stopped at the main checkpoint out of Jericho. Just because a friend had “Gaza” as the place of residence on his ID, we were not allowed to use that road. We were told to take a back road.

At mid-night we arrived at another checkpoint in the middle of the desert. When confronted with the opportunity to make an event of their long night, the ten or so teenage-age soldiers who manned the checkpoint rushed to our car. “ID’s and get out of the car!” they demanded in a tone that gave a good idea of what was to come. They started searching the car so violently as if it was an old box left in someone’s attic. When they found a bat in the booth, they saw it as an opportunity to make a fuss, and search everything else. The two knives we had to work on our BBQ were then treated as a murder weapon. Suddenly, their crowd turned violent for nothing other than amusement. We tried to reason with them, but with their astounding lack of ability to speak any other language other than Hebrew (except for one Druze soldier), all we got back were their kicks. For a while, and as the girls with us were frightened and crying, I thought that there are no limits to what we could expect that night. A game of chance between the Heavens and the devil, and our lives could be at stake. Each of them started playing his part of the game, and if his friends liked what he was doing they would join him, if not, they’d leave him alone.

It is not easy for someone to have to go through this. All the emotions that you could ever feel play with like a tape: Anger, sadness, humiliation, oppression, dispossession, fear, strength, worrying. Then you stop controlling these feelings and you start a series of incoherent actions: shouting, accepting their violence, hitting back, silence, defending yourself, obeying order and then disobeying them... all of this while you try to know where this will ever lead.

And you never know, even as they ask you to put your stuff back in the car and park on the side of the road. Or when you wait in the car and see them, done with you, trying to find amusement through fighting each other. You never can know until you leave with a limp that will last for few days and the cold desert wind blows into your car as you try to calm down your fears.

Never again

Yes, I know, I always use this title. That's because I really believe in it. When we say 'never again', we mean never again to any actions like the Holocaust regardless of the scale, or, more importantly, the victims.
However, when the State of Israel says 'never again', it seems they only mean that the world should not kill Jews ever again. Killing others is fine, and if they happen to be Palestinian then that's even encouraged and promised.
When the deputy defence minister promises Gazans a holocaust (שואה), and the world stays silent, you'd think they have all gone crazy. They would torment you if you use Nazi figures in virtually anything, their foreign ministry would call everyone in the world to condemn anyone who plays down the suffering of the Jews by the Nazis.

Arabs agree on something

Arab information ministers met in Cairo last week and agreed, and they rarely agree on anything, on a new convention that would severely restrict the freedom of satellite channels. The convention comes because "Some satellite channels have strayed from the correct path" as phrased by the Egyptian minister. His country indicated it is very keen on adopting and implementing the convention after its government has become subject to scrutiny by numerous channels due to its records of human rights abuses, long term emergency rule, and, more recently rumors of preparing the monarchist president's son to succeed his father.
The convention will prohibit all stations operating in the Arab World from broadcasting material which is considered offensive to "the leaders or national and religious symbols" of Arab countries. Let alone that this phrasing puts the leaders in the same category as God, a tradition long upheld in many Arab countries (Jordan and Morrocco kings claim descent from Mohammad's lineage, while Gaddafi claims ancestral roots with no other than the angels of heaven) it is so vaguely written, that the lines between offensive and subjective criticisms are not longer relevant.
The document imposes on channels that no less than 30% of broadcast material should be produced by the Joint Arab Productions. A frameworks which lacks professionalism, content, funding or proper structures to provide material for 21st century journalism.
Channels could risk the permits being withdrawn, frozen and not renewed for not abiding by the document. They will also be subject to legal processes both in origin countries and second countries.
So when Arab leaders meet on something, this is what we get? Thanks, but no thanks! Please go home!

discourse analysis

I don't know if it was intended or not, but the above image is a screen print from Maan News Agency website. If we were to run a simple discourse analysis based on this image we will have a strange result.
Primarily, the Palestinians are divided: One front, two players (sounds like a one country two systems). The PA, represented by the president and his government, seems to act as a passive observer to a war that is being waged on part of its land. Eirikat, in this article asks the international community to interfere in imposing a ceasefire between the Palestinians and Israelis. As if, he's not included in the "Palestinian" side.
Haniyeh, has reached a point where he's willing to negotiate, but he has no partners. Abbas believes if Haniyeh is ousted by an "external" force then he might gain Gaza back without any concessions to Hamas. Such concessions would ultimately embarrass him with the Americans, Israelis and others. They might stall the peace process again and are likely to cut off the $$$ tap which was opened in Paris.
Haniyeh on the other hand must have realised that things are not as easy as he first thought. Staging a rebellion should necessarily be prepared in a much better way. When he took the Iranian example as a guide, he should have also taken into consideration that Iran was a well established country at the time of the revolution, not one which begs each and every other country to pay the salaries of its civil service and perform its day to day job. Add to that, he also knows that his life is at stake now. So he is willing to negotiate. He might even apologise and possibly agree to fresh elections. Of course in such case, him and his brethrens will present themselves as those who conceded for the public good trying to win more support, and maybe even have an eye on the Muqata'a.
Israel, simply, doesn't care. Hamas or Fatah, it is all "Palestinian Terror" and should be fought. Of course for Israel, toppling the Gaza regime will only be considered as a routine operation against terrorists. This, however, will secure its western border with the Gaza strip, and possibly allow Abbas to extend its authority to Gaza.

Winograd-Abdul Rahim

Two events took place within one month of each other. In the 13th June 2007, Hamas took over the Gaza strip in an unprecedented coup in the PA. On the 12th of July 2007, Israel started a full fledged war against Lebanon, which has failed miserably. In both cases the governments of the PA and Israel, respectively, commissioned an investigation into the factors and actors that played a role in both events.
The Palestinians appointed Tayeb Abdul Rahim, a close aid of Abbas, who received a BA in commerce which he never used from Azhar University in Cairo back in 1967. Obviously he cannot be considered an unbiased evaluator, but lets put that aside. The man issued a report, within one and a half months of the incident, which is a de facto secession, without visiting the area under question. He told us what we already knew, the the security forces were corrupt, unprofessional and the recruitment sucked. The report remained secret, bar for a short statement void of any original content, although it is in the interest of every Palestinian to know what it is in it.
Elyahu Winograd, holds a Phd in Law, Former acting supreme court member, and president of Tel-Aviv District Court, headed the second commission. Excellent Choice for a commission head!
9 months after the war, and 7 month after the appointment his commission issues a preliminary report and takes a further 9 months before issuing the full report, yesterday. The report did not fear criticising the leadership of the world's fifth strongest army, and laid blame virtually on the whole government. Its findings are made public, and the press tackled their every aspect.
The difference between the two, is the same difference between one side which really wanted to know the truth about what has happened, and another which preferred to keep it hidden.
The consequences are the same, people who took responsibility for their actions, quit the IDF, a defence minister who was ousted by his party (remember Amir Peretz? that's partly why he lost Labour's leadership). On our side... well, nothing has changed, nothing ever will until the guys at the top learn what it means to play with people's destinies.

"Menachem Mazuz said there was insufficient evidence to pursue a prosecution against officers who opened fire during anti-government riots." says the bbc
13 Dead bodies, how about that as a proof?
aren't thirteen bodies enough proof that something wrong has happened? it is amazing that a guy in such a position in a "democratic" country can come up to such an opinion!

Warsaw to Gaza

On the day the world marks the third International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Gaza goes into its 10th day of complete siege. Don't take the news of the biggest jail break in history too seriously, The siege is still on, fuel, food and medicine are still low.
"Let us never take our human rights for granted," says Ban Ki-Moon, the UNSG. True, and let us, on this day and everyday, think about those who's cannot enjoy these most basic rights. Since the siege was established, more than 70 persons have lost there lives due to not being able to receive medical treatment. By who? by the country that boasts one of the most advanced health services in the world.
On this day, and every day to come, we should know about those who continue to dwell in their past, turning the future of another people into a mirror image of what they passed through.
The thing about human suffering is that it is all equal. No one's pains are more sacred than others. If you really knew how the residents of Warsaw Ghetto felt on that November 1940 day, you will sure know how Gazans felt on the 17th of this month.
You can only honour the memory of those who died in the Holocaust, by 'never again' allowing it to happen to another people. If only those who say 'never again' just do it!