Naqab(Negev), Palestine: Israel continues its ‘secret’ policies of house demolitions and violations against the indigenous Arabs of the unrecognized villages. The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages (RCUV), in cooperation with HIC-HLRN, requests your immediate action in the current violations taking place in the Naqab (Negev).

Unrecognized village in the Negev

Description of Events

In the early morning hours of Monday, 25 June 2007, a large contingent of Israeli police forces, along with support from the Israel Border Patrol and under orders from the Israeli Ministry of Interior, demolished 28 structures, including 25 houses, in the Unrecognized Village, of Attir - Umm al-Hiran and left over 150 men, women and children homeless and without any personal belongings in the scorching heat of the Naqab Desert.

The Government of Israel (GoI) had forcibly relocated the residents from their ancestral lands to the village of Attir - Umm al-Hiran in 1956. Now, 51 years later the GoI intends to relocate them again so that GoI, Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund can build a Jewish town on the land of the victims. Two years ago, the residents received demolition orders to evacuate the territory, but remained steadfast on their property. On the night of Sunday, 24 June 2007, Israeli authorities were at one of the resident’s home, partaking in true Bedouin hospitality, with the understanding that next morning the Bedouin Arabs would sign a compensation agreement and voluntarily move. Instead of an agreement and instead of compensation, bulldozers were brought in to demolish their homes. The government offered neither compensation nor alternative shelter, thus depriving hundreds, including women and children, of their shelter and belongings in the scorching heat of the Naqab Desert.

The forced evictions and displacement of the residents of Attir - Umm al-Hiran was carried out at the behest of the Israeli authorities, including the National Security Council, to ensure both the cleansing of the Arab population from the Naqab for the future resettlement of Jews on the stolen land and as compensation to settlers redeployed in 2005 from settler colonies in the Gaza Strip. These actions not only violate general principles of international human rights and humanitarian law, but also illustrate the depth of racial discrimination against the indigenous Palestinians within the political structures of the State of Israel and its parastatal institutions.  In full realization of the State’s intentions, the residents of Attir – Umm al-Hiran, demonstrated against these plans, to which Israel responded by closing all entry roads into the village and arresting RCUV Director Husain al-Rifai-ah, placing him in administrative detention.[1][1]

The current demolitions are part and parcel of Israel’s increasingly campaign forcibly to displace the Arab residents of the Naqab (Negev) and settle their land with Jewish settlers.

Background Information on Palestinian Villages in the Naqab (Negev).

The Arab residents of the Naqab (Negev) have been living on their land for centuries. In the aftermath of the Palestinian Naqba (disaster, resulting from the 1948 Israeli conquest), a direct consequence of the mass violations and population transfer committed by Zionist military commanders who became Israel’s political leaders in 1948, only 10% of the original Arab population of the Naqab remained.

The indigenous Bedouin Arabs are a unique community of the Palestinian people that has lived in the Negev for centuries. In 1948, they formed 98% of the population of the Naqab. However, after the establishment of Israel, only a small fraction of the population was left in the Naqab, Israeli forces having expelled the rest to Jordan and Egypt. The Israeli authorities have refused to recognize the Bedouins' traditional tenure rights. Dispossessed of the lands they have owned for centuries, today the 160,000 Bedouins are the most disadvantaged citizens in Israel. Almost half of the Bedouin community of indigenous citizens live in seven failing government-planned townships or “concentrations” (rekuzim), as Israeli planners calls them. The remainder lives in at least 45 villages that the State of Israel still refuses to recognize. These villages do not appear on any official maps of Israel and, without recognition, are denied basic services such as running water, electricity, garbage collection, etc.

One of the principal methods by which the government hopes to resettle this indigenous community in the townships is by demolishing their houses in the unrecognized villages on the premise that they are “illegal,” and by simultaneously foreclosing all avenues for legal construction within the traditional villages.  On 30 May 2006, the Minister of Interior announced at the Parliament that, during the past three years, Israeli authorities had demolished 560 houses in the “unrecognized” villages. These demolitions have taken place in the early hours of the morning by squads of local police and Israel Land Administration officials. Reportedly, these authorities drive families out of their homes under police order, and destroy the houses with bulldozers, causing civilian casualties. Moreover, these demolitions have resulted in rendering thousands of people homeless, with many of the evictees now living in overcrowded conditions with their relatives, while some have build shacks from scrap materials.

Duty holders

The State of Israel, its elected government, parastatal institutions and its military forces bear the duty to uphold norms of applicable international human rights law as minimum obligations in their treatment of the Palestinian Arab citizens, including the indigenous Bedouin community, on the basis of nondiscrimination.  The State has assumed these duties, including by way of its treaty ratifications and affirmations mentioned below. By extension, compliance with these rules also is required of local authorities and private parties, which the State of Israel also is required by law to ensure, in order to protect against violations

International Law

The State practices reported here violate the inhabitants’ human right to adequate housing; i.e., the right of all women, men and children to gain and sustain a secure place to live in peace and dignity. House demolitions represent a gross human rights violation and a violation of the international human rights norms, especially provisions regulating adequacy, nondiscrimination and military necessity. It is worth noting that the Israeli authorities generally do not inform the inhabitants in advance of demolition, and do not allow them a chance to salvage possessions or furniture.

The Israeli authorities do not ensure that “all persons should possess a degree of security of tenure [that] guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats,” as provided in General Comment No. 4, elaborating the States obligations under treaty.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) requires that States parties, such as Israel, “take immediate measures aimed at conferring legal security of tenure upon those persons and households currently lacking such protection, in genuine consultation with affected persons and groups” (para. 8[a]).

According to General Comment No. 7, “States Parties shall ensure, prior to carrying out any evictions, and particularly those involving large groups, that all feasible alternatives are explored in consultation with the affected persons, with a view to avoiding, or at least minimizing, the need to use force.

Legal remedies or procedures should be provided to those who are affected by eviction orders.” States Parties shall also see to it that all the individuals concerned have a right to adequate compensation for any affected personal and real property (para. 15).

 The same legal standard provides that evictions “should not result in individuals being rendered homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights. Where those affected are unable to provide for themselves, the State Party must take all appropriate measures, to the maximum of its available resources, to ensure that adequate alternative housing, resettlement or access to productive land, as the case may be, is available” (para. 17).

Actions requested:

Please write to the Israeli authorities, international officials, and/or your local politicians demanding that:

   1. Israel cease its illegal actions against indigenous Palestinians;

   2. Israel’s parastatal organizations (WZO and JNF) registered and operating internationally be recognized as foreign agents (representing a foreign State), and not as charitable organizations; and that

   3. Both Israel and its parastatal organizations be held accountable for their conduct both in Palestine and international

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Please note this story here:

http://www.care2.com/news/member/726835551/431317

According to the latest physical theories, the String Theory, the whole universe is made up from tiny strings of energy, which are two types: closed and opened. Depending on the tension, direction of movement and other conditions, these strings shape the different types of energy; heat, electricity, gravity, matter…

These strings are too tiny, the string to the atom, is exactly like a tree to our Earth! So just imagine how huge and immense our universe is…

Compiling is a programming concept, it is the action of changing the written code (in a certain programming language) into the computer’s language, which is simply the I/O language, this is the way all programmers work and make up their programmes.

After this short introduction, I’ll try to explain my view of our universe.

When we enter (print) in a certain compiler, the compiler is pre-programmed to understand it and change it into a specific action which is printing a text. The human designed it in this way.

Now, I want to apply my idea to the universe.

All actions in the world are simply, changing in the energy values and types all the time. The Universe we live in is very similar to the computer programme. What we are seeing is the result of entering energy values in a certain type, then they change, into sounds images, matter, heat, electricity… The missing part is the compiler.

The compiler is the one who’s changing the energy values into certain actions. Why does the pencil break when you break it? Why doesn’t it stay solid? There’s someone who’s changing the energy of your muscles into a certain action this is how the universe works, it works on a &lsquorogramming language’. This ‘language’ is known by everyone. When you enter a certain energy value you’ll find an action depending on your energy. When you give energy to water, it will become a gas, but when you take energy from it, it will become ice. Why is that? Has anyone wondered? Has anyone wondered why are our universe is built like that?  Anyone who uses his mind will find that there’s someone who had designed the universe to work in a specific law, who is God.

Can a human design a computer programme, where there are billions of moving objects that do not get into each other? Where there are special objects that have feelings, consciousness, beliefs or ideas? I will say undoubtedly “No”. Let’s ask other questions. Can that entire universe be created by itself? I will also say undoubtedly “No”.

“In the creation of the heavens and earth; in the alternation of night and day; in the ships that sail the seas with goods for people; in the water which God sends down from the sky to give life to the earth when it has been barren, scattering all kinds of creatures over it; in the changing of the winds and clouds that run their appointed courses between the sky and earth: there are signs in all these for those who use their minds” Quran [1:169].

On the 4^th of July, BBC reporter Alan Johnston was released by his kidnapers after nearly four months in captivity. Johnston met with the dismissed Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh shortly after being released. The same kidnappers have also released 10 Hamas affiliates, kidnapped two days ago in Gaza. The so-called Army of Islam group kidnapped Johnston on March 12 in Gaza Strip. That was great news for the family of Alan, but despite the efforts of Hamas to release him, the US and the UK claimed that what happened won’t change their policies towards Hamas.

Let’s talk about Israeli terrorism:

• 5^th July: Israel invaded Gaza killing 7 (5 resistance fighters and 2 civilians) Note-it
• 5^th July: Israel starts to build illegal wall near Beit Jalla town in Bethlehem area stealing 6000 dunams (1500 acres) of the West Bank. Israeli bulldozers have also demolished land and uprooted olive trees that date back one thousand years, according to local farmers. http://www.imemc.org/article/49338
• 9^th July: Troops kidnap two residents in Hebron (in the West Bank). Sources stated that soldiers broke into several homes in the Al Hawouz area, searched them, and kidnapped two Hebron residents identified as Mohammad Abu Aisha, 22, and Mowaffaq Abu Aisha, 24. The two residents were taken to an unknown destination. Note-it
• 9^th July: Israeli army assassinates a senior fighter in Jenin (West Bank), despite the truce.
• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), based in Gaza, published its weekly report on the Israeli violations in the occupied Palestinian territories in the period between June 28 and July 4. During the reported period ten Palestinian were killed and 27 were injured. Note-it
• 6^th July: Children were banned from entering al-Aqsa mosque as part of an activity in their trip. http://www.imemc.org/article/49348
• 6^th July: Israeli attacks in the area of the al-Mughazi and al-Barij refugee camps in central Gaza yesterday killed 11 Palestinians and wounded more than 25. The wounded included children and a cameraman for Al-Aqsa television, a Hamas-affiliated satellite channel, who was shot numerous times by Israeli troops and later had to have both of his legs amputated. Note-it
• 6^th July: According to a report published in the weekly supplement of Israeli daily Haaretz, Israel has admitted to the destruction of tens of Mosques in the destroyed villages of 1948 during the first years of Palestinian Nakba “catastrophe", a policy implemented by Israel to demolish Arab and Islamic history in Palestine. The orders were given directly by senior officials of the Israeli army and totally were supported by David Ben Gurion.
• 6^th July, the village of Bil’in conducted its weekly demonstration against the illegal Israeli wall near the village. As is the case each week, the villagers were joined by Israeli and international peace activists. Note-it

Peaceful work:

In addition to the Bil’in demonstration that I’ve mentioned above, there were more demonstrations:

• Approximately 100 Palestinian villagers from Wad el-Neiss, located to the south of Bethlehem in the southern part of the West Bank, side-by side with Israeli and international supporters, protested today against the illegal confiscation to land to for the construction of the illegal Israeli wall. Note-it
• Despite the repeated threats and actual punishments against Arab Druze refuseniks in Israel, more Druze youngmen are rejecting military service in the Israel army and confirmed their belonging to their Arab nationality, and to the Palestinian people. Note-it
• Major British workers' union joins moves to boycott Israel, Britain's Transport and General Workers' Union has called upon its 800,000 members to boycott Israeli-made products based on what they term Israel's criminal policies in Palestinian territories.
• The Dutch foreign minister, Maxime Verhagen, recently warned a construction company from the Rotterdam area to terminate its involvement in work on the separation fence in the West Bank.

There were also news that the Arab League plans to meet on Thursday (tomorrow) in Israel for the first time ever, sources report.

There were also shameful news, Jordanian prisoners in Israel are going to be transferred to Jordan, to continue their life-time jail. The only accuses were that they killed two Israelis soldiers while Israeli soldiers kill children, women, civilians daily without even being questioned… I don’t know when are we going to be ruled by ourselves..

Currently, Israel illegally holds around 12,000 Palestinian prisoners in detention camps across Israel, the majority of which have been held for years without any charges laid against them.

And I’ll end this report with this good will from Turkey that  pledged $250,000 for Palestinian refugees of the Nahr el-Bared camp in north Lebanon, announced the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA.)

Most Arabs and Muslims (and some of their friends) refuse to recognize Israel. Most people in the world think it is a matter of the difference of religion, while, in fact, it is a natural response to the nature of this strange regime. I’ll try to explain why.

Firstly I’ll take a brief history of what’s called now “Israel”.

As we can see, for more than 7,000 years the Canaanites (Palestinians) lived continuously uninterrupted on the land of Palestine. During the 7,000 years more than 20 invading powers including the Jews occupied parts of Palestine but they were all defeated by the Palestinians or other invading powers the Palestinians never left the land through out history. The Jews came in 1186 BC and the last Jews left in 135 AD after being defeated by the Romans.

The ideas of Zionism where raising. As a secular movement, using Judaism as a tool, they convinced the whole world that Jews have the historical right to live in Palestine, when it was easy to spread lies among people. One of these lies was that Palestine is "a land without a people for a people without a land." Its original form is, "a country without a nation for a nation without a country," this was penned by Lord Shaftsebury.

The rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933 produced a powerful new impetus for Zionism. Not only did it create a flood of Jewish refugees but it undermined the faith of Jews that they could live in security as minorities in non-Jewish societies. Jewish opinion began to shift in favor of Zionism, and pressure for more Jewish immigration to Palestine increased. But the more Jews settled in Palestine, the more aroused local Arab opinion became, and the more difficult the situation became in Palestine.

By the early 1900s illegal Jewish immigrants started arriving at the shores of Palestine and immediately they formed armed Jewish gangs terrorizing Palestinian citizens. In 1920, as we saw, Palestine came under British mandate and more illegal Jewish immigrants were allowed in Palestine and more gangs were formed. And in May 15, 1948, the British rule in Palestine ended and Britain handed control over to Jewish gangs who attacked Palestinian towns and massacred whole families and they massacred all the inhabitants of the town of Deir Yasin in a clear attempt at ethnic cleansing.

The Jew, Weizman, referred to the massacre as this "miraculous simplification of our task," and Ben Gurion said that "without Deir Yasin there would be no Israel." Americans are not told that ten percent of the Arabs killed by the Israelis in 1948 were Christian, and that ten percent of the Arab property confiscated belonged to Christians. Nor are they told that Israel's massacres and military actions forced 100,000 Christians to become refugees.

Accounts by Red Cross and United Nations observers who visited the scene said that the houses were first set on fire and the occupants were shot down as they came out to escape the flames. One pregnant woman had her baby cut out of her stomach with a knife. The head of the International Red Cross delegation in Palestine, Jacques de Reynier, drove into the village and was met by a detachment of Irgun terrorists. In his report of the massacre the previous night, he wrote: "All of them were young, some even adolescents, men and women armed to the teeth: revolvers, machine-guns, hand-grenades, and knives, most of them still blood-stained. A beautiful young girl with criminal eyes showed me hers (knife) still dripping with blood, she displayed it like a trophy."

For more information about the Zionist crimes, click here.

More than 54% of the Palestinian towns were destroyed by the Zionist gangs and the Israeli government in 1948 and the early 1950s. On May 15, 1948, there were more than 771 cities, towns, villages and tribal areas in Palestine. By December 1949 only 371 of these towns left standing more than 400 towns were destroyed and the civilian population were either killed by Zionist gangs and Israeli forces or they were forced to run for their lives to neighboring countries.

And If we wanted to forget about these historical facts, the Arabs still have reasons to refuse the existence of ‘Israel’. For:

• Israel is a Jew-only state, Zionists made their best to make their land empty of any other religion. More than 6 million refugees were forced to flee to the neighbour states. There is still an Arab minority and they are suffering from racial discrimination. Recently, they were banned from advertising in their language (Arabic), and Arab student is paid much less than the Jewish student. In the last war with Lebanon, Arabs inside Israel were less protected than the other Israeli citizens.

• Israel is still occupying the West Bank and still holding Gaza strip (see this video), and more than 10,000 prisoner including women, children and old people. Israel is also still occupying the Golan highs which belong to Syria and Shaba’a lands that belong to Lebanon in addition to the prisoners of Syria, Lebanon and even Jordon.
• Israel is not responding to the UN security council resolutions that demand the withdrawal of the lands that it invaded in 1967 war and to let the Palestinian refugees go back to their lands while any Jew can live in Israel with very simple steps. (see my post about the Palestinian refugees here)
• Israel is still digging under one of the holiest Islamic and Christian places, al-Aqsa mosque and the neighbouring churches, which is very afraid that it will be destroyed by these diggings.
• Israel is also building what is called ‘security fence’.  “The Apartheid Wall will be 8m high and probably 1.000km long. For comparison, China's Great Wall – the only human-made object seen from outer space – is 6.700km long, whereas the Berlin Wall was a dwarf, just 155km long and 3,6m high. Keeping silent on this gigantic project and its genocidal implications, meant to prevent any fair future settlement (not to mention the Road Map), is a moral crime, of which almost the entire Western media is guilty.” -Ran HaCohen
  This wall is not only stealing more lands, but it is also touching the everyday life of the Palestinians. Some of them can’t go to their work anymore. The olives fields of others have been destroyed in order this wall to be built. The wall requires 10 spare meters on both sides, and since this wall is built in the heart of the Palestinian territories, hundreds of homes have been destroyed.
• In addition to 200 nuclear weapons, it almost equals the nuclear power of the UK (see this video) 

So these are the reasons why Arabs do not recognize Israel, aren’t they right? Why should they recognize a state that continues to aggress on their lands and people? And what Israel should they recognize? The Israel of 1948? 1967? Or 2007? Or what? Israel does not have even a constitution, wonder why? It is just because Zionists want to steal more and more lands. A constitution needs a clear drawing of the map of the state, but they can’t just accept the 1967 borders. They want, as in the flag that has the stolen Arabic star called “David’s Star”, the big Israel, from the Nile to the Euphrates (that what the Israeli flag refers to).

How can we achieve peace? Israel is the very only one that has the key of peace. Without the real good will towards the Palestinians and the neighboring countries, I think it is hard to talk about peace.

For the recent reasons that I’ve talked about, many people have real concerns and doubts about the solution of two states, Palestine and Israel, while the solution of one state is rising among the new generations, which has worked before in places like South Africa.

Ironically, Israel and US gave Fatah arms, then Israel “discover” them in raids and kills Fatah’s fighters!

This is how it works:

First: The Bush administration has spent most of its tens (if not hundreds) of million dollars in aid to Palestinians to train an elite corps of Fatah-loyal fighters and supplied them with arms (probably bought -defiantly not donated- from Israel). For some details, read:

• WorldNetDaily: More U.S. weapons transferred to Palestinians (Feb 2007);
• The Christian Science Monitor report (May 2007);

Second: Israel all of a sudden uncovers arms in Nablus operation and kills Fatah figters, what a surprise:

Israel Defense Forces troops shot and killed an armed Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades operative in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus early Friday during an operation involving searches for wanted militants, weapons and ammunition.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad slammed the IDF operation.

“We view this aggression as a way to undermine our efforts to provide security and end the chaos,” he said Thursday at a conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, (recall the saccharine sweet, soft spoken pathos of her voice?) said the government is committed to working with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, but would not risk the safety of its own citizens.

“Israel will always fight terror,” she said. “We will go forward with full strength to strengthen Abbas, and full strength to stop the terror.

May Fatah (not Abbas; I gave up on him long time ago) learn from the lesson! It is “war business”, which Bush and Israel can’t live without…

Source: http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2007/06/29/war-business-how-this-works/

Checkpoints

Testimonials: Scenes and Experiences of Israeli Checkpoints.

One of the village neighbors called me up the other day from London where he’s studying and told me he had that dream again. His name is Omar, a smart cat, kind of a hippy with long hair and wobby gait. I was a little bewildered as to why he was still trippin’ about it, at least for a couple seconds. It was the American in me. It was the Novocain called American consumerism, a thousand miles long and still riddling my soul. I didn’t care that it took him 4 hours to get to his school that should have taken 15 minutes. I didn’t care that he couldn’t even remember the lesson plan that day, only that old lady who lives in his nightmares—could have been my stoic Grandma, anyone’s dear old-granny—for God and a gun holder; her grey and black hair sticking out of his clenched fist, her old legs trying to make the dirt and stone path below her a forgotten moment instead of a ruthless scrape. He might as well have dragged me, my mother, my brother, my dad and all my uncles and aunts, cousins and neighbors, my entire history, my olive groves and my stories, linked in arms and tumbling with no dignity, eating dirt behind this kid, scraping our knees and crying to God (even the Atheists).

But still. I wondered for a couple of seconds. Still…. I thought “Why’s this kid still trippin’?”

-Husam Z. (Arabic and Spanish Double major, UC Berkeley Undergraduate)

One word springs to mind when I think of the checkpoints: as an Israeli, I again and again experienced deep shame. Once outside Ramallah, after a joint peace demostration – a long line of families, poor people, waiting and waiting, and a dilemma: I wanted to get out, to return to Tel Aviv as soon as I can. I am late, so I took the fast lane, the one for Israelis – flashing mu blue identity card, passing by all the tired faces, leaving them behind in the hot sun.

A second memory is from a checkpoint near Nablus – on a way to a meeting with Palestinian students. This is a small checkpoint, out minibus stops far away and we hear a shot in the air. Soldiers are shouting at someone. We are paralyzed, but there is an international volunteer there, standing between the soldiers and a Palestinian, taking a beating. We are too afraid to go any nearer. Nothing can convey the deep, deep, feeling of shame.

-Tom P. (Israeli Citizen, Graduate Program Sociology, UC Berkeley)

On my way back to Ramallah I went through the Al’hoowarah checkpoint again. I was in line for two and a half hours. It was hot. The dust and dirt from the street rose from the wheels of taxies drving away because no car was let through. There were people lined up for hours. Young men were turned away. Women and children and older men just stood in line. Each person before crossing was on one side of an arbitrary line separating “over here” and “over there”. Like cattle we lined up caged in a rotating door for about a minute the subject to searches. First, the soldiers told us to walk into the door buzz one person in then keep the other caged till they are ready for the next Palestinian to harrass. Then the soldiers asked for the person’s Hawaweeia (passport) they asked a few questions like “why don’t you leave this place?” and “why are you in a city filled with terrorists?” The woman ahead of me had two kids and a really big bag. When her and her two kids got through the rotating steal door the soldier asked her to open her bag and she did. In it was another bag. The soldier accused her of smugging weapons. She said that the brown paper bag was just warec’kk 3’neb (grape leaves). His face looked unsympathetic as he stabbed the bag and ripped it open with a sharp piece of metal at the end of his gun. She just stood there stoic, her two kids crying. When it was my turn I was obviously annoyed and I gave the soldier a hard time. He asked me where I was from and I said Palestine. He asked why I was in Nablus and I said nothing. He said I was American and that he liked tu-pac and I said nothing. He said Nablus is filled with terrorists and dangerous people and I said “you should be afraid”. I could still hear Nablus in the distance—young, vibrant, breathing. This experience however, at the checkpoint, makes me so fed up I think for a split second—I never want to come back here again. I was scared out of my wits because the soldier that asked me for my passport—he was an Israeli kid about 18 years old, he was pointing a gun right at my head. The soldier that was checking my passport asked if I was an Arab and this young kid said that I needed to be careful because there are terrorists in Nablus; this young kid was the terrorist. I felt like sticking out my tongue and making a funny face at him to first, confuse him and second make him feel as ridiculous as he sounded. I am planning on going back anyway this Saturday, which just proves that constant harassment can only be endured but it can also be overcome

-Journal Entry, July 3

-Dinna O. (Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies Double major, UC Berkeley Undergraduate)

I mumbled something-in Arabic—to the Palestinian teenager sitting next to me. I was apprehensive, anxious for a movement or a voice to quell my fear; I had never been in a situation like this. We were two people on a mini-bus—the Ram Allah-Jerusalem Line—and an Israeli soldier flagged it down at a checkpoint. My de facto companion smiled; his face too old and haggard for his years. He spoke to me in Arabic: “Don’t worry, it’s normal”. I worried. The soldier swaggered onto the bus, a pair of aviator sunglasses over his eyes and an uzi clanking at his side. He took the drivers keys, pocketed them and surveyed the passengers. He seemed board, apathetic. He spotted an old Palestinian man. “Come here,” he commanded impertinently. The man was obstinate, “What, I’m not doing anything,” he said, “I’m going to see my grand kids. Shabbat Shalom” “What’s in the bag?” The soldier demanded. “Gifts! Food! Here, take a look. Shabbat Shalom”. The soldier tensed up. He was still standing at the door of the bus, the old man sitting midway. “I want you to come here” “Why, you’re a big boy. Go to him yourself!” A Palestinian-American girl piped up in English. The soldier relaxed and said in a remarkably calm voice: “Listen, you. Shut up or it’s your face on the pavement. Got it?” He looked at the old man again and relented, board of our company. He gave the driver back his keys and hopped off the bus. We were off again. I listened to that grandfather all the way to Jerusalem. He spoke of how he respected the Jewish religion, of his love for his grand kids, of his pain at seeing innocents, any innocents, die and of his anger. Then he said something I did not expect. He looked at me and wheezed enthusiastically: “Don’t blame that kid, it’s not his fault.”

-Brett W. (UC Berkeley Undergraduate)

And now….. Our Featured Documentary… “CHECKPOINT”

 

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B’tselem on Checkpoints

(http://www.btselem.org/)

The restrictions on movement that Israel has imposed on the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories over the past five years are unprecedented in the history of the Israeli occupation in their scope, time, and severity of damage they cause to the three and a half million Palestinians. In the past, Israel imposed a comprehensive closure on the Occupied Territories or a curfew on a specific town or village to restrict Palestinian freedom of movement; however, it never imposed sweeping and prolonged restrictions comparable to those currently in practice.

Israel has dissected the West Bank into a number of sections and makes it hard for Palestinians to move from one to the other. Israel has set up dozens of checkpoints, prohibits Palestinians from traveling on dozens of roads, and forbids Palestinians without special permits to enter the Jordan Valley and East Jerusalem, which are integral parts of the West Bank . Also, Israel forbids almost completely movement of Palestinians between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and impedes Palestinians from entering Israel and from going abroad.

These restrictions have significantly affected the daily lives of Palestinians in commerce, in access to medical treatment and educational institutions, and in conducting social activities. A simple action such as going to work in the nearby town, marketing farm produce, obtaining medical treatment, and visiting relatives entails bureaucratic procedures, at the end of which the army often denies the application for a movement permit.

International human rights law requires Israel to respect the right of residents of the Occupied Territories to move about freely in the occupied territory. This right is recognized in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Furthermore, international humanitarian law requires Israel, in its capacity as the occupier, to ensure the safety and well-being of the local residents, and to maintain, as far as possible, normal living conditions.

Freedom of movement is important because it is a prerequisite to the exercise of other rights, such as those set forth in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, among them the right to work (Article 6), the right to an adequate standard of living (Article 11), the right to health (Article 12), the right to education (Article 13), and the right to protection of family life (Article 10).

Israel is entitled to protect itself by taking various means, including restrictions on movement. However, the sweeping and prolonged restrictions it has imposed, and the grave harm its policy has caused to the local population in all aspects of life, constitute a flagrant breach of its legal obligations.

Furthermore, Israel’s policy is blatant discrimination based on national origin, in that the restrictions apply only to Palestinians. Jewish residents are permitted to enter and leave the settlements without restriction. The IDF has even explicitly admitted that the restrictions on movement imposed on Palestinians are intended to ensure the free movement of Jews in the Occupied Territories. Thus, Israel’s policy violates the right to equality, which is incorporated in human rights conventions to which Israel is party.

Statistics on checkpoints and roadblocks

(http://www.btselem.org/)

Permanent internal checkpoints

Israel currently maintains 54 permanent checkpoints within the West Bank . Staffing of the checkpoints varies: some are staffed around the clock, others only during the day or for part of the day. These checkpoints impose the harshest restrictions on movement. Palestinians wanting to cross undergo inspection and often long delays. At some, soldiers only allow Palestinians with special permits to cross.

Green Line checkpoints

There are 29 checkpoints that are the last inspection point between the West Bank and Israel . Some of these checkpoints are situated inside the West Bank , up to several kilometers from the Green Line. These checkpoints are permanent and are staffed. In addition, there are 73 gates in the separation barrier. Only 38 of them are for Palestinians. These are open only part of the day, and all Palestinians wanting to cross must have a special permit.

Surprise [flying] checkpoints

According to OCHA's figures, in December 2006, there was a weekly average of some 160 flying checkpoints throughout the West Bank . These are staffed checkpoints set up for a period of a few hours.

Internal checkpoints in Hebron

Twelve checkpoints are situated in Hebron , in areas where there is friction between settlers and Palestinians. They are permanently staffed and the persons who cross are checked.

Physical obstructions

In addition to the staffed checkpoints, the military has set up hundreds of physical obstructions (concrete blocks, dirt piles, trenches) which close off roads and prevent access to and from Palestinian communities. OCHA has tabulated the number of such obstacles within the West Bank as follows:

- 219 dirt piles at entrances to villages or to block roads

- 38 Km of fences along roadways

- 35 Km of a one-meter-high fence, primarily in the southern Hebron hills

- 31 Km of trenches that prevent vehicles from crossing

- 69 locked gates at entrances to villages, with the keys being held by the army

Forbidden Roads

Forty-one sections of roads in the West Bank , covering a distance of some 700 Km, are restricted to Palestinian traffic, while Israelis are allowed to travel on them freely.

(Topic from: www.myspace.com/palestine) Awakening the world, One Person at a time

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I’m sorry for my absence this week, I had a trip to Aleppo and forgot my laptop here in Damascus, but here I am again!

Yesterday, I found an old figure in my library, It was made by Dr. Sulaiman Abu Sutto, and it included important facts about the Palestinian refugees. I translated some important facts to English and here they are:

Where are they waiting to return to their homes?

That means ⅔ of the Palestinians are refugees, and they are not allowed to return to their homes because they are not Jews, while thousands of Jewish immigrants come from Russia, Ethiopia and many other countries, living in their homes and on their lands every year…

Can Palestinian refugees return to their homes?

Yes, because it is legal, possible and holly.

Holly: because it is inside the heart of every Palestinian refugee…

Legal: because it is from the basic human rights…   

because it is a right for all refugees to return to their homes, and no occupation, agreement, state rules nor anything else can cancel this right…

because the International Community admits the right of refugees to return to their homes according to the  General Assembly resolution no. 194 that was affirmed by the UN more than 110 times…

Possible: 78% of the Jewish live in 15% of “Israel”

                22% of the Jewish live in 85% of “Israel”, and it’s all Palestinian lands.

Most Israelis are urban, and only 2.7% from them use the captured lands.

200,000 JEWISH ONLY USE AND LIVE ON  THE LANDS OF 5,248,185 PALESTINIAN, PREVENTED FROM RETURNING HOME AND LIVING IN CAMPS ALL AROUND THE WORLD.

Where were they, then?

That means 85% of the people of the lands were Israel was established are refugees.

How much is their lands?

That means 92% of Israeli lands are, in fact, for the Palestinians.

So why did they leave?

According to Israeli sources:

Than means 90% of the villagers left their village because of Jewish military attacks, and also for the Jewish massacres.

When were they abandoned off their homes?

While the British deputation: 4,137,942 (52%)

In the 1948 war: 3,392,722 (42%)

After the truce agreement (1949): 52,007 (6%)

That means that the Jewish forces abandoned more than half the Palestinian refugees under the British deputation before the establishment of Israel and before the attack of the Arab armies.