Raising Yousuf and Noor: diary of a Palestinian mother

Here is a blog by a Palestinian woman  – also writer for the Guardian-  who offers an eye-wtiness and personal account of her experience as a Palestinian.

Laila El Haddad’s blog can be followed here

Taken From Laila El Hadda's blog

She introduces herself as follows: “I am a Palestinian from Gaza. I am a journalist. I am a mother. I am a Muslim. This blog is about the trials of raising my children between spaces and identities; displacement and occupation; and everything that entails from potty training to border crossings. My husband is a Palestinian refugee denied his right of return to Palestine, and thus OUR right to family life. Together, we endure a lot, and the personal becomes political. This is our story.”

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss

Yisroel Dovid Weiss, born in 1956,  is an activist and the spokesman for Neturei Karta International, an anti-Zionist grouping of Haredi Jews. Jewish himself, he believes that observant Jews should peacefully oppose the existence of the Israeli state: “It would be forbidden for us to have a State, even if it would be in a land that is desolate and uninhabited.”

Speech by Labour MP Jeremy Cornby and MP Hussein Hajj Hassan

Labour MP, Jeremy Cornby’s tone projected from his voice as he stood up pointing at the audience, his palms sweating, he looked sternly ahead.

It was evident, he could envisage his words as his eyes froze, his face turning crimson, he could see a terror far beyond our reality because he alone had witnessed the events on his visit to Gaza.

 

Photo taken by creator of this blog

He said: “1,500 people were killed in two weeks, most of them were children, I saw their guts crawling out.

“We could do very little to stop it. We could all see it through a TV screen.

“I’ve been to Gaza a couple of times when Western countries were rebuilding roads and schools after being demolished by another Israeli attack. But then, bombardment happens and we have to rebuild it all over again.

“I try to put myself in the minds of these children, what is it like, growing up watching phosphorus burn the bones of your community.

“What is it like, growing up, knowing you can’t leave Gaza. In reality it is a big prison with wires. If you keep people in a prison, they become angry indeed.

“Our democracy allows us freedom of speech but it allows us to keep people imprisoned because they are fighting over their land.

“The wall makes everything impossible. The only way out is through political dialogue. Every anti-colonial struggle was represented in London.

“We must recognize people to attain peace. We are not opposed to Jews or Jewish people; we are in solidarity for everyone.

“I want to see peace but peace in an abstract form is Impossible. Palestinian people denied  the right to expression is a recipe for conflict throughout.

“We now have to listen to what the Palestinian people have to say.”

Hassan Hajj Hussein stood up after a loud applaud to Mr Jeremy’s speech. He stood up and then decided to sit again due to his limitation to the English lexicon; he would turn to his colleague on his left for definition of an French  , sometimes , Arabic word to English.

“In 1948, Israel attacked countries in the Middle East occupying Palestine. Four million were displace living as refugees.

“Israel then threatened Lebanon and occupied two thirds in 1982.”

The UN resolution 425 demanded Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, as stated: (Resolution 425 calls namely for “strict respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon” and also it calls “upon Israel immediately to cease its military action against Lebanese territorial integrity and withdraw forthwith its forces from all Lebanese territory)

“In July 2006, Israel attacked Lebanon for 33 days, killing 1,500 people and destroying 50,000 houses.

“The resistance- Hezbollah- defeated Israel insisting on the release of prisoners that have been kept in dungeons for over 30 years. The resistance freed their illegal imprisonment.

“Israelis accuse Palestinians of terrorism when they hold 11,000 Palestinian prisons, most of them held without trial.

“Peace, to me means justice and equal rights for Palestinians and respect for their sovereignty.

“We have no choice but to resist them, Israel is a representation of terrorism.”

 

First Hezbollah Representative in the House of Commons

MP Hussein Hajj Hassan, Hezbollah’s prominent leader,said: “change in the British public opinion regarding Middle East policies is tangible”

Photos on this post taken by author of this blog

The comment generalised the British public opinion and left me astounded, it seems that the optimism went beyond ‘tangible’ realism.

Naharnet wrote: Hassan called for removing the political image promoted “by Zionist and some Arab media in Lebanon and Palestine”

After his return from London Mr Hussein added: “British public opinion has actually changed to benefit our causes.

The British press is clearly reflecting this change.”

Where did Mr Hussein’s hope derive from? British public opinion is as diverse and intricate as race to which we cannot fathom or pin down to a wall. The British media represents and reflects different voices, with most I would say, accustomed to the pacification of Israel by recognising Hezbollah only as a terrorist organisation and Hamas as terrorists.

Appreciating Mr Hussein’s efforts in conducting the meeting with high eloquence and structure in his speech which comprehensively covered a vast period of war in the Middle East, there are also aspects which left my imagination of peace floating in the arid air of discussion.

It was 6:30 pm, 31st April, Tuesday night, the tubes to Westminster took me straight on the roundabout to the House of Commons.

The deputy speaker of the Palestinian Parliament MP Hassan Kheishe was  due to attend the meeting but was prevented from crossing the borders in West Bank by the Israeli authorities.

Hussein Hajj Hassan’s presence was historical. He was the first Hezbollah representative offered a seat in the House of commons to voice the aim of the organisation IUPFP – an independent non-governmental union constituted by the margin of the International conference in support of the Palestinian Uprising (Intifada).

The first speaker stated the Union’s aim which was a positive start however, in the long run it seemed unattainable in the current state of Palestine, the Arabs and Israel.

The Union demanded: -Full rights for the Palestinians to initiate the return of Palestinians back to Palestine – To support the Palestinian people and reclaim capital Jerusalem – To consolidate the presence of Palestinians people in their land-  To obliterate desensitisation, the Zionist inhumane practices and crimes against the Palestinian people -  to condemn the wars of Israel- To  boycott Israeli products – To  unveiling regional attempt-  and to exposing dealings.

The speaker then added the means to implement them. He stated:  – Through effective participation internationally- by propagating laws condemning Zionists-  cooperating with NGOs-  legal follow ups in UN- and contacting Arabs and Islamic countries for support.

A reaction to war – G 20 Summit

CAN ANARCHISM OVERCOME CAPITALISM?

Thousands took to the streets holding leaflets that read “How to really put people first”, from Anarchists in London. Many were carrying placards that read “Bail out the Workers not the Bosses”, and a banner depicting Gordon Brown as a beggar cleaning the streets with a small broom, reading “We will clean up the city”.  The demonstration saw the biggest ruction since the poll tax riots – a precursor to the frustration voiced by people over their unfettered government who has denied the majority’s needs and have put the planet at greater risk than it ever was.  The system has turned its back and now citizens are to pay the price.

It’s Anarchism that dominated my attention at the rally last Wednesday. It’s the belief that conscious but ordinary people are ready to take over capitalism. It’s the energy that overcame ordinary people who believe that small acts of resistance to authority if persisted may lead to large social movements and that ordinary people are capable in themselves to perform extraordinary things.

The belief for justice as a common ground between protesters germinated the seed of a greater promise that they believe awaits them. The war on Gaza and the infinite horror that incessantly lingers over the Iraq war, the climate change that has depleted our biodiversity capable of curing many vicious diseases and the anger over the current financial crisis ignited a fire in people who have been made redundant, for people who have lost their homes, for many ordinary people who believe in bettering our world.

The G-20 demonstration integrated differences and congregated many who are firmly determined in an alternative system to Capitalism, one of which is famously known as Anarchism.
Anarchism which aims to create a society within which individuals freely cooperate together as equals rendering opposition to all form of hierarchical control as harmful for the individual and individuality, is not understood as an attainable political philosophy in contrast to capitalism.

People can no longer imagine a society under communism like they cannot imagine themselves in a society lacking  governance which to many seems as a society absent in order and therefore chaotic.  But anarchy is seen by the Whitechapel Anarchist Group (WAG) as a natural order, unity of human needs and the interests of all, complete freedom within complete solidarity.

Anderson Morrs, 43, an auxiliary nurse said:  “Every issue under the Sun is from climate change to jobs to the growing division between the rich and the poor. I think many people are coming down for many different reasons. I think also it represents a movement which is linking all these things to how our capitalism is bailing us and it’s a system that’s based on greed and profit.  People are very sick of it.”
Alex Long, 32, a programmer, part of the Whitechapel Anarchist Group, strongly supports the notion of an anarchist society in the sense that most people do not comprehend. The Anarchism he explains is not chaotic but rather, an emancipation of people.

“We’re here with the workers supported by the majority of anarchist in London” he said with a smile dominating his facial features.

“This is a way of expressing our ideas.” he affirmed handing me a leaflet.

He added: “Our ideas is that the financial crisis is a crisis of capitalism and ultimately the people in charge of the system globally are only there to maintain their power and the majority of the people are going to lose out.

“We will be buried by it and by their policies that are going to be institutionalised in the G20 summit. So we’re here to voice our opposition  to the solutions they are promoting and actually saying to people that we can self organize we can self manage our own society without capitalism, politicians and bosses.”The 32 year old condemned the media for predicting that anarchists will be hijacking the march: “Their accusations are unfounded. We’re the ones organizing the protests; we’re the one the press misunderstands.”

However determined Alex is does he believe that people can rule themselves?
He answered: “We should have the true democracy, the rule of the many and I think that’s what we don’t have in the UK or anywhere else.”

The question of self-ruling is a confusion and a mystery to anarchists themselves, it is much simpler to speak of freedom than it is to actualize it in a world of diversity where the majority’s voice can infringe on the minority and where the notion of ‘self-organization’  articulated through a human instrument is susceptible to damage in a society.

Alex attempted to define anarchism: “I believe it’s the people organizing themselves. They talk about the UK being democratic but without democracy where we live, without democracy where we work, without democracy in terms of what we produce, what we consume is not democracy. We are talking about a democracy that encompasses every aspect of your life. Capitalism doesn’t offer that.  It offers domination where we work; we always need to produce the stuff they want. We need something consistent very different from that.

Alex believes anarchism can be achieved.

He said: “I think in this climate there are a lot of people open to different ideas. That’s one of the reasons we’re down here, to speak to people, to communicate different ideas. If you look at history, anarchism has been part of popular history for over 100 years and the ideas of an anarchist are valid now since the prophecies have come true about the system and how it works and who maintains it.”

I challenged Alex’s point by emphasizing that history has also reflected anarchism as a destructive system.

He replied: “So is capitalism which is extremely destructive as well. The UK just had a war in Iraq killing 600 thousand people and supporting the terrorist state of Israel that has massacred 400 children in Gaza. These are the things that we’re reacting towards and even if it’s a hard task, it’s a necessary one because even though we’re quiet safe in the UK, the rest of the world, billions of people are being treated very badly and if anything, we’re in a situation where we can voice opinions.”

“We are the only people who have a country living within us, everyone else has a country to live in”

Taken from diary written during the Gaza assault:

It’s been 13 days now. We all know that Palestine’s massacre- clock started ticking a generation ago, When deportation took place in 1948.

I sit in front of a television set in Abu Dhabi. I receive emails from ‘Stop the war Coalition’ based in Ealing, London. I receive facebook groups ‘Opposition to Gaza Massacre’ or ‘The Israeli Holocaust in Gaza’. I meet with my old Palestinian friend who only knows Palestine by blood, from stories her grandmother recited.

I watch the world moving as it always does, never stopping whether there are deaths taking place 4 hours away from where I am, where freedom does not seem to hold any gravity due to a heritage, a Palestinian identity.

I see from Al-Jazeera images of dead children, bodies buried under demolished buildings. Flipping the channels to CNN news, I see no images of dead Palestinians, only void words reiterating: ‘terrorist groups Hamas’ and ‘the protection of the Israeli people’.

On Al Jazeera, people are screaming, “Where are the Arabs?” “Why can’t I live in my home and have my liberty?” Still the French President Nicolas Sarkozi insists that ‘Hamas should be defeated.’ And still Israeli reporters claim confidently that Israel’s protection is being threatened.

We are tired of hearing the same old pretexts which thinking about it properly, is a racist remark that directly states Israel’s priority to life over Palestinians: “There will be no ceasefire until Hamas realized that the ultimate protection of Israel is our priority.”
Reporters from Israel are constantly referring to “the ultimate protection of Israel”, but, what about the ultimate protection of the Palestinian state? Which to be straight is not a state. Two separate pieces that are overly populated placed in juxtaposition to a western paradise right behind the wall of apartheid offered to the great democratic Israel, is no state under International law.

I see everything through a television and know that somewhere, someone is dying unseen, unrecorded. No one will remember him but those who knew him throughout his life. And those who knew him have been living and will be living for the rest of their lives with memoires of Palestinians who have fought and died for a country that lives only within them.

I sit still, in front of a television, it has been going on for two weeks now, soon 20 days, and we become use to seeing blood and death as a daily occurrence. The protests have spread, and Middle Eastern politicians are meeting for their old groundless discussions for their hypocrisy have only divided us even more.

Israeli Soldiers admit Murder of Palestinian Women and Children

Evidence on War crimes commited by Israel in Gaza during the 23 day offense have revealed the use of Palestinian Children as human shields.

Investigations show that civilians were hit by unmanned aircraft that are so precise that a target’s clothes and activity can be recognised.

Questions linger over the 300 children out of the 1,400 Palestinians dead are victims of these sophisticated aircrafts which their use on innocent civilians is violation of human rights under international law.

The IDF however claims that it has observed international law and stands in complete denial of the allegations.

WHEN concerns are raised over Israeli conducts during wartime and intentional  civilian targets, leaders of Israel are offended and claim  that their priority is the protection of Israel and that their operations are one of  ‘the world’s most moral army’. 

Watch live investigation from Guardian.co.uk below:

Bold Israeli soldiers decide to turn  towards the public with a promising truth of  their conducts in Gaza.

The voices come from Israeli soldiers themselves, the subject seems to flow like river and the news industries are more determined to directly condemn Israel.

DURING Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.

HAARETZ  article revealed that:

MANY of the Graduate soldiers of Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Ornim Academic College in Tivon, have fought in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead and have testified counter to what the IDF – Israel Defense Forces – who have claimed that Israel observes and fights with a high level of moral behavior…

AN infantry squad leader testifies  an incident where an IDF sharpshooter mistakenly shot a Palestinian mother and her two children:

“There was a house with a family inside …. We put them in a room. Later we left the house and another platoon entered it, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sniper position on the roof,” the soldier said.

“The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn’t understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go and it was okay, and he should hold his fire and he … he did what he was supposed to, like he was following his orders.”

According to the squad leader:

“The sharpshooter saw a woman and children approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them straight away. In any case, what happened is that in the end he killed them.

“I don’t think he felt too bad about it, because after all, as far as he was concerned, he did his job according to the orders he was given. And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to … I don’t know how to describe it …. The lives of Palestinians, let’s say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way,” he said.

The squad leader argued with his commander over the permissive rules of engagement that allowed the clearing out of houses by shooting without warning the residents beforehand.

After the orders were changed, the squad leader’s soldiers complained that “we should kill everyone there [in the center of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist.”

The squad leader said: “You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won’t say anything. To write ‘death to the Arabs’ on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: To understand how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It’s what I’ll remember the most.”

Imperial considers Jewish students dismissing appeal for Gaza

Ed Pynton, from Imperial College, held a newspaper completely drawn in his cross words. He looked up at me and said: ” Joanna I have a great story for you.

“You are going to love this.”

He was wrong, I didn’t love it but it did make sense to me. In my own mind, my opinions  made sense but confronted with Ed’s non-political affiliation, I knew his perception was as valid as mine. It might be easier for Ed to be objective about Gaza and make a decision that will affect many Palestinians.

He leaned towards my computer and started googling. He navigated to a page of the Union council  for students from Imperial college.  ‘Nida Harwood’ who presented the appeal for the campaign called it “A motion to twin ICSU with Islamic University of Gaza”

“I voted against” he said to me with determination, “and so did everyone else in the meeting except three students. I think our college should not be politically affiliated with the crisis in Gaza.

“We  represent Jews also not only Muslims. It would have been fine if the appeal was to offer Palestinian students scholarships and other facilities but to condemn Israel or to “lobby the University to disaffiliate with Israel academic institutions until Israel abides by international law” , is what put me off.”

I challenged Ed on what he had said and held firmly to the point that students who represent a university would not be raising concerns on an international issue if it did not reflect injustice.

LSE presents Norman Rose: Israeli professor

A Public Lecture “Britain and the Palestine Mandate” by Norman Rose, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was held last Wednesday 4th of March at London School of Economics . Professor Rose was also launching his new book, ‘A Senseless Squalid War’: Voices from Palestine, 1945-1948.

UnfortunatelyI cannot give detailed descriptions of what was said  due to excessive lateless with doors being slammed every 4 minutes while Mr Rose tried his best  to stay focused and composed; not to also mention a woman sitting on my right who kept fiddling around with her plastic bag.

Mr Rose gradually covered Britain’s role in the mandate system. He began  from WWI, mentioning what triggered the influx of Jews into Israel and two crucial documents known as the Sykes picot secret agreement (1916) which promised independence to Arab countires ruled by the Ottoman Empire while at the same time also secretly signing  the Balfour Declaration which promised the Jews a homeland in Palestine. Of course the British were being complete hypocrites who then fouled the Arabs and betrayed the Palestinians.  Mr Rose did not however go into precise descriptions of highly relevent events which have lead to the migration of Jews nor did he mention the Zionist movement which I think is highly relevant and should be compared with Judaism – two very different concepts.

Throughout the lecture he gave a balanced view of the conflict, however there were many other relevant facts that were kept aside not to dwell in the ‘difficult’ issues of the Palestinian and Israel conflict.  He did not mention the occupation and its legality nor did he mention the aparthied wall.

By the end of the lecture I approached Mr Rose and asked him what his views were on the conflict in Gaza.

“If you are asking me whether I supported the attack, I did, and I think you would have if you had been subject to 9 or 10 thousand rockets fired on top of your head in the period of eight weeks. If you’re asking if I was happy with the depth of destruction, I wasn’t but I don’t think there was any alternative.”
“I think a two state solution is the only way.”

A two state solution? Do give me the freedom to express one thought on this point. Leaving Palestinians two pieces of land as Gaza and West Bank? Please Mr. Rose, we need more than floating words and with your mental judgement you could come up with something more valid and acceptable than denying where the Israeli state has violated basic human rights… But this is not for me to judge or dwell into, however knowing one thing for sure that claiming Hamas is shooting dozens of bombs on your heads while your supplier of weapons is the biggest, most sophisticated power in the world seems to be underestimating the power of the mind to judge what is reasonably conceivable.
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Many ask why Palestinians  have to publically display targetted children on television. Why do they fall desperate on the ground holding a child with his guts spreading onto the ground? Because they have no other power to influence the world or have a story that matters enough. In the end the Holocaust killed 6 million Jews and this fact alone has become relevant.

The end of student political apathy

The awkward silence over Gaza was broken once eight universities stood up and demonstrated their support, denouncing Israel’s attack. Not only have the universities stood up and protested for the people of Gaza but have also demanded an issued statement from their universities to condemn Israel’s actions.

The internet’s power has spread publications of designed blogs for each university’s needs. The blogs outline the student’s demand and the times and dates of discussion meetings and protests.
The students of UK universities have reflected a high level of concern and support toward Gaza and have arranged fundraising events.

University Blogs for Gaza:

King’s college occupation in solidarity in Gaza
Cambridge Gaza solidarity Campaign
Edinburgh University Occupation for Gaza
Goldsmiths Occupation for Palestinian Scholarships
Glasgow University Student Occupation

The protests have spread from LSE, School of Oriental and African Studies, to King’s College London then out of the capital to Sussex, Warwick, Newcastle, Oxford, Essex, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan, Bristol, Nottingham, Salford, and Kingston.

Interviews from the Guardian reflect opinionated students with hopes in providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Simon Englert, 19, a second-year English literature and drama student from Belgium, is a member of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign on campus and one of the instigators of the 100-strong occupation. “It’s important for Universities to take a stand on this. We are told in history about the central role that students play in defending causes. So that is what we are doing today,” he says. “We invited LSE students along to our meeting and they helped to inspire this action.”

“The action has brought together socialists, Islamists and even students from the green movement who realise the detrimental effects of war on the environment,” says Gwen Wilkinson, a first-year psychology student from Newport.

Jewish students also felt the need to get involved in the protest. One of them is Englert. “I don’t want to make a big thing about it,” he says, “but Israel doesn’t speak for the world’s Jewish community.”

Students are not protesting only to verbally support the Palestinians in Gaza, they are also fully aware of demands they wish to bring forth to their universities and are hoping for a direct response. Protesters around different universities have issued similar demands of which includes a statement from their vice-chancellor condemning Israeli bombings of Gaza; sending surplus computers and books to Gaza students, and scholarships that completely fund students from Gaza.

Sir Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics refused to issue an official university statement condemning the Israeli bombardment of Gaza or to publish financial statements pulling out LSE’s investment in companies involved in supplying arms to Palestine and Israel. However, Davies accepted to grant scholarships funding university fees for affected Palestinians in Gaza.