The Palestine Brief (3) Israel Becomes More Isolated As It Continues Its Violations

A weekly report published by the Center for Political and Development Studies (CPDS), Gaza on the latest developments in Palestine.

 May 27, 2012

 International activism to boycott the racial policies of the Israeli occupation

             Denmark, South Africa and Ireland Boycott Apartheid Israel

             Ireland joins the boycott battle

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) put pressure on the Irish folk bands Dervish and Irish novelist Gerard Donovan to cancel planned visits to Israel.

UK student union to support campus boycott initiatives

The National Union of Student’s (NUS) National Executive Council has unanimously adopted a proposal mandating the body to work with local Student Unions to lobby universities to cancel contracts with Eden Springs. Recommendation 404 (p.68 of this PDF) describes how Israeli company Eden Springs has a bottling plant in the Syrian Occupied Golan Heights, and notes the illegality of settlements under international law.[1]

SA defends its decision on West Bank labeling

The South Africa Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies on Monday defended a call for public comment on whether products manufactured in Israeli-occupied territories should reflect that fact on their labels. “South African consumers had the right to make buying decision based on accurate labeling”, Davies told journalists in Cape Town.

“Our recognition is the 1967 borders of Israel. There is a distinction between products from within borders and products from territories outside, notably the West Bank.

A number of products are entering South Africa as products of Israel even though they are actually products of the occupied territories.”[2]

The labeling issue was stoked further when a Danish newspaper reported Sunday that the same restrictions would be applied in Denmark, albeit optionally, where products made in the West Bank may be declared so or not.

The step “clearly shows consumers that the products are produced under conditions that not only the Danish government, but also European governments which do not approve of. It will then be up to consumers whether they choose to buy the products or not,” Israeli daily the Jerusalem Post quoted Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal as saying.[3]

Background

The global movement for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights was initiated by Palestinian civil society in 2005, and is coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), established in 2007.

W.H.O condemns Israel

The General Assembly of W.H.O adopted a resolution on Friday, May 25 2012 which condemns Israel’s siege of Gaza and its treatment of Palestinian patients. The resolution was proposed by Saudi Arabia. 56 countries supported the resolution; six voted against it, 48 abstained while the representatives of 72 countries didn’t attend the session. [4]

• Israel continues violations

A boy in pink grabs media attention

An Orthodox Jewish man grabbed the Palestinian flag from the hands of a 10 year-old boy and refused to return it. The boy, enraged, tried to take it out of the Jewish man’s hands. A Border Police officer, seeing the struggle between a 10 year-old Palestinian boy and a fully grown Jewish man, chased the Palestinian boy rather than ordering the Jewish man to return the flag.[5]

Montage posted on pro-Palestinian Facebook page (photo: facebook.com/welcometopalestine)

Border Police officer chasing Palestinian boy on Jerusalem Day (photo: Activestills)

Israeli activist Sahar Vardi intervenes to stop Border Police officer from arresting Palestinian child (photos: Haim Schwarczenberg)

Background

JERUSALEM is divided into Occupied East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem. Referring to the two sectors as simply “Jerusalem” is inaccurate and conflicts with international law and the policies of the United Nations, the United States or the European Union.

HISTORY:

    According to the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 that legitimized the creation of the State of Israel, the areas which are now East and West Jerusalem (and their environs, including Bethlehem), were not allocated to either the Arab or Jewish state but were instead to be internationally administered as a separate entity. The borders of the UN Partition Plan remain the only internationally recognized borders of Israel.

    In 1980, in an attempt to annex East Jerusalem, the Israeli government amended the “Basic Law” by which it extended Israeli jurisdiction to the occupied portion of the city.[6]

Travel Restrictions, Checkpoints Suffocate Palestinians

Israel still imposes travel restrictions on Palestinians moving in and out of the occupied territories. This includes travel restrictions imposed on traveling between Gaza and the West Bank and Palestinians moving from one city to another in the West Bank. Visiting Jerusalem is still a dream for most of Palestinians.

Two Palestinian prisoners are still on a hunger strike

Two Palestinian prisoners are still on a hunger strike. They are Mahmoud Al-Sarsak who has been on hunger strike for 68 days and Akram Al-Rikhawi who has been on hunger strike for 44 days. The purpose of their hunger strike is to accelerate their release.

Dirar Abu-Sisi told Prisoners Club’s lawyer “I am still held in solitary confinement.” “I will go on hunger strike if the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) does not transfer me to a prison just like others prisoners.

---

[1]  Ben White, Electronic Intifada http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ben-white/uk-student-union-support-campus-divestment-initiatives

[2] Mail and Guardian Newspaper http://mg.co.za/article/2012-05-21-sa-defends-decision-on-west-bank-labelling

[3] Denmark to label products made under Israeli occupation http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/42169/World/Region/S-Africa,-Denmark-to-label-products-made-under-Isr.aspx

[4] http://www.alzaytouna.net/permalink/17253.html?utm_source=%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85&utm_campaign=4b1402f3f6-_28_1_20111_28_2012&utm_medium=email#.T8CuZYFKRdg

[5]  Boy in pink grabs media attention http://972mag.com/armed-border-officer-chases-10-year-old-palestinian-boy-for-holding-flag/46412/

[6] Negotiations Affair Department of the PLO http://www.nad-plo.org/etemplate.php?id=24

The Palestine Brief Nakba Marked, Prisoners Gain Rights, Israel Continues Violations

 

A weekly report published by the Center for Political and Development Studies (CPDS), Gaza on the latest developments in Palestine.

By Yousef M. Aljamal

First: Nakba

Background

- The 1948 Palestinian Nakba, (Arabic: النكبة‎, an-Nakbah, lit. “disaster”, “catastrophe”, or “cataclysm”), occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 ethnic cleansing operations carried out by armed Jewish gangs. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute.

- Factors involved in the fight include Jewish military advances, attacks against Arab villages and fears of massacre after Deir Yassin, which caused many to leave out of panic, and expulsion orders by Zionist authorities. Later, Palestinians were expelled as part of Plan Dalet. The expulsion of the Palestinians has since been described as ethnic cleansing.

- The status of the refugees,  the right to return to their homes and to be compensated, are key issues in the ongoing Palestinian struggle. The events of 1948 are commemorated by Palestinians on 15 May, now known as Nakba Day.

- Nakba resulted in the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of Palestinian villages. Settlement activity has not stopped since then and refugees were never allowed to return home.

- Last year, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and historical Palestine marched toward the borders, asking for the implementation of 194 UN Resolution. Israel, nevertheless faced them with brutal force, killing dozens.

Latest Development on Nakba

- The Israeli government issued a law preventing the indigenous Palestinian people of 1948 from marking Nakba anniversary, in a move which poses a real threat to freedom of expression and principles of democracy.

- On 15^th of May, dozens of Palestinians were injured as they tried to March towards Al-Ramleh city in 1948′s lands through Qalandia Checkpoint.

 

Second: Prisoners

Background

- On 17^th of April, thousands of Palestinian prisoners went on hunger strike to achieve basic demands including ending administrative detention, solitary confinement, the Shalit Law and allowing family visits. Prisoners agreed to end the hunger strike on 14^th of May, after The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) agreed to concede most of their demands. Four Palestinian prisoners are still on hunger strike.

Latest Development on Palestinian Prisoners 

- Addameer Association for Human Rights issued a statement in which it stated “On the day commemorating 64 years since the Palestinian Nakba, it is regrettable that it has taken the near-starvation of Palestinian political prisoners en masse to call attention to their plight; it is therefore imperative to take this opportunity to not only applaud their achievements but also to push forward lobbying efforts on their behalf and demand a just and permanent resolution for their cause. Addameer extends its utmost gratitude to the dedicated activists and institutions, including members of civil society and the diplomatic community, who have supported the Palestinian prisoners in their campaign for dignity.”

- Israel punished over 1600 prisoners, who went on huger strike by depriving them from canteen and family visits for a month, in a grievous violation of the deal.

- IPS renewed the administrative detention order for Nayef Al-Rojoub, Hamas PLC member, and Mohammed Karam, PFLP member.

Role of International Community in Reaching the Prisoners’ Deal

- Egypt and other EU countries contributed to this success directly and indirectly.  The international community is urged to pressure Israel to fully implement the deal, particularly ending solitary confinement of all prisoners, allowing family visits and providing prisoners with aid, of which they are in desperate need to. Keeping the past experience in mind, the UN is urged to monitor the implementation of the deal, which guarantees the basic rights of prisoners, as stated in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Third: Israel’s Violations of Palestinians’ Rights

Israel Continues Violations of Palestinian Rights, International Criticism Mounts

- In a statement, The EU expressed deep concern about developments on the ground which threaten to make a two-state solution impossible. The EU stated that the marked acceleration of settlement construction following the end of the 2010 moratorium, the recent decision of the government of Israel regarding the status of some settlements outposts as well as the proposal to relocate settlers from Migron within the occupied Palestinian territory, despite all outposts erected since March 2001 requiring dismantling according to the Roadmap. In East-Jerusalem the ongoing evictions and house demolitions, changes to the residency status of Palestinians, the expansion of Givat Hamatos and Har Homa, and the prevention of peaceful Palestinian cultural, economic, social or political activities are all issues of concern, as are the worsening living conditions of the Palestinian population in Area C and serious limitations for the PA to promote the economic development of Palestinian communities in Area C, as well as plans of forced transfer of the Bedouin communities, in particular from the wider E1 area.

- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recently issued its weekly report on Israeli violations in the occupied territory for the period between 9- 15 of May, revealing that Israeli soldiers shot at least 370 Palestinians during the Nakba commemoration, and continued their violations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

- The occupation authorities prevented Nizar Al-Tamimi, ex-prisoner freed in the last exchange deal, from traveling via Al-Karama Crossing despite his being granted a permit to travel to get married to his fiancée Ahlam, who was deported to Jordan in October 2011.

- Jumana Abu Jazzar, an eight-year old Palestinian girl, ended her hunger strike in solidarity with her dad, who went on hunger strike in Israel’s jails. The child told Maan News Agency that “I am eager to hug her dad, after I lost my mother, uncle and grandfather, and still live with my grandmother, the only person left to care for me.”

AL Asks for International Envoy for Palestinian Prisoners

-Nabil Al-Arabi, the head of the Arab League and Saa’eb Iriqat, PLO Executive Committee Member, in a meeting in Cairo discussed the possibility of assigning a UN special envoy to monitor the conditions of Palestinian prisoners. 

Bendie: Youth Sparked Soweto Uprising in SA

The Centre for Political and Development Studies (CPDS), Gaza organized a lecture on Wednesday, May 16 on ‘The Role of Youth in the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa’, delivered by Talgha Bendie, South African activist, who is visiting Gaza currently. The lecturer discussed the role of youth in the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) in South Africa (SA), particularly the Soweto Uprising of 1976.

“The Soweto Uprising was a series of high school student-led protests in South Africa that began on the morning of June 16, 1976. Students from numerous Sowetan schools began to protest in the streets in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in local schools. An estimated 20,000 students took part in the protests, and about 176 people were killed,” said Bendie, who wore a t-shirt in solidarity with Palestinian hunger-strikers with Palestine’s flag on it.

As in the current situation Palestine, discrimination was a state-sponsored crime in SA. Black and colored people were discriminated against, as the international community remained silent.

“Punt Janson, the Deputy Minister of Bantu Education at the time, was quoted as saying: “A Black man may be trained to work on a farm or in a factory. He may work for an employer who is either English-speaking or Afrikaans-speaking and the man who has to give him instructions may be either English-speaking or Afrikaans-speaking,” added the SA activist.

Mohammed Al-Durra, Eman Hijo, Al-Samouni kids, Mohammed Al-Buraee and thousands of other children were martyred in Palestine at the hands of the Israeli armed-to-the-teeth apartheid regime’s soldiers. The SA regime did it first.

“One of the first students to be shot dead was 13-year-old Hector Pieterson. He was shot at Orlando West High School and became the symbol of the Soweto uprising,” noted Bendie.

 

Hiding Truth

“The accounts of how many people died vary from 200 to 600. The original government figure claimed only 23 students were killed. The number of wounded was estimated to be over a thousand men, women, and children,” stressed the activist.

“The Soweto Uprising was a turning point in the liberation struggle in South Africa.”

 

Some white activists supported the struggle of the indigenous people of SA, after the crackdown led by the white-dominated apartheid regime in Soweto. However he noted that a white doctor who had dedicated his life to working in the townships was killed by a mob, making others reluctant to join the struggle.

International reaction

“The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 392 strongly condemning the incident and the apartheid regime. Henry Kissinger, then United States Secretary of State, was about to visit South Africa at the time of the riot, and said that the uprisings cast a negative light on the entire country. African National Congress (ANC) exiles called for international action and more economic sanctions against South Africa,” clarified Bendie.

Observers emphasized the importance of media and fair reporting in exposing the crimes committed against oppressed and occupied populations. Media play an important role in both SA and Palestine, despite the blackout imposed by mainstream media in the West.

“Images of the riots spread all over the world, shocking millions. The photograph of Hector Pieterson’s dead body, as captured by photo-journalist Sam Nzima, caused outrage and brought down international condemnation on the Apartheid government,” added Talgha.

“We had prisons in South Africa. In Palestine, there are prisons too. One of the biggest prisons was in Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held captive for over 28 years. Later, he became the first elected-black president of SA,” he observed.

The lecturer asked Palestinian youth to become involved in the struggle against the Israeli occupation. “Youth in Palestine can unite to bring down Israel’s apartheid regime in the same way as in SA.”

This lecture is the 20^th CPDS has held since the beginning of this year aimed at shedding light on issues related to the Palestinian situation. The South African struggle is being focused on for its richness of significance to Palestine.

The Palestine Brief :The Battle of Empty Stomachs Continues

Photo: The Daily Beast Newspaper

By Yousef M. Aljamal

The Palestine Brief

The Battle of Empty Stomachs Continues

A weekly report published by the Center for Political and Development Studies (CPDS), Gaza on the latest developments in Palestine.

Background:

27 days ago, on April 17, some 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails launched an open-ended hunger strike. Their demands are simple as they echo through the prison walls: liberty or death. The lives of all prisoners on strike are currently in danger, but among them is a smaller group, which has been striking for a longer period of time.

Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab have not eaten for over 76 days – since the 29th of February. Israeli courts have rejected their appeals and refused to free them from administrative detention where they remain without charge or trial, subject to secret evidence and secret allegations. They are in critical condition.

The Prisoners’ Key Demands Include:

· Ending the policy of solitary confinement and isolation

· End to the use of administrative detentions

· The restoration of visitation rights to families of prisoners from the Gaza Strip, a right that has been denied to all families for more than 6 years

· Canceling ‘Shalit’ law[1]

· Ending systematic humiliation, including arbitrary strip searches, nightly raids and collective punishment

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike have been hit hard with retaliation from the Israeli Prison Service (IPS). Taking different forms, the IPS’ retaliation includes beatings, transferring from one prison to another, confiscation of salt (an act that could have severe health consequences for hunger strikers), denial of family and lawyer visits, and isolation and solitary confinement of hunger strikers.

Hunger Strikers:

More than 4800 Palestinian political prisoners are still held in miserable conditions in 20 Israeli prisons. 1100 are ill and deprived of medical attention except for pain-killers. Hundreds of them are suffering from cancer, heart diseases, diabetes mellitus, renal failure. 185 of them are children, while 19 others are held in solitary confinement of two meters of length and one meter of width. Dozens of prisoners have spent long time in prisons. Nael Albarghothi, who was freed in the last exchange in October, 2011, spent 34 years in the occupation jails, according to the Palestinian Center For Defending Prisoners.

Names of Hunger Strikers:

Bilal Diab- Day 76 of hunger strike
Thaer Halahleh- Day 76 of hunger strike
Hassan Safadi- Day 70 of hunger strike
Omar Abu Shalal- Day 68 of hunger strike
Mohammad Taj- Day 60 of hunger strike
Jaafar Azzedine- Day 53 of hunger strike
Mahmoud Sarsak- Day 54 of hunger strike
Abdullah Barghouti- Day 32 of hunger strike

Over 2,500 others are also on their 27 day of mass hunger strike. Prisoner Anass Al-Qadoumi has been rushed to hospital.

Prisoners’ Support:

-A leader of Hamas on Friday warned Israel there would be consequences if any of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike dies in jail. “You must realize that the hunger strike is not a party, and we could be surprised by the death of some of the prisoners,” Khalil al-Haya said at a solidarity tent for the strikers in the center of Gaza City.

- Professor Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights said “As might be expected, the voices of concern from the international community have been muted and belated. The International Committee of the Red Cross has finally expressed in public its concern for the lives of these strikers.” Full article can be found here.

- The Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Filippo Grandi, expressed his grave concern about the current medical and health conditions of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons. Sadly enough, the statement by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA was taken off the website shortly after it was published.

- John Minto, the Global Peace and Justice Alliance (GPJA) spokesperson, sent a letter to New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs urging him to speak out on behalf of the country in support of Palestinian prisoners. He mentioned that there has been a 50% increase in administrative detention during the last year, and it is well recorded that conditions for prisoners have seriously deteriorated over that period of time.

- Demonstrations in support for prisoners have escalated in the last days, with thousands of Palestinians taking to the streets in solidarity with hunger strikers. A protest took place in Ramallah, in which UN premises were closed, and action for hunger strikers was demanded.

- In a statement, a group of Sinn Fein members in Ireland asked for:

International Law and its provisions with regard to administrative detention to be respected
Israel to end its policy of administrative detention
Israel to end its policy of keeping prisoners in solitary confinement
Prisoners to be allowed to see their families.

- More than a hundred parliamentary and prominent political leaders have signed a petition calling on Israel to respect the rules of international law in its treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in its prisons. The petition includes some prominent names in the field of European politics.

-The Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR)’s petition calls for improving the living conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and adopted as part of the demands of the prisoners on hunger strike, in particular the end of solitary confinement, and allowing them to receive visits by parents and family members.

- Jumana Abu Jazzar, a child of political prisoner went in a hunger strike in solidarity with imprisoned father.

- Prisoners Kefah Al-Hattab, Alaa’ Shritih, Nidal Samara, Jafaa’r Abdelazeez, Mohammed Al-Taj, Mohammed Al-said Almasri, Bilal Thiab, Thaer Halahla, Mahmoud Al-Sarsak, Hassan Al-Safadi, Omer Shalal, Akram Alrkhawi, and Mohammed Abdelazeez are at Al-Ramla hospital.

- Prisoners at Ofer prison declined an Israeli Prison Service (IPS) offer and asked it to negotiate with the National Committee of the Hunger Strike.

Role of Media

Western media played the game of brinkmanship, along with Israel, leaving their coverage until many prisoners were already at death’s door. Earlier coverage may well have prevented the situation deteriorating to this extent.

Western media outlets should reasonably be expected to cover the plight of thousands of prisoners protesting the inhumane conditions they live in. All of the Palestinian prisoners’ demands are compatible with human rights guaranteed in international instruments for the treatment of prisoners.

Western media have been slow off the mark.

[1] The Shalit Law was introduced by Israel to punish Palestinian prisoners after Shalit’s capture. It includes deprivation of family visits, education, watching T.V channels including Aljazeera and holding prisoners in solitary confinement.

CPDS highly appreciates your comments and feedback on this weekly report which will be published on Sundays.

Too many tears have been shed in Palestine; let us laugh again

 

Eman, Huda (the author’s mother), Ruqia and Arwa with Omar. (Photo courtesy of the author)

Two Sundays ago, my mother moved from one home in Jericho, in the occupied West Bank, to another in Gaza. She said she felt sad and happy at the same time.

After describing how she was treated roughly by a female Israeli soldier at Erez, the checkpoint on the Gaza-Israel boundary (the soldier had mastered the Arabic word for “not allowed” — mamnoua), my mother spoke of her relief. She left “the many checkpoints” and started looking for a driver to bring her and my youngest brother Omar to the West Bank, where she was born and spent her early years before marrying my dad in 1978.

“When I left the last checkpoint, I didn’t know what to do. I was in a state of disbelief. We first headed to al-Maqased hospital [in Jerusalem], for one of the passengers was supposed to get medical attention there. I always feel dizzy when I get into cars for long hours, but I never felt dizzy that day for I was incredibly happy,” she recalled.

“We crossed the road I used to cross each time I traveled to the West Bank,” she added. “Many things changed. We made it through Deir Yassin village [where Zionist forces committed a massacre in April 1948]. It was as if we Palestinians have to be reminded of massacres when we feel happy.”

“After finally reaching al-Azariya checkpoint [in East Jerusalem], I waited for some time before Ibrahim came and picked me up,” she said, referring to my cousin. “After all these years, I recognized him. We hugged each other so tight. The drivers, who happened to be there, started staring at us.”

The journey from Jerusalem to Jericho must have been filled with anticipation. She must have thought of all the people and things she was eager to see.

“He has white hair now”

“I went to visit my eldest brother, Mohammed, who waited for me next to the gate of his house,” my mother recounted. “I started crying when I saw him. He has white hair now. He was not the man I used to know. We both cried a lot before he invited me into his house, where I met his family.

“The bell rang. It was my sister Arwa and her husband Salah. She rushed to me and held me so tight then burst into tears. I started crying again. I almost lost my voice that day because of crying and laughing

“We chatted then moved to my sister Ruqaia’s house. Arwa asked her: ‘Have not you left to pick Huda up yet?’ Ruqaia replied, ‘I am waiting for my daughter to get home. She has not come from school yet.’

“I suddenly intervened and told her, ‘keep waiting for your daughter.’ She looked at me motionlessly and then ran towards me, hugging me passionately. Though she rarely cries, she burst into tears. She started calling me ‘my beloved, my eyes, my soul, my life’ and she never stopped hugging me.

“We all started crying. Too many tears dropped that day. She went out of the kitchen many times to hug me. We cried and laughed. We laughed enough to heal the wound of the 12 years of being forced apart.

“It was such a lovely gathering. People never stopped arriving. We got back to my eldest brother’s house. We talked about how my parents passed away. I told him how Omar was martyred. How Zeinab passed away,” she said, referring to my eldest brother, who my youngest brother is named after, and my eldest sister, who died due to the siege of Gaza. “I cried as much as I laughed that night.”

“The next day, I went to my youngest brother’s house. There, I saw my parents’ belongings put on the wall. I burst into tears again. Relatives tried to console me. All the old, nice memories came back to me. I started crying again when I saw my youngest brother, Yasser. Time has changed him too much.

“Three days later, my sister Eman got back from Jordan. We started crying again once we met as my brother in-law Nasser’s voice appeared in the background uttering ‘Allah ykazezkin’” — May God disgust you! — a colloquial phrase used in Bethlehem to sarcastically criticize something they don’t like.

“I went to Bethlehem to visit my sister Eman and take Omar to hospital for medical treatment. We spent the most beautiful days there.”

My mother spent 32 days in the West Bank. A day for every year she has lived in Gaza.

She cried as much as she laughed. Palestinians have cried too much. It’s about time we were allowed to laugh more. Every tear we shed should be accompanied by a smile.

Palestinian Prisoners Remembered in English

Palestinian Prisoners Remembered in English

On Wednesday 2^nd May the Gaza Center for Political and Development Studies staged a ceremony to award a group of writers and activists addressing prisoners’ issues. The ceremony, sponsored by The Islamic Society-Jabalyia (ISJ) and Viva Palestina-Malaysia, was attended by dozens of activists at the prisoners’ tent at the Square of the Unknown Solider in Gaza City.    

“This event takes place in order to support Palestinian political prisoners in their struggle for their inalienable human rights. A year ago, CPDS announced a creative writing contest to promote prisoners rights. We received more than 20 submissions by activists from different countries. This competition is to encourage people to keep telling the story of Palestinians’ suffering. Today we are celebrating those activists and encouraging other young writers who can convey the message of those who sacrificed their happiness, families and future to defend our collective rights as Palestinians,” said Dr Mahmoud Alhirthani, CPDS chairman.

“Without the support of different bodies, this effort would not have succeeded. Thanks to the Islamic Society in Jabalia and thanks to Viva Palestina Malaysia, who help CPDS and provide us with the support necessary to stand by the prisoners. This support is enabling an Arabic opera to be subtitled in English and a number of reports on the prisoners to be translated into English,” he added.

The event, the first of its kind in Gaza, was attended by ex-prisoner Chris Bandak, who was freed in the last swap which took place in October 2011 and deported to Gaza. In his speech, Bandak highlighted the importance of supporting prisoners.

“Palestinian prisoners expect us to stand by them. They have nothing to fight the armed soldiers with but their stomachs and resilience. If you fail them, you fail Palestine. They are the symbol of our eternal struggle,” he noted.

Eng. Abdul-Reheem Shihab, ISJ chairman, stressed the importance of supporting prisoners who are subjected to humiliation in the occupation jails. “The Society supported prisoners-related activities and will keep doing that,” he concluded.

The ceremony is one in a series CPDS has held to award young writers who write about Palestine. The center is set to hold a course on Writing Press Releases for the Western Media to get the word about Palestine out to the English speaking world and western media outlets.

Our day will come (and soon)

Since my mother’s departure from Gaza, I have mastered the art of calling her. She is finally with her family in the West Bank for the first time in 12 years.

“Eltwaket” (meaning, “my tongue wrongly pronounces”), she said to me via mobile using her old yet newly-refreshed West Bank accent. “We can’t stop laughing. Your aunt Ruquia never stops telling jokes just like she always used to,” my mother continued.

The Israelis will never be able to erase our identity and language, no matter how much the European alien settlers perfect their Hebrew. My mother regained her West Bank accent in three days. She had been living in Gaza for 32 years.

I talked to her and my youngest brother Omar via Skype. The same people my mother used to talk to from Gaza used the same software program and sat next to her cheerfully. “I will send the papers to the liaison officer. He promised to renew my permit,” she said. “I am at my aunt’s house now with all her daughters and sons surrounding me.” She went there to pay her condolences, my mother told me later. Her aunt died last year as my mother was locked in Gaza.

This is Palestine. We pay condolences years later. We visit the graves of our dead years later. We never see them alive, yet we dream of a better tomorrow than the bitter life we now lead. The Israelis want to push us to the point where we feel defeated. They want us to believe that the way to any other city in Palestine, with their presence, is longer than the way to the horizon. Never lose hope. Cultivate it.

Bethlehem means “house of flesh” in Arabic. “Why is it called so?” My American friend Joe once asked my mom. “It’s where Jesus was born. Flesh has to do with babies,” according to my mother. She is in Bethlehem where she once learned how to cook msakhan, a traditional chicken dish.

There, she will learn to cook a new dish Joe will probably like as much as the stuffed carrot we had on the roof of our house in the crowded Nuseirat refugee camp.

My mother was in disbelief. She wondered several times the night she left if the Israelis would let her into the West Bank. I am sure she didn’t believe anything until she was actually reunited with her family.

We are one

Unfortunately, the Israelis have succeeded in somehow making us believe that we are two: Gaza and the West Bank. They even told us about the words to use. They divided us into categories. Gazans, West Bankers, Arabs in Israel.

But we are not just two. We are as many as the Palestinians scattered in the world. We are one. We are Palestine with all its beauty and uniqueness. We are the past, the present and the future. We are the story, the many stories. We are the three kids who were burnt to ashes in Deir al-Balah because of candles. I don’t believe that lighting a candle in Palestine will kill the darkness. It kills innocent kids in their sleep.

Israelis kills us too. The same result: a bunch of innocent kids subjected to the siege on Gaza. They steal our natural resources. “You have an electricity shortage, while in the West Bank, there is a water shortage,” my mother clarified to me. “They buy water to wash the dishes.”

Cursing yellow and green

Once, my mother traveled to the West Bank. My uncle waited for her on the other side of the “green line” — the international armistice line marking the boundary between “Israel” and the West Bank. She went through the “yellow line” which is used by “foreigners” to get in. She cursed yellow and green that day. See how the Israeli occupation spoils the beauty of colors in Palestine? Still, we love a rainbow!

I feel that our day will come like no time before. I gave up the notion that the West Bank is unreachable. Next time, my mother’s family will pay us a visit in Gaza. Segregation is born dead. It does not last for long. “My father used to tell me that peace will never come to Ireland,” my Irish friend John Hurson once told me. “Now, I live in peace. Peace and freedom will come to Palestine someday.”

The more they segregate, the more passionate we become. I see freedom coming to visit us soon. I feel it around all the time. The disturbing thing about colonizers is that they don’t learn from history. They master the greed of other inmates by heart. This brings their end closer. I can’t say a specific time, but it is close. It’s closer than my mother is to her family right now.