Gaza blogs

Dear all,

For the past few weeks, I've been corresponding with a young journalist from Gaza named Sameh Habib. He first called me when he found out that I was working on a zine of Palestinian young women and girls' stories (I'll send another e-mail about that within the next couple days). He called to say that he's beginning his journalism and writing career and was wondering if there was anywhere I could publish his recent article about Barack Obama. We started writing back and forth, and I was hoping I would get to meet Sameh, as well as other folks in Gaza whose faces I have never seen, but my colleague and I did not get the necessary permits from the Israeli military to enter the Gaza Strip. Particularly in this time when Gazans are so isolated, the internet can be an especially powerful tool. In that spirit, I want to share with you three blogs from Gaza. Electricity is scarce in Gaza, so the blogs might not be updated as much as their authors or readers would like, but they are good sources to check.

More soon,
Hannah

1. Gaza Strip, The Untold Story
by Sameh Habib
http://www.gazatoday.blogspot.com/

This is Sameh's blog. He is also starting an e-mail list and wants to reach as many people as possible. If you are interested in being added to his list, please write to him at sam_hab@hotmail.com.

2. Raising Yousuf and Noor: diary of a Palestinian mother
by Leila Haddad
http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

Leila blogs from wherever she is - currently not in Gaza, but very much worth reading! Here's how she describes her blog: "I am a Palestinian journalist who divides her time between Gaza and the United States, where Yousuf's father, a Palestinian refugee denied his right of return to Palestine, and thus OUR right as a family to live together, resides. This blog is about the trials of raising our son between Gaza and the US, while working as a journalist, and everything that entails from potty training to border crossings. Together, we endure a lot, and the personal becomes political. This is our story."

3. From Gaza, With Love
by Mona El-Farra
http://fromgaza.blogspot.com/

Mona is a "physician by training, a human rights and women's rights activist by practice," and is involved in a variety of projects in Gaza. The blog is about women, health, children and human rights in occupied Palestine.

the urgency of recognition

Dear friends,

I’ve been thinking about the urgency of 1948. One of Ben Gurion’s most repeated quotes among Palestinian refugee communities is, “The old will die and the young will forget.” The young have not forgotten. Everywhere I have traveled in the Arab world – Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria – Palestinian children tell me the names of their original villages that they still hope to see someday. Even the youngest of children will say things like, “If I don’t return to my village, then my children or their children will.”

Perhaps this is the nature of displacement, that the desire to return is compounded as long as the right to return is denied. But how to explain the urgency? Those who were young at the time of the Nakba, 60 years ago, are dying. Just as the Holocaust generation of Jews is slowly passing away, so is the Nakba generation of Palestinians. The difference is in the collective world memory of each tragedy. The Nazi Holocaust is denied by very few today (and even fewer with any kind of world power), whereas the Nakba continues to be denied by the powerful, as it has been for 60 years. Each time I visit with Nakba survivors who currently live inside ’48 (Israel) and have Israeli citizenship, I am astounded that the desperation in their voices far exceeds most of what I hear from Palestinians in the West Bank (Gaza, currently, is another story). Why is this? In all superficial ways, Palestinians with Israeli citizenship have a better standard of life than those in the West Bank. West Bank Palestinians, however, while continuously besieged and attacked, rarely find themselves face to face in conversation with people who deny their identities, their histories, and their experiences. Palestinians with Israeli citizenship face this every day.

We visited last week with a man who lives just a few miles from his original village. He showed us a map the survivors have made, in Hebrew, with each person’s name and house and land marked. “We were here,” he kept saying, “and we farmed, and we went to school, and we had a bus station, and we owned land. We were here. This is my father’s name. We were here.” He kept offering tidbits of proof, as though he expected us to doubt his story.

When he took us to the land, as he has so many times before, I couldn’t help but think about the number of Israelis, foreigners, and perhaps even Palestinians who drive by there each day without realizing there was ever anything there before the Jewish National Fund planted a pine forest. The remains of houses can easily be mistaken for stone paths. Not one house remains, but that doesn’t stop our guide from taking us to a spot on the land that to me looks like any other, and saying, “Welcome to my home. Someday you will come back here and visit me in my rebuilt house and I will serve you tea.”

The urgency is in the living memory, the denied reality, the willful invisibility. The Nakba is not something that happened 60 years ago. It is a process that continues to this day, and it is a process that can and must end if we are ever to see a true solution for the people of this land.

little boy in the gardens

Dear friends,

I’ve been back in Palestine for just under a week now, and tomorrow will begin a busy month of work. Since I’ve been back, the most common question I’ve gotten from Palestinian friends, colleagues, store owners, and taxi drivers is, “Who’s going to win, Clinton or Obama?” When I explain that this is only the primary, most people seem to have a small inkling of that, but most of them have never heard of McCain. They seem quite informed, however, about the Democrats, telling me that they used to think Obama might be better but now he keeps talking about how Israel is an important friend of the US’s and that he will continue to support Israel.

I’ve been surprised at the number of people who seem to have taken Bush’s recent visit to Israel as a real slap in the face. Don’t get me wrong, I do not think the president of the world’s only superpower should be unabashedly celebrating Israel’s creation while Palestinians’ mourn and resist the ethnic cleansing of their people. But it was not at all outside of the realm of what I would expect of Bush. Apparently some people here expected at least a surface-level acknowledgment of the Nakba on his part.

The owner of the local music store near my Ramallah apartment mentioned Bush to me, and then thanked me for being here in Palestine at this time. He said it’s important that foreigners be here around the time of the 60^th anniversary of the Nakba. “For Israel,” he said, “it’s a happy occasion. But for us it’s a tragedy. I left a part of me behind 60 years ago. I look like myself, but it’s only my body. My mother, my grandmother, all my family are buried in Jerusalem, and now I can’t go there anymore. Somewhere inside me there’s still a little boy playing in the gardens of Jerusalem. I miss him.”

Until soon,
Hannah

No Time To Celebrate - Action photos

Dear friends,

For the past few months, I have participated in a nationally coordinated campaign of Jewish people commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe) and honoring 60+ years of Palestinian resistance. At http://notimetocelebrate.wordpress.com/ you can get a small taste of some of the actions that have been happening. If you are interested in planning your own action or event, there are resources on this site. You can also sign the petition if you haven't yet done so and you feel it's appropriate for you.

I have mostly been involved in events in Philadelphia. You can see a video, photos, and a report at http://notimetocelebrate.wordpress.com/local-actions/philadelphia/

For my friends in Palestine: These actions are only a beginning. We know that we need to do much much more and are committed to working with you for as long as you ask us to. Looking forward to seeing you all in Palestine very soon!

Salamaat,
Hannah

The following Palestinian villages were occupied and/or destroyed this week (May 18-25) in 1948: al-Kabri, al-Nahr, al-Tall, Umm al-Faraj, 'Arab al-'Arida, 'Arab al-Safa, al-Ghazzawiyya, Jabbul, al-Khunayzir, Khirbat Umm Sabuna, Khirbat al-Zawiya, al-Jammama, al-Sawafir al-Gharbiyya, al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya, al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya, Khirbat al-Manara, al-Sawamir, al-Tantura, al-Safiriyya, Indur, al-Maghar, Sarafand al-'Amar, 'Ammuqa, Lazzaza, al-Manshiyya, Qaytiyya, al-Zawiya, al-Zuq al-Fawqani, al-Salihiyya, al-Mansura, Mallaha, al-Khisas, Harrawi, al-Dawwara, Baysamun, 'Arab Suqrir, Kawfakha

Source: www.palestineremembered.com

the revolution will be reported in the jewish advocate

Dear friends,

Thanks to those of you who wrote to the Jewish Advocate last week in support of my article
(http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/opinions2/?content_id=4644). The editor says he has never gotten so much response (both positive and negative) as he did with this article. I'm so excited to see this conversation be opened in a mainstream, and when it comes to this issue, right-wing Jewish community. There are three relevant things in this week's Jewish Advocate, and I encourage you to engage and respond in order to keep the conversation open, to show the Jewish community and beyond that there is not consensus (Jewish or otherwise) on this issue, and perhaps even to cause some ambivalence in people who have never really questioned the fundamentals but whose values otherwise might point them in this direction if only given a little push.

1. This week's online poll states: "In light of last week's Leading the Way column, do you think it's helpful for the American Jewish community to talk about and/or acknowledge the issue of who has the right to certain land in Israel?" I know, on one level an absurd question, on the other hand, let's all vote yes! :) www.thejewishadvocate.com (poll at the bottom in the middle)

2. There are letters to the editor (all 5 are about Israel/Palestine, the last 3 are specifically in response to my article): http://thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/letters_to_the_editor/?content_id=4685
My suggestion: write a letter to the editor in response! editorial@thejewishadvocate.com

3. There's an editorial that starts well (by stating that my opinions are both widely supported and widely criticized) and then goes on to state as fact a lot of disgusting myths and stereotypes (so brace yourself): http://thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/editorial/?content_id=4680
My suggestion: write a letter to the editor in response! editorial@thejewishadvocate.com

Pick whichever inspires you (if any), and let them know what you think! It's so rare that we're able to talk about the fundamental issues of 1948, Zionism, and refugee rights in these spaces - let's see how long it can last! Also, while you should reference what you're responding to when you write, I think the most effective thing to do is to make this a bigger discussion than just about my article - so please write about the issues themselves, rather than about me or my opinions. I have a few of my own thoughts about different kinds of effective responses, so if you're stuck or are just interested, feel free to write and ask me. But for now, take it away!

And, in case any of you are still reading and haven't yet taken a look at the No Time to Celebrate pledge, please do: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/notimetocelebrate If you sign the pledge you'll receive an e-mail pretty soon with suggestions of Nakba-related actions to take this spring.

Thanks, all!

Love and resistance,
Hannah

No Time To Celebrate: Jews Remember the Nakba

Dear friends,

I am so excited to be sharing with you the important effort outlined below. Please take a look, and for all the Jewish people out there, please consider signing this pledge and forwarding it to others. There are more of us than we know - let's show that to ourselves, to mainstream Jewish communities, to the Palestinian people we work in solidarity with, and to the world.

I'm also heartened to let you know that the Jewish Advocate, Boston's Jewish newspaper that is certainly not known for its support of Palestinian rights, has published an editorial that I wrote as part of a column reserved for young people's opinions. You can read it at http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/opinions2/?content_id=4644 and if you feel compelled to write them a letter (to potentially keep the issue in the paper longer), please do.

Okay, now for the campaign and pledge...

Calling all Jews of Conscience!
Join "NO TIME TO CELEBRATE: Jews Remember the Nakba"

"NO TIME TO CELEBRATE: Jews Remember the Nakba" is a campaign organized by anti-Zionist Jews from around the U.S. and Canada to coordinate and make visible Jewish response to Israeli Independence Day celebrations and Jewish participation in commemoration of the Nakba. We invite you to join us in this effort:

1. Sign the NO TIME TO CELEBRATE statement and pledge of action (text below). Go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/notimetocelebrate/ to sign! All signatories will be sent additional information about how to get involved in the campaign.
2. Participate in NO TIME TO CELEBRATE's call for coordinated actions across North America by organizing an action or event in your city, such as peaceful disruption of Israel celebration events or Jewish participation in Nakba events and actions organized by Palestinians and the Palestine solidarity movement. Please contact notimetocelebrate+localaction@gmail.com to let us know what you are planning and to request resources/ideas for action compiled by the campaign.
3. Incorporate the Nakba remembrance Haggadah supplement into your Passover Seders. E-mail notimetocelebrate+haggadahsupplement@gmail.com to request the supplement be sent to you once finalized.
4. Take action in other ways to challenge the perceived Zionist consensus among American Jews through education of Jewish and broader communities about the Nakba; about the colonial nature of Zionism; and about the history of Jewish dissent and Palestinian resistance.
5. Spread the word about "NO TIME TO CELEBRATE: Jews Remember the Nakba"! Pass this call on to your organizations, friends and family.

In solidarity with 60+ Years of Palestinian Resistance to Zionism,
NO TIME TO CELEBRATE: Jews Remember the Nakba
notimetocelebrate@gmail.com
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/notimetocelebrate/

******************


NO TIME TO CELEBRATE: Jews Remember the Nakba
Statement and Pledge of Action

This May, Israel will mark 60 years of statehood. In cities across the U.S. and Canada, major Jewish organizations will sponsor celebrations of "Israeli Independence Day." Meanwhile, Palestinians around the world will mourn 60 years since the Nakba – Arabic for "catastrophe" – of 1948. Sixty years ago, Zionist militias destroyed over 500 Palestinian villages and made more than 800,000 Palestinian people refugees in order to create a Jewish state in a land where the majority was not Jewish. This does not deserve to be celebrated.

Today the Palestinian Nakba continues. In order to maintain Israel's artificial Jewish majority, the Israeli government has continued campaigns of ongoing displacement, violence, and occupation. Inside of the 1948 borders of Israel, Palestinian citizens are denied equal rights to Jews under the law. Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem are denied access to land, water, healthcare, and other basic resources. Palestinians throughout historic Palestine experience international isolation, economic devastation aided by the erection of a 730-kilometer wall, and continued closures and invasions including the current horrific siege of Gaza. Today there are more than 6 million Palestinian refugees around the world, all of whom are denied their internationally recognized Right of Return to their homes and land. Meanwhile, we are invited to live on that same land simply because we are Jewish. We renounce this "right" to "return" given to us by Israeli law.

In addition to 60 years of occupation and dispossession, this anniversary marks decades of creative and powerful Palestinian resistance to Israel's violence. With this statement, we support this struggle, which is so often ignored or vilified in the U.S. media.

As Jews committed to justice, we imagine an "independence" that does not depend on an ethnically or religiously exclusive state or on the displacement of indigenous people. As North American Jews, we refuse to celebrate the ongoing colonization and dispossession of Palestinian lives and communities funded by U.S. foreign aid. There has never been Jewish consensus around Israel: not in 1897, not in 1948, and not today. We reject the notion that we have been chosen to displace others. We support Palestinian people's right to return, individually and collectively, to the homes they lost in 1948 and in the violent decades since then.

In response to these historical events and a call from Palestine to mark their significance, we refuse to celebrate "Israel 60." We will take action to make our shared position clear and visible. In cities across the U.S. and Canada this year, we pledge to participate in and to support:

• Refusal to participate in Israeli Independence Day activities;
• Peaceful disruption of these events;
• Nakba commemoration events and actions organized by Palestinians and the Palestine solidarity movement;
• Incorporation of Nakba remembrance into our Passover Seders;
• The movement for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions of Israel;
• Other efforts to challenge the perceived Zionist consensus among American Jews through education of Jewish and broader communities about the Nakba, about the colonial nature of Zionism, and about the history of Jewish dissent and Palestinian resistance.

Together, we stand with Palestinians in mourning 60 years of al-Nakba and in honoring 60 years of vibrant resistance.

Nahr el Bared and the right of return

February 13, 2008

I left Lebanon more than a week ago and am only now starting to find words. I have never before been in a place that has seen so much war. Occupation, yes. Injustice, yes. Death and destruction and uncertainty, perhaps. But something felt different about Lebanon. I have not wrapped my mind around it enough to feel confident that what I write will accurately represent my own thoughts, let alone the actual situation. But I do want to tell you about Nahr el Bared.

You may have heard of Nahr el Bared, one of the Palestinian refugee camps in the north of Lebanon, when the Lebanese army almost completely destroyed it this past summer. All of the residents were forced to leave, made refugees for at least the second time, and most people are still forbidden by the army from returning. I visited the area with a friend who has spent a lot of time there. We stopped first at Bedawi refugee camp, where many of Nahr el Bared's residents are living inside the UN schools (because of this, the schools have been closed since the beginning of the school year). I have never seen such obvious displacement. People have reconstructed a sort of life in this school, with different families in different rooms, or often many families in one room with a tarp separating them. All their belongings are there, with makeshift closets and bureaus for clothes and small ovens to cook food. The schoolyard is full of clotheslines and small stores sell snacks at the base of the school. Life almost seems normal, the setting completely absurd. I could blink and imagine the people back in their camp, or even in their villages that they have not seen since 1948.

I think about my association with the word "refugee." It should, by definition and by international law, be temporary. And yet my experience with refugees has been with Palestinian people in West Bank refugee camps, relatively developed communities where people have been living for 60 years and which are not entirely dissimilar to the towns around them, with the exception of the narrow streets and fewer services. I realize that "Palestinian refugee" to me has been a stationary, permanent identity. This does not reflect justice or people's desires, but it does reflect a certain current reality. Not so in Lebanon, and most of all in the displaced communities of Nahr el Bared residents.

When we arrived in Nahr el Bared itself, it was like a ghost town. A deliberately created ghost town, virtually empty of people and full of shelled and collapsed homes. We stood on a roof near the entrance. To the left was a beautiful snow-covered mountain, to the right the Mediterranean Sea, and in the center thousands of empty, destroyed homes. The teenage boys who had invited us to the roof are among the few families who have been allowed back into the camp. "Even Israel doesn't destroy like this, does it?" they asked, as they watched their new pigeons fly in circles around the house. I thought of Rafah (Gaza), the only place I have been that resembles the destruction of Nahr el Bared. But even the destruction of Rafah was not of this scale.

We walked around the camp, which I dare to call beautiful in many ways. A river runs through the middle, and the camp is on the sea. There is more green than I have ever seen in a refugee camp. My friend described to me how Nahr el Bared is one of the more traditional camps, that many communities find themselves resisting with weapons or giving up altogether, but here the resistance has been in the preservation of culture and traditions, like wedding rituals at the river.

Again, I could blink and imagine the camp as the vibrant community that it was until May. And I could feel a taste of pre-1948 Palestinian life that I have only occasionally felt while walking through the lands of destroyed villages with Nakba survivors themselves.

A small block of temporary UN housing holds a few hundred people. We walked through the area, gathering a small entourage of children as we went. "Where are you from?" a little girl asked one of us. "Chicago," responded one of the members of our group. "I'm from Saffourieh," said the girl. I turned around and asked her, "From where?" I wanted to make sure I had heard right. This young girl had given the name of a destroyed village inside present-day Israel that not only has she never been to, but I have. While some of Saffourieh's residents apparently fled to Lebanon, others fled only a few miles away and currently live in Nazareth. I have visited the land with some of these people.

At the only public clinic in the camp, we met a man who told us he was the last doctor to leave the camp and the first to return. The clinic is open 24 hours a day, and the staff work as volunteers. They barely have money for medicine.

We began to talk with the doctors, and it turns out one of them is originally from Saffourieh as well. Which is to say that his parents were displaced from Saffourieh in 1948. He has never been. We told him that we had been there, and he began to ask questions: "What does it look like?" "What do the Israelis call it now?" "Do people live there?" We told him what we know. "If only I could go…" he said. When we left, he said he hopes to see us again, next time in his village of Saffourieh.

We walked out of the clinic, trudged through the mud away from the destruction and towards the checkpoint at the entrance of the camp. Refugees are refugees, I thought, people displaced from their communities by force. Whether they have carried this identity for a few months or several decades, whether they have been displaced once or twice or many times over, their right to return is sacred. Whether to Nahr el Bared or to Palestine, the choice to return should be theirs. Because, unfortunately, I can blink and imagine their settings transformed as many times as I want, but it is no more effective than clicking my heels together and wishing them home.

For more on Nahr el Bared, including photos, visit http://electronicintifada.net/lebanon.

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