Just as many Canadians have never met nor talked on a friendly or neighbourly level with a First Nations person, so too many Israelis have never met nor talked on a friendly or neighbourly level with a Palestinian. Many Canadians only know ABOUT First Nations peoples from newspapers, documentaries, classrooms, and occasionally, passing by someone on the street. I know many Finnish-Canadians in town who have never talked with an Anishnaabe person and who know nothing about Anishnaabe culture except for the most superficial, stereotypical things, but boy! do they have some mean things to say about the Anishnaabek.
In Israel, as Cynthia Enloe notes in The Space Between Us, in her chapter on working with Israeli and Palestinian women, many Israelis have never met nor talked with a Palestinian. Now, it's not easy for an Israeli to met a Palestinian because the state is apartheid: military checkpoints to keep Palestinians out, highways where only Israelis and tourists who do not have passports stamped with an Arab country can drive on; the Apartheid Wall, the wall/fence around Gaza, to name a few. So an Israeli person who truly seeks to understand Palestinians and their call for right-of-return, restitution and reparations, and land, needs to really work hard to move out of the straightjacket his/her state has created from him/her.
As others have written, and Enloe concurs, those who are the occupied, the colonized, the enslaved, the abused, or the policed know much more about the "Master" than he/she knows about the people they and their "lifestyles" subject. So, as Enloe explains, many Israelis know very little about Palestinians having never met one.
Indeed, Enloe states that for those few Israelis who have actually spoken to a Palestinian (we're not talking here about soldiers at the military checkpoints or the guards at the Israeli prisons and detention centres (where Palestinians are held without charge or trial) overwhelmingly populated with Palestinians, but average, everyday folks), it is the case that it is a male Palestinian who is doing some day labour or other low-level work in Israel. Israelis have even less direct contact with Palestinian women.
Like in Canada, it is the role of the colonizer and the privileged to move out of their comfortable spaces and step out, risk, and reach out to those who our state, with our compliant, sometimes silent--but not always so-- permission, has repressed and oppressed: the First Nations. It is not the job of the oppressed to reach out, to teach, or to assuage the feelings of those whose status is confirmed in everyday life, those whose lives are predominant in the media over and over again; those who "won" because of colonial power-over. It is not the job of First Nations peoples to convince Canadians that their (FN's) concerns are valid.
No, it is the job of those who reap the fruits of colonization to enter the decolonizing process and listen to what those who have been subjected have to say. It is their responsible to interrogate how history has been constructed to exclude and disparage FN peoples as well as create romantic fossilized notions of them. It is their responsibility to do the work to see how their benefits and progress in society is BECAUSE of continuing unequal relations and the continuing denial of the human rights of First Nations people in Canada.
Just as many Canadians only get their information about First Nations peoples from the mainstream media, government representatives, and from state-produced and education institutions and academic documents and narratives, so too the Israelis use similar channels to tell themselves about the Palestinians, to tell themselves their own made-up stories about the Palestinians.
It is no wonder many, many Israelis, like many, many Canadians, are confused and defend the dominant myths, stereotypes and lies, especially the ones that might ask them to look at their own lives, their own lifestyles, their own privileges, their own exclusions, their own practices.
One example of how distortions emerge that inhibit one's access to a more comprehensive knowledge of the ground beneath one's feet and the people who live on it, or who have been expelled from it--which happened in Canada (and is not over because of resource extraction, massive toxic dumping on FN lands and refusal to settle land claims, to name a few) and continues to happen in Israel--is history books.
And by history books, I mean websites and other media where dominant history is CONSTRUCTED, that is, made.
The victor, the colonizer, writes the history books that are told in school and the histories that we find on websites that purport to tell us the "history of this land." This is true in Canada, as it was true in Finland (only since about 20yrs ago did Finns start to bring in the red history to the "real" history of Finland, which was only version of the whites, with the reds as the add-on), and this is true in Israel.
In Canada you can still find people--I met someone just yesterday--who have never heard about Residential Schools until just last year or so when our Prime Minister had to make an official public apology about this abuse of First Nations human rights. How is it that many Canadians had their head in the snowbank about this?
Those who colonize write "the history" and conveniently leave out the ugly, brutal parts of their creating of that history, and when it is brought in, use euphemistic language to whitewash that violence (one ex. using "immigrant" instead of "settler", using "nation-building" instead of "colonization"). The ugly history of the Canadian government's and Canadian churches' residential school system, which was an institutionalized means of "killing the Indian" of each FN child they snatched into its system and attempting genocide through "education" (they did not succeed), was a hidden history for many, many years. It still is not resolved, and many people in Canada still live inside of its ugly legacy.
To speak of decolonization means that everyone in society, not just the First Nations, acknowledge the violence of colonization, the lies used to cover it up, and the continuing impact and effects of that distortion of history FOR ALL CANADIANS, First Nations and non-native. De-colonization is not just for the oppressed; it is also a requirement--an obligation--of each person from the dominant groups and those groups who benefit in society because of silencing, misrepresentations, and the unequal benefits some have received at the cost of the continuing oppression of peoples, in the case of Canada, First Nations.
The school where I am teaching in Fort Frances used to be one of those residential schools. One of those state institutions that cleansed the ugly work it was doing through the language and practices of everyday bureaucracy.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
looking for Ayala
Israeli soldier at Kalandia military checkpoint. photo: Markus Cuel at Flikr.
from B'Tselem, The Isreali Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories:
Testimony: Soldier beats Mahmoud 'Awwad, fracturing his skull, Jan. '09.
Read Mahmoud's brother's testimony of what happened at the West Bank Huwara checkpoint, one of many Israeli military gate-keeping practices, to keep Palestinians OUT of Israel. Mahmoud's brain had to be operated on because of the beating; he was put on a respirator and is in intensive care.
"A female soldier was at the checkpoint, and she saw what happened. She checked the ID cards of the young people crossing the checkpoint. Na’im heard soldiers call her Ayala. She is light-skinned, of moderate build, 1.65 meters tall, and has long, brown hair combed into little braids."
synopsis:
"I saw policemen talking with Fawzi. Fawzi took his ID card from one of the soldiers and asked him, “What about my brother? You detained him because of me, and I’m being released now.” The soldier said, “I detained him, and I’ll release him whenever I want.” I called to another soldier and said, “Let him take his things.” The soldier came over to me, took Fawzi’s things, and gave them to him. Fawzi left.
A tall soldier, about 1.8 meters high, light-skinned, with a thin face, came over to me and said, “Your nose is too much up in the air. You’ll lower your nose and bow now.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. He called another soldier over and the two of them beat me. The other soldier was shorter, light-skinned, thin, and had a bit of a beard. They pushed me to the ground and hit me with the butts of their weapons on my shoulders and back. I tried not to fall. They wanted to humiliate me but I preferred to die than to be humiliated. I didn't do anything, my hands were cuffed. The soldiers beat me hard. They said, “You’ll go down on the ground, whether you want to or not.” I told them I wouldn’t. The soldier who had cuffed me said to me, “Now I’ll show you how you’ll go down.” Then he blindfolded me with a piece of cloth.
In the meantime, my brother Mahmoud, 29, arrived at the checkpoint. He was on his way to work in Israel and was waiting in line at the checkpoint. I heard him say to the soldiers, “Why are you beating him? What did he do?” The beating stopped and the soldiers shouted. Then I heard some commotion, but I couldn’t see what was happening. Somebody, I don’t know who, removed my blindfold. I saw my brother stretched out on the ground. His head was bleeding and he was unconscious. The soldiers shouted at people coming to the checkpoint to move back. Some people picked up Mahmoud and walked away. I ran after them. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Somebody told me that a soldier had hit Mahmoud in the head with his weapon, and that Mahmoud had immediately lost consciousness. We took Mahmoud by car to Rafidya Hospital."
Jack Layton & the human rights of Palestinians
Gentle readers, you know that I am terribly busy--I teach classes at the university, at the college, for 7 Generations, last night I taught my yoga class (we did "Animal Asanas"), I am also busy today organizing a Palestine Awareness Event, along with a host of other activities, never mind getting the laundry done--so I am behind in my posting. I have promised you posts on which I have yet to deliver: on the Vigil for the killed children of Gaza; my visit (with others) to our local Minister of Parliament's open house (carrying a sign: Gaza-Canada's Shame); stories on The Hummingbird of Hope (who came to visit me while Israel was brutally bombing Lebanon), The Blueberry Time-bomb story (about the chemical "bombing" of the forests around my city); there are others. You also know, gentle readers, that I write letters to the Canadian government to bring pressure on our elected representatives to recognize Palestinian rights and to support justice for Palestine. Last week, I received a response from Jack Layton, the NDP party leader, to a letter I had written to him earlier. So, I was compelled to craft another letter to him, in consultation with some of the community groups I engage with. Here is that letter:
Dear Honorable Jack Layton, critic of foreign affairs Paul Dewar, and MP Bruce Hyer,
We thank the Honorable Jack Layton for his response, and we are glad to know that the NDP is speaking out to challenge the Harper government and its representatives such as Peter Kent, John Baird, and others, and, we hope, Ignatieff and the Liberals, who are following the same defense of Israel that continues to silence that state's violations of Palestinian human rights.
We urgently call upon the NDP to become stronger in articulating, not only in government venues, but particularly in the media, the human rights of the Palestinian people and challenging the continuing impunity of Israel, its representatives and international supporters, such as Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff, for allowing--indeed, abetting--that impunity. Israel has refused to abide by international laws, UN Resolutions, and the Geneva Convention and there is no outcry from the NDP about this. Why is that? Many people and groups across the world are working to collect evidence of Israel's war crimes, from the Spanish judiciary, French lawyers, Amnesty International and others, to take the Israeli government and military representatives to world court.
This action is undertaken in recognition of the flagrant abuse and violation of Palestinian human rights. According to the Geneva Convention, occupying powers must protect the civilians who are subject to them; further, during times of war, certain protocols must be maintained; instead, Israel dropped phosphorus bombs on densely inhabited Palestinian civilian areas and killed civilians who held white flags in their hands, to name a few of the war crimes they committed and which are documented in images, videos, and statements.
Protecting human rights of all people, no matter what group, nation or individual is violating those rights, is not controversial but a basic legal standard.
Where is the NDP voice on this? We have not heard it.
The NDP has to take the human rights of the Palestinian people to the forefront in their public statements. Recognizing the occupation and the violation of Palestinian human rights is a necessary first step in order to call for "both sides to stop the violence." If the occupation is not recognized, then a "both sides need to stop the violence" approach just perpetuates obfuscation of Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights. The NDP must recognize and speak out on the human rights violations that the Palestinians have been subjected to by the state of Israel, not just during the Gaza massacre, but for more than 60 years.
The occupation, the blockade, the illegal settlements, the electrified fence around Gaza and the Apartheid Wall around the West Bank and their surveillance towers are at the root of the so-called "Palestine-Israeli conflict." This "conflict" is unbalanced: a powerful state occupier and colonizer armed with $3 billion worth of US military aid and state-of-the art military technologies (which Barack Obama, as per his official website, is seeking to increase along with increasing financial aid), versus the rockets and stones of the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank.
The "conflict" is an occupation and resistance to occupation; we call upon the NDP to be more clear on that, and on expressing that to the public and to the Conservatives and the Liberals. The problem is not Hamas rockets; the problem is occupation, colonization, continued expansion of illegal settlements--and Canada's silence about that; indeed, incredibly, Canadians built, with tax deductions, Canada Park and the John Diefenbaker Roadway in Israel ON OCCUPIED LAND. Israeli Uri Avnery has stated that Canada is committing war crimes because the land legally, by international law, is part of the West Bank. Resistance in the West Bank and Gaza, including Hamas rockets, is the effect of 60 years of occupation and Canadian complicity in that occupation, as Canada Park, the Canadian call for the blockade against Gaza, and the denial of the rights of the Palestinian people to defend themselves, makes clear.
[on Canada Park: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-2500957394773313398
Further, before the death tally of the Gaza massacre, 8 Palestinians, mostly civilians and children, are killed every day by the Israeli army or settlers in Gaza and the West Bank. In light of this continued oppression of the human rights of Palestinians and their legitimate right to defend themselves against a brutal occupation, continuing illegal settlements, and land encroachment due to the Apartheid Wall, we find very troubling part of Jack Layton's Friday Jan. 16 Press Statement, which we have excerpted and highlighted below:
"Working with the international community, Canada has a role to play in helping to end the violence. Canada should express its readiness to facilitate negotiations and assist with the international monitoring of the ceasefire, including by providing Canadians troops as UN peacekeepers. The monitoring must be implemented in a way that prevents rocket attacks on Israel and the smuggling of weapons into Gaza."
Our questions include: where is the reference to the continuing bombardment of Gaza by Israeli weapons in this statement? do the people of Gaza not have the right to defend themselves or is defense only a right for occupying or sovereign nations like Israel, Canada, and the US? Are the people of Palestine not allowed to arm themselves against aggressors or the threat of aggression and have an army, like we do in Canada? Or are they somehow outside our idea of a nation and a people? Will the Canadian government speak with the elected representatives of the people of Gaza to ask if Canadian troops as UN peacekeepers are desired? If Canadian troops as part of UN peacekeeping troops are implemented without Palestinian approval would we not then be an arm of the occupation? Will those Canadian UN peacekeeping troops also monitor the Israeli army, and if so will they then be stationed on Israeli land to stop the Israeli army from inflicting more carnage on the Palestinian people or from partaking of house demolitions, more land theft, and the building of more illegal settlements in the West Bank? Further, what role will Canadian UN peacekeeping troops be called upon to play within the US-Israel agreements to end Gaza arms smuggling which clearly labels elected Palestinian representatives that are not compliant to Israeli occupation, terrorists? What is the NDP position on this?
We have read the text of the U.S.-Israel agreement to end Gaza arms smuggling document and find what it says about "international cooperation" to prevent the Palestinian people from defending themselves from an occupying state, extremely problematic, particularly the new tools and initiatives, and are very concerned about where Canadian troops as UN peacekeepers fit in this pro-occupation agreement that obliterates the right of Palestinians to self-defense, as well as, labels their duly elected representatives as 'terrorists', hence, disallowing any meaningful way forward to a just solution to the Palestinian crisis and occupation and to the recognition of their human rights.
We have excerpted a section below that is extremely troubling, yet noting that we find the entire text of this document troubling.
[ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056175.html ]
We would like the NDP to respond to this document and clarify the role they see Canadian troops as UN peacekeepers playing in light of the trajectory and goals of this agreement. Further, we call upon the NDP to question the Conservative government and the Liberal Party on what role they project for Canadians in this US-Israeli agreement that seeks fusion with international entities, given the continuing Canadian support of the state of Israel and its impunity.
· Enhanced U.S. security and intelligence cooperation with regional governments on actions to prevent weapons and explosives flows to Gaza that originate in or transit their territories; including through the involvement of relevant components of the U.S. Government, such as U.S. Central Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command, and U.S. Special Operations Command.
· Enhanced intelligence fusion with key international and coalition naval forces and other appropriate entities to address weapons supply to Gaza;
· Enhancement of the existing international sanctions and enforcement mechanisms against provision of material support to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, including through an international response to those states, such as Iran, who are determined to be sources of weapons and explosives supply to Gaza.
Urgently, we call upon the NDP to publicly recognize the human rights of the Palestinian people.
Thank you for addressing our concerns,
We look forward to hearing from you, in correspondence and in the media,
Walid and Taina Chahal, Arab Association of Thunder Bay;
Thunder Bay Muslim Association
Dear Honorable Jack Layton, critic of foreign affairs Paul Dewar, and MP Bruce Hyer,
We thank the Honorable Jack Layton for his response, and we are glad to know that the NDP is speaking out to challenge the Harper government and its representatives such as Peter Kent, John Baird, and others, and, we hope, Ignatieff and the Liberals, who are following the same defense of Israel that continues to silence that state's violations of Palestinian human rights.
We urgently call upon the NDP to become stronger in articulating, not only in government venues, but particularly in the media, the human rights of the Palestinian people and challenging the continuing impunity of Israel, its representatives and international supporters, such as Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff, for allowing--indeed, abetting--that impunity. Israel has refused to abide by international laws, UN Resolutions, and the Geneva Convention and there is no outcry from the NDP about this. Why is that? Many people and groups across the world are working to collect evidence of Israel's war crimes, from the Spanish judiciary, French lawyers, Amnesty International and others, to take the Israeli government and military representatives to world court.
This action is undertaken in recognition of the flagrant abuse and violation of Palestinian human rights. According to the Geneva Convention, occupying powers must protect the civilians who are subject to them; further, during times of war, certain protocols must be maintained; instead, Israel dropped phosphorus bombs on densely inhabited Palestinian civilian areas and killed civilians who held white flags in their hands, to name a few of the war crimes they committed and which are documented in images, videos, and statements.
Protecting human rights of all people, no matter what group, nation or individual is violating those rights, is not controversial but a basic legal standard.
Where is the NDP voice on this? We have not heard it.
The NDP has to take the human rights of the Palestinian people to the forefront in their public statements. Recognizing the occupation and the violation of Palestinian human rights is a necessary first step in order to call for "both sides to stop the violence." If the occupation is not recognized, then a "both sides need to stop the violence" approach just perpetuates obfuscation of Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights. The NDP must recognize and speak out on the human rights violations that the Palestinians have been subjected to by the state of Israel, not just during the Gaza massacre, but for more than 60 years.
The occupation, the blockade, the illegal settlements, the electrified fence around Gaza and the Apartheid Wall around the West Bank and their surveillance towers are at the root of the so-called "Palestine-Israeli conflict." This "conflict" is unbalanced: a powerful state occupier and colonizer armed with $3 billion worth of US military aid and state-of-the art military technologies (which Barack Obama, as per his official website, is seeking to increase along with increasing financial aid), versus the rockets and stones of the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank.
The "conflict" is an occupation and resistance to occupation; we call upon the NDP to be more clear on that, and on expressing that to the public and to the Conservatives and the Liberals. The problem is not Hamas rockets; the problem is occupation, colonization, continued expansion of illegal settlements--and Canada's silence about that; indeed, incredibly, Canadians built, with tax deductions, Canada Park and the John Diefenbaker Roadway in Israel ON OCCUPIED LAND. Israeli Uri Avnery has stated that Canada is committing war crimes because the land legally, by international law, is part of the West Bank. Resistance in the West Bank and Gaza, including Hamas rockets, is the effect of 60 years of occupation and Canadian complicity in that occupation, as Canada Park, the Canadian call for the blockade against Gaza, and the denial of the rights of the Palestinian people to defend themselves, makes clear.
[on Canada Park: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-2500957394773313398
Further, before the death tally of the Gaza massacre, 8 Palestinians, mostly civilians and children, are killed every day by the Israeli army or settlers in Gaza and the West Bank. In light of this continued oppression of the human rights of Palestinians and their legitimate right to defend themselves against a brutal occupation, continuing illegal settlements, and land encroachment due to the Apartheid Wall, we find very troubling part of Jack Layton's Friday Jan. 16 Press Statement, which we have excerpted and highlighted below:
"Working with the international community, Canada has a role to play in helping to end the violence. Canada should express its readiness to facilitate negotiations and assist with the international monitoring of the ceasefire, including by providing Canadians troops as UN peacekeepers. The monitoring must be implemented in a way that prevents rocket attacks on Israel and the smuggling of weapons into Gaza."
Our questions include: where is the reference to the continuing bombardment of Gaza by Israeli weapons in this statement? do the people of Gaza not have the right to defend themselves or is defense only a right for occupying or sovereign nations like Israel, Canada, and the US? Are the people of Palestine not allowed to arm themselves against aggressors or the threat of aggression and have an army, like we do in Canada? Or are they somehow outside our idea of a nation and a people? Will the Canadian government speak with the elected representatives of the people of Gaza to ask if Canadian troops as UN peacekeepers are desired? If Canadian troops as part of UN peacekeeping troops are implemented without Palestinian approval would we not then be an arm of the occupation? Will those Canadian UN peacekeeping troops also monitor the Israeli army, and if so will they then be stationed on Israeli land to stop the Israeli army from inflicting more carnage on the Palestinian people or from partaking of house demolitions, more land theft, and the building of more illegal settlements in the West Bank? Further, what role will Canadian UN peacekeeping troops be called upon to play within the US-Israel agreements to end Gaza arms smuggling which clearly labels elected Palestinian representatives that are not compliant to Israeli occupation, terrorists? What is the NDP position on this?
We have read the text of the U.S.-Israel agreement to end Gaza arms smuggling document and find what it says about "international cooperation" to prevent the Palestinian people from defending themselves from an occupying state, extremely problematic, particularly the new tools and initiatives, and are very concerned about where Canadian troops as UN peacekeepers fit in this pro-occupation agreement that obliterates the right of Palestinians to self-defense, as well as, labels their duly elected representatives as 'terrorists', hence, disallowing any meaningful way forward to a just solution to the Palestinian crisis and occupation and to the recognition of their human rights.
We have excerpted a section below that is extremely troubling, yet noting that we find the entire text of this document troubling.
[ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056175.html ]
We would like the NDP to respond to this document and clarify the role they see Canadian troops as UN peacekeepers playing in light of the trajectory and goals of this agreement. Further, we call upon the NDP to question the Conservative government and the Liberal Party on what role they project for Canadians in this US-Israeli agreement that seeks fusion with international entities, given the continuing Canadian support of the state of Israel and its impunity.
· Enhanced U.S. security and intelligence cooperation with regional governments on actions to prevent weapons and explosives flows to Gaza that originate in or transit their territories; including through the involvement of relevant components of the U.S. Government, such as U.S. Central Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command, and U.S. Special Operations Command.
· Enhanced intelligence fusion with key international and coalition naval forces and other appropriate entities to address weapons supply to Gaza;
· Enhancement of the existing international sanctions and enforcement mechanisms against provision of material support to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, including through an international response to those states, such as Iran, who are determined to be sources of weapons and explosives supply to Gaza.
Urgently, we call upon the NDP to publicly recognize the human rights of the Palestinian people.
Thank you for addressing our concerns,
We look forward to hearing from you, in correspondence and in the media,
Walid and Taina Chahal, Arab Association of Thunder Bay;
Thunder Bay Muslim Association
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Sniper school and more
Keffiyah camouflage...that is, Israeli Special Forces Undercover Units. You can go to school to become an Israeli undercover "soldier"--that is, if you are Jewish. It doesn't matter if you live in Tayibe, HaMerkaz Israel or Toronto, Canada, if you are a Jew you can go to school to learn how to take out Palestinians. What if you are a Canadian Jew but you don't have any money? Don't worry, the HESEG foundation will help you, that is, on condition that you are indeed a Jew, get to Israel and learn how to kill. Every time a Canadian visits a Chapters or Indigo Bookstore, their money helps send a Canadian boy to kill Palestinians. Why should our boys just kill Taliban terrorists when they can kill Hamas terrorist? To speed you on your way to become an Undercover Special Forces Soldier in Israel, visit this site for your Undercover Guide and you will be on your way to kill a Palestinian, too.
Undercover is not your style? There are more options at the Israeli Special Forces school. Maybe you dream to become a sniper? Well, you too can have your chance to sniper shoot a child in Gaza by entering the Snipers School.
But you don't have any experience killing so you would like to start at the beginning? Then you should read the Israeli Special Forces Infantry Soldier Guide.
You want more choice? Sniping and undercover are not man enough for you and you know some of the basics because you play World WarCraft constantly? Well, how about entering the Israeli State Terrorist School? You may get a chance to try out your urban guerrilla warfare training in the specially built "Gaza" village, that is, at the new Ground Troop Training Centre (GTTC)! You could do sight-seeing in Beersheba while there, and (pardon the pun!) kill two birds with one stone.
"Built a year and a half ago, the GTTC is a mock Arab village complete with outlying rural areas, a downtown district and a winding maze of streets and alleyways, pregnant with the constant risk of an unexpected close encounter with the enemy."
There are many options to satisfy your urge to get your finger or eye behind some brand new military technologies made in the U.S.A. You can begin by learning all about the latest Optics ; the combination of training at the Israeli Special Forces school and using state-of-the-art US made military technologies will surely help you reach your killing goals.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Palestine is the land, Israel is a state
Lawrence of Cyberia, a British woman who lives in the US, (linked on my sidebar) , blogs in detail and in depth on Palestine, putting together informative analyses from her vast knowledge and research of many years. Her posts are informative because she draws on a diverse array of sources; some of her blog posts must take days to put together, if not weeks. Any blogger who does this sort of in-depth, time-consuming investigative journalism/research and posting with links to other sites gets kudos from me. It takes A LOT of time to put together even a short post--that is, if you are working with issues that need to be articulated in such a way to express their complexity and importance, and in such a way as to bring justice to the issue and peoples that you are talking about, and it such a way to allow your readers to link to more material and to formulate their own interpretations--so her work is truly outstanding. (I also think her play on words for her title is really clever on a number of levels, as it talks back to gender, appropriates Orientalism, and plays on land/cyberspace dichotomies!) I recommend a look at her latest entry, 30 January 2009
Those People in Gaza: Where Do They Come From, And Why Are They So Mad? . In it, she compiles a number of photos from the Palestine Remembered site with other historical materials, to create a photo essay to challenge the myths that hold dominance about the land of Palestine.
Who is the Terrorist?
Lawrence of Cyberia and Gilad Atzmon (below) dismantle the false dichotomies of Jew/Arab or Israeli/Palestinian, to show that, whatever our ethnicity, religion, skin colour, "race", or nationality, we meet in cultures of resistance that transcend all boundaries.
Gilad Atzmon, a Jewish jazz sax musician born in Israel but who "feels no sympathy, compassion or nostalgia toward the occupying state of Israel" lives in the UK and is an anti-Zionist human rights activist. Atzmon was interviewed recently and has this to say about his former homeland:
"What we see in Gaza is holocaust denial in its making. The Jewish state exercises hardcore barbarism. Yet, the world keeps silent. Once again we are confronted with the realization that giving a mandate for a national home for the Jewish people has been demonstrated to be a grave lethal mistake. The only question is how to dismantle this monstrous suicidal hawkish creature without turning our planet into a fireball."
His message to the Palestinian people of Gaza:
"My Dearest brothers and sisters. It is heartbreaking to watch the death and carnage inflicted on you by the Jewish state. We all see what you are going through and we all know that justice is on your side. I beg you not to lose hope. Evil always comes to an end and Israeli evil is no different. Israel will come to an end though we may have to do something to bring this end about.
However, one thing is rather clear. The so called ‘liberal’ west failed to save you, sadly enough; the Arab states failed to join your struggle yet. As sad as it may be, as much as justice is on your side, you are alone here confronted with the ultimate evil.
Israel has many bombs in its arsenal. But you Palestinian brothers and sisters have a few things they do not have: Justice is [on] your side, humanity is in your streets, you have the spirit and you have the ultimate bomb, namely the demographic one.
Palestine is the land, Israel is a state; States come and go, land stays forever. Long live Palestine."
Gilad Atzmon & Nizar Al-Issa Cultures of Resistance Jul 07
Those People in Gaza: Where Do They Come From, And Why Are They So Mad? . In it, she compiles a number of photos from the Palestine Remembered site with other historical materials, to create a photo essay to challenge the myths that hold dominance about the land of Palestine.
Who is the Terrorist?
Lawrence of Cyberia and Gilad Atzmon (below) dismantle the false dichotomies of Jew/Arab or Israeli/Palestinian, to show that, whatever our ethnicity, religion, skin colour, "race", or nationality, we meet in cultures of resistance that transcend all boundaries.
Gilad Atzmon, a Jewish jazz sax musician born in Israel but who "feels no sympathy, compassion or nostalgia toward the occupying state of Israel" lives in the UK and is an anti-Zionist human rights activist. Atzmon was interviewed recently and has this to say about his former homeland:
"What we see in Gaza is holocaust denial in its making. The Jewish state exercises hardcore barbarism. Yet, the world keeps silent. Once again we are confronted with the realization that giving a mandate for a national home for the Jewish people has been demonstrated to be a grave lethal mistake. The only question is how to dismantle this monstrous suicidal hawkish creature without turning our planet into a fireball."
His message to the Palestinian people of Gaza:
"My Dearest brothers and sisters. It is heartbreaking to watch the death and carnage inflicted on you by the Jewish state. We all see what you are going through and we all know that justice is on your side. I beg you not to lose hope. Evil always comes to an end and Israeli evil is no different. Israel will come to an end though we may have to do something to bring this end about.
However, one thing is rather clear. The so called ‘liberal’ west failed to save you, sadly enough; the Arab states failed to join your struggle yet. As sad as it may be, as much as justice is on your side, you are alone here confronted with the ultimate evil.
Israel has many bombs in its arsenal. But you Palestinian brothers and sisters have a few things they do not have: Justice is [on] your side, humanity is in your streets, you have the spirit and you have the ultimate bomb, namely the demographic one.
Palestine is the land, Israel is a state; States come and go, land stays forever. Long live Palestine."
Gilad Atzmon & Nizar Al-Issa Cultures of Resistance Jul 07
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