New Stuff

I have a couple new posts on Olyblog, and I posted a note on Facebook about boycotting against states that demonstrate aggression. My blog at OlyBlog can be found at http://olyblog.net/blog/berd and I will post the text of the note from facebook below the fold here.

Ahmed Moor: Time to Dismantle Palestinian Authority

It's Time to Dismantle the Palestinian Authority by Ahmed Moor
an excerpt:

Those salaries are then spent on regular commodity goods -- yogurt, laundry detergent, cellular phones -- that are either produced by Israel or are subject to exorbitant import tariffs. At the same time, Israel imposes anti-market, anti-competitive, protectionist economic policies in the West Bank and Gaza to prevent the genesis or development of genuine Palestinian industry. The result is a badly developed Palestinian service economy whose primary function is to consume Israeli goods.

Stop the Abuse!

Good Morning,

It is obvious that the way the Israeli gov't and Israeli society treat Palestinians is bad for Palestinians. And it should be obvious that it's bad for Jews as well, and not only Jews living in Israel/Palestine, but all Jews.

Additionally, it's bad for the world. For Jews of conscience, who oppose the policies and behaviors of the Jewish state, what other alternative actions—other than Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions—do you propose, in order to persuade and pressure the Israeli state and society to stop abusing Palestinians?

Thanks,
Berd

Olympia Food Co-op Boycott of Products from Israel

There has been a lot of discussion on OlyBlog about the boycott.

I created a book page where related posts can be accumulated:
http://olyblog.net/olympia-food-co-op-boycott-products-israel

Active Stills—Photography from Israel/Palestine

Active Stills is a collective of great photographers who are working on the Israel/Palestine conflict. One of their members visited Olympia a couple years ago, or so, and I went to a presentation, which was great. It was great to hear first hand about the devastation occurring in that part of the world, and about the tremendously unjust situation that Palestinians face as they are subjected to violence and oppression and are unable to live their lives with a fair degree of freedom.

Here's the Active Stills photostream on flickr:

Active Stills

Israel's PR War

Who benefits from Israeli occupation?

What is the source of Israel's delegitimization?

Could it be that Israel delegitimizes itself by committing crimes against humanity?

Demonstration to Support Gaza

This demonstration happened a few months ago, but the recent decision by the Olympia Food Cooperative Board of Directors reminded me of it. A great demonstration, there were over 100 people in attendance even though it was planned spontaneously, and made to happen less than 24 hours after news of Israel's attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.


Emergency Demonstration to Support the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and to Protest Israeli Violence

A Question about the Situation with Israel/Palestine

Why does Israel exclude kids' books and wheel chairs from Gaza?

Why does the U.S.A. give Israel so much support despite the vast amount of credible reports of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity committed by Israel?

Whom, or what, might benefit?

Does the state of Israel represent Jewish values?

Emergency Demonstration for Gaza Aid Freedom Flotilla

Monday, May 31, 2010
Olympia, Washington

Well over 100 people gathered to protest against Israel's recent attack on human right's activists. Several hundred people were attempting to escort a significant shipment of material humanitarian relief supplies, when Israeli commandos hi-jacked them under the cover of darkness in the early morning. Israel even went so far as to kill some of the human rights workers during their take-over of the ships.

more information about the Freedom Flotilla here: The Free Gaza Movement

Norman Finkelstein Talks about Israel on Democracy Now!

Norman Finkelstein Responds to Clinton, Netanyahu AIPAC Comments
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told attendees at the AIPAC conference on Monday that the US commitment to Israel is “rock-solid,” but Clinton did criticize Israel for continuing to build settlements in occupied East Jerusalem. In a defiant speech hours after Clinton’s address, Netanyahu rejected US criticism and vowed to continue building settlements. We speak with Norman Finkelstein, author of the new book, This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion. [includes rush transcript]

No More for War

From the Gaza Freedom March Solidarity Demonstration in Seattle, Washington
Saturday, January 2, 2010

Gaza Freedom March

view larger: No More for War!

Free Gaza Update, 27 May, 2009

Please watch this video.



Peace between Israelis and Palestinians is possible. It really is. It is possible to find a win-win solution, however, both sides must be open to finding a win-win solution (or series of solutions.)

Active Still Photography from Israel / Palestine

Photos by Activestills

activestills


Demolition of Jahalin Bedouins homes, in al-Eziryiah, Palestine


Demolition of a Palestinian home in al-Eziryiah, Palestine

Debate Over Zionism a Distraction?

In my understanding, violent Zionism is a main root of the problems that exist between Israelis and Palestinians. Not Zionism necessarily, but a zionism that is violent, oppressive, tyrannical and brutal in nature.

Lincoln Shlensky, of Jewish Peace News, thinks that the debate over Israeli Zionism is a "red herring." Lincoln raises some very sensible arguments. Read on:

...the wrong topic -- Zionism and anti-Zionism -- is under debate. This ideological argument serves to distract attention from the desperate need for a renewed discussion of human and political rights that must set the agenda for any negotiations toward a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
[...]
the debate between Zionists and anti-Zionists is a red herring, in my view, a diversionary tactic that merely postpones crucial negotiations and decisions that could enable an equitable and peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians. The real debate needs to be over how to politically enshrine -- with the necessary help of the international community -- the rights of both Palestinians and Israeli Jews in a future political compact. Unless Israeli Jews can be presented with a plan, whether national or confederational, that guarantees their political freedoms and allows them to live without fear of being politically overwhelmed by shifting demography, then peace, with reparative justice for the Palestinians, will remain elusive. Without such an internationally backed guarantee of rights and security, negotiations can only be experienced as a zero-sum equation in which Israeli Jews have everything to lose. This far more important debate over how to assure the rights of Jews and Palestinians will not happen without the impetus of broad-based popular political activism, the involvement of the key global political players, and sincere compassion for both sides. Until widespread demand mounts for the negotiation of an internationally backed agreement that preserves the mutual rights and political freedoms of Israelis and Palestinians, the stronger party in the conflict will continue to prevail -- at an inexcusable expense to itself, to the weaker group, and to the entire region.

--Lincoln Shlensky

http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com/2009/03/is-zionism-problem.html

Robert Dreyfuss on the Freeman Affair

From Tomdispatch.com: http://tomdispatch.com/post/175046/robert_dreyfuss_the_freeman_affair

Tom Englehardt

Because one man, conceding defeat, didn't issue the typical statement indicating that he preferred to spend more time with his family, and instead launched a frontal attack on those who had attacked him, the foreign policy equation in Washington might have changed in discernible ways last week. On withdrawing from his nomination as director of the National Intelligence Council, Charles Freeman, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a rare provocative thinker in Washington, let loose with a broadside against his enemies. Of accusations from the generally right-wing groups and individuals who claim to represent the Jewish community in official Washington, he wrote:

"There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government -- in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel... This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States."

[...]

Robert Dreyfuss:

the arrival of the Netanyahu-Lieberman government is also guaranteed to prove a crisis moment for the Israel lobby. It will present an enormous public-relations problem, akin to the one that faced ad agency Hill & Knowlton during the decades in which it had to defend Philip Morris, the hated cigarette company that repeatedly denied the link between its products and cancer. The Israel lobby knows that it will be difficult to sell cartons of menthol smooth Netanyahu-Lieberman 100s to American consumers.

Indeed, Freeman told me:

"The only thing I regret is that in my statement I embraced the term 'Israel lobby.' This isn't really a lobby by, for, or about Israel. It's really, well, I've decided I'm going to call it from now on the [Avigdor] Lieberman lobby. It's the very right-wing Likud in Israel and its fanatic supporters here. And Avigdor Lieberman is really the guy that they really agree with."

So here's the reality behind the Freeman debacle: Already worried over Team Obama, suffering the after-effects of the Gaza debacle, and about to be burdened with the Netanyahu-Lieberman problem, the Israel lobby is undoubtedly running scared. They succeeded in knocking off Freeman, but the true test of their strength is yet to come.

"Reality of...bloodbath" in Gaza

see with pictures: http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/us-eyewitness-in-gaza-as-a-world-we-utterly-failed-the-palestinians-of-gaza-we-stood-and-watched-the.html

March 16, 2009
US Eyewitness in Gaza: 'The reality of a very real bloodbath set in...'

The following was written by Rose Mishaan, a participant on the recent National Lawyer's Guild delegation to Gaza. Rose is a student at the University of California Hastings College of Law. I know Rose from when we were both members of Jews Against the Occupation in New York. She sent this out as an email to friends and has given us permission to reprint it here. All the photos below were taken by her. - Adam Horowitz

IMG_2780
(The rubble of Al-Zeytoun, on the southern outskirts of Gaza City. Photo: Rose Mishaan)

It took me a month to write this email. In that month, I've been through a whirlwind of emotions, trying to find away to process the things that I saw. I still haven't figured it out.

I went to Gaza with a group of lawyers to investigate violations of international law. We crossed into Gaza through the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah. At first we were fairly convinced we wouldn't get through. We had heard different stories of internationals trying to get through and then getting turned away -- they didn't have the proper credentials, they didn't have a letter from their embassy, etc. It made it all the more anti-climactic when we got through with no problem. just a minor 7-hour detainment at the border, which was really nothing at all. they said we were free to go. so we boarded a bus and drove the half-mile to the Palestinian side of the crossing. when we got there, we went through the world's one and only Palestinian Authority border crossing. we were the only ones there. they stamped all our passports and gave us a hero's welcome -- invited us to sit down for tea and have some desserts. they could not believe an American delegation was there, in Gaza. as far as we learned, we were only the second American delegation to enter Gaza since the offensive -- after a delegation of engineers. We were certainly the first and only delegation of American lawyers. while we were trying to avoid the mandatory Palestinian shmooze time with tea and snacks, waiting for our cabs to arrive to take us to our hotel, we felt a bomb explode. to our unexperienced senses, it felt like it was right under us. i got immediately anxious and decided we need to get out of there. our Palestinian hosts laughed at me kindly and said "don't worry this is normal here". somehow, not that comforting. we got in our two cabs and starting heading from the border to our hotel in Gaza City. the ride from Rafah to Gaza City was about 40 minutes. as soon as we left the border gates, we began to see the bombed out buildings. one of my companions yelled out "holy shit!" and we looked to where she was pointing and saw the giant crater in the building. then my other travel companion turned to her and said "you can't yell 'holy shit' every time you see a bombed out building. we'll all have heart attacks." and she was right. the entire 40-minute drive to Gaza City, our cab driver pointed out the sights around us. he explained what each bombed out building was, who was living there and what had been a big story in the news. all we saw was decimation. one building after another collapsed into rubble.

IMG_2737 When we got to our hotel in Gaza City, I was surprised. It was standing -- no bomb craters, no burnt out sections. and it was still in business. we checked in and we had running water and electricity -- both things that i was unsure about before coming to Gaza. that first night we arrived we met with two United Nations representatives: one with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human RIghts and one with the UN Refugee and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. John Ging, the director of UNRWA in Gaza was clearly upset at the recent offensive. A well-spoken man with a strong commitment to human rights and international law, he told us about the UN schools that were hit during the onslaught. He kept saying that the "rule of law means you apply it to everyone equally". He badly wanted to see an end to Israeli impunity. We got a tour of the facility that was shelled during the offensive. We saw the hollowed out warehouse after it was shelled with white phosphorous and everything inside was destroyed -- medicines, food, spare automobile parts to keep their vehicles up and running (pictured above). John Ging told us about how the UN had called the Israelis after the first shell and told them not to target the UN compound, that there were gasoline tanks on the property. they received assurances that they would not be targeted. Moments later the Israelis shelled the exact area where the gas tanks were located with white phosphorous. the phosphorous hit the warehouses and UN staff risked their lives to move the gas tanks before the fire reached them, avoiding a massive explosion.

That first night in Gaza was almost surreal. It was so quiet, almost deafening. I was convinced that any moment a missile would come screeching through the air and shatter the night. there was a sense of waiting for something to happen. but nothing did. the night gave way to morning and I awoke in Gaza for the first time in my life.

The things we saw that morning would turn out to be the hardest. We went to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. In the parking lot we saw bombed out, twisted skeletons of ambulances before we were hurried into the building to meet with doctors. Standing in the middle of a care unit, I saw a little boy, about 5 years old, hobble down the hallway, holding his mother's hand. He had a leg injury and looked in pain. The doctors wanted to show us the white phosphorous cases, since we had asked about that. The doctor pointed to two rooms with patients we could talk to. There were two women in the first one. The one closest to the door just stared at us blankly, not saying anything. It turns out she lost her whole family during the assault. A few of us went into the next room. There we found Mohammad lying in bed -- heavily bandaged, missing his left eye. He told us the story of how his whole family was burned to death when two white phosphorous shells hit their family car. He was lucky enough to have been knocked out of the car by the first shell. He lay unconscious and burning on the ground, while several neighbors pulled him away. He didn't see his family die -- both parents, his brother, and his sister. they were in their car driving to a relative's house to get away from the shelling in their neighborhood. it was during what was supposed to be a 3-hour ceasefire. Their car only made it 70 meters. He and his brother were both in college. His brother was going to graduate this year. As he told us that, a fellow delegate, Linda, who had been translating, suddenly burst into tears. Mohammad grabbed her hand and told her it was ok. Strange how people ended up comforting us. The doctor came in and told us they were changing a child's dressing if we wanted to come see. We walked into a room to see a baby -- about 2 years old -- lying on a table. She suddenly sat up and I saw that one whole side of her face and head were severely burnt. I had assumed she was hit with a weapon of some kind, but it turns it was a classic case of "collateral damage": she had run up to her mom when they started bombing near the house, while her mom was cooking. Then a bomb exploded nearby and the burning oil in her mother's pan spilled all over this young girl's face. While we stood there, she just cried and called for her mom. We all stood watching, feeling helpless and guilty.

IMG_2783 We left the hospital and went to Al-Zeytoun, a farming community on the southern outskirts of Gaza City. It was one of the hardest hit areas at the beginning of the ground invasion. The neighborhood was almost entirely inhabited by members of the extended Sammouni family. The town was in the news a lot after soldiers evacuated home after home of Sammounis into one house, that they then shelled, killing dozens of people. We walked up the dirt road and saw the rubble. Only one or two buildings left standing; the rest were completely decimated. Scattered tents served as makeshift shelters. We split up into teams of two and began interviewing survivors. We found two women sitting silently in front of the rubble that used to be someone's home. One of the women, Zahwa, described the night where she saw her husband executed in front of her with his hands above his head (Zahwa Sammouni is pictured above sitting in front of a tent. Her house was destroyed the night the soldiers came through the neighborhood). She then huddled with her children in a back room of the house as soldiers shot through the two windows above them. She showed us the bullet holes in the wall of the house, the heap of rubble that used to be her house, and the wounds in her back from being grazed with bullets while she hunched over her children. Her 10-year-old son showed us the shrapnel wounds in his leg and proudly displayed the large piece of shrapnel that he single-handedly pulled out of his chest that night. His cousins then gave us a tour of one of the few houses left standing -- one that the soldiers had used as a base, after they rounded up all those in the neighborhood and demolished all the other houses. The house was a mess. All the family's possessions were thrown around the outside perimeter. Bags of feces from the soldiers were strewn around outside. The inside was ransacked. The soldiers had covered nearly every surface with graffiti: "death to the Arabs", "if it weren't for Arabs, the world would be a better place", "kill Arabs". I feverishly took notes and photographs of the stories of Zeytoun, knowing I did not want to stop and think about what had happened here.

Throughout the day, we felt distant bomb blasts. I still gave a little jump when I heard the tremors and I can't say they didn't make me nervous. But the Palestinians we were meeting with didn't bat an eyelid. They knew when they were in danger and they knew when it didn't matter. "Oh, they're just bombing the tunnels" or "that's all the way in the north" people would say. Cold comfort.

We met with paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society. They described how they were shot at, and sometimes hit, while trying to reach injured people. We met with human rights organizations who described the difficulties of trying to collect accurate information and trying to help everyone when there was such widespread devastation. We met with a psychiatrist in Gaza City who ran one of very few mental health centers there. He wondered how to treat a population of 1.5 million who were all suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "Listen to the kids tell their stories" he told us. "They tell it like it happened to someone else". That's one of the symptoms of PTSD apparently. and we saw it again and again. Whether it was the little boy describing his father's execution in front of him, or kids showing us the shrapnel they pulled out of themselves and their dead relatives, or a little girl talking about how her house was destroyed -- none of them broke down, none of them cried, none of them seemed scared. There was complete detachment from the horror they were living and their identification with it. A scarred generation that will inherit this conflict.

I left Gaza by hitching a ride with a car full of BBC journalists. We headed in the Land Rover, with "TV" painted on the hood, down the coastal road that winds the length of Gaza. It was my first time seeing the Sea in Palestine, I remember thinking. what a strange feeling. To be in a country i knew so well, and yet be somewhere so completely unfamiliar. The privilege of having a chance to go there and the utter relief at being able to leave were competing in my head. The crossing back into Egypt was short and painless. But as soon as i saw the other side of Rafah again, i felt a deep ache of regret and guilt that didn't let up for weeks. Regret at having left before my work was done and guilt that I had wanted to get out of there.

Gaza was like nothing I'd ever seen. The reality of a very real bloodbath set in. I saw what this onslaught did to people -- real people. i looked into their eyes and heard their stories and saw their wounds. It made war realer than i ever wanted it to be. There still isn't yet a day that goes by that I don't think about what i saw and heard, and feel guilty about leaving, and sad that people are still living with such pain, fear, trauma and loss. I think the hardest part is knowing that as a world, we utterly failed the Palestinians of Gaza. We stood and watched them die and justified our own inaction. It is something that should bring a little shame to us all.

Remembering Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie was murdered six years ago today, March 16th, 2003. The absence of an investigation into her death is proof enough that it was a wrongful killing. Rest in peace Rachel. You are remembered. Your work was not in vain, nor was your death. You have caused many people to gather around the causes that you believed in and which you fought for.

Peace.

Culture of Conquest, Culture of Oppression

We live in a culture of oppression. It's all around us. It is something that we can all too easily take for granted - unless we make conscious and concerted effort to make it plain.

It's all around us. Since we were born. This culture has been around for thousands of years. We have the oppressors and the oppressed.

No one is left unscathed or unharmed. No one is left undamaged by this cultural oppression. Neither the oppressed, nor the oppressor.

In some ways the oppressed can be seen as having the luxury of awareness. The ability to see the reality of the situation—this ability is not nearly as available to the oppressor as it is to the oppressed. It's because the oppressor oftentimes must look away, the oppressor must avoid the brutal truth of the situation, the truth that it is they whom are the propagators of such vicious assaults against the oppressed. The oppressed must be maligned, cursed, castigated, made to seem unworthy, weak, insufficient, or somehow the source of the problem. In order to oppress, the oppressor often times must delude themself about the true nature of the situation, and the reason for the oppressive behavior. For example, the oppressed are labeled as terrorists so that the justification of protection or self-defense is used. (This often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.)

Look at the situation in Israel and Palestine.

Many Israelis have brainwashed themselves into believing that they are the ones whom are actually oppressed. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Israelis live in a hyper-vigilant, hyper-sensitive, culture. Jews have been subjected to anti-semitism, and discriminated against, and treated with prejudice and hate for centuries. Yes this is true. Do Jews deserve a refuge state? I think so. —But that does not make it right for Israelis, Jewish or not, to subjugate and to discriminate, to disrespect, and to treat others (primarily speaking of Palestinians here) as if they're inferior.

All human beings deserve to live dignified, happy and prosperous lives. This includes Palestinians and Israelis. This includes all of us. All of us deserve to be treated equally.

The roots of this conflict exist in the systematic oppression of Palestinians that occurred surrounding, and in regard to the formal establishment of the State of Israel.

It is a very common attitude amongst Palestinians that a peaceful coexistence would be possible if only Israel would respect the 1967 borders.

So why won't Israel pull back? Why the ongoing intensive settlement building in traditionally Palestinians Territories? What's the deal? If Israelis truly want peace, then why do they refuse to meet with Palestinians? Why do they insist on labeling their opponents as terrorists, rather than making an effort to acknowledge their common humanity?

The answers exist in the problems associated with a culture of oppression. This is a cultural problem. It's deeply ingrained within our collective and individual psyches. And the hurts caused by this culture cause deep and lasting psychological wounds. The hurts caused by this culture cause disease.

There is so much need for healing. Not only the oppressed, but the oppressors too, are victims of this culture of oppression.

Finally, my suggestion to all of humanity is to work toward the creation of a culture of consent. Abandon this culture of oppression. Do away with it immediately! Leave it behind, and let its desiccated dusts dissolve away, the crystalline structure of social and environmental degradation to be abolished.

Just imagine: a culture of consent and cooperation. Imagine kindness, reciprocity and sharing as some of the guiding principles.

(p.s. This reminds of a topic I want to be sure to pursue, i.e.: What does it mean to be "Pro-Israel?"

So, what does it mean to be "Pro-Israel?"

I argue that to be for militarism and violence towards, and oppression of, Palestinians is in no way truly "Pro-Israel." What would truly be Pro-Israel, and pro-Jewish, would be to call for a breakdown of settlements in the West Bank, and a strong initiative for reconciliation and amends toward Palestinians and all Arabs (and Persians, et al.) To be truly Pro-Israel is to call for a cessation of violent conflict. To be truly Pro-Israel is not to feed the destruction inherent in the military machine. To be truly Pro-Israel we will call to abolish the military-industrial complex.

Israelis and Israel have a right to exist. And so do Palestinians and Palestine. So do Iranians, and Iran. And Iraqis and Iraq. And Americans and America.

All people have a right to exist. All people have a right to organize themselves peacefully and not be subjugated, assaulted and/or oppressed.

We are each sufficient, individually and collectively, in and of our own beings.

So instead of distrust, violence, militarism and war - how about practicing tolerance, truthfulness, peace and compassion, etc...)

(update 3/17/2009: I also want to add a few words about the right of indigenous peoples and traditional cultures to exist without interference and intervention. In the above postscript I wrote that "Americans and America [have a right to exist.]"

While I feel this is true, I also do not want to ignore the horrible history of oppression in America, the decimation of Native Peoples and Cultures, the enslavement of Africans and Asians. This horrible history of oppression is not limited to America, nor even to the West, but has existed in various cultures and societies throughout world history.

So when I write that all people have a right to exist, I mean all people - and all cultures. All people ought to be able to participate in cultures - so long as they are not harmful to others.

The problem we have now is that it is our culture, our people, and our government that are the principle proponents of violence, harm and destruction throughout the world.

Therefore, we are right to resist the destructive tendencies of our gov't.)

"To create a new...generation that really believes in peace."

Reposted from Jewish Peace News:

And Now For Something Completely Different

For a change of pace from our usual dose of death and destruction, an inspiring story:

The village of Ni'lin has paid a particularly high price for its struggle against the Wall and annexation of its lands, including two children who were shot and killed by the Israeli Army in the summer of 2008. Nevertheless, the people of the village continue to protest at least once a week against the Wall, joined by Israeli activists, in particular Anarchists Against the Wall, as well as international activists.

The article below tells the remarkable story of how the people of Ni'lin have put together an exhibit to honor International Holocaust Remembrance Day and commemorate the near destruction of European Jewry under the Nazis.

Activists who have been in Ni'lin recently told me that the reason they heard for the village committee putting together the exhibit was this: if Israeli activists care enough to come to their village to learn about the Palestinian struggle and act in solidarity with Palestinians, they feel obligated to learn Jewish history as well.

This is what solidarity looks like.

--Rebecca Vilkomerson

Ni'lin pays tribute to Jewish victims of the Holocaust
George H. Hale

BETHLEHEM – Every Friday, the West Bank village of Ni'lin is home to some of the most violent clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators.

Each week, activists from the village's Land Defence Committee stage demonstrations at the Separation Barrier which cuts off as much as half the village's farmland and water from its inhabitants.

As a reporter for a Palestinian news agency in Bethlehem, I too travelled to Ni'lin, but last weekend beheld a spectacle perhaps more remarkable than these weekly Barrier protests: Villagers had set up an exhibition to coincide with the United Nations-declared International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January, an exhibition organised by Ni'lin's Popular Committee Against the Wall.

Hassan Moussa, the exhibition's organiser, spoke to me over the phone from Ni'lin. And despite the hot-headed rhetoric coming from both sides that weekend (a number of protesters were tear-gassed just hours before), Moussa explained that the exhibit was organised with the most noble of intentions.

"This is a way of extending our sympathy for the Jews," and the Palestinians' way of extending that sympathy "to the Israeli people, themselves," he says.

"Nobody thinks war will lead to peace and security. It will lead to more violence and hatred and agony, as well as suffering to this area, which is neither in our interest, nor the Israelis."

Since late January the people of Ni'lin have opted to complement their demonstrations with something "to show the Israelis that we feel sorry for them."

As a Palestinian activist, Moussa says he also wants to convey his suffering: "My suffering will not lead to peace. When I lose my land, it's like losing your heart from your body."

The village's Municipality hosted the Holocaust Remembrance Exhibition at its headquarters in Ni'lin, where organisers say more than 1,000 visitors have paid tribute to the victims of Nazi atrocities committed against Europe's Jews.

The exhibition of posters and texts, provided by an Israeli Holocaust museum, details "the genocide that was committed against the Jewish people during the 1930s and 1940s in Germany and in other parts of Europe," Moussa explains.

"We admit that there was terrible pain inflicted on the Jewish people as a result of this genocide," he says. "We are feeling sorry for this genocide."

Moussa added that "the Palestinians have no connection at all with that genocide… It is our fate to live on this land so we have to live in peace—only peace can bring security," he explains.

"We feel sorry for you," Moussa says when pressed for his message to the Israeli people. "Our hand is extended in peace; we are ready to make peace with the Israeli government."

"We want peace for the people of Israel, and the people of Palestine and the people of the world, as well," he says. "This is our way to express this message; it is our message to the whole world."

The exhibit is not only intended for Israelis, though a number have attended. "Frankly speaking, the people who came and visited the exhibition, [for the] first time saw something about this genocide," Moussa says. "They heard some from their history books, but this is the first time they saw the pictures."

The most common Palestinian reaction after seeing the horrifying images, Moussa tells me, is that "they feel sorry; they feel really sorry for the [Jews], once they see the posters."

One in five of the village's 5,000 residents are estimated to have viewed the exhibition, with hundreds more from Israel and elsewhere in the West Bank. It is still open to the public at the village's municipality building.

"We received so many visitors," Moussa says. "Even some Israeli activists came to have a look at the exhibition." Particularly interested were those Israelis whose ancestors survived the Holocaust: "They came and they appreciated the idea."

"And they expressed their sorrow for us," Moussa notes. "Their message, as well as my message, is to create a new type of generation that really believes in peace."

###

* George Hale is a journalist with Ma'an News Agency, a Palestinian newswire. He lives in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service, 26 February 2009, www.commongroundnews.org.
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Judith Norman
Lincoln Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
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Jewish Peace News archive and blog: http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com
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Jewish Peace News sends its news clippings only to subscribers. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription, go to http://www.jewishpeacenews.net

Chronology of Recent Situation in Gaza

From the Free Gaza Movement:

GAZA CHRONOLOGY June 19 – Dec. 27, 2008
Written by Anis
19th June:
Ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hamas government comes into force for six months. Israel insisted on a verbal agreement. It stated: cessation of all military hostilities on both sides, opening of Gaza's borders after 72 hours for 30% more trade, unrestricted trade after ten days. Egypt supports the extension of the agreement to the West Bank. (source: International Crisis Group: Ending the War in Gaza. Middle East Briefing No. 26, 5.1.2009, p. 3)

19th June
Israeli warships fire four rockets at Palestinian fishermen in Palestinian waters. On the same day aircraft circling over Gaza City break the sound barrier near the ground and trigger a panic among the people. In the area of Khan Yunis Israeli patrols shoot over the border fence at farmers who work on their fields on the other side of the border. (source: Ma'an, 26.06.2008). This scenario is repeated almost daily.
24th June:
Two young officials of Jihad are murdered in their homes in Nablus by units of the IDF (Israeli Defence Force). On the same day al-Quds Brigades fire three rockets at Sderot in retaliation. (source: Ma'an 24.06.2008) The Israeli side uses the action of Jihad as an excuse to close the border crossings again.

26th June:
The al-Aqsa Brigades fire a rocket on Sderot after many Fatah members have been arrested in raids by the Israeli army. With this the al-Aqsa Brigades want to force the extension of the ceasefire to the West Bank. The spokesman of the Hamas government in Gaza warns the al-Aqsa Brigades that their actions would prevent the lifting of the blockade and favour instead the narrower interests of a organisational and political nature.

29th June:
A delegation of farmers complain to Hamas' Ministry of Agriculture that because of the Israeli bombardment they can no longer cultivate their fields along the border fence.

4th August:
During a meeting of the Israeli labour party the Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, threatens a ground invasion into the Gaza strip, despite Hamas' adherence to the ceasefire.

8th August:
The director of the secret service Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin, thinks that a ceasefire would reduce the pressure on Hamas to release Shalit. He calls on the army to prepare for a major military offensive. (source: Ma'an 8.8.2008) These statements reinforce the impression among Palestinians that as far as the Israeli military leadership is concerned the purpose of the ceasefire is to gain time in order to prepare an offensive.

29th September:
The Israeli navy sinks a fishing boat (source: http://www.btselem.org/english/testimonies/20080910_israeli_navy_boat_charges_into_a_fishing_boat_witness_al_hasi.asp), after fishing boats were shot at and rammed several times.

4th November:
Israeli troops enter into Khan Yunis. Deliberately targeted projectiles kill six Hamas members and injure several people, including one woman. In the Deir al-Balah several rockets are fired at residential areas. Near Wadi Salqa two houses of the Hawaidi family are destroyed and seven family members, three of them women, are kidnapped and taken to Israel. The same day Israeli border guards prevent French consular officals, who want to get a picture of the situation, from entering the Gaza strip. (Some background information: the dubious tunneller Abu Dawabah is arrested and claims during interrogation that both Hamas and and al-Aqsa brigades had offered him money for kidnapping an Israeli soldier. (source: Ma'an 3.11.2008) One day later the Hamas Ministry of Internal Affairs issues a denial. (See also International Crisis Group: Ending the War in Gaza. Middle East Briefing No. 26, 5.1.2009, p.5)

5th November:
Residential areas in the north of the Gaza strip and Khan Yunis are bombarded. Israeli troops kill a leader of Jihad and six Hamas officials. Because of this, Hamas, the al-Aqsa Brigades and Jihad fire rockets into Israel. Until then Hamas fully observed the ceasefire. Jihad and the al-Aqsa Brigades state that the ceasefire will not prevent them from reacting to Israeli violations of the agreement. In spite of this, Hamas wants to continue the ceasefire and ask Egypt for mediation.

5th November:
The Gaza Strip is completely sealed off. Even food, medicine, fuel, spare parts for generators and water pumps, paper, telephones and shoes can no longer or only in minimal amounts enter the Gaza Strip.

8th November:
Israeli bulldozers enter into the strip at several points. This leads to armed clashes with the units of the DFLP.

9th November:
Hamas Chief Ismail Haniya declares to European delegates who had broken through the sea blockade with a boat of the Free Gaza Movement and visited Gaza that Hamas could live with a solution of the Palestine problem on the basis of UN Resolutions. (source: Ma'an 9.11.2008)

12th November:
A further four Hamas members are killed. Israeli airplanes fire rockets at residential areas. The Palestinian factions are getting ever more skeptical about the ceasefire. Israeli bulldozers cut a 150 metre swath into an area in the Gaza Strip for military patrols, destroying about 750 hectares of agrarian land. (source: Ma'an 21.11.2008)

13th November:
Israeli boarder patrols bar a UN food convoy from passing the border. The DFLP claims that for Israel this was not about the ceasefire, but about breaking resistance to the occupation. In the following days the PFLP, the DFLP, the Popular Committees and Hamas fire projectiles at Israeli places while Israeli airplanes bomb the north of the Gaza Strip.

16th November:
The Israeli Minister of Transport calls for killing the whole Hamas leadership. During new attacks another four members of the Popular Committees are killed. By now 15 people have been killed during the air strikes in recent days. The Popular Committees declare the end of the ceasefire. Their spokesperson blames Israel.

17th November:
The DLFP and Jihad fire rockets into Israel.

18th November:
The food crisis gets worse and worse. 50% of the bakeries cannot operate anymore due of lack of flour. Others use animal feed to bake bread. Israeli tanks enter the strip, there are armed clashes with the PFLP and the mujaheddin, another resistance group of Fatah. The Israeli Navy arrest 15 fishermen and three foreign solidarity activists off the coast of Gaza. The "Internationals" accompanied the fishermen in the hope that their presence would guarantee a minimum of protection. They are taken to Israel and get expelled after six days of solitary confinement. (source Ma'an 18.11.2008). The three fishing boats were given back after 9 days, but one boat was damaged, the GPS device was missing. During their days in prison, the solidarity workers were barred from contacting their lawyers and their embassies. (source: http://www.freegaza.org/de/home/547-three-palestinian-fishing-boats-returned and http://www.freegaza.org/de/home/558-kidnapped-in-gaza]

20th November:
Yet again a Hamas member is killed by targeted rocket strikes. Hamas increasingly comes under pressure from the other groups as well as their own base, who demand they force Israel to keep to the ceasefire. But how?

23th November
Diplomatic sources claim that the Egyptians stepped in and got Hamas and the Israeli government to agree to resume the ceasefire according to the conditions originally negotiated. This is confirmed by Hamas. Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha furthermore states that the other resistance groups also agree to the continuation of the ceasefire - on condition that the blockade is lifted. Israel does not comment on this.

24th November:
A member of the Popular Committee is killed by an Israeli rocket. After Israeli claims that rockets were fired – but no one claimed responsibility for that - the Israeli Minister of Defense Barak retracts the order to open the border for urgently needed food deliveries. As far back as August rockets had been fired on several occasions from the Gaza Strip to the Negev desert, without claim of responsibility, which led to the closure of the border each time. At the time Hamas leader Mammud al-Zahhar accused Israeli agents of creating a pretext for a land invasion. (source Ma'an 12.9.2008). Also at the time the names of groups nobody in Gaza had heard of before and knew anything about crop up such as Ahrar al-Jalil, Tawhid Brigades or Hisb Allah. Some believe they are collaborators wanting to corrupt the ceasefire. Other voices believe they are small radical cells who think Hamas have made too many concessions.

28th November:
The Israeli army kills a man from Khan Yunis, who doesn't belong to any organisation. On the same day eight Israeli soldiers are injured at a boarder border post through attacks by the mujaheddin.

30th November:
Jihad declare they no longer feel bound by the ceasefire. The al-Aqsa Brigades fire projectiles at Sderot again. Hamas and Jihad are warned by mediators from Qatar that Israel plans a major military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The political leadership of Hamas issues an urgent appeal to armed groups including their own al-Qassam Brigades to stop firing rockets into Israel.

2nd December:
Israeli tanks enter the Gaza Strip again. Two teenagers are killed in air strikes.

4th December:
Al-Aqsa Brigades fire rockets at Ashkelon.

5th December:
Massive assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in Hebron. While the al-Aqsa Brigades, the DFLP and the al-Quds Brigades of the Jihad fire rockets at Israeli places as a reaction to the events in the West Bank, Hamas organises solidarity demonstrations with Palestinians in Hebron to rescue what is left of the ceasefire agreement.

7th December:
The blockade in the Gaza Strip is getting more severe. A boat from Israel with peace activists wanting to bring food and gifts for children to Gaza on the occasion of the feast of sacrifice is forced to turn back by Israeli warships. The same fate befalls a boat from Qatar and another one from Libya, both of which want to deliver food to Gaza.

13th December:
Tzipi Livni states that in case a Palestinian state is set up the Palestinian people living in Israel would be expatriated. By now no organisation thinks there is any purpose in extending the ceasefire. Brigades of the DFLP, al-Aqsa, the Popular Committees and Jihad fire at Israeli places on a regular basis. The political leadership of Hamas in Gaza, especially the de facto president Haniya has no means of preventing this, because even their own armed faction, the al-Qassam Brigades, no longer see any sense in the ceasefire.

14th December:
The Hamas leadership abroad states through Khaled Mashaal that Hamas reject an extension of the ceasefire, whereas Haniya still hopes that Egypian mediation will help achieve an extension.

19th December:
On the same day the six-month-ceasefire ends all factions declare at separate mass events that they consider the ceasefire to be finished – even Fatah.

20th December:
Fawzi Barhum, the spokesman of Hamas, calls on all factions to form a common resistance front. His acerbic reply to the Russian demand that Hamas should consider the extension of the ceasefire is that the onus was now on the international community to put pressure on Israel to cease the attacks on the Palestinian people, instead of blaming the victims of these attacks. (source: Ma'an 21.12.2008) But the Egyptians do not react.

23th December:
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hamas government, Mahmud al-Zahhar, declares once again that Hamas is prepared to continue with the ceasefire agreement, provided Israel adheres to the conditions agreed in June, in particular the lifting of the blockade. But the discourse of al-Qassam Brigades is more subdued. Abu Ubaida, spokesman of al-Qassam Brigades, speaks only about the possibility of suspending the military action and no longer about a ceasefire and does not exclude any military action in Israel if Israel does not stop its agression against Gaza. (source: Ma'an 23.12.2008)

27th December:
The Israeli military attacks the Gaza Strip, killing about 1,360 people, mostly civilians including more than 400 children, by 18th January 2009. Many thousands are injured and made homeless. Israel uses phosphorus as a weapon, turns over a cemetery, shoots at the UN, schools, mosques etc. About 13 people die on the Israeli side, some of them are killed by their own soldiers. The West puts the whole blame for the catastrophe on Hamas.