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Showing posts with label israeli terror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label israeli terror. Show all posts

Monday, May 14, 2012

Nakba: That's not fair

The following poem is by a Palestinian poet named Iqbal Tamimi

That's not fair



In 1917
A man by the name of Balfour
From a very far land called Britain
Offered total strangers
Across oceans and shores
My homeland as a gift
He was not the owner of my country
Nor they have the right to be there
That was not fair


He said they were oppressed in Europe
And were treated very bad
We had nothing to do with his claims
He did not offer them part of his country
Yet he gave them everything we had
That was not fair


While the Ottomans were leaving Palestine
The British arrived
We were told the British mandate is there
To make sure peace prevail
But the British turned a blind eye
To the Jewish gangsters horrors
They were offered training and arms
By which they massacred our families
Wiping our villages from all the maps
And those who escaped death
The Zionists terrorised them
Forcing them to flee
That was not fair


The United Nations did not ask us what we think
They claimed the intention is to solve the conflict
They segmented my country on a platter
They gave the owners of the land the breadcrumbs
And gave the occupiers the biggest share
That was not fair


We became refugees
In our own home land
Mine fields, barbed wire and road blocks split us apart
My home became a headquarter
For the Israeli police
Total strangers from as far as Poland and Russia
Occupied our homes
Stolen our water and fruits
And imprisoned those who dared to declare
That they are not going to leave
That was not fair


In 1967
We were enjoying a day out
On the other side of the Jordan River
The Israeli army invaded the West Bank
Occupying our homes again
Rearranging our destiny
We were denied the right to go back
Forced to became second time refugees
Carrying on our shoulders
Our plight and despair
That was not fair


The good USA sent its aid
To both sides across the sea
The Israeli occupiers received
Rockets, tankers, planes and bombs
While the Palestinian refugees’ share
Was tents, biscuits and canned sardines
That was not fair


The secular politicians of the democratic West
Suddenly turned religious
When the Palestinian plight was discussed
They endorsed a racist God
Who says some of his children are chosen
And better than the rest
He gave them permission
To kill, maim and steal from their brothers
And use an iron fist
That was not fair


I am one of five million dispersed
People eye them with disgust
Frequently asked:
“why don’t you go home?”
Well…what can I say?
Your government approved kicking me out of my homeland
And forced you
To share your loaf of bread with me
Your media calls the freedom fighters terrorists
And the racist state a democracy
Turning a blind eye to thousands of Palestinians
Rotting inside Israeli jails
Palestinians in Gaza
Were starved to death
While the apartheid wall
And the illegitimate settlements
Are not challenged by the International Community
We are the legitimate owners of the land
Yet we were forced to shelter
In refugee camps for 63 years
Watching across the borders savages
Uprooting our trees
That is not fair


When Mary is forced
To go through 16 check points
Between Nazerath and Bethlehem
And still gives birth on the side of the road
For fabricated reasons of security
While the soldiers stand and stare
That is not fair


When children at schools
Do not know where Palestine is
Because Google forged the facts
Deleting its name from the maps
That is not fair


When I’m denied access to my home
And forced to move 56 times
Carrying my memories in my head
Knowing that I will never sleep
In my own bed
Or hang family pictures on a wall
That I can call mine
That is not fair


When the number of suitcases
Outnumbers the relatives who remained alive
When the number of true facts circulated
Are much less than those of lies
That is not fair


Here I am in exile alone
Lost everything I had
No family weddings to attend
No feasts to celebrate
My belongings are not that much
A mirror
To watch the grey invade my hair
And shreds of newspapers
Attributing the victims of terror
That is not fair

Thursday, March 1, 2012

February 2012: 145 Israeli attacks against Palestinian people and property



February 2012: 145 Israeli attacks against Palestinian people and property



Ramallah - InfoPal. A Palestinian report exposes 145 attacks by Israeli (occupation soldiers and settlers) which took place in February.

The attacks are meant to people and Palestinian property and Tala'at Ramiyah mentions the killing of 26 Palestinians and wounded.

The paper shows the extent of demolition and unilateral seizures of land scarred, Judaization of Al-Quds (Jerusalem), the attacks on demonstrators and the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.

February 2012


54 demolition operations. Half of the building demolitions have invested al-Khalil (Hebron). Nablus followed with 12 demolitions and same amount was recorded in Jerusalem and Toubas (houses and stables). Three wells have been killed by Israelis in al-Khalil (Hebron) and one in Jenin.

88 Notification of demolition, including two against mosques and against a school (Hebron and Jenin).



Specifically, the demolitions have hit Hebron in 24 cases. Here are the 22 events in Jerusalem (Silwan, Sur Baher and Bethany), 17 in Bethlehem, 15 in Jenin, Salfit, and 2 to 8 in Qalqiliya.

The Palestinian land confiscated under these operations covers a total area of ​​4.931 hectares.

Trees uprooted: 1.169. The greatest damage has been made at Sourif and Beit Omar, and Tarmas'ia Mikhmas.



Judaization of Jerusalem.



The Judaization project is conducted without discrimination by institutions, the executive (police and army) and Israeli settlers and intends to disfigure, to destroy the historical-religious Arab Muslim and Christian of Palestine, through demolitions, expulsions, unsustainable tax burden the Palestinian community in Jerusalem.


In this regard, we list here some of the most striking facts dating back to February 2012:

- It covers about 4 thousand square meters an ambitious Israeli project that threatens the mosque of al-Aqsa. Israel plans to build here the Jewish center "Aliya Bet";

- 1.500 square feet will occupy the western side of the door-Mugaribah. On the north side a three-storey building will cover 3.722 square meters, with a plan to build underground excavations;

- The "center of the Past" in Wadi al-Helwe (Silwan) adjacent centers and car parks;

- Tunnels and underground tunnels in the basement of the Old City of Jerusalem.


Reactions to non-violent demonstrations. 

The repression has characterized, once again, the action of Israel against Palestinians and international riuscono a weekly protest against colonization and the Wall of Apartheid. The Palestinian villages of an-Nabi Saleh, Bil'in, Ni'lin, Kfar Qaddoum, Beit Omar, Qalandiya, 'Iraq Bourin and Kfar Deik suffered the injury of 22 demonstrators, five are journalists.


He then mentions the burning of the mosque an-Nabi Saleh (Ramallah) and the mosque Haloul an-Nabi Younes (Hebron).


Israeli settlements in Palestine: the projects. 

Extension and construction have also received approval in February the Israeli government.

- The colony of Shilo (between Ramallah and Nablus) will expand with 500 new housing units;

- The colony of Shevat Rachel (Nablus) will host 101 new housing units;

- Itamar (Nablus) will host a Jewish religious school;

- Settlement of Gush Etzion (Bethlehem). Here confisctaa confiscating Palestinian land to create military areas to protect the settlement;

- The outpost of Migron (Ramallah) extends even;

- 18 new colonial furniture units were placed between Ramallah and Nablus.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Khader Adnan: One Man's Struggle & a nation's resistance against occupation


As many of us around the world go about on our day- going to school, going to work, traveling to see friends and relatives, many others are denied this right. While some enjoy the basic right of being innocent until proven guilty, many others are detained in the most grueling way- blindfolded and dragged out of your home… and all the while, not even charged with a single crime. This is what happened to Khader Adnan, a Palestinian man who lives in the West Bank.

We must ask ourselves, as living in the 21st century, the 'Golden Age', how does something so barbaric still exist? Edmund Burke tells it succinctly: All it will take for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.

Sadly, Khader's struggle isn't unique. Many Palestinians are in Israeli jails- many of them not charged with a single crime. Many others are in jail for... wait for it... throwing stones. How does throwing stones compare to being armed with military weapons, tanks, F-16s, Apaches, tear gas and so forth? Not only that, but also using those to keep an entire population submissive, subdued and imprisoned within their own country. Caged in like a bunch of sheep with no freedom of movement.

As Khader goes on to his 60th day of his hunger strike, let us flood the Israeli embassies around the world with phone calls, letters and demonstrations. Let them hear our anger against their unjust 'justice' system.

Injustice and oppression does not last forever. As the world slowly awakes from its slumber, much needed change is sure to follow. And no matter how long it takes for the whole world to speak out such injustice, we as fellow brothers and sisters in humanity must do everything we can with everything we have to change the status quo. Perhaps the steel determination of Khader Adnan and the millions like him around the world will be the catalyst for much needed change. 

"No one is free until everyone is free!"- Dr. Martin Luther King