Merry Christmas, Bethlehem 2017: tear gas, skunk spray, rubber bullets, armored vehicles

Bethlehem, West Bank (Musa al Shaer:AFP:Getty Images) DEc 11 2017

Merry Christmas, Bethlehem:

Palestinians, many of whom are Christian, are met with a military crackdown for protesting Trump’s provocations. This is near an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank where Israel has deployed thousands of extra troops & armored vehicles prowl the streets. Hundreds of unarmed Palestinian protesters have been injured, beaten, arrested, & some have died.

Stand with Palestinians. Take Intifada international. Build BDS.

(Photo by Musa al Shaer/AFP/Getty Images)

Palestinian women are central & fearless part of Intifada

Palestinian woman fighting soldier for flag (Pal Info Center) Dec 11 2017

Palestinian woman stands her ground while Israeli border police try to wrestle the Palestinian flag from her. This is at a protest in occupied East Jerusalem where Israel has no legal jurisdiction. Does the Israeli military think Trump’s provocation means the Israeli flag will now be hoisted over occupied Palestine? Will they arrest Palestinians for carrying their own flag?

Stand with Palestinians. Protest the occupation. Build BDS. Buy nothing with barcode beginning 729 & check every label.

(Photo by Jim Hollander/EPA)

Anyone else think I’m “obsessed” with Kashmir or that the people of Syria, Libya, Sudan, & Kashmir suffer less than other peoples from war, occupation, persecution? Anyone else that confused? Does anyone else weigh human suffering like it was a measurable, comparative thing?

Solidarity with Palestinians in Mexico: Tear down the walls

Thank heavens for social media or we would never know about the thousands of people around the world marching in solidarity with Palestinians. At last count, it was 29 countries. This protest in Mexico is especially inspiring. A group from the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico organized a sizable International Caravan for a World Without Walls that traveled to the northern border with the US–a distance of about a thousand miles (1,400 km). In the video you see on their banners how they so powerfully linked the struggle against Israel’s apartheid wall to the racist monstrosity along the US southern border. It’s all the more powerful because Israeli construction & security companies are involved in the US border wall.

Tear down those walls.

https://www.facebook.com/stop.the.wall.campaign/videos/1546395558784995/?hc_ref=ARSonZWDiUgR1FdgD7YhtE5j-NBces_eFvAHsoqow5TEJ2ocrn-AWA30cVOe6AXtGgQ&pnref=story

What do you say to a Facebook friend who says you look older than Israel? I’ve bounced people for less but he’s a good guy. Should I teach him respect for old ladies & bounce him or give him a second chance to butter me up?

Kashmiris protest for Palestinians

Kashmiris for Palestine (Tauseef Mustafa:AFP:Getty Images) Dec 10 2017

The caption to this photo read, “Kashmiri Shia Muslims burn an effigy of Donald Trump during protests about the US president’s actions over Israel.” That caption is fully in the Islamophobic spirit of the times, trying to generate religious factionalism within Islam where there is none. So much wiser to remember what Kashmiri human rights leader Khurram Parvez once said: “In the street protests in Kashmir, Sufis, Shias, Sunnis, Wahabis, Jamaatis, Sikhs, less religious, non religious–everyone is participating. Yet apologists of Indian occupation & violence say Kashmir problem is due to wahabization.” The same ecumenical spirit is almost certainly true for Kashmiri protests in solidarity with Palestinians.

(PS: Love the effigy burning, which is not part of US protest traditions.)

(Photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images)