Tag Archives: Palestinian solidarity

Resistance in the time of genocide

Gaza; Palestinian flag Augsut 29 2014

These boys are walking past the Shejaiya neighborhood in Gaza City, an area where Israel employed a scorched earth policy, including bombing a marketplace during one of the umpteen ceasefires they broke.

The purpose of Israel targeting children & “Hamas age” young men was to destroy & demoralize the spirit of intifada which they have not been able to do in over 66 years. Israel succeeded in igniting an international solidarity movement of hundreds of thousands in hundreds of countries; of stirring governments from political torpor & silent collusion in response to popular pressure to actually take measures against Israel (even if it it’s still in the lip service stage); & in bringing into action the divestment part of Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions, with many companies canceling contracts with Israel. Nice work Netan-psycho-yahu!

As for Palestinian intifada? Resistance in the time of genocide stands undefeated.

(Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images)

“We have nothing…”

Gaza 1988 Intifada (August 28 2014)

Poetic tribute to the children of Gaza, August 2014 by Musab Iqbal:

we have nothing
but wall of words to lean
we have nothing
but sky of promise to look for
we have nothing
but blood stained land to learn history
we have nothing
but flesh of our father in this plastic bag as inheritance
we have nothing
but some empty gaze for meaningful dialogue
we have nothing
but stock of precise smile between two airstrikes
we have nothing
but a soulful resistance against mournful silence
we have nothing
but a dream of being bird and butterfly
we have nothing
but songs of despair and broken jaws
we have nothing
but timeless echo, tireless eyes, deceitful shadows
———-

Photo is some “rascals of Gaza” giving the “V” sign, from the annals of the First Palestinian Intifada, Gaza 1988.

(Photo by Robert Croma)

Women in the First Intifada, Gaza 1988

First Intifada Gaza 1988 (August 28 2014)

From the annals of Palestinian Intifada, Gaza 1988: this is the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza where the women are confronting Israeli soldiers about assaults & arrests of children. The injury rate of children was sky high because under Israel’s “Iron Fist” policy, Israeli soldiers were ordered to break the bones of kids caught throwing rocks.

After this photo was taken the women were assaulted & dispersed with truncheons & tear gas.

(Photo by Robert Croma)

From the annals of Palestinian intifada: Gaza 1988

Intifada 1988 (August 28 2014

From the annals of Palestinian Intifada, Gaza 1988: when Israeli tanks entered Gaza on their murderous mission in July 2014, soldiers gave the “V” sign long associated with peace, not ethnic cleansing. We think now it must have been an unintentional sarcasm. This young boy is from Intifada 1988 in Gaza.

What is called the First Palestinian Intifada lasted six years between 1988 & 1993 when Palestinians rose up en masse against Israeli occupation & it’s “Iron Fist” policy of repression including curfews, murder & assassinations, mass incarceration, land expropriations & house demolitions, forced mass migrations & deportations.

Israel targeted children during that rampage also; 241 of the 1,204 killed were children but hundreds of kids were beaten, tear gassed, shot at, & jailed. One NGO estimated “23,600 to 29,900 children required medical treatment for their beating injuries in the first two years of the intifada”. One-third of these were children under the age of ten.

Images from the First Intifada show many children giving the “V” sign. The photojournalist who took this photo said “”Wherever I went in the West Bank & Gaza Strip in 1988, Palestinian children spontaneously gave ‘V’ signs in response to my camera.”

It’s this tough-minded resolve that makes the Palestinian struggle a beacon for suffering humanity everywhere & an inspiration to those who have not yet acted in solidarity.

Boycott all Israeli products (barcode beginning 729); demand “No military aid to Israel!” Keep the pressure on!

(Photo by Robert Croma, Gaza 1988)

Let’s talk about Sderot where they cheered on genocide

Sderot August 27 2014

So let’s talk about Sderot for a minute since it played such a big role in exposing the Exodus narrative as an orchestrated fairy tale. On the one hand, there is burlesque involved because they were whimpering about Hamas rockets while sitting in the direct line of fire. But on the other hand, it is deeply troubling that Zionism has corrupted people so profoundly that they could set up parlors to watch & cheer ethnic cleansing with equanimity. And their children were witness to this derangement. Will anyone who saw this scene & know it went on day after day ever be able to forget it?

When you read Zionist apologetics for Operation Ethnic Cleansing & their attempts to rationalize it with that crap about human shields, you realize what a corrosive ideology Zionism is & how it rots the human spirit. That is what makes so many skeptical that there can ever be a democratic secular state where Jews & Palestinians live together. The end of slavery was wrenching for the plantation class too. There’s a lot of things like that in history but justice must be respected whether everybody likes it or not. No one said it would be easy or without some scuffles.

If Sderot stands for anything, it is the transformative power of the Palestinian struggle over the rancidity of Zionism which is rooted in 19th century racism & colonialism. No one need feel pity but neither should we feel superior to Israelis who’ve been schooled in this supremacy. Truth of the matter is, it’s a manifestation of the white supremacy that continues to justify a dozen wars & neoliberal colonialism. Most of us live under regimes up to their eyeballs in this plunder.

Sderot isn’t just a symbol or a metaphor because it happened but it sure as hell provides insight into what happens if you let your government use racism as a weapon against anyone. There isn’t a person on planet Earth that doesn’t know what that means.

(Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)

Palestinian solidarity making history

Vancouver rally August 27 2014

In 51 days of bombardment over Gaza, Israel dropped 20,000 tonnes of explosives. It displaced over 485,000 people, destroyed 16,000 homes & several apartment buildings, 21 hospitals, 167 schools, 108 mosques, 5 universities, 8 water & waste plants, & a power plant. It did a lot of damage.

On the other hand, over one million people were in the streets in dozens of countries & hundreds of cities & small towns demanding “Stop the slaughter in Gaza!” They weren’t just Palestinians & they weren’t just Muslims–though both groups played central roles in organizing political solidarity–but every nationality & religion under the sun.

Zionists continue to berate Palestinian solidarity for not focusing on Syria (as if they gave a rat’s ass about any place other than Israel); others are bewildered by the groundswell for Palestinians when there has been no mass response to Syria or for that matter to Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Somalia, or any of the many conflicts. It’s important to assess why Palestinians have evoked such massive solidarity, especially since they stood alone for over 66 years. But to attempt in any way to challenge the importance of the Palestinian struggle or to suggest it is hogging all the attention from more important struggles or to compare body counts to rate importance is unworthy of any respect whatsoever. It means something when you find your views in accord with Zionists (& what it means ain’t that swell) but it is colossal hubris to challenge or second guess why a million people rise up to stand with justice.

No one wants to let history pass them by. These protesters in Vancouver, BC, Canada are making history by the simple act of standing up for Palestinian justice. When they’re old & gray they will look back & say proudly they were there when one of the most important struggles of our era began to get it’s due. And when there is a democratic secular state where Jews & Palestinians live in harmony, they will know their contribution to human civilization was monumental.

(Photo by Roger Pimenta)

Still no news from Ban Ki-moon about war crimes in Gaza

Gaza; Israeli bombing August 26 2014

These people in the street must have gotten their automatic telephone call from the Israeli military telling them to evacuate so Israel could blow up their houses. Actually what Israel is bombing here is the refugee camp in Rafah. Of course as we know from umpteen numbers of other photos, these people in the street are sitting ducks for those bombers. And still there isn’t a peep out of the UN & all those human rights NGOs about war crimes. Is it possible their silence is consent to genocide?

We wonder if the psychos in the hills of Sderot are still there cheering on ethnic cleansing since there aren’t any recent photos. Perhaps the hasbara factory finally smartened up & told them to scram since it doesn’t look good to claim you’re cowering from Hamas rockets if you’re sitting right in the line of fire & making an international spectacle of yourself–& a shameful one at that.

(Photo by Hatem Ali/AP)

“Oh rascal children of Gaza”

Oh rascal children of Gaza August 25 2014
“Oh rascal children of Gaza. You who constantly disturbed me with your screams under my window. You who filled every morning with rush and chaos. You who broke my vase and stole the lonely flower on my balcony. Come back, and scream as you want and break all the vases. Steal all the flowers. Come back..Just come back..”

Khaled Juma, a Palestinian poet from Rafah, Gaza wrote this poignant tribute to the now over 500 children of Gaza killed by Israeli bombing; Sixteen Minutes to Gaza illustrated his poem with photos: http://smpalestine.com/2014/08/24/illustrated-poetry-oh-rascal-children-of-gaza/

Media lies & the child death toll from Operation Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza

Gaza Al-Zafer bombing August 25 2014

After a while trying to suss out facts from media reports, you catch on that most news is canned & there is little on-the-spot investigation & you only wish that could explain the idiocies of reporting from Gaza. At what point will media around the world admit that news coverage coming out of Gaza about Israeli genocide is simply nuts & that the go-to source for information is the Israeli military?

This weekend Israeli bombers went on a rampage in Gaza City & Rafah. They took out a two-story shopping mall & a seven-story office building in Rafah & a twelve-story apartment complex in Gaza City. The military claims they warned apartment residents by automated phone calls that it was targeting buildings “harboring terrorist infrastructure”–so if you live in Gaza you better make damn sure you don’t go to the toilet & leave your phone in the kitchen.

Media claims targeting tall buildings signals a new escalation in the seven weeks of Operation Ethnic Cleansing & a new military tactic by Israel. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry at such a statement. For seven weeks we have seen one photo after another of several-story apartment buildings & other facilities taken out by Israeli bombs–hundreds of photos & dozens of news accounts reporting that Israeli bombers repeatedly strike apartment complexes to make sure there isn’t a soul left standing. This is not a new military tactic but the continued policy of ethnic cleansing.

The Israeli military justified the bombing of apartment complexes by claiming they housed “Hamas operational centers” or that Hamas held meetings in them or that military activities were launched out of them because it’s just too stupid to claim they’re going after tunnels in a twelve-story building. But quite frankly Israel can claim any baloney it likes because media will echo it even when it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense.

Last Friday, a 4-year-old Israeli boy named Daniel Tregerman was killed, allegedly by Hamas fire. May the little guy RIP since he has no responsibility whatsoever for the crimes of Israel. He lived on a kibbutz right on the Gaza border near the infamous town of Sderot, where residents perched for weeks cheering on ethnic cleansing in Gaza. We say allegedly by Hamas fire since proximity to massive Israeli bombing in Gaza means it could be a misfired Israeli missile. We need to see some evidence.

There are hundreds of media stories about little Daniel; Zionists around the world are inflamed with outrage. Yet when over 469 children & infants in Gaza were bombed to death (& the death toll continues to climb), Zionists not only claimed in the most shameful & racist way that Palestinians use their children for human shields but they sat in lawn chairs & cheered it on. A few weeks ago Lionel Messi, an Argentine soccer star, posted a photo of an injured Palestinian child on his FB page, expressing his anger at the deaths of children & now Zionists are barraging him with demands to acknowledge the death of Daniel. They don’t give a rat’s ass about Daniel; they’re using his death to justify ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

We express our condolences to the family of Daniel Tregerman. On Sunday, 18-month-old Zainah Abu Taqiya was killed in one of those apartment buildings in Gaza. We express our condolences to her family also & recognize the deaths of both children & all the other Palestinian children & adults are war crimes that Israel should be indicted for in an international tribunal.

Pay tribute to all those killed in Operation Ethnic Cleansing by continuing to rally, educate, & evangelize for the boycott of all Israeli products (barcode beginning 729). Demand that Israel stop the massacre & end the blockade in Gaza.

This photo is the rubble of the 12-story Al-Zafer apartment complex in Gaza City bombed on Saturday. Media repeats Israeli military claims that it was a Hamas command center.

(Photo by Khalil Hamra/AP)

Hollywood has-beens endorse ethnic cleansing in Gaza

Gaza City bombing August 24 2014

Big news today from the conservative Jerusalem Post is that “hundreds” of Hollywood “A-listers” signed a statement written & published for trade journals by Creative Community For Peace (CCFP), “an organization of prominent entertainment industry executives devoted to using art & music to build bridges for peace.” Turns out the “hundreds” are only 193 people, maybe prominent agents & producers in the industry but hardly A-listers except for Seth Rogen, Schwarzenegger, Roseanne Barr, Kelsey Grammer, Tom Arnold, Sarah Silverman, Ivan Reitman, Bill Maher, Sylvester Stallone, Minnie Driver, Kathy Ireland, Mayim Bialik, & Ziggy Marley. These are hardly the people one turns to for political counsel unless you also consider Jon Voight a political guru & look to candy manufacturers for nutritional advice.

Creative Community for Peace was founded in 2011 as a pro-Israel, anti-BDS group of music executives & agents to counter the growing influence of Palestinian solidarity & the refusal of prominent entertainers to perform in Israel. The executives who run CCFP orchestrate the careers of people like Aerosmith, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber. When media announced the formation of CCFP, the headline read, “Music moguls to artists: Don’t boycott Israel” which could be taken as a threat.

Though the website has a flashy video announcing “Music speaks its mind & knows no borders” & has a petition titled “Don’t Let Israel’s Detractors Politicize Art”, the group was formed to support Israel, defame Palestinians, & counter the influence of BDS among performers. It’s not about bringing people together with music but an attempt to hijack pop culture in the service of Israeli apartheid. As one of the organizers said at the founding meeting, “It’s all a question of image. For many in the younger generation, being associated with the anti-Israel cause can be way more cool.” The cultural attache for the Israel Consulate who was also at the founding meeting said, “We need to make Israel cool.”

CCFP spokespersons claim BDS is about ‘undermining Israel’s right to be a state for Jews’. In fact, the BDS campaign organizers accept the 1967 borders & a two-state solution. Many BDS activists do not accept those borders, think the very concept is a dried up old prune, & believe Palestinian justice demands a democratic secular state where Jews & Palestinians live as brothers & sisters.

No one challenges the right of Hollywood performers & agents to be politically reactionary; this is still a free country, as they say, so you can be as stupid as you like. But you’d have to be naive not to recognize there is coercion involved–the kind of coercion that forced Penelope Cruz & Javier Bardem to back down on their outspoken support for Gaza, the kind of coercion that says (sub rosa, of course) “support Israel or you’ll never work in this town again.”

What is most despicable about this public statement from CCFP is the claim “Hamas cannot be allowed to rain rockets on Israeli cities, nor can it be allowed to hold its own people hostage. Hospitals are for healing, not for hiding weapons. Schools are for learning, not for launching missiles. Children are our hope, not our human shields.” Eely-Oily Weasel writ large!

CCFP says they’re heartened at the enormous response in the industry to their arm-twisting & expect the list of signatories to grow beyond the little group of right-wing flunkies whose flagging careers are all washed up. That only means they’ve got some real muscle planned. So while they support Israeli apartheid with bully-boy tactics, let us continue to reach out to the highest aspirations of human beings for peace & justice. We don’t hold the young in such contempt & don’t think it’s about making BDS cool but about making apartheid decidedly uncool & making justice prominent in the hearts & minds of young & old.

This is a photo of Gaza City yesterday where Israel continues it’s bombing rampage. CCFP wants musicians to provide the music score to this carnage.

(Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP)