Friday, April 5, 2024

Palestine Is Poetry by Sabrin Hasbun ..... "Grief and loss and violence and pain have been forced on us constantly, for over 75 years."

THE RECIPE

I found a recipe

to make

apple biscuits.

I had all

the ingredients:

the flour,

the eggs,

the apples,

the sugar.

I had all

the good intentions…

Arriving at home in time,

taking a warm shower,

preparing the biscuits in pajamas.

But I opened the news.

Just a quick

look,

a quick look.

It has been

two hours.

The dust

not that of flour

the shelling

not that of eggs

the cutting

not that of apples.

The sweetness

is all

gone.

The biscuits, the pajamas, the shower,

my home

smell of our blood.

A few days after I posted this poem on social media, someone close to me accused me of sensationalism. That it was not poetry. Poetry should not speak about those things.

Since then, I have heard the same or similar refrain again and again, every time we Palestinians tried to talk about Palestine.

In short, it sounds something like: Art should not be political. Education should not be political. Music should not be political. Family gatherings should not be political. Music should not be political. Journalism should not be political. TV should not be political. Sport should not be political. Politics should not be political.

I have heard that sentence all my life. A few times I even believed it in the name of some sort of lightness that was required from me. Oh come now, don’t be such a downer. Do not be so political!

We were entering the full brutality of the attack on Gaza and people wanted us to shut up. To die in silence. Not to upset them with our tragedy.... READ MORE https://thisweekinpalestine.com/palestine-is-poetry/

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

This Week In Palestine April 2024 Palestinian Voices of the Diaspora https://thisweekinpalestine.com/articles-312/

NBC News- Class destroyed: The rise and ruin of Gaza's revered universities

Class Destroyed

_{By Chantal Da Silva, Yasmine Salam, Matthew Mulligan and Bianca Britton}

_{April 4, 2024}

Gaza’s universities are revered, embodying Palestinians’ dreams and ambitions, their values and traditions.

They have also represented a way for Palestinians to exercise some control over lives stifled by conflict, a 17-year blockade, political stagnation and misrule, and an economy on its knees.

“We don't have oil, we don't have petroleum, we don't have gold. The only capital we have is a human capital,” Akram Habeeb, an English literature professor said. “So we believe in education.”

The indiscriminate killing, the manmade starvation and the bombing of aid workers must bring the west to a moment of decision -Chris McGreal

"The other 200 or more humanitarian workers killed in the war have drawn less attention because they are mostly Palestinians. As objectionable as this is, the attack on the WCK convoy has thrown a global spotlight on two Israeli policies that will be increasing difficult for western governments to downplay now they are the focus of public attention: the Israeli military’s low bar for killing civilians, and its engineering of a food crisis that is creating starvation."

Amid the slaughter and with famine looming, Israel’s allies must say enough is enough. If not now, when?

Chris McGreal

One of the vehicles in which WCK employees were killed in Deir al-Balah on 2 April. Photograph: Ahmed Zakot/Reuters

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/04/slaughter-famine-israel-allies-killing-bombing-aid-workers-west

UN rights body demands Israel be held accountable for possible war crimes..."in just six months, more humanitarians have been killed in this conflict than in any war of the modern era.”

A view of the area where Al-Shifa Hospital and its surrounding are located in Gaza City, Gaza on April 01, 2024 [Dawoud Abo Alkas – Anadolu Agency]

April 5, 2024 at 10:51 am

The United Nations Human Rights Council today adopted a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

Twenty-eight countries voted in favour, 13 abstained and six opposed the resolution, including the United States and Germany. The adoption prompted several representatives to the Council to cheer and clap.

The resolution stressed “the need to ensure accountability for all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in order to end impunity.”

It also expressed “grave concern at reports of serious human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Thursday, April 4, 2024

“From the River to the Sea.” A Poem by Samer Abu Hawwash, translated by Huda Fakhreddine "every whisper, every touch, every street, every house, every room..."

Literary Hub

“From the River to the Sea.” A Poem by Samer Abu Hawwash, translated by Huda Fakhreddine

"every whisper, every touch, every street, every house, every room"

April 1, 2024 By Samer Abu Hawwash and Huda Fakhreddine

From the River to the Sea

every street, every house, every room, every window, every balcony, every wall, every stone, every sorrow, every word, every letter, every whisper, every touch, every glance, every kiss, every tree, every spear of grass, every tear, every scream, every air, every hope, every supplication, every secret, every well, every prayer, every song, every ballad, every book, every paper, every color, every ray, every cloud, every rain, every drop of rain, every drip of sweat, every lisp, every stutter, every yamma, mother, every yaba, father, every shadow, every light, every little hand that drew in a little notebook a tree or house or heart or a family of a father, a mother, siblings, and pets, every longing, every possibility, every letter... READ MORE https://lithub.com/from-the-river-to-the-sea-a-poem-by-samer-abu-hawwash-translated-by-huda-fakhreddine/

Samer Abu Hawwash is a Palestinian writer and translator. He was born in Lebanon to a Palestinian refugee family. He has published ten volumes of poetry, starting with his debut collection Life is Printed in New York (1997). He is also a prolific translator of English-language fiction and non-fiction. Among his notable translations are works by Charles Bukowski, Langston Hughes, Jack Kerouac, Yann Martel, Hanif Kureishi, Denis Johnson and Marilynne Robinson.

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Dear President Biden- American taxpayers should not be forced to fund Israeli crimes against humanity

We keep keys

Dear President Biden (etc),

Flagrantly violating international law and universal basic human rights- Israel is in the wrong. And so is America for blessing Israel with American tax payers' hard earned money, plus an unending plethora of lethal weaponry:

Religion should be a personal, private choice, not a state funded project. America should not funding and arming religious preferences in the Middle East- stoking violence, religious extremism, illegal settlements & ugly bigotry with horrific ramifications.

Israel has been utilizing bullets, bombs, detentions, torture, displacement, and character assassinations, plus Apartheid laws, walls, & policies in order to starve and ethnically cleanse the Holy Land of the indigenous non-Jewish people whose ancestry is firmly rooted in historic Palestine.

UNWRA was established shortly after WWII when The Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Israel were established. UNWRA would no longer exist if Israel had started a just and lasting peace in 1948 by respecting the Palestinian refugees' inalienable right to return to original homes and lands.

Churning out more and more refugees and punishing them when they dare object to further displacement and poverty, Israel has become a genocidal war machine.

America needs to wake up and shake off delusions that Israel is our friend. Do not trust Israeli news and information. They want our money and support, and for decades they have been deploying multiple skilled propagandists and bully tactics in order to dupe American leadership into doing their bidding.

Please stop doing Israel's bidding. Stand up for American ideals and security... stand up for real freedom, equality and justice for all human beings, regardless of supposed race or religion.

Exercise Golden Rule thinking by empowering international law, universal human rights, fair policies, and good investments.

Aid for starving children IS a good investment.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

"Of course Israel deliberately killed @WCKitchen workers and of course the kitchen will halt its operations in Gaza. That’s exactly what Israel wants….to further starve Palestinians." Diana Buttu

Susan Muaddi Darraj

@SusanDarraj

If you're shocked that 7 food aid workers were killed, wait until you hear about the murders of Palestinian journalists, doctors, nurses, teachers, ambulance drivers, mothers, fathers, and the children the children the children #ceasefirenow

Palestine was not an empty piece of land before Israel

Dean Obeidallah: Two words [#FreePalestine] that made Ramy Youssef’s ‘SNL’ monologue historic

Dean Obeidallah CNN Opinion: "... Hearing someone on national network television say the words “Free Palestine” — and having the audience spontaneously burst into applause — is not something I’ve seen before. It’s something I wish my late father, a Palestinian immigrant to the US, had been alive to see.

Israeli army destroyed completely Al Shifa hospital, Gaza, Palestine - Witnesses say hundreds of bodies were found inside al-Shifa Medical Complex and outside in the surrounding streets.

Easter Sunday: The Nazarene (الناصري), oil on canvas, 1993 painting by Sliman Mansour

Handala by Time

Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al Ali's Handala & the Palestinian Diaspora

Easter Vigil for Gaza - Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac in Bethlehem Palestine 2024

A big reason so many of us are speaking up for Palestine is because we recieved Holocaust education not because we lack it: NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE

Palestinian artist: Rawan Anani “Women and Olive Trees- Jerusalem” (2024)

Land Day 2024 Palestine: In 1976 it was 6 unarmed farmers murdered by Israeli forces, this year it is more than 32,704 + Palestinian people murdered by Israeli forces, mostly women & children have been killed

Harvesting oranges in Palestine - 1937

‘They kept us alive for thousands of years’: could saving Palestinian seeds also save the world? Vivien Sansour, founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, believes biodiversity will save the planet in the climate crisis

Satellite analysis shows farms devastated and nearly half of the territory’s trees razed. Alongside mounting air and water pollution, experts say Israel’s onslaught on Gaza’s ecosystems has made the area unlivable

Don't Look Left: A Diary of Genocide by Atef Abu Saif- due out May 16, 2024 in paperback

US State Dept human rights officer latest to resign in Gaza protest: "She [Annelle Sheline] said she saw firsthand how US credibility has degraded... as the [Israel/Gaza]war progressed."

“The genocide in Gaza is the most extreme stage of a long-standing settler colonial process of erasure of the native Palestinians,” United Nations News: Rights expert finds ‘reasonable grounds’ genocide is being committed in Gaza

Israel’s attempt to destroy Unrwa is part of its starvation strategy in Gaza

Hate is evil and leads to evil things. Please no more wars and weaponry for Israel.

1963 Martin Luther King Jr's I Have A Dream speech about equity for all still rings true: "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children" https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/i-have-a-dream-speech

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

The UN Mediator for Palestine, Count Folke Bernadotte, believed that the Palestinians displaced had a right to return to their homes and wrote several UN reports to that effect.

"It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries."

Bernadotte was assassinated on Friday 17 September 1948 by members of the group Lehi, a Zionist terrorist organization, commonly known in the West as the Stern Gang

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world

"Of course Israel deliberately killed @WCKitchen workers and of course the kitchen will halt its operations in Gaza. That’s exactly what Israel wants….to further starve Palestinians." Diana Buttu

United States-based aid group World Central Kitchen (WCK) confirmed on Tuesday that its staff members were killed in a “targeted attack” by the Israeli military. The dead were from Palestine, Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, and US-Canada.

Chef José Andrés

@chefjoseandres

Today

@WCKitchen

lost several of our sisters and brothers in an IDF air strike in Gaza. I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family. These are people…angels…I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They are not faceless…they are not nameless. The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now.

Diana Buttu

@dianabuttu

Of course Israel deliberately killed

@WCKitchen

workers and of course the kitchen will halt its operations in Gaza. That’s exactly what Israel wants….to further starve Palestinians.

Diana Buttu reposted

Bel Trew

@Beltrew

For context before killing 7

@WCKitchen

aid workers last night, Israel’s been accused multiple times of bombing aid convoys in Gaza (despite coordination). In Feb

@UNRWA

said one of its food convoys was hit by naval shell as it prepped to go north UN has reported multiple incidents

Mosab Abu Toha

@MosabAbuToha

If anyone is waiting for a “thorough and transparent investigation,” they are thoroughly mislead in their belief that this was a mistake. There is no mistake for these people when it comes to targeting civilians, international aid workers, or even clouds that shade for our roofless houses or tents.

Munition dropped right through the World Central Kitchen logo

Yousef Munayyer

@YousefMunayyer

Reminds me of this, when Israel struck a Red Cross ambulance in Lebanon in 2006 right in the logo. There is a series of such images.

Israel struck a Red Cross ambulance in Lebanon in 2006 right in the logo

World Central Kitchen pauses Gaza operations after workers killed in airstrike

The organization said its workers had been traveling in a "deconflicted zone" in two armored cars carrying the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle. It said that despite organizing travel with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the convoy was hit as it was leaving a warehouse in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Monday, April 1, 2024

Palestine was not an empty piece of land before Israel

Snoopes.com : "The photo does depict a street in West Jerusalem before the founding of Israel, which happened in 1948. The image is available on the Library of Congress website under the title, "Princess Mary Street with Rex Cinema in background, West Jerusalem." It is identified as having been taken by the Matson Photo Service sometime between 1940 and 1946...

"Matson (G. Eric and Edith) Photograph Collection," which consists of photos taken across Palestine between 1898 and 1946.

One of the notes in the Library of Congress file says the photograph was misidentified as having been taken in Haifa in the photographer's logbook, but one clue that may have led to the location being confirmed as Jerusalem was that the Rex Cinema can be seen further up the street, in the background of the photo.

The Rex Cinema served as an iconic gathering place for for Arabs and Jews during the contentious period of the British Mandate, according to a blog post from The National Library of Israel. A short film, "Cinema Rex," was even released in 2020. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) caption reads as follows: "In a divided city, two kids from rival sides meet at Cinema Rex. He speaks only Hebrew, and she speaks only Arabic. They will manage to form a true friendship based on one magical language, the cinema."

In May 1939, the first of two main attacks on the theater was launched by the Irgun (a Jewish right-wing underground movement) in response to the British White Paper, which limited Jewish immigration to Palestine. The Irgun's second attack took place during the violence following the announcement of the U.N. Partition Plan in which a group of Arab youth attacked the commercial area of Princess Mary Street in December 1947. The Irgun claimed responsibility for the destruction of the Rex Cinema after the fact.

"After two attacks (some would call them acts of terrorism) by the Irgun, the magnificent 1,300-seat cinema, was destroyed and abandoned,".... READ MORE https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/palestine-photo-before-israel/

Dean Obeidallah: Two words that made Ramy Youssef’s ‘SNL’ monologue historic

Two words that made Ramy Youssef’s ‘SNL’ monologue historic

[Ramy] Youssef was telling a joke, not making a speech. But comedians from Lenny Bruce to Richard Pryor to Jon Stewart and others have used comedy to raise challenging political, racial and societal issues. For years however — and perhaps more than ever during the current conflict in Gaza — people have understood that speaking out in support of Palestinians can come at a price. We’ve seen examples of this in Hollywood when actress Melissa Barrera was fired from the film “Scream VII” after writing social media posts that called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide.”

Jonathan Glazer, the director of “The Zone of Interest,” was also criticized for remarks he made at the Oscars while being awarded the Best International Feature Film honor, after speaking out against “an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.” And actress Susan Sarandon was released by her agency after making pro-Palestinian remarks at a rally last November.

Youssef, though, has been undeterred, using his comedy for months to bring attention to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza... " READ MORE https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/31/opinions/ramy-youssef-snl-monologue-free-gaza-obeidallah/index.html

Israeli army destroyed completely Al Shifa hospital, Gaza, Palestine - Witnesses say hundreds of bodies were found inside al-Shifa Medical Complex and outside in the surrounding streets.

Mustafa Barghouti @Mustafa_Barghouti

@MustafaBarghou1

Israeli army destroyed completely Al Shifa hospital which is the largest in Gaza . The Israeli goal is to make Gaza unlivable because Netanyahu never gave up his dream of complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza. The destruction of the hospitals is a grave violation of international Law

Ahmed Masoud

@masoud_ahmed

Israel withdrew from El Shifa Hospital in Gaza earlier this morning. I urge u to look at what they left behind, 400 bodies, some run over by tanks, some buried alive in body bags, burned buildings & executing children under 13s. Read more, share, don't let this barbarity be normal

Middle East Monitor

@MiddleEastMnt Al-Shifa Hospital completely destroyed after Israeli forces withdraw Israeli forces withdraw, leaving the Al-Shifa medical compound in a state of total destruction after a two-week raid, with hospital structures burnt and completely destroyed.

***

‘No life here’: Israel’s army withdraws from Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital

Witnesses say hundreds of bodies were found inside al-Shifa Medical Complex and outside in the surrounding streets.

https

***

The War on Hospitals

Israel’s attacks on health care workers and facilities in Gaza are unprecedented.

Joelle M. Abi-Rached

Human Rights, Israel and Palestine, War and National Security

"Even before the IDF’s ground operations began on October 27, Gaza’s main hospitals, concentrated in the north of the strip, had been the target of indiscriminate attacks and bombardments, including the deliberate use of white phosphorus artillery shells. White phosphorus, banned under international law, is a substance that inflicts horrific skin burns that are difficult to heal or treat in conflict-ridden areas; it damages vital organs causing lifelong injuries (physical and psychological) and triggers extensive fires."

://x.com/SaulStanifort h/status/17747092

https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-war-on-hospitals/

Al-Shifa is Arabic for “healing”

Labels

Friday, April 5, 2024

Class Destroyed

Amid the slaughter and with famine looming, Israel’s allies must say enough is enough. If not now, when?

Thursday, April 4, 2024

“From the River to the Sea.” A Poem by Samer Abu Hawwash, translated by Huda Fakhreddine

"every whisper, every touch, every street, every house, every room"

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Dean Obeidallah: Two words [#FreePalestine] that made Ramy Youssef’s ‘SNL’ monologue historic

World Central Kitchen pauses Gaza operations after workers killed in airstrike

Monday, April 1, 2024

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‘No life here’: Israel’s army withdraws from Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital

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The War on Hospitals