Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Mosab Abu Toha poem On A Starless Night illustrated by artist Hannah Maguire

Mosab Abu Toha

Artist Hannah Maguire does a new illustration of one of my poems.

“On a Starless Night”

So, so many similar and even worse starless nights

Israeli Racism & Zionist Violence Creates An Ongoing Nakba with Palestinians Displaced- again and again pushed into forced exile: Top photo Palestinain refugees in 1948 Bottom photo Palestinian refugees in 2024

Top, 1948 Bottom, 2024 Conclusion- Israel is a settler colonialist state.

In Search of Fatima - A Palestinian Story by Ghada Karmi

Author Ghada Karmi is pictured left

The right to speak about Israel’s racism

By Ghada Karmi

"I was born in what is now west Jerusalem. During the war to establish the state of Israel, my family and I were forced from our home, when I was a young child. To this day, I have been prevented from returning to my home, simply because I am a Palestinian Arab – whereas any Jewish person from anywhere in the world could and can automatically become a citizen of the state.

The establishment of the Israeli state, as the ethnically defined state of what was then a minority of the population of Palestine, was discriminatory and racist. And laws and practices that discriminate on the basis of race and religion – against my people, the Palestinians – have continued to this day.

This is not only the case in relation to the occupied Palestinian territories, the illegal settlements, and the violence and abuses against Palestinian people in Gaza, but also within Israel’s borders..."... READ MORE https://prruk.org/a-palestinian-member-of-the-labour-party-demands-the-right-to-speak-about-israels-racism/

Ghada Karmi and Ellen Siegel, in 1973, 1992 and 2011. Photos by Francis Khoo (1, 2) and Jean-Pascal Deillon (3).

KARMI, GHADA (1939-)

"The right of Palestinian return is enshrined in international law and historical precedent, and affirmed repeatedly by the UN. Resolution 194 was passed by the UN general assembly in December 1948 and called on Israel to repatriate those "displaced by the recent conflict" with compensation for their losses. The 1948 universal declaration of human rights states that those who leave their homes for whatever reason have the absolute right to return to them. " Ghada Karmi, writing in The Guardian in 2011: Only Palestinian refugees can give up their right of return

“Just as the ripples of a stone thrown into a pond will spread further and further away from the source, so the ripples of the disaster in 1948 hit my parents first and then spread to us and to our children long afterwards. Seeing only the ripples, it was easy to confuse the original cause with its effects.”

— Ghada Karmi

"Israel, from its inception in 1948, has been given the most wonderful opportunity to behave itself, and it clearly has not done so. It's flouted every single law, it's behaved outrageously, it's made a travesty of international and humanitarian law. On what basis should this state continue to be a member of the United Nations?" Interview: Ghada Karmi, a voice from exile, Executive Intelligence Review, (reprinted by Middle East Policy, Spring 2010).(available online here). Also available here: Interview: Ghada Karmi, a voice from exile at Goliath.

The RED LINE happened way back in 1948 when Zionist terrorists murdered Palestinians, destroyed Palestinian homes and villages, and pushed countless Palestinians into poverty and forced exile.

Dear America,

Biden provides the bombshells, Republicans autograph the bombs... and American companies provide the jet-fuel to Israel as Israeli lies and toxic propaganda inspire America's elected Representatives to propose that Americans serving in the IDF's genocidal war against Palestinian men, women,and children be awarded U.S. service member benefits.

It is bad enough that American taxpayers are already forced to fund The Jewish State's cruel shenanigans- the Apartheid Wall and the illegal settlements, as well as Israel's extensive and invasive propaganda war aimed at interfering in American elections so that pro-Israel story lines will continue to flourish- swatting away any and all sympathy and support for Palestine (& UNWRA.)

Zionist students on American college campuses claim antisemitism is everywhere and they don't feel safe, inspiring our Congress to harass College presidents for allowing peaceful pro-Palestine protests on campuses. Meanwhile Israel has bombed and destroyed every university, as well as multiple schools and hospitals in Gaza. Did the Palestinian children killed by Israel feel safe as American made bombs pulverized their homes?

Israel’s military offensive in Rafah has put the lives of 600,000 displaced Palestinian children at risk, according to UNICEF, with many now malnourished or disabled.

America's mainstream news and our elected leadership are obsessed with promoting Zionists and Zionism- and Israel's blatantly racist war on the indigenous people of Palestine.

You are leadership- and you are leading people astray.

The RED LINE happened way back in 1948 when Zionist terrorists murdered Palestinians, destroyed Palestinian homes and villages, and pushed countless Palestinians into poverty and forced exile. 76 years later a new generation of Zionist terrorists are bombing refugee camps that only exist due to Israel's racist refusal to respect international law and basic human rights, including but not limited to every refugee's right to return to original homes and lands.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

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

Reschenthaler, Miller Introduce Legislation to Support American Citizens Fighting in Israel

Revealed: Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry

Biden provided the bombs, Republicans autograph them... Nikki Haley signs artillery shells in Israel: 'Finish them! America ♡ Israel!' ... "Imperial feminism, everyone. A message written in purple marker, like she's doodling in someone's yearbook instead of co-signing a genocide" Susan Muaddi Darraj

Cut the supply line of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, says rights group with the aim of “genocide prevention by third states, companies and civil society actors”

West Bank village, proudly self-reliant, now faces wartime hostility [from Israel]

Israel’s military offensive in Rafah has put the lives of 600,000 displaced children at risk, according to UNICEF, with many now malnourished or disabled... At least 36,171 Palestinians have been killed and 81,420 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7.

Israeli forces have bombed a tent camp housing displaced people in a designated safe zone in Rafah, killing 45 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

UN rapporteur urges states to cut ties, impose sanctions on Israel UN expert Francesca Albanese is calling for sanctions on Israel until it complies with the ICJ's ruling to halt its Rafah offensive.

Prairie Schooner Fusion #12 Archives: Palestinian poets and poets from the back issues of the Schooner collaborate on a special portfolio of poetry exploring the theme of “Archive”...

217 DAYS OF ISRAEL BOMBING GAZA: 14,500 Palestinian Children Killed by Israel... 493 Palestine Healthcare workers killed by Israel... 78,514 Palestinians injured by Israel & so far ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WAR CRIMES

As one war rages in Gaza, in the West Bank another goes unnoticed. Military operations, destruction, movement restrictions, and poverty generate fear, uncertainty, and anxiety among Palestine Refugee communities.

The ICC's request for arrest warrants has created a diplomatic dilemma for Western member states: do they support Israel or international law?

Israel raids, forces medical staff to leave Gaza Al-Awda Hospital... "More than 35,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and nearly 80,000 others injured since October."

'Where are our loved ones?': Palestinians in search of missing family members amid Gaza war

Decades of spying and repression: the anti-Palestinian origins of American Islamophobia - It’s often assumed that Islamophobia is the driving force behind US anti-Palestinian bigotry. In fact, it’s the other way around

Diplomatic Missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah condemn escalating settler violence and displacement during visit to Northern Jordan Valley communities

US surveillance of pro-Palestinian speech has a direct line to McCarthyism - Chip Gibbons in The Guardian

The UN says 1.1 million people in the coastal strip – nearly half the population – face catastrophic levels of hunger, and that the territory is on the brink of famine.

Palestinian refugees in Gaza- AFSC Defending a displaced people

Apartheid and Genocide ARE NOT JEWISH VALUES

Israel-Gaza war Biden wants progressives to believe he’s reining in Israel. He isn’t. Biden will be remembered as a president who could have restrained Israel but instead made the US complicit in this war- Mohamad Bazzi

Dear President Biden... Connect The Dots

An ICJ Excerpt: "This genocide takes place within the context of the ongoing Nakba –– the 76th anniversary of which was celebrated yesterday –– the continued forced displacement of the Palestinian people, the erasure of Palestinian presence in Palestine and replacement with colonial settlers –– a criminal process entrenched and maintained by 76 years of apartheid and 56 years of illegal belligerent occupation... "

Palestine Nakba 1948-2024

Anti-Defamation League ramps up lobbying to promote controversial definition of antisemitism : Federal records show a dramatic spending increase that critics say is primarily intended to punish criticism of Israel and target pro-Palestinian groups

On Nakba Day, as Palestinians run for their lives, Biden advances $1 billion in arms sales to Israel – Day 221

From 1948 to 2024, three Palestinian sisters speak of endless Nakba For Dalal

‘Barbaric’: Palestinian lorry drivers recount settlers’ attack on Gaza aid convoy- Israeli soldiers escorting convoy accused of doing nothing to stop widely condemned incident

The Nakba Explained- May 15th is the day commemorating the Nakba—a term used to denote Palestinians’ forced expulsion from their homeland by Zionist forces in 1948.

Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour reflects on the impact of the Gaza war, the life and legacy of his friend Fathi Ghaben, and the role of art under occupation.

Palestinians are living a new Nakba: survivor of 1948 says

76 years after #Nakba, Palestinians continue to be forcibly displaced.

Nakba yesterday, Nakba today: The story of my grandmother's two keys- Ghefreh has lived through two Nakbas, 1948 and today. Her grandson Emad Moussa tells her story of twinned displacement and how they've now blurred into one.

There are enough weapons of war and destruction already on planet earth.

Please stop aiding and abetting Israeli insanity. Full Stop.

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

PALESTINE REMEMBERED

"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..." https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Reschenthaler, Miller Introduce Legislation to Support American Citizens Fighting in Israel

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) and U.S. Representative Max Miller (R-OH) introduced H.R. 8445, which would extend the benefits of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) to American citizens serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

“Over 20,000 American citizens are currently defending Israel from Hamas terrorists, risking their lives for the betterment of our ally,” said Reschenthaler. “This legislation will ensure we do everything possible to support these heroes who are standing with Israel, fighting for freedom, and combating terrorism in the Middle East.”

“As our closest ally in the Middle East continues to defend itself against terror, many brave Americans have decided to lend a hand,” said Miller. “I’m proud that this legislation extends important protections to those Americans who chose to risk their lives in the fight against terror.”

The SCRA provides members on active-duty status with financial management safeguards such as rental agreements, security deposits, evictions, installment contracts, credit card interest rates, mortgages, civil judicial proceedings, and income tax payments, among others.

The USERRA prohibits employment discrimination based on an individual’s prior service in the uniformed services, current service in the uniformed services, or intent to join the uniformed services. Read the full bill here.

https://reschenthaler.house.gov/media/press-releases/reschenthaler-miller-introduce-legislation-to-support-american-citizens-fighting-in-israel

Best illustration for this post is this:

2024 NAZI TACTICS- Israeli IDF soldier posts photo of himself burning books at Al Alqsa University library

Revealed: Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry

Mossad director Yossi Cohen personally involved in secret plot to pressure Fatou Bensouda to drop Palestine investigation, sources say

Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the ICC exposed

Harry Davies in Jerusalem

Tue 28 May 2024 02.30 EDT

Last modified on Tue 28 May 2024 21.31 EDT

The former head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, allegedly threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in a series of secret meetings in which he tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes investigation, the Guardian can reveal.

Yossi Cohen’s covert contacts with the ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, took place in the years leading up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories.

That investigation, launched in 2021, culminated last week when Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over the country’s conduct in its war in Gaza.

The prosecutor’s decision to apply to the ICC’s pre-trial chamber for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, alongside three Hamas leaders, is an outcome Israel’s military and political establishment has long feared... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/28/israeli-spy-chief-icc-prosecutor-war-crimes-inquiry

~~~

The ICC case dates back to 2015, when Fatou Bensouda decided to open a preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine

ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda

Biden provided the bombs, Republicans autograph them... Nikki Haley signs artillery shells in Israel: 'Finish them! America ♡ Israel!' ... "Imperial feminism, everyone. A message written in purple marker, like she's doodling in someone's yearbook instead of co-signing a genocide" Susan Muaddi Darraj

Nikki Haley signs artillery shells in Israel- 'Finish them! America ♡ Israel!' photo courtesy of Nikki Haley

Former U.S. presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley visited the northern Israeli border on Tuesday, meeting with Israeli soldiers and Israelis.

During her visit, Haley visited an Israel Defense Forces post with soldiers serving on the northern border.

Haley stopped and signed artillery shells, writing, "Finish them! America loves Israel!" on some of them.

Susan Muaddi Darraj

@SusanDarraj

Imperial feminism, everyone. A message written in purple marker, like she's doodling in someone's yearbook instead of co-signing a genocide

~~~

Biden provided the bombs, Republicans autograph them.

Cut the supply line of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, says rights group with the aim of “genocide prevention by third states, companies and civil society actors”

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather to show solidarity with Palestinians during a hearing near the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on May 24, 2024 in The Hague, Netherlands [Nikos Oikonomou – Anadolu Agency]

Middle East Monitor

May 28, 2024 at 2:59 pm

With the aim of “genocide prevention by third states, companies and civil society actors” in Gaza, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) has released a detailed report exposing corporate and state actors that are supplying jet fuel to the Israeli military and examines the legal ramifications of their actions.

Since its establishment in 1973, SOMO has been conducting investigations into the impacts and enablers of unjustified corporate power. Titled ‘Fuelling the flames in Gaza’, the publication by authors Lydia De Leeuw and Misa Norigami is timed to inform efforts to prevent corporate involvement in war crimes and other international crimes being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza, while also supporting the prevention of genocide in the besieged enclave. The report aims to raise awareness about corporate complicity in war crimes and other crimes under international law being committed in Gaza.

It reveals that the US is a primary supplier of military jet fuel (JP-8) to Israel, with US company Valero being a key provider under contracts with the American government. Valero’s JP-8 is transported from Corpus Christi port in Texas to Ashkelon, Israel, by vessels owned by Overseas Shipholding Group, which is directly contracted by the Israeli government.

According to SOMO’s findings, Israel heavily relies on imported jet fuel to sustain its military aerial operations over Gaza. The country has been receiving regular shipments from the US for years, with at least six shipments of JP-8 since October 2023. Data from the US Energy Information Administration confirms continuous exports of kerosene-type jet fuel to Israel, averaging approximately 1.5 million barrels per year, with spikes in 2014 and 2016.

The report highlights that between October and December 2023 alone, the Israeli Air Force carried out 10,000 air strikes across the densely populated Gaza Strip. These air strikes included the dropping of approximately five hundred 2,000-pound bombs, which can kill or injure people over 1,000 feet away from the point of impact. As a result, more than 20,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed in that period.

SOMO argues that companies supplying jet fuel to Israel may be considered to be providing material support to the Israeli military. The extensive public reporting on the impact of air strikes on Gaza and credible evidence of air strikes constituting war crimes puts these companies at risk of legal liability for their involvement.

Under international law, companies can be held liable for complicity in war crimes if they provide material support that substantially contributes to the commission of the crimes and if they have knowledge of the crimes. SOMO contends that the widely available public information means that all companies involved in supplying military jet fuel to Israel have knowledge of the foreseeable harmful effects of their actions... Read More https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240528-cut-the-supply-line-of-israels-genocide-in-gaza-says-rights-group/

[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]

West Bank village, proudly self-reliant, now faces wartime hostility [from Israel]

Farkha's Mayor Mustafa Hammad points to Israeli settlements and outposts he worries may soon cut off the village form its farmland, April 24, 2024

By Taylor Luck Special correspondent

Fatima AbdulKarim Special contributor

May 24, 2024 | FARKHA, West Bank

While most villages across the beleaguered West Bank lie dormant, Farkha buzzes with activity.

Farmers plant summer vegetables and wheat, blacksmiths weld iron gates, women prepare jarred pickles and jams for sale, and dozens gather in the recently opened cafe.

This Palestinian village, which a year and a half ago was found to be witnessing a revival built on self-sufficiency and an everyone-pitches-in philosophy, is faring better than most amid Israeli settler attacks, military road closures, and a suffocated economy.

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

Community

Long before the war in Gaza erupted, Monitor reporters covering the West Bank found a remarkable story of self-sufficiency in Farkha, a village frustrated by inattentive local governance. The war has brought new threats, so our reporters returned.

Yet the feel-good vibes and flurry of activity mask a harsher reality: Farkha is under threat.

While its indigenous concept of Al Ouneh – collective philanthropy and communal farming – is keeping it afloat, residents say that this is not enough to shield the village from the closures and a legion of armed and organized far-right settlers.

Residents say that in a war, it takes more than a village.... READ MORE https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2024/0524/west-bank-farmers-israel-settlers-war

Israel’s military offensive in Rafah has put the lives of 600,000 displaced children at risk, according to UNICEF, with many now malnourished or disabled... At least 36,171 Palestinians have been killed and 81,420 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7.

Israeli tanks in Rafah City centre as new deadly attack hits Gaza civilians

Israel’s war on Gaza live: Attacks on Rafah intensify despite condemnation

By Stephen Quillen and Nils Adler

Israeli forces shelled a tent camp in a designated “safe zone” west of Rafah and killed at least 21 people, including 13 women and girls, in the latest mass killing of Palestinian civilians.
The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting over Israel’s ground invasion of Rafah as Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognised the state of Palestine.
The UN says it has received about 170 trucks of humanitarian aid over the past three weeks – “a drop in the ocean” from the 500 trucks needed daily.
Israel’s incursion launched in early May has forced one million people to flee Rafah, most of whom had already been displaced several times by Israel’s bloody war on Gaza.
At least 36,171 Palestinians have been killed and 81,420 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attack is at least 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.

UNICEF: 600,000 children at risk in Gaza

Israel’s military offensive in Rafah has put the lives of 600,000 displaced children at risk, according to UNICEF, with many now malnourished or disabled.

“Rafah is a city of children,” UNICEF’s director of private fundraising and partnerships, Carla Haddad Mardini, wrote in a post on X. “The children in Gaza need a ceasefire now to prevent further suffering.”

‘The spirit of the United Nations is dead in Gaza’

“The UN cannot even protect its own staff. What are you waiting for to act? The spirit of the United Nations is dead in Gaza,” said Erdogan

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/29/israels-war-on-gaza-live-tent-cities-attacked-as-tanks-roll-into-rafah

WATCH: Displaced Palestinian reflects on loss and injustice faced in Khan Younis

Palestinians from Khan Younis have described devastating scenes upon returning to their hometown, largely reduced to rubble by Israel’s earlier invasion during the war.

Kamal Abu Tuaima, an elderly man from the neighbourhood of Bani Suheila, 2km (1.2 miles) east of the city, said he came back to find his house had been totally decimated.

“It took me 60 years to build my home. Everything I had I put into building the home. In the end, they stole it from me,” Abu Tuaima told Al Jazeera.

“I swear this is a crime. Who will hold them responsible for the crimes committed against us?”

https://aje.io/0o7ovr?update=2933552

Displaced Palestinian reflects on loss and injustice faced in Khan Younis

Monday, May 27, 2024

Israeli forces have bombed a tent camp housing displaced people in a designated safe zone in Rafah, killing 45 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp area housing internally displaced people in Rafah [Eyad Baba/AFP]

Israel’s war on Gaza live news: Rafah carnage prompts global condemnation

By Nils Adler, Saif Khalid, Tamila Varshalomidze, Mersiha Gadzo and Maziar Motamedi