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Monday, October 16, 2023

WHAT YOU BOMB a poem by VIJAY PRASHAD

What You Bomb

You encage two million people into 140 square miles. You are surprised when the people create tunnels to smuggle goods, to resist.

You bomb hospitals, you bomb schools, you bomb water plants, you bomb sewers – and you want us to feel sorry for you.

You have politicians who say they want to kill all Gazans, academics who call for rape as war’s weapon. And you are silent? Where are you?

Your arms have killed hundreds, injured thousands, displaced tens of thousands. You clap, you cheer. You weep when your soldiers fall.

On which side of the border should my tears fall? On the side of the bombers or the side of the bombed?

Your morality is challenged, your ethics on fire. All you can say, in bad faith, is Hamas, Hamas, Hamas.

You kill a child. Hamas. You bomb a school. Hamas. You bomb a UN building. Hamas. You bomb a disability center. Hamas. Hamas. Hamas.

For you Hamas has become a full-stop, an exclamation point, a digression, a shaggy dog, a golden ring, a do-not-go-to-jail card.

Who are you that you take shelter in five letters – Hamas – when entire families are wiped out in your name?

What you bomb is not Hamas. It is Palestine. Not a dream, but a people. Not a refugee camp, but a country alive in its peoples’ hearts.

Samah, Samah, Samah.[1]


[1] Samah, the reverse of Hamas, is an Arabic word that means Forgiveness (generosity of the soul).

 
 
Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor, and journalist.

 

In Israel's war against the Palestinians, Tel Aviv controls the narrative and silences dissenting voices

 

Framing the Language of Carnage in Palestine: Advantage Israel

 

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair   

".... Israel has firmly embedded the myth that it is a democratic, brave, vulnerable nation into the body politic of the United States.  In their current war against the Palestinians, Tel Aviv has made sure to control the narrative and to silence dissenting voices.  With the corporate media, they have established who matters, Israel, and who does not, the Palestinians.

The first casualties of the disinformation campaign have been the use of the words “war” and “conflict.” Oxford English Dictionary defines war as “a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state.”  Conflict is defined (dictionary.com) as a “struggle or clash between opposing forces.”

It is a distortion to say that what we have witnessed in Palestine is a war or a conflict.  Both words imply a battle or struggle between equals or near equals, between two peoples with equal resources and claims.

As Israel conducts its aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza, the media continues to improperly frame the killing of the colonized by the Israeli colonizer as a war and/or conflict.  CNN, MSNBC and National Public Radio, for example, have been using the promo, “Israel at War,” to entice viewers and listeners.

Tel Aviv has declared war on a political party, Hamas.  The Gaza Strip—about the size of New Jersey— home to 2.3 million Palestinians, is not a nation or a state.  It has been under Israeli military occupation and blockade and can best be described as an open-air prison...." READ MORE

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

In one week, the number of children killed in Gaza has surpassed the number of children killed in Ukraine in one year. Both are occupied lands, but with vastly different approaches from the US.

In one week, the number of children killed in Gaza has surpassed the number of children killed in Ukraine in one year.  

Since the war in Ukraine began 535 children were killed. 

IMEU: Gaza Update on Saturday (October 14th 2023), Israel has killed over 2,000 Palestinians, including more than 700 children this past week [not including the Palestinians killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank this past week.]

Both are occupied lands, but with vastly different approaches from the US.
 
Gaza Update from several days ago- the numbers are much higher now

 

His name is Wadie Al Fayoume. He was just killed- murdered at the age of 6 for being Palestinian and Muslim in America... Stabbed 26 times in his Chicago area home.

His name Wadie Al Fayoume. Killed at the age of 6 for being Palestinian and Muslim. Stabbed 26 times in his Chicago area home.

His name Wadie Al Fayoume. Killed at the age of 6 for being Palestinian and Muslim. Stabbed 26 times in his Chicago area home. 
 
The Administration, elected officials, and the media for the past week have ignored Palestinians, and sold the general public lie after lie. 
 
Day after day we warned about the uptick in hate crimes, and how hate rhetoric will lead to hate violence. 
 
When @sarasidnerCNN goes live on air on @cnn  and pushes a debunked lie of beheaded babies, what do you think will happen? 
 
When networks give airtime to racist Israeli leaders to demonize our people, and push the talking points of a right-wing foreign government, this is the result. 
 
You have vilified the entire population of Arabs. 
 
This didn't have to happen. 
 
The sad reality is that it may happen again.

Sunday, October 15, 2023

Pamela Olson's book (and blog) that aims to bring the realities in Palestine to the American mainstream

The date palms Deir al Balah used to be famous for, before Israel destroyed nearly all of them.

GAZA HOLIDAY

"....Israeli soldiers took over their home and occupied it in a way that paralleled the occupation as a whole. The top two floors were ‘Area C’ — completely off limits. The Bashirs were warned that if they ventured up the stairs, they would be shot. The kitchen and bathroom were ‘Area B,’ meaning Israeli soldiers had priority and the family had to ask permission to use them.

Only the living room on the first floor was ‘Area A,’ meaning they could enter and use it as they saw fit, though they couldn’t invite guests in without permission from the Israeli soldiers.

Mrs. Bashir told The Guardian, “Occupation is getting up in the morning to make tea and finding a soldier in your kitchen making coffee. Occupation is when I wanted to go to the toilet, a soldier had to go with me. I wasn’t allowed in my bedroom. I looked in on my way to the toilet one day and there was a soldier with no clothes on in my bed.”

It also meant that Israeli soldiers bulldozed the Bashirs’ greenhouses and fruit orchards, including 170 date palms, which had provided their relative wealth. It meant Mr. Bashir was regularly forced to strip to his underwear on his own doorstep before entering the house, often in front of his children...." ... READ MORE

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

Saturday, October 14, 2023

This Week in Palestine: When Art and Artists Belong Ismail Shammout, an Ambassador of Palestinian Identity By Bashar Shammout

 This Week in Palestine

Growing up in the diaspora in Beirut as the son of two outstanding Palestinian artists – Ismail Shammout and Tamam El-Akhal – who significantly shaped modern Palestinian art, I have since my childhood been confronted more or less consciously with philosophical questions that deal with the themes of home, homeland, and belonging. I had to learn that arts and culture have to belong in order to deliver their message and endure when their creators pass away. I had to learn that arts and culture form the protective mother for nations that write history. And belonging is definitely not restricted to a geographical or physical place but rather allows sharing common thoughts and visions with many others and forming a wide-reaching intellectual horizon. So, belonging clearly forms the ground on which artists stand in order to express the thoughts, feelings, and principles that move them – and so it was with Ismail Shammout.

The Spring That Was, 1997.

Ismail had just turned 18 when the Nakba forced my late father and his entire family out of their home in Lydda, Palestine. After a long foot march in the scorching summer heat of 1948, without food or water, they settled down in the refugee camp of Khan Younis. Being a young Palestinian, a refugee, and a highly talented painter who dreamed of becoming an artist, he managed to travel to Cairo and then to Rome to study fine arts in the early 1950s. After that, he moved to Beirut, then to Al-Bireh, then back to Beirut and on to Kuwait, and finally to Amman. He dedicated his entire life to his people, his dreams, and his beloved Palestine and became the perfect ambassador of Palestinian identity, which he proudly and faithfully embodied... READ MORE

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

Memory of Places by Sliman Mansour, 2009.

Memory of Places by Sliman Mansour, 2009.
 

No words or paintings can convey the images of the massacres perpetrated against Palestinians and the destruction that is done to their homes, hospitals, schools, and religious sites with complete impunity by what is called the civilized world.

Sliman Mansour: No words or paintings can convey the images of the massacres perpetrated against Palestinians and the destruction that is done to their homes, hospitals, schools, and religious sites with complete impunity by what is called the civilized world.
 

President Biden, Please help all Jewish people and all Palestinians who want to escape the rampant racist hate and religious extremism created by Israel's war on Palestine.

Dear President Biden,

I see clearly from your aggressive support of Israel that you scorn Arabs and Muslims, and you also scorn good advice.  I am writing again anyway.  Obviously pleading for compassion for impoverished and persecuted Palestinian men, women, & children falls on deaf ears in the White House & in our Congress, & even among most State governors, as well as far too many Christian and Jewish leaders & organizations worldwide.

So how about some basic logic:  Israel has been arming its Zionist zealots with subsidies, lethal weaponry, and the motivation to harass and kill "others" since 1948.  Right now those "others" are mainly the native non-Jewish people of historic Palestine, but "others" extends to all nations that harbor Arabs and Muslims. That includes US. 

So here we are in 2023 with Jews-preferred Israel getting richly rewarded & applauded by Western leaders like you and our clueless media for arming Zionist zealots with excuses... plus guns and bombs. This is insane- and wrong!  

Islamist Militants, including those horrible terrorists who attacked us on 9-11, are following Israel's lead by usurping religion in order to raise funds and rage, arming racist hate & despicable acts of terror against other human beings.  Stop inspiring them!

Please help all Jewish people and all Palestinians who want to escape the rampant racist hate and religious extremism created by Israel's war on Palestine.  Send ships & help Israelis and Palestinians come here to America to live in peace and security with full freedom, equal rights, real justice and job opportunities- with the one firm caveat that America's public funds will not be used to support religion or racist hate here or there.

If you can't do that, PLEASE at least firmly insist that Israel fully respects, honors and implements The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees' inalienable legal, moral, and natural right to return to original homes and lands. 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

American Homemaker & Poet

 

Peace Day is the opportunity for "strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples."

Heba Zagout, artist, killed by Israeli bombs in Gaza, Palestine, October 2023

honoring her life and work...

Yaffa- Heba Zagout

Art by Heba Zagout of Palestine


Jerusalem- Heba Zagout

We live our lives like the rhythm of music. Sometimes it is loud music and other times it is like quiet music. This is life🌹🌹🌹❤
Music- Heba Zagout

Jerusalem is my city- Heba Zagout

We are always looking for safety in our lives. We may find it in love or security, but we will keep looking for it- Heba Zagout


Alienation makes our hearts as thin as an old fabric that easily leaks water. There is no immunity to our feelings of alienation. Delusion defeats us, and the homelands mix with the people we meet from our homelands. We may love the homeland in them and think that we loved them. - ⚘ This painting is a gift for everyone far from home- Heba Zagout

Jerusalem- Heba Zagout

Looking for happy dreams, clinging to life, love and hope- Heba Zagout
 
 

















When I was young, the olive harvest season was very special to me. Family members used to gather with me and pick olives. My mother then stores them with lemon slices and peppers to keep them all year round.
Thank you mom 😘✌😘🌹❤🙏
My new artwork
Olive Tree- Heba Zagout
 
 
I was born carrying the word refugee with me, I did not see my hometown asdoud, but my aunt Alia gathered us and told us about my grandfather's land and the orange trees, about the harvest season and a house full of love and life, I saw longing in my aunt's eyes as she tells us stories about the days of the country and wishes of a soon return...

Palestinian visual artist 'Heba Zagout' & her children 

killed by Israel bombing Gaza

Friday, October 13, 2023

HATE, it has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet- Maya Angelou

 

RESPECT for basic HUMAN RIGHTS CONTINUED

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law... READ MORE

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?

 

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood... READ MORE