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Thread: :icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

  1. #1931
    Al Mezan Condemns IOF Attacks against Palestinian Fishermen
    Date : 3/2/2010 Time : 18:32

    GAZA, February 3, 2010 (WAFA)- Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights condemned the Israeli attacks against Palestinian fishermen which violate their rights and affect their living.

    The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) escalated its attacks against Palestinian fishermen. IOF naval vessels opened Tuesday heavy fire at fishermen boats, followed them to the beach, and torn their fishing nets in the sea.

    Al Mezan reiterated its calls on the international community to intervene and IOF's attacks and harassment against Palestinian fishermen in Gaza. International community's silence in the face of these conducts has only encouraged IOF to continue violating human rights and international law.

    According to the documentation of Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, at approximately 8am on Monday 1 February 2010, IOF naval vessels were patrolling the sea opposite to Dier Al Balah town in middle Gaza district and opened fire at Palestinian fishermen boats who were working in the coast of the town and the nearby An-Nuseirat camp. Israeli vessels then sporadically fired towards fishing boats until 1pm on the same day. On Tuesday 2 February 2010, the IOF fired at fishermen boats and chased them by army rubber boats. Al Mezan's field workers investigated these attacks and reported that fishermen boats did not exceed the limited fishing zone that had been announced by the IOF.

    According to affidavits given to Al Mezan by the fishermen who were subject to these attacks, a special kind of fish locally called 'the birds' pass near Gaza coast at this time of the year, moving quickly from a place to another in the sea. This is the season in which this fish can be found in large quantities in Gaza sea. IOF had frequently taken restrictive and harassment measures against fishermen during this season during the past few years, causing them to lose the seasonal fishing.

  2. #1932
    PA calls for ICC probe into Israeli war crimes
    Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:02:04 GMT

    The Palestinian Authority says it has sent a memorandum to The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) in a bid to seek justice for "all Israeli crimes" committed in the occupied Palestinian lands.

    On Friday, Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour called on the court to adjudicate on war crimes committed against Palestinians during Israel's December 2008-January 2009 war on the Gaza Strip.

    Mansour also said the Palestinian Authority had created a commission to investigate the crime allegations leveled against it.

    Regarding the war crimes charges against both Hamas and Israel, he said the commission did not view potential wrongdoing on the Palestinian side as seriously as any acts by Israel.

    "There is absolutely no symmetry or proportionality between the occupying power and the occupied people," he added.

    A UN Human Rights Council report that was compiled by a team led by the South African judge Richard Goldstone has accused Israel of war crimes during the three week war in the region.

    Mansour pleaded for ICC involvement in adjudicating the allegations, saying the representatives of the Palestinian authority have met several times with representatives of the ICC and called on the court to pen an investigation into the case.

    He also criticized the UN Security Council, saying that it "has not carried out its responsibility" over bringing the case to ICC.

    The Goldstone report could be referred to the council for action and ultimately to the International Criminal Court, but with the United States — a strong ally of Israel — as a member of the body, the move seems very unlikely.

    SB/MMN

  3. #1933
    Israel’s Report to UN Misstates Truth, B’Tselem Says
    Date : 5/2/2010 Time : 20:36

    TEL AVIV, February 5, 2010 (WAFA)- “On Friday, 29 January 2010, Israel submitted to the UN an update on the investigations opened following Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The 46-page document offers almost no new information, except for updated figures on the investigations,” B’Tselem published on its website.

    The report states that, to date, the military has begun to examine 150 cases, most of which are still under review. In 36 cases, a Military Police investigation was initiated; the others were examined in the framework of military debriefings. This report, like previous information that official sources have published, does not specify which cases are being examined or the stage each investigation has reached.

    A significant part of the report is devoted to proving the military justice system’s ability to handle complaints about the military’s conduct during the operation on its own. As a result of this emphasis, only part of the story is presented, while the way in which the system operates in reality is largely ignored. Several examples follow.

    The report extols the establishment of the Judge Advocate’s Office for Operational Affairs in 2007, which handles, among other things, complaints against soldiers who mistreated Palestinians. The report does not mention that the unit lacks sufficient personnel and is highly overloaded by the massive number of files it has received, nor that it takes months and even years for decisions to be made on many of the files. As a result, even if a decision is ultimately made to open a Military Police investigation, the investigation is ineffective and is unlikely to expose the truth.

    The report states that the Military Police Investigation Unit is staffed by hundreds of skilled investigators, including reservists, who have undergone special training. However, MPIU investigations regarding Palestinian complaints have many structural problems: the MPIU has no base in the Occupied Territory, the investigators do not visit the scene of the incident, and they do not have a criminal forensics lab at their disposal. In addition, in most cases, investigators cannot access the Palestinian victims without the assistance of human rights organization, and most investigators do not speak Arabic. The report also refrains from pointing out that, once the investigation is completed, files wait for long periods, sometimes years, for the chief military prosecutor to decide how to proceed. In this case, too, the delayed decisions diminish the effectiveness of the process.

    The report also provides only part of the picture regarding civilian supervision of the military justice system, creating the impression that there is tight supervision. Whether this is the proper degree of supervision or not, it is important that the facts be presented precisely. For example, the report states that the attorney general is empowered to examine all the decisions of the Judge Advocate General (JAG), but does not mention that this intervention is rare and occurs only in extremely exceptional cases. The report also states that the Supreme Court is empowered to cancel decisions of the JAG, giving three cases as illustrations. However, in one of these cases, the Supreme Court did not interfere, as the JAG changed his decision before the judgment was given. The other two cases are the highly unusual exceptions to the rule and certainly do not attest to a policy. The report does not mention that Supreme Court justices have time and again reiterated their hesitance to interfere in the JAG’s discretion.

    No system can investigate itself. The report emphasizes the independence of the military justice system in interpreting the law. However in all other matters, it is an integral part of the military. As such, it depends on the military system for budgets, personnel complements, and promotions. For example, the last two JAGs were personally given the rank of major general by the Chief of General Staff. All the decision-makers involved in the handling of complaints are subject to this system.

    Furthermore, regarding the investigation of complaints that were filed against the army’s conduct during the operation, the independence of the JAG’s Office is even more in doubt. The Office was involved, for example, in drafting the open-fire regulations for Operation Cast Lead, in deciding what constituted a legitimate target, and in approving the use of certain weapons. Therefore, if it is found that these determinations contravene international humanitarian law, members of the JAG’s Office are liable to be investigated and prosecuted themselves. Clearly, then, they cannot be put in charge of these investigations.

    Military debriefings are the major tool used by the JAG’s Office to investigate the army’s conduct during the operation. These debriefings are conducted by senior officers inside the military, who have no professional training in conducting such investigations, and are not independent of the persons whose acts they are supposed to investigate. In addition, as the debriefings remain confidential even after they are completed, there is no way to examine the questions raised in them, and the degree of the seriousness in which they were conducted.

    The military debriefings and MPIU investigations focus on specific cases. The assumption underlying them is that the soldiers acted within a legal framework, and that the only thing left to examine is whether they deviated from the orders given them. However, this assumption is fundamentally wrong. Many suspicions of breaches of international humanitarian law during the operation relate specifically to the policy that was dictated to the soldiers. For example, decisions regarding the legitimacy of targets and the weapons permitted for use were made prior to the operation. The military investigations currently under way do not question the legality of these decisions. This method of investigation, in which policy is not at all examined, leads to most of the responsibility for violations being placed only on the soldiers in the field, while the senior officers and the political echelon, who were responsible for giving the orders, go free.

    To date, more than one year after the operation ended, all the investigations conducted by Israel have led to the prosecution of a single soldier, who was convicted and sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment for stealing a Palestinian’s credit card. This result is hardly surprising, given that Israeli officials, among them the Minister of Defense and the Chief of General Staff, declared almost from the beginning of the operation that the IDF “is the most moral army in the world.”

    B'Tselem again urged Israel to immediately establish an independent investigative apparatus composed of persons from outside the military. The investigation must examine not only the conduct of the soldiers in the field but also the orders given them and the policy that was set by the senior military echelon and the political echelon.

  4. #1934
    OCHA: 16 Palestinians Injured by Israeli Forces
    Date : 5/2/2010 Time : 20:51

    JERUSALEM, February 5, 2010 (WAFA)- This week, (January 27 – February 2) Israeli forces injured 16 Palestinians in various incidents throughout the West Bank, bringing the total number of Palestinians wounded in Israeli?Palestinian violence since the beginning of 2010 to 67, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory reported.

    The weekly average number of injured in 2009 was 17. Four of this week’s injuries were sustained during the weekly anti?Barrier protest held in Bil’in village (two) and a demonstration held by Palestinian residents of Deir Nidham and An Nabi Saleh villages against the expansion of Hallamish settlement in the Ramallah area (two); two Israeli forces were injured in the former. In the latter demonstration, one family, including five children were evacuated after Israeli forces fired gas canisters into their house; several other cases of tear gas inhalation were reported. Eleven Palestinians, including three boys and two pregnant women, were wounded during the week when physically assaulted by Israeli forces in various incidents.

    The remaining injury was caused by a rubber-coated metal bullet when clashes erupted between Israeli forces and Palestinians, who were planting seedlings near Burin village, off Road 60. Israeli forces were trying to clear the area, preventing friction between Palestinians and settlers, who were present on the road.

    Again this week, the Qalandiya checkpoint barrier crossing was the scene of violence; Israeli forces shot and severely injured an Israeli truck driver after he rushed towards the checkpoint, escaping from stone-throwing Palestinians. As a result, several vehicles waiting at the checkpoint were damaged by the truck and a number of Palestinians were injured. Following this incident, the checkpoint was closed for three hours (5:00 pm until 8:00pm). Qalandiya checkpoint is the main entrance for Palestinians through the Wall into East Jerusalem from the northern West Bank and is known for its long lines and heavy checks.

    Also this week, Israeli forces closed Wadi Nar checkpoint, the only route available Palestinians to drive between the northern and southern West Bank, for three hours (10:30 am until 01:30 pm) after allegedly finding a suspicious object in a Palestinian taxi. Palestinians also threw a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli army observation tower near Al Jalazun Refugee Camp (Ramallah), resulting in no injuries.

    During the week, Israeli forces conducted 144 search operations inside Palestinian villages, significantly above the 2009 weekly average (103), the majority of which took place in the northern West Bank (109).

  5. #1935
    Clinton:"67 borders are borders of the Pal'n state"

    2010-02-06 13:39:18

    Washington-PalPress-The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, confirmed on the importance that the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations should be based on the principal that the 1967 border lines are the borders of the Palestinian state, furthermore , they should discuss the core issues of the Palestinian –Israeli conflict.

    Clinton added that the Palestinian state should be establsihed within the 1967 border lines with exchange of lands as agreed by all parties.

    She announced that Jerusalem is an importance issue to the Palestinians, the Israelis, Muslims and Christians, pointing out that an agreement meeting the prospects of each side and preserving the status of Jerusalem can still be reached .

    Hillary explained that the US administration made it clear to all parties that negotiations should discuss the core issues of teh conflict with out any exception.

    She refused to comment on a proposal for conducting negotiations between the two sides under US supervision.

    Diplomatic sources said that the US is currently holding talks with all parties seeking to resume peace negotiations as soon as possible.

    US leaderships urged President Obama to pressure on Israel for ending the siege imposed on Gaza Strip.

    Six US organizations addressed President Obama saying that Gaza siege is a clear violation to the international law , the American values and the international legitimacy.

    In New York, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon stated he was un able to decide whether the Israelis and the Palestinians committed to a demand by the United Nations to conduct independent credible investigation into the Israeli war in Gaza last winter.

    Meanwhile, Washington said it rejects transferring Gaza issue to the international Criminal Court as recommended by judge Richard Goldetone.

    Spokesman of the US Department of State Philip Kroli , said that his country’s official position believes that the United Nations Human Rights Council is the appropriate place for discussing Goldestone’s report.


    2010-02-06 13:39:18

  6. #1936
    Shaath:Hamas positions in Gaza different than in Damascus

    2010-02-06 13:08:23

    Ramallah-PalPress-Member of Fateh’s Central committee Dr. Nabil Shaath, said that his visit to Gaza Strip broke the boycott between Fateh and Hamas movements .

    Shaath said in statements to “Assharq Al Awsat” newspaper that he discussed several ideas with Hamas leaders during his visit to Gaza regarding reconciliation and unity, pointing out that he sensed that Hamas leaders do have a real desire to end division.

    However, Shaath added that this desire has not been sensed yet with Hamas leaders in Damascus.

    In his answer to a question about whether he sensed contradiction in Hamas positions in Gaza and Damascus, Shaath said :”In Gaza they were very positive, honest , and showed real desire towards unity”.

    Dr. Shaath said that he suggested on Hamas leadership in Gaza to sign the reconciliation agreement prior to the next Arab summit planned in March, however he pointed out that he did not receive a determining reply in this regard, and referred the reason to Hamas leadership in Damascus.

    Meanwhile, Shaath agreed with Hamas on promoting practical unilateral steps on ground related to the situations of the two movements in both Gaza Strip and the West Bank .

    He denied he agreed with Hamas in Gaza on the formation of a joint Hamas-Fateh committee as Hamas leader Salah Al Bardawil stated .

    He continued :”They suggested so, but we told them that this suggestion is already included in the Egyptian proposal, we can not form more committees”

    Despite several members of Fateh’s central committee opposed Shaath’s visit to Gaza describing it as personnel, Shaath made no comments on this point, he only said: ”others will go to Gaza , this is a decision by the Revolutionary Council”

    Hamas described the meeting with Shaath as positive,

    Hamas leader Salah Al Bardawil said the visit aimed at breaking the deadlock between the two movements.

    During his Gaza visit, Shaath met the deportees of the Church of Nativity and discussed their sufferings and their demands.

    Spokesman of the deportees of the Church of Nativity Fahmi Kan’an said: “We handed over Dr. Shaath a message to deliver to President Abbas including our sufferings in Gaza and Europe for eight years

    Shaath vowed to raise this issue at the international and the Arab levels in attempt to return the deportees of the church of Nativity home in Bethlehem.

  7. #1937
    Archaeology and the struggle for Jerusalem
    06.02.10 - 22:24

    "I like to travel and when I travel, I like to have a guide book. Here in Jerusalem, that guide book is the Tanah, the Bible."

    ImageThis is how guide Asher Altshul likes to start his tours at the expansive City of David archaeological site in Jerusalem.

    The site stretches along and down one of Jerusalem's hills, just outside the Old City.

    Hundreds of tourists gather. Most are Jewish people from countries all over the world, like the Schneider family from Los Angeles.

    The father, Avshalom, says coming here was a must.

    "You feel like you're walking on the same stones our forefathers walked on. This is an important part of my children's Jewish education," he told me.

    The Israeli foundation that runs the City of David aims to strengthen the Jewish connection to Jerusalem in modern times by emphasising ancient ties.

    In this case, it is to David, King of the Jewish people three millennia ago. Some historians believe this was the site of King David's palace.

    But archaeology has become mired in controversy.

    Battle for sovereignty

    The City of David excavations, with their underground tunnels and ancient pools, centre around the Palestinian district of Silwan. It is in East Jerusalem, which Israel has occupied since its 1967 war.

    About 40,000 Palestinians live in Silwan. Some families have been here for generations. They say Israel is digging here less out of archaeological interest but rather to make political claims over land.

    Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Israel says it intends to keep hold of the whole city.

    The battle for sovereignty over Jerusalem goes to the very heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Musa Odeh guided me through the graffiti-rich, winding alleyways of Silwan's al-Bustan neighbourhood.

    About a hundred houses here, including Musa's family home, have been served with demolition orders for illegal building.

    But Palestinians say the Israeli authorities make it virtually impossible for them to get construction permits in Jerusalem.

    Musa says the City of David archaeological dig is also weakening the structure of many of the houses in Silwan.

    A local girls' school partially collapsed last year, injuring 17 students. Residents blamed the incident on archaeologists tunnels running through the village.

    They say tunnels have been exposed again this year after gaping holes appeared in several Silwan streets, following heavy rainfall.

    Musa is adamant that this is all part of an Israeli plan to drive Palestinians from Jerusalem.

    Hive of activity

    The latest large archaeological excavation in Silwan's City of David site is a hive of activity.

    Archaeology students from the world over are digging, dusting and displaying ancient artefacts found here.

    The land here is privately owned by Elad, an Israeli association that also funds Jewish settlement building across occupied East Jerusalem.

    But the state archaeologists overseeing the City of David excavations say that's not their concern.

    John Seligman has worked for Israel's Antiquities Authority for years. He told me that it was not his job to agree or disagree with the political motivation of the sponsors of an archaeological site.

    He said the Antiquities Authority also supervised excavations for the Vatican and the Waqf, the Islamic authority that manages Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

    "The work we do here is not about looking for a particular heritage of one or other. We find what there is and display what there is," Mr Seligman said.

    "Here on this site we've had finds from the Arab period, from Roman times and from the First and Second Temple periods. Everything is displayed on an equal basis, as it will be in the future too," he added.

    Not all Israeli archaeologists agree with Mr Seligman.

    Yonatan Mizrahi runs alternative, critical tours around the City of David and across Silwan.

    As a former archaeologist for the Antiquities Authority who worked in East Jerusalem, he told me he saw first hand how Israel and Jewish-interest groups sometimes use archaeology as a political tool.

    Mr Mizrahi says archaeology is about learning about the past but that individuals then choose how to interpret the past.

    "One religion or another may look at an excavation site and say - that land is ours," Mr Mizrahi said.

    But he qualified this by saying even if archaeologists were to find a big sign, reading 'Welcome to King David's Palace', that wouldn't give Jewish Israelis the right to claim East Jerusalem today.

    "Just like if the Vatican found something here, it wouldn't give the church the right to take ownership of this land. The bottom line is that Palestinians are the majority in East Jerusalem," Mr Mizrahi said.

    Jerusalem is said to be the most fought-over city in the world. Different nations and cultures have battled to dominate it for thousands of years.

    Israelis and Palestinians will tell you the struggle is still very much alive today.



    Souce: Katya Adler / BBC

  8. #1938
    Palestinians still waiting for right to use Highway 443
    06.02.10 - 22:18

    JERUSALEM // They start just after the Israeli checkpoint near the city of Modi’in, along this fast, scenic motorway that connects Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.


    ImageAll along the hilly road, vast concrete boulders, rubble heaps and piles of rubbish barricade access from several Palestinian villages.

    At one such barrier at the village of Beit Sira, cars with Israeli registration plates deposit groups of dusty-looking workers, who squeeze between the concrete boulders to the Palestinian cars and cabs that can take them back home.

    This is how it has been for the thousands of Palestinians who have been barred access to Highway 443 since 2002. The Israeli military had cited security reasons for the closure – five Israelis were shot dead in 2001, at the height of the second intifada, and dozens more have been injured in attacks along this 28km stretch of road that cuts into the West Bank.

    However, in December last year, the Israeli supreme court ruled that the state had to revoke the ban and allow Palestinians access to the road within five months.

    Campaigners saw the ruling as a breakthrough and a clear legal rejection of a segregated system of Israeli-only roads. But sections of Israeli society have opposed the ruling, and some of the Palestinian villagers affected hold out little hope that it ever will be implemented.

    “So many times, when the Israeli army says yes it means no – I have no reason to trust them now,” said 32-year-old Farouk, who lives in Beit Sira. This Palestinian village, home to fewer than 3,000 people, is one of the six villages whose petition against the closure was successfully taken to court by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (Acri) and led eventually to the supreme court ruling.

    One of the points raised by their petition was that the closed road policy was a form of collective punishment for the 55,000 Palestinians thought to be affected by it.

    “One day the army came and told us that they were taking the road away because we were making problems,” said Farouk. “What problems? We never did anything … but they said that terrorists were coming from our villages onto the road.”

    Farouk is one of the Palestinian workers forced to navigate the roadblock by foot, queuing up to cross the Israeli checkpoint near Beit Sira in the early hours of the morning and tracing the same path back at nightfall. For those who do not hold permits to work in Israel, it is an equally roundabout daily commute to Ramallah, in the West Bank.

    “Once, you’d light up a cigarette and barely have time to smoke it before you’d be in Ramallah,” said Aish, a 38-year-old cab driver from Beit Sira, of the short drive to the West Bank town around 20km away.

    “Now, it can take an hour and a half, or more.”

    Barred from the motorway, Palestinians have to use a winding series of inferior roads – sometimes running right underneath the 443.

    And it is not just their working life that is affected. “I’ve had women give birth in my cab, because we couldn’t get to the hospital in Ramallah in time,” said Aish. “And people have died on the way to hospital, because it takes too long on the roads we are allowed to use.”

    It is precisely such humanitarian aspects – along with the underlying concepts of a segregated road – that prompted the high court ruling over Highway 443.

    According to Acri, the road ban represents “a serious violation” of the basic human rights of Palestinians who used the road to get to work and school, gain access to emergency services and to maintain social and family ties. The Israeli supreme court said the ban on Palestinians using the road was “unauthorised and disproportional” and that it created a “sense of inequality and improper motives”.

    “It is illegal to take the resources of an occupied people and use it for the benefit of the occupiers,” said Melanie Takefman, a spokeswoman for Acri, of the road built in part on land expropriated from Palestinian villages, and which cuts through a part of the occupied West Bank to connect Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a faster alternative to the clogged motorway that runs between the two cities.

    Highway 443 was given high court approval in the 1980s, on the understanding that it would be of primary benefit to local Palestinians – who, for those initial years, did use the road. But now for Israelis, the reopening of the road to the local Palestinian population has raised the spectre of attacks.

    The latest poll conducted by the War and Peace Index showed 63 per cent of Israelis wanted the 443 to remain closed to West Bank Palestinians, while 30 per cent of those polled believed this practice to be discriminatory. Families of those killed in terrorist attacks along the 443 have made public pleas to keep the road Israeli-only, and the Israeli transport ministry recently warned that Route One, the motorway running between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, would “collapse completely” if security fears pushed Israeli drivers off the 443 and on to it.

    Around 40,000 Israelis use the 443 daily, as a convenient alternative to Route One.

    The Israeli army has said that it is preparing to implement the supreme court ruling on Highway 443 and is engaged in “an extensive study of the actions required for the matter”.

    At Beit Sira, many of those Palestinians taking the wearily slow route home from work wonder just how that will affect them.

    A report in the Jerusalem Post this week said the defence forces planned to set up another four roadblocks on 443 when it is reopened to enhance security. One of those roadblocks would be at Beit Sira.



    Source: The National

  9. #1939
    The electronic media debate
    05.02.10 - 00:04

    The decision by the Court of Cassation to classify websites as "publications" and thus apply the Press and Publications Law to them is troubling.

    Unlike other laws that criminalise press violations, Jordan's Press and Publications Law only allows civilian punishment, meaning that electronic media violators might be fined, but not jailed. But the problem facing web-based publications is much more complicated when it comes to jailing or fining web publishers.

    To begin with, a major problem exists when having all web-based publishing fall under the Press and Publications Law. The web is a much bigger format than a newspaper or a television station. Today, 10-year olds are encouraged to create their web pages; watwet, the local affiliate of Twitter, has thousands of "publishers", and businesses, lawyers, sports enthusiasts and so many others are producing text, image, audio and video on their websites. The idea that all these web producers and bloggers have to register with the government, having to pre-censor their content and being punishable by the Press and Publications Law will cause a major retraction to Jordan's standing as an open society.

    The Press and Publications Law, even with its latest amendment that removed criminality, classifies journalists as members of the Jordan Press Association. The Jordanian press syndicate is a single union and is considered regionally and internationally as a closed shop. Membership is closed to electronic media. So this legal ruling creates a catch 22. Anything published on line is considered a publication that must be done by journalists, yet most web-based publishers are not journalists as per the Jordanian law.

    The law also criminalises anyone professing without licence.

    As far as content is concerned, the Press and Publications Law is very vague. Publishing anything that negatively affects national unity, denigrates religion and religious symbols, shakes confidence in the national currency, criticises leaders of Arab and friendly countries and negatively affects national unity is considered a violation. This allows for a wide interpretation and has for years contributed to the weakening of the Jordanian press.

    It is exactly these restrictions in Jordan and other Arab countries that have caused many to exert their efforts abroad. Arab publications have proliferated in places like Cyprus, London, Paris and Rome.

    Jordanian reporters for Arab and international publications have also enjoyed much more freedom in what they can write and broadcast about. But the biggest emigration of Jordanian media activists has been electronic. With electronic publication based where the server is based, tens of Jordanian websites were created and got involved in a vibrant debate of issues of interest to Jordan and Jordanians. Naturally not all new sites have followed proper journalistic ethics. Various Jordanian contradictions have been exposed on these sites, often in their anonymous comment sections.

    Shady individuals have been involved in setting up some of these sites and apparently have been using them to leverage income from sponsors or advertisers who were "forced" to advertise in order to make unpleasant content disappear.

    While some arguments for regulating web publications can be made, the process that Jordan seems to be going through has only been carried out in autocratic regimes. The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a recent blog that Syria, Iran and Tunisia have taken similar action.

    Attempts to control online media are not new. If Jordanian courts and police will consider a website based in Holland to be Jordanian because of the citizenship of its owner, it will only be a matter of time before Jordanian web entrepreneurs will find non-Jordanians to register their websites.

    A bigger problem, of course, is going to be enforcement. How will a few workers be able to monitor and follow up on violators? Without a regular and fair enforcement mechanism, some fear that selective enforcement will take place, inviting politically motivated control over Jordanian websites.

    The decision of the Court of Cassation has provoked a wide protest movement among the tens of Jordanian website owners. It has also produced numerous statements by Jordanian officials, ensuring that the government is not opposed to the vibrant debate created by the electronic media and that website owners will not have to register.

    Media production is a complicated process that cannot be regulated or controlled by a law or a court decision. The best and most efficient way to ensure the success and continuity of Jordanian electronic media is self regulation and commitment to professional media standards

    Daoud Kuttab is the founder and director of PenMedia, a Palestinian media NGO that is producing Shara’a Simsim, the Palestinian version of Sesame Street. He can be reached at:\n info@daoudkuttab.com.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and is part of a special series on informal education in the Israeli-Palestinian context.

  10. #1940
    Common Activist Errors and Some Proposals to Rectify Them
    03.02.10 - 22:20

    A Palestine Think Tank Editorial

    WRITTEN BY Yousef Abudayyeh, Mohamed Khodr, Mary Rizzo, Haitham Sabbah and Saja

    Activism and activists for Palestine have been getting some media attention recently. This is absolutely great news. It is an opportunity that we need to take advantage of, especially since Palestinians themselves are denied space in almost all mainstream mass media. Reflecting on this fact, we at PTT have decided to express some of our observations, thoughts and suggestions in order to enhance the work of all activists, ourselves included. This is a summary of some of the things that we believe are some common activist errors and our proposals for avoiding that errors lead to damage. In the coming weeks we will elaborate on each of these points in essays. We hope that our observations and proposals can be of use for ourselves and for those who commit their time and energy to the Palestinian cause.

    1. Not Emphasising Unity and Being Divisionist Among Ourselves.

    Perhaps the most overriding issue that precedes all others is that of Unity. On Unity, there are two kinds: one is fundamental, the other is merely beneficial. Fundamental Unity is that between Palestinians as a People. Palestinians have a common enemy: the occupier, the adversary of Zionism/The Jewish State, and a common goal that should be shared by all: the recognition of all of their rights and implementation of the same. Sectarian divisions simply must be overcome as they are indeed overcome in the Zionist camp.

    Palestinians are scattered all over the world, with most of them living in Exile. The struggle over the last 62 years has been sustained and the name "Palestine" has survived because of the sacrifices of the Palestinians in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the Gulf States, Europe and elsewhere. Their national struggle is one, and it is for the liberation of their homeland, their mother country. It is for the return to their homes and villages and to achieve a peaceful, democratic life. We should not allow this national struggle to be reduced to the issue of the fate of a Hamas rule in Gaza and a very limited self governance "State" led by Abbas in what's left of the West Bank. Hamas and Fatah are two political parties, they are not the supreme voice of all Palestinians around the world, nor can they propose themselves as such. Just like in any other country around the world, nationalism and patriotism do not belong to parties, but to a People. It is tragic that the clashes between these parties have derailed the Palestinian aspirations, and that any opponents to either of these parties have been silenced, jailed or even killed. This is not what Palestinians have sacrificed their lives for. Nothing can occur in Palestine as long as Hamas and Fatah, each with outside supporters, are divided. It is a dramatic and damaging situation to have a Palestinian population divided along sectarian lines, and this division is precisely what Israel hopes will remain in their policy of Divide and Rule. To be divided is to serve Zionist interests. Palestinians must place the overcoming of sectarian differences as the priority. If current leaders do not want that, other leaders will emerge and earn widespread support. Already many leaders are aware of the public sentiment and the claims to dedicate their energies to reconciliation must be more than promises, they have to become facts, and Palestinians should hold them to these goals.

    A united Palestine that is back to its Arab body is the greatest threat to Israel, and elections must take place, because Palestinians, like all other people, have a right to choose their own leaders. Yet, we must differentiate between elections that happen under occupation, whose main purpose should be to make life a little easier for the Palestinians who live under the brutal Zionist rule, and elections that should include all Palestinians worldwide, which should produce their political leadership that is able, willing and ready to tackle the issues that face ALL Palestinians: the liberation of Palestine and the Return of the Palestinians to their original homes and villages. Politics must be subordinate to national interests, and all parties should come to a pact to work together towards realisation of national interests, while maintaining their identities and proposals. How to achieve Unity should take a great amount of space in discourse. It is the crucial issue.

    The Unity of Non-Palestinians is different. It has to be at the service to the goals of Palestinians and to support actions that can bring about justice and freedom for them. At the moment, its primary goal should be working on whatever will facilitate the Unity of the Palestinians and making the Palestinian national agenda the priority.

    2. Allowing Ourselves to Follow Zionist Discourse.

    In doing this, we are forced into being “reactive” and not “active”. This means losing our own framing, not developing our own strategies. There are myriad individual responses, but little in the way of coordination between them, even at an ideological level. This makes it easy for them to turn out to be counter-productive if they enter into conflict with other responses. They are not inter-connected the way the Zionist strategy is. Zionists have a “narrative”, Palestinians have their history. We need to learn about it, keep it in the spotlight and be able to advocate it with ability.

    So much has been written on Anti-Zionism, and the argument has been exhausted to the point of it being merely repetitive. We should now focus on Pro-Palestinian priorities and strategies, an area that is practically untouched upon and opens up “active” horizons. Palestinians are enduring the worst brutality and we should provide them with guidance and hope, and listen to what their ideas are. We should propose this “positive and active” approach to all activists around the world and continue to propagate this point until it reaches the people of Palestine.

    3. We Use Zionist Terminology.

    This is a mistake we commit far too often. We have to create our own terminology or reach into our own linguistic catalogue for the “best” lexicon. Zionists have done it, they have Hasbara Manuals and propaganda training. If our language is repeated often enough, people will begin to understand the basic facts. An example: we use the terms Gaza/West Bank as a substitute for Palestine, not realising that Palestine is far more than this. Indeed, even Palestinian Territories is erroneous and created a mental construct that Palestine is only equivalent to the parts outside the Green Line. This is an idea that has been imposed, but it should be rejected. In this case, we must refer to Gaza as “Gaza, Occupied Palestine”, as well as remembering to say, “Ramallah, Occupied Palestine”, “Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine” and even “Tel Al-Rabie, Occupied Palestine”. Yes, calling Tel Aviv with its original name is radical, but perhaps necessary. At the very least, it can open debate where it may be effective.

    4. We Allow Our Energies to be Diverted.

    Our energies are far too often diverted to off-topic issues, as important or as co-related as they might be, in certain moments, they tend to serve as distractions and slippery slopes, especially when we are addressing them in a reactive way. A few of these issues are the European Holocaust, Iran’s Nuclear Programme, Jewish Identity Politics, Muslim Identity Politics. On the same token, we are too often oblivious to an interconnection between global events and international politics and how they affect Palestinians. We need to focus on events, reality and not on perceived threats, preventive aggression or imperialist “nation building”. We have to pull blinders off our eyes and not hero worship anyone. All leaders look out for their particular interests, which is the way it has always been and there’s no evidence that it’s about to change. We have to think about which interests coincide with the Palestinian freedom cause and which ones “use” this cause. Having a common enemy or two does not mean sharing common causes, but following convenience. This has always been a stumbling block towards Palestinian liberation.

    Global and regional issues are often inter-connected with Palestine, although sometimes in ways that are more that meets the eye. It is important to recognise what is empty rhetoric, what could be propaganda that serves as disinformation, false flag operations and diversion from goals and principles. Propaganda comes from our friends as well as from our enemies, so we need to critically examine what comes to us and filter through only what is useful and beneficial to the cause. There may be disagreements as to what is beneficial, but we all know that the farther issues are away in time and space from Palestine, the more likely they are to be diversions.

    5. We Do Not Treat the Hebrew/Israeli Mass Media as the Hasbara It Is.

    Our sources are far too often Hasbara Organs. There are certainly some very good journalists dedicated to Palestinian people there, and not everything written in Israeli papers is propaganda, but the papers themselves ARE. The best of them serve as a sort of fig leaf. What is the purpose of most of the Israeli papers? To create a “we are under attack” mentality among Israelis and to justify their manufactured “fears” and the actions against Palestinians to abate these fears. If any proof is needed, a look at the most “progressive” Israeli paper on any given day has advertisements on its homepage for Birthright, Ahava, several clips for Gilad Shalit, Golf resorts in Palestine and other lures for people to come and colonise Palestine from outside. We should know what Israelis are writing, but we must be selective and realise the purposes of the Israeli media. In fact, we should never forget that it is there to establish Israeli hegemony in the area. It seeks to promote Israel as the legitimate voice of the West and Democracy. Sometimes these papers are designed to appeal to Westerners more than to Israelis.

    With this consideration, we don’t give the same interest or attention to Palestinian/Arab writers who certainly deserve it. Arab papers are not cited as sources. Westerners and even many involved activists do not know what Palestinian writers or academics are even thinking, because they are not getting the widespread circulation for reasons that can only be considered a sort of discrimination. This is evident simply by looking at most sites, where Europeans and Americans and Israelis command the discourse, no matter from what political position.

    A blatant example of the deafness to the Arab voice is when the Organ Harvesting crime was exposed. For many years, Palestinians have been talking about this issue and it was no secret. There was often a sort of “embarrassment” involved, as people often tagged their reports with, “I know, but don’t have any proof to show.” When a Westerner simply repeated not only what he had published before in a book, but what had been already stated by Palestinians, it became “newsworthy”. But the curious part of the matter is that it was not a Palestinian source to bring this issue up, but a Zionist paper, The Jerusalem Post. They did not print the article (it was Tlaxcala, in cooperation with the author, which translated it into English hours later) but the Israeli propaganda organ alluded to it as proof to be used as the worst evidence of smears and defamation, just in time for the Israeli Conference taking place at that moment about the Dangers of European Anti-Semitism. This important issue finally got out into the open, but we have to work harder to be the ones setting the discourse, for our own ends and not in a reactive way. Issues shouldn’t come to light or die according to an Israeli/Zionist timetable, nor should they serve any of their purposes.

    Mass media is crucial to dominate. Israel has the lion’s share of space in the mainstream media and Westerners have the lion’s share in alternative media. We should aim for increased Palestinian framing of their own cause, as well as being extremely cautious of the sources we use and the information we disseminate. With the rapidity of communications, there is much haste and little verification of facts. We must at all costs avoid spreading information that could be black operations, psychological warfare or disinformation regarding the Middle East.

    6. We Abandon Critical Thinking for Emotive Thinking.

    Emotions are part of human experience, but they don’t carry any weight in courts, they are absent from legal documents and legislation. This is a battle for justice, and our references are laws and documents, which also include procedural/diplomatic/legal regulations. If we hammer home the concept of legality and justice, we have to also abide by these principles. International law, while flawed, is on the side of the Palestinian people. It guarantees Palestinians the rights to resist occupation, right of return, right to protection and other rights besides. This is how, as advocates for the cause, we can be of greatest service. We can’t appeal to emotion (since it doesn’t work) nor act only out of emotion (as it excludes strategic planning). What is the mantra of Israel? “Israel has a right to exist”. So, if rights are their choice of battlefield, and it’s actually clear that they don’t have the legitimate right they claim, it is obvious that they are winning the propaganda war using our best instrument. We have to turn this situation around, full stop.

    On the other hand, Israel has refined and invested in their Hasbara. The same is true for supporters of Israel who influence people by means of intense emotional blackmail that is enforced by means of juxtaposition of past Jewish suffering and current Israeli identity (a combination of the survivor/victim mentality and the image of a democratic state on the brink of extermination in the midst of a hostile region). Any part of this image can be promoted with extreme professionalism. The appeal to emotions is constant, but we must recognise that these emotional triggers are manufactured, manipulated and designed to appeal to a Western audience that does not scratch beneath the surface to form its own opinions. The image/message bombardment from Hollywood especially elicits a visceral emotional response that allows only guilt or sympathy. There is no paragon in the Palestinian world to this kind of campaigning. Perhaps we need to channel the emotional appeals into effective educational instruments rather than crying amongst ourselves and wondering why the world is turning its back. If we are going to appeal to emotion, we have to calculate how to do it. Just as Zionists have successfully done.

    7. We Do Not Understand What Interests the Public.

    In contemporary times, we aren’t speaking so much to “populations” as we are to a “public” that is in some way receptive to a message. If the Gaza massacres last year, and the Lebanese massacres only 3 and a half years ago have not only tightened the control over Gaza and reinforced UNIFIL control (on behalf of Israel) of Lebanon, it’s 100% clear that NOTHING at all will phase the public. We are trying to convince them of things that they either do not care about or are unable to comprehend. It is possible that there is so much brainwashing that the slaughter in broad daylight of innocents brings no compassion or mercy, it elicits no outrage. How much does the public opinion count? They are there to provide the necessary consensus to leaders so that the leaders can maintain power. Consensus to leaders supporting Israel, then, perhaps should be undermined by other means, especially when the national interests do not coincide with this support. In the USA, for example, work could be on stressing that USA involvement in more foreign wars is expensive and that interventionist politics are damaging for Americans. If intervention is supported less and less, the policies will have to change so that power may be maintained domestically. This will result, as a consequence, in reduction of resources diverted to Israel and the “GWOT”.

    We have a responsibility to educate and inform those we are in contact with. Associations of all kinds, in Palestine and beyond, student groups, religious and cultural organisations can influence their communities and provide opportunities to engage in actions that can have an impact upon public opinion and eventually upon politics. Arab organisations are particularly obligated to assume their responsibilities and to do outreach and participate in the public discourse through op-eds, letters, protests and education so that the world will see that this issue counts for Arabs and that the time of expecting the world to solve things in the UN or the White House has come to an end.

    8. We Wait for Leaders to Sort Things Out (or for the Demographic Bomb).

    It is futile to wait for leaders to resolve this problem even if they think they are princes of peace and can save the planet. They are there for the conservation of their own power. Besides, delegating this task to them does not empower resistance, which, if strategically organised over the entire Palestinian world, CAN BE EFFECTIVE. Included as resisters are not just factions or a single ideological base. Every Palestinian party, faction or movement, every single Palestinian, wherever he or she resides in the world, is a resister. Claiming the opposite is Zionist bunk. There is a mass, a huge number of persons involved, it’s by no means limited to one type of resistance or resister. Joining them in their struggle will be others sympathetic to their cause, including Arab populations, the non-Arab international public, liberation and human rights movements around the world. Acts of coordinated solidarity, commemoration, protest, choices such as boycotts, sabotage of illegal Israeli infrastructure, media events and campaigns already exist and many do outstanding work, but they can be given greater leverage, greater focus if they share at least the same common bases. Those focusing on urging negotiations, looking for compromise solutions, or with collaboration and co-existence with Zionism have a base that is not the core goal. Long term solutions will have to come about, but the Palestinians have been waiting long enough as it is. Waiting for a “demographic bomb” to explode is not a solution either. People have the power.

    9. We Do Not Abandon What Does Not Work and Change.

    We are creatures of habit and we often seek a “comfort level” and remain there. If voting and elections “don’t work”, a different strategy is called for. If our economic support is diverted into maintaining costly structures and doesn’t go directly to the people, we have to find ways to engage in thousands of micro-projects or to independently finance communities. Sponsorisation and twinning efforts, for instance the one Bristol has done, are brilliant alternatives to some larger orgs. that perhaps have such high overhead or such flawed bookkeeping, that whatever trickles down is not enough to effect concrete change or bring relief. The actions by the volunteers at Nahr El-Bared are another wonderful example to follow. Not only do they build community, but they are tangible aide to those outside the PA food-chain. Creativity in our actions, seeking alternatives are things that need to be enhanced. There are so many orgs that already exist, let’s keep them focused and effective, and if they fail to deliver, we take stock bravely. The time has come to concentrate on positive, workable strategies. In the end, this will be what makes the difference and not Anti-Zionist rhetoric.

    10. Different Situations Require Different Solutions.

    We need to understand the milieu we are operating in. Different environments might mean an entirely different strategy. For instance, if we are in Turkey, we can overcome the task of drawing public attention to an anti-Zionist stance. It’s not an issue there. If we are in Germany, the legacy of Nazism still assumes a role in the national identity and German relations with Israel. In the USA, the budget is heavy on military spending and institutional support of Israel. In most of the West, “terrorism” is associated with “Islam”, and these are only a few examples of the dozens of particular issues that affect the international relations regarding Palestine.

    Debunking lies, while at the same time keeping the eye on the law, justice and even the convenience that each public will perceive, is a necessary task, and it’s going to vary in every single environment. Equally important is awareness of the laws/customs in the places in which we operate. If we know we will be filmed/photographed/monitored, we have to remember that our placards, the presence of flags, including the desecration of them, masks and facial covering, etc. will serve Israeli propaganda interests as long as they violate the laws/customs or are deemed as Anti-Semitic. In many countries, there are rigid rules for public assembly, participants are identified and even minor violations can be fatal for the action. In Italy, for instance, there is an absurd law that children are not “allowed” to participate in demonstrations! Even some authorised assemblies can provoke damage rather than good. A prayer assembly in Milan by Muslims that was held outside the Cathedral was a fiasco as far as PR goes. The space was indeed the most important plaza in northern Italy, but being in front of the Cathedral was sure to be attacked in the press and by the local politicians with a strong Islamophobic bent as an offence to Christians. In the heated environment of Milan, this was indeed the outcome and anyone could have predicted it. Choices have to be thought out strategically, factoring in even failure.

    In North America and many European countries, legitimate political parties are blacklisted. That means it is illegal to donate money to them or to engage in economic exchange. Anyone collecting funds to be distributed to any of these parties instead of utilising alternative NGOs or ad hoc orgs is going to wield a death blow to the donors. This is but one example of the need to know the ambient of the action, from the beginning to the end.

    11. We Fall For Too Many Hasbara Traps.

    We do “dialogue” on their terms. We accept their gatekeeping by the constant framing of their arguments that excludes our own. We utilise their language and media. We are not following our own timetable. Dialogue is important, but if it is not based on equitable rules or it loses sight that the purpose is not to simply communicate, but to elicit change, it’s a waste of our time. That alone is a major Hasbara goal; to get us to waste our time.

    12. This Is Not a Religious Issue.

    We forget far too often that this is not a religious issue. It is an issue of an Arab population being expelled from their own land to make room for the European colonisation of Arab land. It is an issue of human rights and justice. Often, religion colours the conflict, with the Zionists using the Bible to justify theft of Palestinian Land and Hamas using the Quran to resist. Yet, it is not and never was a religious issue. We oppose Israel because it has stolen Arab land and dispossessed Arab people, not because it is Jewish.

    However, since religion does dominate the discourse, rightly or wrongly, we have to seek ways to render this connection beneficial. We should work with interfaith groups if they share our goals, especially those Jewish groups who are committing much of their efforts to educating those who share their faith. The majority of Jews are not part of the Israel lobby and outreach to them builds friendship, solidarity, common strategies and debunks the myths they often hear in their local Jewish media and in their Synagogues, most of which have an Israeli flag on the Bimah.

    Likewise, Christians around the world should know that many Palestinians share their same faith and that many Arabs, including Palestinians, have kept Christianity alive in the Holy Land. The plight of these Christians, who suffer due to racist, exclusionist Israeli laws and practices, should be made known to Christians who all too often are exposed to myths and falsehoods regarding Arabs as being enemies of Christianity.

    13. We Do Not Tailor Our Discourse.

    Sometimes we fail to address the “audience” properly. We must learn to tailor our discourse for the listener, and that means we have to be aware who we are addressing and for what purposes. While refusing to use the word “Israel” is fine in private among Palestinian advocates and Palestinians, we have to realise that this entity does exist in the reality of the rest of the world. It may create confusion to refer to it differently in something like a letter we are hoping will be published in the Washington Post. We have to explain what Israel does, what kind of history it has, but we also have to realise that it is present for the listener. We should be media savvy enough to realise how our discourse will be discarded or considered by editors and how to tailor it accordingly to express the points we need to make. On the other hand, we must not shy away from the words “Jew” or “Jewish”. This is the “national character” of Israel. It is not a democratic State, but rather an exclusionist, supremacist, racist State that extends full rights and many privileges to Jews alone. This fact can’t be beautified by any means, it is reality. In addition, the IDF is a Jewish army. It’s not a “democratic” one that represents its population, since many religious Jews are excluded but even more revealing, one fifth of the registered population is comprised of Palestinians and there are many other immigrants who are not represented. They may “join” only after conversion or through specific units aimed at service as a fast-track to conversion/full rights as an Israeli. The Druze are a limited exception, again, serving so as to obtain rights excluded to them as ordinary citizens in the Jewish State. Palestinians and others have the right to use the proper terminology without being vilified for it. If heinous acts are being committed by the IDF, it is not improper to refer to them as Jews operating as the military/control branch of the Jewish State.

    14. We Need To Be Welcoming.

    We will always need more/new people in this cause and we will always meet new people. We have to create and build networks, share our knowledge and experiences, disagree in a civil manner, listen, learn, do outreach, be involved in other struggles out of sincere love of freedom. Therefore, the practice of excluding people based on their religion, political ideas, sexual preferences or lifestyles has got to be reduced. We can’t agree with all people on all things, but we too might be seen as “wrong” for the beliefs we hold, which we have a right to hold as human beings. We have no right to judge others on who they are, we should be working all together to serve the common cause. Those who use their connections for anything else are abusing and using the Palestinian people. It may not be immoral to receive money for activism, but honoraria should cover costs or be devolved to Palestinian refugees. Solidarity should not become an industry.

    15. We Put Conditions on Our Solidarity.

    Palestinians do not seek to salvage crumbs of pity from anyone and they do not require to be told what kind of resistance they should engage in or who of them is entitled to express their needs. That their struggle is not only a struggle for equal rights, it is a struggle for liberation, is a fact that is well known to them, and it requires a vast range of actions for Palestinians to survive and maintain hope of liberating themselves. The fact of the matter that most of their resistance has been non-violent should be clear to activists who frequently call on them to “find a Palestinian Gandhi” or to abandon one form of resistance or another or even declare that there is only one right form. All of these conditions, judgments and demands are unfair to Palestinians and unrealistic.

    A combination of all types of resistance as well as supportive acts coming from outside such as boycotts should be supported, unconditionally. While it is with the best intentions that activists compare South African Apartheid to the Palestinian cause, the reality is different. Palestinians are living under a brutal military occupation and face the genocide of their people. They have not obtained the support of any international organisation, and are encouraged to dig their way out of it all by negotiations for rights when they know what their rights are and all of them know what the map of Palestine looks like. They are asked to concede, to give up more, when what they are trying to do is to regain their lost land, rights and freedom.

    It goes beyond the issue of obtaining equal rights, but is quite simply put, a struggle to throw off the chains of occupation and create Palestinian society and governance in a people that has been dispersed throughout the entire world. Palestinians have no State, they have no army, and they are fighting for their very survival. They deserve our complete solidarity to defend themselves and to create the nation. Asking ourselves how we can serve them, not how they can deserve our solidarity, is the one crucial question to ask again and again, and each time, we may obtain different responses. With the goals of their liberation in mind, let us serve.

    For the movement to become a genuine ally and a true supporter of Palestine, the Palestinians and their struggle for freedom, it needs to listen to Palestinians stating their own history, claiming their narrative and defining their struggle in their own words. It has been very hard for the pro-Palestinians to explain that the question of Palestine does not begin in 1967 to the leaders of many solidarity movements in the USA and Europe, and thus the question of Return became a difficult issue with many of those leaders, causing a split within the movement into almost two equal halves. We were able to make sure that our true allies understand that all struggles are connected. We fight for human dignity and basic rights and these are some of the links between Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq. Also we cannot turn our backs on other struggles such as the struggles of the US citizens of New Orleans, the people of Haiti and others. It is important to make the connections and understand how our struggle relates to the struggles of all oppressed people, and also, the ways in which it differs.

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