Breathing while Palestinian

I recently attended a lecture on the legalities of the war on Gaza. The moderator actually began by commenting on how, from a legal view, the title "Understanding the War on Gaza" was contentious. That one mischievous little preposition, "on", opened up a Pandora's box of legal questions-- was the war ON Gaza? not IN Gaza? What legal implications are there that it was not an INTERnational war (in that it was not between two legally recognized nations)? Does this have implications for International Humanitarian Law (not really, was the consensus) What responsibilities does Israel hold as the Occupier? Is Gaza occupied? Who was the aggressor and who was the defender? Could the two year economic blockade Israel imposes on Gaza be considered an act of war? What are the criteria of self defense? And then on legal accountabilities...what options are there for holding Israel accountable for breaches of law-- should it be found to have broken it-- since it is not a member of the International Court of Justice? How is Hamas legally regarded? Is it regarded as a collective entity recognized by international law?

I must admit, I am not well versed in law. And while I took notes, the speakers posed a series of questions and expounded upon them, but did not take positions per se (except during the question/answer). With Israel/Palestine, there are many grey areas, and legally-- apparently-- it is a singular situation, and thus there is not a standard of international/war/humanitarian/occupation laws that always apply to it. There was discussion of Palestnians' focus on the Fourth Geneva Convention, and Israel's refusal to recognize it. Interestingly, one panelist relayed an annecdote from a SOAS colleague who every year has his students engage in a role playing activity. And he said that everytime he does this, whatever real-life politics those playing Palestinians hold, the "Palestinians" always rely on international law to make their arguments-- that invariably they find that legally, they are being wronged and have a case. Students who, in real life, may support Israel's expansionist policies and illegal activities-- when forced to see Israel through Palestinians' eyes--argue that its actions contradict international laws.

Much of the talk revolved around the legalities of "targetting" civilians, and the grey areas around that (a civilian may be targetted if he/she is directly participating in hostilities against the enemy, but only during the action of direct hostilities, i.e. if James had in the past directly participated in said hostilities, he cannot be targetted today for past actions, unless right at the moment of targetting he is directly participating in hostilities. That is my understanding) In response, a dear friend of mine stood up during questions and asked, "How can we begin to talk about 'targetting' when Israel is dropping one and two ton bombs into residential areas-- because ALL of Gaza is residential. How do they think they are NOT targetting civilians? With all the escape routes open to the people of Gaza (sarcasm), how can Israel not be held accountable for targetting civilians?" He received a thunderous round of applause from the audience, and an immediate shut down by one of the panelists that his argument held "0 in terms of legality".

I left the panel wondering if laws are created and upheld to issue justice to those whose rights have been violated, or to protect through "technicalities" and issues of "grey" those who execute violations. Rashid Khalidi presented the collective,mass criminalization of Palestinians as "breathing while Palestinian" (a pun off of the American saying "driving while black" that illustrates the non-Black's immediats assumption that if a Black person is driving in a White neighborhood he/she must be engaging in some criminal activity). That just breathing qualifies you as engaging in hostile activities, if you are Palestinian.

So do we try to revamp international law or work within its confines, as Israel continues to enjoy impunity from its actions, based on "technicalities" and "grey" areas? For Palestinians, it sadly seems they will be singing "I fought the law, and the law won" for quite a while without some way to hold Israel accountable for its actions. Do morality and law really not mix? in all the talk of the Law of War...where is the Law of Justice?

take a minute for 60 Minutes

On sunday, CBS's news program 60 Minutes aired an in depth, honest look at the West Bank, Israel, and the Two-State Solution, "Time running out for a two-state solution?". It showed the realities of the settler movement and the Occupation's crushing effects on Palestinian lives.

In response, CBS has been attacked for being "anti-Israel" and "anti-Jewish"...it's important that we counter this negative feedback, to let CBS know that there are people who still support even-handed, objective journalism, and appreciate the courage they have to show truthfully the reality of Palestinian life in the West Bank.

Below are two links I've recieved through which you can submit notes of support for the program. Please take a minute to do that. You can edit the standard messages to write your own.

An example message:
Thank you so much for reporting and producing a balanced, objective piece on the reality of life in the West Bank for Palestinians. This is not a story that is regularly shown in the United States, and it speaks very highly of your show and your commitment to objective journalism that you featured such a story.

Again, thank you for continuing to uphold your dedication to balanced journalism.

Through Gaza Justice Action
Through J Street

gaza aftermath, day 13

Every family has a story, here are some of them
(Eva Bartlett, EI)

Recep Erdogan storms out of Davos after clash with Israeli president over Gaza
(Guardian, includes video)

Spain investigates claims of Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza
(Guardian)

Israel must investigate Gaza war crimes: US
(al Arabiya)

Gaza residents launch legal fight to make BBC broadcast aid appeal
(Guardian)

Gaza survivor describes day 48 members of family were killed in attack
(video, Guardian)

Secret Israeli database reveals full extent of Israeli settlement
(Haaretz)

gaza aftermath, day 11

Obama's Gaza opportunity
(Tom Karon, Mother Jones)

The shortcut to peace
(Hasan Abu Nimah, EI)

Obama on Israel-Palestine
(Noam Chomsky)

Listen up, George
(Nicholas Noe, Guardian)

Gaza ceasefire of critical importance, says US Envoy
(Guardian)

Respect is not enough
(Wajahat Ali, Guardian)

Gaza Calling

Gaza Calling
edited by Adam Shapiro
music by Checkpoint 303

Impartiality and the US Itinerary

Obama sent Mitchell to the Middle East today to speak with all "the major parties involved". But not Hamas. Apparently they're either not "major" enough for the new President, or "involved" enough for Obama. Or perhaps he only wants US representatives to engage in dialogues with leaders who were democratically elected by their own people...oh wait, Mitchell's already met with Mubarak, there goes that explanation...

And as Obama made his first appearance on an Arab news station, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assured the world that the US "backed the Israel's [sic] bombardment of Gaza." She voiced her concern that "The [Palestinian] rocket barrages which are getting closer and closer to populated areas [in Israel] cannot go unanswered."

So Hillary Clinton is alarmed by Palestinian rockets which are approaching "populated areas" in Israel, but supports the "bombardment" of Israeli rockets into Gaza-- the most densely populated area on earth. How very humanitarian.

I wonder who was the last US representative to visit the Gaza Strip. I really do. They all seem to be well aquainted with Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ramallah (once in a while), Cairo...I literally do not recall ever hearing of a US representative visiting Gaza. Even after ALL of this destruction-- the unceasing images of dead and maimed children, the thousands of concrete buildings reduced to rubble, the bombing of graveyards and mosques, the exploded sewage system (yes, that's right-- on top of everything there is a public health crisis of broken sewage systems), the hundreds of thousands of Gazans without electricity, water, or medical attention-- Gaza is still not on the itinerary for US representatives pursuing a "true and lasting peace" in the Middle East.

But then again, it wasn't on the BBC either. Apparently recognition of Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe somehow compromises your "impartiality"...but we can recognize the threats of Hamas rockets into Sderot, and support the people of Sderot's security as "paramount" and remain even handed? What was the final exchange of deaths? 1,400:13? 108:1?

God keep us all from such racist impartiality in the face of barbarity, and give us the strength to continue to give Gazans the honor, dignity, and respect they deserve as we would give any other human on this earth. They are not an exception.

back to school in gaza

the first placard reads: the martyr 'Amr Qudas

(the placards commemorate the memory of these boys'
schoolmates, killed during the Gaza attacks)

gaza aftermath, day 10

Mitchell heads to Middle East to initiate dialogue between Israel and Hamas
(Guardian)

Gazans wounded in Israeli air raid
(al Jazeera english)

George Mitchell and the Middle East
(Gerry Adams, Guardian)

TV appeal for Gaza raises 1m pounds, despite BBC and Sky refusal (and BBC faces lawsuit over broadcast refusal)
(Guardian)

Obama: Time for Palestinians, Israelis to talk
(Haaretz, plus youtube video of his al Arabiya interview)

gaza aftermath, day 9

The Indian example
(Radhika Sainath, EI-- on non-violence vs. violence as means of resistance)

Gaza appeal video
(Guardian-- the video BBC will not air)

Tony Benn makes his own appeal on BBC
(youtube video "if you won't broadcast the Gaza appeal then I will myself.")

Error of judgement
(Editorial, Guardian)

Fear and trauma in Gaza's schools
(al Jazeera english)

Writing checks for Gaza is easy. Politics is the tricky bit.
(Chris Patten, Guardian)

Americans turn to Al Jazeera for coverage of Gaza conflict
(Guardian)

For Gaza's dead children

We have been flooded with your memories. Do not think your faces have blended together. Each of you has died a horrific and unique death. And we honor you and remember you. We remember you.

We see your chest, riddled with dime sized holes from phosphorous munitions...and know our silence was complience.

We see your eye lids stitched shut, after a bomb's fury ripped out your eyeballs...and we know our governments helped do this.

We see your porcelain faces, calm like a sleeping doll...and know we must fight so your brothers and sisters will never sleep this macabre slumber.

We see your body without legs and arms...and feel shame.

We see you without family, without your beloved parents...and know this is an unbearable loss, a void that no cease-fire, or two-state solution can ever fill.

I feel a sense of responsibility for these losses, these deprivations. That somehow, something I-- we-- could have done, would have spared these children their lives...and the loss of their beloved families. Their deaths and losses are done. We cannot bring them back to life through tears or guilt. But we can remember them. We can remember that their deaths do not have to be repeated. Ever. They were, and are, preventable. I think it is important to remember that this number of 1,300 is comprised of unique, beloved, funny, grumpy, smart, creative, stubborn, generous, strict, curious, human individuals-- each person has a story and a name. What we read as numbers of casualties and piles and piles of names, each one holding the story of an entire person, who was loved by many...both living and dead. We must remember they are human. They are not numbers.

In particular, I remember the lurch in my stomach reading about Shahed Abu Sultan, an 8 year old girl who was killed by an Israeli helicopter who shot her in the head. Her father wrote her a letter...

"I cried a sea of tears for you but those tears have not calmed my heart because you left, my daughter. I have no tears remaining, but my heart wants to go on cryng blood, my daughter, my beloved Shahed. Your smooth smile, your sweet and angelic face, we miss you with each moment, our darling. My daughter Shahed died once, but I die a million times a day...My heartache will go on forever."

We continue to fight for the children of Gaza, so they may have a future brighter, and less destructive, than phosphorous bombs. And for the babas of Gaza, so they will never have to cry again.

gaza aftermath, day 8

Archbishop of Canterbury joins criticism of BBC refusal to screen Gaza appeal
(Guardian)

The BBC has been here before
(Nigel Fountain, Guardian-- BBC and apartheid 35yrs ago)

From London to Gaza
(George Galloway, Guardian)

Egypt aims to cement Gaza ceasefire
(al Jazeera english)

Children of Gaza in Egyptian hospitals
(video, al Jazeera English)

Schools reopen
(pictures, al Jazeera english)

gaza aftermath, day 6

Please visit Electronic Intifada for a variety of excellent pieces on Gaza and Palestine in general...it is very hard to pick out just one or two to post, so I would encourage you all to visit it independently.

The children of Palestine
(Rory McCarthy, Guardian-- personal stories of 10 children who were killed)

UN human rights official:Gaza evokes memories of Warsaw Ghetto
(Haaretz)

Q/A with Taghreed el Khodary, NYT reporter from, and in, Gaza

The Self defense defense
(Rachel Shabi, Guardian)

Israel forms war crimes defense team
(al jazeera english)

BBC refuses airtime to Gaza aid appeal
(Guardian)

Is the BBC right on Gaza?
(Guardian poll-- please vote!)

In praise of...The Disaster Emergency Committee
(Editorial, Guardian)

Sharpeville, 1960, Gaza 2009
(Dr. Haider Eid, EI)

Why I'm boycotting Israeli produce
(Blog, Guardian)

Journey Home
(short film showing the return of exiled Palestinians to Palestine, al Jazeera english)

gaza aftermath, day 5

Who will save the Palestinians?
(Mark LeVine, al Jazeera English-- very good read on the merits of violent vs. non-violent resistance and a brief history of Hamas)

So far, Obama's missed the point on Gaza
(Robert Fisk, Independent)

Gaza war ended in utter failure for Israel
(Gideon Levy, Haaretz)

Obama lays out Middle East vision
(al Jazeera english)

Protests over Gaza spread to eight English Universities
(Guardian)

Stop trying to Hamas, Deal with us
(Khaled Meshal, Haaretz)

gaza aftermath, day 4

Why Israel won't survive
(Ali Abu Nimah, EI...excellent piece)

Israeli refuseniks confront the IDF from Ni'lin to Tel Aviv
(Haaretz, on the continuing refusenik movement)

Israel admits troops may have used phosphorous shells in Gaza
(Guardian)

Belgium court petitioned to arrest Livni upon arrival in Brussels
(Haaretz)

Israel's right to defend itself
(Jospeh Massad, EI)

Obama's foreign policy agenda is deafeningly silent on Gaza or Palestine
(White House)

Obama's Mid East policy could take cues from Northern Ireland experience
(Johnathon Freedland, Guardian)

Israel and the white heat of justice
(John Palmer, Guardian)

map of incursion

A collective of activists in Beirut have created an illustrative map of the areas of bombardment in Gaza and the number of casualties and injured. This is a great resource for dissemination, and links to some blogs coming out of Gaza.

Hope and Change for Gaza? Yes, we can.

Now the dust is settling in Gaza. Now we are collectively exhaling sighs of relief that no more Gazans are being killed, they are now only dying of treatable injuries made fatal by lack of medical supplies, medical personnel, and medical infrastructures like hospitals. Now puppet leaders who sold the Palestinians down the river years ago are lunching over how to "solve Gaza" and Israel is saying it will "continue" to negotiate with its Arab neighbors (note: its Arab neighbors in Gaza are not included). Now America-- and a large part of the world-- is celebrating the ushering in of Hope and Change with President Obama. Now Gazans are sifting through rubble and collecting bodies (and body parts) to try to identify and bury (where I don't know...as the graveyards are either full or bombed). Now the foreign press has entered and witnessed the carnage first hand.

Now the hard part comes.

The ongoing rage is subsiding, as pictures of dead babies fade to the background and calls for inquiries on war crimes come to the forefront. This latest round of massacring has produced an unprecedented level of open criticism of Israel. Calls for boycotts are being taken seriously across the world. People are finally organizing in a seemingly productive way for Palestinian rights. Because now-- this momentum-- is what will carry us forward to ensure that this never happens again. We need to continue this movement. Continue raising money. Donating time, talent, resources. Writing letters to the editor. Attending rallies. Writing poems. Convening town hall meetings. Attending town hall meetings. I attended a rally yesterday in which the speaker relayed at the last town hall meeting, they formed a Union of Mothers, and a Union of Bodega Owners (itihaad ashaab al mahalat, "wa kolna ashaab al mahalat") which promised to boycott Israeli goods. This movement of boycott was a strong force against Apartheid rule in South Africa. It should be embraced and executed to pressure Israel to respect Palestinian rights. We must keep up the momentum. Admittedly this becomes harder and harder with each day that "the Gaza crisis" fades into the memory of "another episode of violence in the Middle East". But we must remain organized. We cannot only be reactive to these atrocities. We must be proactive to prevent them from ever happening again. We must organize so Gaza does not keep rebuilding to point zero, but can move on and move forward and grow as a society and people have the right to. This is in all of our hands. It is incumbent upon us to use whatever means we can-- donations, art, writing, boycott, organizing-- so Gaza may live freely. So that one day justice may rain down on Gaza, and never again phosphorous bombs.

To Americans-- take a minute and write your representative and call President Obama ((202) 456-1111) and remind him that Hope and Change apply also to Palestinians. This only takes a minute and it is imperative that our voices are heard. It is unacceptable that a week ago, calls supporting Israel's actions outnumbered those condemning it 10:1. Get on the phone. You can also email him at president@whitehouse.gov



SAMPLE LETTER (please edit and personalize it!)

Dear Rep. ____,

As your constituent, I am very disappointed in your unwavering support for an Israeli operation in Gaza that everyday takes us further away from viable and sustainable peace in the Middle East.

The simple title of the resolution is troubling. While "reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel," it includes "supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process" as a purpose. So clearly supporting Israel's actions, with little recognition of the humanitarian crisis that is and has been unfolding in Gaza, not only compromises American legitimacy in acting as a responsible broker of a peace arrangement, but threatens to make this conflict even more intractable. The more we back these extreme military actions without acknowledging grievances on both sides, the less we will be able to support a peace process. Most importantly, the more innocent Palestinian and Israeli civilians suffer.

Israel wants to protect its residents in the South, but is actually making life more dangerous for them, as it is clear that the operation is not achieving its stated goal of destroying Hamas's capability to fire rockets. Despite the beating it has taken, Hamas is still firing and probably will continue to. Gideon Lichfield, former JerusalemEconomist, questions whether deterrence works. "Deterrence has to be equal to the enemy's fear of defeat; when the only defeat is annihilation, there is no deterrence unless Israel is prepared to reduce all of Gaza to rubble." Hamas has shown that it will continue to fight back. Continued escalation of the conflict will not lead to a peaceful solution, but will only make life more miserable for the innocent civilians on both sides.

Apart from the humanitarian issue, I am concerned as an American that our legitimacy on the world stage has been severely compromised, fueling the fire of extremists who consider us their enemies. This is a national security issue, and I am concerned that we do not improve our own standing as an actor for peace or the prospects for peace in the region by blindly supporting Israel's more extreme policies, militarily and symbolically. If the U.S. wants to be a true friend to Israel, we ought to be willing to question its choices and determine that its actions are not always in the interest of regional stability.

I, and many other constituents in (STATE NAME), urge you to publicly express the need for an immediate cease-fire and resumption of aid flowing into Gaza.

As a Representative who believes in human rights and understands the importance of American standing in the world, take a stand. Do it for the Palestinians suffering under suffocating and hopeless conditions in Gaza, for the Israelis living in fear of rocket fire, and for Americans hoping that their country's legitimacy and standing in the world is not compromised.

Thank You,

gaza aftermath, day 3

'I felt it was my duty to protest'
(an interview with Ilan Pappe, Guardian)

Outcry over weapons used in Gaza
(al Jazeera english)

Posturing and laughter as victims rot
(Robert Fisk, Independent)

UN Chief urges probe
(al Jazeera english)

Gaza doctors struggle to treat deadly wounds consistent with phosphorous use
(Rory McCarthy, Guardian)

Gazans say IDF ignored white flags, shot at them
(Amira Hass, Ha'aretz)

Amid dust and death, a family's story speaks for the terror of war
(Rory McCarthy, Guardian)

Gaza has exposed the Arab leaders to fury and contempt
(Ian Black, Guardian)

Israel wanted a humanitarian crisis
(Ben White, Guardian)

Israel's disconnect
(Julie Flint, Guardian)

gaza aftermath, day 2

Gaza film shows white phosphorous from alleged Israeli attack
(Guardian)

The real damage in Gaza
(Anas Altikriti, Guardian...on Israel's ever decreasing moral clarity)

Israel rushes to withdraw troops as Gaza reconstruction talks begin
(Rory McCarthy, Guardian)

Before and After
(photos, Guardian)

Telling the truth about war
(Savitri Hensman, Guardian)

So I asked the UN secretary general, isn't it time for a war crimes tribunal?
(Robert Fisk, Independent)

gaza aftermath, day 1

Lull after the storm
(Amjad Atallah and Daniel Levy, Guardian...long, very good)

Egypt summit backs peace efforts
(al Jazeera english...very good, critical)

Can Hamas still walk tall in Gaza's streets?
(Peter Beaumont and Hazem Balousha, Guardian)

"Israel has achieved nothing from this"
(Inigo Gilmore in Gaza, Guardian)

A pointless war has led to a moral defeat for Israel
(Editorial, Guardian)

An open response to A.B. Yehoshua
(Gideon Levy, Haaretz)

Hamas calls Gaza ceasefire and sets deadline for Israeli withdrawal
(Guardian)

Israeli ceasefire offers precious respite, but little has changed
(Ian Black, Guardian)

Israel accused of war crimes over 12-hr assault on Gaza village
(Fida Qishta in Gaza, Guardian)

Gaza Diary: To die with hope
(Mohammad Ali in Gaza, al Jazeera english)

Clashes follow Israeli "cessation"
(al Jazeera english)

We Will Not Go Down (in Gaza)

hear Michael Heart's inspiring song/video on Gaza's steadfastness.

3's company? not with Israel

Imminent is a unilateral ceasefire. As my friend assured me the other night that it would, it comes just before Barack Obama's inauguration and a hazy future of Israeli-American relations. Hazy in that Israel is unsure if it will receive a carte-blanche of destruction from the US government anymore. The relationship between these two nations will continue strong, while others (Mauritenia, Qatar, Syria, Bolivia, and Venezuela) have severed ties with Israel in protest of its inhumane attacks on Gaza. So Israel crammed this 3 week war in, just when Bush was fading out of public view and would surely not take any sort of action against them, and Obama--with his promises of "hope and change"-- had not yet assumed power.

Israel and the United States have signed an agreement for Gaza's border, in which the US will provide "technical assistance" to ensure that Gaza will "never again be used as a launching pad against Israeli cities", as Rice stated. Not, predictably, to ensure that Gaza will never again be starved, occupied, and strangled. It is certainly welcome news that Israel will soon cease its indefatigable attacks on the people of Gaza. God knows they need rest from bombs, shelling, blood, death, and destruction. But, as before-- this ceasefire agreement seems to be missing one key element...the consultation and agreement of Palestinians. Israel and the United States talk, and make agreements which shape the lives (and deaths) of Palestinians, without setting aside their colonialist ideals and taking seriously the words of the Palestinians. Israel runs on unilateral decisions-- its withdrawal fromg Gaza in 2005, its construction of the Apartheid Wall.

These unilateral, and bilateral decisions with the States, will not and cannot lead to any real peace. Palestinians, in the case of the Gaza attacks, Hamas, must have an equally respected and weighted voice in the outcomes of the land. Whether or not Israel likes it, whether or not Israel bombs the hell out of Gaza and builds innumberable illegal settlement-colonies in the West Bank, Palestinians exist. This is the problem Israel has faced since before its creation. Palestinians exist. When Palestinians are consulted, during "negotiations", Israel increases settlement building, continues the construction of the Apartheid Wall, continues demolishing homes, and jailing youth. But far too often-- during these episodes of bloody violence-- Palestinian representatives are not taken seriously in the creation of a cessation of violence. It just does not make sense-- you cannot create a real peace without legitimately and seriously talking with one of the two peoples involved. The US is not being bombed. The US is not being starved. The US has electricity and fuel and functioning hospitals. The US is not watching its children dying continuously with no ability to help them. Gaza is. The US should not replace Palestine in agreements, but should complement them (in absence of any real unbiased mediator). Sidestepping Palestinians reeks of colonialism, when Europeans would decide the fates of the dark, colonized "natives"-- drawing up borders that pleased their own interests, rather than those of the indigenous people, and placing sychophantic leaders, rather than democratically elected leaders from the people (ahem, Hamas). And we all know how well that policy worked out.

A real agreement must include the people of Gaza, the representatives of the people of Gaza. Hopefully Obama's administration will realize that in the case of Palestine-Israel, 3 is company, 2 is ineffective.

gaza attacks, day 22

The Palestinians say: 'This is a war of extermination'
(Ahdaf Soueif, Guardian)

How many divisions?
(Uri Averny, Gush Shalom)

How to sell ethical warfare
(Neve Gordon, Guardian...read this then #3)

'We are creating suicide bombers from the sons of the dead'
(Guardian, on Israeli soldiers who refuse to serve in the army)

Trauma and terror in Gaza
(Sami Abdel Shafi (in Gaza), Guardian)

Fresh evidence of Israeli phosphorous use in Gaza emerges
(Guardian)

Qatar, Mauritania cut ties with Israel
(al Jazeera english)

Time for Israel to be put on trial
(Elna Sondergaard, EI)

Doctor's loss caught on video
(video, al Jazeera English...he was lucky enough to have an Israeli contact, what of the other fathers who have lost their children?)

The plot against Gaza
(Johnathon Cook, EI)

Israel shells UN school in Gaza
(al Jazeera english)

When it comes to Gaza, leave the Second World War out of it
(Robert Fisk)

gaza attacks, day 21

at 3 weeks...

This is what Hell must look like
(the personal account of 2 Norwegian doctors who were working in Gaza. Gwladys Fouche, Guardian)

Syria: "Cut all ties with Israel"
(al Jazeera english)

In death, there is no rest in Gaza

Yesterday Israel bombed Gaza's largest graveyard, Sheikh Radwan cemetery. In Gaza, where there is no more room to bury the dead, those who have already passed and were lucky enough to be afforded room for burial were bombed. Graves were destroyed. Bones are scattered everywhere. Even in death, there is no rest for the people of Gaza. I have two friends whose grandparents are/were buried there. I cannot imagine the distress they must feel at this violation of sanctity. My grandmother passed away this summer, which was an incredible loss for me. After two months in Beirut I finally mustered up the courage to go to her grave to leave flowers...and was overwhelmed with a sense of peace of being near her, knowing she was at rest. One of my grandfathers died before the Lebanese civil war, and his grave was destroyed during the war. How unsettling, unpeaceful it must be...my heart aches for those whose loved ones' eternal rest was irrevocably disrupted by bombs. How cruel and base to hit a cemetery. Is there no rest even for the dead?

That was yesterday. That was about the dead. Today, Israel bombed a UN warehouse, holding emergency relief supplies to be disseminated to Gaza. Thousands of tons of food and medical supplies will be lost. Burned away. And spitefully, Israel shelled the warehouse not with a conventional bomb, but with phosphorous shells-- whose smoke turns toxic when mixed with water. So now those who survive this onslaught will have that much less food, that fewer medical supplies to heal the wounded.

I am so horrified, outraged, and deeply saddened...I feel there are really no words that can in any way relay my profound sorrow.

Last March, I saw the New York screening of Sling Shot Hip Hop (an incredible documentary for those who haven't seen it) with a friend of mine involved in issues of social justice, but not particularly knowledgeable of Palestine. When we walked out, both a bit stunned by the impact of the film, he just said, "It's unbelievable..." and that word, "unbelievable" resonated so deeply at that moment. What happens in Palestine IS unbelievable, in the truest sense of the word. Until you have been there, until you have been forced through apocalyptic checkpoints, humiliated at those checkpoints, been interrogated senselessly, seen and felt the monstrous weight of the Apartheid wall, walked through the refugee camps (which are really ghetto-ized urban settlements, a testament to their permanence), until you have felt the racism and separation that permeates the air, you cannot fully and truly believe it. It seems nonsensical. Imagine a land where there are so many dead that there is nowhere to bury them. Imagine a land where nearly every man has been imprisoned, detained, or humiliated. Imagine a land where only certain cars with certain distinct liscence plates may use certain roads. Imagine a land where you live behind a 30 foot tall concrete wall with barbed wire and watch towers. Imagine that in Gaza, now EVERY child has been traumatized by war. Every, single one. Imagine.

This is Palestine. This is Gaza. And it's unbelievable.

Children in Gaza need to know we care

send a message of love and solidarity to the children of Gaza...

gaza attacks, day 20

Growing outrage at the killings in Gaza
(open letter to British government from British academics, Guardian)

US suspends munitions delivery to Israel
(Guardian)

Israel hits UN refugee agency in Gaza
(Guardian)

A crisis in Judaism
(Brian Klug, Guardian)

When Israel expelled Palestinians
(Randall Kuhn, Washington Times-- a scathing explanation of the creation of Gaza today. must read.)

War as child's play
(Gideon Levy, Haaretz)

The gates of Hell, the window to Heaven
(Leila al Haddad, Electronic Intifada)

Why children are the first casualties of war in Gaza
(Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Guardian)

Venezuela breaks off Israel ties
(al Jazeera english)

Bolivia cuts Israel ties over Gaza
(al Jazeera english)

Babies born in Gaza war
(video, al Jazeera english)

the times they are a-changin'

In Bob Dylan's immortal words...

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Indeed, this time around, in this invasion, public opinion is shifting. Or rather, those who were more reticent to voice their opinions are finding the courage to vocalize their horror. This time around. Increasingly, the words of "holocaust" and "concentration camp"are being applied to the carnage in imprisoned gaza. It took 1,010 dead Palestinians in 19 days, for public spokespersons to find their courage. Now we know at least the level of atrocity that provokes (some) public figures out of their silence. This word of holocaust-- long monopolized by the Jewish community-- is being vocally applied to Gaza. A member of the Vatican recently remarked that Gaza was increasingly resembling a concentration camp. Even the Israeli government, in early spring of 2008, warned of holocaust-like response to Gaza if rocket fire did not cease. This word, a taboo for so long, is finding its way out of the mouths of public figures in response to Gaza, and into public discourse. It is beginning. I recently saw the Israeli film Waltz with Bashir, in which one of the main characters describes the Sabra and Shatila massacres as reminiscent of images of concentration camps. Even within Israeli society there is a shift. Maybe now we can begin to apply this word to other appropriate situations, or dissect its meaning and how we use it. Is "holocaust" synonymous with "ethnic cleansing"? in which case there are a plethora of other historical holocausts. Or does it describe the perversely systematic nature of the experience? To hold the Jewish Holocaust, as horrific as it was, as the singular, apex of human suffering and barbarity is to continuously cast Jews as victims of persecution. And yes, there remains in the world a horrible level of anti-Jewishness. But by constantly evoking this image of Jewish suffering, one regards Jews as the victims of terrible oppression, which they were...but forgets that some Jews are now turning around and becoming oppressors. It somehow exonerates them from treating Palestinians with humanity. This experience, this word, exculpates them in the eyes of the world from gross human rights abuses and war crimes, constantly victimizing them. And that is what pains me so much sometimes, to know that a people who know this suffering...they can then inflict it upon others. But as they say, "history is doomed to repeat itself."

It has taken this level of barbarity for the international community to (sort of) find its voice and say "this time, Israel has gone too far." Not the other times-- 1,000+ dead Lebanese was easier to swallow because it took 33 days to get there. Not when Israel pounded Gaza in 2006, then also killing entire families with one bomb. Now we have an established baseline of outrage-- 1000 in 19 days. An exchange rate of aproximately 53 Palestinians killed each day.

So now some writers are questioning Israel's response and challenging whether this is an "appropriate" level of retaliation. Now they are able to find their voices. Now they are able to say that this is not "acceptable"-- by their standards, for it's always these Western figures who determine the level of "acceptable" numbers of deaths for the non-West, isn't it? How gross. Perhaps, perhaps, a positive outcome of this latest incursion will be that people will be able to voice criticism of Israel's inhumane, illegal actions and not be labeled anti-semetic (which is a misnomer as Semetic describes Jews and Arabs...two people linked from way back. So when you say "anti-semetic" you are refering to discrimination against the Semetic people, who are Arab and Jewish). Maybe standing up for human rights won't mean you are ostracized for your "radical" views. Maybe. I hope so, I hope some positive change comes out of the deaths in Gaza. Maybe the communities fighting for Palestinian rights will become more organized so WE don't let this happen again. Maybe more writers will find the courage to vocalize their condemnation of Israel's actions. Maybe people around the world will continue to see the real images of dead Palestinian children that give them pause to reconsider their inclination of "Israel has the right to defend itself." So keep your eyes wide, though the chance may come again.

gaza attacks, day 19

Europe stalls on closer Israeli links in Gaza protest
(Ian Traynor, Guardian)

Palestinian death toll in Gaza reaches 1,000
(Guardian)

Amid the horror and doom of Gaza, the IRA precedent offers hope
(Johnathan Freedland, Guardian)

Israel's free ride ends
(Michelle Goldberg, Guardian)

War crimes in Gaza? lets look closer to home
(Phil Shiner, Guardian)

Israel may face UN cour ruling on legality of Gaza conflict
(Afua Hirsch, Guardian)

UN rappoteur Richard Faulk on Gaza offensive
(video, al Jazeera english)

In Lebanon, "we are all Gaza"
(Christian Porth, al Jazeera english)

Gaza Diary: Where is the humanity?
(Mohammad Ali from Gaza via al Jazeera english)

Displaced and desperate in Gaza
(Safah Joudeh, al Jazeera english)

gaza attacks, day 18

Mideast Dream Team? Not Quite
(Roger Cohen, NYT)

Gaza, day by day
(the interactive guide to Gaza)

Gaza Diary: Are we not human?
(read this for a very real feeling of the fear and sense of injustice plaguing Palestinians in Gaza)

Gazans trapped in no man's land between fire, farmland
(Amira Hass for Ha'aretz)

Who will save Israel from itself?

Israel is targetting medics

Gaza survival
(2 minute video)

Demands grow for Gaza war crimes investigation

We believe in resistance, not revenge
(Basim Naim, Minister of Health in Gaza government of Hamas. This posting is not a show of support for Hamas, but I think it is important to hear what Hamas representatives have to say to get a balanced understanding of the players involved.)

the oppressed must bear the burden of liberating themselves, politely and inoffensively.

at a protest yesterday against israel's continuing violence in gaza, a group of guys next to me started chanting "long live the intifada! long live the intifada!" (for those who don't know, 'intifada' means 'uprising' in Arabic)...and i thought how easy it is for us, over here, far far far away from hunger, true cold, and bombs to vocally support another uprising, without ourselves suffering any of the consequences of it directly. perhaps their call was for literally, another uprising. maybe they were chanting to lend their support to any sort of continued palestinian resistance--armed, intellectual, artistic...whatever form it might take...subsumed under the title of intifada.

peter beaumont wrote today in the guardian of the merits of armed resistance. for as long as i've been critically engaged in the palestinian struggle, i've tried to formulate one opinion on armed resistance-- good or bad? right or wrong? moral or immoral? and still, after years, it is grey in my mind. i know i don't believe in violence as means to an end. i have deep moral qualms about the taking of another person's life, even if that person has committed haneous, unforgivable crimes. i am not comfortable with violence of any form-- physical, emotional, psychological...but at the same time, i know that no resistance movement has ever suceeded which did not have aspects of it which were militant or violent. every independence movement i know of included factions which embraced violence-- from the Black civil rights movement in the US to the Indian independence movement to the anti-apartheid struggles of Africans in South Africa. struggles have always included an array of resistance strategies and actions. Even Patrick Henry, as we learned in 4th grade American history class, espoused the desire, "give me liberty or give me death!"...a life without liberty is none at all...so how do you acheive it? i don't know...

beaumont poses the question, "when do we regard armed resistance as being acceptable?"...which glosses over the fact that "armed resistance" implies that there is something to resist against-- implicit in this question is the acknowledgement that there is an oppressive force which merits resistance...armed or not being the focus of this postulation. and again the onus is borne upon the shoulders of the oppressed to fight their oppression and subjugation in terms acceptable to "the free world" and the judging allies of its oppressors. the oppressed must bear the burden of liberating themselves, politely and inoffensively.

so in turn, i would pose the question, "when do we regard oppression as being acceptable?"

gaza attacks, day 17

Things one sees from The Hague
(Gideon Levy...excellent)

supreme emergency in gaza
(a look at armed resistance and an analysis of the term "terrorism" and how we use it)

Israel's 'colonial tactics' decried
(calling a spade a spade)

Israel continues to waltz
(review of the Israeli film Waltz with Bashir, and its relevance to Gaza now)

Medicine with frontiers
(a look at the Egyptian hospital which is barely receiving Palestinian patients)

Gaza conflict will shake the Arab world
(effect of Gaza on the rest of the Arab world)

Profits of war
(economics of palestinian-israeli conflict)

Abnormal state
(Israel's double standards with the UN)

UN watchdog condemn's war on Gaza

on defeat and a phoenix

newspapers are declaring that Olmert says Israel is nearing its "objectives". none of these papers have clarified for us what exactly these purported "goals" are, other than the redundant, indefatigable line of "crushing Hamas capability". for us, sitting at home reading news obsessively, watching images of children dying, homes being crushed, and peace slipping further and further out of sight...this goal of crushing hamas, well, it seems a smokescreen for some greater, hidden aim. an aim which is now hidden behind the smoke of white phosphorous munitions.

the people of Gaza know the aim. every bomb that explodes cries out "we want to get rid of you" "your lives are worthless to us". they know the aim is to crush Gaza, not Hamas--two very seperate entities, although the Western press would not have you think so with its unfounded allegations Hamas fighters infiltrating every pore of Gazan society-- a paltry excuse and justification for Israel's indiscriminant attacks.

Rashid Khalidi spelled out Israel's hidden agenda in quoting the 2002 IDF chief of staff..."The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.”

and so the bombs resonate deep into the recesses of childrens memories...into palestinians' consciousness...but not that they are a defeated people. that they are an unvalued people. a hated people. that is what resonates in my consciousness, with every person in Gaza that Israel succeeds in getting rid of.

but not defeat.

never defeat.

Israel has never acheived this goal of convincing Palestinians that they are a defeated people, for all the billions and trillions of dollars worth of arms they have employed against them. for all the thousands of houses demolished. for the thousands of young boys illegally detained in israeli jails. for those same boys who are tortured. for the 1.5 million Gazans they have been starving. for the hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns razed and destroyed in the creation of Israel in 1948. never, never have Palestinians believed they are defeated.

because a people who have nothing, have nothing to lose. the fight will continue. this i know. this i see every time i go to a protest and see generations of Palestinians marching together. solid. strong. dedicated. from the 70 year old grandmother in her embroidered dress, to the 5 year old boy draped in a palestinian flag-- struggling to carry a sign his same height.

so if this is Israel's aim, they might want to revise it...because this is an unachievable goal. but Israel knows no way other than might. It will continue to bombard, and Palestine will continue to rebuild...for Palestine, and especially Gaza in its ashen hell, has proven time and time again that it is a phoenix which will rise from the rubble of Israel's destruction.

gaza attacks, day 16

day by day in Gaza
(an interactive, day by day look at Gaza attacks)

Israel "using white phosphorous"

Gaza Diary
(voice from Gaza)

My hero of the Gaza war
(Gideon Levy on al Jazeera)

A big shudder on the wing
(Haaretz editorial against Israel's bombardment)

(inspiration from Bethlehem)
keep fighting
keep loving

Palestine will be free.

gaza attacks, day 15

The time of righteousness
(by Gideon Levy...READ THIS ONE)

If you (or I) were Palestinian

a week in Rafah

Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction

Tired Middle East comparisons
(Robert Fisk)

through the looking glass...

this is a purely fictional piece, a fake news article I wrote...all the names are fictional, with one sole, presidential exception. so imagine, for a moment, if the press reported on israel/palestine with a "pro-palestinian" slant and world leaders viewed the conflict through the eyes of Gazans...(i personally hate this "pro-israel"/"pro-palestine" dichotomy...as though we are cheering on a boxing match, choosing sides. to me "pro-palestinian" is synonymous with pro-human rights, equality, and equity...)

(December, 2008 Gaza City) Today, in an unprecidented move, Israeli bombs rained down upon the tiny area of the Gaza Strip. Home to 1.5 million people, the most densely populated area in the world, the Gaza Strip is largely defenseless against Israeli invasions.

"Bombs were falling everywhere! I was about to go visit my neighbor to ask for some bread, when a bomb landed on her house just a few meters away. My children's school has been hit now too. Thank God they were not there. Why are they doing this to us!?" cried Hala Abusalim. The Gaza Strip, in which she lives, has been the site of ongoing aggression by Israelis for the past year and a half. For over a year, Israel has economically strangled this tiny area of land and the people in it. Mounting frustration due to hunger and lack of medical supplies are prompting some locals to pressure Israel to stop terrorizing them. "We just want to live, like everyone else. Why won't they let us live? My daughters have nightmares now and refuse to leave my side. We sleep together."

Ahmad Salah, a militant from Gaza says, "They have given us no choice. Our children want to live in peace. They want to be able to eat and go to school like all children around the world. We have no choice but to defend our families."

Over the summer, President-elect Barack Obama visited the Gaza Strip, coldly rebuffing the state of Israel, which has been largely ostracized of late by the international community for its actions of state-sponsored terrorism. He visited mosques and UN schools and sat with Gazan families who had been affected by the Israeli seige and learned that 262 children had been killed by the siege. During his trip he remarked, "If someone were denying my family food, electricity, education, freedom of movement, employment, infrastructure, and basic humanity-- well, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that stops."

Today, American politicians echoed Obama's sentiments, with Republican leader Allen Smith defying Americans to spend one week living in the conditions of terror and abject poverty of Gaza, and not to want to protect themselves against such cruelty. He reaffirmed the United States' commitment to human rights and the war on terror and pledged to rebuild Palestinian infrastructure and supply arms to defend Palestinians' right to exist.

As Gaza continues to be victim to Israel's aggression, 46 Palestinians were killed today. Ghassan Abdullah, the youngest victim, was a 5 year old boy who enjoyed school and playing with his friends. His favorite color was blue, like the sea. He wanted to be a teacher when he grew up.

Reporting live, from the Gaza Strip...where hope is grim, but determination is strong.

gaza attacks, day 14

CNN and Mustafa Barghouti on who broke the ceasefire

Mark Regev interview
(with real questions..around minute 9)

Israel shelled Gazans after evacuating them, UN says

Rafah razed

Not in my name
(Jewish voice of dissent against Israel's bombardment)

the children
(they wonder where the hate comes from...it comes from bombs)

A Jew's prayer for the children of Gaza
(read after the pictures)

In the name of humanity, what is Israel doing?

This is a question British Channel 4 news posed to Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister in a recent interview after Israel prevented the International Red Cross from accessing injured Gazans for 3 days (Regev's interview starts around minute 9).

What is Israel doing...the amount of destruction Israel has wielded upon Gaza is incomprehensible, and forever unjustifiable. And yet, people continue to justify it. Regev struggled to repeat over and over to the reporter that his soldiers were fighting a difficult war. This is true. A war of tanks and bombs and artillary against a people whose sole objective is to live, exist, physically endure is very difficult. Closed-eared people dogmatically argue that Hamas openly calls for the destruction of Israel in its charter. Yes, it does. And Israel's actions openly, actively work to destroy Palestinian society and advancement. Israel denies sick Palestinians medical visas to recieve the healthcare they need; denies students travel visas to attend universities abroad, trapping them inside of Gaza and wasting their scholarship; humiliates Palestinians through the daily experience of checkpoints; closes up Gazas borders so that Palestinians are literally starving; IDF soldiers shoot at peace protests in the West Bank; Israel demolishes homes in illegal acts of collective punishment; deports Palestinians; jails and detains Palestinians without trial; assassinates military leaders, without trial; uses torture, physical and psychological, on Palestinian detainees; and bombs the Gaza Strip.

Israel's bombs have a captive audience. There is nowhere to run to in Gaza. And those that do run are killed anyways. Hamas' charter may speak words of destruction, but Israel's government carries out acts of destruction on an unbelievable scale. Each morning for the past 2 weeks I have woken up immediately panicking about what horrible and gruesome and REAL image will greet me when my internet browser opens to The Guardian. And each day I am met with either billows of smoke sailing upwards from some bombed out building, or the picture of a child covered in blood-- indiscernable whether dead or half alive. I sponsor a nine year old girl in Gaza City named Nahid, and at every picture of dead children I pause, trying to figure out of the doll-like image is her. She is deaf, so she is at least spared the psychological terror of 14 days of bombs dropping. Although she can still feel the tremors from them I'm sure.

And Regev struggles to find words to justify his government's actions. He says they will launch an investigation of inquiry....there I laughed. The number of times Israel has launched an inquiry into an inhumane act is uncountable...the ones I remember now off the top of my head are Rachel Corrie's murder, Tom Hurndell's murder, when an IDF soldier shot a 10 year old girl in the stomach on her way to school at close range (and I think that was only "investigated" because of the particularly gruesome images of her with her guts spilling out), Israel's bombing a van full of Lebanese-Canadians escaping the south in 2006, the recent bombing of the UN school in Gaza, and now the obstruction of IRC staff to reach injured Palestinians. The investigations department of the IDF must be quite busy. And these investigations are carried out to placate international outrage, and it is appeased by these hollow actions. And then people forget. Until the next atrocity.

A ceasefire has been approved by the UN Security Council, with the US abstaining from the vote. Remain impartial-- never to even slightly condemn Israe's inhumanity. Now we wait for the ceasefire to be actually implemented. The implementation will mean a lessening in the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza. Israel will stop raining bombs down on Gaza. Children won't be blown up. Parents won't be crushed to death under rubble. This is good. But this is a bandaid. It is a momentary pause in the ongoing cycles of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. We must go beyond a ceasefire and address the root cause of all the violence in Israel-Palestine-- the festering colonization of Palestinian land ("occupation" is by definition a short term occurence, and after 42 years of "occupation" in which Israel has drastically changed the demographics of the West Bank and Gaza, I think the term colonization is more appropriate, and falls more in line with Israel's hegemonic, expansionist, racist ideals than is "occupation"). The Israeli government knows, deep down, what it must do. Olmert recently admitted the need to relinquish all the West Bank land to Palestinians in an interview with an Israeli newspaper (on his way out the door). And yet, it is not done, because that would somehow admit some sort of "defeat". And so more land is appropriated, and more children are killed.

The grimness of the Gaza reality, for me, is only tempered by the unbelievable amount of emails, facebook messages, and comments of support I have gotten from people I haven't spoke to in years. The number of people who have written to say they are DISGUSTED with what is happening, HORRIFIED by Israel's actions. The number of people who have sent messages of solidarity, love, and support is truly touching. It helps me believe that there is still humanity. There are voices of outrage. And when I get tired, which I am a lot, they help rejuvinate me. An American friend of mine just IMed me. We had been planning for months that to celebrate our Sagittarius birthdays we were going to treat ourselves to a Broadway musical and have a proper New York night out...but she wrote to ask, instead of spending the money on broadway musicals, would I mind if she gave the money to help Gaza instead? would that be ok? I teared up when I saw her request. It was so selfless, so sweet. So hopeful to me...it is incredibly touching to know that someone is actually giving up something she has been looking forward to, a real treat, to give money to a people far, far away. Someone whose life is not directly connected to Israel/Palestine. It is a beautiful gesture. It gave me a real sense of hope that people are taking this to heart. People unconnected to Gaza are going out of their way to help. That there is still some common link of humanity that links the world. That Heart still trumps Tanks. And so I ask, again and again and again and again-- to those who proudly present Martin Luther King's immortal words that "an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" on t-shirts, facebook profiles, magnets...live these words, don't let them just adorn your space...embrace the challenge of Gandhi to "be the change you wish to see in the world." Because words are words are words are hollow without action...

I know people have been struggling to remember the beauty in the world when we are so overloaded with images and actions of baseness. But it's there. I think it's just not always drawn to our attention all the time. But people are helping, we are all trying, together. And this is hope.

the world is not respectable;
it is mortal, tormented, confused,
deluded forever; but it is shot
through with beauty, with love,
with glints of courage and laughter;
and in these, the spirit blooms...
--george santayana

song for gaza

The Narcicyst and Shadia Mansour came together and created a beautiful song of resistance against Israel's brutality in Gaza...Hamdulilah. The download is for free, but I am asking that people who download it and like it make a donation to one of the organizations listed below. Think of it as an activist-humanitarian-itunes fee/donation.

Hopefully a true ceasefire will be in place soon, and we can begin rebuilding Gaza, again. There is great need right now for monatary support, as well as spiritual. Please give anything you can, from $1 on up...

ANERA
UNRWA

thank you.

gaza attacks, day 13

How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian disaster
(READ THIS ONE...by Avi Shlaim, "Gaza is a classic case of colonial exploitation in the post-colonial era.")

What you don't know about Gaza
(by Rashid Khalidi-- quick, to the point...run in the NYT, featuring the facts the NYT usually omits)

Israel accused of delaying medical access to injured
(Red Cross on Israel impeding its access)

On rage and indifference

Too much to mourn in Gaza
(on the magnitude of death)

Jordan "reconsidering Israel ties"

gaza attacks, day 12

"By choice they made themselves immune"
(excellent piece on how israel's actions in gaza are in line with their 1948 policy of ethnic cleansing)

Lucky my parents aren't alive to see this
(Amira Hass)

Why do they hate the West so, we will ask
(Robert Fisk)

Hypocrisy, thy name is Blair
(on Blair/the West's involvement in undermining any possibility of a ceasefire)

We'll Fight them in the Headlines
(on patriotism and journalism)

No Shelter
(Guardian editorial on ceasefire)

on self defense and dead children.

today, israel bombed a UN school which was housing IDPs (internally displaced people) from gaza. israel has been dropping leaflets telling palestinians to leave their homes and seek shelter in schools and hospitals..."safe" places. the school was clearly marked as a UN building. it was filled with non-militants. it was filled with children. i opened the news this morning and my stomach churned at the image that faced me...the still frame of a video showing a young man carrying a little boy (half conscious? dead? i don't know...i haven't had the nerve yet to watch the video. i haven't had a stomach of "cast iron lead" yet to watch a boy dying. again.) i can't...not today.

again, israel bombed palestinian refugees. my mind raced back to qana I in lebanon in '96, when israel dropped a bomb on 100+ lebanese taking refuge in a UN camp in qana in southern lebanon. i don't understand...a phrase i find myself repeating over and over in my mind and my writing...i just can't understand. i distinctly remember walking to school that morning and trying to process what kind of army murders 100 people. how you can drop a bomb knowing there are living, breathing people underneath you. i wonder if killing is easier from far away...the distance of dropping a bomb rather than seeing the person whose life you're about to take face to face. they don't have to see the dead babies. they don't have to clean up the blood and try to identify remains. the memorial of the first qana massacre is horrific. there were parts of dead babies everywhere as most of the people taking refuge there were women and children. and then again, in 2006, israel delivered us qana II when it bombed and killed some 60 lebanese civilians again taking refuge there.

israel gives us sequels and trilogies to our tragedies.

so now qana was qana is gaza. in its war on lebanon in 2006, israel again dropped leaflets and sent text messages to lebanese (yes, somehow they have the technology to text you warnings) urging them--so humanitarily, the media showed us-- to leave southern lebanon, flee for their safety so they would not be "accidentally" killed in the war. and so, lebanese heeded the benevolent warnings of their attackers and piled into vans and cars drove north towards beirut, towards safety, as they were instructed. and then, in some perversely twisted game of dodgebomb, israel dropped vans and cars full of fleeing lebanese.

but in gaza, there is nowhere to flee to. israel closed the borders long ago. those who have left their homes have taken refuge in schools...which are now not safe either. hamas rockets hit a kindergarten recently in israel, but thankfully no children were there. israeli schools near gaza's borders have been evacuated since the incursions began. israeli children have somewhere to flee to. palestinian children flee to schools and are killed.

israel killed 40+ people today bombing the UN school. justified as "self defense". against whom are they defending themselves? the eight year old boy bleeding to death in the still frame i still cannot bear to watch? DO NOT TELL ME this was self defense. it is spiteful, purposeful targeting of palestinian life. israel bombed a school. they killed children. is it defending itself against educated palestinian children? crush palestinian infrastructure-- hospitals and schools-- and keep the population physically weak and uneducated. easier to keep divided and conquered. are they afraid that indeed, the pen is mightier than the sword? and that a palestinian population armed with pens might be able to defeat their western supplied army of proverbial swords? is this what israel defends itself against in its incursions in gaza? armies of educated palestinian children who might, despite all odds against them, grow up into educated palestinian adults? palestinian unity, palestinian education, palestinian strength, palestinian children...who are the future? yes. because breaking a society from every angle possible ensures it remains weak and divided.

so many times i have heard the plea for a movement of non-violence to be carried out by the palestinians. so many ask, "but why don't we see a palestinian gandhi? or martin luther king?" there are non-violent palestinian movements, but they are not as sexy as the image of violent, threatening, muslim/nationalist movements, and are thus overlooked by the media. in the city of ni'lin in the west bank, palestinians stage peaceful protests weekly against the encroaching apartheid wall, only to be met with rubber bullets, live bullets, and tear gas. but that doesn't make it into the news that much either. israel also has a habit of regularly jailing/detaining palestinian leaders, making organizing all the more difficult. but to those curious of why we don't see a strong non-violent palestinian movement, i throw the question back to them...why don't we see a strong non-violent jewish israeli movement? i am sure it exists, but not on a government level. the government still embraces the "might is right" mentality of destruction. the media does a huge disservice to people everywhere in ignoring those movements of meaningful coexistance and peace, polarizing people even further.

and now gaza is in darkness. they are recieving about 2hrs of electricity a day. for those unfamiliar with middle eastern weather, it is cold and rainy in gaza right now. people are sleeping with no heat, as they have been for the past 3 months. gaza is in darkness, starving, and bleeding, and israel maintains there is "no humanitarian crisis." and electricity is running out. i am glued to the computer all day reading news, having to tear myself away to take a deep breath, clear my head. but i am fearful that one day i will wake up and there will be simply no news because the electricity would have run out and no news can come out anymore. israel is barring western journalists from entering gaza, just as it did after the jenin massacre in the second intifada. as robert fisk notes, this practice has created a new sort of journalism-- most of the news coming out of gaza is being told by the victims themselves. for the first time, much of the news isn't sanitized by western journalists, rather it's being told directly by those whose lives are being destroyed. their voices are being heard, unfiltered.

but the electicity will run out. God only knows what horror will be unleashed if the world becomes truly blind to what is happening inside of gaza. if emails cannot be sent out. if phones cannot be recharged to assure friends, family, colleagues that yes, i am still alive. if gazans have no more lines to the outside world, and we have no more inside... i fear deeply israel is delivering sabra/shatila II. enough of the sequels and trilogies...

gaza attacks, day 11

Israeli shellingof Gaza kills dozens at UN School in Gaza

Jon Stewart's take on Gaza

"As I ran I saw three of my children. All dead"
(voice from Gaza)

Keeping out the cameras and reporters simply doesn't work.
(Robert Fisk "The men and women who are under air and artillery attack by the Israelis are now telling their own story on television and radio and in the papers as they have never been able to tell it before, without the artificial "balance", which so much television journalism imposes on live reporting. Perhaps this will become a new form of coverage – letting the participants tell their own story.")

the graveyards are full (1.5.08)

my head and heart are jumbled with worry and heartache and confusion and anger. each emotion battling the other and leaving me with knots of anxiety in my stomach. each emotion stronger than the other, surging in waves.

two days ago, israel invaded gaza on the ground. For what feels like weeks, so-called experts and commentators speculated on whether israel would actually do it—actually go through with the ground invasion. they opined about the “pros and cons” of a ground invasion, the strategies and goals behind such a move. they noted that israel hasn’t “won” a war in a city since the ‘70s. they postulated that israel might want to regain its reputation as a military might after the 2006 war against Lebanon. they argued that israel would not risk another loss like 2006. Comments, insights, speculations flew across newspaper headlines while israeli government officials and hamas leaders verbally sparred—each promising the other a long, painful, losing battle. words that fly above the heads of palestinians dying in gaza. And then they went in.

and now the comments and insights examine and try to discern israel’s military “strategy”. What is their goal in this ground invasion? how will they define victory? There is no clear answer. Nothing is clear in war, is what I am learning. There is no black and white. Nothing is ever simple. Israel ostensibly seeks to “crush” hamas and its infrastructure. It wants to be rid of hamas and their damned rockets. This is what it says. What it does is break Palestinian society. It crushes any and all semblance of life that exists/ed in gaza. Palestinian existence is antithetical to Israeli strategy. To Israeli existence, some might say.

Israel strangled gaza through hermetically closing its borders for a year and a half. It starved the people of gaza for the past two months and denied them medical aid. It cut off electricity and fuel supplies for two months. It bombed it for a week. And now idf troops have entered. This ensures only that more Palestinians will be killed. There will be more blood. More loss. More destruction. More tears. More grief. More calls for revenge. More despair. This is how this cycle goes. Every time it is somehow worse than the time before. Always worse than the time before.

The reality (I resist the word “situation” in its banality) of gaza is so bleak. So incomprehensibly bleak. So many people have been killed in gaza that the graveyards are full. People are reusing graves. Stop for a minute and process what that means—the scale of killing that encompasses.

The graveyards are full.

For over a year there has not been enough cement in gaza to give the dead a proper gravestone.

In life in gaza there is not enough food or medicine, and in death there are not enough graves or gravestones.

If this were a story being read in a literature class, this point would be highlighted and commented on—pointing to the great destruction and violence humans wreak upon each other. It would be poetic in its misery. But this is not a novel. Nor is it a poem. It is reality. Each day I wonder of my friends who have family, colleagues, and friends in gaza and the grief and pain they must be feeling, unsure if the rising numbers of dead include people they love. People they have laughed with. People they share secrets and memories with. And the numbers are rising, steadily. In 2006 it took israel 33 days to kill 1000 lebanese. So far they have killed 500 palestinians in 10 days. In the face of deaths and indignity like this, how can people still talk of victory? There is no victory in war. War in and of itself is a loss. In this war—this “operation cast lead” Palestinians are losing lives, homes, schools, mosques, hope, and future…israel is losing morality. And that is a heavy loss.

During college I heard a refusenik (a jewish Israeli soldier who refused to fight in the occupied territories during the 2nd intifada) speak of his experiences in resisting orders. When asked why he did not participate in the idf’s actions against Palestinians, he responded for him it was a question of morality. He said, “I do not fight because I am a jew, and I love god. In the torah it says, do not oppress as you have been oppressed.” A moral code by which I wish the entire world lived. The incongruity and hypocrisy of the jewish experience and israel’s treatment of Palestinians has always bewildered me. in the states, the jewish holocaust of world war II is upheld as the apex of world suffering and cruelty. It is rightfully held as a nadir in humanity. it is sacrosanct to suggest that another people's suffering could ever compare. the jewish holocaust seems to hold a monopoly on suffering. but I have never understood how a people whose collective identity is constructed in part by a feeling of persecution and suffering, can turn around and inflict such suffering on another people. After the holocaust the jewish community embraced the phrase and promise of “never again”. But now they have given the Palestinians their own “never again”…but our suffering has not ended. Instead we are blamed for it and told we brought it on ourselves. How awful to ever be told you brought death and destruction upon yourself—as though the perpetrator had no choice but to dispatch f-16s and apaches.

And as usual, this war reeks of racism blandly glossed over by the west. Arguments supporting israel’s actions which would have never been tolerated had the context been between another two people are accepted with open arms. The new york times published an opinion piece by benny morris, a once left-leaning revisionist jewish Israeli historian. He predictably supported israel’s aggression in gaza and remarked about the “demographic threat” of the arabs. That Palestinian populations have higher birth rates than jewish Israeli populations do and thus threaten the “jewish character” of israel. This is a common argument embraced and espoused by the Israeli government and a genuine concern of Israeli society. Imagine for a minute if Hillary Clinton wrote an opinion piece that black birth rates were threatening the white character of America. Imagine the disgust and shock and abhorrence you would feel to such feelings of racial superiority. There the racism is evident. But somehow this is a legitimate concern for jewish Israelis. Their existence is threatened by ours, and the world nods its head with sympathy.

Half of gaza’s ambulances have been destroyed. It sounds bad, but I wonder, realistically how much of an impact it really has on the death rate. Even before the incursion, gaza was desperately low on fuel and ambulances had to prioritize emergencies because they did not have enough gas to answer all the calls they received. And anyways the hospitals are overflowing and only the absolutely, critically injured are being seen. Half of hospital staff now is comprised of volunteers—so even if you make it to the hospital, those who care for you may not have medical training. And for the past 3 months the hospitals have been nearing a “critical shortage” of supplies…I am waiting to wake up one morning to read that the supplies passed the critical point and no longer exist. The hospitals will have nothing left to receive people with except empty rooms with beds to die in. So really, what impact does an ambulance shortage really have…

I cannot begin to comprehend what kind of fear the Palestinians of gaza are experiencing now. It is beyond my emotional scope of understanding. I understand that my stomach has been in knots for the past 10 days and that I almost began to cry at a protest a few days ago when a leader spoke of the maimed and dead children in gaza. But I cannot understand what it is like to not be able to sleep because every room in your house is vulnerable to bombing. To choose to sleep on the roof because it is safer, and maybe the sight of sleeping families on roofs will deter Israeli pilots from bombing those houses. To choose to stay home because it is safer, and because you would rather die at home. To receive corpse after corpse after corpse…all who were/are members of your family…and to know you don’t have any white cloth in which to bury them, and to know there are no more graves. I cannot understand how jewish Israelis can support such monstrosity, such breach of humanity. I feel that those who condone actions like israel’s in gaza…part of their soul must be dead. To will, to wish such pain on a people. I cannot comprehend it. I hope I never comprehend it. I don’t want to understand, accept, embrace cruelty. I hope I am forever baffled by it.

Those who claim israel has a right to defend itself ought to pause and reflect on whether military actions can or will ever bring israel security. They never have. Israel has bombed the hell out of gaza before. It may again. It has massacred populations and razed villages and erased histories from world memory. But in the end Palestinians continue to exist. I extend that the best self-defense for israel, a measure it knows it must take, is a true and just peace with Palestinians...one state for citizens of all backgrounds, reparations, and a right of return for refugees. Israel will try to crush hamas in this violent incursion. It will kill Palestinians who have nothing to do with hamas. It will create more anger and calls for revenge and the cycle will be perpetuated, each time with more destruction and flexing of might.

I recently saw a trailer for an upcoming movie about the jewish holocaust, in which a jewish survivor says “our revenge will be to live”. On the apartheid wall which excises the west bank from israel proper is written “to exist is to resist”. Indeed, for Palestinians, in their epic, pyrrhic struggle with israel, this is their greatest resistance and greatest victory.

searching for humanity in the rubble of gaza (12.28.08)

what do you say, in the face of such barbarity? in the face of such utter and blatant disregard for human life? what are you left with other than the desire to just scream and scream until someone stops to listen. until bombs stop falling. until people stop dying. until palestinians stop being killed. until responses to said barbarity cease being "here we go again" and expressions of "grave concern". until killing is no longer routine and thus ignorable. until gaza and all of palestine isn't just living because it's not dying, but living because there is life, future, blossoming.

we are here, again. i am in dc, and bombs fall far away killing people i do not know, but whose faces look like those of my friends and whose names are familiar and pronounceable to me. names i've said a million times. names whose meanings i understand and make me wonder if those names are a window into the dead's past life.

israel's actions are cruel and strategic, and the world's reaction is predictable and disgusting.a "shock and awe" campaign. is there ever really true shock in war? and i doubt israel's violence is inspiring awe in anyone with a humane soul. this "operation clad iron" comes right before the new year, right before the palestinian elections and israeli elections. olmert is giving one last ditch effort to redeem his war reputation after not winning in lebanon or gaza in 2006. they say they hope the palestinians "overthrow" hamas, but i think really they hope palestinians remain divided between loyalties. a divided people is much easier to subjugate than one united..."divide and conquer"...throwing gaza into chaos ensures the palestinian elections will not take place in the coming weeks and israel can keep abbas. and the world looks on, either silent, or placing the blame on hamas for "laying a trap"...for goading them into this inevitable response of cruelty by launching rockets into southern israel. how quickly the world forgets that israel has been starving gaza since november 4th (nearly 2 months), destroying the capacity of its infrastructure through a denial of electricity and medical supplies. how quickly the world forgets this...always looking at palestine-israel through the lens of today's headlines, disregarding what was reality just a week ago. these things do not happen in a vacuum, as CNN would like us to believe.

i wonder what would happen if somehow a hamas qassam rocket killed 300 jewish israelis. would condoleeza rice express "grave concern" then? or would the IDF be restocked with more destructive weapons, maybe free of charge this time. would israel be blamed for bringing it on its own people through its destructive actions? probably not. why doesn't the international community "freeze out" israel like they did to syria? or impose sanctions on them for "misbehaving", according to Western standards, like they did with iran? and why is the syrian foreign minister the only arab leader i have seen quoted who has anything worthwhile to say?

in 5 years, 15 jewish israelis have died from hamas rockets. in 2 hours over 200 palestinians were killed by israeli "precision" bombs.

indeed, the silence is thundering, but more painful is the blame that is put squarely on the shoulders of hamas. that hamas brought it on the palestinians, with no more depth of analysis. how dare they. how dare they forget the inequality of power between israel and an occupied people-- militant groups or not. how dare they ever ever ever in any capacity justify killings of this magnitude. in one of my classes we were presenting on the effects of war on health (a huge topic in and of itself) and one exercise we had the class participate in was everyone sharing what war meant to them. most people talked of death, most people talked of their distance from war. when it was my turn i said what war means to me is being told your life counts less, or worse, that somehow you deserve it. having always experienced war at a distance, and mostly in very zionist atmospheres, this is always the ultimate message. you kidnap 2 soldiers, we kill 1000+ of you. you launch a few rockets that kill a few civilians, we bomb you and leave craters where there were once buildings and 285 corpses where there were once police, sons, sisters...

for those on the fence, who say "there is suffering on both sides", who placate the racism of israel with such blandness, yes, jewish israelis suffer. suffering is difficult to quantify. but step back and look at the imbalance, see the disparity, the magnitude of injustice israel executes against palestinians. there is certainly suffering on both sides, but not in equal proportions. ever. one people is occupied. another is an occupier.

synopsis headlines is all most people will read about gaza's suffering now. because people are lazy and there are a million tragedies going on all over the world right now and people are tired. very very tired. dueling realities always compete for people's attention. the fb ads staring at me right now as i write this are for zappos.com winter sale, and fixing your credit score. the two headlining stories today for the guardian are gaza and how huge the sales are on high st. eenie meenie miny mo...

i know all of you know everything i'm writing and perhaps feel similarly...but to counter the sense of despair and isolation, i write...in all the silence, and all the misplaced blame, it has comforting to see the outrage expressed through fb statuses and postings. really it seems trivial, but it is comforting to know that there is outrage. maybe they spark people who might otherwise have opted for the high st. article to take a minute and read...i am personally very tired, and verging on hopeless (verging, not there yet) but am thankful that others are trying too, somehow, to draw attention to the latest atrocity. that other people are screaming with me. that there is outrage. because ultimately...everything we do...it all will add up to freedom and blossoming. i really do believe it. in the rubble of gaza, we have to somehow hold on to our humanity so its still there when palestine is one day free.