08 Friday Apr 2016
Posted in American Politics, Palestine
My article “Bernie Sanders’ Record on Palestine” has been published at Mondoweiss.
“Bernie Sanders is clearly more progressive on the Palestinian issue than any other major candidate for the Presidency including Hillary Clinton. Still, Nicolas Sawaya says a review of his record on key issues in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice falls well short”. – Mondoweiss
20 Saturday Feb 2016
Posted in American Politics, Palestine, Zionism
Palestinian refugees flee Galilee in the fall of 1948 (Fred Csasznik)
How many of us know that as recently as Nov 2014, a US Congressman in the House introduced legislation that calls on Israel to formally annex all the Palestinian Occupied Territories (West Bank / Gaza / East Jerusalem) and encourages the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from these territories?
The bill was introduced by Steve Stockman (Texas, 36th district) and was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, where it (thankfully) died. Stockman isn’t in Congress anymore, but the fact that this shit even gets introduced by these people is mind-bending. The best part of this bill is that it was pitched as a service for Palestinians to “increase their standards of living” and is dubbed “The Right of Return Act”. To where you might ask? Jordan. You really can’t make this stuff up.
H.R. 5734 (113th): Right of Return Act
Excerpt: […]
“The Congress of the United States shall take the following course of action:
(1) The Secretary of State shall call for the State of Israel to increase the standard of living of those living in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza by extending its sovereignty over those territories, and for the Palestinian Arab residents currently residing in those areas to be granted citizenship in the countries that controlled those territories from 1949 to 1967 and have a right of return to those countries.
(2) As long as part of the unity government of the Palestinian Authority refuses to allow the right of return to the countries that controlled Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1949 to 1967, no funds appropriated by Congress under any Act may be obligated or expended to provide any United States assistance, loan guarantee, or debt relief to the Palestinian Authority.
(3) The Secretary of State of the United States shall take such action as will ensure that refugees are allowed to be properly allowed to return into their host countries in accordance with the regulations set forth by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
(4) All United States assistance, loan guarantee, and debt relief that currently goes to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shall instead be used to assist those who exercise their right of return to the countries who controlled Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1949 to 1967”
26 Monday Oct 2015
In light of the Haj Amin Al Husseini kerfuffle, it’s interesting to look back at those times and understand who else was collaborating with Hitler. This may not be news to some, but it might surprise others to know that certain elements of the Jewish Zionist leadership were positively dealing with Hitler, or busy cutting deals with Hitler, or straight up collaborating (or trying to collaborate) with Hitler.
There was the visit by SS officer Leopold von Mildestein to Palestine hosted by the Zionist Federation that resulted in a tour of Palestine to showcase Zionist accomplishments. Von Mildestein was so happy with his visit that the German daily Der Angriff issued a special medal to commemorate the occasion in 1934: a Nazi swastika on one side and the Star of David on the other side. See here.
There was the famous transfer agreement (or Havaara) between the Nazis and the Zionists that allowed German Jews to emigrate to Palestine indirectly with their wealth by depositing the latter into a special account that would be used to buy German goods, which would then be exported to Palestine and sold there, with the sales money transferred back to the newly immigrated Jews in Palestine. Needless to say, world Jewry was totally opposed to this as it violated the world wide boycott of German goods asked for by them.
Another egregious example of collaboration was the surreal offer made by leaders of LEHI (the Stern gang or NMO) to the Nazis in 1941-42 to fight on their side of the war (keep in mind that future prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Shamir belonged to this organization):
“The NMO, which is well-acquainted with the goodwill of the German Reich government and its authorities towards Zionist activity inside Germany and towards Zionist emigration plans, is of the opinion that:
Common interests could exist between the establishment of a new order in Europe in conformity with the German concept, and the true national aspirations of the Jewish people as they are embodied by the NMO.
Cooperation between the new Germany and a renewed folkish-national Hebraium would be possible and,
The establishment of the historic Jewish state on a national and totalitarian basis, bound by a treaty with the German Reich, would be in the interest of a maintained and strengthened future German position of power in the Near East.”
There are many other examples one can cite, but this is a representative sample of Zionist hypocrisy.
13 Wednesday Aug 2014
Qassam Rocket [Getty Images]
Following up on an earlier post, some people have asked: is it true that Hamas declares that their intended targets are Israeli soldiers and/or military targets before launching rockets or mortars into Israel, or crossing into Israel through “terror” tunnels? Aren’t all of their attacks intentionally indiscriminate and aim to target civilian population centers?
I cannot claim that every rocket or mortar launch into Israel is preceded by an explicit declaration of a military target simply because finding documented evidence of every instance is impossible, but I can claim that there are multiple instances where they have explicitly declared so, and instances where their rockets or mortars into Israel or cross-border crossings through tunnels specifically killed only soldiers (hard to chalk that up to pure luck; as such, good evidence that the intended target was indeed military in nature). Below, I’ve compiled several examples of such cases.
Also, I can refer to statements by Hamas and the Commander in Chief of the military wing of Hamas (the Qassam brigade) where he explicitly declares that Hamas does not seek to target civilians when engaging in rocket or mortar launches, or crossing into Israel through tunnels, but on the contrary, that their intended targets are military in nature (again, see below).
Finally, I want to also emphasize that the purpose of the post is expository in nature, and that I do not support certain means of resistance that Hamas has (historically) engaged in or their ideology. I do, however, support the right of any oppressed people to engage in (legitimate) armed struggle (i.e. hitting non-civilian targets), which is a right that is broadly acknowledged. In addition, I also support honesty in reporting. Too often, in major Western media and even in reports by respected Human Rights organizations, these things are simply not reported, and the blanket statement that “Hamas indiscriminately launches rockets at civilian population centers” or that “terror tunnels aim to kill civilians” are simply accepted as fact. Judge for yourself.
July 10
July 17
July 22
Translation: “Qassam battalions declare the rocketing of the 8200 eavesdropping base with 3 Grad missiles”. Note that unit 8200 is the Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) unit of the Israeli Intelligence Corps
July 28
July 29 (this one is related to the “terror” tunnels)
July 29 (Statement by Muhammad Al-Dayf)
August 4
“At the same time, the statement claimed, Hamas is not trying to harm Israelis with its rocket attacks, only military personnel and installations […] During the campaign we tried as much as possible to focus on targeting military personnel, soldiers and officers of the enemy, its military bases and airports, and avoided as much as possible targeting someone who is not a military person,” Hamas claimed”
12 Tuesday Aug 2014
Qassam Rocket [Getty Images]
I’ve had several recent conversations with friends and colleagues of mine about Gaza, and there’s one point that constantly comes up about Hamas rockets. I should mention that this point (discussed below) also comes up when reading Western NGO reports, even those that are sympathetic to the Palestinian point of view.
The notion that Hamas rockets are launched indiscriminately has already been discussed and countered, in the sense that Hamas typically declares a military target before launching their rockets. But even if they are willing to acknowledge this (and often they will not because this is not circulated in the Western press), they will argue that given that Hamas knows how crude their rockets are, there is a good chance that the rockets will miss their targets (despite intended military target) and hit a civilian home or a non-military target. Therefore, the argument goes, given the relatively low expected success rate, launching rockets even when declaring a military target is still not acceptable because of the high probability of civilian damage.
Leaving aside the ironical (and tragic) fact that the supposedly more accurate high-tech missiles that Israel launches cause way more civilian damage than crude Hamas rockets, there’s something more sinister (though perhaps unintentional) in the reply above: the implication is that the oppressed have no right to resist through (legitimate) armed struggle because they are poor. In essence, the supposed accuracy of the missiles (or rockets) is license to launch them, and the lack of access to this high-tech supposedly “accurate” technology ablates the possibility of acquiring that license. As such, given that the oppressed are typically resource-deprived and thus poor and are therefore confined to low-tech non-guided rockets, their poverty becomes the reason for the lack of acquisition of this license (to engage in legitimate armed struggle).
To me, it is this conclusion that is unacceptable, and so I ask: in some imaginary world, if Palestinian resistance groups were given the same high-tech weaponry as that possessed by the Israelis, would that change your perspective? Their answer is never a comfortable yes…
30 Wednesday Jul 2014
Bombed residential complex in southern Gaza [AP]
Crude Hamas rockets are always launched indiscriminately at population centers, while high-tech, guided Israeli missiles always seek to surgically strike Hamas militants or infrastructure. In reality, however, Hamas often declares military targets before launching their rockets (but you need to understand or read Arabic to know that), and sometimes manages to hit these military targets (as they have recently). In fact, Hamas rockets have killed more soldiers than civilians. But if they miss despite intended and declared military target (and they often do), can we call Israeli civilian casualties “collateral damage”? Israel, on the other hand, indiscriminately kills civilians in their supposed surgical strikes on militants or military infrastructure. In fact, despite possessing vastly superior technology (or perhaps because of that), Israel has managed to kill more than 5 civilians for every militant killed. So either Israel is deliberately killing civilians, or Western media that engage in this “fetishization of technology” need to shut up; or both.
A medical surgeon with a success rate equivalent to Israel’s “surgical strike” track record would be sued out of existence instantaneously. I repeat, for every militant killed, more than 5 civilians have been killed: 2 males, 1 female, 2 children. I’m insisting on explicitly pointing that 2 out of 5 are male. Too often, male civilian casualties are literally ignored, or at best, relegated to the margins of mental math, as in 1200 civilians have been killed, including 200 women and 400 children (which these days, is as good as completely ignoring them because no one knows how to do mental math). Do they not warrant explicitly highlighting because they’re males of fighting age, which gasp, implies they could, potentially, in theory, deep-down in their heart of hearts be Hamas terrorists? These victims are stuck in the gray zone.
Speaking of victims, if, for whatever reason, you refuse to or cannot leave your house, your hospital, your school or your UNRWA shelter (which you sought as shelter precisely because you chose to or were able to leave your house, your hospital or your school) despite innocuous, gentle-sounding knock-on-the-roof warnings by your friendly and magnanimous Israeli Defense Forces, you’re a Human Shield and you deserve to die.
I don’t know how many times I’ve seen stories in Israeli media of suicide donkeys and cows dying. We know Israel engages in Pink Washing; are they trying to attract animal activists now?
If we accept the definition of terrorism commonly used in today’s vernacular as the deliberate use of violence (or threat thereof) to enact political ends (and I’m aware of the controversy around this and any definition of terrorism, but the word is used in shaping discourse and therefore needs to be defined somehow to mean something), it’s quite ironic that the creation of the state of Israel is the quintessential example of a state born into existence though terrorism. To be specific, I’m not only talking about Irgun and Lehi terrorism, but pointing to all ethnic cleansing of villages and massacres perpetrated before the declaration of independence in May of 1948 which were instrumental in the creation of the State (which is accepted even by the Israelis as “necessary” to birth the State). I simply don’t see how the latter are not precisely terror acts (they fit the definition to a tee).
Along the above lines, acts such as deliberately engaging in the blockading of a population, deliberately targeting and destroying power plants and/or waste water treatment facilities are acts of terror. Indeed, per the commonly accepted definition above, there is no restriction on the nature of the actor: as such, a state can engage in acts of terror; and there is no restriction on the nature of the violence: as such, this violence can be direct, as in the deliberate targeting of civilians for political ends, or indirect, as in the deliberate restriction of movement of goods (blockade) or the deliberate targeting of infrastructure (power plants, waste water treatment facilities) that (indirectly) targets civilians for political ends, in the sense that the intended goal is to make life miserable enough for the civilian population (and often leads to death) in order to put pressure on them to reject their rulers. Along those lines, why is “collective punishment” not explicitly labeled as terrorism?
Hamas uses their network of tunnels to smuggle food and basic goods into Gaza (because you know, Gaza has been under blockade for 7 years), weapons (including rockets) and as a means to infiltrate into Israel to kill Israeli soldiers (not a single civilian has been killed in 7 years by virtue of these tunnels, but many Israeli soldiers have). As long as Hamas declares a military target when they launch their rockets into Israel (which as mentioned above, they often do), will the media re-label these “terror tunnels” as “legitimate resistance tunnels”?
I haven’t heard a single liberal Western interventionist cry out that NATO needs to intervene to stop the massacres going on in Gaza. Remember those days when every talking head on TV was asking the U.S. and NATO to act to prevent the inevitable Benghazi massacre about to be committed by Gaddafi? Remember the philosophical discussions around Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and Humanitarian Interventionism? Just remember that the Palestinian Cause is *the* litmus test par excellence in revealing hypocrisy.
16 Wednesday Jul 2014
Posted in Palestine
We are all Gaza
Many people who have been shocked by the brutality of this latest Israeli attack on Gaza have asked: what can we do to help? I think that’s a fair question, and one that deserves to be answered as broadly as possible. There are multiple ways to help, and I’ve tried to compile a list that offers a broad set of options that you can choose from below (note that this list was motivated and inspired by a nice list made by an anonymous person and shared by Alex Reza). Depending on how much time and effort you’re willing to commit, you can choose to participate in one or many of these options, and every little helps. I don’t pretend that the list below is comprehensive or incorporates every possible means of helping. As such, if you feel strongly about options that are not included, by all means, copy/paste, add that to the list and then share. Also, if you disagree with certain options, feel free to copy/paste and remove these options and then share. Either way, share as widely as possible, subject to your personal sensibilities.
1) Educate yourself
I can’t emphasize this one enough. There are many resources available to you to learn more about the Palestinian Israeli “conflict”, and understanding the history of the “conflict” is critical. Context matters. This latest brutal attack didn’t happen in a vacuum. There are underlying reasons that go back in time that are critical to understand in order to better contextualize why this “conflict” persists, and why this attack (only the latest one on Gaza) happened. I’m tired of US mainstream media (in particular) erasing, censuring or avoiding context and turning the discussion into cliches like “cycle of violence” that insist on a false sense of “balance” between two parties seemingly at war. In reality, this is a “conflict” between a people that has been ethnically cleansed, dispossessed, refugized and occupied, resisting an oppressor who continues to insist on defining the victim as victimizer. Here’s a good graphical primer to get started and that gives that much needed historical context.
a) News Sources and Analysis
Electronic Intifada
Maan News Agency
Jaddaliyya
AngryArab
Informed Comment
b) Documentaries / Movies / Clips
Here’s a good 5 minute video to get started.
Films for action has a good list of documentaries.
I strongly recommend “Palestine Is Still the Issue”, “5 Broken Cameras” and “The Israeli Lobby”. Also, even though they did not make the top 10 in their list, “Tears in Gaza”, “Death in Gaza” and “Occupation 101” are very good. The other films are also not bad and give you different angles to the conflict.
c) Books
Harms & Ferry “The Palestine Israel Conflict: Basic Introduction”
Pappe, Ilan “A History of Modern Day Palestine: One Land, Two People”
Said, Edward “The Question of Palestine”
Neumann, Michael “The Case Against Israel”
Abunimah, Ali “One Country”
Mearsheimer & Walt “The Israeli Lobby and US Foreign Policy”
Masalha, Nur “Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of “Transfer” in Zionist Political Thought”
Morris, Benny “Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict-, 1881-2001”
Khalidi, Walid “From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948″
2) Outreach and Education
a) Social media. Spreading the word though social media is a great way to disseminate points of view and information. Most people get their news from Facebook or Twitter these days, so take advantage of that. Having said that, some important words of caution:
Please make sure that the information that you provide is first and foremost accurate. Too many times, people unfortunately share images that are not from Gaza (they may be from Iraq or Syria, for example), or videos that are old but are pitched as new (they may be from previous attacks on Gaza, for example), or simply videos or images that are fakes or doctored (photo-shopped images or edits and dubs that give the impression someone is saying something that is not true, for example). Of course, people don’t do it on purpose, but it’s our responsibility to check to make sure we’re sharing accurate information. Sharing inaccurate information doesn’t help on two fronts. First, by definition, it is information that is not representative of reality (whether the person sharing it knows or doesn’t know). Second, it serves to undermine your credibility, which is your most important asset. Finally, the truth is brutal enough, and as such, is more than enough in getting your point across.
Contextualize and explain what you’re sharing. It doesn’t help if you simply post an image of a dead child. Who is this child? How did he or she die? What is the name of the child? What were the circumstances of his or her death?
b) Call your representatives. This may or may not be effective depending on where you live, but is still worth engaging in given the small effort this requires. For people in the US, the following link allows you to simply input your zip code in order to find out who represents you both in the House and in the Senate. You can also call the Whitehouse at the following number 202-456-1111. Feel free to add information for the country you live in.
c) Talk to people. In this age of technology, we simply don’t do this enough. Many people are curious about the situation and what’s going in Gaza right now, so take every opportunity to discuss this with them if they express interest. Invite them for lunch, dinner, or simply coffee. I’ve found that a 1 on 1 discussion is the most effective way of conveying information to people who are interested. Yes, it’s only one person at a time, but the quality of information uptake is second to none, and every person counts.
3) Participate in local protests, vigils and “solidarity events”
Depending on your availability and the timing of these events in your local area, try to make some of these (and I know it’s hard sometimes, and I’m just as guilty as anyone else for missing some of these). This helps on several fronts: first, it demonstrates solidarity with the people of Gaza that are under constant bombardment, which helps them know that they are not alone in this struggle; second, it demonstrates to your local community that there is an opposition to the actions of Israel, and may also lead them to get interested in learning more about the “conflict”; third, it puts pressure on your local representatives to acknowledge the existence of this opposition, which may help in putting pressure on politicians to “do something” (especially here in the US); finally, if media is present, it allows your message to be broadcast to a much wider audience that may otherwise be oblivious to the situation.
4) Donate Money
Donating money is a great way to contribute to alleviating some of the suffering that the people of Gaza are currently undergoing. Every little helps. The United Nations Relief & Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has launched a Gaza emergency appeal here.
Other well-respected non-profits include (Thanks Lena):
MAP UK
Welfare Association
Palestinian Children Relief Fund
Some other non-profits recommended in Alex Reza’s list:
Middle East Children’s Alliance
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA)
United Palestinian Appeal
5) Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
This section is taken from the BDS section of Alex Reza’s list:
Boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) is a movement that was called for by Palestinian civil society. It is a grassroots, nonviolent form of resistance that there are so many ways to participate in.
Here is the Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.
Divestment:
Get involved with (or start) a campaign for your university, workplace, union, etc. to pull out its investments in companies that are connected to Israeli human rights offenses.
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has led many successful divestment campaigns at universities across the country.
We Divest is a project of Jewish Voice for Peace, which has successfully pressured TIAA-CREF around its occupation investments.
Consumer Boycott:
Here is a quick list of companies that profit from Israeli human rights offenses. Consumer boycott is about individually deciding not to buy these products, but it’s also about popular education. Flyering to educate people about what’s behind this stuff. Encouraging local shops not to sell these products.There are ongoing successful consumer boycott campaigns against SodaStream and Sabra Hummus, for example.
Cultural and Academic Boycott:
As artists and academics, it’s very important that we decolonize the way we produce our work, and don’t let it be used to normalize violent structures.
There is a set of guidelines for cultural and academic boycott from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) that artists and academics can sign on to.
Academic boycott guidelines
Cultural boycott guidelines
If you are an Israeli citizen, you can also sign the Boycott from Within statement, and get involved with their work.
An excellent resource, which can help you find information for whichever kind of BDS campaign you decide to get involved with, is the Who Profits? database.
13 Sunday Jul 2014
Palestinian refugees flee Galilee in the fall of 1948 (Fred Csasznik)
You create a movement grounded in ethnic supremacism.
You conspire with imperialist powers to take that which is already taken.
You implement exclusionist and racist policies of land and labour.
You terrorize. You kill. You ethnically cleanse.
You prevent those whose land and homes you took from taking them back.
You dispossess. You refugize. You occupy.
You occupy and you burn down the olive trees. You demolish homes. You restrict movement. You torture. You blockade. You collectively punish.
You undignify. Oh how you relish taking away men and women’s dignity.
You pauperize and you ghettoize. You bantustanize. Apartheid? What’s that?
You meet rocks with bullets and courage with cowardice. Cowardice from the sea, the air, the land. You rain bombs on civilians and you dare trumpet your morality. You call us terrorists. You? Victims.
You want to live in Peace. But without Justice, there can be no Peace. And so we resist. And we resist. And we resist. And we will continue resisting until Humanity’s collective soul sees you for what you truly are. Labels you as the oppressor that you are. Perhaps then, you may be forced to right the historical wrongs that you have committed. Perhaps then, we can talk about real Peace. But until then, we refuse to stay silent. We refuse to disappear. We refuse to accept your conditions and we refuse to be subjugated to your suffocating will. And so we resist, each one of us in our own little way.
Notes From Underground 