Who says Palestinian resistance is dead?

Tahrir Square, Cairo, May 2011.
(Ahmed Asad / APA images)

For decades, Palestine was the focus of nearly every protest in the Arab world. It was the acceptable outlet of frustration for almost every regime in the region, the bone they would throw their frustrated masses. But it was also the vehicle for mobilization and a training ground for political organizing that became useful for activists later on.
To be clear, none of this is to say that much of the emotion and solidarity was not genuine; most often, it was very much so. However, protests for Palestine or against Israel were also instances of populations of Arab countries projecting their own dissatisfaction in a politically “safe” way in light of the repressive nature of the regimes under which they lived.
Recently, while trading stories with a Syrian friend about protests, she recalled that her first protest as a child had been one for Palestine — in fact most of the protests she had participated in or witnessed growing up as an Arab living in the West were about Palestine. I nodded and smiled, not at all surprised. The reality is that Palestine, for better or worse, was the issue that most Arabs — both living in the Arab world or in their respective diaspora communities — spent a majority of their lives protesting.

Why is the BBC so afraid of the word "Palestine"?

Aza Raskin / Flickr

This week, the BBC issued its final ruling on a controversy which has been raging for nearly a year after the words “Free Palestine” were censored from a freestyle rap played on Radio 1Xtra.
Appearing on the popular Charlie Sloth Hip Hop M1X last February, the artist Mic Righteous performed a rap which included the lyrics: “I can scream Free Palestine for my pride/still pray for peace.”
BBC producers replaced the word ‘Palestine’ with the sound of breaking glass and this is the version that was aired and which can be seen on a video on the BBC website (the censorship occurs at 2:59).
The edited performance was repeated in April on the same show.

BBC upholds censorship decision

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has spent the last eight months trying to find out why the decision to censor an artist who raised the issue of Palestine was made.
During the course of a long correspondence, the BBC’s head of editorial standards for audio and music, Paul Smith, wrote that the show’s producer “did not edit out the word ‘Palestine’ because it was offensive — referencing Palestine is fine, but implying that it is not free is the contentious issue.”
In that single sentence, a senior BBC executive revealed the BBC’s complete disdain for the Palestinians and their suffering, and its shameful disregard for international law when it is being broken by Israel.
The United Nations is clear in its recognition of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, and UN Resolution 242 calls for the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank and Gaza. The chant “Free Palestine” is basically shorthand for the same demand.

"We won’t be silenced," say students arrested over Peres boycott call

Khalil Gharra (www.arabs48.com)

Three Palestinian students at the College of Engineering in Jerusalem (JCE) have been put under house arrest for a week and instructed not to contact any of their peers for using the social media website Facebook to urge a boycott of a speech by Israeli President Shimon Peres.
A couple of weeks ago, students received a message from the college authorities, notifying them of a visit by Peres scheduled for 10 January. The message emphasized that attendance during Peres’ speech was “compulsory.”
Three Palestinian students then posted on the college’s Facebook page that they would not attend the speech and asked others to follow suit. In response almost all the Palestinian students of the college boycotted the speech.
Following the event, the three students who urged the boycott were called for an interrogation at an Israeli police station. They were accused of threatening other students, as well as racism. They were then put under house arrest for a week, outside Jerusalem, and were instructed not to contact other students.

“Intense debate”

Khalil Gharra, one of the three targeted students, told The Electronic Intifada, “There was an intense debate on the Facebook page of the college’s first year students between students who rejected the college’s policy regarding the compulsory attendance of Peres’ speech and others who supported it.”

Study: Israel "retaliates" to Palestinian "provocation" in UK press

British press more often than not describe Israel as retaliating to Palestinian attacks. (Mohamed Al-Zanon/MaanImages)

A new study by Arab Media Watch demonstrates a strong tendency in the British press to represent Israel as “retaliating” in coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The study, the first to investigate this aspect of British press coverage of the conflict, examined a period from January to June 2008. It found that when the British press represents a party as retaliating or responding in the conflict, that party is Israel 72 percent of the time. The tabloid press showed a particularly marked bias, representing Israel as retaliating in 100 percent of all representations of “retaliation.”

New documentary presents shallow view of Arafat

“What would you sacrifice for what you believe in?” This is the tagline to a recently-launched 80-minute biopic of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the first in a series of documentaries entitled The Price of Kings, from London-based filmmakers Spirit Level. The series claims to “reveal the sacrifices made by some of the world’s most influential, controversial and powerful leaders,” offering “unrivaled access to the protagonists and close family members at the heart of modern history.”
In the case of Yasser Arafat, the filmmakers’ prize interviewee is his widow Suha. Her recollections start with childhood memories of Israeli military curfews imposed on her home city of Nablus, when the army was searching for “Abu Mohammed” — the guerrilla Arafat under one of his noms de guerre.

I saw Sabra hummus for sale at my high school cafeteria and decided to act

Boycott Sabra hummus flyers at DePaul University.
(Shirien Damra / The Electronic Intifada)

While walking through the salad bar in my school’s cafeteria a couple months ago, I noticed Sabra hummus for sale. It may look harmless on the surface; however, that could not be farther from the truth. Sabra hummus has become the target of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement because its mother company, the Strauss group, materially and financially supports the Israeli military.
When I saw Sabra on my school cafeteria shelves, I felt a lot of pressure to do something to get the product off my school’s shelves or at least convince my school to offer an alternative brand.
Not knowing where to start, I approached the lunch lady who works in the salad bar and explained to her the link between Sabra and Israel’s human rights violations. She told me she had already heard that Sabra supports the Israeli army human rights violations as a result of the Students for Justice in Palestine’s campaign at DePaul University in Chicago. She added that Sabra hummus was on backorder, meaning that she could not receive any more for the time being anyway, and that she would simply not order any more of the product. I was shocked at how easy ridding our cafeteria of Sabra hummus was.
I was mistaken. When I went back to school the next day, the cafeteria worker told me to provide her with proof of Sabra’s links to the Israeli military for her boss to see.

Palestinian families denied rights by Israel’s racist marriage laws

Taiseer Khatib with his children Yosra and Adnan.
(Dylan Collins / The Electronic Intifada)

One used to be able to take the Hijaz railway from Akka to Jenin and then to Nablus. The railway, built by Sultan Abdel Hamid II at the turn of the twentieth century, was intended to consolidate his own power over the Ottoman Empire, but perhaps its more lasting impact was to unify the inhabitants of Palestine.
Jenin and Akka are less than 50 kilometers away from each other, but in order to travel between the two cities one must pass through a military checkpoint positioned between the wall Israel is building in the West Bank and the rest of historic Palestine.
Taiseer Khatib, from Akka, and Lana, from Jenin, met in the midst of the second intifada, soon after the Israeli military demolished the Jenin refugee camp in what it named Operation Defensive Shield. Taiseer was visiting Jenin to collect information for a doctoral thesis he was preparing to start at York University in Canada.
“We first met in the ministry of health in Jenin. I wasn’t wearing the traditional dress. I was wearing some sandals and that caught her attention and so did my dialect and accent,” Taiseer remembers.
Their experiences of Israeli rule have been somewhat different.
Taiseer’s family history is defined by the Nakba  (catastrophe),  the ethnic cleansing that led to the formation of Israel in 1948.

Demanding justice for Yousef, a quiet boy killed by Israeli settlers

Yousef Ikhlayl, top left-hand corner, attending a demonstration in Beit Ommar less than six months before he was killed by Israeli settlers.
(Palestine Solidarity Project)

On 28 January 2011 at 6:30am, Yousef Ikhlayl, 17, went with his father Fakhri to their farmland on the outskirts of the West Bank village Beit Ommar, where they prepared the land around their grapevines. At approximately 7am, two groups of Israelis from the illegal settlements Bat Ayn and Kiryat Arba were taking a “hike” in the privately-owned Palestinian agricultural land belonging to the residents of Beit Ommar (“Palestinian killed in clashes with settlers near Hebron,” The Jerusalem Post, 29 January 2011).
There was no indication that the settlers were planning on shooting. Yousef’s father reported that the first shot fired by the settlers hit his son in the head. The settlers then began shooting in the air and the surrounding areas to prevent others from approaching, as his father screamed desperately for help.
Yousef was carried to a car that drove him out of the agricultural valley and to the main road, where an ambulance “rushed” him to the hospital in Hebron, passing two Israeli military checkpoints on the way. At the hospital, Yousef was put on a respirator, though he had no brain activity. He passed away soon after.
At his funeral the following day, as is common practice with the Israeli military involving martyr funerals, soldiers numbering in the hundreds invaded Beit Ommar and attacked the funeral with tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and even live ammunition, as the Palestine Solidarity Project reported (“Funeral of Yousef Ikhlayl attacked by Israeli military, dozens injured,” 29 January 2011).
The murder of Yousef Ikhlayl, the impunity with which the settlers acted and the military’s behavior at the funeral are common occurrences in the occupied West Bank. The death of a Palestinian, even a child, is rarely noted and quickly forgotten in much of the world. The killing of Yousef was, however, a profound event for myself, the Palestine Solidarity Project (PSP, the organization I co-founded) and popular resistance in the Hebron district as a whole.

FROM IN AND OUTSIDE ISRAEL’S PRISON WALLS

 

The official Palestinian position on the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails serves to undermine their cause; liberation will only come with a shift in strategy.

 Waging liberation in and outside Israel’s prison walls

Liberating Palestinian political prisoners should mean liberating them now.
(Issam Rimawi / APA images)

The success of internationalization can be gauged by the extent to which the issue or question concerned becomes a global concern. It means creating a situation on the ground which makes it impossible for the international system to continue shirking responsibility, or colluding with a dominant or powerful party in usurping the rights of a weaker victim. International mechanisms can then be brought into play to support the restoration of the victim’s rights and enforce compliance on the violator.
In such cases, justice is the victim’s most potent weapon to offset the power and repressive force of the dominant party — in this case, the racist colonial regime of Israel.

„Arabesken der Revolution. Zornige Tage in Tunis, Kairo...“

Mi 01.02.2012    20 h Zürich, Rote Fabrik, Fabrikgespräche, Seestrasse 395

„Arabesken der Revolution. Zornige Tage in Tunis, Kairo...“

Lesung und Diskussion zum arabischen Frühling Mit der Schriftstellerin Salwa Bakr (Ägypten), dem Filmemacher Lassaad Dkhili (Tunesien) und dem Herausgeber und Co-Autor Roland Merk (Basel & Paris) Moderation: Alfred Hackensperger, Wochenzeitung WOZ. >>mehr dazu Ein "west-östlicher Divan" zu den Revolutionen in Tunesien und Ägypten. Die Auswahl literarischer und essayistischer Texte dokumentiert, wie Schriftstellerinnen und Schriftsteller aus dem arabischen Raum und aus dem Westen den arabischen Frühling erlebt haben. "Packend sind schliesslich die sehr persönlichen Erfahrungsberichte im Buch «Arabesken der Revolution» ... Diese Stimmen zur Kenntnis zu nehmen, sollte Pflicht sein für alle, die sich für den arabischen Aufbruch interessieren." Beat Stauffer, Beilage "Bücher am Sonntag", NZZ am Sonntag

Quran, chapter 72: The Jinn

 Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was praying and a group of jinn was around and they came to listen to his recitation of the Quran, then Allah The Exalted revealed  another chapter of Quran called Al-jinn talking about what happened in this event  (Quran: surah Al jinn chapter 72)

Allah The Exalted says.....

 

The True Story of Jesus Son of Mary (pbuh)

Al-E-Imran
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

 (44) (And remember) when the angels said: O Mary! Lo! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a word from him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near (unto Allah).

World’s Oldest Bible available online

The world’s oldest known Christian Bible is now online — but worryingly for Christians, the 1,600-year-old text doesn’t match the one you’ll find in churches today!
The British government bought most of the pages of the ancient manuscript in 1933,
Discovered in a monastery in the Sinai desert in Egypt more than 160 years ago, the handwritten Codex Sinaiticus includes two books that are not part of the official New Testament and at least seven books that are not in the Old Testament.

Prophet Adam Alayhissalam Was 90 Feet Tall

There is but one allusion to giants in the Qur'an, namely to the tribe 'Ad who are spoken of as men "with fifty statures" (Surah lxxxix 6), and the commentator Shah 'Abdu 'l-Aziz of Delhi, says they were men of not less the twelve yards in stature. According to a tradition in the Kitabu 'sh-Shafah by the Qazi 'Ayaz(p 65), Adam was sixty yards in height. In the Ghiyasu 'l-Lughah, a giant named Uj is mentioned who was born in the days of Adam and lived until the time of Moses, a period of 3500 years, and that he was so high, that the flood in the days of Noah only reached to his waist. There are traditions and stories of giants whose graves exist unto the present day, throughout the whole of Persia.

Tears of Gaza / Tränen von Gaza - Deutscher Untertitel - Full Doku

The Mahdiand 2012 and the bright Star

	Surah At-Tariq In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful By the heaven, and At-Târiq (the night-comer, i.e. the bright star); (1) And what will make you to know what At-Târiq (night-comer) is? (2) (It is) the star of piercing brightness; (3) Note: inshallah next Ramadan in 2012 will begin on a Friday and the middle of Ramadan is a Friday inshallah (check the calendar for next Ramadan to see for yourself) Now read these ahadith, Allah knows best their authenticity Abdullah ibn Mas'ud [r.a.] said that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:  "When there is a Sayha (scream) in Ramadan, then there will be turmoil in Shawwal, and the tribes will form groups in Zul-Qi'da, and blood will be spilled in Zul-Hijja, and in Al-Muharram! What is prohibited?" saying it three times, "Oh, Oh! The people will be killed in a great massacres."  He said: "We said: "What is the Sayha (scream), O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "This will be in the middle of Ramadan, on a Friday morning. That will be when the month of Ramadan begins on a Friday night. There will be a Hadda (powerful, hammering sound) that will awaken one who is asleep, and bring the young women out of their rooms, on a Friday night during a year of many earthquakes (and very cold). So when Ramadan begins on a Friday night in that year, then when you have prayed Fajr on Friday in the middle of Ramadan, then enter your houses, close your doors, block your windows, cover yourselves, and block your ears. When you sense the scream, fall down in prostration to Allah and say: "Subhanal-Quddus, subhanal-Quddus, rabbunal-Quddus (Glory be to the Most Holy, glory be to the Most Holy, our Lord is the Most Holy)." For whoever does that will survive, and whoever does not will perish." (Nuaim bin Hammad's Kitab Al-Fitan, Hadith ) Abu Huraira [r.a] said that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "There will be a Hadda (a blast or a powerful, hammering sound) in Ramadan that will awaken one who is asleep, and terrify one who is awake. Then, there will appear a group ['isaba] in Shawwal, then bloodshed in (the month of) Zul-Hijjah. Then the prohibitions will be violated in (the month of) Al-Muharram. Then, there will be death in (the month of) Safar. Then the tribes will quarrel with each other in (the month of) Rabi', then the most amazing thing will happen between (the months  of) Jumada and Rajab. Then, a well-fed she-camel will be better than a castle sheltering a thousand."  (Al-Haakim) Amr bin Shuaib reported from his grandfather that the Messenger of Allah (Prophet Mohammad) صلى الله عليه وسلم said, ''In Zul-Qa'da (Islamic month), there will be fight among the tribes, Muslim pilgrims will be looted and there will be a battle in Mina in which many people will be slain and blood will flow until it runs over the Jamarat Al-Aqba (one of the three stone pillars at Mina). The man they seek will flee and will be found between the Rukn (a corner of the Ka'ba containing the Black Stone) and the Maqam of Prophet Abraham (near Ka'ba). He will be forced to accept people's Bay'a (being chosen as a Leader/Caliph). The number of those offering Bay'a will be the same as the number of the people of Badr (Muslim fighters who participated in the Battle of Badr at time of Prophet Mohammad). Then, the dweller of  Heaven and the dweller of the Earth will be pleased with him. ' (Nuaim bin Hammad's book Kitab Al-Fitan ) Abi Ja'far said: "If the Abbas reaches Khorasan, (a star known as) Horn Zu-Shifa rises in the East. The first time it appeared was at the perishing of the people of (Prophet) Noah when Allah drowned them. And it rose at the time of (Prophet) Abraham, peace be upon him, when they cast him into fire, and when Allah caused Pharaoh (at the time of Moses) and those with him to perish, and when (Prophet) John (the Baptist) son of Zakariah was killed. If you see this, seek refuge in Allah against the evilness of Fitan (strifes and tribulations). It will rise after the eclipse of the sun and the moon. Then, soon the Abqa (a man seeking to rule) in Egypt will appear." (Nuaim bin Hammad's book Kitab Al-Fitan, Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi's book Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 32) Ka'b said: "It is a star that rises from the East and illuminates for the people of the Earth like the illumination of a moon in a full-moon night." (Nuaim bin Hammad's book Kitab Al-Fitan) Ka'b said: “ 'A star will rise from the East before the appearance of the  Mahdi and it has a tail.'  And Sharik said:' Before the appearance of the Mahdi, the sun will have an eclipse in the month of Ramadan twice.' ” (Nuaim bin Hammad's book Kitab Al-Fitan) Khaded Bin Madan said: " If you see a column of fire from the East, in the month of Ramadan, in the sky, get food as much as you can, for it is (going to be) a year of starvation (famine)." (Tabarani,  Nuaim bin Hammad's Kitab Al-Fitan ) Khaded Bin Madan said: " An Aya (sign) which is a column of fire rising from the East will appear that all people of the World will be able see. Whoever is present (alive) should arrange for his family food supply for one year."  (Nuaim bin Hammad's Kitab Al-Fitan ) Thawban reported that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, "Three men will be killed at the place where your treasure is (most likely, this is the treasure prophesied to be uncovered by Euphrates River, but may alternatively be the oil/petrol in Arabia, or the treasure underneath the Ka'ba). Each of them will be the son of a Caliph, but none of them will get hold of the treasure. Then, the Black Banners will come out of the East, and they will slaughter you, in a way that has never been seen before. If you see him (the Mahdi), give him your allegiance, even by crawling over snow, because he is the Caliph, the Mahdi." (Ibn Maja, Musnad Ahmad, Al-Haakim's Sahiha, Al-Zahabi, Ibn Kathir's Niyaha fi Al-Fitan wa Al-Malahim, Abu Nuaim bin Hammad's Kitab Al-Fitan, Muhammad Al-Barzanji's Isha'ah li Ashrat Al-Sa'a) Allah knows best about the star and its arrival and the authenticity of these ahadith . But the next Ramadan in 2012 does begin on a Friday and the middle of it is also on a Friday inshallah. And this is something that should be paid attention to and we should take precaution, (all of us chasing after the comfort of this dunya(life of the world) need to wake up). We need to return to the the Path of Allah Azzawajal and when this sign occur the Mahdi will also appear in hajj the same year. Bi'isnillah and Allah Azzawajal knows Best Surah At-Tariq In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful By the heaven, and At-Târiq (the night-comer, i.e. the bright star); (1) And what will make you to know what At-Târiq (night-comer) is? (2) (It is) the star of piercing brightness; (3) There is no human being but has a protector over him (or her) (i.e. angels in charge of each human being guarding him, writing his good and bad deeds). (4) So let man see from what he is created! (5) He is created from a water gushing forth, (6) Proceeding from between the back-bone and the ribs, (7) Verily, (Allâh) is Able to bring him back (to life)! (8) The Day when all the secrets (deeds, prayers, fasting, etc.) will be examined (as to their truth) (9) Then he will have no power, nor any helper. (10) By the sky (having rain clouds) which gives rain, again and again. (11) And the earth which splits (with the growth of trees and plants), (12) Verily, this (the Qur'ân) is the Word that separates (the truth from falsehood, and commands strict laws for mankind to cut the roots of evil). (13) And it is not a thing for amusement. (14) Verily, they are but plotting a plot (against you O Muhammad (SAW)). (15) And I (too) am planning a plan. (16) So give a respite to the disbelievers; deal gently with them for a while. (17)