Monthly Archives: November 2012

Establishment of Initiating Committee to Stimulate Popular Campaign to Boycott the Knesset Elections

30 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Boycott the Knesset

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Press Release

October 18, 2012

In fast response to the setting of the date of the Knesset elections to January 22, 2013, some of the youth activists published an invitation on Facebook and on Sunday October 14 there was a first meeting in Haifa Al-Ghad club. A group of activists gathered to discuss ways to mobilize for the boycott of the elections. They stressed the need to forward the boycott as an independent political alternative, as part of a political program of popular struggle outside the Parliament. This is in contrast to the claims of the parties that take part in the elections to the Zionist Knesset, which describe the boycott as avoidance of politics and isolation from the political struggle.

The participants in the meeting discussed their positions toward the Knesset and toward the participation in the elections. They agreed that the Knesset is not a real Parliament and that the election process in Israel is not a real democratic process. The Zionist movement, as a colonial settlements movement, established the state of Israel, the state of the “Jewish Majority”, by consciously promoting the forced migration and the denial of the Palestinian majority in its homeland by means of massacres, raising the specter of genocide, spreading terror and death. After achieving this, it acted to conceal the minority that remained in its homeland in the Diaspora of national denial. It all sums up to the political extermination of the Palestinian people. The Knesset is the source of legitimacy to these ethnic cleansing, occupation, oppression and racial discrimination. The permission that is given to some Palestinian Arabs to take part in the elections is designed to exploit them to strengthen the legitimacy of all these brutal practices, in order to convert the racist colonialist state, through their recognition, to “Jewish and Democratic”!!

The participants related to the experience of the previous elections and the popular boycott campaigns. They noted the public sympathy and the accumulation of awareness, which make the boycott position, to some extent, the majority position. The people are conscious to the alienation that they experience under Zionist rule. The participants defined, accordingly, the goals of the boycott campaign, including increasing the proportion of boycotters, and transforming the raw public feeling of distrust toward the Zionist state and its organs, and the sense of futility in the presence of the Arab MPS in the Knesset den, into a clearly expressed patriotic political position, and from it to advanced step in the struggle, which would express the unity of the struggle and the destiny of the Palestinian people.

The participants decided to appeal to the media not to marginalize the voice of the boycott, as this is the voice with the widest presence among the public. They decided to act to highlight the boycott position on all the stages where the elections are discussed.

They also called on all participants in the election campaign, the contesting parties and the boycott activists, to preserve the spirit of real democracy. This spirit is a basic requirement and necessity between our masses in their battle to stay on the land of the homeland, confronting the policies of the Zionist regime. They called for sticking to the debate about the real issues, in view of the service of the public interest, keeping away from defamation and cramping.

At the end of the meeting, an initiating committee was formed in order to communicate with supporters of the boycott across the country, with the aim of organizing the widest popular campaign for boycotting the Zionist Knesset elections

You can also read the original text in Arabic or the Hebrew translation.

It’s 21:00 Cairo Time – and Gaza Wins!

22 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Arab Revolution, Gaza

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I thought that the 2012 War on Gaza could be much longer. Usually there is a war when the relationship of forces is not clear, so the politicians throw the boys to fight it out until the balance of power is verified and a new order (or the old one) settles down. There are many new elements that were put to test in this war, so it could take some time to clear things up.

Israel wanted to test its brand new anti-rockets defenses. They probably made a nice show for commercial promotion – but they didn’t change much in the actual war. Hamas waited for this chance to test its new equipment that can hit Tel Aviv. It proved that there are no geographic red lines and no secure areas in Israel. But it also wasn’t effective enough to strike a decisive blow.

But the new Gorilla in the middle of the room that had to be tested was the two years old Arab Spring. And it behaved perfectly well.

It could be dangerous – in prior wars the main concern of the Americans (if I’m allowed to use this popular name for the North American US imperialism) was to prevent the anger of the Arab street from toppling their client regimes, mostly Egypt’s Mubarak. Will they now allow the Israeli killing machine go lose because they have not so much to fear for?

It is not like this in real politics and wars. The worst violence occurs when the strong side uses disproportionate power, feeling impunity and careless about the suffering of the helpless. Israel was bombing Lebanon regularly, refugee camps, villages and schools included, until there was another side that can shoot back.

Now, for the first time, the Palestinians were not alone. The flow of Arab dignitaries to Gaza in the middle of the war said it all. Israel had to contend itself with the German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle,  which came to encourage its one sided massacres’ campaign for its eternal right to invade Gaza’s land, assassinate activists and shoot farmers and fishermen. Obama didn’t stop his important pivot to East Asia and Hilary Clinton didn’t come until it was time to tell the Israelis that enough is enough.

The Arab Spring started to create a new regional order that is completely different from the old American-Israeli one. The Israeli attack on Gaza was it first real test, except the “internal” Arab Revolutions. If in previous wars it was the US that was mediating and setting the rules, now the center of the political activity was in Cairo. The new elected leaders of Egypt and Tunisia confirmed without reservation that they don’t mediate from a point of neutrality, but are clearly on the side of the Palestinian people and Hamas, and that they try to find a solution for the current flare-up from this perspective.

We were still planning for tomorrow’s “#Haifa4Gaza Demo” when the fire stopped and celebrations broke out in Gaza. When I went home I looked for the details. The agreement was public and clear. Israel should stop all violations of Gaza’s liberated Palestinian lands, air and sea.

The ceasefire was set for “21:00 Cairo Time” – it says it all.

Just not to be thought foolish, well, I know: This is only a small step toward the return of the Palestinian refugees, the restoration of Palestinian national rights and the establishment of free Palestine as a democratic state where Arab and Jews can live peacefully. But you are all welcomed to wake up to the new Middle East where all these wonders can happen.

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Ghassan Kanafani’s Akka all out for Gaza

20 Tuesday Nov 2012

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Ghassan Kanafani's Akka all out for Gaza

Some days ago the Palestinian flag was raised on the old clock tower in Akka (Acre). Tomorrow the Arch-fascist Marzel is planning to make a provocative visit to the Arab city, and under the guard of Israeli “security” forces call for the expulsion of the Arab residents of this old Arab city. The people of Akka are preparing for confrontation, saying they will not let Marzel spread his poisonous propaganda in their city. In between, they found the time today (19/11/2012) to demonstrate in support of their brothers and sisters which are being massacred in Gaza.
The Ghassan Kanafani youth movement is one of the nicest flowers of the Arab Spring to flourish in the 48-occupied Palestine. Less than a year ago the group was formed by local youth as a response to the failure of the local parties to do enough in solidarity with the Prisoner’s strike. Today they already initiated a demonstration that was joined by all the local Arab parties. The location was also symbolic – the old “Canon’s Circle” which they renamed Ghassan Kanafani’s Circle.
The new highway from Haifa to Akka, though not yet finished, allowed us to be in Ghassan Kanafani’s circle 10 minutes before 19:00, the scheduled time in the Facebook event. We expected to be bored while waiting. But as we arrived dozens of young people were already gathering around the circle with Palestinian flags and written slogans. And they just kept coming in…
There was a feeling of unity and strength. Many youth gathered in the center of the circle, posing with the flying flags, one very big with such a long pole to hold it that we were afraid it would hit some electricity cables. Others rotated the circle in a car with the Palestinian flag waving from the window, blowing the car’s horn.
The main block of demonstrators was on one side of the circle, with some youth shouting slogans and the mass answering them with loud voices. There was no need for a megaphone. The slogans were all enthusiastic support for Gaza, its people and its resistance. Old people like me would prefer more political slogans, but nobody would try to calm the Shabab. From time to time they will shout “Sha’abiye, Sha’abiye” – “Popular, Popular”, so you might think they are shouting for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – until they will clear things by ending the slogan: “Hazihi Thawra Sha’abiye” – “This is a popular revolution”.
After some time more people were gathering and it looks like the circle might be closed to traffic. There were few policemen around – I saw three police cars – and three of them came to speak with some of the older people at some distance from the demonstration to warn them… The response was not late to come: A few minutes later the whole mass moved from the circle – not to be dispersed but to start a marching demonstration toward the old city. As we passed near the police, the youth were shouting: “We are not afraid of confrontation” and the police turned their backs.
The demonstration entered the gates of the Akka Wall and moved by Al-Jazzar Mosque into the lanes of the old city. It passed through the market and marched past the fishermen’s port to the Old Khan. Arriving there, we found that the Palestinian flag was waving again at the top of the impressive clock tower.

Posted by | Filed under Gaza, Popular Struggle

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It is not the time to Talk on Gaza

17 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by in Arab Revolution, Gaza, Palestine, The Coming War

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As the Israeli war planes are throwing their American Bombs on Gaza, killing babies in their cradles, children in their playing yards, women and men of all ages wherever they might be – this is not the time to talk on Gaza… It is the time to act to stop this criminal assault.

This is a war that was started by two wicked devils, Netanyahu and Barak. As the bombs started to fall, all the Zionist leaders, from all parties, came running to congratulate their great leaders on opening this war, like a pack of wolves gathering on the stench of blood. Once again they prove, to anyone that still requires such a proof, that not only there is no left or conscientious Zionist, there is also no reasonable one.

The leaders of Zionist Apartheid decided to ignite the fire of war and flood Gaza with blood and destruction knowing that the progress of Arab Spring will make it harder for them to act in the future. Now Syria is locked in a deadly civil war and in Jordan the army and the king are still holding the line against the mass movement. They hope that Egypt is so stuck in economic trouble that it will not dare to anger the Americans by acting to save Gaza.

I thought that Netanyahu and Barak started the war on Gaza because of their frustration at not being allowed to attack Iran. But, as I read the Israeli papers, I learn that there is another option: That the war on Gaza is a general rehearsal to test the Arab and the World’s response… If they get off with this aggression and don’t pay the price, they are more likely to try for the big one and throw the whole region into a bloody global conflict.

We can stop them. The Arab spring brought to the center of the stage the sleeping giant – the Arab public. It is for the first time that the ability of the Arab masses to act and change in this new period is put to the test of a regional crisis…

If we hear today that the Hamas government in Gaza is calling for the Egyptians and the Arab League to finally lift the blockade of Gaza and open the border fully for people and merchandise, we learn that the wakeup call is overdue. How come that there is an elected Egyptian government and the blockade is still there? Is it the old regime that is still calling the shots in Cairo or is it an American dictate? It is time for the brave Egyptian people to put their house in order.

There is a lot that can be done on the Arab front. The whole position from Israel should be changed. It is not only the peace agreements of Egypt and Jordan that keeps the Israeli back while they kill the Palestinians. It is also the “Arab Peace Initiative”, adopted by the Arab League, which gives legitimacy to ethnic cleansing and tries to appease Israel instead of fighting to end Apartheid.

But the really effective pressure to stop this crazy war is probably the pressure on the United States and European countries that still support the aggression, militarily, politically and diplomatically. The imperialist powers gain hundreds of billions of dollars out of their hegemony over Arab oil, Arab markets, Arab financial assets and much more. They keep throwing some of these gains at Israel to keep its military machine working and greased with Arab blood. Only when the imperialist powers will know that by supporting Israeli aggression they will pay a high price in their interests all over the region they will make this bloody war stop.

It is not time to talk on Gaza – we should and we can act to stop the war!

Ahmad Sa’adat Confronts the Occupation’s Court (18/11/2007)

02 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Free Ahmad Sa'adat, Prisoners

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(In 2007 I was observing Ahmad Sa’adat’s trial in the Ofer Military Court. Below is one report.)

Israeli Occupiers Punish Ahmad Sa’adat

For his declarations against the Anapolis Conference

Transferring him to the Nafha Prison in the Naqab Desert

The secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Sa’adat, appeared today, 18/11/2007, in the military court in ‘Ofer, for another hearing in the case against him. It is the first time he was seen in public after his recent deportation to the Nafha Prison, and it was a chance for him to make it clear why he was deported. The Israeli prison authorities punished him for his political position against the planned Anapolis Conference, and sent him to the remote Nafha prison, where physical conditions are harsh and where it will be very hard for his family or lawyers to meet him.

In spite of this suffering, Ahmad Sa’adat didn’t hesitate to size on the opportunity of his appearance at the court to state again his firm position against the Anapolis Conference. As he was brought in, he immediately started in loud voice to call on the Palestinian People not to give any faith in this “autumn conference”, and beware the goals behind it: To market the American policy, force the Arab regimes to normalize relations with Israel, continue the dealing with the Palestinian problem from the point of view of “Israeli security first”, perpetuation of the internal Palestinian divisions and give political cover to the belligerent Israeli policy of siege and expropriation against the Palestinian people.

He continued to call on Abu Mazen (the Palestinian President) not to take a one-sided decision to participate in the conference, as any decision should be taken by the whole Palestinian people, and as national unity was the only way to defend the suffering Palestinian people. These last sentences were hardly heard, as the security guards in the military court hurried to stand in front of him and throw the television crew of Aljazeera out of the court room.

The court’s hearing itself was very short. Only one witness was brought, and he refused to answer most of the prosecutor’s questions. He only said he was sentenced for membership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and, yes, he knew Ahmad Sa’adat as the secretary general of the front. His only connection to Ahmad Sa’adat was that he visited him several times while Sa’adat was held by the Palestinian Authority in the Jericho Prison. Ahmad Sa’adat and his lawyer, Mahmud Hassan from el-Damir, continue to boycott the courts procedures, so there was no cross examination. The Military Judges frowned at the young officer that appeared for the prosecution for wasting their time. They called on the prosecution to reconsider its policy of bringing witnesses which adds nothing to the case.

Other witnesses were also invited to give evidence today, but as they were all since freed from the Israeli prisons, they didn’t care to come and it didn’t seem that the prosecution had any way to bring them.

The next court hearing was set to next Sunday, 25/11/2007.

Ahmad Sa’adat Confronts the Occupation’s Court (30/5/2007)

02 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Free Ahmad Sa'adat, Prisoners

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(In 2007 I was observing Ahmad Sa’adat’s trial in the Ofer Military Court. Below is one report.)

Defiant Maluh Refuses to Testify

Against PFLP Secretary General Sa’adat

Ramallah, May 30, 2007

The Israeli occupation’s military court continues its hearing in the case against the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Sa’adat. Usually the hearings, held in the fortified Ofer military base near Ramallah, are very one-sided: Sa’adat refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the court, and forbids his lawyers from playing by the court’s rules. The lawyers ask the court to be reprieved from their impossible role, and are prevented by the court from resigning, but avoid any active defense. As a result, the sole manager of the court is the military prosecutor, a young and arrogant religious Jewish soldier-lawyer, and the 3 uniformed military judges follow his script to fill the trials files with “evidence”…

But this morning’s hearing was some exception. The prosecutor chose to bring as his next “witness” ‘Abed elRahim Maluh, the PFLP’s deputy secretary general. The aged Maluh (67), which was arrested in June 2002 and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment, proudly refused to be a witness, and the meeting of the two leaders in the courtroom allowed their common defiant stance to expose the court in all its ridiculous vanity.

Seven television crews were allowed in before the hearing started, but they were repeatedly warned by the Military public relations officer that they are not allowed to ask Mr. Sa’adat any questions, and anybody breaching this order will be promptly expelled. As he was allowed in, between military guards and prison officers, Sa’adat chose the moment, before the cameras, to give a well prepared declaration on the occasion of 40 years to the 1967 occupation and 59 years of the Palestinian Nakba. He called on all Palestinian parties, and particularly Fatah and Hamas, to stick to national unity against the occupation and avoid any internal clashes. He called on the international community to recognize the democratically elected Palestinian government and to defend the Palestinians against continuing Israeli war crimes. Before he went on to call for an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestine, the TV crews were all expelled out of the courtroom.

Later, when the judges came in, Sa’adat refused to stand up, reinstating his rejection of his supposed role as ‘defendant’. Than the guards brought in Maluh, just half the big man that he used to be before his arrest. Cuffed and in prisoner’s clothes, Maluh started with protesting at being brought without his consent. He declared he is not a witness, and doesn’t regard Ahmad Sa’adat as ‘a defendant’, and will say only what he finds fit. He said he was proud at his role as the deputy secretary general of the popular front for the liberation of Palestine, as he already declared in the military trial in which he was sentenced for this very ‘crime’. He said his main role in the PFLP was as responsible to political relations, and representing the PFLP in the Palestinian Liberation Organization, serving as member of the PLO’s executive committee. When asked who serves as secretary general of the PFLP, he said it was not his business to give such information to the court. At this stage Mr. Sa’adat from his bench intervened to ask the judges to stop this ridiculous show, as they know very well that he is the secretary general. Apparently, the judges changed tactics with Mr. Sa’adat, refusing to ‘recognize’ his declarations. One judge told Mr. Sa’adat that if he will stand in front of them they will write down his words…

An extra surrealistic flavor was added to the whole event by the incredible translator, a young Jewish soldier, which mixed almost every sentence. Apparently he couldn’t catch the difference between the popular front for the liberation of Palestine and the PLO, and had no knowledge of basic terminology like “the executive committee”. So the court was held in two separate worlds, the Arabic world of freedom fighters resisting the occupation, and the Hebrew occupation world where the resistance is posed as criminal activity. Any communication between these two worlds under Israeli Apartheid was based on misinterpretation, just as the Ofer military camp is posed in the middle of the Apartheid walls, separating between “Israeli” and “Palestinian” spaces.

As the court was dispersed until 29/7, Maluh and Sa’adat were dragged back to the Hadarim prison, and we went out from the Apartheid court to the Apartheid world. Most Palestinian families are not allowed to go out of the “Israeli” side of the fence, even though it is well within the 1967 occupied West Bank, within densely populated Arab area, while Israelis are not allowed at the Palestinian side. One old lady was stuck between the fences. She came with a Red Cross bus full of families that came to visit at Ofer prison, about 200 meters inside the blue side of the fence. But as she came to the court to see arrested relatives, she couldn’t cross again to Israeli territory to catch her bus. As we went away the international community was still failing to protect the rights of one old Palestinian lady to go back home.