This Week in Palestinian Blogs

Three major issues forced themselves to appear on Palestinian blogs this week:
1) The so called Gaza disengagement,
2) The discriminatory Apartheid Wall (which imprisons Palestinians in the largest jail humanity has ever known) and
3) The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israeli military forces.

Before you proceed, I'd like to welcome Lisa N.Goldman, the Israeli blogger and GV new author of the Israeli Blogsphere. Welcome aboard Lisa.

In peacepalestine the upcoming group interview with Israel Shamir is your chance to participate in posing and knowing the answers of twenty questions assembled into a questionnaire. Book your question now if you hadn't already. thecutter quotes Alon Liel discussing Israel’s need of support (or rather its lack of), from the outside world: “The past five years, the years of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, have taught an important lesson about Israel's situation in the international arena: Israel has in effect become immune to international pressure”. “People who still believe that the Israeli-Arab conflict will in the end be solved only as the result of international pressure can forget about it.” Sharon's final solution for the palestinian problem is ethnic cleansing.

Laila of Raising Yousuf has great news for you, Iman a Swedish convert to Islam who recently moved to Gaza City with her Palestinian husband and three children, now had an English blog. “Its brutally honest and to the point, which also makes it worth reading. If you'd really like to understand what life is like “living in Gaza City” (or even travelling to Gaza City) I suggest you take a look”, says umkahlil.

Haitham Sabbah urges to protest against the Nobel Prize for prof. Aumann and Thomas Schelling . In the sample letter written by the Israeli peace and anti nuclear activist Gideon Spiro : “Schelling ideas were the direct inspiration for US strategy in Vietnam, of indiscriminantly bombing the North in order to persuade Ho Chi Minh to stop supporting the Vietcong in the South” apparently it was an all pain, no gain role. “This strategy resulted in 2 million civilian deaths and was a complete failure in realizing its objectives” and “Aumann uses his analysis to justify the Israeli Occupation and the oppression of the Palestinians.” Sign the statement. In Sabbah's Blog as well, an eye for an eye and a tit for tat attacks is exactly what's been going on in Occupied Palestine for the past few days, “but whose eye, and whose tat was it first? “. Sabbah adds: “everyone is talking about Palestinian crime and how did they break the cease fire. What a joke. What about the crimes of IOF? Can’t the media see those? Or is it Halal for Israelis to kill Palestinians and Haraam for Palestinians to kill Israelis? “.

In Baqa'a Refugee Camp, “Landscapes of Hope and Despair” is a book that chronicles the experience of Palestinians living in the camps of Lebanon from the perspective of place and space, and how these parameters have affected their identity.

Rafah Pundits report that IDF is attempting a new propaganda tactic, “In a new move against Palestinian resistance groups, Israeli military helicopters dropped thousands of leaflets on Beit Hanoon and northern areas of the Gaza Strip, encouraging local residents to report on names and the whereabouts of those operating Qassam rockets”. Rafah Pundits has a copy of the leaflet which is written in Arabic and below it you a translation in English. IDF is also “plans to create ‘a military restricted zone’ around the Gaza Strip. The new plan involves setting up several missile-firing positions”. “Initial information indicated that the Israeli army consider choosing specific high locations in order to enable the missiles to reach any target, wherever it is in the Gaza Strip and at anytime”. Moreover, Israeli air raids continued in Gaza, since the morning hours, Israeli F-16 air fighters have launched at least three air strikes in north and east of the Gaza Strip. One Palestinian was killed and three wounded in the attack. Israeli air strikes in Gaza and Rafah started on the 25th of this month.Now tell me, what kind of disengagement is that? Gaza Strip is still occupied! And no, I can't see where and why is the ceasefire!


Israeli soldiers and schoolgirls in East Jerusalem, by farfuglinn

In umkahlil:

  • Israel arrested as many as 800 Palestinians for having a general association with the Islamic movement in the occupied territories
  • Farha Barghothy “Mother of prisoners”, a great popular poet, and one of the leaders of the Palestinian women movement died on Saturday. Her dying wish was to see her two jailed sons.
  • IOF Bombs Clinic, Social Center, Injures Old Woman, Infant
  • The death of three children was ignored in a familiar disgraceful way as AP reported the crime titled: “Israelis Kill Seven Palestinian Militants” appeared next to the story appeared a photo of six grieving Israelis at a funeral for one of the victims of the Khadera suicide bombing, the headline was changed by the morning into “Israelis Kill Seven Palestinians” with a photo of Palestinians mourning the deaths.
  • IOF Invades Bil'in (village near the West Bank city of Ramallah)
  • In electronicintifada, Israel assassinates two Palestinians in Tulkarem. From International Solidarity Movement: Palestinians and ISMers stand down Israeli military in the olive harvest.. And more settler attacks in Hebron (Khalil) while soldiers and police watch: settlers attacked a school girl near Qurtuba School, three internationals who rushed to aid her and the Palestinian child had been removed from the area by the police. The three internationals were released afterwards leaving Israa (the schoolgirl) behind them while the charges against her if any remain unclear. Settlers in Hebron also chanted “death to Arabs” while they helped the soldiers into forcing a group of Human Rights Activists into a shop.ISM reports that olive harvest was blocked in Yanoun by police and settlers.

    In Palestine Blogs, Three Cities Against the Wall: Ramallah, Tel Aviv, New York. “Three Cities Against the Wall is an exhibition protesting the Separation Wall under construction by Israel in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. This project involves groups of artists in Ramallah, Palestine; Tel Aviv, Israel; and New York City. The show will be held simultaneously in all three cities in November 2005.”

    Join the conversation

    Authors, please log in »

    Guidelines

    • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
    • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.