Happy Women's Day to every Palestinian woman who has lost a father, brother, son or a husband. To all Palestinian women who are still languishing inside the Israeli prisons waiting for justice.
Palestinian women commemorate women's day to highlight their struggle and show perseverance in fighting the Israeli occupation on one hand and the discrimination they face by Palestinian political and social authorities on the other.

Daoud Kuttab says this year celebrations had a different taste after Hamas won the elections:

The victory of ….. has reinvigorated Palestinian civil society in general and the women's movement in particular. This year's pro-women march in Ramallah, which ended with a meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas, was well attended, by nearly a thousand women, interestingly many of them with headscarves.

See pictures on the soul unfolds itself.

“Amdist the decay, there is always beauty lurking not far behind.”
Photo Credit: Raising Yousuf

News of the blogosphere

Little Yousuf (Laila el-Haddad of Raising Yousuf‘s son) has just turned two last week on the 5 March 2006. Watch him help making his birthday cake before he finally eats it.

Yesterday in Gaza and according to Laila of Raising Yousuf, dozens of taxi drivers protested to the hike in fuel prices. They have announced a strike, burned tires, blocked roads and refused to transport people to jobs and schools.

From International Solidarity Movement, Palestinian activist and non-violent protests organizer, Mohammed Mansour faces his 11th tiral after being accused of throwing stones, encouraging others to throw stones and involving in illegal demonstrations inside the West Bank back in 2004. Mansour suffered from heart attack only one week ago due to repeated harassments and court appearances.

His trial which was scheduled on the 21st of March had been changed to 8th of March without any reason.

From Sabbah's Blog, Israeli political party Kadima has recently converted a part of the Ahmar Mosuque in Safad into a center for the group. Al Aqsa Society strongly condemns the take over of the mosque which was built by Thaher Pepers in 1275.

Also from Sabbah's Blog, “My name is Rachel Corrie” which was scheduled to open on the 22 March 2006 was postponed indefinitely sparking much debate. Haitham Sabbah echoes Rache's mother question: Why are people so afraid of Rachel Corrie’s words?

What we talk about

Laila el-Haddad of Raising Yousuf has met Palestinian Prime Minister Mr. Ismail Haniyah talking about her first impression she says:

My first impression of Haniya (besides his towering height) was his warmth and casual demeanor. I also couldn’t help noticing his eyes….They are these soft emerald-grey-green colour that somehow leave you at ease when you talk to him

thecutter from peacepalestine says pro-Israeli bias in Italy is a program.

From Sugar Cubes, a UN expert says Jewish settlers terrorize Palestinians.

From Raising Yousuf, Laila vents out her frustration and exhaustion of being there:

It’s not so much one single event, but rather the sum total of a series of every day seemingly insignificant incidents that make up the occupation in all its ugliness and brutality and take their insidious toll on you

On the horrific incident of the two children killed in the attack by an unmanned Israeli drone Laila says:

It killed the intended “targets”…But it also killed three others. Including two children-brothers, 8-year-old Raed Al-Batch and his 15-year-old brother Ala. They were with their mother at the time. She lived, only to learn that she lost two boys. At once.

On the same news Naseem Tarawnah of the Black Iris of Jordan says:

As for these kids they just murdered, I guess this is what Mofaz meant when he told army radio: “No one is immune”

And Will of KABOBfest says:

This shows the claim that Israel never targets civilians to be utter propaganda. It fired rockets at an ice cream truck, for crying out loud

Earlier and as reported by Sugar Cubes and KABOBfest, Isreali defence minister Mofaz threatened to assassinate Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh .

nasrawi talks about the attack on the Basilica of the Annunciation in Al-Naserah (Nazareth):

To treat Druze as non-Arab, to inflame tensions over the Sha'ab il-Diin square in Nazareth so as to pit Christian against Muslim, to portray Muslims as barbarians and Christians as being more peace-loving; this has always been official policy of the State so as to weaken a popular movement against the State's discriminatory strategies and to lower the voice of a united Arab people. However, no one is fooled.

On Sunday the 4th of March and as re-reported by The Black Iris of Jordan, Palestinian Christians marched the streets of Al-Naserah in protests demanding the protection of holy sites. According to nasrawi, Muslim inhibitants of the Biblical city were among the protesters.

Welcome to Baqa'a Refugee Camp reports that a child detainee Qassam Abu Baker, 15 year-old had one of his fingers cut off during interrogation to make him admit that he threw stones at soldiers according to his family.

karmalised says Jerry Falwell claimed Jews can get to heaven only if they believe in Jesus. karmalised wonders how will Televangelist John Hagee and Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg will spin Falwell‘s revelation after he denied to have accepted and adopted the “dual covenant” theology as Hagee had previously claimed:

How will Hagee and his good friend Bibi Netanyahu spin that revelation?…Will Hagee and the other theme park entrepreneurs lose their permit to build and be maligned by the press?
Probably not. Only Christians who've co-existed with Muslims for 14 centuries get that treatment.

From Raising Yousuf, a new video by B'Tselem (The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories), testimonies of Israeli soldiers talking about open fire regulations show that:

soldiers receive intentitonaly ambiguous orders about when and how they are to use their weapons, giving the soldiers flexiblity, a high civlian death toll, and immunity from responsiblity. It is a policy Btselem calls “lethal ambiguity”.

From the Black Iris of Jordan, a February story for you:

One day before Valentine’s Day, ‘Annan’s father went to his 13-year-old son’s school…and only found his…jacket and backpack on the school grounds. Along with four other boys ranging from the ages of 11 to 14, ‘Annan had been arrested by Israeli soldiers…

The blogosphere is also talking about Sharon Stone's visit to Israel to sponsor peace and celebrate International Women's Day by setting a feminist example.

umkahlil talks about how the cultural boycott of Israel might earn you an anti-semitic smear:

Boycott Israel and brace for the anti-Semitic smear. That's what happened to personnel at this Dance Magazine.

Jews sans frontieres talk about Roger Waters's (artist Pink Floyd) refusal to call off his concernt in Tel Aviv saying:

Roger: I would not rule out going to Israel because I disapprove of the foreign policy any more than I would refuse to play in the UK because I disapprove of Tony Blair's foreign policy.

Levi: A. This is isn't just about foreign policy. B. Who asked him to call off UK gigs?

On the same issue, umkahlil says in a post titled “Another Brick in the Monstrous Wall”:

no walls will be tumbling down any time soon unless world class artists take a principled stand as they did for apartheid South Africa.

On everything else

KABOBfest blogs the story of a successful operation in the land of “death and courage” (Iraq) called Ofti:

acclaimed ABC News blogger Jake Tapper reported today that Operation Ofti was a major success! For those unaware, Ofti is “the skankiest bazzoona from the backalleys of Baghdad” – in other words, a stray cat.

karmalised talks about the state-sponsored terrorism in Iraq. Quoting Stephen Zunes:

there is little evidence to suggest that US trainers have actively encouraged death squad activity.

From Sabbah's Blog, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) protects torture in Abu Gharib, Guantanamo Bay’s Camp X-Ray, and many Israeli detention centers with its confidentiality policy:

The policy, in effect, allows ICRC to politely ask torturers to stop torturing, while promising not to tell the rest of the world

The little things that matter

The Black Iris of Jordan says students at Birzeit and Al-Najah Universities came togther to find the Right to Education Photography Project. The photographs which they have taken aiming at visualizing and documenting Palestinian students’ life under occupation, have become now an exhibition and a book touring Palestinian and international venues.

By The Black Iris of Jordan too, Made in Palestine:

is the first museum-quality exhibition devoted to the contemporary art of Palestine to be held in the United States.

To visit the exhibition from 14-23 March 2006, contact the visiting artist Zuhdi al-Adawi through email or call 646-584-9098

Haitham Sabbah of Sabbah's Blog and following up on the pledge to add Palestine to different blogging services, Haitham says that blogger.com has kept its promise and finally added Palestine to its country drop down list.

From KABOBfest, KABOBfashion presents the latest of Nemi Jamal‘s designs, in which she takes the traditional hutta beyond gas masks making it the bandanna of today.