This Week In Palestinian Blogs: Summer Rain · Global Voices
Naseem Tarawnah

August 11th saw another weekly non-violent protest in Bil’in take a wrong turn as the Israeli army attacked protesters with rubber bullets and sound grenades as they marched toward the Separation Wall. International Solitary Movement reported fourteen people injured including an Israeli activist. Bethlehem Bloggers has a  first hand account from activist Jenny Digi. A video of the event created by ISM Israeli activists showed the unit commander yelling:  “This is Lebanon! I will not allow a demonstration during wartime!”,  as he orders his unit to fire on retreating demonstrators.
“They lost it in Lebanon, now they are going to retaliate and take revenge on Palestinian and their Supporters!” said Haitham Sabbah.
Meanwhile the siege of Gaza continues and overcome with homesickness Laila El-Haddad phones home as Dr. Mona El-Farra writes a letter to explain the situation from the point of view of a mother, physician and citizen of Gaza.  Iman has some interesting information on Israel’s operation Summer Rain,  launched in an attempt to recover an Israeli soldier, which has seen Gaza’s death toll rise to 193 with 790 injured. Of the dead 58 were under the age of 18 while 25 were women. Meanwhile the Palestinian film “Dreams in a Grey Spot” achieved the status of bestseller at Capalbio International Film Festival. Costing just $60 to produce by a group of young filmmakers under the age of 20, the film centers on a young man from a refugee camp who talks about his dreams as a poet and artist.
Blogger and artist Amal Kawash uses her artwork to remind us what the view is often like from the inside in this piece entitled “Windows So Clean”.
Fadi at KabobFest has an intriguing CBC video on Israeli media censorship when it comes to the most humane army in the world. Katie also has an interesting story to tell of a Human Rights Worker that tried to intervene on behalf of four Palestinian men rounded up randomly by Israeli soldiers from off the street.
Mi'kmaq of Window into Palestine reports that the Fateh political party is calling on Israel to stop arresting women and girls for the purpose of pressuring their relatives who are political prisoners:
“…a mother of six, was interrogated and intimidated for five continuous hours, according to local reports. She was then dumped off in a deserted area in rural Nablus. She was handcuffed and humiliated at the hands of Israeli intelligence officers, as the young woman reported to journalists and Palestinian security sources. Her husband is a political prisoner.”
With electricity, water and petrol becoming a scarce commodity in Gaza, Haitham Sabbah has an interesting video of newscaster Jon Snow confronting Zvi Ravner, Deputy Israeli Ambassador to London, on the issue of Israel’s collective punishment on the people of Gaza. Meanwhile the grave situation in Gaza has inspired some brilliant poetry from Hayam at Poetry4Palestine. While Ola of Cinnamon Zone has a few rules to keep in mind to better understand the Middle East conflict reported in the media.
In the midst of recent chaos, blogger Al-Falasteenyia retells her four-day journey to Palestine including a visit to the old family house and a collection of great photos. Meanwhile Umkhalil calls the attention of bloggers for the implementation of right of return.
Naseem Tarawnah from The Black Iris discusses the media’s latest apocalyptic reporting on the Middle East, specifically a story on the rise of American Evangelical Christian blatant support of Israel’s killings, most recently demonstrated by the likes of Pat Roberston and John Hagee. Journalist and blogger Daoud Kuttab has a thing or two to say about this support as a Palestinian Christian:
“Christian Zionists who use religious rhetoric to justify political and military actions are no better than Jewish or Islamic fundamentalists who make similar outlandish claims. Peace in the Middle East should be about the liberty, independence and freedoms of all the people of the region, and not about whose promised land the Holy Land is.”
Osaid Rasheed has discovered a new use of blogging in Palestine: PELTA (Palestinian English Language Teachers Association). Although still in its humble beginnings, its aim is to create a common place to bring together all English Language teachers in Palestine. Osaid wonders: “Can this blog gather the Palestinian English teachers in a time where checkpoints made it almost impossible for everyone to reach even his own school??!”