| On This International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People: We Urge You To Please Take Action |
| Readers & Friends,
Today is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and as our writers argue below, this day must be reclaimed as a day of action, not words.
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| Baroud in Al Jazeera: Time to Reclaim International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People Palestinian author and journalist, Ramzy Baroud argued in a piece published today in Al Jazeera that the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People must be reclaimed by civil society and people everywhere. "Although November 29 has galvanized pro-Palestinian communities around the world for decades, a few facts and problems about this day must be acknowledged and redressed," he wrote. "To start with, the history behind that specific date is quite an ominous one. Palestine was partitioned, unjustly, on November 29, 1947. There was no moral or legal basis for that partition, as communicated in UN resolution 181 (II), into a 'Jewish State' and an 'Arab State'. "The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was designated to be a day of solidarity almost exactly 30 years after the partition plan took place. It was announced in successive resolutions, firstly in December 1977 (Res. 32/40 B) and, secondly, more substance to that resolution was added in December 1979 (Res. 34/65 D). "These resolutions crowned 30 years of unmitigated failure on the part of the international community to aid in the establishment of a Palestinian state, which was even unsuccessful in imposing any form of punishment on the 30-year-old "Jewish State" for repeatedly violating international law and every legal principle upon which it was established."
In his piece, Baroud, who is also the Editor of PalestineChronicle.com, protested what he called the validation of an unelected Palestinian leadership by the UN, which continues to perpetuate the two-state solution myth. "While the day is meant as a day of solidarity with the 'Palestinian people', it has served, at an official UN level, as a day of validating the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, which has neither a popular nor legal democratic mandate to represent the Palestinian people. "The current Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, has been ruling with an expired mandate since 2009. Duly, his government was neither elected through proper elections nor a referendum. "However, every November 29 of every year, PA officials and diplomats fan out around the globe to speak about Palestinian victimization, imploring international solidarity, while the PA is practically taking part in denying Palestinians their aspirations. "
Answering the question, 'what can be done?' to give November 29 greater value and meaning, Dr. Baroud offered a few ideas, among them: "Civil society around the world can lead the mobilization to use the day of solidarity as an opportunity to place pressure on their governments to move beyond symbolic gestures into meaningful action. This effort is most important in Western societies, especially in the United States, which has served as a shield and benefactor for Israel for too many years." (To read article in full, click here.) |
| The Real Link between Israel's Forest Fires and Muezzin Bill By Jonathan Cook - Nazareth Israeli legislation ostensibly intended to tackle noise pollution from Muslim houses of worship has, paradoxically, served chiefly to provoke a cacophony of indignation across much of the Middle East. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his support this month for the so-called "muezzin bill", claiming it was urgently needed to stop the dawn call to prayer from mosques ruining the Israeli public's sleep. A vote in the parliament is due this week. The use of loudspeakers by muezzins was unnecessarily disruptive, Mr Netanyahu argued, in an age of alarm clocks and phone apps. But the one in five of Israel's population who are Palestinian, most of them Muslim, and a further 300,000 living under occupation in East Jerusalem, say the legislation is grossly discriminatory. The bill's environmental rationale is bogus, they note. Moti Yogev, a settler leader who drafted the bill, originally wanted the loudspeaker ban to curb the broadcasting of sermons supposedly full of "incitement" against Israel. And last week, after the Jewish ultra-Orthodox lobby began to fear the bill might also apply to sirens welcoming in the Sabbath, the government hurriedly introduced an exemption for synagogues. The "muezzin bill" does not arrive in a politically neutral context. The extremist wing of the settler movement championing it has been vandalizing and torching mosques in Israel and the occupied territories for years. The new bill follows hot on the heels of a government-sponsored expulsion law that allows Jewish legislators to oust from the parliament the Palestinian minority's representatives if they voice unpopular views. Palestinian leaders in Israel are rarely invited on TV, unless it is to defend themselves against accusations of treasonous behavior. And this month a branch of a major restaurant chain in the northern city of Haifa, where many Palestinian citizens live, banned staff from speaking Arabic to avoid Jewish customers' suspicions that they were being covertly derided. Incrementally, Israel's Palestinian minority has found itself squeezed out of the public sphere. The "muezzin bill" is just the latest step in making them inaudible as well as invisible. Text Link |
| British Writer Says 'Guardian Continues to Exclude Palestinians from Its Comment Pages' In a recent article published in Middle East Monitor, British writer, Ben White argued that the British Guardian newspaper is excluding Palestinian voices from its commentary pages. White based his assertion on statistical research, in which he also found that voices of Palestinians on the ground are almost completely absent from the paper. "This time last year, I carried out an informal survey of how The Guardian was covering the issue of Palestine and Israel in its comment pages. The results were not good," White wrote. "Out of 138 op-eds on the topic published by the newspaper in its 'Comment is free' section from October 2013 to November 2015 (including both print and online-only articles, as well as content from The Observer), just 20 were written by Palestinians - 15 per cent of the total," he added. "By contrast, 39 op-eds (28 per cent) were written by Israelis, including six by state officials or diplomats, and four by opposition politicians. The statistics told a clear story: The Guardian was excluding Palestinians from its comment pages." "If any 'narrative' emerges from these 20 op-eds, it is that Israeli politics is lurching rightwards, Israeli liberals and human rights NGOs are under pressure, and a two-state solution looks increasingly unlikely. All of which contains some truth, of course, but is also deeply inadequate. "The quantity and focus of the comment coverage speaks to a sense of priorities. For example, in the last year, there was just one op-ed each on the following three topics: Israel's acceleration of home demolitions and displacement; settlements; and Israeli forces' extrajudicial killings of Palestinians. "By way of comparison, there were three pieces purely on Israel's rightward drift (by Jonathan Freedland, liberal Zionist activist Hannah Weisfeld, and journalist Mairav Zonszein). "Perhaps the most instructive absence from The Guardian's comment coverage is the voices of Palestinian activists and human rights defenders on the ground. Strikingly, over the past year The Guardian has not published a single op-ed by a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. "This seems to be a wider problem for liberal and progressive publications, not limited to The Guardian. Back in May, I reported how the last piece written by a Palestinian in the 'Middle East' section of the New Statesman magazine was from July 25, 2014. That's still the case.
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| Fidel and Palestine By Palestine Chronicle Staff Legendary Cuban leader, Fidel Castro died Friday at the age of 90. He left behind a remarkable legacy, that of a man who challenged the most militarily powerful country in the world, and remained undefeated. For Palestinians, Castro represented a heroic figure, who offered a hand of support and solidarity to the Palestinian cause, thus defying US hegemony, western and Israeli threats and intimidation. And long before the Palestinian struggle became a cause of global solidarity, Cuba, under Fidel raised the bar of solidarity so high. In fact, the current international solidarity with Palestine had in fact started in Havana, decades ago. A Leader Like No Other "Palestine has lost one its oldest and closest friends following the death of Cuba's former president and leader of the Communist revolution, Fidel Castro. Few leaders, with the exception of the late South African leader Nelson Mandela, gave such vocal and unstinting support to the Palestinian people and their decades-long struggle for justice. "Castro played host to PLO leader Yasser Arafat in 1974, making it clear to the rest of the world that his loyalty and support was with the Palestinian people. He greeted and embraced the Palestinian leader like an old friend in Havana and extended the hand of friendship to a people and a cause which was not as popular as it is today. Arafat and Castro would meet and embrace again during the 1994 inauguration of their mutual friend Mandela as President of South Africa. "A year before his historic meeting with Arafat, Cuba's relations with Tel Aviv had plummeted as a reaction to the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, during which Castro broke diplomatic relations with Israel. Supporters of the Zionist state, including Texas senator Ted Cruz, were furious when US President Barack Obama announced the restoration of relations with Cuba last year and the reopening of the US Embassy in Havana. Cruz described it as a "slap in the face" to Israel .. "Palestine has lost a great friend and Cuba has lost a great revolutionary leader. We are unlikely to see the likes of Fidel Castro again." Palestine in Latin America
"The Cubans played a vital role in facilitating our interactions on the Latin American scene," said Hisham Abu Ghosh, a member of the DFLP's political bureau. The DFLP had an especially close relationship with the Cuban regime; the party's leader Nayef Hawatmeh made dozens of trips to the island, the most recent of which was made in November 2013. The PLO also found fertile ground in Cuba for political training and support, giving "logistical and professional guidance for Palestinian factions", according to Abdel Majeed Sweilim, professor of political science at Al Quds University. The Latin American state also took a special interest in providing educational support to Palestinians. "Despite Cuba's economic woes, the government would give more than 150 Palestinians annually opportunities to study medicine, engineering and other disciplines," said Odeh, who studied dentistry on the island in 1970 under a full scholarship granted by the Cuban government.
Two years ago, Castro condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza. He described it as a "new, repugnant form of fascism" in a column for the Cuban communist party newspaper titled Palestinian Holocaust in Gaza. "Why does the government of [Israel] think that the world will be impervious to this macabre genocide that is being committed today against the Palestinian people?" he wrote. In the same year Castro signed an international pro-Palestine manifesto which demanded that Israel respect United Nations resolutions. This included the withdrawal of all Israeli troops and settlers from the occupied Palestinian territories in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestinian author and journalist, Ramzy Baroud wrote on Facebook soon after Castro's death, "Fidel is dead. To say that one feels sorrow is an understatement. He has inspired generations of good men and women, and now, the warrior he was, travels to Valhalla, head held high. Undefeated. But sadness this time should not last long. Times are hard, and the fight ahead is arduous. "Fortunately, he left it with a proud legacy and much writing to guide us through the rough terrain ahead. "As a Palestinian, I also want to say: Thank you, Fidel, and thanks to your people, you made us feel accepted, when much of the world turned their back on us. We are indebted, and forever grateful."
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"Under the pretext of development, the Israeli occupation authorities have been working for decades to displace Arab residents from the villages and neighborhoods in the... Nov 29 2016 / Read More » / By Ramzy Baroud There are only a few weeks standing between us and January 20, when United States President-elect Donald Trump becomes 'President Trump'. But... Nov 28 2016 / Read More » / As Israel's illegal military occupation approaches a half-century, it's long past time for concrete international action to pressure its government to reverse course. The Green... Nov 28 2016 / Read More » / The Palestinian Communist Party in the Gaza Strip has organized a sit-in in solidary with the Cuban people after the passing of the leader of... Nov 28 2016 / Read More » / By Palestine Chronicle Staff Legendary Cuban leader, Fidel Castro died Friday at the age of 90. He left behind a remarkable legacy, that of a... Nov 27 2016 / Read More » / Hasan Abdu, a member of the Palestinian press delegation to Cairo said Egyptian sources confirmed that Cairo would take new measures to improve the conditions... Nov 26 2016 / Read More » /
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