Thursday, September 7, 2017

Gaza Youth Speak Out | Attack on Niki Ashton | Sabotaging Christianity | Ghassan Kanafani | More ..

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Three Years after the War: Gaza Youth Speak Out

By Ramzy Baroud

"At bedtime, I am afraid to turn the lights off. I am not a coward, it is just that I worry that this bulb hanging from the ceiling is the last light that remains (shining) in my life."

Soon after he penned these words, Moath Alhaj, a young artist from a Gaza refugee camp, passed away in his sleep. After disappearing for two days, Moath's friends broke down the door of his house, and found him huddled with his blanket in a place in which he lived alone for 11 years.

Moath lived in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, one of Gaza's most crowded camps, a name which is associated with historic hardship, war and legendary resistance. Raised in the United Arab Emirates, Moath returned to Gaza to join the Islamic University, but remained there, experiencing three wars and a decade-long blockade.

Somehow, the young man maintained a semblance of hope as expressed in his many drawings and emotive commentary.

Moath learned to live in his own world ever since he was young. The outside world to him seemed unpredictable and, at times, cruel.

When his mother passed away, Moath was only 1-year-old. He father died of cancer in the UAE and, due to circumstances beyond his control, Moath lived alone. Keeping him company were his friends in the neighborhood, but mostly it was his self-effacing, yet profound artistic expressions.

"Smile, may the war feel shame," was one of his cartoons. In it, a little girl with a flowery dress turns her back at the reader, looking the other way.

Moath's art characters always had their eyes closed, as if they refuse to see the world around them, and insist on imagining a better world inside their own thoughts.

After his body was thoroughly examined, doctors concluded that Moath died as a result of a stroke. His heart, heavy with untold personal and collective miseries, had just given in. And just like that, one of Gaza's finest young men was buried in an ever-crowded graveyard. Social media buzzed with statements of condolences, made mostly by young Palestinians from Gaza, devastated to hear that Moath has died, that his last light had been extinguished, and that the young man's life had ended while the siege and state of war remain.

In that same week, Palestinians commemorated the three-year anniversary of the end of Israel's devastating war against the Strip. The war had killed over 2,200 Palestinians, the vast majority amongst them civilians, and 71 Israelis, the majority of them soldiers.

The war left Gaza in ruins, as over 17,000 homes were completely destroyed, and thousands of other structures, including hospitals, schools and factories destroyed or severely damaged.

The war fully shattered whatever semblance of economy the Strip had had. Today, 80 percent of all Palestinians in Gaza live below the poverty line, the majority of whom are dependent on humanitarian aid.

There is a whole generation of Palestinians in Gaza that grew up knowing nothing but war and siege, and have never seen the world beyond Gaza's deadly borders.

These are the voices of some of these young Gazans, who kindly shared their tragic personal stories, hoping that the world would heed their calls for freedom and for justice.

Isra Migdad is an Islamic Finance student:

"After our house had been partially damaged during the 2014 Israeli war, it took my family about a year and a half to rebuild it, due to the delay in construction material being allowed into the Gaza Strip and because of the prohibitive prices of such material, when it is available. I lost my Master's degree scholarship back in 2014 due to the closure and due to my family's difficult financial situation after the war.


	Isra Migdad.

"I have spent the last three years applying for scholarships, only to learn that many universities in Europe know nothing, or very little, about the Israeli siege on Gaza and the continuous closure of the borders. I attained another scholarship, only to lose it again, since I hadn't enough time to complete my travel procedures and negotiate an exit from Gaza.

"Yes, I want a better life, but I also love Gaza. Yet, the situation is becoming more difficult with each passing day. It is hard to find a stable job and, even if one gets an opportunity elsewhere, it is nearly impossible to get out."

Ghada, 23, studied English literature, and currently works as a translator:

"Day by day, the situation in Gaza becomes more complicated and even worse than before. Since the last war to this day, nothing seems to get better. Nothing at all.

"During my work at the Palestinian Trade Center (Pal-Trade) which focuses on Palestinian economy, every day I see people struggling in all economic sectors. The electricity crisis is destroying businesses everywhere. The agriculture sector is in ruins as farmers cannot export their products, and cannot even access the Palestinian market in the West Bank.

"Despite substantial donor pledges to support reconstruction following the 2014 conflict, the situation for Palestinians living in Gaza has never been worse. Moreover, people in Gaza are facing a dire shortage of drinkable water and adequate and an equitable sanitation system. Even the sea has become polluted because of the sewage that is dumped daily. There is little hope on the horizon for better conditions."

Banias Harb is a teacher:

"The unprecedented closure and blockade imposed upon Gaza has created a feeling of helplessness. The most frustrating problem that youth have been suffering from is the closure of Rafah crossing border. Gaza youth constitute about a third of the Palestinian population, yet less than 10 percent of all youth have been able to see what's beyond Gaza. We feel abandoned. Alone."


	Bania Harb.

Kholod Zughbor has a degree in English Literature from Alazhar University in Gaza:

"The siege on Gaza has been in place since 2006. The situation has been terrible here, even before the wars started. Unemployment among Gaza's youth is estimated at 60 percent.

"I have witnessed three wars. I saw life gradually worsen, especially after the last war. Three years after the 2014 war, the situation is getting harder and more miserable. The Gaza Strip is still far from full recovery, and what has been built is only a drop in the ocean of destruction."

Sondos has a bachelor's degree in English Literature. She is a social worker:

"As a social worker, I have visited over three hundred and fifty families who are impacted by the war and its aftermath. They are burdened by deep psychological scars and are constantly overshadowed by the feeling of an impending catastrophe. In every house that I have visited, there is a heartbreaking story of poverty, unemployment, fear of the future, fear of another Israeli war.

"Without outside pressure on Israel, Gazans will continue to relive this nightmare in their open-air prison. They can neither reconstruct their demolished homes, import their basic needs nor have access to electricity and clean water on a regular basis.

"But Gaza will continue to hang on to life and will not fall into despair. Our youth will continue to pursue higher education and will labor to achieve their goals, no matter the odds. They will continue to use their imagination to overcome all hurdles, as we have done for many years. Courage and determination are our most prized qualities."

- Yousef Aljamal, a writer and PhD student from Gaza, contributed to this article.

- Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His forthcoming book is 'The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story' (Pluto Press). Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California. Visit his website: www.ramzybaroud.net.

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B'nai B'rith's Shameful Attack on Niki Ashton

By Yves Engler

B'nai B'rith are a cynical bunch, claiming to speak for Jews in general, but in reality defending Israel no matter what that country does.

The group's recent attack against NDP leadership candidate Niki Ashton was a brazen attempt to use the decimation of European Jewry to protect Israel from criticism and follows a formula used so often most now see its hypocrisy.

Last May the self-declared 'human rights' organization slammed the NDP leadership contender for "Standing in 'Solidarity' with Terrorists" because Ashton attended a rally for Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike where someone had a photo of an individual B'nai B'rith calls a terrorist. But, that attack failed when Ashton refused to back down and actually became more forceful in her support of the Palestinian cause.

Since then Ashton has sent out emails to join the party to elect "a leader that will stand up for Palestinian human rights" anddemanded an end to the "occupation of Palestinian lands", blockade of Gaza and "abuse of Palestinians' human rights." She called for an outright ban on goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements and expressed some support for the broader Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Ashton told Jacobin that "many inspiring activists across the country are doing great work on this front, decrying human rights abuses, decrying injustices, and putting forward a plan for change, including through the BDS movement. The NDP needs to be a strong voice in support of the work that so many activists are doing."

In response to an Independent Jewish Voices/Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East questionnaire to the four NDP leadership candidates she said: "I support the important work of civil society in pursuing justice through non-violent means, including calls for boycotts and divestment. Similar tactics were used effectively against apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, and BDS today can play a constructive role by encouraging a just resolution. It is the role of governments to respond to pressure from civil society and to be a force for positive change. In 1986, Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney responded to social movements by implementing sanctions against South Africa, and we face a similar ethical and moral responsibility to listen to those who are struggling for peace and justice."

"Like any other country, sanctions against Israel should be considered when it consistently fails to meet international law and obligations, particularly in relation to the occupation which has denied rights to the Palestinian people for half a century. I support looking into targeted sanctions to put strategic pressure on the Israeli government."

Ashton's increasingly strident statements in support of the Palestinian cause obviously angered B'nai B'rith. But, they kept quiet for three months hoping they could find something worse than "terrorism" to connect her to. Having failed to deter Ashton from expressing support for the Palestinian cause by associating her with "terrorists", B'nai B'rith brought Hitler into the race. At the end of last month they put out a press release headlined: "NDP Leadership Candidate Endorsed by Holocaust-Denying Community Leader". Ashton's supposed transgression was having her picture taken with Nazih Khatatba at a campaign event in Toronto. B'nai B'rith accuses Khatatba of defending armed Palestinian resistance and "engaging in Holocaust denial".

The evidence presented of Khatatba's Holocaust denial is a 15-second interview he gave at an event commemorating the Nakba (Palestinian catastrophe) last year. (In response to B'nai B'rith's press release, Khatatba posted on Facebook, "I recognize the genocide of more than six million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust. What I did say in the interview was that there were Jewish groups who experienced massacres in Europe and then went to the Middle East and perpetrated massacres there.")Presuming B'nai B'rith's translation is accurate and that relevant context wasn't omitted from the video they produced of the interview, Khatatba's comments were definitely historically inaccurate. The ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians in 1947/48, displacement of another 300,000 in 1967, the half-century illegal occupation of the West Bank, repeated assaults on Gaza, etc. are an immense injustice. Still, they don't equal what the Nazis did to European Jewry.

Of course it's not uncommon for social justice activists to make hyperbolic/historically inaccurate claims in their zeal to advance a cause. But, they are rarely accused of sinister intentions for doing so.

As I detail here, B'nai Brith has accepted or promoted more significant distortions of Jewish suffering when it served Israel's aims. The group aggressively backed the pro-Israel Stephen Harper regime despite government officials repeatedly minimizing the Nazi Holocaust. In 2009 Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney said "Israel Apartheid Days on university campuses like York sometimes begin to resemble pogroms," and told a European audience that pro-Palestinian activism spurred anti-Jewish activities "even more dangerous than the old European anti-Semitism." Similarly, in May 2008 Canwest reported: "Some of the criticism brewing in Canada against the state of Israel, including from some members of Parliament, is similar to the attitude of Nazi Germany in the Second World War, Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned."

In a backdoor way B'nai B'rith's reaction to Khatatba's historically inaccurate comments explain them. When Zionists repeatedly use 70-year old Jewish suffering in Europe to justify their ongoing oppression of Palestinians is it any wonder some Palestinians seek to minimize Nazi crimes against Jews?

The attack on Niki Ashton is a stark example of the "Holocaust Industry" Norman Finkelstein outlined 15 years ago. B'nai B'rith should be ashamed.

- Yves Engler is the author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid and a number of other books. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit his website: yvesengler.com.

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Church Leaders Decry Israel's Attempt to Sabotage Christianity in the Holy Land

In a statement addressed to Christians around the world, church leaders accused Israel of failing to protect Christian rights in the holy land. They also appealed to Christians, as well as the heads of governments, and all people of good will, to support them in their efforts to ensure that no further attempts are made by Israel against the Palestinian Christian community.

Their condemnation follows an Israeli military court ruling last month that allowed settler groups to seize two hotels and a large building in the Old City of Jerusalem, which belongs to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

While the Patriarchate condemned the court's decision at the time saying that the "deal concluded illegally", their statement earlier this week was a unified response by church leaders against what they say is a " systematic attempt to undermine" Christianity in occupied Jerusalem.

After accusing Israel of "breach[ing] the status quo" that govern the holy sites and protect Christian privileges, the patriarchs and heads of local churches in Jerusalem condemned the Israeli court ruling that allowed settlers to take over properties belonging to the church as "unjust" and "politically motivated".

The church leaders echoed the concerns of many church bodies around the world who were alarmed by Israel's inability to protect Christian communities in occupied Jerusalem, whose numbers have dwindled as a result of racist Israeli policy.

Palestinian Christian population only make up two percent of the population of both Israel and Palestine - the number used to be around 15 percent. In Bethlehem alone, the Christian population has slumped to 7,500 from 20,000 in 1995. While tension across the Middle East is said to be a reason for Christian flight from the Holy Land most cite Israeli occupation as the prime cause of emigration and the decline of the Christian community.

Yusef Daher, executive secretary of the World Council of Churches, believes that the sharp decline in the number of Christian Jerusalemites is a result of Israel's attempt to Judaise Jerusalem and slowly erode its Christian and Muslim Palestinian heritage.

"The Israeli government policy throughout the whole history has been unilateral: turning Jerusalem both into a Jewish city and into the capital of Israel, while getting rid of all the Christian [and Muslim] Palestinians," said Daher.

Similar concerns were raised in the joint statement by the patriarchs and heads of local churches:

"We see in these actions a systematic attempt to undermine the integrity of the Holy City of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and to weaken the Christian presence."

"Such attempts," they added, were carried out "to undermine the Christian community of Jerusalem and the Holy Land do not affect one Church only; they affect us all, and they affect Christians and all people of good will around the world".

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