House demolitions continue for Jerusalem's Palestinians
From the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD):
The home of Mustafa Abu Tin and his family is being demolished now. This morning two other homes in Jerusalem Wallajeh are probably to be demolished too, all having failed yesterday in Court to obtain stop demolition orders. These homes are in the part of Wallajeh in the municipality of Jerusalem, where all residents are West Bank ID holders, although they own the land. It is that part of Jerusalem where the city of Givat Yael is planned (13,000 units). The municipality hardly ever gives Palestinians building permits. People are forced to build illegally. 14,000 homes have been demolished since ’67. Can we get press there? It ain’t NEWS. The Hamas election turnout does not surprise anyone dealing with home demolitions, but demolitions aren't news, they are history. Thus Palestine.
For details: Meir Margalit: 0544-345 503 or Arik Ascherman: 0505-607034
posted by Laila @ Wednesday, March 22, 2006
41 Comments:
can you please direct me to the link of that page (not the site but the specific part where what you copied appears).
thanks,
What do they mean by "forced"?
-OC
I got this urgent appeal from the Middle East Children's Alliance yesterday. I've known Barbara for nearly 20 years.
You can go here to donate:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=1171
Gaza Emergency - Your Help Needed March 21, 2006
Dear Friend of the Children,
As you probably know, families throughout the Gaza Strip are suffering from a terrible lack of food. It started after last year’s “disengagement” and has become critical since the Palestinian Legislative Election two months ago. Israel controls the Karni crossing, through which goods go in and out of Gaza, and has kept it closed almost constantly.
Just this morning I spoke with my dear friend Dr. Mona Elfarra in Gaza. I called to ask her about the crisis and what MECA and our supporters could do to help. She told me that last month there was no baby formula.
Now there is no flour. All the bakeries in Gaza are closed. Normally, bread is a staple of the Palestinian diet, and often the only food families can afford.
Due to recent international pressure, the Israeli government is opening the Karni crossing sporadically and some food is getting through.
With your immediate help we can get this food to hungry children in Gaza.
Our goal is to raise $10,000 by this coming Friday, March 24, to feed 200 families.
We will wire your contribution, along with hundreds of others, directly to Dr. Mona. She’s working with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society to put together and distribute parcels of milk, cheese and other staples for families in Gaza.
The children are hungry and they are counting on you and me – as they have many times before – for help.
Please don’t delay. Send an online contribution to the Middle East Children's Alliance right now, and please be as generous as you possibly can.
The callousness of the Israeli government—which is legally bound to let humanitarian aid through—is alarming. After the Palestinians elected members of Hamas, a leading advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister said that cutting aid is “like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won't die." Today an Israeli official (speaking anonymously) confirmed that the Karni closure was in part to send a message to Hamas.
Meanwhile, outside the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, a demonstration that included 30 Palestinian children urged Israel to let food through.
Please stand with these brave children—and hundreds of thousands of others who are going to bed hungry night after night—by making an online contribution right now.
Thank you for helping us feed the children.
Sincerely,
Barbara Lubin
Founder and Executive Director
Background
In early February, Israel moved quickly to punish the Palestinians for exercising their right to vote and withheld $ 50 million in Palestinian tax revenues. In a move to deflect any criticism of its punitive decision to freeze the reimbursements, Israel said it would do nothing to hamper humanitarian aid missions to the West Bank and Gaza and that it would uphold its November agreement that it would not prohibit goods from leaving or entering Gaza. It has done just the opposite.
For the past two months Israel has stopped regular foodstuffs and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, including desperately needed anesthetics and life saving nutritional supplements like baby formula. It also stopped all Palestinian exports from Gaza so that Gaza’s farmers have suffered losses that they will never recoup. By March 19, Israel’s two-part, 60 day closure of the al-Mintar Crossing (Karni Crossing) in the Gaza strip had caused an unprecedented food shortage and cost Palestinians more than $50 million dollars in economic losses, especially in agriculture. For weeks, Palestinian Human Rights Organizations, the UN and international aid and economic bodies were warning of major humanitarian crisis and called on Israel to end the siege.
The national news reported that on March 20, Israel re-opened the crossing for a few hours allowing several trucks to enter and deliver several loads of non-essential goods like soda pop. Today, Israel again opened the crossing and allowed some wheat flour, cooking oil and other emergency items to enter. Israel did not say, however, that today’s opening was to be permanent. It will take more than just a few shipments today to get UN distribution centers back up to capacity and Gazan bread shops up and running again.
email: meca@mecaforpeace.org
phone: 510-548-0542
web: http://www.mecaforpeace.org
Abu Shaar- Mona is my Aunt :) We just had dinner together. I also helped her create a new blog today, though she is just a beginner so don't expect any new posts anytime soon: www.fromgaza.blogspot.com.
Oleh: I got the press release by email.
I so look forward to meeting you and Yousef and your family one day, Laila
Please...my question is still a serious one...The sibling rivalry between the two sons of Abraham does not just affect his descendants. It affects all of us on this planet. I cannot listen to the politicians on either side because they talk out of both sides of their mouths and their actions don't back up their words in any case...and they just keep ordering more violence. I want to know from people just like me...an ordinary mom who loves her family, her friends and her countrymen.
Can you tell me what the Palestinians want?
Can you tell me what the Israelis want?
I have been trying to understand for years but just get more and more confused. Killing and killing and killing. Where does it get any of you?
The lack of response to my heartfelt inquiry tells me a lot about why things are the way they are between the two of you (Palestinians and Israelis). If you have no desire to ease the troubled heart of a woman far removed from you, affected by your rivalry and desperate to see and end to the violence in your lives, why would I expect you to care enough about yourselves, the people near you and the world at large to ever take the hard steps that seem to be necessary in order for the two of you to live side by side in peace?
K
Laila, can you also tell me:
what do Palestinians want?
what do Israelis want?
and Gaza is now under Palestinian control, so: why are you writing the following:"....this blog is about raising my son Yusuf in the occupied Gaza Strip......" thanks.
Anon, actually, many people have attempted to answer your questions. However, nothing seems to satisfy you. What would be a good answer?
abu shaar, thank you for your distorted version of events. However, I hope that this food shortage ends shortly. laila, you and your son are in my thoughts and prayers.
-OC
Thoughts and prayers are good, bucko, but how about dropping a few NIS at that link?
Laila, one more person asking the same questions:
What do Palestinians want?
What do Israelis want?
WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT FOR YOURSELF AND FAMILY?
If it's not Laila, can anybody else answer?
"Anon, actually, many people have attempted to answer your questions. However, nothing seems to satisfy you. What would be a good answer?" -OC
OC, kindly refer me to where those answers are. Somehow I have missed them.
K
Anon, no problem. I know that I gave you an answer. Give me a the day, and I'll see what I can come with. I think I saw other people answer too. Is that cool?
-OC
My original question, asked on Mar. 16--
"Can you tell me what the Palestinians want?
Can you tell me what the Israelis want?
I have been trying to understand for years but just get more and more confused. Killing and killing and killing. Where does it get any of you?"
Answers received:
"Anon (11:27 PM), I can tell you what the Israelis want. Like any other person living as a citizen in their country, and like any other Jew who has been persecuted since the beginning of their existence and before, we just want to live in peace and quiet. That's it. Nothing more and nothing less. Why else would we be willing to give up sovereignty over our religion's most holy sites and to kick fellow citizens out of their homes if this was not our aim?" (Mar. 18)
Z said,
Anon,
The Anthem of Israel spells it out:
As long as deep in the heart,
The soul of a Jew yearns,
And forward to the East
To Zion, an eye looks
Our hope will not be lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free nation in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem. (Mar. 18)
Taken from a quoted article not in answer to me:
Suleiman Nubaim, 16, said the Camp David talks had given new relevance to what he and his friends had been taught about the exploits of the freedom fighters, or "fedayeen," the name taken by Palestinian guerrillas of the pre-Oslo period. Like many youths, he said he wanted to join the Palestinian forces.
"I want my country to be free," he said. "It's been my dream since I was a small boy."
Asked how he defined Palestinian freedom, he said it included having Jerusalem, and then the rest of Israel. "As long as Israel occupies any part of our land, in Tel Aviv or Jaffa or Haifa," he said, "we have not liberated our homeland." (Mar. 20)
Then followed my same question repeated on 2 more days with additional comments from my heart.
Your response, OC?
"Anon, actually, many people have attempted to answer your questions. However, nothing seems to satisfy you. What would be a good answer?"
Palestinian response? None.
Never mind. Even though my heart continually aches for what every person in Israel/Palestine goes through, I give up. Continue to fight among yourselves; treat each other as inhuman beasts if you feel you must.
I find it impossible to believe that is what your father, Abraham, would counsel you.
>>Palestinian response? None
Jesus wept.
Have you been reading this blog at all?
Olah, you are despicable.
From Olah's blog:
"The Zwicker said...
Hi. While we don't know each other, we are both lnog [sic] time Air Time readers and posters. I hope you don't mind the following joke:
What was the last thing Rachel Corrie said to her boyfriend?
Honey, does this dress make me look flat?
11:44 PM
Olah Chadasha said...
Hahaha! That's a good one! Yeah, I'm familiar with your work. Welcome to the French Hill.
Abu Shaar,
I am not sure what is wrong about making jokes. have we banned them completly?? or are we only allowed to maked fun of Jews now?
Is there anything that I can pray for? I would love to pray for you if you are willing to let me.
Bill
http://billscott1974.blogspot.com/
abu, abu, is that the best you can do to make me look like an evil person, an evil Jew? What? no jokes allowed? I've got some good ones about the Columbia disaster. I'm sorry. Has Rachel been given official martyr status that no-one is allowed to say a bad thing about her?
-OC
From one observer to this conversation. What is this-
>>Palestinian response? None
Jesus wept.
answer?? - To what answer is that? If my mind serves me, and the New Testament is right, Jesus was a Jew, and so was almost of all his first followers.
.So what is this comment trying to say. That Jews were the first palestinians???? From Abu Shaar I doubt it. What is your point in using this?
You don't need to answer. I just found it an absurb answer. I have been reading in and trying to see where you all are coming from. I will keep observing on and off to find out. Greetings to Laila. I read you from time to time.
Forgive my previous comment if I did not understand or get the point you are trying to make. I have figured out that I am in the middle of some kind of converstation, nearly all of which I have missed. You all know each other and get the vibes.
"Jesus wept" is a mild oath, expressing exasperation.
I meant: read Laila.
She wants to raise Yousuf without worrying about him being shot by an occupying soldier. She wants him to have food and milk.
She wants him to live without fear.
We do not know each other, no.
I do not know the young Olah and Oleh, no.
Anon,
This Conversation has been going on for years. and you are welcome to join it if you would like (enter at your own risk! it's hard to get out afterwards - sort of like Hotel California).
Olah and I know each other well, (we are married and share the same home and Blog), as for the rest here, I know only via conversation.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
anon (7:11 PM), I don't understand what the problem is. You have to understand that this plight did not start yesterday. The answer is a long and complicated one that would take more than a simple comment in a comments section to answer. If you want to have an individual conversation, whether via e-mail of aim, I have no problem with that. This issue is complex, and you cannot be satisfied from what 5 sentence answers given here. Please, feel free to e-mail so that we may talk further and in more depth.
-OC
abu, my dear, that's right, you don't know me.
I want to raise my children without fear of being blown up, maimed for life, or shot by a terrorist. I want them to be able to walk into a local pizzeria without having to be frisced by security for fear that a man or woman will exploit the busiest time of day to destroy as many as possible. I want them to grow up without worrying that their friend's maimed and destroyed body doesn't show up in some art show at a Palestinian University. I want them to grow up without worrying that their bus won't be hijacked on the way to school. I want them to grow up not worrying that the next time we drive down the highway, he might be killed by some terrorist shooting at him from the roof-top of a building or hit with some wayward rock that flew threw the window of the car. I want them growing up not being scared to ride the bus into town because they're afraid some-one may decide that that's the day, time, and bus that needs to be eviscerated. I want them to grow up not worrying that their next day might be their last because they simply wanted to have a cup of coffee with their buddies, or their girl-friend, or their boyfriend, or wanted to get some food from the local market place. I want my children to live without fear from people who want to kill them simply for being a Jew.
-OC
Does anybody wants PEACE and being able to raise their families without fear?
Does anybody wants to take responsibility to leave in peace with their neighbour?
ARE YOU ALL OUT OF OUR MINDS AND OF COURSE BODIES?
I understand that we all, whoever we are, wherever we are, want to live in peace and safety...what I was not clear in stating was how do you want it to come about. Therefore I found myself under attack. That gives me more understanding of why the violence without end than I had before.
I may have been new to the comments but I am not new to the situation. It costs me in many ways; not as it costs you,of course, but it still costs. It costs all humanity.
I stand and look back at history and, even though I am far from a "peace at any price" person, I see that blaming and killing and maiming and blaming and killing and maiming all the while believing and shouting that the "other" is subhuman has not brought about what we all say we want. Peace and quiet and our own tree to live under.
K
Anon, (2:39 AM)
do you have an answer for this problem? I would like to hear one from someone who is not in the middle of all of this. I mean this in all seriosness I would like to get your view of this whole mess we have gotten ourselves into, since we cannot see past our own points of view.
thanks,
Anon (2:38 Am), when some-one writes that they want to not live in fear that usually translates in wanting to live in peace.
Anon (2:39 AM), you have the same misconception that most of the post-modernism world has. You believe that there is a "cycle of violence" in this conflict. That's just simply not true. And, I don't remember calling laila or any of her brothers and sisters "sub-human". In fact, it has been me who has been called "sick", a "Nazi", a "colonialist", a member of "apartheid", and other vulgar terms simply for being an Israeli and simply for being a Jew. Can you explain that to me, please? It is also true that, though unforunate it may seem to many people, peace has never achieved through appeasement.
-OC
I think that all of you want to live in peace and without fear. The problem you all face is how to get there and how to face your own fears (national and individual), prejudices and misunderstandings. A Palestinian mother is no different than a Israeli mother, both of them want the same things for their children. Both Israelis and Palestinians have fears and do not trust each other. Eventually you will both have to cross the divide that keeps you apart and it will be a brave move with lots of compormises on both sides.
oleh yashan said:
"Anon, (2:39 AM)
do you have an answer for this problem? I would like to hear one from someone who is not in the middle of all of this. I mean this in all seriosness I would like to get your view of this whole mess we have gotten ourselves into, since we cannot see past our own points of view.
thanks,"
I do not presume to have an answer for the "Israeli/Palestinian problem". I asked my questions in all seriousness because I am desperate to understand why this goes on and on and on. I am, of course, aware that this kind of hatred does not just go on in Israel/Palestine but it IS the only place it goes on that affects the entire world and touches even my life.
I think I have just a glimmer of understanding the thought that "if 'they' would just go away everything would be all right" - I've had that thought myself from time to time about people in my own family and life - but that, of course, is not a rational thought. It is not going to happen. (Wisdom reveals itself by what it produces.)
What a miracle it would be if, one by one, one after another, each Israeli, each Palestinian, could prayerfully examine themselves before God (instead of being driven by fear to examine their counterpart and find them lacking) and then, with God's help, make the necessary changes in themselves, that would lead to the laying down of arms which would lead to living in peace side by side as the brothers they are. It takes real humility and courage to take that step but that's how it works in my little family. Learning to sacrificially love one another more than one loves himself. (Yeah, I know, fat chance...it's just not human nature to do that....that's why we need God's help.)
I am waiting for that person to arise (and I have to be absolutely sure that he will in order to have hope for the world) who will be able to bring about reconciliation and peace between the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael. I hope he's alive in the world today.
K
P.S. Just what is it you see when you look at your brother/enemy? I am not wanting you to answer me, just think about it.
olah chadashah said:
"And, I don't remember calling laila or any of her brothers and sisters "sub-human"."
I didn't mean people on this site, I meant in general, what I see on the internet in general, on the television, in newspapers and in magazines...from both sides. The word 'subhuman' may not be used but that is surely the meaning that comes across in the names that are called.
K
Anon (4:09 PM), your point is well taken, but I'm sorry to tell you but an Israeli and Palestinian mothers' fears are not equal. Besides natural or accidental causes, fear for Yousef is caused by one simple thing: his own people. If the terrorists who shoot at Israeli soldiers weren't so damn cowardly, it wouldn't be a problem. Palestinian terrorists and gang members violate every international agreement for the code of conduct of war by hiding amongst their own civilians, using them as shields, hiding in their homes, etc. They kill their own people if they get in the way. A very good example of this happened about a year during an exchange between Israeli soldiers and Armed gunmen in a Palestinian town. An innocent pregnant woman got caught in the cross-fire. Disregarding his own safety, an Israeli soldier went to protect the woman and shield her away from harm. The result? One of the Palestinian gun-men saw the soldier let his guard to protect the woman, and he took the opportunity to kill the soldier.
(8:04 PM)Israel has crossed that divide many a times and have only wound up with more of her people killed. In the biggest peace move in the history of mankind, Israel signed the Oslo Accords only to see unprecedented violence committed against her. I'm sorry if I can't garner the sympathy to say that you have the right idea. I can guarantee on my life that if every Palestinian terrorist put down their weapon and there were no more terrorism carried out Israeli civilians that Palestinians would live in complete peace. Do you not call the Disengagement, the expulsion of our own people from their homes, a crossing of the divide?
No-one is asking anybody to go away. I am asking my cousins to stop killing me! What do I see when I see my enemy? I see some-one who wants to kill me simply for existing, simply for being a Jew. I see some-one who cannot tolerate the fact that there are Jews living in their midst. I see some-one who cannot stand the fact that my people managed to be successful on a land in which their fathers and grand-fathers called the "Devil's land" because there was no possibily of cultivating its riches. I see some-one who calls me a pig and a descendent of monkeys. I see some-one who looks at me and sees their entrance into heaven via my death. I see some-one who has declared that they will not rest until every one of my people are dead. I see some-one who does NOT want to be my neighbor but the one who buries me under their house. Perfectly human to me but on the same level of the Nazis who came before carrying the same exact ideology; that I am inferior and have no right to exist on this land or this planet. How's that sound? See if you get the same kind of honesty from some-one else.
-OC
very interesting! which side is calling the other side, directly or indirectly a non worthy human being.
WHO AND WHICH SIDE IS GOING TO BE THE FIRST TO SAY TO THEIR LEADERS: ENOUGH, LET ME LIVE MY LIFE IN PEACE.I refused to be used as a pawn of your retched dreams.
olah chadasha said:
"What do I see when I see my enemy? I see some-one who wants to kill me simply for existing, simply for being a Jew. I see some-one who cannot tolerate the fact that there are Jews living in their midst. I see some-one who cannot stand the fact that my people managed to be successful on a land in which their fathers and grand-fathers called the "Devil's land" because there was no possibily of cultivating its riches. I see some-one who calls me a pig and a descendent of monkeys. I see some-one who looks at me and sees their entrance into heaven via my death. I see some-one who has declared that they will not rest until every one of my people are dead. I see some-one who does NOT want to be my neighbor but the one who buries me under their house."
Will someone tell me she is wrong? Laila? Anyone? Please?
K
Anon (3:15 AM), by what I said, your point was what I was trying to make. If you understood the history, you would very well understand which side has screamed that more than a million times with nothing but a bullet and a bomb in return. I was only trying to be honest about how I feel based on the facts and history of what has happened here.
-OC
K, have you noticed that nobody has had the courage to answer you? If you would like to speak some more, please feel free to e-mail me. I would love to discuss this more with you.
-OC
Olah/Oleh,
You have a great use of the English language. You use it just like President Bush.
Keep repeating your story as the truth and eventually it becomes the truth.
My family denounced the Jewish faith because of the lies after WWII.
Hate me, denounce me, ridicule me or anything you can. You are still living a lie.
You are living in Palestein and you are occupiers.
Sol, a very elquent and thorough answer, but this kimmy is not worth your time and effort. She is simply a hippy anti-semite who believes peace can be obtained if we all just sat down and smoked a "peace pipe" or two. I've refused to comment on anything she says. She's just not worth the time
-OC
olah,
Obviously you have made assumptions. These assumptions are your weaknesses.
I am a male. I have made my decisions mostly due to what I have learned. Now I have made other decisions due to your assumptions.
You are obviously pro zionist. Oleh is also.
You believe that Israel is your country.
Palestein was a country before you invaded it. Before you drove out the people.
Now you want the world to recognize you as a country. I won't.
To previous message and all other interested parties: It was my land, Israel, before you got here.It was my land before your Prophet was born. I came before you.....You yourself aknowledge Moses,my "prophet" as one to respect. Respect my life.I will respect yours.
Post a Comment
<< Home