Author Archive
Mairead Maguire’s Open Letter to BBC Panorama program
Dear BBC Panorama Team
I write to you regarding your programme of 16th August, 2010, about the Freedom Flotilla and particularly the killings of unarmed civilians by Israeli Navy Seals on the ship MV “Mavi Marmara’, on 31st May, 2010.
I have been campaigning for the rights of Palestinians for over ten years. I have visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories many times. I was part of the Freedom Flotilla in May on the MV ‘Rachel Corrie’, my third journey on a Free Gaza boat. I am deeply disappointed at the misrepresentation, lack of truth, and bias displayed by your programme.
This programme had an opportunity to inform and educate the public about the background to the flotilla, the motives of the passengers and crew on board the MV ‘Mavi Marmara’, who (like all of us on the boats trying to get to Gaza) were concerned for the suffering of the people of Gaza. Over 650 people, from all faiths and none, from over 40 countries, representing the human family and uniting in nonviolent resistance to break a cruel siege (collective punishment is illegal under International Law) to bring hope and support to the people of Gaza. Before leaving their various ports, as part of the undertaking, all passengers made pledges of nonviolence, all people, and cargoes were searched, and all undertook to go in a spirit of peace to resist (as is our moral right and duty) the breaking of Human Rights and International Law by Israel through its siege of Gaza and occupation of Palestine.
This journey of courage and call for justice by people on board the MV ‘Mavi Marmara’ and the flotilla represented the conscience of the world. The boats carried no arms, and were no threat to Israel, but what they did carry were voices of dissent from every corner of the world, (including Jews) saying to Israel ‘no more sieges, occupations, wars and threats of violence’, we refuse to be silent in the face of your ethnic cleansing and persecution of the Palestinian people.
Life On Wheels
Desecrating the Constitution: A cartoonist’s look at Cordoba House aka the ’9/11 Mosque’
From Nate Beeler at Cagle cartoons on opposition to the ‘Ground Zero mosque’ — the proposed multistory Muslim community centre at Cordoba House two blocks away from the site of the WTC towers — and its incompatibility with the religious freedom upheld in the US Constitution. In the spirit of interfaith sharing of sacred space, check out a positive example related by Paul Moses who has a story to counter those who invoke immediate past Pope John Paul II in their attacks against the mosque:
In this case, the sacred ground was Manger Square in Bethlehem, where Pope John Paul celebrated Mass on March 22, 2000.
The pope had just finished his homily, ending with “Assalamu alaikum,” when the Muslim call to prayer broke forth from the loudspeakers at a mosque that bordered on Manger Square. It seemed, at first, like a rude intrusion on the historic Mass the pope was celebrating in the Jubilee year. But John Paul sat quietly and listened as the muezzin sang God’s praise; he seemed to be savoring the moment. It was as if the Muslim prayer mingled with the Mass.
Just before the Mass ended, it was announced that church and mosque officials had coordinated the call to prayer, which had been delayed to accommodate the pope’s homily. It was a small matter, really, but this cooperation stirred the crowd, mostly Arab Christians, to cheers, applause and even to tears. A sacred space had been shared, and everyone was the better for it.
Here is another great example of Christian-Muslim sharing of traditions: in this case, Ramadan fasting. And from the Catholic Encyclopedia’s entry on Cordoba (via Got Medieval):
Read the rest of this entry »
Internet killed Israeli PR
Parody of Video Killed the Radio Star (the Buggles) by Minor Demographic Threat. Lyrics over the fold.
In Lebanon, IDF plans a ‘ferocious land grab’
Ambitions for Eretz Israel are apparently still being expressed as a matter of military planning and policy. Check out this revealing quote from the IDF’s deputy chief of staff from the new preface to Norman Finkelstein’s book, This Time We Went Too Far (I’ve embedded the DefenseNews link to the article and bold emphasis is mine):
On the same day as the [Turkish] flotilla bloodbath, DefenseNews was reporting that a prospective Israeli assault on Lebanon “would include attacks on national infrastructure, a total maritime blockade, and interdiction strikes on bridges, highways,” while “land forces would execute a ferocious land grab well beyond the Litani River.” The essence of Israeli strategic doctrine, the IDF deputy chief of staff elaborated, was that “each new round” of fighting “brings worse results than the last” to Israel’s enemies.
It’s cited by Charles Glass in Not Another War on Lebanon over at TakiMag which is worth reading. As the hafrada regime and rogue state ratchets up the war drums against Iran and pressures the US Congress to withhold military assistance to Lebanon in the wake of the border skirmish — amid its large litany of crimes in Palestine and elsewhere — does anyone reasonable out there still think it isn’t deliberately pursuing mad dog policies? While Israeli designs on southern Lebanon and the Litani have long been known, I haven’t seen a clearer current expression of the IOF openly admitting it plans a “ferocious land grab” in the event of war — even while hasbaranik reporters frame Hezbollah’s land purchases as “land grabs”. Projection, much?
Was the tree really on Israeli territory? Not quite.
In the aftermath of the bloody border skirmish between Lebanon and Israel, much of the Anglophone press seems to have dutifully accepted the UN’s assertion that the hapless tree at the centre of it all was on the Israeli side. Blogs have followed suit, publishing retractions or corrections to their earlier posts that the border had been breached by the IDF. But, as so often is the case, the devil is in the detail. The tree was located north of the Israeli self-erected ‘technical fence’, and south of the Blue Line. As Bart Peeters points out, the blue line is not an international border, nor an internationally recognised border, but simply an armistice line (and a contested one at that) set up by the UN in 2000 to mark the line of the Israeli withdrawal from its 18 year occupation of the south of Lebanon. The Blue Line is disputed by both Lebanon and Israel in many places. The tree, now removed, was located in a legal no-man’s land and apparently has no legal border status.
Particularly in this case, the UN has resembled a seriously frazzled parent who, faced with a normal child and a rogue child with whom it seeks to regain some influence, apparently makes a small but disingenuous concession in a desperate and expedient attempt to quell the ‘bad apple’ child’s accusations that the parent is biased towards the victimised normal child. “See? I’m not really biased or taking sides”, the international body is effectively signalling in this misguided attempt at appearing even-handed. The issue of who started this particular incident — was it Israel’s provocation because they went ahead with the tree-cutting, refusing a UN request to further delay it until it could be cleared with the Lebanese side, or Lebanon because it fired warning shots and the possible first fatal shooting? — has to be located against the backdrop of literally thousands of ongoing Israeli violations of UNSC 1701, that fragile ceasefire that formally ended the hafrada regime’s last destructive assault on Lebanon in 2006.
Nasrallah: Israel assassinated Hariri and we will provide evidence
Israel provides Lebanon with an IOF scarecrow
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has just delivered a significant short speech in Lebanon in the aftermath of the border clash and the STL (Special Tribunal for Lebanon). We provide a live-delivered translation courtesy of tweeter Roqayah below. The most important thing in his address is Nasrallah’s promise that Hezbollah will provide compelling evidence to show that Israel was responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese PM, Rafiq Hariri. This is slated for a press conference on August 9th in which a longer address is expected. Blogger Qifa Nabki writes: “Just to play devil’s advocate, one wonders why — if the party has long held information that clearly links the Israelis with the murder — they did not release it earlier, when the STL was apparently going after the Syrians. Naturally, Hizbullah’s opponents in Lebanon are going to say that this is another desperate diversion tactic, but I for one am very curious to see what the Secretary-General offers up in next week’s press conference.” In his address, Nasrallah cites security considerations for not having revealed evidence earlier. Monday’s press conference should be very interesting indeed.
Here’s the translated speech, with only minor editorial emendations. Please note that this is an instant translation.
We are celebrating our victory over the biggest terrorist army in the Middle East (i.e. Israeli Army).
I was going to begin my words with the words covering the July War but what happened today on the Land of Heroes (South Lebanon) on the border with the Palestinians and the fight with our heroic Lebanese army;
[The Sayyed is now dividing his speech; first he will speak about the war, second the tribunal and lastly what shall happen after.]
Since the war stopped there have 14,000 incidents wherein the Israelis have broken resolution 1701.
Where Should the Birds Fly?
A moving upcoming documentary by young journalist-filmmaker Fida Qishta, set to the haunting music of Marcel Khalife and the title inspired by the line in a Mahmoud Darwish poem. The film’s trailer is followed by an extended clip that centers around one of the central characters, Mona, a beautiful 11 year old child directly affected by the Israeli assault. There is an opportunity and appeal to help support the completing of the documentary and take it to the world (h/t Mondoweiss).
Deep Dish TV asks your support for Where Should the Birds Fly
Tax-deductible donations can be made online at Deep Dish TV.org Fida Qishta, a young Palestinian filmmaker and journalist from Rafah in Gaza, with her crew of young Gazans has documented the horrific Israeli invasion and bombardment of Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. And they have kept their cameras rolling for months, recording the struggle of the people of Gaza to retrieve some sense of normalcy from the absolute abnormality of life in the world’s largest prison camp, sealed off on all sides by Israeli and Egyptian walls, barbed wire and military.
Israel not a democracy: Jonathan Cook interview
A worthwhile Russia Today interview with Nazareth resident, journalist and author, Jonathan Cook.
To Shoot An Elephant
We’d previously posted the trailer of this important documentary; the full video below is well worth watching. During Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza in December 2008, Alberto Arce and Mohammad Rujailah were among only a few remaining internationals who embedded with ambulances and among Palestinian civilians as witnesses. “To Shoot an Elephant” (the title is inspired by a George Orwell essay) is an award-winning documentary available in several language subtitle choices.
A note on translation from the Arabic: its worth reading this piece by Marie Dhumières: ‘Bad Translation Makes Fundamentalists Of Us All‘. Alhamdulilah (Alleluia, thank God!) someone understands the commonality of everyday phrases in Arabic like Enshallah (God willing) and other non-literal religious-sounding phrases as simply part of speech. I would also add the curious tendency by some western translators to leave the word Allah untranslated into God. This is worth keeping in mind when reading off the subtitles.
