Tag Archives: Al-Walaja

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Christ at Checkpoint

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Israel has been paranoid about people finding out the truth of what it is doing. In an example of this, 55 Harvard students were expelled from Al-Walaja earlier this week (see 1 below). On several occasions when we took delegations to visit Al-Walaja we were harassed. This included the times when I took a group of Israeli Jews, evangelical Christians, and even diplomatic staff to Al-Walaja. Some who were sympathetic to Israel did change their views and started to see this as the apartheid system h it is (by International legal definition). Just today I took some of my Palestinian students to see Al-Walaja and talk to villagers and even do their research projects on the village. More Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals should come to these struggling villages and see reality. We are happy to show people around and/or put them in touch with the right people and not those who are profiteering from claiming they represent popular resistance.
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Steve Jobs, Palestinians’s steps and more

Mazin Qumsiyeh

In this week’s digest, further tree uprooting and destruction in Walaja, upcoming Friday Demonstrations, the death of Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple and son of a Syrian immigrant to America), home demolitions increased five folds, Israel police turning a blind eye to lynching, “anti-Semitism” in the occupy Wall street movement, where did Palestine come from, and two opinion pieces (one on biology of religion and one on the Palestinians next move).

http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2011/10/steve-jobs-palestinians-steps-and-more.html

 

The media, the Palestinian political leadership, and the public is not rising to the challenge as life is destroyed.  A good example is the village of Al-Walaja: this week another 100 olive and other trees were uprooted by the Israeli apartheid system just before the olive harvest season begins next week.  See here some comparison pictures (pictures taken on 28.09 and then 03.10 of the same area):

http://chroniquespalestine.blogspot.com/2011/10/al-walaja-village-is-dying-al-walaja-un.html

more pictures can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/sets/72157602013963483/

 

Another example is the lack of media attention to the thousands of political prisoners illegally held by Israel.  Many prisoners are engaged now in a hunger strike after Israel removed some of their basic rights. So join us for Friday gatherings, vigils and demonstrations in several villages with emphasis on the issue of Palestinian political prisoners and land destruction.  Gather after Friday Prayers 12:30 in front of mosques in Al-Walaja (Bethlehem District), Susya (Yatta area, Hebron District), Nebi Saleh, Ni’lin, Bil’in (Ramallah District) among others.  Join us also Saturday at 1 PM in Beit Ommar.

 

I used computers since 1979 at the University of Connecticut and I bought my first Apple IIe computer in 1984 shortly after Time Magazine declared the computer as machine of the year in place of its “person of the year”. Since then I have been an Apple computer fan.  The death yesterday of Steve Jobs, a cofounder of Apple was sad for me.  He was born in San Francisco to Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian immigrant and Joanne Schieble (Simposon).  His parents separated and he was put up for adoption by Paul and Clara Jobs (née Hagopian, Armenian). Unlike others who connect to tribalism, Jobs believed in humanity and wanted to show that he, an individual can achieve by shedding any cultural and religious baggage.  He stated that people should never stop learning and should voraciously open their minds to new ideas. Here is Steve telling stories about Connecting the Dots, Love and Loss, and Death:

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/06/life-lessons-steve-jobs-on-steve-jobs/?hpt=hp_bn1

 

Demolitions by Israel increase fivefold, says new UN report:  In the first six months of 2011, OCHA reports that the Israeli authorities demolished 342 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C, including 125 residential “structures,” displacing a total of 656 Palestinians, including 351 children — almost five times as many demolitions and people displaced as during the first half of 2010.

http://electronicintifada.net/content/demolitions-israel-increase-fivefold-says-new-un-report/10290#.Tor3duw7YrA

 

Israel police turned a blind eye to a lynching: What happened at the entrance to the settlement of Anatot was a pogrom, a lynching. Media outlets that don’t see fit to report a pogrom of this magnitude are partners in the policy, or the sins of omission, of abandonment.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-police-turned-a-blind-eye-to-a-lynching-1.387997

 

On charges of anti-Semitism in the “Occupy Wall Street Movement”

http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=8&p=81981&s2=03

Note: In my upcoming book about life and activism in the USA, I go in great detail about how Zionists tried (many times successfully) to infiltrate leftist and peace movements in the US to prevent any criticism of their beloved idols (Zionism and Israel).  To be with these movements, they can talk about repression everywhere in the world and about economic or other exploitation at home but Israel becomes a taboo subject.  And when logic cannot work for them, they hurl the change of anti-Semitism, the weapon of last resort (sometimes first resort) to try to scare good meaning activists. But the trend in history is now clear and this will no longer work because Zionism is the antithesis of universal humanism and basic human rights (as I discussed in detail in my 2004 book “Sharing the Land of Canaan”).

 

The Department of Corrections: Ben Hur, the LA Times and a place called Palestine

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/09/the-department-of-corrections-ben-hur-the-la-times-a-place-called-palestine.html

 

Opinion: Science and religion– God didn’t make man; man made god.  In recent years scientists specializing in the mind have begun to unravel religion’s “DNA.” J. Anderson Thomson and Clare Aukofer

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/18/opinion/la-oe-thompson-atheism-20110718

 

Opinion: The Palestinians’ Next Move by Prof. Rashid Khalidi

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-palestinians-next-move-5959

 

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

http://qumsiyeh.org

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Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh – Al-Walaja

Hundreds of Al-Walaja villagers joined with internationals and Israelis marched peacefully toward the old Al-Walaja (area cleansed of Palestinians by Israel in 1948) to commemorate the Nakba and to demand their right of return to their original home and lands. Israeli soldiers reacted violently and arrested human rights activist and professor Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh as he vocally protested Israeli soldiers’ violence against peaceful protesters.

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Palestine and Europe

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Mazin Qumsiyeh, 4 March, 2011

Dear friends:

People around Europe are mobilizing in the hundreds for the Trip to Palestine in July (July 8-16, see http://www.palestinejn.org).  I gave talks in filled rooms in Southampton and Paris.  I am now in London and then onto the USA to give talks on popular resistance and to recruit more people for this trip. For a schedule of my talks, see http://www.qumsiyeh.org/upcomingevents/ The hospitality and kindness of our hosts and the mobilization they are doing around the world is inspiring. In Southampton UK, British citizens of various backgrounds (including those who come from Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Christian and Muslim backgrounds) are successfully putting events that inspire, recruit, and mobilize (see http://www.pscsoton.org.uk/ ).   In France, activists are successfully challenging the second strongest Zionist lobby in the world (the strongest being in the US) and winning public opinion over even as racist Zionists lie, cheat, and mobilize even the French justice system tto try desperately to prevent the truth from being told (see http://europalestine.com/).

ACTION  for those in Palestine: Tomorrow/Friday; Planting Olive trees in Al-Walaja in the morning and then a demonstration and march in  the same village after Friday Prayers (start right after noon).  For details on tree planting Awad 0598997852 or 0598305810 and for demonstration Shireen  0522 054 595

How Palestine’s uprising inspired Egypt’s  by Hossam el-Hamalawy

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11838.shtml

Toward Palestine’s ‘Mubarak moment’ The Palestinian Authority should dissolve itself, as it is acting in Israel’s interest, writer says

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/2011224141158174266.html

The Israelis keep bulldozing their village, but still the Bedouin will not give up their land

The tiny village of al-Arakib has been torn down by the Israeli authorities 18 times in seven months, but each time the Bedouin rebuild their homes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/01/israelis-demolish-bedouin-village

Come Join us in Palestine July 8-16

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour He is author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and the forthcoming book Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps

Articles by Dr. Qumsiyeh on RamallahOnline.com.

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Mazin and Al-Walaja Update

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD, 23 Dec 2010

The good news is that the bulldozers stopped working today thanks to the brave people of Al-Walaja but they still need our collective support.  100 internationls will be in Al-Walaja tomorrow morning (Friday at 9 AM).

The video that I recorded and loaded this morning summarizes what happened to us after our arrest in Al-Walaja, a peaceful beautiful village that is slated for ethnic cleansing (for the second time). The beatings and pepper spray used on Sheerin and the young men of Al-Walaja was truly vicious. During the arrest, I managed to text message, take notes, and even take a couple of pictures from under the stairwell without the soldiers being aware (details maybe for my next book!).  We challenged the soldiers’ demand that we not speak to each other or to them.  Many of the soldiers kept saying they are obeying orders and I and others reminded them that obeying fascist order is not an excuse in international courts of justice (we are not there yet, but I believe the day is coming). I was truly inspired by the courage, vision and dedication of villagers like Sheerin and Dia who exemplify decency and dignified poise in front of the machine that still comes up among humans every few decades.  From fascism to Nazism to Zionism, the enemy is one: racism and greed that in the end is self-destructive. But if enough good people stand-up, the end may come sooner and more people on all sides would be saved the physical and emotional scars of colonization. Anyway, here is my statement on youtube:

Our friend Olivia Zemor and many others were denied entry on Ben Gurion airport.  You can read her statement here (in French, may translate using translate.google.com): http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article5701

However, thousands of people from around the world still managed to enter Palestine through Israeli controlled ports of entry like Ben Gurion airport. Some were asked to sign stupid statements about not entering “Palestinian areas”. Of course all of this land is Palestinian areas, they should state entering the ghettos or bantustans to make it clearer.

In the holding cell with tight handcuffs cutting our circulation, we had a sense of peace and self-confidence.  We shared smiles and whispered words of encouragement to each other. It was uplifting experience and camaraderie. I myself started singing (Fairuz-Zahrat Al-Madaen, Christmas songs, the Palestinian national anthem etc).  After all we were told not to speak to each other but they said nothing of singing.  I wished to dance but then I thought this might be too much for my cell-mates. We all believe that it is a sign of weakness and desperation that the Israeli army increasingly brutally attacks unarmed people who are simply challenging occupation nonviolently or merely asking pointed questions. From the Gaza freedom flotilla to Rafah to Bilin to Al-Walaja, to Stuttgart, to Paris, and to the rest of the world,  the cracks in the walls holding empire of lies are being felt. Again, there will be an event in Al-Walaja Friday at 9-11 AM. For those outside Palestine, thank you for acting in your spheres of influence.

Auschwitz Survivor on Palestine

Why will there not be a US foreign policy that benefits US population? Is it because certain Jews make money out of the tribalism that is Zionism? An article in Haaretz on “How much do U.S. Jewish leaders [sic] make?”

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/how-much-do-u-s-jewish-leaders-make-1.330414

Song for Kairos Palestine (Manal abdo)

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour He is author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and the forthcoming book Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps

Articles by Dr. Qumsiyeh on RamallahOnline.com.

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Mazin and 7 Others Arrested Today at Al-Walaja

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Mazin Qumsiyeh, 23 Dec 2010

Wednesday December 22, 2010

Link to the pictures of arrests http://tinyurl.com/3xjky9j

If you are currently in the Bethlehem area, please join us for a demo set for this Friday morning December 24, 2010 at 9 a.m. at Al-Walaja.  Contact 0569956478 for information.

This afternoon at around 2:30 Mazin said that we have to go to Al-Walaja immediately.  He said he just got a call from the villagers that Israeli bulldozer was clearing an area in a different side of the village (the villagers were still trying to figure out the legal situation) than the familiar site where illegal Israel wall construction has been going on for the past year.  We were at his office at Bethlehem University at the time.  We dropped everything we were doing and took off.  When we arrived at the site, the bulldozer was idle with a dozen solders and private security personnel around.  We found out from the 20 some villagers gathered there that they managed to asked the work to be stopped pending further instructions. Thirty minutes later, some military spokesperson came to talk to the villagers in Arabic (which I don’t understand.)  He came along with more armed forces – there were about 50 to 60 by then, more than the number of the local villagers present.  If I understood correctly through Mazin’s brief translation, Israeli spokesperson was saying that their work was based on the 2006 order (but that order has expired and currently there is a supreme court case pending.)  So as the bulldozer resumed, and the soldiers spreaded out getting villagers away from the work site and started arresting people who simply were hanging around there.  While I was taking picture of a Palestinian male being taken away by Israeli soldiers, I suddenly noticed Mazin was surrounded by soldiers in a lower level terrace from where I was standing trying to speak to the solders (probably telling them they don’t have any valid work order and should not resume the bulldozing.)  Right at that moment, they decided to take him away.  That was around 3:20 p.m., less than an hour after we got there.  I only remembered to take a picture of him being taken away from a distance.  In rapid succession, Israeli soldiers snatched more Palestinian villagers – in all eight of them, including an older gentlemen, two teeagers, three other gentlemen, and Sheerin Al-Araj whom I knew as the vocal activist from the village.

Mazin was not reachable by phone after that for two hours.  Then I reached him by phone and took down some notes from him during a short conversation.  He said that they are detained outside Bethlehem Checkpoint 300 at the time.  An Israeli soldier named Almog Kahalani was very rough with them.  He beat the two young Palestinian men, causing one with stomach problem.  The soldiers were very rough with Sheerin that I can hear in the background while talking with Mazin on the phone. Three of them had metal handcuffs, he and the rest were tied with plastic handcuffs that was very tight and causing circulation problem.  A young men’s handcuff was so unbearably tight but Israeli soldiers refused to loosening it.  The soldiers had just untied the plastic ones after about two hours (but kept the metal ones on the other three, Sheerin was one of them) and that’s why Mazin was able to use his hand to hold his phone and speak with me.  They were asked to sign on a piece of paper (don’t know what’s the content but must be in Hebrew that nobody understand).  But everyone of them refused to sign as advised by a Palestinian lawyer who was present there.  While detained there, they tried to speak to the soldiers about international law, but the soldiers were saying that they don’t give a f— about international law and you people and they only care about obeying orders.  Mazin reasoned to them that German soldiers were also obeying orders during the Nazi regime.  The Israeli solders responded by saying that German soldiers would have shot you by now.

Another hour later, I got another update from Mazin that they have been transferred to Atarot (I don’t know where is this, but people familiar with this said it is near Ramallah.)  They are waiting to appear in front of a judge.  They are cold and hungry.  The Israeli personnel there sprayed cold water on them and claiming it is an accident.

More update as I am still composing this — Mazin said that there were three arrested from Jenin joining them, so now there are total eleven at Atarot detention.

Mazin asked you all to keep Al-Walaja people and village in your prayer.  We should be proud of the villager’s nonviolent resistance effort.

If you are currently in the Bethlehem area, please join us for a demo set for this Friday morning December 24, 2010 at 9 a.m. at Al-Walaja, and stay alert tomorrow all day.  I will keep you updated as event unfold.

J. Qumsiyeh

during Mazin’s absence

Below is another eyewitness account by an international present at the time:

“Eight Palestinians detained in al-Wallaje as bulldozers began to make way for the Apartheid Wall in the South of the village

Today at around 2 p.m. bulldozers started clearing trees, rocks, shrubs etc. to make way for the Apartheid Wall that is designed to enclose the village of al Walaje from the South, on the West Bank side. Three days ago, Israeli authorities had marked the route the Wall with orange plastic straps, indicating that the route of the Wall, which would swallow a natural spring, three graves and run through a small grave yard.

Villagers and a few local supporters walked towards the bulldozers and tried to stop their work. They were prevented from reaching the bulldozer by more than three times their number of Israeli soldiers, border police, and riot police. The villagers were arguing that the IOF had no right to destroy their land and that the legal situation concerning this part of the village was not yet clear, when a commander recognized Mazin Qumsiyeh from an action earlier this year on the other side of the village where the Wall is already being built. Mazin was standing in a group of people when he was suddenly arrested without the slightest warning or provocation.  The IOF then started to violently push the crowd into the village, causing several villagers to fall on the rocky, uneven ground and sustain minor injuries. As the outnumbered villagers were being pushed further and further in, a commander suddenly ran into the crowd and randomly detained several Palestinians who – at that point – had their backs turned to the IOF and were facing towards the village.

Overall, eight Palestinians – one woman and seven men including teenagers and an elderly men were detained violently. Three were handcuffed; five were bound with plastic straps, one of them so tightly that the strap cut into his flesh, which the soldiers refused to loosen for several hours.  Two were beaten badly after they were detained.

The eight were first brought to the police station at the “checkpoint 300” at Rachel’s tomb, and then transferred to Atarot, where they are being investigated currently.”

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour He is author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and the forthcoming book Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps

Articles by Dr. Qumsiyeh on RamallahOnline.com.

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Naturalists Complicate Al Walaja’s Fight Against the Wall

Homes next to the wall in al Walaja (Photo: Charlotte Silver)

Palestine Monitor, 27 November 2010

This month, the Israeli High Court of Justice heard arguments against the army’s proposed route of the Separation Wall around al Walaja, a small village between Jerusalem, Bethlehem and several expanding Israeli settlements. Despite the absence of security reasons for constructing the Wall in al Walaja, the Israeli army is pushing forward with 2006 plans that would encircle the residential center, severing it from surrounding agricultural land belonging to the village. The wall will sit directly next to villagers’ homes and cut families off from 1,800 dunums of land that have been a part of al Walaja for generations.

Written and photographed by Charlotte Silver.

Homes next to the wall in al Walaja (Photo: Charlotte Silver)

Homes next to the wall in al Walaja (Photo: Charlotte Silver)

Shereen, a resident and activist of al Walaja explained, “It will seal the village completely, and disconnect it from its surroundings, and there will be no way to grow.” Upon the completion of the wall, there will a single exit from the village through Beit Jala that would be opened and closed by a gate.

Continuing, Shereen stated, “It’s organised, structural violence that will end up with the displacement of people. If you have an 8 o’clock job you can’t be held with a gate that you have no control over. You might be late once or twice, but you can’t be late everyday. When you are at risk of losing your job or losing whatever, you eventually move. That’s what happened in other places, that’s what will happen here.”

While al Walaja is not the first village to suffer from the wall’s theft of land and isolating effects, it has attracted disapproval from an unusual mix of groups representing disparate interests, including the Society for the Preservation of Nature in Israel and an Israeli private development company, Givat Yael.

On November 8, 2010 the Israeli High Court of Justice suspended construction of the wall for 45 days after hearing arguments from the lawyer representing the al Walajah, Ghiat Nasser, and the Society for the Preservation of Nature in Israel (SPNI), and the Israeli Army. Givat Yael has also opposed the construction of the wall, claiming that it will impede its plans to build a new Israeli housing project with 13,000 homes. However, the company withdrew from bringing their case to court.

Making an unusual partner, SPNI joined the village in challenging the necessity of the proposed route of the wall. Shereen spoke skeptically of the value of such an alliance, “The Palestinian interest is not of anybody else’s interest, in Israel. So whatever society it is, be it protecting nature, or peace and security, they’re not there to protect the Palestinians. Everybody is there to protect Israel, they want to the less harming again for Israel.”

SPNI argued against the route of the wall purely on the grounds of its interruption of the natural landscape. According to the Israeli human rights organization, Ir Amim, SPNI opposed the construction of the wall because it would harm the traditional cultural landscape of the Judean Mountains that have existed for nearly 2,000 years.

In contrast, Nasser argued against the Wall as it would cause grave violations of Palestinian rights, asserting that the wall was annexing half of the little land the village still had and would make life very difficult for the villagers.

He went on to claim that the 2006 order to build the wall according to the prescribed route was invalid, as it should have expired after three years.

During the final court hearing, SPNI accepted the army’s revised plan that would still encircle the village but require a smaller buffer zone. Now, what originated as a potential asset has turned into a liability for the village: by conceding that this route with a smaller buffer zone is environmentally acceptable, SPNI has essentially endorsed the strangulation of al Walaja.

While the village did not initially oppose SPNI from arguing against the wall on behalf of environmental concerns, Nasser explained that they have ultimately hindered the village’s case, “I regret that they entered the case, because they have caused big damage to our case in the end. Now I have another party against me.”

The Israeli courts have offered Palestinians a less than equitable arena for pursuing their rights. Yet for many Palestinians the courtroom is nevertheless a means to document history. In Shereen’s words, “We would be very stupid if we think we will ever be able to do something with the Supreme Court. Because it’s a racist society, including the judges of the Supreme Court. But this is our only option. And for me this is only about documenting until a day of justice.”

The hearings will resume in December, at which point the court will decide if the army can continue laying the foundation for construction of the Wall.

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Al-Walaja demonstration, Zionist French president and more

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD, 5 Nov 2010

Our son visited us under the occupation and just left.  We are grateful and energized by this visit (albeit short).  The questioning both on entrance and exit totaling hours shows how callous such a colonial/apartheid system can get.  At the airport coming in, the apartheid authorities even showed him photos of both me and my mother (his grandmother) asking him to identify us! At least he was let in though.  We have many friends, relatives and colleagues who are denied entry by the fascist border officials.  One colleague just denied entry Wednesday is a PhD student doing her thesis research on Israeli-Palestinian cooperation in nonviolent resistance! But these and other signs (e.g. the attack on the humanitarian aid ships in International waters and building walls, the denial of medical care except to those willing to collaborate with the occupiers) are signs of political Zionists reaching a dead end and thrashing about aimlessly.  There are also signs of the beginnings of a new and now perhaps global intifada (uprising) against repression characterized by spread of information virally though the internet (bypassing the controlled “mainstream media”)  and by the spread of the boycotts, divestments, and sanctions movement (BDS, see bdsmovement.net).

New Video of the latest demonstration in Al-Walaja, a village of over 18,000 dunums before 1948. Over 75% of its land was stolen and all its buildings were destroyed in 1948 as the natives were ethnically cleansed (500+ other villages and towns suffered the same fate).  European Jews came to build a life on the destruction of other people’s lives.  10% of the Palestinian refugees from Al-Walaja rebuilt their lives in the portion that remained free from occupation before 1967.  In 1967, the area was occupied and the 25% of the land that remains was targeted to be colonized.  Already 33 homes were demolished, 88 have pending orders for home demolitions, and the remaining homes are being surrounded by the apartheid wall isolating them from the remaining agricultural lands.  In this demonstration 3 days before the Israeli “supreme court” is to rule on the wall path here, the villagers with internationals express their views of apartheid.

For a UN fact sheet on Al-Walaja , see http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/2010070915338.pdf

And here is a video of a spontaneous dance flashdance that happened on the El Malha Israeli checkpoint between occupied Beit Jalla and occupied Jerusalem.

The Zionist Jewish French President: As if his marital challenges were not enough cause for concern, “Sarco the Sayan” has suddenly emerged as the most infamous accolade of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The influential French daily Le Figaro last week revealed that the French leader once worked for — and perhaps still does, it hinted — Israeli intelligence as a sayan (Hebrew for helper), one of the thousands of Jewish citizens of countries other than Israel who cooperate with the katsas (Mossad case-officers) http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/868/in2.htm

US to Spend $511 Million to Expand Kabul Embassy, Published on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 by the Associated Press http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/11/03-5

Action especially for citizens of the UK: Reject the moves to change laws in England that would curtail possibility of prosecuting Israeli war criminals.  Go to http://www.palestinecampaign.org/index7b-2.asp?m_id=1&l1_id=3&l2_id=51&content_ID=1534


Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour He is author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and the forthcoming book Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps

Articles by Dr. Qumsiyeh on RamallahOnline.com

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Come to Al-Walaja Friday and to Palestine this Christmas

Mazin Qumsiyeh

1) A critical peace march in Al-Walaja Noon Friday, 5 November 2010. The
local committee invites all activists to this critical event coming only 3
days before a key Israeli supreme court session that will rule about the
wall that is being built to strangulate the village.  Attending thr march on
Friday will help in drawing media attention to the now critical situation in
this village. The local committee also asks people to attend the court on
Monday starting at 9 AM. This is a critical period and teh local committee
calls on making thsi peaceful march the largest ever to send a message: no
to ethnic cleansing, no to separating villagers from their land.  For more
information call Amar 0598939852 or Shireen 0522054595.

2) Palestinians call on all people of conscience: Come visit Palestine this
Christmas

Palestinian civil society organizations and peace and human rights defenders
and activists on the ground call on civil society organizations and people
of conscience around the world to come to Palestine between December 22-28
for a week of fellowship and actions centered around Jerusalem. Palestinians
throughout historic Palestine and in exile still believe in and work for
peace based upon justice and trust that with the help of the international
community we will achieve our peace and freedom and restore the values and
principles that we share as human beings.

We invite you. We call upon you. Join us and be the change you want to see
in this world.

Come join us this Christmas season as we pray and act for peace with justice
in Jerusalem.  We believe in nonviolence as a way of life and an absolute
powerful means of resistance.  We believe in International Law and Human
Rights. We believe that every single one of us is a change maker, and nobody
has the right to say I can’t do anything.  You will be accommodated locally
and enjoy Palestinian hospitality and a full program of peace work,
networking, and fellowship.

Local activist groups in Europe, North America, Latin America, and other
parts of the world are organizing delegations.  Email us at
info@palestinejn.org if you would like to be connected to the organizing
group in your country.

Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Centre, www.alrowwad-acts.ps
Alternative Information Center www.alternativenews.org
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights:
www.badil.org/
Bil’in Popular Resistance Committee www.bilin-village.org
Friends of Freedom and Justice, Bil’in www.bilin-ffj.org
Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign www.stopthewall.org
Holy Land Trust: www.holylandtrust.org
International Solidarity Movement: www.palsolidarity.org
Open Bethlehem: www.openbethlehem.org
Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People www.PCR.PS
Palestine Justice Network www.palestinejn.org
Palestine Solidarity Project WWW.palestinesolidarityproject.org
Popular Struggle Coordinating Committee www.popularstruggle.org/
Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies, www.sirajcenter.org

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour He is author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and the forthcoming book Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps

Articles by Dr. Qumsiyeh on RamallahOnline.com

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First Friday of Ramadan: the 5 second that is five minutes

Mazin Qumsiyeh

Mazin Qumsiyeh, 13 August 2010

On the first Friday of Ramadan, thousands of Palestinians tried to reach the Haram Al-Sharif in Jerusalem for prayers in Al-Aqsa mosque.  But only some men above 50 and some women above 45 year old were allowed to enter through the checkpoints in the apartheid wall. Some of those left behind participated in demonstrations.  Al-Walaja demonstration was particularly inspiring and faced the might of the apartheid system. The Apartheid wall here is being built to surround Al-Walaja on all sides.   We marched from the mosque towards the village entrance and along the main road; here the wall facing Al-Walaja village is ugly concrete and the side of it facing the illegal colony of Har Gilo is decorated with Jerusalem stone.  We stopped at the village entrance as planned, beat drums and chanted things like “1234 Occupation no more… 5678 stop the stealing stop the hate”, several military and police vehicles and dozens of heavily armed apartheid warriers prepared to attack us.  Ali chanted in Arabic, I spoke in English, and then Ali spoke in Hebrew.  We addressed the gathering and the soldiers telling them this was a peaceful demonstration against land confiscation.  We explained that this village lost 80% of its land in 1948 and is now about to lose the rest.  The officers came and gave us five minutes to disperse but then started attacking us within five seconds with stun grenades and tear gas. They arrested Ali Al-Aaraj and then they ran into the nearby house and arrested his cousin Ma’moun (who was not participating in the demonstration) .  Some colonial racist settlers showed up with an Israeli flag and waved uit and cheered their storm troops on. They also violently attacked people injuring several (I personally saw them toss a man down against a concrete wall injuring him in the leg). Those abducted were released a few hours later thanks to good legal support.

Video here:

Photos here (the last six in the series including showing arrest of Ma’moun which is not shown on my video).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/sets/72157602013963483/with/1453329309/

Video of destruction in Al-Araqib village in the Negev, a Palestinian village predating the illegal apartheid state of Israel that now sets laws analogous to Nazi laws to ethnically cleanse what remains of Palestinian lands

Good news: A CULTURAL boycott of Israel was launched yesterday, with more than 150 Irish artists announcing that they intend not to perform or exhibit in Israel, or to accept any funding from institutions linked to the Israeli government.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) said it was in protest at Israel’s “treatment of the Palestinian people”.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0813/1224276715164.html

Human Rights Watch:  Israel/Gaza: Wartime Inquiries Fall Short; Governments and UN Should Press for Justice http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/08/10/israelgaza-wartime-inquiries-fall-short

Action 1: Attend second Palestinian popular conference in Chicago, IL

http://popular.palestineconference.org/

Action 2: Sign petition from Palestine Civil Rights Campaign-Lebanon for refugee rights in Lebanon

http://www.petitiononline.com/ssfpcrc/petition.html

Finally, below is an eyewitness account of eth attack of masked racist settlers on members of the Christian Peacemaking Team in Hebron area.

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home

http://www.qumsiyeh.org