Tag Archives: Freedom

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Myopic Extremists Take the Lead

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

Lawrence Davidson

The electromagnetic spectrum is a window on the real world in all its vast variety. In wavelength it ranges from 0.1 nanometers for gamma rays to long wave infrared waves of a 1000 meters. Humankind has invented instruments that can look out into the world at all of these wave lengths. However, when it comes to the human eye (our innate instrument for seeing) the perceptual range is very much smaller. The visible spectrum ranges from 400 nanometers (which appears to us as violet) to 700 nanometers (which appears to us as red). Leaving aside those who are blind, there are a number of defects that can limit our vision range even further.

Thus, without artificial aids, humankind’s ability to see the natural world and to understand the full range of what is real and operative is quite limited. Unfortunately, this phenomenon of restricted perception is not just physiological. Something akin to it seems to happen on the psychological level as well, inhibiting our sense of the world beyond familiar community and cultural wave lengths. A phenomenon that I call “natural localism” concentrates most people’s attention to the limited geographical area within which they live, work and study. Inside their local zone, people can have first hand knowledge, but they are also led (again quite naturally) to conform their views to those of their neighbors, their friends, their fellow workers, their religious congregations, etc. In many of these categories there will be personalities who stand out as leaders and they often have great influence in shaping the perceptions of local populations. Beyond their local zone most people know little of what is real. The rest of the world is, if you will, beyond the wave lengths they can see and understand. Many folks are simply indifferent to world beyond their own personal sphere. And, most of those who might periodically become interested in what is happening on the other side of the hill, will tend to go with the opinions of their community leaders and, of course, the mass media.

The United States certainly suffers from the drawbacks of “natural localism” and sometimes the consequences are extreme. You can see it in the periodic xenophobia that shapes the perceptions of local groups when it comes to migrant workers and immigration in general. You can see it in the periodic episodes of resurgent racism, as in the present case of Islamophobia. But perhaps the most startling extreme expression of this phenomenon is the full blown fear, suspicion and even hatred of the federal government by up to 20% of the American population. This extreme “natural localism” is expressed by a demand that the federal government go away and leave everyone alone. There should be no taxes, no regulatory agencies, no social programs, no internal revenue service and the like. In fact, within this scenario the only federal government activities that are sacrosanct are the military and the courts. All other responsibilities can be jettisoned.

If all these myopic extremists, born and bred to “natural localism,” lived in one state, they would no doubt want to secede from the union. And personally I would be glad to see “the erring sisters go in peace” (to quote Horace Greeley). Unfortunately, they are too scattered about for this, particularly in the South, Midwest and Southwest. So, disregarding the needs of the poor, the aged, the chronically ill, veterans, environmentalists, public health specialists, and all those who feel that a broader community exists which requires financial support, regulatory guidance and the like, those operating on these narrow wave lengths have found other ways to assert the primacy of their quite limited world view. A few have taken to murderous violence. But the numbers here are surprising small given this group asserts the sanctity of gun ownership and is armed to the teeth. More generally they have settled on the tactic of participating in the very politics they scorn so as to accomplish an end run into enemy territory. If and when their leaders gain high office their ultimate goal is to kill off large parts of the federal government–from the inside.

To this end the myopic extremists have infiltrated and transformed the Republican Party. If we take a look at the candidates competing for the Republican presidential nomination, all of them want to radically downsize the federal government. Some take this stand because they believe God has told them to do so. For example, Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, who recently won the Iowa straw poll, sees herself fighting on the side of the angels. With a pseudo law degree from the Oral Roberts University, she has been taught that “God grants certain authority to government, the Church and the family…and if the government infringes on those rights by exceeding the authority it was granted by God, then that’s tyranny.” Bachmann was also taught at Oral Roberts that one must seek to institute “biblical law over man’s law in jurisprudence and in politics.” That is what she is out to do. Texas Governor Rick Perry, pseudo prophet and a George W. Bush want-to-be, is of the same mind. Rick “marriage is our ultimate homeland security” Santorum probably fits in here as well. Then there are those who do not rely on religion but rather push an historically bankrupt philosophy of unregulated capitalism. Here we find folks like Newt “the invention of beach volleyball is what freedom is all about” Gingrich, Mitt “corporations are people too” Romney and others. Actually, the only one of these presidential hopefuls who is, partially, in his right mind is Ron Paul. His strong desire to end the wars in the Middle East is absolutely sane. But move the discussion into domestic politics/economics and he becomes as nonsensical as the rest of the Republican field.

Behind this cadre is a hinterland of people whose perceptual capacities are dangerously narrow. These are the people who are mesmerized by right wing talk radio and the preaching of Christian right wing ministers. They are mostly white, mostly middle-aged and publically identify themselves as conservatives. Again, we are probably talking about 15 to 20% of the U.S. population. Many of them are “Tea Party” members. But the “teasters” are just the angry tip of the iceberg. There is an additional quiet but supportive group who sympathize with these radicals. This runs to about 32% of the adult population. One might think that one fifth to one third of those qualified to vote is a far cry from a governing majority, but that would be a mistake. For the last fifty years the voter turnout in federal elections has averaged about 47.5% with individual elections ranging from 36.4 to 63.1%. Given these low turnout numbers, smaller groups which are well organized and motivated can run away with an election.

What these myopic extremists do not know, or chose not to believe, can hurt us all. If they take over the federal government (and, if you have not noticed, they now control the House of Representatives) things like environmental regulations, health and safety regulations, banking and other fiscal regulations, medicare and medicaid, and even social security are all in mortal jeopardy. The consequences will make the corruption of the 19th century Gilded Age look like child’s play. And, assuming Ron Paul does not win in this fray, our new potential leaders have all indicated that they will once more take up the standard of George W. Bush and possibly lead us into war with Iran. Where will they get the money for that? Not from taxation! Not from running a deficit! They hate such things. Well, they are ideologically against social security. It has a sizable reserve fund. Maybe they will rob that.

Conclusion

What Bachmann, et. al. have done is to mistake their narrow range of vision for either God’s universe or some form of holy ideology. Having done so, all who can see further than they become idolaters against whom they must wage a crusade. There is no speaking sweet reason to such people. If you think you can negotiate with them and come to some sort of compromise, just take a look at President Obama’s experience dealing with the House of Representatives during the debt crisis.

What about those artificial aids I mentioned at the beginning of this essay? The ones that humankind uses to look out on the natural world and see reality across the electromagnetic spectrum. Don’t communities also have aids by which they can by-pass “natural localness” and see the world in a more cosmopolitan, broadband way? The answer, at least potentially, happens to be yes. One of the long standing aids with potential in this area is the public school system. It is quite possible to teach awareness of other cultures, other religions, other economic ideologies, other forms of government, etc. and instill in our children tolerance for that which is different. It takes teaching tolerance from K to 12 consistently over generations to do this, but it is possible.

Guess what! The myopic extremists are suspicious of public education and much more enthusiastic about “home schooling.” They think public schools are brainwashing their children and in a certain sense they are right. One of the purposes of education within the nation state context is to produce good citizens. But for the myopic crowd that means loyalty to an unholy political system. They have plans to change that. You can add federal aid to education to that long list of things that will disappear once the extreme right truly has its way.

In the end, the best prevention against these people is to motivate the rest of the voting population to actually turn out at the polls and elect sane alternative candidates. As the development of third parties seems a non-starter in America, it is up to the Democratic Party to supply those alternative candidates and to work up the necessary motivation. Can the Democrats do this? I am afraid the hard truth is, it ain’t a sure thing.

 

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

 

Dr. Lawrence Davidson is professor of history at West Chester University. He is the author of numerous books, including Islamic Fundamentalism and America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood.

The author is a regular contributor to RamallahOnline.com.More articles can be found on RamallahOnline.com, Logos Journal, and Dr. Davidson also maintains an online blog, you can find it at http://www.tothepointanalyses.com

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On Flotillas and the Law

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

Part I – Civil Society Movements vs. Corrupt Politics

When it comes to the struggle against Israel’s policies of oppression there are two conflicting levels: that of government and that of civil society. The most recent example of this duality is the half dozen or so small ships held captive in the ports of Greece. The ships, loaded with humanitarian supplies for the one and half million people of the Gaza strip, are instruments of a civil society campaign against the inhumanity of the Israeli state. The forces that hold them back are the instruments of governments corrupted by special interest influence and political bribery.

Most of us are unaware of the potential of organized civil society because we have resigned the public sphere to professional politicians and bureaucrats and retreated into a private sphere of everyday life which we see as separate from politics. This is a serious mistake. Politics shapes our lives whether we pay attention to it or not. By ignoring it we allow the power of the state to respond not so much to the citizenry as to special interests. Our indifference means that the politicians and government bureaucrats live their professional lives within systems largely uninterested in and sometimes incapable of acting in the public good because they are corrupted by lobby power. The ability to render justice is also often a casualty of the way things operate politically. The stymying of the latest flotilla due to the disproportionate influence of Zionist special interests on U.S. and European Middle East foreign policy is a good example of this situation.

There are small but growing elements of society which understand this problem and have moved to remedy it through organizing common citizens to reassert influence in the public sphere. Their efforts constitute civil society movements. Not all of these efforts can be deemed progressive. The “Tea Party” phenomenon in the United States is a radical conservative movement that aims at minimizing government to the point of self-destruction. But other movements of civil society, in their expressions of direct action in the cause of justice, are much healthier. The worldwide movement for the boycott, divestment and sanctioning (BDS) of Israel, of which the flotilla movement is an offshoot, is one of these.

Part II – The Forum of International Law

The resulting struggle between the corrupt politics that keeps the West aligned with the oppressive and racist ideology that rules Israel and the civil society movement that seeks to liberate the victims of that ideology goes on worldwide and in many forums. One is the forum of international law. Presently, the debate revolves around the legality of Israel’s blockade of Gaza and the effort of the flotilla movement to defy it. Let us take a look at this aspect of the conflict.

1. The well known American Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, a strong defender of Israel, has blatantly stated, “Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is legal under international law–anyone who tries to break it can be arrested and prosecuted in a court of law.” Of course, Dershowitz is not an expert on international law. Rather he has made his reputation as a defense lawyer with a passion for murder cases (which makes him quite suited to defend the Israeli state). This being said, what is the basis for his assertion that the Gaza blockade is legal?

2. The argument for the legality of the blockade is based on the 1909 Declaration of London and the 1994 San Remo Manual on Armed Conflict at Sea. Both are part of an international treaty system that sets down the parameters of much international law. According to these documents two states engaged in armed conflict can legally blockade one and other for clear military reasons. However, any blockade would cease to be legal if “damage to the civilian population is, or may be expected to be, excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the blockade.” Defenders of Israeli actions such as Dershowitz do a very superficial reading of the documents and reason that Israel is in an armed conflict with Hamas, which is the ruling authority in Gaza, and so Israel can legally blockade Gaza so as to stop the importation of weapons and “terrorist” fighters.

3. The holes in this reasoning are big enough to sail a flotilla of small ships through (if only they were not imprisoned in Greek ports). Thus, Israel certainly does not consider itself engaged in an armed conflict with another state. If you doubt this just ask any member of the present Israeli government whether he or she would define Palestine, including Gaza, as a state. In truth, the proper definition of Israel’s presence in the West Bank and Gaza is that of an occupying colonial power whose policies and actions are stark violations of the Geneva Conventions. That is, by virtue of their colonizing actions and treatment of residents of the Occupied Territories, their presence in Palestine beyond the 1967 borders is not legal (one can also argue over the legality of Israel within the 1967 borders). That means those they are in armed conflict with are those resisting illegal occupation. There is no international law that makes it legal for Israel, itself acting illegally, to blockade those legally resisting its actions. The arbitrary labeling of those resisting as “terrorists” does not change this legal situation.

4. As noted above, “legal” blockades must have a military objective and must not do excessive harm to the civilian population. Yet there is evidence that Israel’s goals for the blockade are not primarily military but are, instead, aimed at committing excessive harm to the people of Gaza. The Gaza blockade was not done out of fear of weapons smuggling or terrorist infiltration, but rather constituted a conscious act of economic warfare against the people of Gaza for having the audacity to be ruled by Hamas, the winner of a 2006 free and fair election. There is documentary evidence for this interpretation of events. For instance, in 2006 Dov Weisglass, an adviser to then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, publically stated that the goal of Israeli policy in Gaza was to “put the Palestinians on a diet, but not make them die of hunger.” Then, in June of 2010 McClatchy Newspapers published Israeli government documents attesting to the fact that Jerusalem primarily saw the blockade as an act of economic warfare, and not as a security measure. To this you can add the fact that Israeli gunboats keep shooting at Gaza fisherman who they know are doing nothing except fishing. What we have here is the collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians. As such it is not legal, it is illegal–a violation of the Geneva Conventions. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, usually so responsive to U.S. demands, momentarily broke free and in his 2009 annual report told the Israelis they should end their unwarranted blockade. He was ignored.

Part III – We Cannot Count on Governments or International Law

So how is it that the Israelis can get away with these crimes? It is because, at the level of government, their lobbyists and advocates wield enough influence to successfully warp the policy formulation of Western governments. Against this corruptive influence, international law means very little. Even embarrassing historical analogies mean little. Nima Shirazi, whose blog, Wide Asleep In America can be found at http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/ wrote a very good piece entitled “The Deplorable Acts: The ‘Quartet Comments on Gaza.” In this piece he points out the relative similarity between the Gaza blockade and the blockade of Boston set up by imperial Britain in late 1773. The Americans of that time labeled the action, “the Intolerable Acts.” Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and her boss in the White House ought to consider this analogy, but then there is that lobby power factor that would prevent them from ever acknowledging it.

As a consequence, those who seek justice for the Palestinians must, for the moment, not place much hope in government or international law. They must act within the realm of civil society, building the BDS movement and its offshoots. Where government moves in and attempts to block civil society actions, these actions must be turned against government if only by using them as campaign tools to expand the BDS movement further. If we persist there will come a time, as was the case with South Africa, when the power of civil society will be such that politicians and bureaucrats will see the cost of defying popular opinion as greater than defying Zionist lobbies.

For all intents and purposes, when it comes to the Palestine-Israeli conflict, the United States and Israeli governments have placed themselves above all law. That means not just international law, but selective domestic law as well. The ubiquitous and improper use of such categories as “terrorist” or “rendering material aid to terrorists” are the corruptive vectors here. The only hope for justice and the integrity of law is in the realm of civil society which might in the future redeem not only Palestine, but the US and Israel too.

ldavidson@wcupa.edu
www.tothepointanalyses.com
www.twitter.com/pointanalyses

 

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

 

Dr. Lawrence Davidson is professor of history at West Chester University. He is the author of numerous books, including Islamic Fundamentalism and America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood.

The author is a regular contributor to RamallahOnline.com.More articles can be found on RamallahOnline.com, Logos Journal, and Dr. Davidson also maintains an online blog, you can find it at http://www.tothepointanalyses.com

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Hundreds of Internationals and Hundreds of Palestinians Gear-up for July 8-16 activities

Mazin Qumsiyeh

 

Press Release,  3 July 2011

 

Hundreds of Internationals and Hundreds of Palestinians Gear-up for July  8-16 activities

 

Some 40 Palestinian civil society organizations, popular resistance committees, and political factions announce the launching of the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative July 8-16 where hundreds of Internationals will work with hundreds of Palestinians for Peace.  The hundreds of men, women, and children will arrive July 8 at the Lod Airport. The international community must recognize the basic human right to receive visitors from abroad and support the right of their own citizens to travel to Palestine without harassment. Where Israel works to isolate us, we invite all to join with us openly and proudly. We do not accept the attempts to keep us apart or to force us to speak less than with full honesty.

 

This July initiative comes in a planned series of events and follows similar events carried out in December under the slogan of “ending apartheid and ethnic cleansing.” The week of activities starts on July 9 because that is the anniversary of the International Court of Justice ruling about the illegality of the Settlements and the apartheid wall in the occupied Palestinian Territories and the anniversary of the Palestinian Civil Society Call to Action: July 9 Ramallah area, July 10 Bethlehem area, July 11 North, July 12 Hebron and Jordan Valley, July 13 Neqab, July 14-15 Jerusalem.

 

The July “Welcome to Palestine” initiative will take participants (Palestinians and Internationals) to different parts of Palestine from the north to the Negev and highlight the power of nonviolence and peace building efforts. Visitors will be accommodated locally and will enjoy Palestinian hospitality and a program of networking, fellowship, and volunteer peace work in Palestinian towns and villages together with hundreds of local activists.

 

The full program of activities is available for credentialed media outlets. Volunteers and participants are needed and welcome.  Some news stories that already appeared on this are linked below,

 

Contact: info@palestineJN.org

 

English articles and stories on the event

http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/06/challenging-racism-by-israelis-on-every-front/

http://www.alternet.org/news/151491/activists_challenge_israel’s_other_blockade_by_air

 

بالعربيةArabic

http://www.maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=401703

http://www.palpress.co.uk/arabic/?action=detail&id=11945

http://www.iba.org.il/arabil/?entity=745786&type=1&topic=188

 

Other related websites/links

http://www.righttoenter.ps

http://www.palestinejn.org

http://bienvenuepalestine.com

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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US BOAT TO GAZA_The Audacity To Love

In 2010, the Freedom Flotilla took sail, sparking an unprecedented international human rights mission, dedicated to ending Israel’s blockade on Gaza.

Joining Freedom Flotilla II is the first-ever U.S. Boat to Gaza, “The Audacity of Hope.”

The individuals on this boat will be simply delivering LETTERS OF LOVE to the people of Gaza.

Thirteen of America’s greatest thinkers talk about why “The Audacity of Hope” is one of the most crucial campaigns of our time.

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FREEDOM FLOTILLA II

Freedom Flotilla Two

 

FREEDOM FLOTILLA II PRESS STATEMENT

27 June 2011

GAZA, WE ARE COMING

Despite pressure and threats of violence, flotilla will sail

[Athens] On Saturday, 25 June, the French boat, Dignity / Karama, left the port of l’ile Rousse in Corsica, France, to meet up with at least nine other vessels sailing to Gaza to challenge Israel’s illegal blockade. Israel’s best efforts to stop our boats at port, including pressure on governments, threats against insurance and communications companies, intimidation of human rights defenders, frivolous lawsuits and other underhanded tactics, have thus far failed. The Freedom Flotilla has set sail.

In the coming days the rest of the vessels in the flotilla, two cargo ships and seven other passenger boats, will leave from various ports to a meeting point in international waters from which the boats will sail all together towards Gaza. We will carry nearly three thousand tons of aid and hundreds of civilians from dozens of countries, including members of parliament, politicians, writers, artists, journalists and sports figures, as well as representatives of indigenous peoples and various faith groups.

Unfortunately some of our vessels are facing delays admittedly initiated by bogus complaints from the Israel Law Center, attempted sabotage of some boats, as well as administrative obstacles created by the Greek government in response to Israeli pressure. We call upon the Greek government not to become complicit in Israel’s illegal actions by succumbing to this pressure, and to join France in standing unopposed to the flotilla.

There is no question that Israel’s near hermetic closure of the Gaza Strip is illegal; this has been affirmed again and again by numerous international human rights bodies including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. And, when prompted by the flotilla effort, international consensus has been unequivocal in the demand for the Israeli siege to end. There is no question that Israel’s closure policy has had a devastating effect on the occupied people of Gaza. This has also been well documented. The only question is why does the international community of states allow Israel to keep violating the law and rights of the Palestinian people with impunity?

Recent steps taken by Israel to address the concerns raised in the public eye by the Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human initiative, including last week’s announcement of authorization for construction materials for 1,200 homes and 18 schools in Gaza, prove that flotillas work. However, this is not enough, as our effort is not simply about increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza. It is about freedom for Palestinians in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. Calls by some world leaders for flotilla organizers to use “established channels” to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza show a fundamental disregard for Palestinian human rights. The Palestinian people do not want handouts from the international community; rather they demand liberation – a call we must all support.

Therefore, despite intimidation, pressure, and threats of violence from the Israeli government, which is not ashamed to boast that it will use snipers and attack dogs against unarmed civilians, we will sail. We are part of a growing movement, led by Palestinian civil society campaigning for their freedom, that Israel’s strong-arm tactics cannot stop. We call on our governments to do their utmost to protect their citizens as we take to the sea, without weapons, protection or threat of force, in defense of freedom, human rights, and the rule of law. Gaza, we are coming.

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Article 19 – Freedom of Movement and Residence

Article 19 - Freedom of Movement and Residence

 

Article 19 - Freedom of Movement and Residence

Article 19 - Freedom of Movement and Residence (Click for larger image)

Val Kerry, 8th June 2011

As someone who is completely detached from Palestine and Israel via historical, family or geographical background I am still baffled by the bully tactics by some Jewish Israeli citizens who appear to always refer everyone back to the equally disgusting treatment of their own proud and notably cultural people during the unforgivable crimes of the Holocaust. Why then do they proceed to treat another culturally rich and proud people who are as human as they who also deserve respect and dignity in such an appalling way? I would have thought they would have been a beacon of justice and fairness to the rest of us and lead the way in human rights. I originally produced this graphic illustration as part of a series of work to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the declaration of human rights by using layers of past and present. The past is represented by a photograph of Auschwitz which has been overlayed onto the separation wall at Abu Dis in the hope that someone will see it in order to raise serious questions about what Israel are doing to Palestine. By creating huge guarded walls they are in effect creating a larger Auschwitz with ghetto style sanctions on limitations to hospitals and freedom of movement. We see in the West what is happening and it is not acceptable on any level.

This photo can be also viewed on Flickr here

ARTICLE 13 – Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60th Anniversary

Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 13:
[1] Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.
[2] Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

These images of the Abu Dis Wall and the barbed wire at Auschwitz have been over layed to illustrate ‘Old Walls, New Walls, keeping out, keeping in’

Kashfi Halford kindly allowed me the right to use his image of ‘The Wall at Abu Dis; East Jerusalem.

The original photograph can be viewed on his wonderful flickr photostream at Kashklick. Also please visit his amazing website at www.kashfihalford.com

The 2nd overlayered image has been taken from:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Auschwitz-2.jpg

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May 15, 2011: the beginning of the end

RamallahOnline-Nakbeh.30

RamallahOnline-Nakbeh.30

Mazin Qumsiyeh, 9 May 2011

I teased a friend the other day: Do you feel safer in the new world order? We discussed the fact that there is a “new world order” whereby two states (regimes) in the world feel immune from International law, disregard existing mechanisms including the UN and Interpol, and send agents or machines regularly to other sovereign countries to engage in extrajudicial assassination of those they deem enemies. On most occasions, nearby civilians are killed or the victim turns out to be someone else.  There is the argument that these people assassinated are bad guys and should be killed.  My friend and I certainly do not have sympathy for Bin Laden and people like him.  But violating laws is not the way to go (two wrongs do not make a right).

 

My friend points out that some two million Iraqis, half of them children, perished by the unjust US/UK led blockade, sanctions, and war. Millions suffered and over 60,000 were murdered by the Israeli policies of land theft, ethnic cleansing, regular massacres of civilians, and other war crimes and crimes against humanity. These are all acts of state terrorism in whole sale as opposed to the retail terror acts of Al-Qaeda.  Yet imagine if Afghani commandoes (or Chinese or Irish for that matter) landed in a clandestine way in the US, Britain, or Israel and “took-out” one of the masterminds of such mass terrorism.   Come to think of it, the stage is set now for this to happen since the message sent around the world is that “might makes right”.  As humans, we have clear choices to make: we either support the notion of “dog-eat-dog world” and put our faith in military might OR we insist that another world is coming and that we can shape it with our hands using popular and nonviolent resistance.

 

My friend laments a history of our species of oppression, exploitation, destruction, and even mass murder (e.g. the genocide during slavery, during colonization in the Americas, the use of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki).  She asks half jokingly why should we expect a dramatic change in our life-span?  History does show that, slowly but surely, democracy and peace are spreading around the world.  In Latin America an amazing progress transpired from the era of colonialism (including genocide and slavery) to the era of “banana republics” (ruled by ruthless, western-supported dictators) to the hard won democratic revolutions.  A similar transformation is occurring in the Arab world.  This Arab spring came later and is more painful because such a transformation threatens the implanted Western wedge that is the racist apartheid state of Israel. My friend and I debate whether acting is contingent on being 100% sure of winning!  While a more rational reading of history would lead one to be more optimistic, acting on our beliefs and our ideals is not contingent on existing power structures or short-term outcomes but only on how we believe we should live and act. Self-transformation itself is a win!

 

I ask my friend to imagine activists 10 years before each of these events and what motivated them to act (even as they did not foresee the end): the collapse of the Berlin wall, the freedoms in the countries of Eastern Europe, the end of apartheid in South Africa, the end of segregation in the South of the US, the woman suffrage, and the end of the US supported Pinochet, Suharto, and Mubarak regimes.   In each of those instances and hundreds more, many activists died even before seeing the end of the struggle.  In each of these cases, some thought it was a hopeless struggle against incredible odds.  But even some activists did not understand how close they were to winning. Some even gave up the struggle a year or two before it triumphed.

 

Even when it seems most entrenched the status quo will not stay the same.  The mighty Persian and Roman empires ended.  Who now remembers that in the 19th century, Portugal, Spain, and England had armies and colonies around the world and seemed invincible.  Even Hitler’s relatively short-lived third Reich seemed invincible. Human constructs are invariably changeable by new human constructs ESPECIALLY if they are repressive and antagonize too many people.  The Israeli and US regimes are thus more susceptible on this front than any other in existence today.  Martin Luther King Jr once said of the US: “I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government..”   Israeli historian Benny Morris stated “The Jewish generations of 1948, however, knew the truth and deliberately misrepresented it. They knew there were plenty of mass deportations, massacres and rapes . . . . The soldiers and the officials knew, but they suppressed what they knew and were deliberately disseminating lies.” Ilan Pappe summarized years of his historical research thus: “Jews came and took, by means of uprooting and expulsion, a land that was Arab. We wanted to be a colonialist occupier, and yet to come across as moral at the same time..” These ‘original sins’ (as another Israeli historian titled his book) will catch up with this generation.

 

I tell my friend that the sins of the past come to haunt people whether at the individual level or the national level.  Similarly, the good deeds do get repaid sooner or later.  I remind her that her good deeds were already rewarded many times over as she herself acknowledged to me.  I am sure the many Israelis and US citizens who worked very hard for peace with justice will be vindicated.  She states that our biggest troubles are not sustained by those who work against us but the masses who are apathetic.  Apathy indeed is the scourge of humanity.  Each of us should look themselves in the mirror everyday and honestly think if they have done enough!  Here in Palestine, like in other parts of the world there are also those who act and those who are apathetic.  The latter may watch TV, may feel pangs of frustration or anger but are not willing to sum up the inner courage (present in all of us) to finally act on their convictions.  On our deathbed, will we lament a life wasted or smile at a life of achievement for fellow human beings.

 

My friend and I are pleased to be alive in this day and age and continue to be very optimistic. We are grateful for the tentative initial steps of reconciliation of the Palestinian house (but must keep pushing) and we are grateful for the failure of Netanyahu to get Europeans to pressure the Palestinian people to keep their divisions.  We know Netanyahu will next go to the US but there he will have to pass through demonstrators to get to the Israeli occupied halls of Congress.  And the US is already 14 trillion in debt, one third of it caused directly by the Israel-first lobby. But AIPAC is being challenged.(1)

 

Meanwhile, the struggle here in the last land of apartheid continues.  Saturday, our friends Yusuf and Musa AbuMaria were attacked and injured by Israeli forces in a peaceful demonstration in Beit Ummar near Hebron (Yusuf had two breaks in one arm) and we attended two conferences in Hebron the same day.  One was the Palestinian Forum for Medical Research first biomedical research symposium (2) where one of my master’s students presented her research results.  The second was attended by 300 activists nearly half Israeli and was titled “Joint Struggle for an End to the Occupation and Racism”.  The final declaration from this conference is meaningful in showing the change happening on the ground in joint struggle (as opposed to normalization)(3).

 

Join us 15 May 2011 on the streets as we launch a global intifada (uprising) using popular resistance methods. It will not be the end but the beginning of the end as hundreds of demonstrations and marches are held around the world (including marches to checkpoints) and from nearby countries to the borders of occupied Palestine.

We will say that 63 years of destructions and war is enough and our Nakba must end. Some are calling this the third intifada (4) but it is actually the 14th or 15th and it is likely going to be the last (5). In follow-up you can join us in Palestine this July (see PalestineJN.org) to take a bigger step forward.

 

In the meantime, as our friend and martyr Vittorio reminded us to always “STAY HUMAN”.

 

Notes

1)      From May 21 to 24, 2011, come to Washington DC and join CODEPINK with a coalition of over 100 organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace and the US Palestinian Community Network, at the historic gathering Move Over AIPAC: Time for a New Middle East Policy! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=5832

2)      http://www.pfmr.ps/?p=120

3)      http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3578-concluding-declaration-of-the-conference-a-joint-struggle-for-an-end-to-the-occupation-and-racism-

4)      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEIbUoSSiV4

5)      See the book Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment” http://www.qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/

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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I am a Palestinian…with Nothing more to say

Yasser Arafat memorial (Majed Bamya)

Majed Bamya, 3 March 2011

As many Palestinians around the globe, I have spent the last few weeks following the uprisings in the Arab world on TV, overwhelmed with hope, enthusiasm, belief…and frustration. I grew up with the deep belief that our struggle for freedom was not only about territory. We were fighting to ensure a number of fundamental human values will prevail. We were fighting for justice, genuine democracy, dignity. In our quest, we aimed at freeing Palestine from the occupation but also allow it to rebuild the ties with its essence: pluralism, humanity, tolerance. We were fighting against zionism as an ideology that leads to exclusiveness, and exclusion, that spreads negation and destruction, discriminations and apartheid. And we thought that by fighting for pluralism in Palestine, and by accepting pluralism within the national movement, we were spreading the seeds of democracy in all of our region. We were democrats without a State, and we had a message to deliver. But years going by, and our house, the PLO, being neglected and weakened by divisions and competition, our pluralism was no longer a strength, as we were unable to dialogue respectfully and to speak with one voice. We doubted each others’ intentions and agendas, we criticized each others’ martyrs, and heroes. We forgot our common flag and fought each for our own colour. And from democracy we went to internal division. After the Nakba and the Naksa and Palestinian resurrection. After years of struggle, after Jordan, Lebanon, and two Intifadas. After imposing the Palestinian cause around the globe. After having lost so many of our historical leaders and so many of our resistants. We betrayed ourselves. We stopped believing. We lost faith in our own capacity to create miracles.

As I am watching these revolutions so close to us, and yet so far from us, I can not but ask myself, how come we became bystanders of a history we were at the forefront of. The Palestinian people fought for so long and made such sacrifices that it is normal to have fatigue or despair. It happened in the past and we always overcame. We disappeared from geography and we were on the verge of being erased from history. And defying all odds, we built a national movement that has changed all the past equations. But this time is different. People still fight every day for their dignity, their hopes and dreams, they continue demonstrating against the wall; in Jerusalem their fight for their homes is a fight for the Palestinian presence, and Palestinians remain in Palestine despite the siege in Gaza, and settlement activity and settlers’ harassment in the West Bank. And Palestinians in Israel continue fighting discriminations. And refugees continue to nourish their Palestinian identity even when the political bodies seem to have forgotten them. But where is our collective hope?

“Are you Gazan or West Banker, Jerusalemite or Israeli Palestinian, are you a refugee or not, are you…?” I am a Palestinian from Jaffa, my parents were Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, a country they left following the Israeli invasion in 1982. After 1948, some of my family went to Gaza, others to West Bank, other in exile. I was born in exile and grew up in Ramallah and studied in Jerusalem. I have been living for the last years in Europe. This is a typical Palestinian story. It shows that our identity is linked to a cause not to geography.

I am a Palestinian. Simple words that need to be embodied. We still have it in us. The hope, the willingness to fight once again despite decades of sacrifices, the capacity to overcome our divisions and to reshape our unity. But for all of this to be possible, we need to do what others have done in Tunisia and Egypt and elsewhere around the globe. Confront our fears, choose our fights, and empower the people. We need to do it now, as the wheels of history are turning and instead of being on the vehicle, we are under it!

There are ideas, and experiences and examples all over the globe of Palestinian resistance. There is so much to learn from other peoples who have risen up to defend their rights. Political leaders should stop thinking that populations can not understand, or are by definition unreasonable. A population that is invested in decision-making understands compromises, and efficiency, and result-oriented approach. A population that is not invested in decision-making turns to ideologies, and simplifications. Look how reasonable where the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Despite past and future difficulties, and uncertain transition periods, the peoples of these countries continue doing their utmost to preserve the fragile balance of a revolution that seeks hope and not chaos. And while making the impossible possible, they were ready to achieve compromises on the instruments, not on the goals.

The major question now is how to change the balance of power on the ground, how to better confront this occupation and the injustice imposed on us 6 decades ago? The first element of any equation is to restore our unity, not based on void speeches or slogans, but on a deep understanding of our common belonging, respect for Palestinian pluralism, upholding human rights, and working towards genuine democracy where power can not be seized or hijacked and all political bodies remain accountable to the people on a regular basis. Palestinians want to be fully involved in the decision-making process. As they offer huge sacrifices in their quest for freedom, they can not tolerate for this freedom to be diminished by people that are supposed to represent them and their struggle. Unity is too serious a matter to be left for political parties to discuss it behind closed doors, and with undeclared agendas, or focus on power sharing. Only peoples can be entrusted with unity and democracy, they should pursue and shield them, as they are essential conditions for the success of any struggle for justice, and any debate on these questions, and all decisions, should be made with the full involvement of the people.

In Palestine and abroad, it is time for the people to take action and nobody should stop it. A power that fears its own people does not deserve to last and this is something that all political entities and all states should understand. We are ready once again to rise against the Israeli occupation, under its different forms: siege, settlements, exile, checkpoints, house demolitions, discriminations. We are ready to fight once more to protect our cause, to be faithful to the past, and to pave the way for another future. We are ready…and we await a signal to go beyond a fragmented destiny, land and resistance, and to launch a common fight for freedom! But looking closer, I think I saw a signal.

I look at my TV and I see crowds of people in the streets chanting and demonstrating peacefully. They have little slogans, many jokes and an unbreakable will. They carry one flag and one cause despite their differences. They defied their fear and overcame their divisions to ensure freedom will prevail. In a few weeks they have done what nobody else was able to do in decades. They did not wait for reforms, or political parties, trade unions or NGOs to set their game straight. The people went to the streets and knew everybody would have to follow.

I have nothing more to say…and there is so much left for us to do!

Yasser Arafat memorial (Majed Bamya)

Yasser Arafat memorial (Majed Bamya)

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If Tunis and Cairo can do it, why not Ramallah and Gaza?

Palestinians Cheer Egypt (Nick Marouf, Feb 11 2010, Manara Circle)

Palestinians Cheer Egypt (Nick Marouf, Feb 11 2010, Manara Circle)

Palestinians Cheer Egypt (Nick Marouf, Feb 11 2010, Manara Circle)

Sami Jamil Jadallah | www.jeffersoncorner.com

I never thought I will live to see the day when a corrupt, incompetent, dictatorial, criminal Arab head of state will be forced out and chased out of power. I have to admit I never thought the Arabs have what it takes to go out in the millions and chase these criminal dictators and thieves out of power without firing a single bullet. Yet and within only about 30 days or so the people of Tunisia and the people of Egypt did it. They went out in the hundreds of thousands and in the millions forcing corrupt dictators out. Today more than ever I feel so very proud of yes, being an Arab. Now that the people of Tunisia and Egypt showed us the way, perhaps the Palestinian people can do it too and yes, why not?

The Palestinian people and for decades saw Arafat take them from one disaster to another, saw him lead the Palestinian people from one failure to another. Hundreds of thousands died in a revolution that was never there, a revolution that was riddle with corruption, fraud and thuggery, especially by the leadership.

No reasons to recall Amman or remember Lebanon and the way the leadership departed to Tunis leaving behind hundreds of thousands who believed in the PLO as a liberation organization only to discover it is lie and a fraud.  An organization that simply abandoned them to the wolves where thousands were massacred in cold blood with the leadership never bothered to look back, even open an investigation to what happened and let alone bring to trials those responsible for the massacres in Sabra, Shatilla and Tal-Zaater.

Then came the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait with the Palestinian leadership siding with the criminal Saddam who killed hundreds of thousands of his own people and aborted the people’s revolution in Iran allowing the Mullahs to gain absolute power with his war on Iran. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had to leave Kuwait leaving behind a “home away from home” and billions of dollars of assets, a price the Palestinian people had to pay as a result of reckless irresponsible and a criminal leadership.

Of course Oslo was to top all of these failures and corruption, permanently aborted the best chance of liberation the people had. Arafat and the present leadership, as always, was caught with its pants down in the First Intifada and the leadership helped Rabin and Israel bring an end to the First Intifada and a good chance to end the Occupation. The leadership abandoned liberation; it gained a business and mission, managing the Jewish Occupation.  Now the people have to put up with a “Vichy” type government and a Jewish Occupation. The people must get rid of the leadership as a first step to get rid of the Occupation.  The Palestinian leadership not only failed to liberate “Palestine”, Oslo made ending the Jewish Occupation impossible.  Instead of finding ways to end the Occupation the Palestinian leadership became obsessed with finding ways to pay salaries of tens of thousands of functionaries in service of the Israeli Occupation.   Forget about the “peace process” it was never there, and it is the only way to keep the leadership in business.

Gaza leadership is no different from Ramallah leadership, thought the first is more corrupt, both are equally incompetent with security services in service of the ‘regime and in case of Ramallah in service of the Occupation. It. Armed thugs running the security services in both Gaza and Ramallah, one with “beards” and the other “Gillette clean”.

Both Ramallah and Gaza leadership became obsessed with its survival at the expense of people.  So far Ramallah failed to show the people a “road map” for ending the Jewish Occupation through the “peace process” and Gaza leadership failed to show the people its “road map” of “armed resistance” as a way to the liberation of Palestine.  Certainly Hamas rockets will never liberate Palestine and Fatah/PLO infinite negotiations with Israel will never end the Occupation. Both leadership in Gaza and Ramallah proved over times they are unfit and unqualified to lead in war and in peace even to manage things under occupation.

Perhaps the first step toward ending the Jewish Occupation and start of liberation is to liberate the Palestinians from their own leadership. Certainly it could be done and why not? It will be easy for the people of Gaza to get rid of Hamas and it will be more difficult to get rid of PLO/Fatah since Israel is a partner. But it is time for the Palestinian people to bring a failed leadership to a shameful end and chase them out, then concentrate on ending the Jewish Occupation (my next posting) Congratulations to the people of Tunisia certainly to the people of Egypt.

Sami Jamil Jadallah

Sami Jamil Jadallah

Born in the Palestinian city of El-Bireh ( presently under Israeli Military Occupation, Armed Jewish thugs and settlers). Immigrated to the US in 62. After graduating from high school in Gary, Indiana was drafted into the US Army ( 66-68) received the Leadership Award from the US 6th Army NCO Academy in Ft. Lewis, Washington. Five of us brothers where in US military service about the same time. Graduated from Indiana University with BA-72, Master of Public Affairs-74 and Juris Doctor-77, and in senior year at IU,was elected Chairman of the Indiana Student Association. Sami Jamil Jadallah is an international legal and business consultant and is the founder and director of Palestine Agency and Palestine Documentation Center www.palestineagency.com and founder and owner of several business in technology and services. Sami also runs an online website (Jefferson Corner)

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Israeli and PA Forces Suppress Solidarity with Egyptians

Stephen Lendman

Stephen Lendman, 11 Feb 2011

Despite Palestinian Authority (PA) officials banning anti-Mubarak demonstrations, hundreds rallied in support. On February 5, Jerusalem Post writer Khaled Abu Toameh headlined, “100s demonstrate in Ramallah in support of Egyptians,” saying:

Marching in Ramallah with Egyptian flags, they publicly supported them “(f)or the first time since the beginning of the(ir( uprising….” Another Ramallah demonstration followed as well as a Bethlehem one.

Toameh’s February 2 article was in stark contrast headlined, “PA launches pro-Mubarak demonstration in Ramallah,” denouncing Mohamed ElBaradei as a “CIA agent.”

On February 4, the Popular Committees Against the Israeli Occupation issued a press release saying:

“The Egyptian Arab nation….We salute this great Arab nation, our brothers. This is the salute of freedom from the people of Palestine who have been fighting for decades for freedom and independence, and to retain the honor of Arabs.”

“The Palestinians are watching what is happening across the Arab world in general and Egypt in particular with great pride….We hope that the rebelling Arab people make it their priority to demand from any government or leadership to come to sever their ties with the Israeli occupation and abandon the Egyptian – Israeli peace treaty….We call on all free nations in the world, especially Europe and the US, to get out in massive demonstrations on 2/11/11 to confirm the right of peoples to live in freedom and dignity – a day of anger” for justice, the “beginning of the Global Intifada.”

On February 3, Haaretz writer Amira Hass headlined, “Why isn’t the PA supporting the Egypt uprising? saying:

Instead, it “banned demonstrations in solidarity with the rebelling peoples. Palestinian television has virtually ignored the events in Egypt.” Demonstrators at Cairo’s Ramallah consulate were monitored by plainclothes security forces.

“What is the (PA) afraid of….?” It has close ties with Mubarak like Israel, and “when a regime is insufficiently democratic, it fears that popular demonstrations might spin out of control.”

On February 7, Hass headlined, “Palestinian security suppressing West Bank fervor over Egypt protests,” saying:

PA security forces suppressed a Ramallah demonstration. Adnan Dmeiri, PA security forces spokesman, said “demonstrations could lead to chaos. The priority for Palestinians was to empower popular resistance against the occupation and to work for independence.”

In fact, Abbas/Fayyad security forces work cooperatively with Israel against it, enforcing occupation harshness. They’ve been well trained and financed to do it. A previous article explained, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/01/salam-fayyad-israels-man-in-palestine.html

America’s Lt. General Keith Dayton, US security coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the PA, has been heavily involved in creating, building and training a 25,000-strong force. In recent years, Washington spent around $400 million institutionalizing hard-line control, supplementing Israel’s efforts.

Dayton’s in charge of building and renovating garrisons, training colleges, Interior Ministry facilities, and security headquarters. President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad head an illegitimate regime as Israeli/Washington enforcers, solidifying occupation and Israel’s settlement project, including entirely Judaizing Jerusalem.

Governing as political opportunist traitors, their Mubarak moment awaits them, perhaps sooner than they imagine for exploiting and betraying their own people, including attacking peaceful protesters.

Commenting on Ramallah events, an anonymous demonstrator said:

“We had not yet done a thing. A number of policemen in uniforms began arguing with one of the demonstrators, apparently on purpose, so as to create a pretext for arresting him. They took his identity card and then began dragging him in the direction of the police station.”

Human Right Watch (HRW) said PA policemen were joined by detectives, preventive security force personnel and others from general intelligence, “all of them plainclothesmen.” They beat, kicked and dragged demonstrators away violently. Numerous arrests were made. Photograph-taking was prohibited. Cell phones and cameras were confiscated, and PA forces videotaped events, wanting activists identified for later arrests and detentions.

Their numbers, however, grew to about 2,000, marching and chanting the slogan heard in Tunisia and Egypt:

“The people want the fall of the regime….The people want the fall of Abbas,” and an end to the internal Palestinian “inqisam (rift)!….Raise your voice, Arab masses! Dignity or death, we need a true unity!” Two (unnamed) “well-known” Fatah members joined them in solidarity.

On February 5, hundreds of Bil’in residents, joined by international and Israeli supporters, protested in solidarity with Egyptians and Tunisians. Calling for national unity, Israeli troops attacked them with tear gas and concussion grenades.

Gathering in Bil’in center for their weekly Friday demonstration, they marched toward Israel’s Separation Wall, what they call the Annexation Wall on village land. Their public statement said:

(1) “We salute the Egyptian and Tunisian people” in solidarity with their struggle for freedom;

(2) “We call for national unity and the preservation of civil peace (to) pass this historic stage successfully;”

(3) “We hope that rebelling Arab people make it their priority to demand from any government or leadership to come to sever their ties with the Israeli occupation and abandon the Egyptian – Israeli peace treaty” that ignored Palestinian people, leaving them occupied and repressed under militarized harshness.

(4) “We call on all free nations in the world” to rally in solidarity with Arab people struggling to be free.

From his perspective, Omar Barghouti, a founder and director of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, expressed no surprise how PA forces reacted, saying:

“Unelected, authoritarian regimes tend to stand together. They are very scared of popular mobilization especially in light of the Palestine Papers. (They) agree on repression and have no interest in empowerment of people or mobilization.”

On February 10, Haaretz writer Gideon Levy headlined, “The Middle East does not need stability,” saying:

When children throw stones at tanks entering neighborhoods it’s called “Disturbing the peace.” When they’re detained for resisting occupation, it’s called “Restoring order.”

“The occupier oppresses, the occupied people overcome their instincts and their struggle, and good order is maintained – for now. Stability.”

Egyptians dared “disturb the peace,” undermining Middle East stability. “Indeed, that stability should be undermined” throughout the region, including in Occupied Palestine. How else can oppressed people be free. Stability suffocates them. Resistance is liberating if sustained long enough.

Egyptians and Tunisians made a good start, but their struggle has just begun. When will Palestinians begin theirs? When tanks invade neighborhoods, “stones must be thrown at (them); the infuriating stability of the Middle East must be wiped out,” replaced by liberating freedom, perhaps contagious enough to spread regionally, but never easily, quickly or without great risks and costs.

Egyptian Events Resonating Regionally

Egypt’s outcome has regional implications, including in Occupied Palestine, especially given Mubarak’s cooperative role with Israel and Washington. As a result, PA officials noticeably distanced themselves from uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria, fearing soon one may target them. They’ve also aggressively cracked down to prevent it through violence, intimidation and arrests.

So far, it’s worked, but for how long. Egyptians endured three decades under Mubarak. In 1948, Palestinians lost their homeland, and for nearly 44 years suffered brutally under militarized occupation, exacerbated by collaborating PA enforcers.

Perhaps Egyptian courage will inspire them to summon theirs for liberating freedom under leaders they choose.

A Final Comment

On February, BBC’s Jon Donnison headlined, “Gaza youth vent anger on Facebook,” saying:

“Khaled (a pseudonym) had become something of an online sensation in Gaza, but is now effectively living in hiding” for his safety after cooperatively creating the Gaza Youth Manifesto for Change, “a 450-word tirade against the frustrations” of occupied life under siege. Posted in December, it has over 19,000 followers under the name Gaza Youth Breaks Out.

Everyone is pilloried, including Hamas, Fatah, Israel, Washington, and the UN, saying:

“We, the youth of Gaza, are so fed up (with) occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community!”

“ENOUGH! Enough pain, enough tears, enough suffering, enough control, limitations, unjust justifications, terror, torture, excuses, bombings, sleepless nights, dead civilians, black memories, bleak future(s), heart-aching present, disturbed politics, fanatic politicians.”

“WE SAY STOP! This is not the future we want! We want to be free. We want to be able to live a normal life. We want peace. Is that too much to ask?”

Is Manifesto passion a prelude to mass street protests throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, matching breathtaking Egyptian courage. It’s how freedom at times is won, but never easily, quickly or longstanding without sustained vigilance to retain long-fought, hard-won gains, easily lost otherwise.

Numerous previous times, longtime insider Bob Chapman made impressive calls, often before others noticed. On air February 10 on the Progressive Radio News Hour, he said Washington overplayed its hand in Egypt. Now it has a tiger by the tail perhaps too hard to control and will end up losing its regional grip when events finally play out.

Others agree, including Immanuel Wallerstein in his February 3 article headlined, “The Second Arab Revolt: Winners and Losers,” saying:

Months will pass before they’re known. At this point, events are fluid, outcomes uncertain. Yet he calls Washington the “great loser,” Iran the biggest winner, then Turkey for supporting the Arab revolt and confronting Israel.

Indeed, it’s too soon to know, but it may be the right side of history. If so, it’ll defy long odds favoring power over populist uprisings, an exception perhaps proving the rule if gains hold and aren’t lost because of lack of eternal vigilance.

Note: Fast-breaking events in Egypt will be discussed in a forthcoming article. Things aren’t always as they seem. Below the surface maneuvers, manipulation and machinations are far more important than what’s visible on the surface. Major media reports, of course, won’t explain. Real journalism and analysis are essential. Focus on them and Al Jazeera’s online stream for up-to-date news.

Stephen Lendman

Stephen Lendman

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.