June 4th
“The siege of Gaza has been deemed collective punishment, a crime against humanity, has imprisoned 1.5 million people in the most densely populated place on Earth, and has created a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable proportions. The international community has failed to to put an end to this immoral blockade.”
We saw Palestinian and Turkish flags lined up alternately side by side, blowing in the wind as people were sitting outside of Zamn café (one of the posh places in Ramallah). My new roommate T (I’ll just use her initials) and I were planning on going to Jerusalem today but decided against it, anticipating clashes at checkpoints and in the city, and the bar against men under 40 to pray inside Al-Aqsa masjid, which always causes a huge scene. Demonstrations had occurred in Ramallah yesterday and the day before, but, as internationals who want to stick around, we avoid the demonstrations as much as we want to go, because we don’t want to get filmed and/or deported.
Israel has gotten away with so many human rights violations, so much atrocity, so much evil, that it just does not know its limits anymore. As proven by the Flotilla incident. It seemed as if when it first happened, even the Jew news sites were confused about how to twist this story around to make this appear as if, once again, like every time, Israel is a poor innocent defenseless helpless suffering nation always fighting hard against God knows who to ‘defend themselves’ by murdering other people mercilessly without reason. Its funny that people don’t stop to question how it is that Israel is consistently ‘defending itself’ albeit being a first world nation, an oppressive regime supported by world super powers to equip themselves with state of the arts weapons, from a non-existent country who have nothing on them but rocks, and its funny that Israel is constantly ‘defending itself’ but somehow it seems as if they are never hurt, and the ‘attackers’ are murdered. It’s distressing that so many people around the world perceive the oppressors to actually be the oppressed, which by definition is impossible.
I was distressed to found out from friends that the headlines in the US have stopped. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I can’t help but be appalled at how people swallow blind lies and somehow overlook the fact that their hard working tax dollars are financing bullets going through people’s heads ( humanitarian activists; heads). I feel like Americans get more riled up and espoused over animal rights and animal rights violations then human rights violations. For some reason a suffering cat pulls on heart strings way more than suffering human beings (more to come on this later, I’m actually not lying about this and I have stories to share)
To those listening to the argument that the people on board were violent, they should question who these humanitarian activists were. They should also question the manner in which the information is being presented. If fully armed soldiers raided a vessel, I’m sure if you were on that vessel you would not embrace these men with a hug and a cup of tea.
For those listening to the argument that there was something ‘suspicious’ on the ship and it was safety precautions being taken against Hamas…seriously all 700 international humanitarian activists (including 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland) were Hamas supporters???? …or maybe people living and suffering in gaza..actually need aid..because…they are cut off from basic supplies…thanks to Israel?
Take a break with this Jon Stewart clip :
Clusterf**k to the Warhouse:
Lets look at the mini biographies of people who were killed, and you can make the judgement call on if these were ‘terrorist’ supporters.
There is just so much Israeli propaganda infilitrating the media and keeping the public blind. Although if the public stopped to use a little bit of intelligence to question what they are being fed, they would see the illogical stream of misinformation. The media is imprisoned with one side of the story.
I’m actually wondering what is being covered in the U.S.? Please leave a comment and let me know if you can. I’m very interested to know.
Attitude: What drives me insane is apathy. Talking to a friend who responded ‘well what do you expect me to do, I’m in America, my family is concerned about putting food on the table and at the end of the day we don’t have time to worry about Israel” I realize that at the end of the day, yes, it may seem like you can’t do anything, it may seem like it’s too distant of a problem, situated on the other side of the planet, which has nothing to do with you. But it DOES have something to do with you. It’s YOUR American tax dollars funding these atrocities, funding oppression, funding violence. You might not be able to ‘do’ anything, but the least someone could do is have a non apathetic attitude that is at least cognizant of intellectual analysis of what’s happening in the world, instead of just brushing it off. I’m not putting this comment on the spot to be malicious, rather, I am sharing this because I think this is a very common and normal reaction that most people have. I take an issue with this sentiment for a variety of reasons, one being that people misunderstand silence to be neutral stance, when in reality (I personally feel) it is just the opposite. I think it’s dangerous because it is a threat to any ideals connecting the brotherhood/sisterhood of humanity.
This famous quote comes to mind that conveys an element of the danger of silence: “First they came for the communists, I was silent, because I was not a communist; then they came for the socialists, I was silent because I was not a socialist; when they came for the trade unionists, I did not protest because I was not a trade unionist; when they came for the Jews I did not protest, because I was not a Jew; When they came for me, there was no one left to protest on my behalf.”
Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984), he made this statement regarding the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.
As easy as it is to want to feel distant, the truth of the matter is that, in my very personal opinion, everything is connected, and to not claim any responsibility or to not care is a grave disaster.
Is the world waking up? Maybe. Is America waking up? Not really. I was talking to my best friend, who is a Palestinian American, and as I was pouring out all my feelings, saying that those 9 people’s death did not go in vain, their efforts left such a huge mark, and that the world really did stop to look at what was happening, at the blockade and at Gaza. He stopped me to say ‘Fahmida..i had to break your bubble..but CNN is not reporting any of that, the headlines are pretty much gone’. It’s one of those things you hear and your heart sinks.
How is the rest of the world reacting?Is the world waking up? Maybe.
There was an onpour of worldwide criticism followed by stuff like this : http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3899301,00.html
Temporary Swedish Boycott. In a statement, the union said the reason for the boycott "is the unprecedented criminal attack on the peaceful ship convoy In Gaza. Several peace activists were killed by Israeli commandos and other participants were detained without any reason."
South Africa is cool because, you know the World Cup is coming up and that is going to be ballllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllller. But they are also baller for this :
The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) decided, by a unanimous vote of its Central Executive Committee on 4 June, to "immediately work towards" making every municipality in South Africa "an Apartheid Israel free zone" by ensuring "that there are no commercial, academic, cultural, sporting or other linkages whatsoever with the Israeli regime.
“The blockade is neither justified nor sustainable . . .it has created a humanitarian catastrophe. This incident has shown that we need to move towards removing the blockade.” Nick Clegg, 2 June 2010.
"You know, whatever you may think of the respective leaderships, the Israelis or Hamas, whatever Gods you pray to or whatever direction you may pray to them in, if you can't even look at Gaza, and agree that there is suffering there that needs to be alleviated, no matter who's to blame for it, then your heart is so dead, tourists flock there to float on their backs in it." Jon Stewart 2 June 2010
What can you do? If you care in the slightest, go to demonstrations, learn about divestment. If you don't care to go to these demonstrations, then publicize these demonstrations. If you don't care to do that, at least when you hear ignorant comments, news sources, speak against it. if you don't care to do that, simply educate yourself.
More links:
Excellent blogpost deconstructing the context of the situation:
Global boycotts intensify: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11318.shtml
19 year old American shot in the head 4 times at close range on Flotilla : http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Media/american-killed-gaza-aid-flotilla/story?id=10814848
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