International Solidarity Movement - Page 493 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

The education of common grounds: From al Nakba to Black History Month

by Lina

18 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Last month we celebrated the 36th annual African American History Month. The origins of this month come from the need to study the major contributions that Black people brought to America.

“The fact is that the so-called history teaching in our schools and colleges is downright propaganda, an effort to praise one race and to decry the other to justify social repression and exploitation”. Sadly, this quote from 1927 is still relevant today.

Carter G. Woodson strived for an accurate representation of Black people in history studies, and Palestinians are fighting for the same rights as well.

The history of Israel is taught in schools, but the events leading up to its creation are missing in most. Palestinian Schools in East Jerusalem have been pressured to change their curriculum to be more Israeli friendly.

“The changes are not random…Israel plans to reeducate our students in Palestinian Jerusalem in a way that Palestinian nationalism is no longer on the agenda”, as explained by Joharah Baker for MITFAH.

Any public institution under Israeli governance that teaches Palestinian Heritage is vulnerable to be attacked by the government. A year ago this month a law (Budget Foundations Law – Amendment 40), was passed to ban commemorating the Nakba Day. Any mention of this day by a public sector would risk losing state funding, which means Palestinian schools that fall under Israeli control must abide by this law. In other words, Palestinian schools will be penalized for instructing students on their history.

Although Israeli Independence day is inseparable to Nakba Day, laws are being created to alter history. The truth is one cannot be taught without the other. The day of catastrophe for the Palestinians marks the day that their land was stolen and the day Israel declared its independence.

Just as May 15th (Nakba Day), the disconnection of American history and African American history implies that both accounts are independent. There cannot be two different accounts of the same day and place.

In memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | Click here for more photos

Here is one of Michael Coard’s many examples of the inseparable American history. “Twelve of this country’s presidents enslaved black men, women and children—eight of them while in office. That’s American history, not black history! Enslaved black human beings dug the foundation for the White House”.

Just like Woodson explained about the American colonizers, the Israeli government uses the same tactics to enforce its beliefs on the public. Besides other tactics of ethnic cleansing, the Israeli government has targeted schools to eliminate Palestinian history.

Palestinians will definitely continue to educate their children on their backgrounds, especially through the traditional method of storytelling. But, it will take more than that to combat the obstruction of Palestinian history studies.

Sa’id Barghouthi explains the importance of classroom learning. “History classes and history textbooks therefore remain the central and strongest element in the fashioning of identity, and play a crucial role in building collective memory, or, as in our case, erasing it”.

Acknowledgment of Palestinian history will obviously not end the occupation. This is evident in the fact that the acknowledgement of slavery did not end oppression of Black Americans. But, knowledge of the past is essential in understanding today, and hopefully creating a different tomorrow.

Lina is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

In memory of a hero: Rachel speaks truth

Click here to visit the Rachel Corrie Foundation

16 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement

On the anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s martyrdom today, the rain fell in quiet tears that watered Palestine in a confusing emotion of remorse and yet optimism—the same optimism we hear in the voice of Rachel’s diaries and actions.

It rained on Kufr Qaddoum where attack dogs clenched in their jaws the peaceful freedom fighters of Palestine, an image reminiscent of a segregated America.

It drizzled as the folks of Al Ma’sara demanded the wall to fall, an echoing cry humanity heard from Germany.

Puddles formed along Shuhada Street in Al Khalil where Apartheid still lurked despite South Africa’s continued victories.

And it watered on Gaza, where the dust never seems to settle between the murderous attacks of the Zionist military.

While Palestine is indeed special, it is obvious that it shares much with what the world has struggled for, and International Solidarity Movement threads the humanization of the world as the fabric of solidarity work with Palestinians.

Today Palestine and earth, the earth that has inherited the great sacrifices of Rachel Corrie, quietly wept and yet persisted with her memory for the very ideals she died for: freedom and justice.

Peaceful resistance against oppression never dies, and this reassures the international community that despite the images of Rachel facing the Israeli Goliath of colonialism, that she is still alive and with us in ISM, in Palestine, and in the world, as a spirit that will continue to inspire us.

In a letter she sent nearly a decade ago to her family, when she first left her hometown of Olympia, Washington in the US, she said:

We are all born and someday we’ll all die. Most likely to some degree alone. What if our aloneness isn’t a tragedy? What if our aloneness is what allows us to speak the truth without being afraid?

While the struggle against occupation feels isolating at times, it is these words that reassure us that we are not alone, that Rachel is not alone, that the voiceless victims of Zionism are not taken for granted. This is not a tragedy which we mark, but the greatness of a peace activist. Nothing can crush the spirit of Rachel Corrie, one of thousands who sacrificed for the humanization and liberation of the Palestinian people.

Murdered in 2003 by an Israeli driven, military Caterpillar bulldozer, Rachel and seven other ISM activists in Rafah, Gaza, were trying to prevent the raising of Palestinian property and livelihood by Zionists. Dropping debris on her and then proceeding towards her is the exact lack of concern Israel has towards life that we see as Gaza faces continued collective punishment today.

She ended her letter in humble realization of her role that would later translate into the sacrifices of a peaceful revolutionary.

I can’t cool boiling waters in Russia. I can’t be Picasso. I can’t be Jesus. I can’t save the planet single-handedly.

She is with us now, from Susiya to Dora, Jabalia and Beit Hanoun, back down to Rafah and across to Jerusalem.

Rachel speaks truth. And so long as a grain of injustice exists in Palestine and this world, this truth will not settle for what is today’s reality of a violent, arrogant Israel that continues to demolish and kill.

It is in your memory, Rachel, that ISM continues towards justice, in memory of Tom and Vittorio, in memory of this week’s martyrs, in memory of the thousands of Palestinians who resisted.

Until freedom, we march.

In Photos: Bethlehem met with rain of Israeli violence

by Mahmoud Zawahre

16 March 2012 | Al Ma’sara Popular Committee

Click here for more photos | Photos courtesy Ahmad Mezher, 2012

Today the weekly demo of Al-Ma’sara, near Bethlehem, was underway as dozens of Palestinians and Israelis demonstrated in the heavy rain against the wall in solidarity with Hana Shalabi . Israeli Occupartion Forces first attacked Mahmoud Zawahre, the coordinator Of Al-Ma’sara Popular Committee, tearing his clothes before he managed to escape them. After that they started attacking people with their batons and arrested four Israeli activists. They were later released. They also broke the camera of journalist, Musa Alshaer. After that they broke the glass of one Palestinian car.

The isolated corner

by Axel

15 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

In the outer part of Bethlehem very close to Rachel’s Tomb, Mariam (who wishes not to use her actual name) runs her small Palestinian souvenir shop. But this is not a shop in the usual touristic places of Bethlehem, and not a place you find if you don’t know about it.

Despite these facts, this small shop has become the only income for Mariam and her family since it opened two years ago.

Before 2002 her husband had an auto mechanic shop in this building, perfectly located right next to the main road to Jerusalem. The business was good back then. Palestinians as well as Israelis came here to get their car fixed or buy parts, and just next door, Mariam had a shop for home accessories. All this changed radically in 2002 when the area became a “military zone.”

Suddenly the road was closed and the family that lives on the floors above the shops became prisoners in their own home as soldiers turned their house into a military base. Sometimes they took a room or two, but other days the whole family of seven were forced to stay in one room without being able to go out.

Both shops had to close and life became hard. The next year in 2003, the Israeli government built the apartheid wall that is now surrounding the house from three sides. The land around them that is owned by her uncle was confiscated and is now on the other side of the wall, out of reach for the family that no longer can travel outside the West Bank without permission, a permission that is rarely given.

The isolated corner | Click here for more photos

The travel situation was also different before the wall. Mariam, like other Christians, has strong bonds to Jerusalem, and she used to volunteer in a church in the city that she visited almost every day. It used to take her 15 minutes to get there. Now she only gets permission to visit Jerusalem for Easter and Christmas, and how long it takes to get there depends on the mood of the soldiers at the check point.

Today ten years later, the house is not occupied anymore, but no one can access the roof. Nor are they allowed to do any repairs, and the wall that surrounds the house has cameras pointed to watch every room, making private life close to nonexistent.

The small income from the souvenir shop is also highly taxed as the family lives in what is called Area C. This means that she has to pay taxes to the Israeli government like everyone in Area C is under direct Israeli control. But since Israel is not giving anything back to Palestinians for the tax money, like insurance, she also has to pay tax to the Palestinian Authority to get this covered.

“Life is not easy here,” she said, looking out the door at the 8 meter high concrete wall that has cut her family off from their former life, forcing them to live in an isolated corner.

Axel is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Casualties of the last attacks on Gaza: Visit to Shifa Hospital

by Rosa Schiano

15 March 2012 | il Blog di Oliva

This morning we went to pay a visit to the wounded at the Shifa Hospital. Most of them have fractures and burns.

Hani Al-Qanoo, 15

His mother, Reda, tells that on Sunday morning around 9am Hani and his brother went to school, but there were no classes. They were coming back home when a drone fired a missile on the same road where they were walking, Al Khorondar street.

Reda lives with her 7 children in difficult living conditions. Her husband died some time ago.

“We were coming back from school along with 6 of our companions when suddenly a drone hit us,” said Hani. “I had the sensation of flying.”

The doctor told us that Hani has a fractured femur in his right leg and several burns caused by the missile.

Moyad Al-Qanoo, 16

Moyad, was injured along with other friends, and one of their comrades, Nayif Qarmout,15, was killed. Moyad, who is Hani’s brother, reports injuries caused by second degree burns on the face and on the legs. He has shrapnel in various parts of his body.

Saleh Qarmout, 15

Saleh Qarmout, 15 | Photo courtesy Rosa Schiano, 2012

Even Saleh Qarmout, 15, came home from school that day along with other classmates. The doctor told us that during the attack, a child had died, Nayif Qarmout, and 9 children were injured. Five children were taken to Shifa Hospital, and four children have been transferred at Kamal Odwan Hospital.

Tamer Azzam, 17

Tamer Azzam, 17, was coming back from school with them. We found him lying on a bed, and on his face showed the grimaces of pain. He has shrapnel to the face and side and burns to both legs. The doctor told us that they were obliged to partially remove his intestine. His recovery may take a long time. Tamer has 9 brothers and 2 sisters. His father is unemployed because he is sick.

Before I left, Tamer constantly set his eyes incessantly on mine. I looked at him, but because of the pain I felt, I looked away for a while. When I turned my look towards him again, I found his eyes still fixed on mine.

He stared at me in silence, aching, just like he was asking me some help through his eyes. I wanted to beat my fists against the wall, I wanted to shout and cry. I will never forget his gaze for the rest of my life.

Alaa Al Looh, 34

Alaa Al-Looh, 34, has a fractured tibia and burns to his face, caused by an Israeli attack that, on the same day killed a father and his daughter inside their factory. Mohammed Mostafa El Husseini was 85 and his daughter only 30.

Alaa was riding his motorcycle when he heard a loud explosion. He bounced on the ground and he woke up at the hospital. Alaa is married and has three children, two males and one female, and works in a fruit and vegetable shop.

When the doctor showed us his fracture, Alaa screamed in pain.

Hussien Omer Abo Aqla, 26

On the same day, Sunday 12 March, around 8am, Hussien was going back home after work. Hussien delivers food to the schools early in the morning. Suddenly a drone hit the road where he was travelling, Salah Addin Street, in the Al-Zeitouni neighborhood of east Gaza city. Hussien was injured in the back and he suffers from pressure to his chest.

Moath Nofal Abo El-Eash, 20

On Monday around 1:30AM two missiles hit Jabalia refugee camp, north of Gaza city. The first attack was carried out by a drone.

The missile hit the Hammad family home. More than 30 people have been injured, including 21 children. The house has been completely destroyed and others have been damaged.

Abo El- Eash’s house was close to the the Hammad’s family. Moath had heard the explosions, and his neighbors asked him to go out to try to save Hammad’s family. As soon when he got out of his home an F-16 launched another missile.

Moath has injuries from burns all over his body, particularly on his face and splinters in several parts of his body.

I asked him if he felt like telling a message to the world after what had happened to him.

Moath replied, “My image is enough to tell the world”.

Dr. Maher Sukkar, vice president of the plastic surgery department at Shifa Hospital, told us that they will ask to analyze the splinters from the weapons used in order to determine if they are carcinogenic.

Before saying goodbye, he told us that the weapons used are American.

“We need some freedom. Tell the world what you have seen in this hospital–why our children cannot have some room to play. Is it because we are Palestinians? My wife and I lived abroad for some time, but then we came back to Gaza despite the difficult living conditions, because our country needs us.”

Rosa Schiano is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.