January 2022
Hamas – Resistance as self-defence Rod Such EI 04.01/2022
Decolonizing Palestine: Hamas Between the Anticolonial and the Postcolonial by Somdeep Sen offers some insights into these questions. The book apparently irked Israel apologists so much that some recently tried to force the University of Glasgow to vet a scheduled talk by Sen, who is a professor at Roskilde University in Denmark. Sen ultimately pulled out of the book talk. In his book, Sen allows Hamas spokespersons to explain why they rejected the Oslo accords, revealing that the Hamas critique differs little from that offered by secular Palestinian intellectuals like Edward Said.
Read more What about Hamas? | The Electronic Intifada
Israeli attempts to hijack the traditional embroidered Palestinian dress Aziza Nofal almonitor 04/01/2022
This is not the first time that Israel has tried to attribute the Palestinian dress to itself. In previous years, flight attendants of Israeli airlines had deliberately worn the Palestinian dress, creating Palestinian condemnation.
Marwan Abu Khalaf, a researcher of Palestinian heritage at Inaash Al-Usra Association, said that Palestinian embroidery was implicitly known to be Palestinian and no one can falsify history. “This garment contains decorations and drawings dating back to the Canaanite era 3,000 years ago,” he added.
Repercussions of Israeli ‘terror’ designation Yumna Patel Mondowiess 07/01/22
Despite the pushback against the decision, Israel has refused to provide concrete evidence of its claims. In November, Israel’s military commander in the West Bank issued five separate military orders outlawing the work of the organization in the occupied territory, effectively allowing for their imminent shut down, the seizure of their assets, and the detention of their staff. “It has been a very stressful time here,” Sahar Francis, the Director of Addameer told Mondoweiss from her office in Ramallah. “It is all very scary, and has definitely affected the spirit of the staff,” she said.
“But this is what Israel wants,” she said. “They are doing all this to shut us down and silence us, and bring us to the point where we will give up and say ‘it’s not worth it’.”
Netherlands cuts funding to Palestinian group blacklisted by Israel almonitor 06/01/2022
“With this fateful decision, the Dutch government is not just abandoning UAWC but Palestinian civil society at large,” the group said in a statement. “By doing so, the Netherlands tarnishes its reputation as a reliable donor and its status of a value-based country that hosts and promotes international law.”
Battle to save Palestinian cemetery in Haifa Yoav Haifawi Mondoweiss 7/01/22
A central figure in Haifa’s public life at the time was Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, the Imam of the Istiqlal mosque and head of the Young Men’s Muslim Association. In the beginning of the thirties, he tried to organized the Palestinian population to wage a war of liberation against the British occupation and against Zionist colonization. In November 1935 his group of rebels was surrounded by the British army near Jenin, and he fought them back until he fell martyr. His funeral in Haifa is described by some historians as the biggest political protest in Palestine under the British occupation. Al-Qassam and two of his comrades in arms were buried in the new cemetery in Balad a-Sheikh, giving it its popular name as “Al-Qassam Cemetery”.
JNF to plant trees on Bedouin cultivated land Rina Bassist almonitor 12/01/2022
Several Likud Knesset members and activists arrived at the scene Jan. 11 to express their support of the planting as an expression of Zionist ideals. “No one will tell us where and when we are allowed to plant trees in the land of Israel. It is our land,” tweeted the party.
Political leaders and activists from both Arab parties — the Joint List and Ra’am — slammed the JNF plan as endangering the livelihoods of the local Bedouin families. Bedouins in the area had previously complained that forestation works were destroying their farming zones.
. . . . .The issue seems to be turning into a political crisis, as many of the Bedouins living in the region are supporters of the Ra’am party, which is part of the coalition. Considering himself a representative of the Bedouins in the Negev, last May Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas had conditioned the party’s entry into the coalition on the government regularizing several unrecognized Bedouin villages.
Sheikh Jarrah home destroyed in cruel and criminal act Tamara Nassar EI 19/01/2022
“The family have no place to go,” the Norwegian Refugee Council said of the seven residents, including five children. “Children’s physical and psychological well-being is now at risk, having witnessed their home turn into rubble in the dark.”
“These cruel acts turn the Salhiyas into two-time refugees,” Human Rights Watch said.
“This is what apartheid and persecution looks like. Perpetrators of these crimes against humanity should be prosecuted and sanctioned.” The Salhiya family originates from Ein Karem, a village west of Jerusalem. They were ethnically cleansed from their homes during the Nakba, the 1948 expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians in order to establish Israel. They had lived in the home Israel just destroyed for decades.
Nakba denial in Israel Jonathan Ofir Mondoweiss 21/01/2022
After eight days, I came back to the place where we buried them, near the railway. There was a big mound for the bodies had inflated. Sokler told Katz that he counted 230 bodies. . . . Professor Ilan Pappé, who has been a strong supporter of Katz, wrote yesterday on Facebook: In 2007, with the insistence of the ministry of education I had to resign my position at Haifa University (despite the fact that I had tenure); one of my “crimes” was insisting that there was a massacre in the village of Tantura in 1948 as was exposed by MA student, Teddy Katz. I did my own research and categorically stated that this was one of the worst crimes committed by the Israeli army in 1948 – even after Katz under immense pressure and intimidation retracted his findings.
I am not sorry for a moment and am grateful that I was able to continue the struggle against the Nakba denial at the university of Exeter in the last 15 years and I still hope to establish in London a center against Nakba denial.
Wave of political detentions in West Bank
Ahmad Melhem almonitor 25/01/22
The PA often charges activists and journalists with vague accusations to try them, such as “defaming the PA,” “insulting high dignities” and “inciting sectarian strife.” Most of these charges do not lead to a conviction, but the trial might drag on for several months or years. Assaf pointed out that the PA’s violations against activists and political opponents are on the rise. Arrests, summons and trials have been increasing in the past months, in an indication that the PA continues to muffle opposing voices. He believes the PA is increasing its clampdown on any dissent and tightening control of the internal situation to prepare the Palestinian street “for its political project to launch negotiations with the Israeli occupation and develop relations with it.”
‘My life has just begun’ Tareq S Hajjaj Mondoweiss 27/01/2022
A discriminatory policy
Al-Najar is the son of Palestinian refugees from Yaffa, though his parents were born outside of Palestine. He was born in Iraq, along with his three siblings. They moved to Gaza when he was a young boy, over a decade before Israel’s siege on Gaza began, when entry into the territory was a little easier. The family entered Gaza in 1993 after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority on temporary visas, approved by the Israeli government. When they applied for permanent status, their applications were repeatedly rejected. The al-Najar’s are one of tens of thousands of Palestinian families suffering under Israel’s permit and ID regime, living for decades in the occupied territory without any legal status.
Gaza ‘behind the scenes’ Tareq S Hajjaj Mondoweiss 25/01/2022
You might wonder – why do streets flood every winter in Gaza, every year worse than the last? The reason is the municipality can’t afford to repair the infrastructures in all areas in Gaza, unless a foreign project funds it. And even if the municipality were able to afford repairs, it wouldn’t be able to keep up with the new destruction. The large areas Israel has targeted in the last four wars – like Al-Shuja’iyya and Al-Rimal – have been too much to maintain. This is the main reason floods in Gaza continue and get worse.
Return ? to Gaza Salman Abu Sitta Mondoweiss 28/01/2022
When I say I returned, it was an illusion. It was not the fulfillment of the Right of Return that I, like millions of Palestinians, strive for. It was not the Return we fought for over the last 70 years, by armed resistance, protests, writings, conferences. This was only a return to my first refugee camp. . . . Early on the morning of my arrival I drove to the nearest point at the barbed wire and looked at my home, where I was born, visible at the horizon. I stood there, looking at my home, one kilometer away, separated from it by a nest of Israeli snipers.
UK comment
Palestine Action raid Israeli arms factory Palestine Action Mondoweiss 24/01/22
The 2021 attack on Gaza started with the ethnic cleansing of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. Elbit System’s military goods are fundamental to allowing this; Palestine Action know this and have taken action today in support of the residents of Sheikh Jarrah, undermining and debasing Israel’s military production in Britain.
Two weeks, news was announced of the permanent closure of Elbit’s Oldham site. Since then, actions targeting Elbit’s factory in Shenstone have escalated, with the factory being occupied once more as part of the campaign to topple all of Elbit’s remaining factories.
UK pivots to Israel Omar Karmi EI 03/01/2022
Over the past year, the UK has taken a number of steps aligning itself much closer with the US and Israel than its own past positions.The UK and Israel have just signed a “strategic plan” entirely devoid of strings or demands on Israel. At about the same time, and for the first time ever, the UK abstained from an annual UN vote on the status of Jerusalem. . . . The UK is also actively opposing attempts to hold Israel accountable at the International Criminal Court, even though it is quite clear and well documented that Israel is unable or unwilling to investigate itself.
Labour has become a shadow of its former self on the issue [of Palestine]. So reliably compliant has Her Majesty’s official opposition become, in fact, that attempts to criminalize the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement – and thereby undermine basic civil rights – are also moving forward.
Palestinian lecturer reinstated Nora Barrows-Friedman EI 28/01/2022
A Palestinian lecturer and high-profile activist was told on Thursday that her teaching position at Sheffield Hallam University had been reinstated. The announcement comes a week after the UK university had suspended Shahd Abusalama’s classes amid a smear campaign by supporters of Israel. . . . She has not been allowed to read the allegations against her and the university is still pursuing an investigation instigated by the complaint, Abusalama said.
“a child is a child” except when Palestinian Tamara Nassar EI 28/01/2022
Like all other administrative detainees, Nakhleh is held based on “secret evidence” that Israeli military authorities refuse to show to him or his lawyers.
Several UN agencies are urging Nakhleh’s “immediate and unconditional” release.
“Amal’s case is one of the more prolonged cases where a Palestinian child has been detained without charge or trial,” said the UN high commissioner for human rights, in a joint appeal with children’s agency UNICEF and Palestine refugee agency UNRWA.
“It is however not an isolated case. Currently, at least another three Palestinians are in administrative detention who were under the age of 18 when first detained,” the UN agencies added.
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