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Tag: palestine

On Palestine: Many Voices, Same Message

The discourse about Israel and Palestine has widened, become more honest and aligned with facts rather than ideological positioning and propaganda. Many people around the world are speaking up, no longer willing to stay silent even though the reprisals against them might include branding them as anti-Semitic. Below is a small sampling of recent (except for the first item) statements, reports, and critiques about Israeli abuses that demonstrate the tide is turning. The first one is a video of an Irish MP Richard Boyd Barrett who “speaks truth to power,” in this case to the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland. This video clip is of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade in the Irish parliament, discussing in 2014 the situation in Gaza. But is well worth watching and realizing that until 2021, almost no politician in the U.S. would have dared to speak with such courage and candidness about Israel.

Irish politician condemns Israel and rebukes Israeli ambassador

“Why do you allow it [the expansion of settlements] to happen, if you’re serious about giving this land to the Palestinians. It’s absolutely extraordinary. Are you not just taking us, Ambassador, for idiots that you can say with a straight face ‘we’re serious about peace but while we’re serious about peace we’re going to seize Palestinian land’ and you expect the Palestinians to sit back and do nothing about that…”

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNUp3hGEPHk&width=864&height=648&rel=-1[/embedyt]

Former Israeli ambassadors to South Africa: “…actions in the occupied territories now meet the legal definition of the crime of apartheid under international law”

Two former Israeli ambassadors to South Africa, Ilan Baruch and Alon Liel, wrote an opinion piece published by a South African news site, GroundUp.org. The two former Israeli diplomats state that, based on what they saw in South Africa during their time as ambassadors, Israel operates an apartheid system in the occupied territories. What is newsworthy is that these two are Israelis, former ambassadors to apartheid South Africa. It is worth reading the entire piece but here is a short excerpt:

“The bantustans of South Africa under the apartheid regime and the map of the occupied Palestinian territories today are predicated on the same idea of concentrating the ‘undesirable’ population in as small an area as possible, in a series of non-contiguous enclaves. By gradually driving these populations from their land and concentrating them into dense and fractured pockets, both South Africa then and Israel today worked to thwart political autonomy and true democracy.”

Baruch and Liel go on to state, “This week, we mark the fifty-fifth year since the occupation of the West Bank began. It is clearer than ever that the occupation is not temporary, and there is not the political will in the Israeli government to bring about its end. Human Rights Watch recently concluded that Israel has crossed a threshold and its actions in the occupied territories now meet the legal definition of the crime of apartheid under international law. Israel is the sole sovereign power that operates in this land, and it systematically discriminates on the basis of nationality and ethnicity. Such a reality is, as we saw ourselves, apartheid. It is time for the world to recognize that what we saw in South Africa decades ago is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories too. And just as the world joined the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, it is time for the world to take decisive diplomatic action in our case as well and work towards building a future of equality, dignity, and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike.”

https://www.groundup.org.za/article/israeli-ambassadors-compare-israel-south-africa/

Human Rights Watch: ‘The Crimes Against Humanity of Apartheid and Persecution’

In a report in April of this year, A Threshold Crossed – Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution, Human Rights Watch described Israeli crimes against humanity. HRW is an NGO that refuses all government funding so as to remain independent and non-partisan in its research and advocacy. HRW won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for its campaign to ban landmines. The report says in part: “Israeli authorities methodically privilege Jewish Israelis and discriminate against Palestinians. Laws, policies, and statements by leading Israeli officials make plain that the objective of maintaining Jewish Israeli control over demographics, political power, and land has long guided government policy. In pursuit of this goal, authorities have dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated, and subjugated Palestinians by virtue of their identity to varying degrees of intensity. In certain areas, as described in this report, these deprivations are so severe that they amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.”

https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution

B’Tselem: Israel Promotes the supremacy of Jews over Palestinians

In January of this year, B’Tselem published a report titled A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid. B’Tselem is the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. On their website they state that the organization “strives to end Israel’s occupation, recognizing that this is the only way to achieve a future that ensures human rights, democracy, liberty and equality to all people, Palestinian and Israeli alike, living on the bit of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.” In the report, they state the following:

“A regime that uses laws, practices and organized violence to cement the supremacy of one group over another is an apartheid regime. Israeli apartheid, which promotes the supremacy of Jews over Palestinians, was not born in one day or of a single speech. It is a process that has gradually grown more institutionalized and explicit, with mechanisms introduced over time in law and practice to promote Jewish supremacy. These accumulated measures, their pervasiveness in legislation and political practice, and the public and judicial support they receive – all form the basis for our conclusion that the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met.”

https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid

American politicians condemn the recent military assault on Gaza

• Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, spoke at length to the House of Representatives on May 13 about the situation in Palestine. Part of what he told members of Congress is the following: “When serious human rights abuses compound, such as the recent attacks on places of worship, like the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the forced removal of people from their homes, most recently in East Jerusalem, but ongoing in the West Bank for way too long, the jailing and military court trials for Palestinian children, the dehumanization of the lives of the Palestinians by having roads and entrances that are separate for some people–which all too often looks like a former South Africa, the blockade and open-air prison conditions for the people in Gaza, where food and clean water is often scarce…Today, we want to talk about the very long-term problems that have been, for too long, ignored by U.S. policies in the region. Fortunately, now more and more Members of Congress are wanting to address peace in this region in a more forthright way. As human rights giant South African Desmond Tutu said, ‘If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.’”

• Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) came right out and described Israel as an “apartheid” state.

• Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich) told President Biden when he arrived in Detroit in mid-May, “The U.S. cannot continue to give the right-wing [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government billions each year to commit crimes against Palestinians. Atrocities like bombing schools cannot be tolerated, much less conducted with U.S.-supplied weapons.”

• Ilhan Omar, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL-MN), has stated, “The United States should not stand idly by while crimes against humanity are being committed with our backing.”

• Cori Bush (D-MO) stated explicitly in a speech to Congress, “The fight for Black lives and the fight for Palestinian liberation are interconnected. We oppose our money going to fund militarized policing, occupation, and systems of violent oppression and trauma. We are anti-war. We are anti-occupation. And we are anti-apartheid. Period.”

Mainstream media condemn Israeli assault on Gaza

• MSNBC host Ali Velshi, in mid-May, talked about the situation in Israel and Palestine. He said, “The idea that it is even remotely controversial to call what Israel has imposed on Palestinians a form of apartheid is laughable. One look at a current map of Israel, Gaza, and the Occupied Territories conjures up only one other example: apartheid-era South Africa… After more than seven decades of being deprived of land from which they were evicted, Palestinian frustration runs deep. It may be worth going deeper than what you may hear inside your bubble and understanding the depth to which the Palestinian people are subject to apartheid in their own land, deprived of basic necessities and subject to relentless civil right violations.”

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKkjPtleWEU&width=864&height=486&rel=-1[/embedyt]

• HBO’s show Last Week Tonight is hosted by political commentator and comedian John Oliver. During his show on May 17, he talked about the assault on Gaza. He said, “While most of the rockets aimed toward Israeli citizens this week were intercepted, Israel’s airstrikes were not. They hit their targets, including a … 13-story office and apartment building. And while Israel insisted there were military targets in that building, and they destroyed it as humanely as possible — even warning people to evacuate beforehand — for the record, destroying a civilian residence sure seems like a war crime, regardless of whether you send a courtesy ‘Heads up’ text.” He also stated, “Multiple children have been killed this week — eight in a single strike just yesterday — and the U.S. is heavily implicated here, not just by serving as Israel’s diplomatic shield at the U.N. but by constantly refusing to criticize the indefensible…”

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMLiv9jBp0Q&width=864&height=648&rel=-1[/embedyt]

• In an opinion piece in the New York Times on May 19, The ‘Unshakable’ Bonds of Friendship With Israel Are Shaking, senior NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof, wrote, “If you oppose war crimes only by your enemies, it’s not clear that you actually oppose war crimes.” He notes that “…today, especially within the Democratic Party, those bonds [of friendship] are shaking as Netanyahu resisted a cease-fire in Gaza. He leaves us wondering: Why should our tax dollars subsidize a rain of destruction that has killed scores of children, damaged 17 hospitals and clinics and forced 72,000 people to flee their homes?” He writes, “Netanyahu has used American cover to expand settlements and pretty much destroy any hope of a two-state solution. He has winked at domestic extremism, so that at least 100 new WhatsApp groups in Israel (with names like ‘Death to Arabs’) encourage violence against Palestinians. And now he is bombing Gaza and igniting street fighting that President Reuven Rivlin of Israel has called a ‘civil war.’”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/opinion/israel-democrats-united-states.html

Academic labor union passes resolution in support of Palestinian people

On June 10, the Delegate Assembly of the Professional Staff Congress, the academic labor union at CUNY (City University of New York), passed a resolution in support of the Palestinian people and condemning Israel of sponsoring policies of settler colonialism. The resolution also “calls on the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to stop all aid funding human rights violations and an occupation that is illegal under international law.”

https://www.psc-cuny.org/sites/default/files/Final_Resolution_in_Support_of_the_Palestinian_People.pdf

California activists stop Israeli ship from offloading its cargo

The first week in June, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) led a group of activists in a demonstration that prevented an Israeli container ship from offloading its cargo in Oakland, California. Dock workers with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 made the decision to not cross the protest line to unload the ship’s cargo. AROC organizers state that the “Block the Boat” protests will continue in various cities including Detroit, Philadelphia, Vancouver, and London.

http://araborganizing.org/block-the-boat-declares-decisive-victory-over-apartheid-israel/

June 25, 2021
Let Us Call It What It Is

From time immemorial, men have constructed dehumanizing systems of exploitation that stagger even the most vivid imagination. Each of these inhumane structures of society share some common characteristics including a self-serving distortion or disregard of divine guidance, creation of racial, ethnic, and/or religious hierarchies, extreme monopolization of resources, and implementation by the dominant class of systematic oppression or even brutality to subdue the subordinate population. The well-documented practices of the Pharaonic system imposed on the populace of Egypt for thousands of years perhaps best epitomizes the extent to which oppression was systematized in societies during antiquity.

Feudalism and Its Caste System

One of the exploitative social systems during the medieval ages, particularly from the 9th to the 15th century, was European feudalism. Feudalism was a tightly structured caste-like social system in which individuals were relegated to exclusive roles in society. At the top of the feudalism pyramid were the nobles or lords whose status came from their receiving lands in perpetuity from the Crown in exchange for their military service. Vassals were tenants of the nobles on land known as a fiefdom. Land was given to vassals in exchange for their support of the lord, and if enough land was accumulated by a vassal, they could become lords themselves. At the bottom of the feudal system were serfs/peasants who lived in mostly wretched conditions as unfree laborers on the lord’s land, giving him homage, labor, and a share of the produce. The institution of feudalism was relatively less barbaric than many other systems of exploitation.

Settler Colonialism and Slavery

One of the most dehumanizing systems to ever exist was that of chattel slavery. Trans-Atlantic settler colonialism of Europeans began with Christopher Columbus in the late 1400s. The centuries-long Trans-Atlantic trade of enslaved Africans ushered in a system of global exploitation whose vile residue of anti-Black and structural racism exist up to this day. Columbus was afforded the backing and financial resources of the Spanish Crown, particularly Queen Isabella, to explore a new mercantile route to China and India. Muslim domination of the Mediterranean and northeastern Atlantic seaboard of the African continent presented a major obstacle to the maritime aspirations of European seafaring countries like Spain and Portugal. Queen Isabella shared Columbus’ anti-Muslim sentiment and dedication to Christianity, making his proposal to sail westward to find an alternate route to the spice-rich orient more appealing to the Spanish Crown. Other European nations like Italy and Portugal flatly denied sponsorship of his ambitious proposal. Columbus, like Isabella, harbored crusading ambitions to recapture Jerusalem from Muslim control. Although never participating in a Crusade to Jerusalem, Columbus fought with Spanish soldiers during the bloody 1492 Christian reconquest of Granada, Spain, the last Muslim stronghold there. Spanish and Portuguese settler colonizers in the Americas were especially averse to the presence of Muslims in the New World due to their religious hatred of Islam after the near 700-year control of Al-Andalus by Muslims.

Racial Segregation and Apartheid

In addition to the oppressive systems of feudalism and slavery is the abhorrent system of apartheid. In 1913, three years after South Africa gained its independence from Britain, racial segregation and White supremacy were institutionalized with the passage of 1913 Land Act. The Land Act forced Black Africans to live in resource-deprived, woefully overcrowded reserves. The Afrikaner National Party won the national election in 1948 on the campaign pledge of Apartheid, Apartness. The new government’s immediate goal was to not only separate non-Whites from Whites, but to also separate non-Whites along tribal lines to decrease any potential unifying political power. In a series of Land Acts passed over the years, 80 percent of South Africa’s land was reserved for the minority White population. Non-Whites were forced to carry passbooks confirming their authorization to be in each area. This practice had historical precedent in chattel slavery in the United States. Apartheid legislated that marriage and sexual relations between Whites and non-Whites was illegal. The Population Registration Act of 1950 classified all South Africans by race — Bantu (Black Africans), Coloured (mixed race), and White. A fourth category of Asian (Indian and Pakistani) was later added. Movement, jobs, housing, and other privileges were assigned based on these categories. Black Africans were at the bottom of the apartheid structure and were most brutally sanctioned, punished, and killed.

The two nations that never wavered in their support of the almost 50-year apartheid regime were the United States and Israel. South Africa was a pariah to most of the nations of the world due to the sheer brutality of the regime and its unapologetic racist practices.

Yet, despite South Africa being backed by the United States, the global movement against apartheid eventually triumphed against seemingly insurmountable odds. Massive global demonstrations against apartheid undoubtedly played a significant role in its eventual demise in South Africa. But, more importantly, the world community sustained an effective boycott of South African companies and their products that proved too high a cost. Even the United States government eventually recognized that apartheid was destined for the trash bins of history much like chattel slavery, feudalism, and the pharaonic system in ancient Egypt.

Apartheid: Israeli Retrogression

Israel adopted its own version of homelands (Bantustans) by appropriating occupied land for Jewish immigrants from primarily Europe and America. Israel, like apartheid South Africa, receives unqualified support from the United States in its racist, inhumane treatment of non-Jewish citizens. It is a racist state that remains unrepentant for its actions against its Palestinian citizens and those who live under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel acts with impunity due primarily to United States economic and military support and its pressure on other nations to abstain from taking action against Israel.

In mid-May, Israel ended its most brutal 11-day aerial assault on the population of the Gaza Strip after unprecedented worldwide demonstrations and denunciations by citizens and governments. In the United States, the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration ever held in Washington, DC in modern times was held at the Lincoln Memorial on May 29. The Sanction Israel Rally, whose sponsors included American Muslims for Palestine, USCMO, and ICNA CSJ, attracted over 35,000 demonstrators. The Israeli attacks had targeted an already limited number of hospitals and medical facilities, roads leading to standing hospitals like the one in Gaza City, residential buildings, and local infrastructure like a water desalination plant. There is no standing army in Gaza, no jets or armed personnel vehicles, or any other means for the populace to be able to defend themselves against the most heavily armed and deadly military in that part of the world. According to the UN, at least 58,000 Gazans were internally displaced, further exacerbating existing overcrowding and food shortages. The health needs of the people of Gaza were made worse as the World Health Organization estimates that at least 200,000 of the two million Gazans are in dire need of medical attention. Only two percent of Gazans have received Covid-19 vaccinations in a country that boasts one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. The Zionist government of disgraced leader Benjamin Netanyahu imposed a near-complete blockade on Gaza in 2007 after the defeat of the Palestinian Authority and the election of Hamas as the representative government of Gaza. Essentially creating an open-air prison, the blockade is ongoing and Gazans cannot enter or leave Gaza without Israeli permission. This lockdown is nothing short of collective punishment which is prohibited under international humanitarian law. The blockade has been in effect for 14 years and Israel disallows basic food staples, baby formula and diapers, building essentials like concrete, and other items necessary for survival.

Prior to the military assault, Palestinian residents in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem were facing evictions to make way for a Jewish settlement. Based on a District Court ruling, at least 13 families were ordered to vacate their homes. In addition, under the pretext of controlling Palestinian protestors at Masjid al Aqsa, Israeli police and military attacked unarmed demonstrators and otherwise created havoc on worshippers at the sacred site.

The current BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement attempts to end international support for Israel’s maltreatment and oppression of Palestinians and force the government to comply with international law. The BDS movement is not an anti-Jewish effort nor is it an attempt to dismantle the state of Israel. It is an effort to halt genocidal actions against Palestinian people just as the anti-apartheid movement was never intended to drive all Whites out of South Africa or destroy that nation. We must avail ourselves of all legal, effective methods to stop the genocidal assaults on the Palestinian people by the state of Israel. BDS is a growing global movement that offers a realistic path to end the abominations committed against the Palestinian people since 1948.

June 15, 2021
Nakba 2021: The Cost of Indifference

On May 25, 2020 much of the world was riveted watching the slow agonizing death of George Floyd as he was murdered by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Darnella Frazier, a 17-year-old girl, courageously captured on her cell phone video camera Chauvin pressing his knee to the neck of George Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds until Floyd’s handcuffed body was lifeless. After years of public outcry over police officers across the country killing unarmed African Americans with impunity, the Floyd murder was a tipping point. For the first time in modern United States history, massive demonstrations were continuously held in multiple cities in all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. Protests were also held in countries around the world. Unlike past demonstrations in the U.S. against police brutality, these demonstrations included an unprecedented number of Whites and Latinos.

Bills have been introduced in federal, state, and local legislatures, often for the first time, calling for the repeal of qualified immunity, the legal principle that grants immunity to police officers and other designated government officials from civil suits unless they have violated a person’s “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights.” Critics of the doctrine argue that it opens the door to the use of excessive force by police officers. In the U.S. House of Representatives, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is under consideration. The bill increases accountability for law enforcement misconduct, restricts the use of certain policing practices, enhances transparency and data collection, and establishes best practices and training requirements. City Councils and County Commissions across the country have held hearings with some agreeing to compensate African Americans for centuries of unpaid labor by their ancestors.

A Militarized Police Force

Now, in a land half the globe away, troubled by egregious policing practices against an oppressed marginalized population, Israeli police violated the sanctity of the third most sacred site in Islam, Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem. On May 7, during Islam’s holiest month of Ramadan, within the last 10most revered days of the month, Israeli police invaded the sanctuary of Al-Aqsa Mosque. They used excessive force to dislodge a few protestors who had non-violently demonstrated their opposition to Israeli plans to evict Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The plan for evictions spurred violent hordes of Israeli extremists storming through the neighborhood and forcibly removing and assaulting residents.

The police entered Al-Aqsa firing stun guns, tear gas grenades, and rubber bullets. “Rubber bullets” are more accurately described as relatively large metal pellets thinly encased in rubber. It was reported that at least six people were permanently blinded during the assaults. In the resulting melee, 330 Muslim worshippers were injured, and centuries-old windows and wooden doors were damaged or destroyed. Recent increased tensions in the area surrounding the mosque have been fueled by Israeli police allowing radical Israeli settlers to storm the Al-Aqsa compound while loudly chanting slogans and taunts, interrupting Muslim worshippers in prayer and contemplation. “Violations of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) prohibitions on allowing non-Muslim access to worship inside the historic mosques have been increasingly violated over the years with the cooperation of Israeli police.

The militarization of policing in the U.S. exhibits practices similar to those used in Israel. This is not coincidental. Top law enforcement officials in police departments across the United States have gone to Israel for training in the use of surveillance and aggressive techniques and methods for crowd control. After numerous public demonstrations and successful political mobilizations, the city of Durham, in North Carolina, prohibited its police departments from training in Israel. Alameda County in California has done the same, and departments in Vermont and Massachusetts withdrew from a planned training trip to Israel in 2018.Over the past two decades, police departments across the U.S. have secured military-grade weapons including armed personnel carriers, tanks, predator drones, and other military equipment. Begun in 1997 by the Clinton administration to ostensibly fight the “war on drugs,” a Defense Department program called 1033 provides excess or outdated military equipment to local police departments at no cost to them other than shipping. While Israel routinely unleashes deadly force on Palestinians, one incident stands out in the U.S. On May 13, 1985,Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode authorized the dropping of a bomb from a State Police helicopter on a house occupied by members of MOVE, a Black separatist group. The fire was then allowed to burn completely out of control, destroying 61 homes in the middle-class African American neighborhood. Five children and six adults died in the fire. The bombing was widely condemned, and the MOVE survivors were later awarded a $1.5 million settlement in 1996.

The Ongoing Catastrophe

Seventy-three years ago, Palestinians experienced what they refer to as a “Nakba” (catastrophe, disaster). The specific reference is to the ethnic cleansing by Zionist paramilitary gangs including Irgun, Haganah, and the Stern Gang. Their terrorist activities resulted in destruction of 400-600 Palestinian villages and over 300,000 men, women, and children expelled or fleeing the terror campaign and ending up in refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, as well as the West Bank and Gaza. Christian Palestinians, while discriminated against by the policies of the Israeli government, are not forced to live in resource-starved camps like their Muslim counterparts, under the watchful and intimidating eyes of the Israeli military.

At the end of the 1947-49 Palestine War, the United Nations adopted Resolution 194 that resolved that Palestinian refugees had the right to return to their properties and live at peace with their neighbors at the earliest possible time, and those choosing not to return should be given compensation for their properties. The government of Israel has defied this UN Resolution and many others for over 70 years while giving Palestinian homes and property to American and European Jewish settlers. After the 2006election of Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group, as the governing authority for Gaza, Israel imposed a land, air, and sea blockade over the area, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Two million Gazans have been unable to secure adequate life-sustaining goods and supplies including food, baby formula, medicine, concrete for rebuilding structures destroyed by Israeli bombs or bulldozers, and other essential items. Gaza is often referred to as the world’s largest outdoor prison due to the restrictions imposed on its citizens. Water is unnecessarily and indiscriminately shut off by the Israeli government. The food supply allowed into Gaza is based on Israel’s calculations of Palestinians’ caloric needs and the objective is revealed by a statement made by Dov Weisglass, the spokesman for former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. In 2006, Weisglass stated, “The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.”

The State of Palestine is recognized by 138 nations but, sadly, the world is witnessing Nakba 2021 for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. It is not the first time that the Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza, but it is the most destructive and deadly. Civilian housing is being targeted and destroyed by sophisticated missiles, most of which were supplied by the United States. In the short span of less than two weeks, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 60 children and more than 35 women, three of whom were pregnant. Roads leading to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City have been targeted by missiles, making it virtually impossible to get to the hospital for treatment. Palestinian doctors and other health professionals are being targeted for murder. Critical infrastructure, housing, and markets have been destroyed, complicating an already subsistence existence. Since the start of vaccinations for the Covid-19 global pandemic, Israel has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Yet, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have had only one percent of their population receiving the vaccine protection.

Setting Right What is Wrong

With notable exceptions, most Muslim-majority nations have entered pacts and alliances with Israel that seem to preclude their assisting the Palestinians or even condemning Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. Ironically, some of these same nations appear to have little compunction in acting treacherously or even warring against other Muslims. Conversely, the Black Freedom Struggle in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s recognized the intersectionality of the liberation struggles of all peoples against oppression, including Palestinians. For this reason, Imam Jamil Al-Amin(formerly H. Rap Brown), Kwame Ture (formerly Stokely Carmichael), Muhammad Ahmad (formerly Max Stanford), Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Dhoruba bin Wahad, and other leaders of the Black Panther Party, SNCC, and other organizations embraced the struggle of the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation. Leaders of some African nations during this same period identified with, and wholeheartedly supported, the struggles of the Palestinian people. Leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Sekou Toure, Patrice Lumumba, and many others supported the Palestinian cause.

The images of young Palestinians standing firm during their violent arrests by Israeli police for protesting the occupation — those images are vital. They demonstrate a willingness to confront with stones the heavily armed Goliaths, encouraging reminders that believers must have patience and put our trust in Allah, the Most High. Prophet Muhammad has reminded us that Allah is on the side of the oppressed and that there is no barrier between the supplications of the oppressed and Allah. Pray for Palestine and work to liberate it from the knee on its neck. The Israeli bombing on May 15 of the building that housed the AP, Al-Jazeera, and other media outlets will not stop the world from watching and witnessing. The injustices are being recorded; the setting right of what is wrong is inevitable.

May 25, 2021
It will take 60 seconds…

Assalamu Alaikum,

On behalf of the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), we write to you with heavy hearts during these final days of the holy month of Ramadan. Our Palestinian siblings have endured relentless violence at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces at the sacred site of Al-Aqsa for the past several days. As of this writing, 20 have reportedly been killed (including 9 children) and over 800 have been injured.

Hundreds of residents of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah are on the verge of expulsion from their homes, and armed settlers and Israeli soldiers are terrorizing the community and those in solidarity with them.

This is a time for all of us to stand together at this crucial moment and take a stand for Palestinian rights — especially here in the United States where our government finances Israel’s cruel military to the tune of $3.8 billion a year.

This request is one of the most important we’ve ever made: Can you please take just a few minutes to call your Congressional Representative today?

All you need to do is call (202) 224-3121, which is the House of Representatives switchboard, and you’ll be connected to your Representative’s office. Once you get a staff member on the line (or if you’re asked to leave a voice message), mention your name, your address, and ask your Representative to sign the Pocan -Newman letter that expresses concern about Israel’s imminent plan to forcibly displace nearly 2,000 Palestinians in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Al-Bustan and Sheikh Jarrah. Ask that your Representative please add his or her signature to the letter so that the U.S. doesn’t remain silent while this injustice is taking place.

The letter, circulated by Representatives Marie Newman and Mark Pocan, urges Secretary of State Tony Blinken and the Biden Administration to exert diplomatic pressure on Israel to stop this action. Many members of Congress have issued press releases or social media posts condemning Israel’s attacks. Call on your Representative to join them.

While the videos of tear gas and sound grenades are heartbreaking and enraging, the imagery of tens of thousands of Palestinians praying Tarawih with resilience fills us with hope and commitment.

Moreover, ICNA and USCMO have decided to designate Saturday, May 15, 2021, as a Day of Solidarity with Al Aqsa and Palestine. Stay tuned for more information.

May our faith be as steadfast as theirs; while they brave a military assault, they remain unwavering. May our support for their struggle be just as unwavering.

Mohsin Ansari MD
Chairman, USCMO
President, ICNA

The Islamic Circle of North America is a leading American Muslim organization dedicated to the betterment of society through the application of Islamic values. Since 1968, ICNA has worked to build relations between communities by devoting itself to education, outreach, social services and relief efforts.

—END—

Islamic Circle of North America
E-mail: ICNA PR Email
Office: (718) 658-1199

May 12, 2021
Ongoing Crisis in Gaza and COVID-19

Life in the besieged Gaza Strip has always been a struggle, to put it mildly. Closed off from the outside world, by Egypt on one end and by Israel on the other, and blockaded by air, land, and sea. Its people have no control over their coastal waters, airspace, borders, commerce, population registry, or taxation system. And until recently, as an unintended consequence of the blockade, a literal collective quarantine, it had been largely spared the fate of the coronavirus infected globe.

It was only a matter of time, however, until the virus found its way in — most likely by way of the limited people traveling in and out through the Rafah crossing, as well as businessmen and international aid workers traveling through the Beit Hanun crossing to the north. Local authorities, in conjunction with international organizations and local NGOs in the occupied territory, are acting quickly to contain the spread of the virus as it could have a devastating impact in a place like Gaza if left unchecked.

There are nearly 2 million people residing in the Gaza Strip, the majority of whom are refugees or the descendants of refugees forced from their homes in historic Palestine in 1948 by invading Zionist militias. A ten-year-long blockade of the coastal Palestinian territory has plunged the majority of its residents into deep impoverishment and food insecurity, unemployment, and constant socio-economic uncertainty.

Efforts to Contain the Virus

With limited testing capacity, ventilators, and ICU hospital beds, a full-blown outbreak could be catastrophic, and as a result, containment is key to preventing the spread of the coronavirus in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health officials. A curfew has been imposed on the territory between the hours of 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. since late August, and special permits are required to travel from one area of the Strip to the other, usually reserved for essential workers. Cafes have been ordered to close, and public weddings, a source of contamination, have been temporarily banned. As of the end of September 2020, there have been 2,613 confirmed cases and 21 fatalities, according to government sources. Though the numbers aren’t high by regional standards, due to Gaza’s unique situation and compounding factors, everyone involved has been on high alert.

The situation has taken a toll on residents’ mental health which is a major concern given that two-thirds of Gaza’s children already experience alarmingly high rates of psychosocial stressors and symptoms, according to the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, which has been providing free telephone consultations and counseling. According to a recent report the group published, there has been an uptick in feelings of isolation, anxiety, and aggression, especially amongst the most vulnerable segments of society, women and children. “It’s like a siege on top of an already existing siege,” noted one resident of southern Gaza, Maram Hamdan, in an interview. “Gaza had become accustomed to a siege, but its people got used to living and loving life, releasing some steam by going to the beach, and so on, but then Corona came and shut down people completely.”

The problem is exacerbated by a lack of clean water in the majority of the strip, making even basic hygiene, necessary to prevent the spread of the virus, difficult. Overcrowding is also a challenge, and compliance has been a struggle in many of the areas' densely populated neighborhoods and refugee camps.

Challenges for the Students

Ibrahim S., 17-years-old, told me over Facebook, “No one listens, and they don’t genuinely understand the threat of this virus. I started sheltering in place the day it was announced 4 students at my school has the virus.” Students of all ages comprise almost half of the population. Sumayya Al-Kutrywith, a 23-year-old student I spoke with, expressed frustration at having to miss many lectures and exams. “If the internet is available, it’s extremely weak and slow. It often turns off completely in the middle of a lesson. We usually have to hope the instructor has recorded the lectures for us so we can watch them later.” She is a fourth-year student of business administration in one of Gaza’s universities.

What’s being overlooked, Sumayya told me in an online interview from her home, is that virtual education in such circumstances is vital, but the digital divide is real, and the vast majority of the population endure 20-hour power outages, without means to pay for backup generators or data for telephones. “The problem is bigger than all of us,” explained Dr. Mona El-Farra, a physician and director of Gaza projects for the Middle East Children’s Alliance there. “The virus has exasperated an already fragile situation.”

Shortages of Medical Equipment

Dr. Ashraf Qidra, spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of health, emphasized that this point in time was critical to containing the virus and asked that residents comply with sheltering in place orders as well as quarantining for two weeks upon arrival to Gaza from the Rafah Crossing. On September 24, the World Health Organization was able to provide1000 new COVID-19 PCR testing kits, according to the ministry, enough for about 7-12 more days, as well as a one-month’s supply of regular tests. Ventilator machines are available, and more are scheduled to arrive soon, noted Qidra, adding “The real problem is in the shortage of non-invasive ventilation equipment like high flow nasal oxygen canula, BIPAP machines, non-rebreathing oxygen masks, and pulse oximeters.”

The situation has prompted several young enterprising Gazans to manufacture their own face masks, protective suits, and even homemade ventilators. Faced with many shortages and the lack of predictable access to supply chains in the past, Gazans have often needed to innovate. One individual, Mohammed Abu Matar, design engineer and founder of the 3D printing company Tashkeel3D, has made ventilators locally. They cost about $300 but their durability to sustain a patient’s life is limited. Abu Matar cautioned that they have yet to be tested or approved, that they are a stop-gap measure, not a replacement for proper medical equipment. So many of the complications and aspects of the crisis would be eliminated if Israel ended its decade-long siege of Gaza, and relinquished control over the passage of people and goods (including essential supplies and manufacturing components) in and out of the territory.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel, as the occupying power, is legally responsible for the well-being of the population of the areas under its control, including Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. However, since their 2005 disengagement from Gaza, they have absolved themselves of this responsibility, according to leading human rights organizations such as Gisha and Btslem. In the meantime, NGOs and international aid organizations have had to fill in the gap. They have developed an interagency COVID-19 response plan to oversee everything from distribution of supplies and providing handwashing stations to monitoring educational needs.

October 4, 2020
From Jahiliya to Jihad: The Story of Arabs in Israel

“We belong to the area called the Arab Triangle, which is in the center of the holy land… King Abdullah gave us, land and people, to Israel in 1949… Since I949 until 1967, we knew nothing about our origins or civilization; we knew nothing about Islam, we only had a few scattered copies of the Quran in the scattered old mosques in Arab villages… We sank into complete darkness, ignorance and impiety…the 1967 war, although a military and political holocaust of Arabs and Muslims, was the beginning of our awakening, because for the first time we came in touch with people living in the occupied territories, the Islamic books and schools… now we really became aware of our indivisible relationship with Arabs and Muslims with whom we have to cooperate to achieve our sacred goals.”

The story of Ibrahim Abdullah, mayor of an Israeli Arab village called Kfar Qasem, is the story of 800,000 Palestinians living in Israel. The existence and the role of these Palestinians is hardly known to the world, which has seen the Palestinian struggle mainly through the eyes of the PLO and, more recently, in-tifada. Mr. Abdullah, 30, and four other young Muslim mayors from Israel recently came to the United States to tell whoever they could find about the lives, struggles and challenges of Israeli Palestinians. The following story is based on an interview by The Message International with Mr. Abdullah; Jomah Kassasi, mayor of Rahat; Kamel Rayan, mayor of Kfar Bara and Tawfik Khatib, mayor of Jaljulia. Mayor Raid Salah of Umm Fahem, although part of the group, was in Detroit at the time of the interview. Due to his fluency in English, Mr. Abdullah spoke for the group.

It is a sad irony that in the land of Al-Quds many Muslim Arabs lived a life of Jahiliya for nearly two decades. Indeed, Israel’s policies of cultural annihilation of its Arab subjects could not be more successful. But things are changing, and Palestinian Muslims living within Israel have rediscovered themselves and their mission. They are no longer resigned to their fate, or without a dint in their eyes. Israel’s evil occupation has proved to be a two-edged sword. While Israeli inhumanity and creeping annexation of Palestinian lands have made it the Goliath of our times, they have also brought helpless Palestinians face to face with their natural ally, Islam. The February 1989 elections in Israel were a turning point in the lives of Palestinian Muslims. From a feeling of dejection, frustration and apathy, Muslims of a nameless Islamic movement for the first time contested and won mayoralties in several Arab towns of Israel. And the results were astonishing from any standard.

In Umm el-Fahem, 75 percent voted for an Islamic candidate. Support for Islamic contestants was also strong in Kfar Bara (70 percent), in Rahat (65 percent) and Kfar Qasem (60 percent). In Nazareth, a stronghold of Communists for 20 years, Islamic candidates won six of the municipality’s 19 seats.

Their newly found success is seen by some Christians as a hopeful sign for them as well. During the electoral campaign in Umm el-Fahem, a Christian doctor told the audiences: “If you really want to overcome all your problems, you have to support the Islamic movement, because I believe that Islam is the solution.” After Muslims bagged six seats in Nazareth, a place of religious significance for Christians, a priest congratulated Muslims for defeating the atheists. Another Christian, a professor of religious studies in Nazareth, also sent in his commendations.

“There is a strong cooperation between Muslims and Christians, and those sincere Christians do really believe that Islam is the solution,” Mr. Abdullah said.
Although their election to power in municipal governments has not affected an Israeli law that bars them from making contacts with out-side Arab governments or movements, it has transformed them into a respected power bloc within Israel. Long committed to a non-political struggle, these Muslims have reversed themselves in order to bring an end to their exploitation, says Mr. Abdullah.

“We saw that a lot of Israeli parties — whether Communist Party, Arab Progressive Party or Arab Republican Party — did not really penetrate into the hearts of the people or touch the elements of their own faith; they only exploited the Arab masses for elections; they did not remember that there are more than 800,000 Palestinians in Israel, the same number as in the occupied territories. When they spoke of Palestinians’ rights to a homeland, they only spoke about those living in those territories and no one said that the other 800,000 people also have the right to be involved in a future settlement (of the Palestinian problem). So, we came to the conclusion that as an Islamic movement we have to work with the people and help them overcome their difficulties.”

Although Palestinian Muslims in the country distrust all Israeli parties, they have found an unnatural sympathizer in leftist politicians. Mr. Rayan, mayor of Kfar Bara, said through an interpreter that Palestinians have stopped trusting all Israeli parties because of their role in the massacre of Arabs. On the other hand they see leftist members of Israeli parliament working hard for the Palestinian cause.

The Islamic movement does not have a political party, nor people in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. The reason, according to Mr. Abdullah, is simple: Israeli parties, whether Labor or Likud, are united against any resurgence of Arab or Islamic power. He challenged the myth that the Labor Party was favorably disposed towards Palestinians.
“The Labor Party ruled Israel for 40 years and it was the direct reason for the collapse of the Islamic communities.”

The Israeli leftists are helping Islamists apparently not because of their views but because of their own sympathy for the left-oriented PLO. But there is more to it. Some Israeli leftists see in these Palestinians a reflection of the Jewish pioneers who settled in Palestine in the early and middle part of the 20th century and exploited all the legal remedies.

The ultimate aim of the Islamic movement in Israel, which predates intifada, is not just the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state, some-thing that their counterpart in the occupied territories already wants, but the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the world. But for now, Mr. Abdullah has tempered his hopes with the realities in Israel and wants to address the more urgent problems.

“Believe me we are not idealists; we are not living in mosques or on the moon. We are struggling for equality and peace.”
According to Mr. Abdullah the disparities be-tween and Arabs and Jews of Israel are glaring. While Jewish towns and settlements are basking in the glow of modern technology and amenities, those inhabited by Arabs are struggling for Tel Aviv’s attention for some of the basic needs of life. Not only that, they are being gradually deprived of their lands as a result of Israel’s voracious territorial appetite.

“If I were to compare the situation of Arab cities and villages with that of Jewish cities and villages, I would say that we are living at the beginning of the 20th century and they at the end of it. When I look to the East, I see four Jewish settlements which are more developed than some of the suburbs of Washington, D.C. In Kfar Qasem, Israelis have confiscated more than 70 percent of the land, although people have documents proving their ownership; first those lands were confiscated for military purposes, but afterwards were given to Jewish farmers. In Jaljulia, you cannot find a single centimeter for the future generation, and anyone who wants to guarantee the future of his son or daughter, must buy the land that was once his own. And you can say this about all the lands that belong to the 800,000 people.”

The ties that bind these Palestinians to their lands are so strong that many of them would not leave their towns and villages even if a Palestinian state were to be founded in the occupied territories. At least Mr. Abdullah won’t.

“We are not going to move, because we believe we belong to our land and not to the country; countries always change.”

While the Islamic movement in Israel grows in its unique ways, there are indications that Palestinians in the occupied territories have increasingly looked to Islam for emancipation. A recent poll by the Jerusalem Post showed that 60 percent of West Bank residents sup-ported an Islamic Palestinian state, as opposed to 27 percent who supported a democratic state and 7 percent who said they wanted a socialist state. In Gaza Strip, where Hamas is very strong, the support for a Islamic Palestinian state is believed to be even greater.

The reports about Islam being the choice of an overwhelming number of Palestinians makes Mr. Abdullah think that the PLO today is not the sole representative of Palestinians, only a formal one. The signs of strains between Islamic elements and PLO members were quite visible until a few months ago. The struggle between two competing forces had even pervaded Israeli jails, where members of Hamas and the PLO clashed with each other.

“I heard a lot of stories about members of the Islamic movement being severely punished by PLO members in the jails because they were caught reading the Qur’an, or spreading Islamic thought.”
The clashes had become so frequent and open that Yasir Arafat had to intervene personally and appeal for unity. Although he has succeeded in restoring calm in the name of a common goal, uneasiness still prevails on both sides.

Mr. Arafat knows the power and dynamism of the Islamic movement in the occupied territories. While he may not like the independent approach of Ikhwan al-Muslemoon, or the Muslim Brotherhood, he knows that their support is crucial for the success of intifada. To garner support for PLO, Mr. Arafat met with Mohammed Abu Nash, a leader of the Ikhwan in Egypt, recently. Mr. Abu Nash is said to have told the PLO chairman that he feared the Islamic movement would be the first to be slaughtered after the establishment of a Palestinian state.

PLO’s approach, apart from being un-Islamic, is lately seen as harmful to the Palestinian cause. From its recognition of Israel and the United Nations resolution 242 and 338 to the renunciation of its charter as null and void, the PLO has created a credibility problem for it-self in the eyes of many Palestinians. So much so that some influential people with ties to the PLO, such as Edward Said of Columbia University in New York, have publicly ex-pressed their misgivings about some of its actions.

Although Israel has erected a Berlin Wall of sorts between the Palestinians living under its direct rule and those in the occupied territories, that does not prevent the Islamic movement in Israel from doing its bit for the intifada. For instance, before Mr. Abdullah and his colleagues came to the United States, they distributed 24 truckloads of food, milk and other necessities of life among the Palestinians living on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Islamic movement also keeps abreast of the developments in the occupied territories and informs Israeli Palestinians through its two publications Saw ul Haq and AsSimt. The secular publications, according to Mr. Abdullah, ignore the news about Islamic movement and cover mostly PLO-related activities.

The delegation of Arab mayors left United States impressed, hopeful and evermore determined. It was the first of its kind to visit the United States, and so it met with many surprises. It learned that over six million Muslims lived in this country, and that many American politicians, including the few Congressmen and the Undersecretary of State for Near East and Middle East Affairs it met, didn’t know how Israel treated Palestinians. It also visited Muslim communities in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan. But strong as it was in its resolve to carry on Islamic work in Israel, the delegation looked to American Muslim community for financial and moral support.

“We are living at the crossroads; either to be agents of Israel or seek independence. We are members of the Islamic movement, and we will never give up. But we cannot develop anything in our villages and cities because of insufficient funds from Israel. We want them (the American Muslim community) to make up for the deficiency imposed on us by Israel,” Mr. Abdullah said.

February 1, 1990