I've been meaning to write and get back to the Dkos crowd here for some time, but many a thing, particularly Burning Man, have gotten in the way. But after watching this video that I'll start off with, I knew I had something to share!
Ain Al Mansi, one of the 531 ethnically cleansed villages of Palestine, now covered by a forest, a highway, the field in the photo, and a gas station). It was visited and signed were placed in 2006 on a trip organized by Zochrot.
Here it is, a truly beautiful look at the past and present of "Beautiful Palestine,"
There are many reasons why I love this video. First, it is an unapologetic look at ALL of Palestine; the Palestine of 1948, the Palestine under occupation, places which bind together the refugees of 1948 from Lebanon to the USA, to the 'present absentees' of Nazareth, to the occupied Palestinians of Nablus and Gaza. These connections must be made clear to all, for this conflict did not begin in 1967 (sorry Avi, but you must get over this); it also does not go back to 2000 BC, but that is another story. The main point is that the conflict begins with the Zionist movement's colonization of the area, which begins more or less at the turn of the previous century. It gains a huge bost with the British Mandate of Palestine in the interwar period of the 20's and 30's, and then by the 40's it is just a matter of time until the much more powerful Jewish colony in Palestine decides to break free of its colonial patron, the UK, and exert its control over as much land as it can acquire (free of as many Palestinians as possible, of course). As a point of interest, however, this did not stop the newly created nation of Israel from seeking new Imperial patrons, first being France, and then since the late 60's, the USA.
Ok, to veer from the politics and history for a moment, there are also many places in the video that I have seen and been too, in Israel as well as in the West Bank, and it is great to see them again. Here is a few pics of a masjid in town of Ramleh, now known to Israelis as Ram, a town that was ethnically cleansed by Yitzak Rabin, along with the town of Lydd, back in 1948. If anyone knows the name of the masjid, do let me know. Notice that it is crowded on all sides by relatively new construction, and has some very frightening marks and evidence of defacing in the windows.
This too, is Palestine.
The other thing I loved about the video is the use of both the English and Arabic spelling of the various places in Palestine. For example, I had no idea that the city of Acre, as it is spelled in English, starts with an Ain in Arabic, and consists in all of just a K and an alif after that in its spelling (so it would be said in Arabic 'Aka, or 'Akka, right?). And it of course makes sense that Gaza begins with a Ghain, not just a plain old English G. Having taken a basic Arabic class this summer, most of them are pretty easy to read, although the exact short vowels that one should use are not always clear (I'll make sure to listen closely when I hear them spoken next). The one that stumped me, however, is the Arabic pronunciation of Jericho; it begins with a hamza, a glottal stop, above an alif, which I don't think you pronunce. Then it has a r, followed by a long ee vowel, followed by an h, and then an alif; this would spell 'reehaa, right? Anyone who knows more Arabic (and I know very little) do instruct us all on this one. There are other little things I enjoyed learning; like the difference in spelling of Ramallah and Ramleh. I know how to say them, but looking at the spelling brings home the subtle differences, mainly the shadda on the l towards the end of Ramallah, verses the unstressed l in Ramleh. Or the spelling of Jenin, which I'm guessing in Arabic would be more like Jiniin, although I'm not sure, so help me out with that one and Nablus as well (those darn unwritten short vowels!!).
The there are a few grammatical things I was happy to recognize, like the use of the Idafah towards the end, when it states "Jerusalem The Capital of Palestine." Arabic of course, has no 'of' per say, it uses a particular construction called an Idafah, which is a way of assembling nouns so that the possessive relationship is clear. Hence, it is written in Arabic "Al Quds Asimat FalasTin," which is literally "Jerusalem capital Palestine;" The construction basically implies the 'of.' Then there is the title of the video, "This is Palestine," which in Arabic is "Hada Hiyye FalasTin." Correct me if I'm wrong people, but this would basically transliterate as "This that Palestine;" the present tense to be verb is implied, of course, and the Hada would be this, and the hiyye is a feminine pronoun, corresponding to of course, Palestine (feminine, right? Huwwa is the masculine... I think, doh!).
I could go on, but please, I'd really like to hear your thoughts & if someone could provide a translation of the music, that would be great! (I know that the main part is "Hilwa baladi" "my beautiful country," but I'd like to know more!).
Other than that, here's a quick rundown of some more video and news items;
And more news & commentary;
Palestinians join Israeli army for better life
Jonathan Cook Foreign Correspondent
These Palestinians – nearly a fifth of Israel’s population – are the descendants of Palestinians who managed to avoid being expelled when the Jewish state was established in 1948. Unlike Palestinians in the occupied territories, who are ineligible to serve in the armed forces, they have Israeli citizenship.
Soldiers like S are extremely wary of speaking publicly, as Rhoda Kanaaneh, a Middle East expert at New York University, discovered when she began the first study of the group a decade ago. Her findings were published this year as a book, Surrounded. She interviewed 72 Palestinian soldiers and policemen, as well as three women, whose trust had to be won slowly by intermediaries, including relatives, former classmates and friends. Many more, however, refused to talk, and those who did required anonymity and would often "just give yes-no answers".
Dr Kanaaneh, who was raised in the Palestinian village of Arrabeh in northern Israel before her move to the US, said none of the soldiers was prepared to go into detail about they did during their service. She suspects that this reflects in large part feelings of shame associated with their role enforcing the occupation.
Goldstone report is not to be ignored
Jamil Dakwar, The Huffington Post,
Last Tuesday, after months of exhaustive research, including conducting 188 interviews and reviewing 300 reports, 10,000 pages of documents, 30 videos, and 1,200 photographs, the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict released the findings of its investigation in a thoroughly documented 575 page report.
This independent mission was given a mandate by the U.N. Human Rights Council to investigate allegations of war crimes and serious violations of international human rights law committed by both Israel and Palestinian armed groups before, during, and after the military operations in Gaza between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009 that claimed the lives of more than 700 Palestinian civilians and three Israeli civilians.
The mission was led by Justice Richard Goldstone, formerly a judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the chief prosecutor of the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and a governor of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In accepting this duty, Justice Goldstone reiterated that his mission would undertake "an independent, evenhanded and unbiased investigation." The report concluded that both Israel and Palestinian armed groups perpetrated war crimes and other serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Enclosed lives
Everyone I met said their world was dominated by Israel's occupation of the West Bank, in place since the 1967 war.
After occupation came Jewish settlements; after the violent Palestinian uprising of 2000 came Israel's vast infrastructure to protect the settlements. Now villagers in this area of the West Bank are hemmed in on all sides.
To the West and South Israel's West Bank barrier follows roughly the pre-1967 border. To the East it snakes deep into the territory around Givat Ze'ev. To the North is the heavily defended Highway 443, connecting northern Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
More Palestinian Children Getting Jailed
By Mel Frykberg
Eight children between the ages of 10 and 17 were arrested and detained by Israeli soldiers during military raids Monday night and Tuesday morning in the northern West Bank cities Nablus and Qalqilia.
Defence for Children International (DCI) Palestine has released a statement that the number of children detained in Israeli jails and temporary Israeli army detention centres this year has risen by 17.5 percent compared with 2008.
"The average number of Palestinian children held in Israeli detention in 2009 remains high, at 375 per month compared with an average of 319 in 2008," says DCI. "Disturbingly, 39 young children between the ages of 12 and 15 were detained in August 2009. This is up 85 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2008 of 21 children."