Sam Bahour serves on the Advisory Board of Cafe Intifada.
Emma Rosenthal Cafe Intifada -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [epalestine] A personal note on events today and several readings... Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 00:48:58 +0200 From: Sam Bahour <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear friends, Today was the Muslim holiday called of Eid al-Adha, but few adults celebrated. The conditions on the ground are to depressing to take any holiday serious. This has been the case for years now. But, today was even worse than usual. While celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday a 14-year-old, Salah Ikhab, was shot as he played with a toy gun he had been given as a present for the holiday early this morning. An Israeli military patrol took him for a fighter. Ikhab died in an ambulance on his way to hospital after being shot in the chest in Tubas (West Bank), some 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Jenin.(*) I spoke with my sister in Ohio who is a clinical psychologist specializing in children about this phenomena of so many kids here playing with toy guns and she said it was perfectly normal for kids to want to play games that reflect their life reality. For most here, being born into this military occupation means they know no other life. In reflection, I realized that, although we don't have any toy guns in our home, that my 5-year old, Nadine, many times plays Israeli soldier at a checkpoint inside the house. She stops her mother and I at the doors of our bathroom or kitchen and demands our ID card. I gesture as if to pass her an ID and sometimes I'm allowed to pass and sometimes "returned." When returned, I ask why, and she barks back that she does not need to explain. A split second later, when the game is done, she returns to being my sweet soft-spoken baby. Even in her pampered and privileged life, she is not immune to the deep damage that this Israeli occupation leaves on all of us. Later today, Israeli troops shot and killed a 12-year-old boy in the southern Gaza Strip. The boy was identified as Salah Abu Ayash, a resident of Rafah's Yibna refugee camp. He was hit by gunfire while standing in the street near his house. May both Salahs rest in peace and may their parents find the inner strength to carry on. I have many things to say, but with the weight of the above, I prefer to postpone my news. Instead, I pass several (I know, too many) news items and articles below. They are all worth spending some time on. I apologize in advance for sending so many items in one post. If nothing else, read toward the end Sen. Barbara Boxer's remarks and Condoleezza Rice's response at Rice's confirmation hearing. Then hope your sons and daughters are not called to serve "their" country. In memory of all the kids ripped from their parents by US M-16's in the hands of Israeli occupiers, Sam (*) In response to the Jenin-area incident, the movement of released infantry soldiers known as "Breaking the Silence" said that "after four years of combat, it is very difficult to distinguish between children and adults, between armed men and those armed with plastic rifles. This boy's death is a natural result of open-fire regulations that direct you to shoot to kill when spotting an armed individual, without any distinction between cases when there is a danger posed to the soldier and when no danger is posed to the soldier." Ha'aretz, http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/529898.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - MUST READ for US Citizens Middle East Policy Volume XI, Winter 2004, Number 4 IMPLICATIONS OF THE U.S. REACTION TO THE WORLD COURT RULING AGAINST ISRAEL'S "SEPARATION BARRIER" Stephen Zunes Dr. Zunes is a professor of politics and chair of the peace and justice studies program at the University of San Francisco. He serves as Middle East editor for the Foreign Policy in Focus Project (www.fpif.org) and is the author of Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press, 2003). EXCERPT at: http://www.mepc.org/public_asp/journal_vol11/0412_zunes.asp Full essay may be found at: http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=6322&CategoryId=5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Many of you noted that an article in the Washington Times (not POST) reported that this unit will close. It is false. Below is a statement from them. If the article appears in your local paper, please send a letter to the editor and feel free to quote below. http://www.nad-plo.org/index.php Strengthening of the Negotiation Support Unit Contrary to a recent media report, the Negotiation Support Unit (NSU), the specialist unit that assists the Negotiation Affairs Department of the PLO in preparing for and conducting negotiations, will not be closing down. The NSU will have a particularly important role in the coming period. The founder of the NSU and its strong supporter, Dr. Mahmoud Abbas, has just been elected to the Presidency of the Palestinian National Authority, and will draw heavily on the expertise of the NSU in his efforts to pursue a negotiated settlement with Israel. All sections of the NSU - legal, policy and communications - will be strengthened and their activities intensified. That part of the communications function of the NSU which involved NSU legal advisers acting as partial spokespersons for the PLO will be transferred to the Negotiation Affairs Department directly in a strengthened spokesperson's department. This is to enable spokespeople to speak more clearly as part of the NAD/PLO rather than just as advisers. The NSU Communications Department will expand its range of activities with an increased focus on outreach to Israeli audiences. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This appeared in Haaretz January 17th, 2005 Peace with U.S. Jews The million-dollar question is whether Israel is ready finally and once for all to end the occupation and renounce its biblical claim over the whole of Palestine, and accept what it got and more up to 1967. So far all we hear about is redeployment of troops, but never a clear statement that Israel will end the occupation. On the other hand, Israel has always demanded that the Palestinians recognize the right of Israel to exist. Well, the Palestinians have made such a declaration so many times, one would think it will be added to the Ten Commandments. The test of Israel's true intention would be when it declares to the American Jewish community that Israel will end the occupation and will reach peace with the Palestinians. I am afraid that even if the majority of Israelis want peace with the Palestinians, the majority of American Jews will continue to fight to maintain the occupation. I am sure these Jewish organizations have their own interest in mind. If they go out of business and lose the need to raise money, they will lose the influence money buys in Washington. Perhaps Abu Mazen should first make peace with the American Jewish community, then take such a mandate to Prime Minister Sharon. Sami Jamil Jadallah Fairfax, Virginia -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transcript: [Sen.] Boxer, Rice Exchange Pointed Words: 01/18/05 "FNS" -- Following is a transcript of Sen. Barbara Boxer's remarks and Condoleezza Rice's response at Rice's confirmation hearing as provided by Federal News Service http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7750.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emails from the edge A female architect's poignant and witty dispatches about living with her mother-in-law in the West Bank have become a surprise publishing success, revealing the absurdity and adversity of everyday Palestinian life By Rachel Cooke Sunday January 16, 2005 Observer http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1391186,00.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Everything about this list: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/epalestine To unsubscribe, send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. 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