From One Bereaved Palestinian Father to Another by Bassam Aramin

Author: Miriam (Egypt/Israel/USA) - August 2, 2008

http://www.mideastyouth.com/2008/08/02/from-one-bereaved-palestinian-father-to-another-by-bassam-aramin/

From One Bereaved Palestinian Father to Another
An open letter by Bassam Aramin, co-founder of Combatants for Peace
Translated from the Arabic by Miriam Asnes

Dear Hussam, father of Ahmed, may he rest in peace,

I learned of the death of your son, Ahmed Musa, through a one-sentence newsflash on the Palestinian news station Ma’an last Tuesday: “Ahmed Musa, a young boy, was killed by a bullet of the occupying forces in Nil’in.” I was immediately overcome with shock and grief and bitter tears. And above all, that relentless feeling of powerlessness that I know too well. We Palestinians cannot protect our children from being killed. Not because they are soldiers on the battlefield, but because we cannot imprison them in our homes. They must live their lives, play outside the house, go to school. We tell ourselves that there must be in our land a safe place to protect our little ones. Should not our villages be safe? Should not the courtyards of our homes be safe? And the safest place of all—should this not be the schoolyard?

But our children are still murdered in cold blood in front of our homes, in the heart of our villages and in our schools. For on another black Tuesday a year and a half ago, soldiers of the occupation killed my own beloved ten-year-old daughter. Abir Aramin was shot in the head in front of her school in the village of Anata on January 16th, 2007. Ahmed and Abir passed on the same day of the week, at the same age; both were shot in the head by the same kind of killer: one of the Israeli border patrol guards.

The moment I heard the news of your son’s death, I found myself speaking aloud to him. “Ya Ahmed, please give my regards and my love to Abir. Your two pure souls will meet in paradise. Go in peace, beloved, do not fear for you are not alone—there are others there waiting for you. Ready to greet you are more than a thousand Palestinian children who have been killed since the year 2000. And though I hope with all my heart, Ahmed, that you will be the last victim of these legitimized Israeli war crimes, I cannot help but wonder—who will be killed next?”

We Palestinian parents—are we not fully responsible for what happens to our children? For why do we allow our children to go out into the streets in the light of day? Why do we permit them play outside the house? Why do we not only let them, but actually encourage them to go to school and be educated? And even more importantly, I place the blame our martyred children—how dare you let your heads get in the way of the Israeli sharpshooters? Let’s try to be reasonable: the soldiers of the occupation don’t really want to kill our children, it can’t be a deliberate policy of intimidation and violence—they are simply trying to help us keep our children in a safe place. And clearly they believe that the safest place for our children to be, where no one can harm them, is in their graves.

When I heard what happened to Ahmed, I was in the middle of reading a book about international human rights and the specific laws pertaining to children in times of war and armed struggle. Every Palestinian should read these laws until he knows his rights, and every Israeli should read these same laws until he understands the enormity of the criminal and fascist practices of the Israeli army against the Palestinian people.

Major General Gabi Ashkenazi, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Occupation Forces, has said that “My greatest fear is the loss of humanity [among Israeli troops] because of the ongoing warfare.” I must inform the distinguished General that he lost his humanity a long time ago. He and his army should fear for their loss of humanity, for under his leadership the Israeli army killed Ahmed Musa. And if he doesn’t care about Ahmed because he is a Palestinian, General Ashkenazi should at least be afraid that his army has lost its humanity in its treatment of Israelis as well. We have all seen how Israeli soldiers treat their own people who join us Palestinians in peaceful protest in Bil’in and Nil’in and Artash and in the Galilee and in Tulkarem. Did the General see when soldiers fired rubber bullets at Dr. Tsfiyah Shapira and her son Itamar, who were participating in a peaceful march in the village of Shufa near Tulkarem alongside many peace activists? I’m guessing that he did witness this, in fact I would guess that General Ashkenazi ordered this operation and the many others like it. Look closely, General, and you will find the source of your fear.

Hussam, Ahmed and Abir have gone to the hereafter, and I promise you that in eternity they will outlive their murderers. Our children are the epitome of innocent humanity, and their killers are the most despicable of criminals. But while such ruthless men exist as part of the occupying army, please know that there are thousands of Israelis who refuse to participate in these crimes, who are ashamed at the bloody stains that soak the uniform of the Israeli army and all those who would call its conduct moral or democratic. There are Israelis like Tsfiya and Itamar who feel it is their moral, and human, duty to stand with us.

They have killed our children, Hussam. What can we do but fight on? We will never lay down our arms. For despite the advanced military technology and deadly force that we face, it is we who posses the most dangerous weapons of all. These are the weapons of morality and justice. We will not surrender these in the face of brutality, and we will be steadfast in demanding justice for our children. Ahmed and Abir’s murderers must be judged and sentenced as criminals. Let me be clear: we do not seek revenge. Justice for our beloved, dead children will not be served by the murder of a young Israeli girl in front of her school, or by the murder of a young Israeli boy by a bullet to the head. We will refuse to mirror the violent means of the occupation. You and I, and every Palestinian, must let our morals and our humanity and the teachings of our great faith be our guides.

Yours in bereavement and steadfastness,
Bassam Aramin

Here are some fantastic photos from Mars. The images were selected and presented for their aesthetic appeal. Enjoy.

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/Mars_as_art/index_noaccess.html

While the governments of the world collude if only by their inaction to the starving of Gaza population--a criminal act by any standard--two boats, full of human rights activits, set out from Cyprus today to try to break the blocade imposed by Israel on Gaza and its people. The people on the boat exemplify principles of commitment to human rights. They also exemplify courage: faced with all sorts of threats to their lives they set off. Hats off to all those decent human beings on these two boats. Hats off to the authorities in Cyprus which facilitated the mission and did all they could to ensure the safety of the boats and the activists while on Cypriote territory.

This is the kind of action that will bring freedom to the opressed not government hot air rhetoric. This is the kind of challenge that needs to happen to bring dignity to all human beings.

Here is a link to the free Gaza movement site where you can get more information www.freegaza.org

Please visit the site and help in whichever way you can.

Israel says it will prevent peace protest boats

reaching Gaza Strip

Total of 46 activists seek to challenge economic blockade and deliver aid

Source: The Guardian newspaper www.guardian.co.uk

Saturday Aug. 23, 2008

Update:

NEWS

A Statement from the International Human Rights Workers Aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, Sailing to Gaza For Immediate Release Date : 08-23-2008 (10am, 23 August, 2008) At 10am this morning, the Cyprus team of the Free Gaza Movement was able to briefly speak with our people on board the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty. They are all fine, and they asked us to release the following statement: "The electronic systems which guarantee our safety aboard the SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty have been jammed and scrambled. Both ships are flying Greek flags, and are in international waters. We are the victims of electronic piracy. We are currently in GMS P area A2 and we are relying on our satellite communications equipment to make a distress call, if needed. We are civilians from 17 nations and are on this project to break the siege of Gaza. We are not experienced sailors. As a result, there is concern about the health and safety of the people on board such an emergency develop. We are currently experiencing rough sea conditions, and we call on the Greek government and the international community to meet their responsibilities and protect the civilians on board our two ships in international waters."

Surrealism is a cultural movement best known for producing visual and written works juxtaposing unexpected elements and non sequitur sometimes bordering on the absurd. Often surrealism taps into the subconscious and the world of dreams and of the imagination.

This story was published in a report by the B’Tselem--The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. The reporters were the field observers of Machsom Watch--an Israeli organization that monitors the checkpoints.

“What can I do with all this cheese in the sun? Come on soldier, let me pass the cheese. Look it’s getting ruined.”

“You can’t take your car into Nablus [a town in the West Bank]” said the soldier. “You don’t have a permit for the car.”

“I don’t have a permit for the car? But, you can see for yourself, I have a permit from the…ministry of agriculture…I am allowed to pass my cheese, I have sheep, I make cheese from them and sell it in Ramallah [another town in the West Bank] where they use it for knafeh [a pastry filled with cheese]. Every week I transfer the cheese in my car to Nablus, from Nablus I go to Huwara checkpoint and then I head to Ramallah. And now you, a bunch of new soldiers, tell me that I need a permit to enter with my car into Nablus. If you would let me I would bypass it, I don’t even want to enter Nablus, I just want to get to Ramallah. How do you want me to pass all this cheese, on my back?” said the cheese man and pointed at the buckets that were full of hard salty cheese.

“I don’t care how you pass it, get into your car and drive away, I don’t want to see you here again without a permit for your car.”

The cheese man sighed in desperation and turned around to look for a car that had a permit to enter Nablus.

After half an hour the cheese man found a car with a permit to enter Nablus. It took another thirty minutes to transfer the buckets from one car to the other, and another thirty minutes waiting in line. The soldier inspected the car for five minutes and sent them back to Beit Furik [a small town in the West Bank].

“What’s the matter,” we asked the soldier, “This [sic] car has a permit to enter Nablus.”

“Yes it does,” the soldier said, “but the permit allows the car to enter empty, it hasn’t got a permit to transfer merchandise.”

After twenty minutes he [the cheese man] found a car with a permit to enter Nablus and to transfer merchandise. It took twenty minutes to move the buckets from one car to the other (by then they have become experts in this) and thank god the car passed the checkpoint and entered Nablus.

After an hour we left to Huwara checkpoint. We parked at the faraway parking lot and walked to the checkpoint. From afar we saw buckets of cheese being moved from one car to the other.

…We came close. It was the same man that was at Beit Furik. He passed the checkpoint into Nablus, but the car he was in didn’t have a permit to exit from Nablus, he started moving the cheese to another car that had a permit to transfer merchandise from Nablus through Huwara and head to Ramallah, so at the exit from Nablus, he started moving the cheese to another car that had a perm,it to transfer merchandise from Nablus through Huwara. He got out of Nablus and then had to move the cheese again from one car to the other.

“What’s the matter,” we asked, “doesn’t this car have a permit to transfer merchandise?”

“Yes it has,” said the cheese man, “it has a permit to transfer merchandise.”

“So why are you moving the cheese from one car to the other all over again?” we asked.

“It doesn’t have a permit to pass through Za’atara. I’m swapping it with a car that has a permit to pass through Za’atara in the direction of Ramallah.

Although this story has some elements of surrealism, it is not a work of fiction. It is not the fruit of a vivid and creative imagination, and it is not a dream lodged deep in the subconscious. It is a typical story of the daily experience of millions of people throughout the West Bank. A trip that normally should take thirty or forty five minutes can take up to two or three hours. Sometimes people have to turn around and go home without completing the trip, only to try again the next day.

One has to wonder about the purpose of this seemingly bizarre and arbitrary situation which makes an otherwise surreal and perhaps even comical episode to become a common, sad and humiliating experience.

We are constantly told by the apologists of the occupation that the checkpoints are for security reasons. We are told that Israel has an obligation to protect its citizens against “terrorists” bent of destroying lives as well as the state of Israel. Never mind the fact that Israel boasts of the fourth strongest military in the world.

Is the cheese is a security threat? Is the only way this threat can be eliminated is by finding the right car with the right permit to transport it? Obviously, the concern is not about security. It is clear that the purpose of these checkpoints, located deep inside the West Bank, is to harass and humiliate the Palestinians and to disrupt any semblance of a normal life. The checkpoints are there to demonstrate who is in control: that the Israeli authorities and military can do anything they please whenever they please.

In the West Bank and Gaza, surrealism has become a way of life, but the result is not meant to be a work of artistic expression but rather a means of doling out misery, poverty, anger and violence.

This is an article I recently wrote for a local publication--an alternative publication still struggling to see the day.

The boats made it to Gaza. They broke the siege.

"We've entered Gazan waters!" Yvonne Ridley Date : 08-23-2008

A Message to All from the SS Liberty: "We've entered Gazan waters. We're flying the Palestinian flag, and we now believe that we're going to reach the shores of Gaza very soon. I missed the start of the Berlin Wall coming down by just a few days, but now I know how people felt when they tore down those first few bricks. Today is a huge victory of people over power." --Yvonne Ridley, abord the SS Liberty, bound for Gaza, 23 Aug. 2008

Update:

FREE GAZA BOATS ARRIVE IN GAZA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date : 08-23-2008

Let this be a lesson to all. A small group of determined, committed and well organized ordinary people engaging in non-violent action can achieve results that governments are incapable or are unwilling to achieve. Would this be an embarrassment to Mubarak, the dictator of Egypt puppet of the US? Would he feel the shame and feel compelled to open the border and allow food and medicine to cross into Gaza? I hope against hope that would be the case.

Below is an article I have published in the local newspaper some 5 years ago. The debate is more relevant today than it was then.

Israel Palestine: Toward Separation or Integration?

by Aref Nammari

Special to the Daily Times-Call (published May 25, 2003)

As a mode of thinking, separation has dominated all discourse on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict at the exclusion of all other possibilities. Ten years after the now-dead and buried Oslo Peace Process, yet another peace initiative, the "Road Map," is in the works. My belief is that it will find its place among the numerous other failed attempts at peace through separation. Establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is not a central issue, nor is it a prerequisite for peace. The roots of the conflict lie elsewhere.

The overriding approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been "two peoples, two states." This thinking stems from the irreconcilable differences between Zionist and Palestinian claims and narratives. On one hand, political Zionists start with the premise that Jews constitute a separate and distinct people, and given their long history of being the subject of hatred and persecution, they are entitled to live in peace and freedom in their own country between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. On the other hand Palestinian Arabs see this same land as their home. Their ancestors have lived there for centuries. Accepting the Zionist claim meant they had to give up their land, which has shaped their identity and culture.

From the very beginning, then, the idea of saving the Jews of Europe from persecution and maintaining the Palestinian Arab identity were on a collision course. Achieving one meant the exclusion of the other. Separation and exclusion of the other were central to the fulfillment of each of the party's dreams, national identities and aspirations. Separation would have been easy if there was a clear way to divide the land. But the fact is, there isn't. Dividing the land means injustice and unfairness.

The 1947 Partition Plan gave the Jewish state 52 percent of Palestine, which at the time was a British protectorate won from the Ottoman Empire in World War I. At the time, Jewish ownership did not exceed six or seven percent. Palestinians asked: Why should we concede the majority of our land to a minority of the population? The post-war partition plan reinforced among the Palestinian Arabs the notion that they were viewed as a people possessing no political rights. The notion was reinforced by the Balfour Declaration in 1917, in which the British government endorsed the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The declaration referred only to the Palestinians' "civil and religious rights," failing to address their legal and political rights. A deep sense of betrayal, of injustice and of victimhood took root among the Palestinians.

Despite the myth that Palestine was "a land with no people, "the leaders knew well that Palestine was not a vacant land. The realization of the Zionist dream meant confronting the fact that Palestine was already inhabited. The idea of a Jewish state rests on the principle of separation and exclusion: Jews cannot be free from persecution unless they form a homeland for the benefit of all Jews. Consequently, the indigenous Palestinian population is relegated to an inferior status. This view spells disaster not only for Jews, but also for Palestinians. It is a path leading to certain confrontation and conflict.

This was predicted by Jewish thinkers such as Martin Buber, Judah Magness and Hannah Arendt. They were right. The military conflict in 1948 led to the defeat of the Arabs, the dispossession of Palestinians and the creation of the state of Israel on 78 percent of Palestine.

During the war, about 750,000 Palestinians were either expelled or fled their homes. Those Palestinian refugees and their descendents have ever since been denied the right to return to their homes, while Jews worldwide were granted unrestricted immigration and citizenship rights.

Palestinians cannot comprehend why a Jew born in Russia, Poland or Germany has the right to settle in Palestine while they, who have lived there for centuries, are denied that right. After the second Arab-Israeli war in 1967, the situation was exacerbated by years of military occupation and humiliation of Palestinians, which bred more anger and hostility.

In 1993, Israeli and Palestinian leaders met quietly in Oslo, Norway, to craft a long-term peace plan. The Oslo agreement was "based on the principle of separation between Jews and others", the raison d'etre of Israel. An important requirement of Israel and Oslo was for the Palestinians to renounce the historic loss: to forget the past and to be content with 20 percent of their homeland. Israel went into Oslo with the intent of transforming the Palestinians into guarantors of Israel's security while offering only a semblance of sovereignty over a disjointed and dismembered territory.

Those same principles are now being emphasized by the "road map" proposed by the Bush Administration. Oslo and the road map do not address the central question, which is how to reconcile the claims of both Israelis and Palestinians to the same piece of land. The question is, can we accept in today's world of supra-national globalization the notion of a state for the exclusive benefit of a particular ethnic or religious group? The reality of the situation is that the lives of Israelis and Palestinians have become so intertwined, despite their inequality and asymmetry of power, that a clean separation is not a feasible or a viable long-term solution.

It is time for both Israelis and Palestinians to start speaking about sharing the land and of living together in a truly democratic and secular society with equal rights of citizenship. This idea does not mean diminishing Jewish life or surrendering Palestinian aspirations and


identity. It does mean, though, that neither party can claim exclusivity to the land and both must give up ideas of special status based on ethnic or religious criteria.

Many Israelis and Palestinians, frustrated with the realities of the present, call for the emergence of a new kind of thinking that is both innovative and daring to go beyond stalemate, exclusion and rejection. The starting point of such thinking is the assertion and the acknowledgement of the other as an equal. Once this first step is taken, the rest becomes possible. The vision of a new reality becomes attractive and a real alternative to the reality of the present.

However, this first step is not easy to take. The feelings of persecution, suffering and victimhood are so deeply rooted that it is very hard, almost impossible, to accept any ideas that hold Israelis and Palestinians to the same principles of equality. Nonetheless, we need to start. Both peoples need to acknowledge the extent to which our suffering is intertwined. We cannot allow the suffering and the tragedies of one to justify the infliction of suffering on the other. Neither of the two peoples have the monopoly of suffering - we both are victims and we both have suffered. It is time to say enough.

It is incumbent upon us, ordinary people, Palestinians and Israelis, to start talking to each other beyond the simple, recriminating, us-versus-them rhetoric. We have to engage in a public debate and dialogue to challenge the ideas of blind nationalism which is the real obstacle to true reconciliation. We must take this first step, because the alternative is the sad continuation of war and bloodshed.

Both Palestinians and Israelis are there to stay and ,consequently, in the words of respected Columbia University professor Edward Said, the only possible conclusion must be to find ways for "coexistence and genuine reconciliation." This is, I believe, the only possible way to redress injustice.