Kia Ora Gaza

Thousands of people gather to celebrate the 29th anniversary of the foundation of Hamas in Khan Yunis, Gaza on December 11 2016 [Ali Jadallah / Anadolu Agency]

OPINION: By Dr Daud Abdullah, Middle East Monitor, 1 May 2017

One hundred years of oppression have not diminished or erased the Palestinian hope for freedom. Throughout this year, 2017, they are marking the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which started their tragedy. The occasion is about the past, as well as the future. And, it is in this context that the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has launched its new General Policies and Principles Document.

When Hamas issued its founding Charter in August 1988, the occupied territories were in the grip of the First Intifada (uprising). Both the content and tone of its message was then largely one for its followers and the “stone-throwing generation” who had risen up against the occupation. Thirty years on, things have changed drastically. The occupation has become more inhumane while transforming itself into a system of apartheid rule. A new political framework is, therefore, needed to give not just hope, but direction to the Palestinian people as well.

Politics aside, Hamas is plainly positioning itself to occupy the moral high-ground left vacant by other national forces. The leadership which brokered the ill-fated Oslo Accords two decades ago still remains in power; albeit now discredited and mistrusted by large sections of Palestinian society. Despite their best efforts, they seem incapable of shaking off the image of a self-serving and corrupt elite.

Rightfully, Palestinians yearn for an all embracing and inclusive leadership; one that honours their sacrifices, respects their will and pursues their legitimate rights. With this in mind Hamas has carefully framed its General Policies Document in a language that resonates with Palestinians of all political and religious persuasions. While affirming a willingness to recognise a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, Hamas, nonetheless, remains committed to its declared objective of a free Palestine, from Naqurra in the north to Rashrash in the south, and from the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal presents new document in which Hamas accepts 1967 borders without recognising state of Israel. (AJ)

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Israel’s arrogance, detestation of international law, ‘ongoing contempt for the world, the bragging and bullying’ have all reached unprecedented heights [EPA]

By Ramzy Baroud, Al Jazeeera, (aljazeera.com) 2 May 2017. Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author.

How Israel’s violent birth destroyed Palestine

Nearly 70 years after the founding of Israel, the past is still looming large.

As Israel celebrates the Palestinian Nakba as its triumphant independence on May 1, it is preparing for a massive celebration for the 50th anniversary of its occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

Two dates are often used to frame the so-called Palestinian-Israeli conflict: Nakba Day on May 15 and Naksa Day on June 5.

Nakba means “catastrophe”, a reference that was commonly used to describe the violence meted out against the Palestinian Arab population during the period of British colonialism in Palestine, which extended from 1917 to 1948.

The term Nakba morphed to define the zenith of British and Zionist colonisation and settlement in Palestine, which ultimately led to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population from their historic homeland in 1947 and 1948.

May 15, 1948, was the final act of all previous “catastrophes”.

Naksa, on the other hand, means the “letdown”.

June 13, 1967: Egyptian prisoners of war hold their hands aloft after being rounded up by Israeli forces in the Sinai desert following the Six-Day War [Getty Images]

In that period, there were high hopes among ordinary Arabs that Arab armies would manage to defeat Israel, reclaim historic Palestine and pave the road for the Palestinian refugees – dispossessed during the Nakba – to go back to their homes.

By then, the number of refugees had grown rapidly, and refugee camps were bursting at the seams with misery and destitution.

During the Nakba, nearly 500 villages were destroyed, entire Palestinian towns depopulated and approximately 800,000 Palestinians exiled to make room for Jewish immigrants who arrived from all corners of the globe.

The 1967 war, however, was a major letdown.

The Arabs were soundly defeated.

Lack of preparedness and hyped expectations on the Arab side, and massive American-Western military and financial support of Israel, led to a humiliating defeat for the Arabs on all fronts: the West Bank, Jordan’s western border, the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Sinai and the Syrian Golan Heights.

That defeat settled the military score decisively for Israel, cementing US-Israel relations like never before; and, equally important, led to a fundamental shift in language.

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‘The fact so many Palestinian prisoners went on hunger strike is testament to desperation’ says the Chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Mossaud Shadjareh.

RT Live video report, 29 April 2017

Dozens of Palestinians have reportedly been injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers. Protesters, who turned out in support of over 1500 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, have set bins on fire and thrown stones at soldiers in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. The mass hunger strike, now in its second week, is demanding human rights and an end to imprisonment without trial.

One of the main demands of the hunger strike is to end medical negligence of prisoners.

Israel has punished hunger striking prisoners with a series of measures, including denying family visits and meetings with lawyers.

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike are also protesting solitary confinement, night raids on prisoners’ cells, humiliating searches, the reduction of family visits, a ban on mobile phones, suspension of university education, restrictions on books and magazines, and widespread imprisonment without charge or trial, family members of striking prisoners and their lawyers.

An earlier PressTV video report on the hunger strike and solidarity protests, includes an interview with Kia Ora Gaza organiser, Roger Fowler.

Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian man at a checkpoint in Beit Enoon near the West Bank city of Hebron on April 04, 2016. Photo by Wisam Hashlamoun/FLASH90

By Fady Khoury, 972mag.com, 29 April 2017

Guess which of these human rights Israel guarantees to Palestinians

The right to equality? The right to free movement in and out of the country? How about the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest and exile? Or the right to marriage and family?

Everyone on Facebook is playing a game where they post nine concerts they’ve been to and one they haven’t. The idea is your friends have to guess which band you haven’t seen.

I want to play too, but I’ve been to only two concerts in my life, both of which were Mashrou’ Leila’s. So I thought of a different way to play.

Here are 10 human rights listed, among others, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Nine of these human rights are violated by Israel when it comes to Palestinians, and one is fully respected:

1. Right to Equality.
2. Right to Equality before the Law.
3. Right to Life, Liberty, Personal Security.
4. Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment.
5. Right to Remedy by Competent Tribunal.
6. Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile.
7. Right to Free Movement in and out of the Country.
8. Right to Marriage and Family.
9. Right to Own Property.
10. Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association.

Which one is the outlier here? look for the answer below.

___________________________________________________________

Okay, I tricked you. Israel violates them all.

Here’s how:

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This is Rodina Abu Khrais, a 4 year-old-girl (from Gaza) with a congenital heart defect, has been unable to access urgent health care for the past two years. In 2013 Rodina had heart surgery in Tel Hashomer hospital shortly after birth and had three follow up visits, one of which required an admission for one month. Since July 2015, the family has applied 10 times for an exit permit for catheterization and evaluation for additional heart surgery for the child without success.

Seven times the request was still under study on the date of the hospital appointment, and on two occasions the family was asked to change the companion. Once there was no response at all to the request. All four grandparents and a family relative have been listed as possible companions but no approval was given. The child has a number of disabilities, said the father: “Rodina depends on oxygen therapy most of the time, and cannot talk or walk. She also has a hearing impairment and clings to her mother most of the time.” The family has appealed through the ICRC and two local human rights organizations without success and have another permit request pending.

Mass hunger strike in Israeli jails.

VIDEO by teleSUR 18 April 2017: Palestinian prisoners held by the Israeli state have begun an open-ended hunger strike in a bid to better their living conditions as well as to garner support from the international community. https://videosenglish.telesurtv.net/v…

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Gaza’s electricity company announced on Monday that that the total available power supply was less than one third of the daily consumption in the coastal enclave – aggravating the health of the weakest with often less than 4 hours of electricity per day. A “perfect storm” of events could make life in Gaza unsustainable.

The Palestinian Chronicle, 18 April 2017

Less Than a Third of Gaza’s Power Needs Met After Sole Power Plant Shuts Down

After the besieged Gaza Strip’s sole power plant shut down Sunday, as fuel supplies funded by Qatar and Turkey in January dried up, Gaza’s electricity company announced on Monday that that the total available power supply was less than one third of the daily consumption in the coastal enclave.

In its daily report, the company explained that it could only distribute 133 megawatts a day to the Gaza Strip’s districts, which consume between 450 and 500 megawatts. The Israeli grids provide 120 megawatts, while Egyptian grids are able to provide only 13, after one of the Egyptian power lines was disconnected last night, according to the statement.

Later Monday, Gaza’s power authority accused the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) for causing “another electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip.”

Deputy Chairman of Gaza’s power authority Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil said in a news conference in Gaza City that the PA’s power authority “has been putting off major projects, which could help solve the electricity crisis in Gaza,” such as a project that which seeks to increase the output of the power grid linking Gaza to Israel through the 161 line, enlargement of the Egyptian grids, and installing a gas line for Gaza’s power plant, he said.

“Fuel for the power plant should have been bought in from the money (Gaza’s) electricity company collects from consumers, but this has become unaffordable after the (PA) consensus government decided to suddenly impose full taxes on the fuel it sells to the power plant.”

Gaza’s power authority has repeatedly blamed the electricity crisis on the PA-imposed fuel taxes in recent days. According to Khalil, operating the power plant’s two generators costs 50 million shekels ($13.67 million) with these taxes as opposed to 20 million ($5.47 million) without.

The official said that Gaza residents were currently connected to power for six hours at a time followed by 12 hours blackouts – down from Gaza’s normal schedule of two eight-hour intervals of daily electricity. According to Qatar-based news site Al Jazeera, locals said they were expecting a reduction to just four hours of electricity at a time.

Gaza’s power authority warned of an imminent shut down of the plant last week, and on Friday, temporarily cut off electricity to all districts in protest of “unfair measures” imposed on the coastal enclave, as Hamas and the Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority (PA) continued to blame each other for a deepening electricity crisis in the coastal enclave, aggravated by a decade-long political dispute between the factions.

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