One of the people we met in Ramallah in 2008 is Sam Bahour, a Palestinian and an American citizen, who returned to Palestine after the Oslo Accords, hopeful that peace was soon to come and that he could help in the development of communications for a new Palestinian state -- that was more than ten years ago. Today he sent this note from the daughter of a friend, Walid (Hanatsheh) Abu Rass, who has been detained by Israeli authorities, without being charged with a crime.

Here is Walid's daughter's appeal (you can read it on Sam's blog here: http://epalestine.blogspot.com/2012/07/letter-from-my-friend-walids-daughter.html) and read some background on Walid's case in his earlier blog posting: http://epalestine.blogspot.com/2012/06/epalestine-update-on-my-friend-walids.html

Mays Hanatsheh, 15 years old

Letter from Mays:

The phone rang. It was unexpected. It was the lawyer. When we answered his voice was happy, flying in the sky, and he was so excited. We asked him what is going on and he said that today he received a verdict that is one of the best verdicts ever made for someone being held by Israel under Administrative Detention.

We were surprised and kind of mixed up so we asked what is going on one more time and he answered simply that my dad, Waleed, was going to be released in two weeks, on June 22! The next question was: what happened? He said the judge in the last court hearing said that dad didn’t have any new confidential evidence presented against him and the Israeli military judge decided that he should be released. This is why the lawyer was so happy and he was sure that dad was going to be released on June 22.

From that moment, me, my sister, and my mom started to prepare for the reception on June 22nd. We started thinking of what were going to wear and which food my dad prefers and the way we are going to meet him in front of the prison and many other small details.

But this happiness was short. Sunday was gone and we were happy because another day passed and only a few days were left. This was on Sunday, but Monday came and it wasn’t a good day because we got bad news. Israel extended my dad’s detention by three more months. This is the reason I have lost all hope toward these courts. The problem is that the judge, himself, said that there was no new confidential evidence and there was no reason to keep my dad in prison. So why did they extend his time? I need an answer!

Christmas is gone and he is not with us. Also, Easter is gone and he still not with us. Summer is going and he is not with us. All our birthdays are gone and he didn’t attend them. Ramadan is coming soon and he will not be with us.

So I need a person to tell me when my father is going to be with us in order for me to know how to plan for my future. I can’t plan anything because I don’t have a specific day of being with my father, so can you help me?

Mays Hanatsheh

July 6, 2012

As you fix your breakfast, think of others. 

Don’t forget to feed the pigeons.

As you fight in your wars, think of others. 

Don’t forget those who desperately demand peace.

As you pay your water bill, think of others who drink the clouds’ rain.

As you return home, your home, think of others. 

Don’t forget those who live in tents.

As you sleep and count planets, think of others. 

There are people without any shelter to sleep.

As you express yourself using all metaphorical expressions, 

think of others who lost their rights to speak.

As you think of others who are distant, think of yourself and say 

“I wish I was a candle to fade away the darkness."

The words of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, provide inspiration for 20-year-old Shahd Abusalama, living in Gaza. The daughter of a Palestinian political prisoner, she writes about her life and struggles from Gaza. Today’s blog is about the prisoners who are still engaged in a hunger strike against the Israeli practice of administrative detention (holding prisoners without charging them with a crime) and the widespread use of longterm solitary confinement, as in the case of Hassan Sallameh, moved after 13 years of solitary confinement.

The seeming victory of the prisoners on May 14, however, is diminished by the more than 30 administrative detention orders that have been renewed and the three new ones that have been signed since the agreement.

She also writes about Mahmoud Al Sarsak, the Palestinian football star who has been imprisoned since July, 2009. He is now in the 84^th day of his hunger strike, weighing only 100 pounds. To write a letter to the Israeli Prison Service, see: Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network’s action alert.

Read Shahd Abusalama’s blog on the Electric Intifada.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of Israel’s stepped-up blockade of Gaza.

Five years ago, in June of 2007, after Hamas won elections in Gaza and expelled Fatah leaders, Israel clamped down on Gaza, denying entrance to Gaza for many products—foods, construction materials, fuels, etc.

For twelve hours today The Guardian UK is blogging from Gaza, exploring life there today and the effects of Israel’s blockade. Take a look at interviews with some of the children of Gaza, telling about their lives and their hopes for the future:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2012/jun/08/gaza-live-blog

There you can also see a report on Gaza’s fishermen and more about the history of the blockade.

Killing Without Consequence

Seeking justice for Ziad Jilani

June 11 marks two years since Ziad Jilani was killed by Israeli border-policeman Maxim Vinogradov in Wadi Joz, Occupied East Jerusalem. Driving home from Friday prayers as Al Aqsa mosque, Ziad’d windshield was struck by a rock and he swerved, causing a small accident. Border police shot at him, chased and killed him after he had already been shot in the back and was wounded, lying on the ground. He was unarmed. The case against Maxim Vinogradov and his commander Shadi Heir Al Din was closed for lack of evidence despite an abundance of irrefutable evidence that Ziad was executed while he was wounded unarmed and posing no threat to anyone.

Ziad’s death shows how Palestinians can be randomly killed, labeled as a terrorist and no one is prosecuted for the crime. Since the beginning of the second Intifada (2000) at least 6,444 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli security forces. During this time no Jewish Israeli soldier has been charged with murder for killing a Palestinian.

Ziad’s wife Moira, his family and friends, with the al-Mazaan Center for Human Rights, are organizing a campaign to bring his killer to trial. See: Killing Without Consequence.com  Watch a 9-minute video made by Moira, telling about Ziad and what happened on June 11. And sign the petition: http://killingwithoutconsequence.com/?page_id=2

"Pinkwashing" by Israel - LGBYTQ friendly?

Here is an interesting statement by the director of the Columbia Law School Center for Gender and sexuality. To read the entire statement, see http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5403/boycotting-the-equality-forum_statement-by-profess

Hi, I’m Katherine Franke from Columbia Law School, and I’m sorry I can’t join you today in person at the Equality Forum’s panel on legal issues, I want to thank you for indulging my presence by video.

As you no doubt know, the Equality Forum has chosen Israel as it’s featured nation this year, and for that reason I thought this was a good opportunity to talk a little bit about the state of gay rights in Israel/Palestine. Last January, I was part of the first lgbtq delegation to the West Bank – 16 of us, academics, artists, journalists, community leaders, and even a lesbian rabbi – visited Palestine and Israel in order to get a first hand sense of lesbian, gay, trans and queer politics in the region. While we were there Tel Aviv was voted in poll to be the “world’s best gay city.” Lesbians and gay men have been openly serving in the Israeli military for years, same-sex couples’ marriages have been recognized by the state for some time, and Israel has much better sexual orientation discrimination laws than we do. The Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren often notes that, in his words: Israel “provides shelter to Palestinian homosexuals seeking safety from Islamists in the West Bank.”

Given all of this, I was really curious to hear what queer Palestinians had to say about the struggles they face. I met with Israeli gay activists in Tel Aviv, as well as the members of Al Qaws, the Palestinian lgbtq group based in Ramallah, and Aswat, an organization of Palestinian lesbians who are citizens of Israel and is located in Haifa. What they told us, and what I witnessed, complicated the story of gay rights in the region considerably. Here are some highlights of what I learned:

While Tel Aviv may have a hot and hunky gay bar scene – the tolerance or acceptance of homosexuality is not as common elsewhere in the country. Israel, like the U.S. is a complex place, and is increasingly religiously conservative – in fact when I was in Jerusalem I saw that many of the public busses are now sex segregated, men sitting in front, women in the back, and in one Jerusalem neighborhood women are banned from walking on the main streets entirely so as to avoid men having contact with them. A recent report documented that almost half of the out gays and lesbians serving in the Israeli military have been sexually harassed by other servicemembers, and a member of the Knesset and Education Minister recently said that gays “are not people like everyone else,” that we are an abomination. Ambassador Oren was mistaken when he said that Israel gives asylum to gay and lesbian Palestinians. Israel does not grant asylum to any

Palestinians, regardless of their sexual orientation, and in fact won’t even let an Israeli who marries a Palestinian share their Israeli citizenship with their spouse. Tel Aviv may have a great gay scene, but most Palestinians will never see it since, regardless of their sexual orientation, because they are not allowed to pass through the checkpoints and the Wall to enter Israel from the West Bank.

What I learned from the queer Palestinians I met was that gay rights organizing in Palestine has to be understood within the context of the Israeli occupation.

The Occupation is a totalizing experience – permeating all parts of life for Palestinians. It is impossible for them to isolate their gay or lesbian selves for special legal and political treatment, but rather the fight for sexual rights is part of a larger struggle for Palestinian self-determination and freedom. Let me give you a particularly salient example: Since 2000 Shin Bet, the Israeli security service, has had a policy of blackmailing Palestinians who are gay or who are perceived to be gay and threatening to out them unless they become informants against their own people. For this reason, gay people in Palestine have a reputation as collaborators with Israel – so some of the homophobia gays and lesbians in Palestine experience is the direct product of the occupation itself. Read more….