Category Archives: Palestine

Noa: Open letter to the wind

If we refuse to recognize each other’s rights and embrace our obligations, if we continue to each cling to his own narrative with contempt and disregard for that of the other, if we again and again choose swords over words, if we sanctify land and not the lives of our children, we shall soon be forced to truly seek a colony on the moon, for our land will be so drenched in blood and so cluttered with tomb stones there will be nothing left for the living.

I wrote these words, and sang them together with my friend Mira Awad. They stand truer than ever today:

“when I cry I cry for both of us,

My pain has no name.

When I cry, I cry to the merciless sky and say:

There must be another way”

Noa, july 22, 2014

via Noa: Open letter to the wind.

Gaza girls flee shells in Shujaiyeh, killed in place deemed safer | Maan News Agency

A Palestinian couple from Shajaiyeh decided to leave their home several days ago and bring their family to central Gaza City, thinking it would be a safer place.

However, four sisters from the family were killed when their grandparents’ home where they were taking refuge was hit by Israeli artillery shells.

“They fled the shelling in Shujaiyeh neighborhood, to their grandfather’s house in Thalathini, but shells followed them there,” the bereaved father said.

“My daughters were playing on the roof of their grandfather’s house when I was telling my wife on the phone that we should go back home,” father Yasser al-Qassas said.

The call ended all of a sudden, he said. “When I redialed there was no answer.”

“I telephoned one of my wife’s brothers and he didn’t answer either. A cousin of mine then answered my call to say that my daughters had been killed.”

via Gaza girls flee shells in Shujaiyeh, killed in place deemed safer | Maan News Agency.

Dozens more killed in Israel’s Gaza operation – Daily News Egypt

Over a dozen Palestinians were killed overnight and early Tuesday as warplanes and artillery continued targeting homes in Gaza on the fifteenth day of Israel’s offensive, Gaza residents confirmed.

The latest series of Israeli attacks brought the Palestinian death toll to over 600, according to Palestinian health officials, with over 3,500 Palestinians injured.

“Since starting our ground operation in Gaza, we have struck 1,388 terror sites and killed 183 terrorists,” an IDF spokesperson said on his Twitter account.

via Dozens more killed in Israel’s Gaza operation – Daily News Egypt.

At least 50 Palestinians killed overnight. 509 killed and over 3135 injured in Gaza in 15 days of Israeli attacks

509 Palestinians were killed and over 3135 were injured in the past fifteen days of ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. The IOF killed over 50 Palestinians this Monday.

via At least 50 Palestinians killed overnight. 509 killed and over 3135 injured in Gaza in 15 days of Israeli attacks.

full to capacity | Palestine Rose

no words.

tears.

hospital fridges

are full.

no more

room

to put

martyrs.

no words.

tears.

via full to capacity | Palestine Rose.

 

Me: This affects us all: the victims, their families and friends, those who could be next in the spreading terror and revenge cycle. Pray for the souls of those killed and of the killers who lose their humanity and pieces of their souls as they “follow” orders, “defend” themselves and their mates. War and violence consumes us all – peace it the answer.

Both Sides Report Deadliest Day in Gaza War – NYTimes.com

Taghreed Harazin, 34, sat under a gazebo with her six-month-old son, Diaa, in the car seat in which she had carried him on foot until finding a taxi. She said she had believed the evacuation order was only for the eastern part of the neighborhood, and mistakenly thought she would be safe at home. Moving was frightening, she said, because of airstrikes.

But during the night, as the family prepared their predawn Ramadan meal — only bread, since there was no electricity to cook with — heavy shelling started. They went to the basement for three hours, then ventured out at dawn.

As the family dashed through the streets to avoid crashing shells, Ms. Harazin, said, she saw the decapitated body of a boy who looked about 4, and a wounded woman in a black abaya nearby, both lying on the sidewalk. An ambulance came and took them both away.

“We are not Hamas, and we are not with the others,” Ms. Harazin said. “We just want to live in our homes. The people are not Hamas. Israel has a problem with Hamas. What’s the fault of the other people? We have nothing to do with it.”

Asked what she thought of Hamas’s handling of the current war, she said, “Sometimes it’s difficult to express your opinion.”

She faulted Israel for shelling civilian homes, but said of Hamas’s actions, “If you say any word, it’s held against you.” She said her husband had been beaten for complaining about Hamas.

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A lab technician, Ms. Harazin had brought a medical kit with her, along with her son’s diaper bag, in case anyone needed help. She had bandaged the foot of an elderly woman sitting next to her, who cut it on glass as she fled barefoot.

The woman, Wadha Abu Amr, said her family were refugees from what is now Beersheba. They fled from there in 1948 during the war over Israel’s founding.

“I’m afraid that this is another 1948,” she said, “God forbid. We were driven out in 1948 and we are being driven out again now.”

via Both Sides Report Deadliest Day in Gaza War – NYTimes.com.

Palestinian intellectuals demand ‘unity’ in actions, not words

Resistance might mean different things to different people. But Resistance, in its many forms, is taking place all over Palestine.

Over recent years, two television programs have dominated Palestinian TV during Ramadan. The Syrian drama series ‘Bab al-Hara’ (‘Gate of the Neighbourhood’) takes centre stage in households across the country after the iftar meal, with its tales of Syrian life under French imperial rule.

via Palestinian intellectuals demand ‘unity’ in actions, not words.

List of names of the 321 Palestinians killed between the 8th and the 19th of July

Killed Saturday 19/7

1. Yahia Bassam as-Serry, 20, Khan Younis.

2. Mohammad Bassam as-Serry, 17, Khan Younis.

3. Mahmoud Rida Salhiyya, 56, Khan Younis.

4. Mustafa Rida Salhiyya, 21, Khan Younis.

5. Mohammad Mustafa Salhiyya, 22, Khan Younis.

6. Waseem Rida Salhiyya, 15, Khan Younis.

7. Ibrahim Jamal Kamal Nassr, 13, Khan Younis.

8. Rushdi Khaled Nassr, 24, Khan Younis.

9. Mohammad Awad Faris Nassr, 25, Khan Younis.

10. Ahmad Mahmoud Hasan Aziz, 34, Beit Hanoun

11. Sa’id Ali Issa, 30, Juhr ed-Deek, Central Gaza.

12. Raed Walid Laqan, 27, Khan Younis.

13. Mohammad Jihad al-Qara’, 29, Khan Younis.

14. Rafat Ali Bahloul, 36, Khan Younis.

15. Bilal Ismail Abu Doqqa, 33, Khan Younis.

16. Mohammad Ismail Sammour, 21, Khan Younis.

17. Eyad Ismael ar-Raqab, 26, Khan Younis.

18. Mohammad Atallah Odah Sa’adat, 25, Beit Hanoun.

19. Mohammad Rafiq ar-Rohhal, 22, Beit Lahia.

20. Mohammad Ziad ar-Rohhal, 6, Beit Lahia.

21. Mohammad Ahmad Abu Za’nouna, 37, Gaza City.

via List of names of the 321 Palestinians killed between the 8th and the 19th of July.

Desmond Tutu likens Gaza crisis to apartheid | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

“It is not a Muslim or Jewish crisis. It is a human rights crisis with roots to what amounts to an apartheid system of land ownership and control,” he said.

“Yes, we condemn those who fan the flames, who launch the missiles against Israel, but missiles do not justify Israel’s excessive response,” he said.

“As an old man, my appeal to my fellow laureates and peacemakers is to step into the leadership void, to make your voices heard from all corners of the globe, to advocate or pressure your government and institutions to cajole, to persuade,” Tutu said

via Desmond Tutu likens Gaza crisis to apartheid | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.