The following was written by Samia Khoury. Khoury was born in Jaffa, Palestine on November 24, 1933. She has had a lifetime of of involvement in Palestinian civil society through Birzeit University, the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center and the YWCA of Palestine among other institutions. She sent out the following by email:
July 13, 2009
Dear Friends:
I write to you with a heavy heart as two more houses were demolished today in Beit Hanina and Silwan. Eviction orders, confiscation of land and demolishing of homes have become a daily activity of the Israeli occupying forces in East Jerusalem, while the world is watching. Renewal of Permits for couples who are seeking family reunification are being delayed endlessly without any explanation. This is a process required when one of the spouses is from outside the Jerusalem area. And when a new baby is born in Jerusalem, parents need to prove that they are actually living in Jerusalem by presenting a whole set of documents including municipal taxes, electricity, telephone, and sewage bills, etc. etc. in order to be able to register the child. As if their Identity Cards were not proof enough. Restrictions are being imposed on organizations and schools as well, so as to tighten the pressure on them and make their presence in Jerusalem irrelevant, or force them out of the city. Even cultural activities and festivals have become a great challenge for organizations and their sponsors as they continue to face obstacles imposed by military orders.
When Israel, which claims to be a leading country in the world of arts, would deprive a small community from the pleasure of enjoying music and literature festivals, then there is something very wrong in the psyche of those occupying forces. They probably would rather see us throw stones and bombs so that they will have a good reason to lock us up or expel us out of the country. But we shall not give them that pleasure. We shall defend our freedom and rights by music, art, drama and literature, and any other non-violent resistance. In fact if any of you saw this month’s publication “This Week in Palestine,” you would be astonished at the number of activities going on not only in Jerusalem, but in Ramallah, Birzeit, and other parts of the country. While we are being creative in cultural activities to help us overcome the pressures of the occupation, Israel continues to come up with the most innovative measures of oppression to subdue us and make life absolutely unbearable. If I were a cartoonist, I would sketch a demonic brain that creates this continuous onslaught.
It is becoming very obvious that there is a concerted effort to implement the policy of limiting the number of Palestinians in Jerusalem to a minimum percentage of the population of Jerusalem, which rises all the time through the annexation of Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land. The Arabic name of the city as well as the names of other towns and streets are not being spared this onslaught by the enforcement of Hebrew names, so as to obliterate not only our existence but our history and heritage.
We urge you dear friends to help us put an end to this onslaught that is affecting every aspect of our lives. We appreciate all the statements, solidarity groups, church initiatives, conferences, and all the advocacy. But rhetoric is not enough any more at this stage. There should be a serious consideration for a change in policy so that Israel, the spoilt and pampered child, will not be allowed to continue to get away with all the violations that have devastated not only the land but the human dignity of the Palestinians. We have seen how affective the policy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) was in bringing an end to the Apartheid regime in South Africa. We are not being innovative in this policy, we are simply learning from history. So I hope the international community, and basically the US administration will deal with Israel by the same standards it deals with other countries which violate UN resolutions and international law.
It will be very interesting to see if Mr. Obama can bring about that change he spoke about when he was elected, and actually be able to take action if Israel refuses to freeze the settlement building, which is illegal in the first place. No peace or security, let alone reconciliation, can prevail without justice, and a serious resolve to end this brutal occupation.
Samia Khoury
Related posts:
- Israeli City Underwrites Program to Stop Israeli Girls From Dating Israeli Arabs
- LAT columnist: Jerusalem is ‘apartheid city’ in ‘apartheid’ country
- Faced with Israeli restrictions in Jerusalem, Palestinians are trying to move into settlements
- From Gaza City to Kansas City: Andrea’s friend tells her she’s an anti-Semite
- American Jews on Jerusalem: We’ll Probably Never Go There, But Palestinians Can’t Share It!
{ 36 comments }
My heart goes out to her. Fucking Nazi Zionists keep stealing what's left of Historic Palestine.
Indeed Strahl, They are just like a Jewish Taliban, trying to destroy historical remains of a civilization that does not conform to it's own ideology.
Illegal Arab building and settlement in Israeli capital
cry
RE: " If I were a cartoonist, I would sketch a demonic brain that creates this continuous onslaught…." MY COMMENT: See the works of Franz Kafka!
Terrorist, n.: one who defends one's home.
RE: " Update from Jerusalem…." FROM YNET: "City suspends services to haredi neighborhoods", by Efrat Weiss, 07/15/09 Barkat announces suspension of services after ultra-Orthodox protestors take to streets in defense of Neturei Karta mother accused of starving toddler son; mother refuses to cooperate in investigation (EXCERPT) Dozens of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators torched garbage bins Wednesday in Jerusalem's Shabbat Square in protest against the arrest of the haredi mother accused of starving her three-year-old son. Police arrived on the spot, and arrested 15 people. A Border Guard officer was injured by a stone thrown at him, and cars and buses were damaged. Rioters have also taken to the streets in Beit Shemesh. Police are on location. Following the riots Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat ordered all city services to the Meah Shearim and Geola haredi neighborhoods suspended "in an attempt to prevent the threat posed to municipal employees in the area"…. ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3746998...
I heard you this before, but this exactly right. The artist has already spoken.
There's no Arab building in Tel Aviv.
are you celebrating Eitan?
Jerusalem is eternal Jewish Capital.
Certainly not the palestinians.
So we'll need a Jewish Pope.
These pathetic efforts to erase the Arabic language and culture from Al Quds are doomed to fail. So they really think the Palestinians will forget the names to the places in their city if the signs are not posted in Arabic? If the Jewish people could revive the Hebrew language after 2000 years of exile, do they think the Palestinians will forget their own language after just a few decades of absence? It will have no real impact on the Palestinians but will compound an already deadly PR problem for Israel.
Beautifully put. No matter what underhanded tactics the Israeli government uses to lay claim to East Jerusalem, they can't change the reality of a rightful and lawful Palestinian claim to the above. Nor can they erase Palestinian history by wiping off the Arabic names of Nazareth, Jaffa, et cetera. This, with the Nakba law and "loyalty oath", will only serve to prove to the world that the State of Israel, through its elected leaders as a voice of the citizenry, is sliding further and further into the type of fascism the West has come to so easily recognize.
No, see the work of Latuff!!! It's much more accurate. http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/latuffs-cartoon-... FPM
Arabs of Israel don't have their own language, they speak arabic just like syrians and egyptians.
Nazareth = Jewish, Jaffa = Jewish et cetera = Jewish
yes
The significance of which you will be so kind as to explain? It is not obvious to those of us not trained in Zionistic nationalism.
You forgot: G-D= Jewish
Funny, I don't see a link to this article about kids shows in gaza promoting a suicide bombing conducted by a mother: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/07/15/tv.... I love how people like Philip complain about all the bias shown against palestinians in the media, yet they obsessively post videos of drunk college aged idiots making a few racist statements but ignore "One episode of the show that raised eyebrows when first aired two years ago featured two young Palestinian children being shown a re-enactment of their mother's preparations for and execution of a suicide bombing. The show was recently repeated — this time with a studio audience." Keep up the good fight, Phil. You guys are going to get far. – A Zionist against the settlements and the anti-zionists.
We should really be watching television programs about Jewish death worshippers (Jewish 5 years putting on skits about Trumpeldor or Masada) or about Jewish American teenagers learning to take part in Zionist terrorism by serving in the IDF. Reem Riyashi was a heroine who killed Zionist criminals just as much on behalf of Americans and the whole human race as on behalf of Palestinians: Jewish Peril 1933 Versus 2009. All decent human beings should honor her sacrifice, hate Zionist interlopers, and scorn American Zionist supports of the State of Israel.
West Jerusalem is. East Jerusalem is the eternal Palestinian capital.
The statement of parallel (learning from history) with South Africa, is a disaster in the making. Israel/Palestine and apartheid South Africa are NOT parallel. For a simple reason. 1. The ANC had a stated goal in a stated jurisdiction (The Palestinian solidarity movement includes the palatable two-state solution as a goal, and the unpalatable single-state as a goal). To the extent that the solidarity movement does not clarify its goal between those two, and in favor of the two-state it COMPELS Israeli resistance to it.
Go back to kindergarden. Too many things are missing in your education for you to form a reply to notice.
So unless things are exactly exactly the same – down to the n'th degree then they aren't the same – unless we are taking about anti-semitism – when suddenly even the vaguest resemblance makes one an anti-semite.
http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Document-3227.phtml (very long document – be patient)
There are MOSQUES in Tel Aviv. There are ARAB COMMUNITIES in Tel Aviv. ARAB NEIGHBORHOODS. You are so ignorant… As always.
I suppose all of Latin America (minus Brazil) is one nation? And that the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the majority of sub-Saharan African countries are also one nation?
If you knew anything about Arabs or the Arabic language, you'd know that Palestinians have their own dialect.
That's pretty much it. WItty is desperately afraid that Israel will receive criticism that is as harsh as it deserves–he shows no such reluctance to condemn the atrocities committed by Palestinians. In fact, it's extremely important to him that everyone know the effects of Hamas suicide bombing on the Israeli psyche, but not at all important for people to understand the effects of Israel's apartheid-like regime on Palestinians.
So, in order to be like the South African situation, the Palestinian solidarity movement has to have a goal of TWO states, even though the stated goal of the ANC was ONE state with full equality. That makes absolutely no sense, Witty. Its simply your distaste for the ONE state solution which is coloring your, shall we call it, "reasoning". You want the Jews in Israel to have something that you would rightly condemn and deny to the white South Africans.
The Palestinians already live in the Israeli one state solution. It's called Erez Israel and it has 3.5 million Palestinians with no rights to speak of. Israeli Jews don't want to give them rights because it would mean the end of Jewish democracy. Where you have democracy but only for Jews. Phil and co need to come to the realisation that Zionism isn't Jewish any more. It's so far from the values of Judaism after 60 years that Zionists have lost the right to call themselves the global representatives of the Jewish people. Zionism is Yank imperialism in the near east. Bas.
The entire Jerusalem is Jewish capital. Shafiq go split mecca in half. East Mecca and West mecca.
That's is why Israel is moving to the apartheid state plan. Israel is screwed in the end. They will have to kill the Palestinians to keep their 'cosa nostra'. They'll probably nuke Iran and then poison the Palestinians. Either way, they are not going to stop. Arrogance is what will destroy Israel as their public image, including the diaspora, is tearing at the seams. They can't see it. They only see there selfish desires.
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