Little Lusan, born while her father was in prison
Dear friends,
Many of you know about my friend Rania in Tulkarem. She’s from Jayyous, and she’s a major character in my book. I helped raise money for her to finish her education, and a few years ago she fulfilled her dream of graduating from the Open University in Qalqilia with a degree in psychological counseling.
Shortly before graduating, she married a man named Sharif, a poor but kind man who lost his parents when he was young and never finished high school. He was incredibly supportive of Rania’s education, and they had a beautiful baby boy named Karim in 2007.
Two years later she was pregnant with a little girl, and Sharif secured a permit to work in Israel so he could finish building their house and support his growing family.
Then… disaster struck. Before her husband even had a chance to use his permit, he was brutally arrested in the middle of the night by armed Israeli soldiers who beat him in front of his pregnant wife and child and took him away without explanation. (The harrowing story is told here.)
He was held without charge, trial, or telephone call, and it was days before she learned the reason he had been arrested: He was accused of stealing cars in Israel. Rania could only laugh when she found out. He had never even been to Israel. But she wasn’t laughing when they handed down his sentence: one year behind bars.
A full year without his wife, without his son, without being there for the birth of his daughter. Even worse, a year without being able to provide for his family...
To read on, and view more pictures of Rania's adorable kids, visit: Rania’s Story @ Fast Times in Palestine
Happy holidays to you and yours,
Pamela
Pamela Olsen is the author of Fast Times in Palestine. MW reviews of her book can be found here and here, by Hatim Kanaaneh .
Unsolicited editorial note: FTIP makes for an awesome holiday gift, especially for the youth in your family, highly recommended ..Annie Robbins (Hat tip Marsha Holmquist)


RE: “…her husband…was brutally arrested in the middle of the night by armed Israeli soldiers who beat him in front of his pregnant wife and child and took him away without explanation.” ~ Pamela Olson
MY COMMENT: Obviously, Israel is an existential threat to the institution of marriage!
Well, any marriage involving people who are non-Jewish. (Or non-straight…)
RE: Well, any marriage involving people who are non-Jewish. (Or non-straight…) ~ Chaos4700
SOME JEWS* AS WELL: Russian Jews defy Israeli rabbis’ ban on marriage, by Jonathan Cook, The National (U.A.E.), 08/06/11
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to thenational.ae
* Some Jews are “more equal” than other Jews!
So
“Are you Jewish?”
“Only slightly.”
may not be a joke after all.
And the zionists’ have the nerve to complain about Qaddafi and Ahmadinejad!
I’m sick of Apartheid israeli sadism.
And hearing ’bout stories like the above just makes me wanna fight for Palestinian freedom EVEN HARDER!
Taxi, are you sick of Palestinian sadism.
Read.
link to frontpagemag.com
Zionism is racism.
I encourage people to go to the front page of frontpagemag.com. Take a look at what extremist, racist tripe Dan is linking us here.
Israeli children- victims of terror
link to youtube.com
A must see for Taxi and Annie.
war is horrible dan, look at those childrens faces. lost , gone. now multiply that figure times at least 5. the numbers on the side of the oppressors(israel) pale in comparison. and , every lost life innocent life, especially children, is tragic. so tell me..why doesn’t israel end the occupation and put an end to this? shame, you should be ashamed as the defender of an apartheid state. israel instigated this terror but we will be the ones responsible for ending it. ending israel’s terror while you defend it. shame. and all those lost children? stop the occupation and stop the mass imprisonments killings of palestinians.
shame on you.
Shame, DanMazella. There are not hours enough in one lifetime to watch all the youtube videos of Israeli brutality and human rights abuses against the Palestinians.
It is not the Palestinians who are stealing land and water resources, and it is not the Palestinians who cynically use their children as human shields as they squat on stolen land. Israelis are like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings: their love of an idol (which for Gollum was the ring of power, and for Israelis is the land belonging to the Palestinians) has deformed their souls.
Kudos, Kris.
A must see for you, Dan, is why this conflict exists.
link to mondoweiss.net
link to mondoweiss.net
link to mondoweiss.net
link to mondoweiss.net
link to mondoweiss.net
It’s not the messenger, but the message.
Do you hear it?
annie, don’t waste your time.
You know his type.
Annie, their is no occupation. It was never Pal land to begin with.
There was never any state called Palestine governed by Palestinians.
But lets take it from your point of view.
Last month Saeb Erekat confirmed Olmert had offered a final peace settlement in 08, that would include territorial concession equivalent to the entire West Bank and the division of Jerusalem.
The Palestinians also control 100% of Gaza.
Erekat also admitted the Europeans showed him maps that showed Jews only live on 1.5% of the West Bank. Yes, only 1.5% of the West Bank.
Which proves to any left wing person the only state the Palestinians want is Israels.
link to israelnationalnews.com
Fatah Recognizes Israel? Not According to PA
In more double talk from the Palestinian Authority, its ambassador to India says Fatah does not recognize Israel anymore than Hamas.
Elad Benari
12/2/2011
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party is generally seen as the more moderate of the Arab factions and is seen as a “partner for peace” with Israel.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party is generally seen as the more moderate of the Arab factions and is seen as a “partner for peace” with Israel.
However, that notion may be completely off, according to comments recently made by the PA’s Ambassador to India, Adli Sadeq.
In an article he wrote in the official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, on November 26, Sadeq admitted that Fatah does not respect Israel anymore than Hamas does, and that moreover, the PA and Fatah utterly reject that Israel has any right to exist.
Sadeq’s comments were translated by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research institute and presented on its website.
According to Sadeq, Israelis “have a common mistake, or misconception by which they fool themselves, assuming that Fatah accepts them and recognizes the right of their state to exist, and that it is Hamas alone that loathes them and does not recognize the right of this state to exist. They ignore the fact that this state, based on a fabricated [Zionist] enterprise, never had any shred of a right to exist…”
Some day, I really do hope you and people like you are brought to the Hague for treating the Palestinians the way that the Germans treated the Polish, way back when.