Activism

Students protest Blinken and honor Shireen Abu Akleh at Georgetown graduation

During graduation ceremonies at Georgetown University, students protested Secretary of State Antony Blinken and demanded accountability for slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

During graduation ceremonies at Georgetown University on May 21, multiple students displayed photos of slain Palestinian-American journalist and Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, wore keffiyehs, and raised the Palestinian flag.

Palestinian-American graduate Nooran Alhamdan refused to shake Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s hand after accepting her diploma. Blinken gave the commencement address at the ceremony.

Video of the moment shows Alhamdan shaking her head while speaking to Blinken. “‘They have the tanks, we have the clocks.’ This motto taught to me by one of my most supportive professors at Georgetown,” she tweeted. “[Secretary of State Blinken] justice for Shireen Abu Aqleh and all Palestinians. I am proud to have refused your handshake and to have reminded you of our existence.”

After the commencement Blinken apparently approached Alhamdan and said, “I see you. I hear you.” He also said the United States is “committed to finding the truth.”

A coalition of students from Georgetown’s Masters of Arab Studies program put out a statement calling for action. “Our silent expression of solidarity with Shireen Abu Akleh and the people of Palestine has been viewed by millions of people around the world,” it reads. “We release this statement to explicate our demands: we demand an independent investigation into the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, and we demand that the United States halt its annual military funding of $3.8 billion for the criminal state of Israel. The Israeli military routinely violates human rights and international law. Israel continues to murder, maim, and imprison Palestinians. The military funding given to the state of Israel by the United States is unacceptable. We will continue to fight until sanctions are placed on Israel.”

Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces on May 11 while reporting outside of a Jenin refugee camp. Israeli officials initially attempted to blame her death on Palestinian militants, but video and eyewitness accounts quickly disproved their claims. Israel says it has launched an inquiry into her killing, but on May 19 the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) declared that there will be no separate criminal investigation. The IDF statement reiterates the theory that Abu Akleh died in an “active combat situation”, but a reconstruction of the event by the AP and CNN this week suggests that she was killed by an Israeli gun.

“Multiple videos and photos taken on the morning of May 11 show an Israeli convoy parked just up a narrow road from Abu Akleh, with a clear line of sight,” the AP report explains. “They show the reporters and other bystanders in real time taking cover from bullets fired from the direction of the convoy.”

“The only confirmed presence of Palestinian militants was on the other side of the convoy, some 300 meters (yards) away, mostly separated from Abu Akleh by buildings and walls. Israel says at least one militant was between the convoy and the journalists, but it has not provided any evidence or indicated the shooter’s location,” it continues. “Palestinian witnesses say there were no militants in the area and no gunfire until the barrage that struck Abu Akleh and wounded another reporter.”

The Biden administration has said it trusts Israel in conducting its own inquiry into the killing. Shortly after Abu Akleh’s death, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that “the Israelis have the wherewithal and the capabilities to conduct a thorough, comprehensive investigation.” This week nearly 60 House Democrats sent the State Department a letter calling for an independent investigation.

On Twitter Alhamdan said she appreciated the attention that her protest has received, but encouraged people to focus on the wider issue. “Overwhelming, humbling,” she wrote. “But lets not make my bare minimum act of refusal the focus, rather I would appreciate if the focus shifted to the efforts by my peers and I to draw attention to the murder of Shireen and American support for the criminal state of Israel.”

“If what my peers and I did has inspired you in the slightest then please, get involved in organizing for Palestine especially adhering to BDS,” she added.

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My deep thanks to these students for taking such a clear stand for justice. Justice in this circumstance is not hard to discern. College students have the advantages of education, intelligence, and idealistic morality.

People in Blinken’s situation have the disadvantage of having been corrupted by criminals.

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EXCERPT CONTINUED::
“Mohammed Ayoub, a farmer, and 17 members of his extended family in Fakhiet were made homeless in the space of 30 minutes, & all are now living in a single tent.
“’It’s too hot for the small children & too crowded for so many people,’ he said. ‘We will rebuild because this is our home. They may come back & destroy it again. Home is supposed to be a safe place.’
“The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the demolitions.
“About 18% of Area C, the West Bank under full Israeli control, has been repurposed since the 1970s as ‘firing zones’ for IDF use. According to the minutes of a 1981 ministerial meeting, the then agriculture minister, Ariel Sharon, who later became prime minister, proposed creating Firing Zone 918 with the explicit intention of forcing local Palestinians from their homes.
“In 1999, 700 residents of Masafer Yatta were evicted, forcibly pushed on to trucks by soldiers, but after a legal appeal the community was allowed to return until a final decision was made.
“Since then, the Palestinians living within the Zone 918 parameters have been repeatedly threatened with demolition of their homes & the confiscation of agricultural land because they lack building permits, which are issued by the Israeli authorities. According to the Israeli civil administration, just 75 building permits have been granted to Palestinians living in Area C since 2006, while 20,500 have been approved for illegal Israeli settlements, which are viewed by the international community as a major impediment to lasting peace. During Donald Trump’s Israel-friendly US administration, there was a 150% growth in settlement building. And despite the fact Israel’s new government is a diverse coalition of left & rightwing parties, it appears likely to continue approving planning applications in the West Bank.
“’It’s not really about destroying the houses,” said Hamdan Mohammed al-Huraini, a local activist. ‘It’s about destroying the life.’
Nadav Weiman, the deputy director of Breaking the Silence, an NGO that collects testimonies from former Israeli soldiers about what they witnessed while enforcing the occupation, said: ‘When I was doing my military service, I trained here. We were told we were looking for smugglers. We were supposed to make people’s lives miserable. That was the point.'”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/22/firing-zone-evictions-begin-west-bank-villages-court-ruling-masafer-yatta
EXCERPT:
“In the firing zone: evictions begin in West Bank villages after court ruling”
Palestinians in Masafer Yatta – or Firing Zone 918 to the Israelis – vow to rebuild as homes are bulldozed
Bethan McKernan and Quique Kierszenbaum in Masafer Yatta, West Bank
Sun 22 May 2022, The Guardian
“Below the dusty plateau, home to Khribet al-Fakhiet village, on the southern edge of the occupied West Bank, sheep, goats & camels belonging to Palestinian Bedouin roam the hills. The Israeli town of Arad glitters in the distance &, across the valley to the east, the mountains of neighboring Jordan rise up to meet the sky. Much closer to home, the illegal Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Yair looms from the next ridge.
“Bone-shattering unpaved roads crisscross this poverty-stricken, hilly semi-desert, part of the 60% of the West Bank that is under full Israeli control. Palestinians call it Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages with a population of about 1,000. To the Israeli state, however, this is Firing Zone 918, a military training area in which civilians are prohibited. The fight for control of this 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) is one of the fiercest battles of the Israeli occupation.
“Earlier this month, Israel’s supreme court finally ruled in a two-decade-old legal case over the area’s fate: the land can be repurposed for military use, upholding the Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF) argument that Palestinians living here could not prove they were resident before the firing zone was established in 1981. The decision – one of the most significant on expulsions since the occupation began in 1967 – paved the way for the eviction of everyone living here.
“The long-feared demolitions, which UN experts have said may amount to war crimes, have already started. Last week, 11 homes & workshops in Fakhiet were demolished. Another nine structures in nearby al-Majaz were torn down with bulldozers by an Israeli company, to whom the state contracts out the demolition work. IDF soldiers & police, tasked with securing the perimeter, looked on. (cont’d)
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