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. . . about Chaos,
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the Helicopter to Hell
and the Wheel Chair to heaven

A man
with a Gun-ship-Helicopter
assassinated, this morning ,
a man in a Wheel-Chair
coming back from his prayers

A very
symbolic picture
of the
Israeli-Palestinian-encounter(s)

Probably ,
the way to hell
is in a Helicopter...
and the way to Heaven
is in a Wheel Chair.

I shall not weep !!
I raise my head up high
and I shall stand tall....
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
is joining, today
Jesus of Nazareth
the other
Palestinian-Martyr.


Raja Chemayel
a Christian for Hamas
22.03.04

posted by LoZo 11:20 AM

 

UK condemns 'unlawful' Yassin killing
(Matthew Tempest, The Guardian, March 22, 2004)
Tony Blair today condemned Israel's assassination of the Hamas spritual leader, Ahmed Yassin, calling it a "setback" for the peace process. . . . "It goes without saying that the prime minister also condemns today's killing. We have repeatedly made clear our opposition to Israel's use of targeted killings and assassinations. . . . "We recognise Israel's right to defend itself against terrorism, but equally any steps should be within international law and should be neither disproportionate nor excessive. . . . Earlier, the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, accused the Israeli government of committing an "unlawful killing" and urged it to act within international law. . . . He called the missile strike, which killed the 67-year-old Hamas leader and seven other Palestinians, an "unlawful killing, which we condemn". . . . "It is unacceptable, it is unjustified and it is very unlikely to achieve its [Israel's] objectives." . . . The foreign secretary added that he did not believe that Israel would benefit from the killing of an old man in a wheelchair. . . . Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: "It is hard to think of a more provocative act than this. . . . "Assassination as an instrument of foreign policy is illegal, and has a long history of making matters worse. . . . "The killing of Sheikh Yassin in this way will put back for months any prospect of negotiation." Labour MP Joan Ruddock, who recently returned from Israel and the occupied territories, also condemned the assassination. . . . "The conditions in Gaza and the West Bank which have just been imposed and which we saw last week are the equivalent of a lock-down at a prison. . . . "People will be prevented from going to work, going to school, going to hospital, and the sense of outrage and despair will only deepen the cycle of violence." . . . Afif Safieh, Palestinian general delegate to the UK, said: "I think it is a sad day and I personally feel ashamed of the world in which we live. . . . "I think prime minister Sharon is taking full advantage of the American presidential election year and the paralysis that results from that. . . . "This assassination will inflame the entire region and I believe that the world should be aware that every day we have an average of five Palestinians killed. . . . "I believe that today anti-Semitism is the persecution of Palestinian society by the Israeli state."

posted by LoZo 1:07 PM

 

Condolencies to the people of Palestine

To our Palestinian brothers and sisters:

Today is a black day for all sons of Palestine, native and adoptive. We stand next to you condemning the cowardly terrorist act perpetrated by the criminal regime of Sharon, the assassination of the martyr Sheikh Yassin who was killed as he left the mosque. The chief murderers are cowards: they send their brainwashed killers from safety of their well-guarded homes. They do not travel in buses, they do not walk streets. They are terrorists for they attempt to terrorise the world. Murder of the Sheikh proves the Zionist leadership bays for more blood.

Sheikh Yassin's death follows that of Anna Lindh, of uncountable Palestinian leaders and ordinary people. That is why it makes no sense to speak against 'Violence' and for 'Peace'. As long as the supremacist Jewish state exists, it will ensure violence.

While the Zionist entity pretends to be a reconstituted Kingdom of Israel, they are actually the Assassins, the murderous medieval sect reborn. This dreadful secretive group killed some of the best men, Muslim and Christians alike, flamed out war, brought the area into the spin of self-destruction. Only foreign invasion (of Mongol army) eliminated their base and made the world more stable for hundreds of years. The new Assassins turned peaceful Holy Land into their lair of murderous designs. But no murder of spiritual figure will bring victory to the doomed Zionist cause. One day, there will be a great memorial to the saintly Shaikh in liberated Palestine, while his killers will be damned forever. Please receive our deep condolencies in this sad day.

Israel and Alice Shamir
P.O.B. 23714
61236 Tel Aviv

posted by LoZo 12:53 PM

 

Edward Said's tribute to Mourid Barghouti
(Edward Said, The Guardian, February 28, 2004)
This compact, intensely lyrical narrative of a return from protracted exile abroad to Ramallah on the West Bank in the summer of 1996 is one of the finest existential accounts of Palestinian displacement that we now have. It is by Mourid Barghouti, a well-known poet who is married to Radwa Ashour, the distinguished Egyptian academic and novelist . . . Widely and enthusiastically received all over the Arab world when it appeared in 1997, the book went on to win the Naguib Mahfouz medal for literature. . . . The great novelty and power of Barghouti's book is that it painstakingly chronicles, and gives clarity to, the whirlwind of sensations and thoughts that otherwise overwhelm one on such occasions. Palestine, after all, is no ordinary place. It is steeped in all the known histories and traditions of monotheism, and has seen conquerors and civilisations of every stripe come and go. . . . Every Palestinian today is therefore in the unusual position of knowing that there was once a Palestine and yet seeing that place with a new name, people, and identity that deny Palestine altogether. . . . Necessarily, there is a good deal of politics in Barghouti's book, but none of it is either abstract or ideologically driven: whatever comes up about politics arises from the lived circumstances of Palestinian life, which, most often, is surrounded by restrictions having to do with travel and residence. Both of these related matters, taken for granted by most people in the world who are citizens, have passports, and can travel freely without thinking about who they are all the time, are extraordinarily charged for the stateless Palestinians, many of whom do in fact have passports but nevertheless, like the millions of refugees all over the Arab world, Europe, Australia, North and South America, still bear the onus of being displaced and hence, misplaced. . . . Barghouti's text is consequently laced with problems related to where he can or cannot stay, where he may or may not go, for how long and in what circumstances he must leave, and what, most of all, occurs when he is not there. . . . Yet what gives this book an unmistakable stamp of profound authenticity is its life-affirming, poetic texture. Barghouti's writing is really amazingly free of bitterness or recrimination; he neither reproves and harangues Israelis for what they have done nor berates the Palestinian leadership for the bizarre arrangements they agreed to on the ground. . . . For it is as an account of loss in the midst of return and reunion that I Saw Ramallah gets its main distinction."The Occupation," Barghouti says, "has created generations of us that have to adore an unknown beloved: distant, difficult, surrounded by guards, by walls, by nuclear missiles, by sheer terror." Therefore, in his poems and in this prose accompaniment to his return he seeks to break down the walls, evade the guards, gain access to his Palestine, which he finds in Ramallah. . . . Thus despite its joy and moments of exuberance this narrative return at bottom re-enacts exile rather than repatriation. This is what gives it both its tragic dimension and its appealing precarious-ness. Ahdaf Soueif's excellent translation makes precisely this rather special tone available to readers of English. The Palestinian experience is therefore humanised and given substance in a new way.

posted by LoZo 3:16 PM

 

Palestinian Civil War Looms Closer
And May They Rest in Peace
By: Dr. Eyad El Sarraj*

[Gaza - 2 March 2004] - I sat on my desk determined to write an article for Al-Quds newspaper expressing my “free” opinion about what is happening in our society. I started with the officials, those deluded with the power of their positions, media people, those hallucinating about the power of freedom of expression, and citizens, those cheated by the absence of rule of law. An internal voice urged me "what's up with you…can you not save your head in time of turmoil?"

I thought to write about the Legislative Council, the Parliament and its obvious opposition for elections! and about the Palestinian Authority. But, I felt an internal call saying, "why beating the dead? "

Then, I thought to write about the man who was unemployed, who suddenly became a director, now conceited, bragging and showing off and searching for new resources for wealth through his job. But I preferred not to write about this issue so that none of them suspect that I am insinuating to write about him. And they are many.

So, I decided to write about "Sharon", who most probably does not read Al-Quds Newspaper and if it happens that one of his consultants translated this article to him, he will not be harmful. He has not done anything against dozens of Israeli writers who curse the day that he came to power. We did not hear of him sending the "Disciplinary Squad" to anyone. We did not hear of him shooting at the house of any one of his critics. We did not hear that he arrested any of them.

Then, as the habit goes in the Arab world, talking about Sharon is the best and safest way out. But just in case Sharon getting mad enough to send ground-to-ground missile, I have decided to write about him as a "hero" of Zionism, and how, with wisdom and courage, he was able to place Israel on the map starting when he was a soldier until he became, competently, the Prime Minister. From the early days he was able to move the battle to the ground of the enemy and he was able to kill of the Palestinians and the Arabs doubles and doubles of what was killed of Israelis. He established the settlements and enlarged them. He persevered on the grand dream of the Promised Land and the liberation of Israel. The most important achievement of Sharon is that he was able to turn the clock back and that by itself is extraordinary.

To say the truth, Sharon was banking on the help the Palestinians in every stage and they obliged. So he stopped the Oslo Peace process. Then he started to destroy its consequences one by one. He brought back the fist of the occupation full and harsh on the Gaza Strip and West Bank. He choked the political movement by arresting the Palestinian Authority president who became the symbol that is unreachable where no one dares to demand his removal and he destroyed the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority. Then Sharon declared his joining the USA in the War Against Terror noticeably achieved victory in killing and detaining thousands. Then decided that there is no partner for Israel in the peace process. He was able to pull out all of that magic with a credible cleverness. He concentrated on the individual person of Yasser Arafat, but failed Abu Mazen, and still does not want to meet with Abu Ala'a. The ultimate goal of all this is not to have a Palestinian partner and not to have anyone claiming to represent the Palestinians facing Sharon on the negotiation table.

In fact, Sharon has decided that all Palestinians, including Arafat or Abu Ala'a are case of refugees, who deserve some craps and crumbs to be thrown at them. But, he is insisting that this does not give them the right to demand a state, which will definitely threaten Israel one day. In fulfillment of this decision, he declared the plan of withdrawal from Gaza. Thus he has thrown everyone in a dilemma of wondering if they should support or oppose his plan. At the same time he is pursuing the building of the separation wall which was almost completely able to stop the "terror" suicide operation in Israel.

Sharon is keenly marching crowned with success to convert Gaza into a quagmire, where the leaders of militias will kill each other and the fighting tribes will be drowning in an ocean of blood. He is aware of the fact that Arabs are not good in managing coalitions or unity, despite their slogans and they (Arabs) are not able to manage their conflicts that will turn into battle over power. He is ready at all times to send more and more of arms to all of them in order to accomplish the mission. The moment that anyone of them poses a possible threat to Israel he will send the Phantom planes and missiles to eliminate him and his family.

That is how the Palestinian community in Gaza will be converted into what resembles the pieces of meat on the burner, where Sharon adds oil to complete the grilling. That is a clever plan which shows that Sharon studied and comprehended us and deals accordingly. He will be happy when the militia will move against the people to kill them and steal their money. Then the Palestinians will be occupied with tribal ruling mediations and Solhas. They will accuse each other of spying collaboration and of infidelity. Then trading of arms and drugs will be booming. All of which, will achieve Sharon's goal of killing the Palestinian people but by Palestinians.

By doing this, Sharon deserves the title of "king of Israel" if not "the Middle East". He was able to do all of that because he understands his enemies, the Arabs; how their leaders adore the chairs and positions more than the homeland and how unwisely they think by offering him all the pretexts to oppress and destroy them. Sharon may have had some suspicion that one day the Palestinian Authority dissolves itself and place Israel and him in a tough position. But he is confident that the political leaders, despite their “terrible suffering” on the borders and checkpoints, will not move a muscle to leave their patriotic stand! Some of them are still hoping to be directors, or even ministers, with more suits, privileges and brand new cars.

When I was done writing this article, I was sure that not only Sharon will not read it, but none of the Palestinian leaders will read it either. May they all rest in peace.

* Dr Eyad Sarraj - Palestinian Psychiatrist, Chairman of the Commission of Citizens Rights and Physician for Human Rights Awardee. Harvard University, Ph.D.

The original was in Arabic and this quick translation was provided from Gaza.

posted by LoZo 2:13 PM