#OccupyBZU to #BZUProtest

It's a sign of the times we're living in when hashtags are perfectly acceptable as titles, and I'm sure there are countless thesis dissertations in progress attributing this as another significant regime-tackling phenomenons of social media. Suffice to say, it is increasingly obvious where people get much of their news from nowadays.

Last week on Tuesday the 17th, a number of students from Birzeit University protested the totalitarian fixtures regarding tuition costs and financial measures introduced at the start of the second semester, which left 1200 students unable to continue their education because of the expensive costs. Dozens walked inside the administrative building, and were subsequently locked in by security. Thus, #OccupyBZU was commenced.

One of my main problems with my time at Birzeit University was the lack of any concrete student activism, overtaken instead by the simulated scenes and atmosphere of a US high school as shown in Hollywood movies. That's all fine and dandy since not everyone wants to be at the forefront of tackling social change or even challenging Captain Israel to an arm-wrestling match, but when the circumstances are crying out for it, there is no excuse left to remain passive. The glory days of BZU were during the first intifada, the late 80's to the early 90's, where students were largely involved in peaceful resistance against the Israeli military occupation. One such demonstration was attending classes in empty buildings in defiance of Israeli military orders. Students were one of the important driving forces behind the mass protests and civil disobedience in Palestinian society. That of course didn't come without its sacrifices; another name for Birzeit University is the Martyrs' University/ جامعةالشهداء due to its thirteen students killed by Israel.

The Oslo Accords can be explained as the reason for the students' growing detachment from politics, despite the student parties within the university itself being derivatives of Palestinian political parties. The second intifada ushered in armed resistance as the primary method of response against Israel's increasingly unbearable occupation, which contrary to the first intifada, isolated sectors of the Palestinian society from being a true popular uprising. Coordination with the other eight universities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip became more difficult. Factionalism reared its ugly face following the US backed civil fighting between Hamas and Fateh back in 2006. Politics on campus became repressive, and used as a platform to trash talk the rival party. Some male students belonging to Hamas' Kutla Islamiyeh bloc were imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority. Instead of the students of the Fateh university Shabeeba group demanding their release, the act was further augmented by incendiary accusations and wholehearted support. These antics only managed to alienate a large number of students who find no representative as they are not affiliated to any political student party, and "student activism" took the role of proudly parroting each respective party's propaganda.

The above serves as an explanation for the disillusionment concerning the possibility for any meaningful act to take place on campus. These protests against financial matters are hardly news. In fact, it is the norm at the beginning of every single semester. They always take the same cycle: Students protest, each student political party writes up a statement, get out their best throaty orator backed with factional music, and proceed to threaten the university's administration with calls of prolonged strikes. The whole thing lasts for a week, with actions escalating then diminishing as fast as if they never happened, without any success achieved. The same Spartan students go from building to building, classroom to classroom, informing the other students that classes have been suspended for the day, right under the nose of the professor. They order the students to leave the classrooms, leave the building, and join them in a demonstration in front of the administration building. Hardly anyone listens, and see this as an opportunity to hang out with friends. The buildings then get put on lock down for an indefinite time period, even if there are students and professors inside. Tires are burned at the gates of the university, the gates themselves get locked with chains brought from who knows where, and the student portal Ritaj becomes useless as it doesn't give out updates for whether there will be classes on this day or not.

The point is that these drastic actions serve as a cry for attention, as their repetitive nature hardly achieve whatever demands the student parties champion out through the state of the art loudspeakers. But Tuesday, January the 17th excited a lot of people, myself included because it was the first time students staged a sit-in overnight. The following morning, more details began to emerge and were shared on Twitter.

It turned out that students, contrary to initial thoughts, did not purposely mean to stay overnight in the administrative building. 76 students merely went inside to protest peacefully, and found themselves locked in by security after the administrative staff vacated the building. Allegedly, one security guard taunted the students by saying, "Let's see who's man enough to stay here for the night." The radiators were turned off, and the students spent the night without blankets or food, shivering as a storm raged outside. For those who had to use the bathroom, they were allowed outside but were prevented from going back in. As a result, 22 students were left inside the administrative building. The following morning, one student's health deteriorated rapidly but the administrative prohibited him from receiving immediate medical attention. The university dean Dr Khalil Hindi issued a media blackout on the whole situation.

The most austere financial measure imposed was that a student's tuition had to be paid in full before the new semester begins, in order for the student to choose his/her own classes. This is outrageous to say the least. Tuition costs are usually paid in money installments twice a semester, in an attempt to alleviate some families' financial stresses. Non-elected Prime Minister Salam Fayyad may have succeeded in transforming the West Bank, and Ramallah specifically into a capitalist consumerism society, but Birzeit University doesn't host only the privileged rich kids. I remember one time taking a group of high school seniors from Jenin on a quick tour on campus, and one of the chaperoning teachers told me he couldn't afford to send his kids to Birzeit Uni because the tuition was more than his monthly salary. The university is suffering from financial losses because the Palestinian Authority owes it money from three years.

10 students from Bethlehem University went on hunger strike also protesting the changed tuition policies, before #OccupyBZU even started. Speaking of "Occupy" (a word I don't like for apparent reasons) the hashtag was changed to #ProtestBZU because the administration accused the students of occupying the building--ignoring the fact that they were locked in-- thus painting the whole sit-in unfavorably as it is in their interests to do so.

The protest seemingly had the support of the majority of the students, those affiliated with parties and those who were not. For once it wasn't an act pulled by Hamas, or Fateh, or the Left (Jabha). Some even went so far as to label it the Birzeit Spring:

More pictures found here

The protest continued for the next couple of days. The gates of the university were still closed, the students still inside the building. The university's workers' union tried to mediate between the demands of the students and the administration but found that the administration ignored the demands and flat out refused to even talk, let alone negotiate with a group of students who were not the official representative. When the student council finally announced their support for the locked in students, the administration still refused to talk. Even after a committee composed of representatives of all eight student parties as well as from the student council was agreed upon, the administration still refused to talk. Their arrogance is a staple in their job description. The bureaucratic system of Birzeit University is one of the worst I've ever had the misfortune to encounter. Other students brought tents and pitched them outside the gate, where they too staged a sit-in. The media blackout was still in place, with everyone getting updates and information from students on site tweeting away. Reports had it that Dr Hindi cut off the internet on campus, an act that Mubarak would have applauded...or in hindsight, maybe not.

Then on Saturday, a press conference was called at 10am. At 12pm was another press conference for the administration. The blackout was lifted. The vice president of the university denounced the protesting students as having an agenda. For their part, the students finally made the financial and academic demands public. This threw the whole protest into a different light, as some of the demands were pretty stupid, to put it bluntly. Speaking to other students, they told me that the behavior of the protesting students was far from angelic in directing their speeches towards the dean, as if he were a despicable despot. Regardless, if you're going to protest peacefully, willing to endure days of cold and mistreatment, then whatever you're protesting for should be worthwhile, practical, and most importantly, in the interests of the students themselves. Many found issue with the academic demands (seems like the sillier points, such as raising the number of times a student was allowed to fail a class before getting suspended permanently from three to five were omitted, see below) while the financial ones were more sensible.

Financial Demands (translated from here)

• For every student to have the chance to pay his or her tuition in money installments throughout the semester, especially students who have previous debts and did not have the chance to register for this semester, and for them to register on the back of what they could pay according to their financial status, and to pay the rest of the tuition throughout the semester.
  


• To give preferential treatment to students with special and social needs and students who were prisoners in Israeli jails, and for them to register with ease through what is mentioned in point number one.



• For the university to restart the system of accepting cheques as a form of money installments or at least to find a new mechanism for paying tuition costs as agreed upon by the students and the administration.
  


• To give scholarships to sibling students without going through the bureaucratic ladder, regardless of whether these students have already received financial aid or not.



• To conduct a thorough survey among all students in order to see who is eligible for financial aid. This way financial aid will not go to students who don't need it, which has posed as an obstacle to the students who are in actual need.

Academic Demands

• To open the registration for classes (add/drop week) especially for students who were late in paying their tuition as stipulated in point number one, and to open sections

• To reconsider the policy of transferring from one major to the next, which grows more complicated without any justification, without affecting the academic and educational level of the university.

• To not give elevated courses to inexperienced or newly graduated teachers and to preserve the quality of academic level.
  

An agreement was reached on Sunday. The administration finally got off its high horse long enough to agree to all of the financial demands, but wouldn't agree to any of the academic ones pointing out it was beyond their reach to make changes regarding this aspect. Normal classes are set to resume on Tuesday, the 24th.

Meanwhile, five students from Bethlehem University have been hospitalized as a result of the hunger strike they started last Monday. More students have vowed to join in the hunger strike, raising the total to thirty students, seven who have been on strike since last week.

From Ma'an News Agency:

The administration suspended classes last Tuesday, saying it could not ensure students' safety on campus because of the protests, which have included all-night sit-ins.

The student senate, which is leading the protest, said it had tried to end the crisis by offering the university 40,000 Jordanian dinars ($56,400) from the Fatah movement to exempt students from tuition fee increases. It said the university had not responded to the initiative.

Instead of treating symptoms, the source of the sickness must be treated first. Birzeit students may have succeeded in achieving their financial demands, but what about the cause for the rise in tuition costs? It's not all down to the university's miserliness. The Palestinian Authority is in debt, plain and simple. It has done absolutely nothing to build and sustain a homegrown economy, relying instead on overwhelming foreign donor money. Austerity measures have recently been introduced, with citizens required to pay a minimum of a 5% tax increase and a maximum of 30%. The PA takes the billions of dollars it is granted by governments, and hardly invests them in community building projects or in Palestinian society in general, unless you count the mushrooming number of bars and expensive restaurants that cater to the elite. Dissolving the PA would pop the bubble of normalcy under occupation, and there'd be a good chance of Palestinians of finally realizing that their houses, cars, laptops-all on loans- and lifestyles they cannot afford are worth nothing while they are still under Israeli occupation.

So I call on all students in the West Bank to rise up, first against the parasitical PA, then against the occupation once and for all.

Follow Up Protest for #No2Negotiations

In a blatant demonstration of the Palestinian Authority’s colossal gap between the interests of itself and the people it claims to represent, unelected chief negotiator Saeb Erekat will meet up with his Israeli counterpart Yitzhak Molcho for the fourth round of talks in Amman, Jordan on January 25th. The announcement came barely a day after Palestinians protested against the farcical negotiations in front of the PA compound of al-Muqata’a in Ramallah.

Nevertheless, the group Palestinians With Dignity have been quick to issue another statement out, calling for another protest this Saturday the 21st. It is clear that these protests are not reactionary, and will continue until all negotiations between the occupied and the occupier cease once and for all. Last week saw the arrest of a young man who participated in the protest by the PA security forces. He was attacked and interrogated before being released.

In a true and classical behavior that characterizes Arab repressive governments who are merely puppets of western interests, will violence against protesters by the PA escalate?

Below is the statement [emphasis not mine], with a link to a petition against negotiations at the bottom:

Last Saturday 14th of January, we stood in silence in front of the Presidential Compound (Muqata’a) in Ramallah demanding the immediate stop of the bilateral negotiations between Saeb Erekat and Yitzhak Molcho in Amman. The bitter cold did not stop us from protesting against the return to these fruitless talks. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) has retreated from its earlier position that they will not return to negotiations, until settlement expansion is halted and all the political prisoners were released; this represents the bare minimum demands of the Palestinian people.

The PLO’s reneging on their promise to the Palestinian people and their return to negotiations implies that the leadership accepts the continued theft and seizure of Palestinian lands, legitimizes the ever-going attacks of the settlers, and furthermore undermines the Palestinian people in whole.

As Palestinians youth, we do not see any benefits from these futile negotiations. We have grown weary of representatives that don’t represent us, a national consensus that does not include us, and an implied future pseudo-state that does not guarantee our rights; specifically the rights of the majority of Palestinians who are refugees and live in exile.

It appears that our message last Saturday fell on deaf ears. The Palestinian leadership is still moving forward with negotiations, despite the Israeli occupation’s expansion of illegal colonies in the West Bank, the continued siege on Gaza, and Israel’s continued practice of the crime of Apartheid against Palestinians.

Nevertheless, we have not been deterred from acting. We demand the Palestinian leadership bears its responsibility in defying all sources of foreign pressure to return to negotiations. Instead of pursuing negotiations at this moment in time, we are in need of a resistance-based strategy. A strategy that begins with the unification of Palestinians and the political, economic, cultural and academic boycott of the apartheid state of Israel. We unequivocally demand that our leadership invests in its people, because when unified, together we can alter the balance of power to our favor.

On Saturday, January 21st at 1 PM we will again protest at the doorsteps of the Presidential Compound (Muqata’a). Join us on Saturday, and let us together stand tall with dignity and full of pride until our demands are met.

Show your support by signing the following petition against negotiations:
http://www.aredaonline.com/petition_against_negotiations

Palestinians for Dignity

Palestinian tweeps on the ground will be using the hashtag #No2negotiations for live updates.

Palestinians for Dignity: Saeb Erekat, Go Home

As posted on Electronic Intifada

More pictures can be found here

Under the pouring rain, Palestinians for the first time took part in a protest right in front of the Palestinian Authority compound Al-Muqata’a, which has become to symbolize, as one of the more lavish foreign funded state-building projects, an illusion of authority under the Israeli occupation. In her article describing the PA’s spatial organization of state structures, Linda Tabar quotes an official who describes the Muqata’a as an image “of grandeur that creates the impression we have a state.”

The protest, organized by a group of young Palestinians who called themselves Palestinians for Dignity, was against the farcical “negotiations about negotiations” currently taking place in Amman, Jordan between the PA represented by unelected chief negotiator Sa’eb Erekat (who incidentally, resigned his post after it was revealed that the Palestine Papers were leaked from his office in 2011) and the Israeli delegation, headed by Yitzhak Molcho. A third meeting is expected to run today between the two sides, after the first two were conducted last week on January 3rd and January 10th respectively.

From the statement released by the youth, the ongoing negotiations have once again commenced without any pre-conditions:

Counting on the same fruitless and failing process of the past two decades, the negotiations contradict past PLO statements that have explicitly rejected negotiations until settlement expansion is frozen, borders are clearly referenced and defined, and the fulfillment of the release of all political prisoners.

It has become increasingly obvious that the PA and its leadership have stopped pretending to sugarcoat their salient acts with their occupier, which does not reflect the interests of the Palestinians. In fact, twenty years of failed negotiations have only made the life of the average Palestinian more miserable as a result of the enhanced state of occupation they live in, as the rapid land grabs and construction of settlements are implemented with the full knowledge and even blessing of the negotiating team of the PA.

The statement continues,

Palestinian youth are fed up with illegitimate representation, a national consensus that does not unite them, and of a future state that does not guarantee the rights of the majority of the Palestinian people, in specific, Palestinian refugees in exile. We demand a strategy that is supported by political, economic, academic and cultural boycott of the Zionist entity, the strengthening of the steadfastness of the people, and preparation for direct elections to the Palestinian National Council (PNC) representative of Palestinians across the world.

The protest didn’t say silent for long. In my opinion, Palestinian silent protests are an oxymoron. Pretty soon, abetted by the expressive posters, vigorous chants were shouted by those in attendance who numbered around one hundred. Plainclothes police once again “infiltrated” the protest, but their faces were familiar to many who were involved in the now obsolete March 15th youth movement.

Chants called for Saeb Erekat to go home, and asserted that the right of return was not for sale. One variation was that the blood of the martyrs was not going to be sold out. Negotiations and normalization were used interchangeably in the chants as in this context they were really synonymous after all. One popular chant was “Right of Return, Freedom, National Dignity/ عودة, حرية, كرامة وطنية”

The plainclothes police moved to the other side of the street, the side of the Muqata’a. They watched us from inside their cars and a couple even took pictures, which forcibly reminded me of the Israeli army during the weekly protests in the village of Nabi Saleh who carry out the same act. After an hour and a half, the protest was over, but not before the youth shouted that if the message today wasn’t heard by the PA leadership, then there will be more protests to follow.

Shortly afterwards, one young man from Tulkarem who participated in the protest (and who prefers to remain anonymous) was attacked and arrested by the PA security forces. His arrest lasted for two hours, including an hour of interrogation about the names of the people who were chanting against the PA.

There is no longer a psychological barrier of fear against the Palestinian Authority and its security forces. Their interests are to consolidate their elitist status while the majority of the Palestinians continue to suffer from a two-tiered tyranny: The Israeli occupation and its bestial policies, and the suppression and stifling rule of the main Palestinian parties, Fateh in the shape of the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. We will not stand by anymore on the sidelines, as outdated so-called representatives negotiate our rights away with the same side that is continuously oppressing us. It is simply ludicrous, shameful, and outright embarrassing that these negotiations still occupy a space in the Palestinian political spectrum. Only free men and women negotiate, and for all their money, expensive cars and villas, and security coordinated travel permits, the Palestinian leadership is still at the end of the day occupied by Israel and its whims.

UPDATE: The incident with the arrested young man, Said al-Edreesy, is now public

Mahmoud Abbas: the Second Coming

One could be forgiven for thinking de facto President Mahmoud Abbas seemed like the second coming since Jesus of Nazareth not only by the reception he was given at the UN General Assembly when he spoke there on Friday but by the reaction throughout his speech from crowds amassed in West Bank cities.

Abbas’ speech, calling for admission of Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations, was surprising in that it was unusually strongly worded and lacked the usual skirting of core issues regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Characteristically, Abbas’ public addresses to audiences reflect the interests of the Palestine Authority (PA) and not of the Palestinian people, highlighting the importance of negotiations with Israel to achieve any lasting peace agreement as the sole tactic, effectively undermining resistance in all of its forms to the occupying regime.

At the UN, Abbas used terms like “ethnic cleasning”,“al-Nakba”, “apartheid policies” and “racist annexation Wall”. To the short-sighted and the outsider, the speech was indeed befitting of being a historical platform to voice the issue of Palestine. It encapsulated the suffering the Palestinians have endured for 63 years, from the horrors of their ethnic cleansing in 1948 to the unbearable life under the continuous settlement building which aids the apartheid and racist policies that are inherent in every aspect of Palestinians’ lives.

The speech also mentioned Gaza, which is still suffering under siege and from air raids that account for extra-judicial killings. It was a perfect speech, succinctly and without being overly garrulous capturing Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and making Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech sound like the incessant whining of a spoiled kid.

Or was it? The stalwart speech certainly diverted some of the initial skeptical views on the PA’s bid for statehood. For the indifferent, it won their support, and for those opposed it either strengthened their opposition or cracked their resolve. Talk now isn’t about whether the UN bid for statehood is detrimental or beneficial; it has now come to optimistic discussions of what this bid could do for Palestinians.

The argument is now about how the “internationalization” of the Palestine/Israel conflict is a good thing because it is rarely that the world fixes its attention on this small country except when there is bloodshed and misery, and this attention can now be channeled into genuine support for an end to the Israeli occupation.

“A very good speech”

Issa Amro, the director of the Hebron based Youth Against Settlements, was animatedly expressing his approval of Abbas’ speech in between sips of mint tea.

“It was a very good speech,” he told me. “He [Abbas] didn’t leave anything out. He talked about the Nakba, the Naksa, the prisoners, the settlements…it was a speech that was comprehensive of what every Palestinian wanted to hear.”

I asked him about the reaction of the people who had gathered in Hebron’s city center to watch the speech on a large screen. Mainstream media focused their attention primarily on the reaction in Ramallah, where jubilant crowds were celebrating as if they had already been granted statehood.

“The mood was positive. You know, people in Hebron are mostly Hamas supporters, but they were smiling throughout the speech. Thousands of people were present, which is something very rare in Hebron since we barely have large protests or gatherings.”

I pointed out that the proposed statehood bid was based on the 1967 borders, and that partitioning the land wasn’t going to work in the interests of most Palestinians.

Amro looked at me solemnly. “Listen, you think we’re ever going to forget about Haifa and Yafa? Of course not! But first, we have to gather what we have and then work toward regaining the rest.”

A risky approach

Settling for a two-state solution, no matter how temporary, has drastic consequences. Under the title of “State,” Palestine can be attacked by Israel not as an occupied territory (which carries its own legal implications as the Geneva Convention clearly stipulates that the occupier must protect the occupied), but as an equal.

But this is all theoretical of course. The West Bank and Gaza will not be granted statehood as the US president, with re-elections on the horizion, vowed to veto it. In the midst of renewed blind faith in the bid, Palestinians have forgotten or simply ignored the question of the PA’s legitimacy in carrying out such an act.

Legal expert Professor Guy Goodwin clearly pointed out that the PA is a “subsidiary body meaning it cannot break away from the parent body [the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)], assume greater powers, or establish itself independently from the PNC [Palestinian National Council]. It is only competent to carry out powers conferred to it by PNC.”

The PA’s control is restricted as it has “limited legislative and executive competence, territorial jurisdiction and limited personal jurisdiction over Palestinians not present in areas it is allocated accordingly.” The problem of representation, in which the six million Palestinian refugees in the diaspora could lose if the PLO, recognized and toted as the sole legitimate representative body for Palestinians everywhere (the diaspora, the 1967 occupied territories, the Palestinians living in the 1948 areas) wasn’t such a big deal anymore as Mahmoud Abbas graciously received standing ovations.

Abbas “never popular”

Mahmoud Abbas was never popular with the Palestinian people. Even before his presidency and during his tenure as Prime Minister, the late PA chairman Yassir Arafat was open about his suspicions of Abbas, accusing him of “betraying the interests of the Palestinian people.” Arafat’s associates added to the suspicions by pointing the finger at Abbas, saying he conspired with Israel to keep Arafat under siege in Ramallah during 2002.

It’s not just his lack of charisma either. Abbas never bothered to conceal his frank collaboration with Israel. Whether it was acquiring the services of the Israeli Shin Bet security forces to travel around the West Bank, or having previous knoweldge of and supporting Operation Cast Lead, or calling on Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit whilst neglecting to mention or at the very least equating Shalit with the eight thousand Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails.

Nor has Abbas been shy about coordinating security efforts with Israel under the guise of avoiding Palestinian confrontations which could end up in violence but which in reality serve the Israeli settlers’ interests more and simultaneously undermines unarmed popular resistance.

Most importantly there were the leaked Palestine Papers, which exposed the length Abbas and the rest of the unelected PA negotiating team were willing to concede the rights of the Palestinians, specifically the Right of Return, and the lands given away for the same “horrific picture of the settlement campaign” he articulated in his speech.

For all these reasons, the Palestinian street never thought much of Abbas where he paled in comparison with the inflated symbolism of Yassir Arafat. With his “historic speech” Abbas may satisfy himself with the knowledge that he has crept up the ladder of icons, cementing his legacy as the (autocrat) who laid the application for a Palestinian statehood at the UN’s feet.

The negotiations between the PA and Israel did not start last year in September. That was the timeline given in Abbas’ speech. No, the negotiations have been going on for almost two decades, and while it is nothing short of absurd for Israel and the Quartet, specifically the outraged US, to self-righteously lecture on, nay demand a return to negotiations as the only way to reach a peace settlement, they can rest assured that that it is what Abbas had in mind the whole time.

He wants to use the tactic of going to the UN as leverage that would put the ball in his court once he restarts negotiations, something he has promised to do over and over. Nelson Mandela once said that “only free men can negotiate” and these failed talks between the PA and Israel which have come at the expense of Palestinians and the increasing loss of their rights only give the illusion to the outside world that the relationship is between two partners, two equals, not the occupier and the occupied.

Enthusiasm without analysis

The supporters present at the Muqata’a compound in Ramallah today were bused in from the surrounding villages, most of which support Abbas’ Fatah faction, and other parts of the West Bank. They are lacking in knowledge of the implications and consequences of the PA’s UN bid for statehood, and have become desensitized to the situation on the ground which translates into a positive reaction at face value regarding the subject of Palestine receiving international attention.

This much was clear from my interviews with a number of people representing different aspects of society in Ramallah. They all wanted a state on the 1967 lines, “to be accepted as a country like the rest of the countries in the world”. When asked about the refugees from the 1948 areas (the parts of Palestine on which Israel was established in 1948), they reiterated that no state would be meaningful if the Right of Return was not implemented. When I pointed out this contradiction, most were confused.

Issa Amro indicated that the issue now is trusting the PA. Given its history of corruption and collaboration, this seemed a bit naïve. I believe in a one secular state for all, Muslims, Christians, and Jews. That however, is kryptonite to Zionism whose adherents sees the conflict not as a war or religions, as it slyly paints, but rather as battle of demography over geography.

A long way to go, but hope remains

Accepting the millions of refugees back into Palestine on a human rights approach would mean that the Israeli Jews would become a minority, and fuel the hysterical hasbara notion of “driving the Jews into the sea.” Yet we have a long way to go. The only Israelis who are not morally horrified by a one state solution where Palestinians are treated as equals and where none of this Jewish superiority based on Messianic revelations exists are the anarchists, those completely against the system.

Still, hope remains. The whole UN statehood drama could provide an opening for the Boycott, Divesment, and Sanctions movement to grow even more and become more popular, as it seeks to end Israel’s impunity and hold it accountable for all of its atrocities committed against the Palestinians ever since the months leading up to Israel’s independence.

It is a grassroots movement, similar to the one in Apartheid South Africa, and along with supporting the unarmed popular resistance, the steps for achieving peace, justice and equality in the country become even closer.

As published on Electronic Intifada

Israel Takes Pivotal Step Toward Peace!!

In light of Goldstone's backtracking of his discoveries in the fact-finding report filed after the Gaza war in 08/09 in which he accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes and for a full investigation by either sides on the issue, Israel initially accepted Goldstone's remarks and gloated to the international community that it was unshakable in its faith of being a peace-loving country with the most moral army in the world.

This morning however, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the Knesset in a rousing speech in which he condemned Goldstone's wavering of the mind, calling it one of the "calamities strongly driven to besmirch Israel's name through something equivalent to Alan Horowitz 's inciting perorations" and vowed to personally appoint a human rights investigative team to rebuke Goldstone's weak and contradictory op-ed in The Washington Post. His comments were received by shock and outrage, with foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman attributing Netanyahu's abnormal parley as a result of the convening of thuggish Palestinian infiltrators with menacing demeanors on Netanyahu's house. Lieberman did not bother to explicate further, as he kept up Israel's salutary tradition to blame Palestinians for any of their misfortunes without procuring the necessary evidence.

In true Ben Ali/Mubarak/Saleh fashion, Netanyahu then dismissed his whole cabinet and promised to instate a more secular rational government in its place no later than Wednesday, as he recognized that the current--now former--cabinet was not intent on peace. Verging on despotism, Netanyahu overruled the Jerusalem city council's decision to construct a thousand more homes in East Jerusalem for settlers, called for the dismantling of 50 percent of the settlements in the West Bank and Jordan Valley, and announced that he will dedicate his life to foster a breaking down of impressions between Israelis and Palestinians, which he hoped, will "lead to a just and peaceful bi-national state called Israfil." Saeb Erekat objected to this proposition, and demanded that the state be called "Falasrael".

Netanyahu's statements fired the fear in many of Israel's citizens, as protests starting from Har Homa and later escalating in all parts of the country called for the hanging of the prime minister. UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon was left bemused at his press conference in front of a mock-up Sderot-like bomb shelter in New York, and called this a "dangerous state of discourse" for Israel. The PA's Abbashole was reportedly witnessed driving a stake through his heart, after wailing in front of a life sized portrait of Netanyahu for much of the afternoon. Palestinian and Israeli leftist youth met at Qalandia checkpoint, with Rami Essa whipping the crowd into a positive frenzy in an Egyptian rendition of "Kumbaya".

And that, folks, is what we call Tell a Lie Day.

PA Disperses Egypt Solidarity Rally

Revolutions are dangerous. First Tunisia, then Egypt. Abbasshole doesn't want to the proletariats to start getting any ideas, so his security forces have been menacingly keeping order. At 4 pm on Sunday a solidarity rally was to take place in front of the Egyptian Embassy. Turnout predictably was low,as either the people of Ramallah didn't want to brave the rain or had a better Sunday afternoon activity. We're completely nonplussed. All around the world people in many countries have come out in support of the Egyptian people, and here the reaction is barely worth noting. What's wrong with us?

Anyway, security forces clamped down on this dangerous threat of a more than 5-person congregation:

Demonstrators tried multiple times to argue with police and army officers, invoking democracy and the right to free speech, but to no avail. The answer remained the same, over and over again: ‟It is forbidden to be here. Go home.” As demonstrators were being pushed back, armed men and security forces multiplied and kept pouring onto the street, either from nearby official buildings or from cars driving up to the scene. One car displaying the PA logo with ‘Protection Forces’ written in Arabic and English—even pretended to charge at the demonstrators before screeching to a halt only a couple of meters in front of the crowd. Rifle-carrying men dressed in civilian clothes then came out of the car quickly, as if on some emergency drill.

Some US human rights group has denounced the PA's actions regarding the rally.

Raja Shehadeh wrote that ironically, as people in the Middle East have woken up and are shifting toward change or at least protesting their governments, the West Bank is turning into a vicious police state. Ahmed Moor's riveting account of his experience at the hands of the Egyptian plainclothes police echo the tactics of the Palestinian equivalent, especially during a protest in 2009 in Ramallah about the massacre going on in Gaza at that time.

Maybe people are beyond disillusioned now, since they now realized that they have to ultimately get rid of the collaborative autocratic (in its own rights) PA regime before tackling the Israeli occupation. The intifadas that captured the hearts of millions of Arabs are no longer viewed as a way out, since the 1st resulted in the calamitous PA with the increase of Israeli oppression and occupation, and the 2nd in even more Israeli oppression and occupation. That would explain the unpopularity of protests/rallies at this point. But then, one needs to ask, since foresight isn't that common, what next?

UPDATE: Not wanting to feel left out, Hamas also oppressed Gaza's version of an Egypt solidarity rally.

New Benches

Birzeit University has around 8000 students, and yet there are only about 10 benches scattered throughout campus, which means that the majority of students spend their four years of education sitting on the ground, the steps of buildings, and on pavements. This semester we noticed at least ten more shiny new benches sprouting up here and there. About time, we thought. The university milks us dry and suddenly they start acting more considerate. A closer look at the benches however, show that they are presents from various Palestinian companies, such as Jawwal, Trust Insurance, and Abbasshole's son's company Wataniya.
The benches are all green. That means Hamas is involved somehow. And you'd think that that's sarcasm, but the Fateh supporters honestly do believe that anything associated with the color green is automatically Hamas.

Sometimes we worry about graduating with a drastically low number of brain cells than when we first reluctantly enrolled.

We just had to get away from the Palestine Papers, even if that meant a trivial post. Quick summary-  Erekat describing the Right of Return as a "bargaining chip" ignoring the millions of refugees in inhumane camps in Jordan and Lebanon. Robert Fisk spells out the obvious in this article, and its all been about a power struggle, or total wipe out of one party to be king of vaporous domination. There's been zero reaction from the student council, whether to accuse Al Jazeera of a smear campaign undermining the ruling power of the PA (honk!) or to ostentatiously offer up their blood for the long preserving life of Abbasshole, God save the despot.

The Hamas student party haven't organized anything either. We're relieved, because then they would have just pointed out vociferously and needlessly the PA's collaborative agenda and how they mercilessly were willing to sell out their own people, who they claim to represent yada yada. And then the Fateh party would have jumped in, and after a screaming match of "TRAITOR! AGENT! YAHOODI!" both sides would have taken the good ole route of fisticuffs, resulting in 12 students of the Hamas party being arrested and thrown in PA jail cells indefinitely, and several serious injuries on the Fateh students' part. Instead of working to dispose of the salata, the two rival factions, who everyone is sick to death of, resort to the thing they do best: pointing fingers at each other, while the Palestinians continue to suffer the seemingly irrevocable mistakes of their unrepresentatives.

PA Buss Supporters While Egypt Comes to Life

The government ministries closed an hour earlier so that their employees could congregate in Ramallah to protest the apparent witch-hunt Al Jazeera TV is unwittingly implementing against the PA. The Palestine Papers? What Palestine Papers? Al Jazeera is Zionist! That's all that matters.

The PA also bussed in the tailandeen from the northern parts of the West Bank, as is their custom whenever they are in dire need of supporters. I hurried through Ramallah today, already late for a workshop, but I didn't need to look twice to see what was going on. Traffic was horrific; the incompetent policemen had closed off a road or two and ignored traffic lights completely, waving their arms to signal the movement of vehicles. The Muqata'a was busy as Abbasshole made his fighting speech to the masses, namely that the Papers were forgeries and that he has nothing to hide. Around the Manara, a sparse crowd milled about, while some idiot shouted threats to Al Jazeera next to boy, no more than nine years old, holding up this poster:

The bigger crowd were in front of the City Center building, where Al Jazeera's offices are located and had already been broken into and vandalized. I walked on, torn between derisive amusement and irritation. Al Jazeera are no saints. In fact, some of their motives and tactics are questionable. But this is NOT about Al Jazeera, nor is it about the British newspaper The Guardian. This is about the full documentation of years and years of failed collusive negotiations between Israel and the PA. This is about bringing into light what many people have suspected about the PA, from happily offering unprecedented concessions, to killing Palestinians in order to maintain "order", to having previous knowledge-at least 6 months prior-to Operation Cast Lead, to employing their American-trained, Egyptian funded, Jordanian based "security forces" to crack down on any political dissent, etc etc. So for people to come out in support of the PA is an action befitting a gormless ogre. For people to defend the PA is unreasonable and irrational. The stage is set, the dominoes are quivering.

Speaking of which, tens of thousands of Egyptians marched through the streets today demanding the end of Hosni Mubarak's 28 year reign. It is toted as the biggest demonstration in a generation.

"We have never seen anything like this before – it is the first day of the Egyptian revolution," said Karim Rizk, one of those who joined multiple rallies in the capital. Apparently taken by surprise at the size of protests, police initially stood back and allowed demonstrators to occupy public squares and march through the streets, an unprecedented move in a country where political gatherings are strictly outlawed and demonstrations are normally quickly shut down by security forces. "We have taken back our streets today from the regime and they won't recover from the blow," claimed Rizk.

Shouting "down with the regime" and "Mubarak, your plane is waiting," protesters demanded the end of President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship and said they were fighting back against decades of poverty, oppression and police torture. The protests had been declared illegal by the authorities and were met with a fierce police response, as tear gas and water cannon were fired into the crowd and rocks were hurled into the air by both demonstrators and security forces.

Central Cairo

Ramallah Tunisia Solidarity Rally Sabotaged by PA

On Wednesday the 19th, at four pm, a rally was supposed to kick off at the Manara square in Ramallah. It was a rally showing solidarity with Tunisia, organized by university students with no political affiliations and who were simply impressed by the Tunisian people's revolution. The event was synchronized to start in other cities such as Nablus, Jenin, Gaza City, Jerusalem, and Yafa. Generally, we hold rallies and 'protests' in Ramallah in a belittling view, as the turn out is always disappointing and plainclothes police are sauntering everywhere-which ensures the democratic PA regime is watching. However, since this was a solidarity event, we decided, sure why the hell not. As we started walking toward the Manara, we could tell that something was wrong. We expected to find a small sea of red flags, and instead the vile yellow Fateh flags were fluttering everywhere. We rolled our eyes. Another rally despotically overridden by Fateh for the childish reason of reminding everyone just who is in charge around here, if by being in charge means under the thumb of Israel and moonlighting as their lapdogs. We pushed our way through the crowd and found out that in fact, this was no Solidarity-With-Tunisia-Cum-Display-of-Fateh-Masculinity. There was not a single Tunisian flag to be seen, no banners or posters or anything related to Tunisia. Instead, there were posters of the prisoner Haytham Salhia, whose assassination attempt in the Israeli Eshel prison failed and resulted in his paralysis (some say 'critical condition', not wanting to give the deets away).

It wasn't too hard to figure out what just happened. Those who had initially arrived for the Solidarity rally were huddled off at one side, while others were just standing among the Fateh supporters with a nonplussed expression on their faces. Apparently, the poor bitty PA is scared. For all of its brutal crackdowns and suppression of the freedom of speech, it still lives in fear that the West Bank will rise up and swallow them whole. Anyone who shows admiration for the Jasmine Revolution becomes a dissenter, and we all know what happens to that kind. Abbashole is on the unpopular side of Ben Ali, and he fears the people on the streets. Therefore, no Tunisian rally. No expression of solidarity. One man who unfurled his Tunisian flag promptly had it confiscated from him.  Fateh Fateh Fateh, all the way bitches!

A Statement by a Group of Palestinian Youths

Palestinian security forces sabotaged an event that was organized to celebrate the Jasmine revolution and express solidarity with the Tunisian people. Their excuse for shutting down the event was: “We are the authority here, we are the government, and we decide the laws around here.”

In organizing the event we followed all the legal procedures in accordance with the right to freedomof assembly. We were within the confines of Palestine’s Basic Law and Law 12 of 1998, which outlines the procedures for planning a public event. We informed the authorities more than 48 hoursin advance so that Ramallah’s governor’s office could have ample time to coordinate with the policeand other security forces to ensure our safety and redirect traffic. More than 24 hours after we submitted the request we were informed that a decision was made by the leadership of thePalestinian Authority to ban public events that celebrate or stand in solidarity with Tunisia. We were threatened by the authorities and were told that the police would oppose and prevent any such gathering and arrest those who defied their orders. However, we refused to yield to their threats, and insisted on assembling to celebrate and support the Tunisian people’s victory over tyranny.

We decided to have the crowd convened for the Tunisia solidarity event stand in support of Haytham, given the urgency of his case. At the gathering we planned to announce that we were postponing the Tunisian solidarity assembly for another day. We planned to inform the crowd that we were giving priority to the case of the poisoned political prisoner. We explained to those organizing the rally for the political prisoner the situation at-hand. We also asked the police and those working with the Palestinian Authority’s offices to allow us to announce to the crowd that the Tunisia event was postponed and ask that the crowd congregate near the prisoner’s family to provide them with moral support. We felt compelled to make this announcement to avoid any confusion in the crowd, especially since significant numbers of police and undercover intelligence forces were deliberately waiting to punish anyone who attempted to celebrate the Tunisian revolution.

The police and governmental officials at the event refused to give us the opportunity to make our announcement, and began to intimidate and threaten our participants to silence us. When a member of the assembly took out his Tunisian flag, the police forces quickly seized him and confiscated his flag. A policeman then threateningly declared: “We are the Authority here, we are the government,and we decide the laws around here.”The Palestinian Basic Law, which serves as our de facto constitution, grants us freedom of assembly.We believe that our future Palestinian state must be built on the firm grounds of civil and political liberties. We planned this public event for the sole purpose of standing in solidarity with the Tunisian people who have also stood by us in our time of need. The Tunisian people have consistently expressed solidarity with Palestine, both after and during our revolts against Israeli oppression. This event was not planned to protest the difficult internal conditions that currently inflict the Palestinian people, although we should have the right to openly protest, regardless of the issues or opinions being expressed.

We categorically refuse to submit to these threats. We will never surrender our right to freedom of expression and assembly.

Regardless of the threats used against us and the rejection we have received from the Palestinian Authority’s governmental and security institutions, we are determined to have our event. As Palestinian youth we understand that the future of the Palestinian people depends on us. We know where we must focus our energies to bring about positive change to ensure that our people will one day celebrate their freedom.

The time and place of our event will be announced soon, and the event will occur during this week.We invite you all to join us to celebrate the Tunisian people’s revolution against oppression.

Al Jazeera Reveals Failure of Negotiations

At the time of this writing, Saeb Erekat is sweating his tiny balls off on the Arabic Al Jazeera channel, gulping down water and yelling unnecessarily so and accusing the anchors of being unfairly quoted. For over one thousand and six hundred documents have been revealed throughout the twenty year course of "peace negotiations" between Israel and the self-appointed Palestinian negotiators. Only an idiot needs to be convinced by all these documents; the so called peace process, proposed initially at the Madrid conference in 1991, has been a laughing stock from the beginning, full of glaring holes of US-backed Israeli propositions of land for Israel's security (and not peace) and unrequited gaping concessions made by the Palestinian team. The negotiations themselves have been going on about ten years prior to Madrid.

First things first. Who the hell appointed the Palestinian Negotiating Team? What an abrasive autocratic clique of unabashed collaborators. Stand up Ahmad Qurei, Yaser Abdrabo, Mohammad Dahalan (all sequestered to bugger off somewhere else) Salam Fayyad and reigning chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat. In no way at all do they represent the Palestinian people, and by Palestinian we include those in the Gaza Strip and 1948 Palestine, not just the bantustan riddled West Bank. Claiming to speak and act on behalf of the Palestinians is such a grievous insult. In fact, it's purely criminal.

Al-Quds/Jerusalem. The Holy City which the Israelis see as their rightful capital, even if it means evicting every non-Jewish member, demolishing historic neighborhoods, and impudently building illegal settlements with the zealousness and manic energy of the tasmanian devil. It is one of the most sensitive and thorniest issue for those who resolutely insist on hammering along the so-called peace process. The original Jerusalem residents, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian (we'll leave out 'Jewish' since they obviously got the better deal), are under threat of losing their homes, their identity, and their livelihoods by the on-going Judaizing process. Most have. Oh, and then there's all this bother about a third temple for the Jews built beneath the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, which in order to be discovered must entail the excavation of the mosque. The old city is part of the occupied Palestinian territories (since 1967) which clearly means that the excavations, the closing down of Arab-owned stores, and the eviction and subsequent replacement of Palestinians with immigrant Jews is illegal.

Enter sweaty Erekat. Back in 2009, he proposed a "creative" solution for the problem of the old city of Jerusalem. Israel gets control of the Jewish quarter and part of the Armenian quarter, which implicitly brings Israel right up to the Haram al Sharif's western compound wall. In other words, the Armistice Line is redrawn 600 meters closer to the very borders of the Haram al Sharif. The Palestinians get control of the Christian and Muslim quarters. And the Haram al Sharif itself can be overseen by an international committee. That's not all folks! The year before, Ahmad Qurei and Erekat offered to concede almost all of East Jerusalem-for nothing in return. This means legalizing all the settlements, except for Jabal Abu Ghneim, and giving up the Arab neighborhoods.

Erekat on al Jazeera, as if to justify himself, shouted that even though this it what was offered to Israel, Tzipi Livni (part of the negotiators back then) adamantly refused to accept. We suppose he's trying to bring up the point of Israel's graciousness, and not the obvious correct reason for its refusal:

THEY
WANT
IT
ALL

So. Does Erekat think that by conceding East Jerusalem for nothing in return will put him in the history books as the most shrewd and calculating negotiator of all time? Or will be be busy papering his bathroom tiles with benjamins?

And you know what, it's not surprising at all. This whole story is only natural, with a few douchebags happily giving away the homeland of Palestinians without second thought and fulfilling their farcical role in...negotiations.


Lastly, this gem of a quote from Shitface: "The only thing I cannot do is convert to Zionism."

D'oh!

More on Farcical Forgiveness Day

Sunday October 10, 2010 was proclaimed to be Forgiveness Day in Palestine, but having to wake up at 8:00am on this cherished day off from the university didn’t seem all that forgiving! Having no idea what our friend signed us up for , we horse-backed to the Manara (in Ramallah) groggy brained and still very much asleep. You see, for this task, we'd get more community hours, and since graduation doesn't seem that far off any more, we figured the smart thing to do was to get a move on.

Having reached the meeting tent, Bedouin style, we found ourselves attacked and bombarded with questions, information, fliers and stickers. “What’s your name?”, “Are you here for community service?”, “Here pass these out…and these”, and “If anyone asks you what this is for say____” and this is the part where we zoned out…I mean can you blame us? We're not exactly early risers. Moving on, we did as we were told and found ourselves finished just in time to head back home into our feathered beds, or so we thought. Our happiness dissolved under a cloud of tragedy…Forgiveness Day had not yet begun. Our next duty was to walk from the Manara to the Legislative Council building where we would stand and wait for the one and only pompous 'man of the people' Salam Fayyad to come out and share with us and the media words of love, care and encouragement.
While trudging, the forgiveness mob howled 1 through 10 in Arabic followed up by English…we would of never guessed we had phenomenal bilinguals in Palestine.
While standing, waiting for his collaborative self to greet us, we were handed white balloons and flowers which were to be flown and thrown in the air once the speech was completed and 1 through 10 counted for the last time.

Finally the idiot arrived, and what can we say about the speech that was given? Well, nothing of interest really. Only that Sir Fayyad made a vow to officially proclaim 10/10 as Forgiveness Day in Palestine the next time he was chillin with his buddies at Stars and Bucks!

We're that melodramatic when working on weekends. Stop the eye rolling!

And no, it has not passed our notice that this idiotic proclamation of Forgiveness Day 'coincided' with Israel's new law of the loyalty oath. Israel is busy making life more difficult for Palestinians, while the quisling regime is actively diverting the Palestinians' attention from important political and apartheid decisions made against them. Forgive your neighbors, and your insolent children for not becoming the famous doctors you wanted them to be. No need to be so exclusive, forgive Israel for occupying your land for 60 plus years. In fact, just forget about them, and the house demolitions, and the evictions, and the settlement building, and the checkpoints, and all the psychological trauma that comes with being gun-controlled, and all of their racist apartheid laws. Salam Fayyad, we eagerly await your promised 2011 Palestinian state. Wait, we mean the 2011 Collaborator state.