umkahlil

This is what's happening now. From Rory McCarthy's story today:

"But Israel closed the crossings into Gaza yesterday and prevented even UN trucks from delivering food aid . . .

"An Israeli warplane bombed the offices of the Palestinian interior ministry yesterday, flattening one wing of the empty building, killing a woman attending a wedding party next door and wounding at least 46 other civilians, some of them children playing football in the street, hospital staff said."

I live in Germany and have no choice other than to advocate for the Palestinians from here because I don't want to put up with the humiliation I'd have to endure at the airport, and most likely get turned right back around, to visit the place where I actually own property and have roots going back hundreds of years.

As Ben White writes, the West Bank represents one-quarter of the Palestinian population; the vast majority of the exiled Palestinians, who aren't privileged to carry American or European passports, are denied their inalienable right to even visit their homeland.
As of January 15, Israel killed 113 Palestinians. This is since Annapolis. The ratio since Annapolis now stands at 59 Palestinians for every one Israeli.

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article245
Since January 15, three members were killed on Thursday night. Their horse carriage was targeted.

"The sources said those killed are a Palestinian woman and two of her sons. Medical sources identified the killed as Maryam Al Rahel and her sons Mohamed and Mansour."

"On 16 January, 3 Palestinian civilians (a man, his child and his brother) were killed when an Israeli forces aircraft fired a missile at their car. On the same day, Israeli forces extra-judicially executed 2 Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip. Israeli military spokesmen called the missile strike a 'mistake'."
http://www.imemc.org/article/52354

Thanks to Ben White and to others who advocate for human rights and justice for the Palestinians.

Gellhorn is one of a long line of the rich and famous to champion on behalf of Zionism.

She writes about the Christian refugees she encountered:

"The children are taught hate, the Garden of Eden stolen from them by murderers; their duty is to live for Return and Revenge."

No other ethnic group who teaches about their history to their children would be demonised as "teaching hate." But for many here, until Palestinians engage in masochism and accept Israel's "right to be a Jewish state," we will continue to be demonised.

The right to return home is stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Gellhorn, along with a host of other Zionist apologists, denigrate the right of the Palestinians to return home; thus abetting ethnic cleansing, which is a war crime.

Check out this video from 1950 about the Palestinian refugees:

Why don't we let Palestinian refugees describe their experience themselves?
Start with Tamam Al-Akhal and Ismail Shammout, famous Palestinian artists, who were also husband and wife; The Agony and the Ecstacy series captures the plight of the Palestinians beautifully.

As does Samia Halaby's artwork:
http://www.art.net/~samia/pal/pal1/home.html

umkahlil
Comment No. 1065554
January 19 18:46DEU
From Palestinian artist Naji Al-Ali's "I Am From Ain Al-Hilweh," describing the Israeli assault in 1982 on refugee camps:

"I was always troubled by my inability to protect people. How were my drawings going to defend them? I used to wish that I could save the life of only one child.

"The Israeli invasion was so brutal that many took leave of their senses. One day, on my way home, I saw a man walking around naked. People were looking at him aghast. I called out to Wida, my wife, and asked her to fetch me a shirt and a pair of trousers. The man was larger than I, so I fetched one of my larger shirts and a pair of trousers from one of the neighbors and we put them on him. I asked him some questions, but he remained silent. After making some inquiries, I learned that he was from Saida. After several days of relentless bombardment, he had been forced to leave his home in order to find some bread -- any kind of food -- for his children. He hoped that he could find a store open, because many of the streets in old Saida were covered over and one could walk there in relative safety. The man's efforts had proved futile. There were no stores open. When he returned home, he found that his house had been destroyed, killing his wife and seven or eight children. When the Israelis were taking us to the coast, we passed in front of that house. I noticed a small sign written in charcoal: "Take care! Here lies the family of ..." The man had written the sign himself, because the corpses were still buried beneath the debris."
http://www.handala.org/naji.html