In this weeks message: Deir Yassin massacre a pivotal
event in history, videos on refugees, Jewish South
African leader on the massacre, Jews Remember
the Nakba, and action alerts.
Dr. Ghada Karmi’s visit to Connecticut
(the Constitution State) was very successful. She spoke
at four events including talks to mostly student audiences
at three universities. Wednesday’s talks at Wesleyan, and
Yale were planned to coincide with the 60th anniversary
of the Deir Yassin massacre (April 9, 1948, weeks before
Israel was unilaterally declared a state and one of 33
massacres committed to drive the native inhabitants out).
Below are two relevant articles on this seminal event that
was used to create the largest remaining refugee population
in the world. It was inspiring to see the younger people
active in organizing and engaged in attending, asking
important questions etc. The events at Yale
(hosted by Arab Student Association) and Wesleyan
(hosted by ADAPT) packed the rooms booked.
Deep and meaningful discussions spilled over also after the
lecture and I heard lots more are now planned to delve into
the root causes of the 60 year wars and conflicts in
Western Asia (AKA the Middle East).
Between 1947-1949 over 3/4th of the native Palestinians
(Christians and Muslims) were driven out (by Zionist
terminology the land was “cleansed”). Over 530 villages
and towns were completely removed off the face of the map.
Israeli historians clearly documented through declassified
material the meticulous nature of the cruel program that
led to the creation of the largest remaining refugee problem
in the world (see Ilan Pappe recent book "The Ethnic
Cleansing of Palestine"). Defying International law and its
own promises when joining the UN, Israel refuses to alow
them to return and instituted laws to remove the
remaining inhabitants from their lands (e.g. the occupied
West Bank since 1967 and the home demolitions in the
Negev and the Galilee recently). 300,000 “citizens” of the
state of Israel are considered by law “present absentees”
(internally displaced people whose homes and lands were
taken over under the so-called "absentee property laws"
and turned over to the Jewish Agency for use by Jews only).
Through this process, some 93% of the land that was owned
by Palestinians is now off-limits to non-Jews and 7 of the 10
million Palestinians in the world are refugees or displaced people
(6000 homes demolished just in the past 7 years alone).
The history of colonization is inextricably linked to the
history of violence that impacted both Israelis and 10 times
more Palestinians. A Hebrew and Israeli culture can be
maintained only if Israel implements human rights and
International law are respected. Only then, we can have
equality, peace, justice, and security for all people in the
Holy Land. Until then, it is immoral to "celebrate" a
formation of the state of Israel. Only a rights-based approach
will bring a durable peace to this part of the world
(as opposed to the unfair and distorted "peace process").
(MUST READ) Sixty years after Deir Yassin by Ronnie Kasrils
(Jewish Minister of Intelligence in South Africa and Veteran
anti-apartheid fighter), The Electronic Intifada, 8 April 2008
See: http://electronicintifada.net
And an older but poignant article
"We Created Terror Among the Arabs"
http://counterpunch.org
Video: Refugee yearning to return
http://www.youtube.com/user
Must see video (IMHO the strength and maturity of this
little girl reminds us that Palestine will survive).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
UN Expert (who happens to be Jewish) stands by
comments comparing Israeli actions to Nazi actions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi
ACTION 1: Refugee camps on Google earth must
include Palestinian Refugee Camps
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives
lost-palestinian
ACTION 2: No time to celebrate--
Jews remember the Nakba (join them if you are Jewish
or pass along to others)
http://notimetocelebrate
ACTION 3: Attend the Palestine Conference
August 8-10 in Chicago http://palestineconference.org
And ACTION ALWAYS: speak-up, silence is complicity
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://peace-action.org
http://justicewheels.org
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