By John Ballard
Lisa Goldman is a freelance journalist whom I have been "following" since before Twitter. As I write this she is in Bil'in participating in one of the weekly Free Palestine protests that have been staged there for a long time. Every time I hear another reference to Palestinian rockets I think of the hundreds, thousands of non-violent efforts that emanate from Palestinians and their supporters. It is reminiscent of our own civil rights movement and is never reported in the American press.
This woman is one tough cookie. And she knows how to start a New Year right.
This is gleaned from her Twitter feed over the last hour...
Bil'in, habibti. Will try to avoid the tear gas.
Army lays siege on Bil'in closing all entrances.
Dozens of activists are making their way in walking but the press's prevented from entering The army has prevented CNN and other major international media from entering bil'in to cover an unarmed demo.
I am livtweeting from bil'in today. Demo is just getting started, following a long scramble down rock hills to avoid Army roadblocks.
@ibnezra in Bil'in. http://yfrog.com/h3kezftj [photo link]
Demo is starting to warm up. http://yfrog.com/gzcvilj [photo link]
Salam fayyad addressing demo in bil'in . http://yfrog.com/h4vbzbj [photo link]
Salam Fayyad and fatah VIPs are joining the march. Will be interesting to see if army uses tear gas on them.
First round of tear gas
I fucking hate tear gas.
Lots of internationals and Israelis in bil'in today. When rain started, shopkeeper gave us plastic bags & helped tape up cameras
Oh yay. Stink gas.
Okay follow @ibnezra for heroic updates from the gas front.
I am moving back. My face is stinging and I'm all snotty.
Sorry for TMI @darshu it is bad and the wind is blowing it back at us.
Tear gas face. http://yfrog.com/h3st2fj [See insert]
@AmiKaufman I'm staying pretty far back today. Army's actng like a bunch of behemot.
@apjvalk no, fayyad left in his armored black Mercedes with the other VIPs
8 year old kids gagging on year gas. What a disgrace.
I am 200 meters from the fence and still can't get away from the gas.
You go, girl!
For anyone interested in Free Gaza activities, I recommend Joseph Dana's blog. He remains on task and his reports are always professional. You Tube videos are uploaded continuously which document what's happening there and in other places where Israel maintains a relentless stranglehold on Palestinians. Twitter home is @ibnezra.
~~~�~~~
A short time later the IDF Tweetstream puts out this.
~250 rioters in Bil'in now hurling rocks @ IDF forces-area declared closed military zone to prevent escalation but open to village residents �~50 rioters tried to block main road near Umm Salamuna. Riot dispersal means used, area declared closed military zone & the riot dispersed. �2 addt'l violent riots: ~40 Palestinians near Dir Nizam, ~15 near Ni'lin hurling rocks @ IDF forces who r responding w/riot dispersal means
Re @idfspokesperson 's tweets. Guys, don't you feel like shit when you lie like that? Seriously! Get someone to report from the scene.
Freedom Flotilla redux. It has become a way of life. How much longer can this go on?
Because I'm absolutely positive that the American Civil Rights movement had a large, violent armed group that regularly beat its own people and were devoted to killing every single white person in the United States for religious reasons. Yup, definitely very similar.
ReplyDeleteLike the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada, the rockets from Gaza were a choice of tactics of a spectacular vengefulness. The spectacle was greater than the damage: no Israeli had been killed by a rocket before the IDF launched their assault. Yet the idea of rockets falling induces terror, whereas the idea of an army invading a neighbouring territory has an official sound. The numbers of the dead � as of 15 January, more than 1000 Palestinians and fewer than 20 Israelis � tell a different story. Many people remain unmoved by the tremendous disproportion because they cannot get the image of rockets out of their heads.
ReplyDelete�We have to ask the West a question: when the Israelis bombed the house of Sheikh Nizar Rayan, a Hamas leader, killing him, his wives, his nine children, and killing 19 others who happened to live in adjoining houses � because they saw him as a target � was this terrorism? If the West�s answer is that this was not terrorism, it was self-defence � then we must think to adopt this definition too.�
These are skimmed from Responses to the War in Gaza, drawn from fourteen eminent observers from a variety of backgrounds.
Nothing I say in this comment will have much impact on an already closed mind. But for those with minds still open, there is much to ponder. And yes, just as in the case of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, the American civil rights movement had groups advocating violence. But as in that struggle there is a constructive choice between those who advocate non-violent conflict resolution or those (like the commenter above) who clearly do not. And it may be worth mentioning that a population of Palestinians live, work and have their being as Israeli citizens.
And I pointed out that I'm for a violent solution... where, exactly? All I did was say I found the comparison of the Palestinian cause to the American Civil Rights movement a touch facetious, especially because of Hamas. Again, to my knowledge, the American Civil Rights movement never had a substantial movement dedicated to expelling/killing all of the whites and setting up a theocratic government. Of course, I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteAll sides of this conflict have stupidity marring them, stupidity that's gone on for decades. Some of it is was accidental, some of it wasn't; the settlements, the anti-Jewish leadership, ect ect. I'd like a peaceful solution to the conflict, but as long as the High Idiots continue to reign, and groups like Hamas exist, I find the prospect unlikely.
Sorry I hit a nerve. To the extent I misinterpreted your sarcastic comment I stand corrected.
ReplyDeleteI do object to the use of words like stupidity and idiots which are utterly inflammatory and counterproductive. And I do not claim neutrality in the Palestinian conflict with Israel as you apparently do. I am sympathetic with the Palestinian cause and see the larger picture as one of a united Israel versus a very fragmented Palestinian cause. Palestinians are divided into several disparate groups (in addition to those who actually living in Israel) including Gaza, the "West Bank", refugee settlements in S.Lebanon and Jordan, and a global diaspora.
Maintaining this disunity is central to Israel's success and that cause is not made any better by Arab reluctance to actively intervene in Palestinian affairs. (My instinct is that Palestinians have a low status in the Arab world much the same as the Roma in Europe and dark-complected people on the island of Hispaniola. This may be a wrong conclusion on my part and I am certainly no expert, but I come to that conclusion from all I have read and a couple of personal exchanges.)
Bill Clinton made a good point that a large number of Russian immigrants is the bedrock of a hard-Right political component standing firm against any concession to Palestinians. In any case, my sympathies are influenced in no small way by the large and growing number of Jews, both in Israel and elsewhere, also in agreement with the Palestinian cause.
Woo-hoo... I'm smitten!
ReplyDelete