Ismael Shammout of Lydda and Khan Younis, Gaza

I bought some wonderful oranges from Sidon, even this late in the season. They are smaller than the Egyptian navel oranges, which I am told were originally from Palestine. These oranges from southern Lebanon must be what the original oranges of Palestine must have been like before the european settlers cleared the coast of oranges to make way for cement parking lots and apartment houses in Tel Aviv.

The box said Shamouti, in English, and I looked up in Google to see if that were the name of a certain type of orange. Instead, Google found references to Ismael Shammout, the famous Palestinian artist who did the famous picture of the man, like Aenaes fleeing Troy, but carrying the whole burden of the refugees on his back. Click on this link to see a series of paintings Shammout (and his wife, Tamman Al-Akhal?) made on the history of Palestinians in exile. And on this link to see his biography, as it was posted on a McGill listserve of Palestinians in Exile. My friend, who Crystal Kessler used to call, Che Guevara because of his beret, at AUC was from McGill...nice old listserver here. What was his name, he must have become quite a famous Arabist now.

Shati Tea and Falafel Shop, Gaza

An unusual admission of the lies which the Israeli establishment gives about the so-called "Temple Mount" was given in a New York Times article yesterday. But most interesting was this link to the History of Jerusalem page of Al-Quds University.

Also interesting is this link to my old geocities page of journals, which I have preserved on my umich.edu web

Jeoffrey's Cafe, Dhahran

Voici ma bicyclette devant le café. Jim et Ed sont venu me parler de ceci et cela cet apres midi.

Cafe de Flore, Paris--a note on Mary Magdalen

It's coincidental that Mary Magdalen, from Al-Majdal, an industrial suburb of Ashkelon, came to Provence on a mission to spread the faith. Many of the Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes in 1948 Palestine and moved to the Gaza strip were from Al-Majdal.

Café de Turin, 5 Place Garibaldi, Nice

Feb. 9 2009: Savoured a coffee this morning here, visiting the new Nice tram system and the one euro bus to Cap Ferrat. I walked from Port Jean, Cap Ferrat, up across the cap to la Mauresque, which was the villa that W: Sommerset Maughm lived his last days in.

Obama interview with Al-Arabiyya

Maybe the reason Al-Arabiyya has kept Hanan Al-Masri off the screen is that they wanted to get the first interview in the Arab and Muslim world with Obama, as they did today.

From my apartment

Watching the BBC, its reporter finally allowed in to see the destruction. 50,000 Palestinians are still living in schools since their homes have been bombed to smithereens, particularly in the north, near the borders of 1948 Israel. Audio in Arabic about Israeli tanks continuing to be placed on the areas directly adjacent to Israel's southern border.

From my Apartment

the Cease fire by the Israelis seems to be real. Al-Arabiyya is showing pictures of the villages north of Gaza city in ruins after what the bombs and tanks did there.

Jan. 16--22nd day: Up the coast from Shati' Tea and Falafel Shop, in Beit Lahiya

The occupying forces bombed and sent phosphorous shells in the UNRWA school in Beit Lahiya this morning, killing two people and wounding others who were taking refuge there. There was also intense tank fire against residents in Khan Younis, a little than mid way down the coast. Shortly, I will put a recording of the Al-Arabiyya TV report from Beit Lahiya. The UN secretary general, Bi Kam Moon criticized Israel quite forcefully from where he was in Lebanon. Tel Aviv is considering calling a unilateral cease fire. With great lies and fanfare Olmert did call for a unilateral cease fire about 12 midnight Saudi time, just in time for the evening news in the USA.

Shati' Tea and Falafel Shop, Gaza

R|Mail

Feed Button Help

The Palestinian minister of the interior, whom the occupation forces killed with an F16 missile grew up in Shati', born there in 1953. There was a sort of quiet in Gaza city today, but Hanan Al-Masri reported on Al-Arabiyya that there was shelling by occupation forces in Shaj'iyya, east Gaza City which is a very famous area from the first intifada. She got reports of further occupation forces shelling in Khan Younis, where the famous Mamluke city center is and which has many popular supporters of Hamas.





BBC is saying that Hamas has rejected the cease fire, but they are just picking on a speech by Khaled Meshal at the Doha meeting. Hamas has agreed to the Egyptian - French proposal. Livni is in the US with Rice, rushing there after the "mistake" the occupation forces made yesterday of bombing the UN warehouse and burning alll the supplies while Bi Moon was there. Below is a good response to a prof in Beersheba who "explained" on the New York Times why Israelis are united behind the actions of the occupying forces. Also, below that is a comment I made that was published in the comments blog of this professor. IN RESPONSE TO THE STRANGE WAY ISRAELIS ARE UNITED BEHIND THE BOMBING: Here is a good comment to a Beersheba Professors article in the NEW York times explaining how frightened Israelis are by the rockets. 1. An absolutely ridiculous essay. You whine about the terror of hearing rockets everyday, while ignoring the reason why Hamas sends those rockets. Hamas knows that rockets will never “defeat” Israel. The point is to remind Israelis that there is a destitute Palestinian population that has no chance of improving its lot as long as Israel continues to strangle it economically. How convenient is it for you to forget the root causes of this: - no trade allowed with the outside world - constant power shutdowns - constant land grabs (including the wall built on Palestinian land) - arbitrary imprisonment and killings with no legal proceedings (Israel is police, judge and jury) Lets look at the reality of the situation, this is really very similar to other historical eras. For years South Africa maintained the same policy as Israel - boxing in the indigent population while maintaining that it was necessary to contain terrorists. In Nazi Germany the same thing was done in the ghettos. Yes these comparisons are ugly, but they hold true if looked at objectively. Its time to hold Israel accountable for its actions. All necessary humanitarian aid to Palestinians should be deducted directly from aid now given to Israel. A trade embargo should be imposed on Israel also, It makes no sense for the US and the world to continue to subsidize this insanity. Once Israel also feels the pain of economic isolation it too will decide that such policies will never be productive. And here’s mine on Jan15th at 10am 1. The Occupying Forces are running the war very carefully on the ground so as to continually allow Hamas to fire rockets at Bersheeba and Ashkelon. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the rockets are fired from the fields as close as possible to the Israeli border, that is to say OUTSIDE the poplulation centers. Yet the Israeli Air force and apache helicopters are striking targets all over the Gaza strip, and, even today, in the south west part of Gaza city, the elegant area just south of the French Cultural Center and the British Council. For days, they have demolished houses in Jabalia and Beit Lahia, but totally ignored the fields between Jabalia and the Erez crossing. So the rockets keep coming. I believe that that is the strategy of the high ups in the Israeli establishment. They need the rockets to keep coming in order to keep Israeli public opinion on their side, while they carry out a massive destruction and bloodletting of the various parts of the Gaza strip. Nor does it take a rocket scientist to see that with all the high tech stuff available in Israel, some teenager couldn’t have invented a rocket that would intercept a Qassam in mid flight. But, oh no. The Israeli government wouldn’t want to do such a simple thing to protect its citizens!! “Israel has to teach the Palestinians a lesson.” — 3011

Tell El-Hawa, Gaza Jan.15, 20th day UN Headquarters shelled by Occupying foces

Here is the recording on from TV Arabiyya, in a quicktime movie where the movie is blank because I do not have the means to record the tv. This is Hanan al-Masri telling the announcer in Saudi Arabia, whose name is Mohammad, that she has to leave because of the smoke. A reporter from Dubai TV, wearing his "press" vest was wounded in the same building. Hanan is quite calm, but says she has to go, in good classical Arabic, right to the end.
Although Al-Arabiyya has some problems with a picture feed from Gaza now that the Occupation Troops have entered the Tell El-Hawa part of Gaza, they get phone calls from all over the strip of individual Gazan's trying to get news out of what is happening. By broadcasting these, Al-Arabiyya hopes to be able to help the civil defense crews get to places where they are needed. Below is a woman speaking on the telephone from a building were there are several families huddled inside and there is a fire which has started.


Taghreed al-Khodeiri, reporting for the New York Times from Gaza reports: "Residents of the Tel el-Hawa district in south-western Gaza City said Israeli shelling and shooting had gone on all night and that the local Al Quds Hospital was under fire."

The picture above is of the fire in the UNWRA headquarters in Tell El-Hawa, Gaza.
This is a very elegant neighborhood, just south of the French Cultural Center and the British Council where English lessons used to be given to students who could never get to Jerusalem anyway to take the TOEFL because the Israelis kept the borders closed so often.

Tell El-Hawa Jan.15 morning

The Occupying forces simply follow their old roads, made from the time when they had actual military settlements in Gaza. Having bombed to smithereens the farm villages to the north of Gaza city, Jabalia and Beit Lahia, and machine gunning the poorer areas from the sea(Al-Shati) and from the air(As-Shaji'yya to the south and east of Gaza city), last night the occupying forces began moving north from the old Israeli settlement of Natzarim arriving with tanks in Tell el-Hawa, where there are tall buildings and many people, also the univerities and Book fair expositions parks. Here is the report from Hanan Al-Masri describing the reports of movements of Israeli troops to Tell El-Hawa. She gives no indication that in about an hour later, the very building where she was reporting from would be filled with smoke and she would have to leave. So this is the last TV Arabiyya, possibly, from the Shurook Building in Tell El-Hawa. (Also, at 1:00 Saudi time, noon Gaza time, Al-arabiyya got a telepone call from a woman with people trapped in Burj Istakhbarat with many families and children. This building is in Tell El-Hawa and quite near the Al-Arabiyya broadcast center. The BBC reporter reported that the tanks were getting near to where he was, too.

Palestinian voices from Zeitun in my apartment

As we reported in "From my apartment 17th day of the Invasion," Red Cross ambulances were denied permission to get into Zeitun, to the east of Gaza City. Well, today, Al-Arabiyya interview a van load with some women who were able to get out of Zeitun. I was not able to catch the first part of the interview where the matriarch spoke of how she tried to explain to the Israeli troops that they were Jordanians. That they had already been kicked out of the west bank in 1967. Then I turned on the tape recorder when her 15-year-old daughter was talking. This is the first description I have heard of what the ground troops of the occupying forces are doing in the villages surrounding Gaza city while the F-16's and Apache helicopters demolish buildings in Gaza city itself. She describes how the occupying forces banged on their door and entered the house. They even questioned her about her "shobah" and the reporter says, "What's a shobah?" and she says, "It's just a paddle we use to stir flour to make bread." I couldn't quite understand, but it seems the occupying forces thought even that was a weapon and they arrested her brothers and threw all the children on the street(the pavement?). Below is the recording. I preserve it here on Blogger for the melodious tones--to me--of the Palestinian accent.





Later, after this live report from inside Gaza, near where the service taxis and bus-vans come, Al-Arabiyya reported that Hamas representatives at the peace talks in Cairo had agreed to the Egyptian cease fire. At first BBC tried to say that Al-Jazeera was reporting that the Hamas spokespeople in Damascus did not agree to the cease fire. But I saw Al-Jazeera and they carried the Hamas press conference in Cairo live, where the spokesperson--I forget his name--said the Egyptian brother would be carrying the Hamas agreement to the ceasefire to the Israelis.

The delay will give the Israelis more time to bomb and make mayhem tonight and they will probably disagree to to abide by the cease fire since it obligates them to stop the bombing, withdraw, and open the borders with Gaza.



An hour before midnight Saudi Time, the New York Times grudgingly put in the news that Hamas had agreed to the cease fire in an article about how some Israeli groups were calling for a war crimes investigation(NYT did not mention that Richard Falk, Princeton emeritus has called for Israel to be brought before the World Court for War Crimes) with this picture of destruction in Gaza city today, Wednesday, Jan.l 14, 2009. The picture above is credited to Hatem Moussa/Associated Press

Shati' Tea and Falafel shop: Tuesday January 13-18th day of the invasion of Gaza

The Israeli military let a few members of the Red Cross come into Gaza for 5 hours this morning. Katherine Ritz of the ICRC visited al-Shifa hospital and then reported to BBC's Zeinab Badawi on what she saw.

BBC got video out of a typical Red Crescent ambulance trip right after an bombing. As Katherine Ritz reported, children are becomming casualties increasingly.

From my apartment on the 17th day of the Israeli Attack on Gaza

Feed Button Help

Al-Arabiyya reports from inside Gaza that the Israeli troops are preventing Red Cresecent ambulances from reaching wounded in Zeitoun, and that the Israelis are still bombing on the outskirts of Gaza city, in Beit Lahia, not yet in Gaza city itself. The New York Times, which relies only on the Israeli generals, says that the tanks and called-up reservists are entering Gaza city. Below, and in the RSS feed, is the January 11th voice of Hanan Al-Ashrawi, member of the Palestine National Assembly, speaking to the BBC from Ramallah about the importance of quickly stopping the war on Gaza.

Shati' Tea and Falafel Shop, Gaza

January 9, 14th day of the Israeli invasion of Gaza. There is fear tonight that the third phase of the Israeli invasion will start soon, with the troops coming into the "camps" part of Gaza and shooting their way among the houses. In the video is the voice of Hanan Al-Masri reporting tonight on Al-Arabiyya TV.

McNamara Ground Ops Lunchroom, Detroit

We listened to this BBC World television interview on "Hard Talk" with Osama Hamdan, representative of Hamas in Beirut

From My Apartment

Midnight Saudi Time(11pm in Gaza)January 8:
I just heard Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesperson in Beirut, interviewing with a Saudi channel called Iqra and then in English on BBC's Hard Talk. One can see why Israel and the US don't like Hamas: they are excellent defenders of the right of the Palestinians not to live under occupation.

Also heard that the Israeli soldiers killed an aid worker, a foreigner, in Gaza today and that the UN has had to suspend all aid to Gaza.

Jan 8th, 13th day of the bombing--What You Don't Know About Gaza

From the Jan. 8 New York Times
"OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
What You Don’t Know About Gaza

By RASHID KHALIDI
Published: January 7, 2009
NEARLY everything you’ve been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.


THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

THE OCCUPATION The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza’s air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

THE BLOCKADE Israel’s blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation.
The blockade has subjected many to unemployment, penury and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment — with the tacit support of the United States — of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights.

THE CEASE-FIRE Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed.

WAR CRIMES The targeting of civilians, whether by Hamas or by Israel, is potentially a war crime. Every human life is precious. But the numbers speak for themselves: Nearly 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict broke out at the end of last year. In contrast, there have been around a dozen Israelis killed, many of them soldiers. Negotiation is a much more effective way to deal with rockets and other forms of violence. This might have been able to happen had Israel fulfilled the terms of the June cease-fire and lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
This war on the people of Gaza isn’t really about rockets. Nor is it about “restoring Israel’s deterrence,” as the Israeli press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: “The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.”


Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia, is the author of the forthcoming “Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East."
More Articles in Opinion » A version of this article appeared in print on January 8, 2009, on page A31 of the New York edition."

Cats-me-Jeddah Video...Jan 8, 13h day of Israeli Attack on Gaza Map

Map. I look sort of stupid smiling in the video, below. I noticed that I could upload videos to blogger, so I put some old pictures of me, some cats near my apartment in Jeddah two years ago, and some pictures of the old houses in Jeddah, to make a "video" background for a recording from Al-Arabiyya TV reporting from Gaza in the morning. It makes me nostalgic to see these names and places that I knew,from 1996, which are now under intense bombing. Below is report direct from Gaza in Arabic, from Al-Arabiyya's TV connection inside Gaza city. I have put this report from this morning by Hanan Al-Masri, as an Arabic background to this video, cats-me-Jeddah.