Tag: Six-Day War

“. . . Rise, throw off the veil of shame none can justify . . .” (Diab Rabie)

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(Note: Today’s posting responds to the Israeli court ruling in “Context” and presents background on the history and progress of removal of Palestinians from Jerusalem.)
w-mugrabi-051713-1425653865Palestinians Mourn Neighborhood Razed by Israel in Shadow of Western Wall
after 1967 Six-Day War.  Forward . . .

. . . . Context  Israeli  court  approves  eviction  of  100  Palestinian  families  from  Silwan
. . . . Context  Experts:  Occupation  seeks  to  establish  a  50km  settlement  belt  in  Jerusalem

COMMENTARY    AND    OPINION. . . .
|  JEWISH  SETTLEMENTS  IN  THE  ISRAELI  OCCUPIED  STATE  OF  PALESTINE  UNDERMINING  AUTHENTIC  RESOLUTION  OF  THE  ISRAELI  PALESTINIAN  CONFLICT  
By Jad Isaac (general director of the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem)
A tour of the West Bank or a look at its geopolitical map reveals the extent of Israel’s colonization strategy and how the settlements regime is undermining the two-state solution. The ongoing fragmentation of Palestinian land and communities . . . house demolitions and the confiscation of private property, are making the two-state solution far-fetched, if not impossible.   ___When the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) engaged the peace process with Israel with the signing of the first Oslo Accord on Sept. 13, 1993, the Palestinian people assumed that a Palestinian state would emerge within five years’ time on the land occupied by Israel on June 5, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.      More . . .
. . . . Related Israeli  Settlements—  Interactive  Map  (The Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
. . . . Related Israel’s  settlements:  50  years  of  land  theft  explained
|  NAKBA  MEMORICIDE:  GENOCIDE  STUDIES  AND  THE  ZIONIST/ISRAELI  GENOCIDE  OF  PALESTINE  – Journal  of  Holy  Land  and  Palestine  Studies
By Rashed, Haifa;  Short, Damien; Docker, John
ABSTRACT: This essay furthers the debate on the Palestinian case as it relates to Genocide Studies, questioning the lack of substantive discussion of this case to date in traditional Genocide Studies fora. It reemphasises the importance of the settler-colonial dimension to Zionist settlement in Palestine, which, it argues, has so far not been explored sufficiently. The paper suggests that the ‘Nakba’ of 1948, which was based on appropriation of the land of Palestine without its people, comprising massacres, physical destruction of villages, appropriation of land, property and culture, can be seen as an ongoing process and not merely a historical event.    More . . .
|  NEO-ZIONISM  AND  PALESTINE:  THE  UNVEILING  OF  SETTLER-COLONIAL  PRACTICES  IN  MAINSTREAM  ZIONISM  – Journal  of  Holy  Land  and  Palestine  Studies
By  Amal Jamal  (Department of Political Science Tel Aviv University)
ABSTRACT: This article examines the rise and key characteristics of Neo-Zionist political thought in Israel and its relationship with mainstream Zionist thought. It argues that despite the radical and repulsive discourses of Neo-Zionism and the critique expressed by liberal Zionists towards it, the former has always been embodied in classical Zionism. The justifications provided by Neo-Zionists are based on principles propagated by central leaders of mainstream Zionism. Utilising new perspectives in Settler-Colonial Studies, the article demonstrates how both strands encapsulate the Zionist continuum and continuous expansionist drive for new settlements in Palestine based on ‘Biblical right’ of Jews over the land of Palestine. Both advocate supremacist, exclusivist, and volkish rights for Jews with disastrous consequences for the indigenous people of Palestine. The convictions and practices of the Neo-Zionists in the post 1967 period help unveil the camouflaged motivations, justifications and practices of mainstream expansionist Zionism.   More . . .
. . . . Related  Israel’s  Treatment  of  the  Arabs  in  the  Occupied  Territories (1976/77)
| PLO  ASHRAWI  CONDEMNS  ISRAEL’S  DEMOLITION  OF  SHOPS  IN  SHU’FAT
Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hanan Ashrawi, condemned on Thursday the demolition by Israeli authorities of at least twenty Palestinian-owned shops and structures in the Shu’fat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem.   ___“Israel’s strategy of ethnically cleansing the Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem has become an official policy,” Ashrawi said in a press release.    ___She continued, “With its deliberate intent of illegally eradicating the Palestinian identity, presence, narrative and history from the occupied city and replacing the indigenous population with extremist Jewish settlers, Israel has escalated its efforts to carry out the demolitions of Palestinian homes, businesses and structures throughout occupied Jerusalem.”   More . . .
|    (History)  MAMLUK  BUILDINGS  BEARING  THE  NAMES  OF  FAMILIES  OF  JERUSALEM
The Old City of Jerusalem is characterized by its distinctive architecture since the Ayyubid period, during which dozens of unique buildings were built, including the so-called “Al-Hawsh”, a Mamluk residential complex with several families residing in.    ___The researcher in the history of Jerusalem, Robin Abu Shamsieh, told the Palestinian Information Center that Al-Hawshs in Jerusalem were characterized by a distinctive architectural style, called palaces, and a number of them still exist until today, carrying the names of the families of Jerusalem such as Shihabi, Danf, and Al-Hilou. They were also characterized by arches, domes and long corridors.   More . . .
. . . . Related  A  familiar  invasion:  Settlers  take  another  mountain  top,  soldiers  follow,  and  Palestinians  demonstrate  for  their  rights

POEM  FOR  THE  DAY. . . . 

“SWEARING  BY  YOUR  JERUSALEM,”  BY  DIAB  RABIE
The nightingale stopped singing and mourned the lost land;
It wandered into spaces where winds held command.
Tired by many nights of flight, it took its rest,
But not at wondrous sites or near a female breast.
It once rejoiced in singing, now it merely cries
All night till morning, and it will not shut its eyes.
Memories with bleeding wounds cried out in disgust:
How could you leave the country and abandon your trust.
Your trees shade strangers who oppress and occupy.
Rise, throw off the veil of shame none can justify.
Can the oppressed despise sharp swords and keep their pride?
Face daily insults silently and step aside?
You will regain your land only by sword and spear;
With their help people will see justice reappear.
Youth came into this world to battle with their hands;
Brook no pollution in this holiest of lands.
I swear by “Your Jerusalem,” maimed Palestine,
That Arab flags will wave above you for all time.

Translated by George Khoury and Edward Morin. This poem was published in the Arabic language newspaper, Sameer, in New York City one month after the UN resolution in 1947 to divide Palestine.

Diab Rabie (1922-2010), born in Palestine, was a newspaperman assigned to New York. He was prevented by the Israelis from reentering his homeland and settled in North Carolina. His poems were published in major Arabic newspapers and magazines around the world throughout his life. His collected poems, Shetharat El-Rabie were edited by George Khoury and published before his death (The Birzeit Society, 2010).
From BEFORE  THERE  IS  NOWHERE  TO  STAND.  PALESTINE/ISRAEL  POETS  RESPOND  TO  THE  STRUGGLE.  Ed. Joan Dobbie & Grace Beeler. Sandport, Idaho: Lost Horse Press, 2012.)  Available from Barnes and Noble.

“. . . Polished by our children’s blood And by the shame of ruins . . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

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Samia Khoury, at lunch in East Jerusalem, November 5, 2015 (Photo: Harold Knight)

❶ 50 years of occupation will not kill hope for a free Palestine
❷ 50 years of occupation: still refugees. Stand with Palestine refugees
❸ Israeli settlers take over Palestinian lands in Salfit, erect illegal outpost

  • BACKGROUND from Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

❹ POETRY by Samih Al-Qasim
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ 50  YEARS  OF  OCCUPATION  WILL  NOT  KILL  HOPE  FOR  A  FREE  PALESTINE    
openDemocracy
Samia Khoury
June 5, 2017
On its 40th day, the mass hunger strike by Palestinian political prisoners was suspended after an agreement was reached to allow two visits per month.
___The strike was hailed as a small victory and highlights the dire conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. The demands throughout the strike have been within the minimum rights of political prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
[. . . .] I am just wondering what was it that moved Israel to respond to their demands, especially that the international community did not take any action.
[. . . .] In the meantime the Palestinians are commemorating fifty years of a brutal military occupation. With the Oslo agreement in 1993 we were all made to believe that the occupation will soon be over and that peace was around the corner. But after more than twenty years of futile negotiations we realised that this is not a normal occupation that was going to end by a UN resolution. It is in reality a settler colonial regime with an ongoing process of dispossession.
[. . . .] After 50 years, it is not easy to maintain hope and not to despair especially when we watch new realities on the ground . . .   But when I visit Rawdat El-Zuhur, the school which I served for many years and look at the bright shining eyes of the children, or when I hear my young grandson practicing his trumpet in the late afternoon I am determined that we cannot lose hope for the sake of those children.   MORE . . .
❷ 50  YEARS  OF  OCCUPATION:  STILL  REFUGEES.  STAND  WITH  PALESTINE  REFUGEES  
UNRWA USA
Received as email on June 5, 2017
This week marks a devastating anniversary for Palestinians: 50 years of the occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
___In 1967, UNRWA had already been providing services to Palestine refugees displaced by the Nakba for 17 years. The Naksa — the new wave of displacement caused by the June 1967 war and subsequent Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza — warranted the establishment of 10 new refugee camps, and UNRWA expanding its services to newly displaced Palestinians in need. Refugees still live in these camps today.
___Thank you for being one of the tens of thousands of concerned and compassionate supporters in the United States who stand with Palestine refugees. Please support our mission through your generous giving.       RESPOND . . .

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Israeli forces preventing Palestinians from performing Friday prayers on May 5, 2017, in Deir Istiya near an agricultural road that was closed by Israeli forces last year, preventing Palestinians from accessing their lands (Photo: Ma’an News Agency)

❸ ISRAELI  SETTLERS  TAKE  OVER  PALESTINIAN  LANDS  IN  SALFIT,  ERECT  ILLEGAL  OUTPOST        
Ma’an News Agency      
June 7, 2017
A group of settlers from Israel’s illegal Nufim settlement erected an outpost on Tuesday on Palestinian lands in the Khirbet Shihada area in the eastern outskirts of the village of Deir Istiya in the occupied West Bank district of Salfit.
___Local activist Nathmi Salman told Ma’an that the settlers erected 13 tents and a number of wooden caravans on Palestinian land owned by residents of Deir Istiya.
___Salman added that a road equipped with electricity and lights was previously built to connect Nufim to the Palestinian lands where the outpost was then constructed.
___Palestinian farmers in Deir Istiya said that they were also threatened from going near the area by an armed Israeli settler.    MORE . . .  

Handel, Ariel. “Gated/Gating Community: The Settlement Complex in the West Bank.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 39, no. 4, Oct. 2014, pp. 504-517.
The claim that the settlements in the West Bank are gated communities might seem trivial. . .  From 1996 onward, Palestinians have been prohibited from entering settlement premises for any purpose other than work, and workers have been subjected to tight surveillance. Since the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, security procedures have been further tightened and the fences significantly reinforced.
[. . . .] the settlement layout in the West Bank is not just an aggregate of 124 ‘legal’ gated communities and a similar number of ‘illegal outposts’, but rather a single, contiguous gated community gating, in turn, Palestinian ‘islands’ within it.
[. . . .] In this way, gated communities completely alter the physical space. They split the city into two layers, one connected and the other fragmented; one in movement and the other frozen. The highways that traverse the city to connect the gated communities to each other are extremely hazardous and exact a heavy toll of victims. Thus, even though an official prohibition against crossing them does not necessarily exist, these roads have created highly efficient demarcation lines.
[. . . .]  The settlements have been dispersed over the area by calculated design. . .   based on the settlers’ plans and backed by the state’s apparatuses and its military power . . . .
[. . . .]  The complex of gated communities, based as it is on the network of roads that connect small settlements, has the effect of blocking Palestinian movement and creating a ‘gating from within’ in which the minority gates the majority by help of state regulations and power . . . .  in a situation of perceived danger, movement itself becomes a problem, [and the politics] of mobility turns into a zero-sum game. Thus . . . under a real or perceived threat of crime, terror or other elements of ‘social danger’, [have enhanced] the connectivity of the people of means, while at the same time bolstering their corridors’ exclusionarity . . .  thereby reducing the rest of the population’s public space and freedom of movement.

“ON  THE  FIFTH  OF  JUNE,”  BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM
On the fifth,
Of June last
We returned to death its diplomatic bags
On the fifth
Of June last
We stripped the western winds
Of its ornamentation
Polished by our children’s blood
And by the shame of ruins
On the fifth
Of June last
The dead ascended to the United Nations
To partake in the emergency meeting
On the fifth
Of June last
We viewed the whole face of the globe
On the fifth
Of June last
The Arab oil wells continued flowing
In the midst of Arab lands
Towards the soil of western winds
On the fifth
Of June last

I do not weep!
I do not smile!

From: Aruri, Naseer and Edmund Ghareeb, eds. ENEMY  OF  THE  SUN:  POETRY  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE.  Washington, DC: Drum and Spear Press, 1970.    Available from Amazon
About Samih Al Qasim
unwra

“. . . usurped the right of peaceful men who did not sin . . .” (Tawfiq Zayyad)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
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Palestinian refugees of the Six-Day War fleeing the West Bank across the Allenby Bridge between Jericho and Jordan (Photo: UNRWA archive, 1967)

Understanding the Six Day War

❶ TRACKING  THE  TRENDS  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  CAUSE  SINCE  1967:  LOOKING  BACK
Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network      
Nadia Hijab, Mouin Rabbani
June 6, 2017
On the eve of June 5, 1967, the Palestinians were dispersed among Israel, the Jordanian-ruled West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip administered by Egypt, and refugee communities in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and beyond. Their aspirations for salvation and self-determination were pinned to Arab leaders’ pledges to “liberate Palestine” . . . .
___The Six-Day War, which resulted in Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, brought dramatic changes to the geography of the conflict. It also produced a sea change in the Palestinian body politic. In a sharp break with previous decades, Palestinians became the masters of their own destiny rather than spectators to regional and international decisions affecting their lives and determining their fate.       MORE . . . 
❷ SIX-DAY  WAR –  50  YEARS  LATER
1A – WAMU 88.5   
Joshua Johnson, Host
Jun 05 2017
If the ongoing conflict in the Middle East confuses you, then the Six Day War 50 years ago is a good place to start to gain an understanding. During this conflict, Israel came to occupy East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip defeating the armed forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria.       ___Why is the Six Day War so important and why does it still impact relations in the region today?       AUDIO . . .
❸  CHALLENGES  TO  INTERNATIONAL  HUMANITARIAN  LAW:  ISRAEL’S  OCCUPATION  POLICY
Peter Maurer
International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 94, no. 888, Dec. 2012, pp. 1503-1510.
[. . . .] without respecting the basic tenets of international humanitarian law (IHL) in these testing times, it is most unlikely that the various communities will find their way toward reconciliation or be prepared to share the burden of a just peace after decades of conflict. Considering that the customary core of that law is older than the state- based system itself, the specific nature and extraordinary significance of IHL in today’s armed conflicts provide a legitimacy beyond the current international system. Far from being outdated, humanitarian law is very much a contemporary and future-oriented body of law.
___ While respect for IHL is a crucial element of the protection of victims    of armed conflict, and ultimately of fostering stability in such contexts, a critical analysis of the policies underpinning the status quo in conflict-affected states is also indispensable.
___Turning secifically to the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the particular challenges facing humanitarian action there cannot be tackled without an honest look at certain Israeli policies that have become key features of the occupation.
___Israel has exercised ‘actual authority’1 over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for almost half a century, making its presence in these areas one of the longest sustained military occupations in modern history. . . .       MORE . . .  
❹ Opinion/Analysis:  WHAT  IS  ANTISEMITISM?      
Counterpunch  
Michael Neumann
June 4, 2002
[. . . .] Israel is building a racial state, not a religious one. Like my parents, I have always been an atheist. I am entitled by the biology of my birth to Israeli citizenship; you, perhaps, are the most fervent believer in Judaism, but are not. Palestinians are being squeezed and killed for me, not for you. They are to be forced into Jordan, to perish in a civil war. So no, shooting Palestinian civilians is not like shooting Vietnamese or Chechen civilians. The Palestinians aren’t ‘collateral damage’ in a war against well-armed communist or separatist forces. They are being shot because Israel thinks all Palestinians should vanish or die, so people with one Jewish grandparent can build subdivisions on the rubble of their homes. This is not the bloody mistake of a blundering superpower but an emerging evil, the deliberate strategy of a state conceived in and dedicated to an increasingly vicious ethnic nationalism.     MORE . . . 

“AFTER  THE  JUNE  AGGRESSION,”  BY  TAWFIQ  ZAYYAD
What did you hide
for to-morrow
You shed my blood
and dimmed the light
of my eyes
You silenced my pen
and usurped the right
of peaceful men
who did not sin

What did you hide
for to-morrow
you rent my flag
and opened wounds
in my skin
You stabbed my dreams
What did you hide?

We’re deeper than the sea
and taller than the stars
Our breath is long
longer than space

Which mother, I wonder
bequeathed you half the Canal
Which mother bequeathed you the Jordan Bank
the sand, petroleum, and the Heights
He who forcibly takes a right
must guard his own
When the balance shifts

From: Aruri, Naseer and Edmund Ghareeb, eds. ENEMY  OF  THE  SUN:  POETRY  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE. Washington, DC: Drum and Spear Press, 1970.
Available from Amazon.
About Tawfiq Zayyad