The Forbidden Palestinians in North America
By Paul Larudee | Dissident Voice | June 29, 2016
The survivors of the 1948 massacres in and expulsions from Palestine are everywhere. Scattered to the four corners of the earth, we have only to look in our own communities to find them. Seven million Palestinians live outside Palestine, compared with five million inside. At least half a million live in Chile alone. Why, then, should we bring Palestinians from the refugee camps in Lebanon to tell their stories in North America?
Many have said that we should not. They say that these Palestinians are toxic, that they are hardliners, resistance fighters, fanatics and terrorists, and that there is no benefit in trying to engage them. We believe the opposite, that because they have a different viewpoint, the full Palestinian story cannot be told without their voices, and that, in fact, they speak for many other Palestinians who think as they do.
The western groups that invite Palestinian speakers from Palestine inevitably act as a filter. It is easy to find Palestinians that preach nonviolence and reconciliation, but how often have we heard from the rest? How many speakers from Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been on speaking tours of North America? Do they not have a viewpoint and should we not hear it?
That is, of course, impossible. Our societies will not allow it. So we decided instead to bring sympathetic voices of people who are from these societies but have no affiliation to any of the political parties or resistance groups. Unlike Palestinians in other countries, their societies have been frozen in refugee camps since 1948, because they are considered foreigners and refugees in Lebanon, without permission to work, own land, or partake in the life of the country. They are stateless, with no citizenship of any kind and few, if any, opportunities to travel. It was something of a miracle to get their US visas. In many ways, their condition has not changed since the time of their expulsion.
The North America Nakba Tour, sponsored by the Free Palestine Movement, the Northern California chapter of the International Solidarity Movement and Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition, brought 86-year-old Mariam Fathalla from the Ein el-Helweh camp in southern Lebanon and 22-year-old Amena Ashkar from the Bourj el-Barajneh camp near Beirut to San Francisco at the beginning of April, 2016. In the next nine weeks they logged more than 11,000 miles by car and spoke at 26 events throughout North America. Sadly, their Canadian visa did not arrive in time, so those five events were conducted by electronic connection.
The tour was an acclaimed success. More than seventy organizations sponsored the events, including Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups, as well as university, social justice and community organizations. Astonishingly, there were few confrontational situations. The primary outcome was greater understanding.
Mariam and Amena delivered a message that they want all their rights restored: their lands, their properties and their country. Everyone in the camps has lost everything they ever had in Palestine. There is nothing left to preserve. The issues at the “peace talks” are meaningless to them. They don’t want a Palestinian state. They want Palestine. They don’t want land in Palestine. They want their land in their village in Palestine. They don’t even want equality with Israelis. They want justice.
One questioner asked, “What is the solution? Two states? A single state for all? A binational state?” Amena responded, “I don’t accept any of those, because none of them restores what we lost, and doesn’t give us our rights. International law is on our side.” Her message was understood, with sympathy, and there was no confrontation.
• If you missed the live presentation, you can see one filmed in Denver on May 20, 2016 at The North American Nakba Tour: Exiled Palestinians living in Lebanon
Paul Larudee is one of the founders of the Free Gaza and Free Palestine Movements and an organizer in the International Solidarity Movement.
Gov. Cuomo’s Anti-BDS Bill is a First Amendment Nightmare
By Eoin Higgins | CounterPunch | June 8, 2016
On June 5 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law an executive order aimed at the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement. BDS is a non-violent economic and political protest against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
In Cuomo’s order, which Salon reporter Ben Norton called “McCarthyite,” there is a provision that requires the state to create a list of companies that participate in the BDS movement. The list aims to publicly shame and financially harm those who exercise their First Amendment right of political protest.
And though Cuomo’s order will not stand up to a challenge in court, the list itself will cause extreme harm and damage- and that’s the plan.
Within the next 180 days, the Commissioner of General Services of the state of New York will deliver the initial list of BDS- participating companies to the governor. The list will be placed online for the public’s viewing. Companies are allowed to appeal their placement for 90 days in advance of their placement.
As Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Fishman described it in The Intercept :
Cuomo’s Executive Order requires that one of his Commissioners compile “a list of institutions and companies” which – “either directly or through a parent or subsidiary” – support a boycott. That government list is then posted publicly, and the burden falls on them to prove to the state that they do not, in fact, support such a boycott.
Note- the language Greenwald and Fishman cite in the accompanying image to this paragraph appears to indicate companies have time to appeal their placement prior to public posting, not after
Once a company is on the list, they can appeal for removal from the list. The list will be updated every 180 days.
Draconian stuff.
Even if the legislation doesn’t survive the inevitable legal challenges on its merits, the creation of such a list will have irreversible consequences.
One of the lingering after-effects of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era of the 1950s was the difficulty of the wrongly accused to find work, decades after the list had been closed. Despite the efforts of the Hollywood Ten, the breaking of the list did not result in the immediate reinstatement to work of those on the list.
Some would go without work for years due to their association with the blacklist and, by proxy, Communism. Even after the country by and large had rejected the blacklist and McCarthyite scaremongering, the ostracization of those associated with the list remained in place.
It’s for this reason that Cuomo’s legislation is so dangerous.
First Amendment rights of association and political protest are designed specifically to combat government interference. Cuomo’s anti- BDS law is an obvious and blatant violation of those rights. It will be struck down in court.
But if it is not struck down in time, if the courts do not manage to issue a stay on its implementation, or if the NY state bureaucracy can tie up the legal system while putting the order into effect, the list will exist. And once it exists, the damage will have been done.
Even when the law is struck down, the stigma of being associated with this draconian law will linger. Just as those who were on the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s found it hard to find work for years after the list was broken, so too will businesses that are tied to BDS in NY state find it difficult to survive in the American economy.
Which is exactly the point. Cuomo wants the fear of that stigma to do the work of the law, no matter the outcome in the courts.
Anti-nuke activists begin month-long blockade of atomic facility
RT | June 6, 2016
Anti-nuclear activists are starting a month-long protest against Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons program, arguing it should not be renewed by Parliament later this year.
Peace campaigners are descending on AWE Burghfield in Berkshire, where Britain’s nuclear warheads are maintained and go through their final stage of assembly.
Throughout June, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) supporters will join activists from Trident Ploughshares and groups from across Europe to “blockade, to occupy, and to disrupt” the weapons manufacturing base.
Activists claim the renewal of Britain’s at-sea nuclear deterrent is expensive, unsafe, ill-suited for contemporary warfare and in violation of international commitments.
The nuclear site at Burghfield is run by the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), a controversial weapons company which is partly owned by US firm Lockheed Martin.
Last August, AWE was censured by UK regulators for failing to show a long-term plan for handling radioactive waste at its Aldermaston site.
The nuclear weapons factory also faces further action for failing to meet legal obligations to treat radioactive waste by 2014, according to a report published by the ONR last July.
Among the activists will be veteran peace campaigner Pat Arrowsmith, who was the organizer of the historic 1958 march from London to Aldermaston which saw thousands of people march against nuclear weapons.
British protesters will be joined by anti-nuke groups across Europe, including Women for Peace (Finland), Action Pour La Paix (Belgium) and Maison de la Vigilance (France).
“The vast [nuclear weapons] complexes at Burghfield and Aldermaston are founded on a wealth of resources and extraordinary human skill,” CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said.
“What a tragedy that these are utilized for the production of weapons of mass destruction rather than being used instead to secure real human security and meet the real needs of our society.”
The cost of replacing Trident and maintaining a successor program is expected to reach £205 billion (US$296 billion), according to campaigners.
The biggest expense by far is expected to be the day-to-day running costs. At £142 billion over the system’s lifetime, they amount to 6 percent of the total UK defense budget.
Other expenses include decommissioning old warheads, the continued lease of warheads from the US and future refurbishment.
AWE Burghfield will undergo a £734 million upgrade as part of the Trident renewal.
Academics call for boycott of genocide conference in Israel
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel | May 23, 2016
In a letter to the International Network of Genocide Scholars (INoGS), 270 academics from 19 countries have called for the cancellation of the 5th Global Conference on Genocide taking place on 26-29 June at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The letter sent to the organizers of the conference on the 3rd of May points at the hypocrisy of having the conference in Israel at a time when Israel’s actions are “increasingly being viewed through lenses of ethnic cleansing and genocide linked to settler colonialism”. The signatories call on scholars and professionals to boycott the conference should it go ahead.
John Dugard, former UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in the OPT and a signatory to the letter, commented: “There are serious allegations that Israel committed crimes against humanity in its 2014 assault on Gaza. In these circumstances it is highly inappropriate to hold a conference on Genocide in Israel.”
Citing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, the letter expresses shock “that INoGS plans to hold its 2016 Global Conference at the Mt. Scopus campus of the Hebrew University that is partially built on stolen Palestinian land in occupied East Jerusalem”. The INoGS conference website bills Jerusalem as part of Israel, defying international consensus on the issue and ignoring Israel’s ongoing and systematic campaign of displacement of Palestinians from the city.
According to Professor John Docker, who has written extensively in the fields of genocide and massacre studies, “Genocide studies is now, it seems clear, actively seeking opportunities to be complicit in Israel’s flouting of international law, not least the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
INoGS did not respond to the joint letter and it had ignored an earlier appeal by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
Dr. Haidar Eid, a member of PACBI, said: “I am an academic living in besieged Gaza. I have witnessed three massacres committed by Israel, I almost lost my own life and saw my comrades, colleagues, relatives, and students perish in them. I have read with agony the names of 44 of our students and colleagues who lost their lives and 66 families wiped out by Israeli weapons. INoGS is lending its name to the perpetrators of these crimes in a move that is not unlike holding a conference on racism in apartheid South Africa.”
The conference is sponsored by five Israeli academic institutions, including the Hebrew University, which have been deeply complicit in Israel’s decades-long oppression of Palestinians. Thousands of academics in the UK, Ireland, Italy, South Africa, US and Brazil have signed national pledges to boycott Israeli academic institutions. The pledges are part of a growing movement to hold Israeli universities accountable to their role in systematic Israeli state violence against the Palestinian people.
The joint letter remains open for endorsements at the following link.
Prominent British professor turns down Israeli prize
British Professor Catherine Hall
Press TV – May 22, 2016
A prominent British academic and historian has refused to accept a $330,000 prize by an Israeli university.
Professor Catherine Hall of University College London was slated to receive the Dan David Prize by Tel Aviv University on Sunday, but withdrew her acceptance citing political reasons.
“This was an independent political choice, undertaken after many discussions with those who are deeply involved with the politics of Israel-Palestine, but with differing views as to how best to act,” Hall said in a statement.
The annual academic award includes a series of $1 million prizes which are handed out in three fields.
As a historian, Hall was due to receive the prize for her “impact on social history, as a pioneer in gender history, race and slavery.”
Hall’s work on women’s history in the 1970s has helped her become known as a major feminist.
The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine described Hall’s decision as “a significant endorsement of the campaign to end ties with Israeli institutions.”
Hall’s share of the million dollar prize will now be given to three economists involved in the fight against poverty, three nano-science researchers, and two historians of social history.
The news comes amid tensions between Tel Aviv and London over remarks by several key British political figures who have condemned the Israeli regime’s crimes against the Palestinian people.
Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, was suspended from the Labor Party in late April after bringing up the issue of Israeli war crimes and stating that Adolf Hitler was a supporter of Zionism.
Before him, Naz Shah, a member of the British Parliament resigned as an aide to the party’s shadow chancellor after being forced to apologize for backing calls for Israel to “relocate” to the United States.
In early July 2014, Israel waged a devastating war on the Gaza Strip. The 50-day offensive claimed the lives of nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children.
The British government has banned all public bodies from joining the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel which demands the end of Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestinian land particularly through illegal settlement constructions in the occupied territories.
Who Is Mustafa Badreddine?
Al-Manar | May 14, 2016
Although his life achievements cannot be briefed within a short article, this report summarizes the main contributions of Hezbollah senior commander, martyr Mustafa Badreddine.
Mustafa Amin Badreddine was born in Ghobeiry, Lebanon on April 6, 1961.
In 1982, martyr Badreddine formed jihadi groups and trained them to confront the Zionist entity. He is considered one of the most prominent mujahidin who encountered the Israeli invasion in Beirut and Khaldeh where he was injured during the clashes.
In 1992, the martyr became the commander of Hezbollah’s central military unit and started forming military formations and devising plans. Badreddine also prepared many heroic operations against the Israeli occupation, including clashes, martyrdom bombings and post incursions as well, which forced the Israeli army to withdraw cowardly in 2000.
Martyr Badreddine played a prominent role in confronting the major Israeli aggression on Lebanon in 1993, obliging the Zionist Prime Minster Isaac Rabin at that time to acknowledge the fact that the Zionist entity was defeated by Hezbollah.
After the major Zionist aggression on Lebanon in 1996, the martyr succeeded in driving the world to acknowledge the Resistance’s legitimacy and its right to defend its country.
In 1997, Mustafa Badreddine had a central role in planning and supervising the Ansariya operation which killed scores of elite Zionist troops.
Martyr Badreddine was further able to dismantle scores of Israeli spy cells in Lebanon.
With the inception of the Syrian crisis in 2011, the martyr was one of the first commanders who confronted the takfiri plot across Syria.
Martyr Mustafa Badreddine continued his jihadi work till embracing the honor of martyrdom in Damascus on May 13, 2016.
Panther Power: Afeni Shakur and the “New York 21”
By Lamont Lilly | Dissident Voice | May 10, 2016
On April 2, 1969, twenty-one members of the Harlem Chapter of the Black Panther Party were formally indicted and charged with 156 counts of “conspiracy” to blow up subway and police stations, five local department stores, six railroads, and the Bronx based New York Botanical Garden.
By the early morning hours of April 3, mass sweeps were conducted city wide by combat squads of armed police. Law enforcement agencies ranging from the CIA, FBI, U.S. Marshalls and NY state police worked simultaneously to coordinate assaults on panther homes and community-based offices. After numerous raids, ten panther men and two panther women were formally arrested, processed and quickly jailed. To anyone who supported radical politics of the 1960’s, there was no doubt that the indictment of the Panther ‘New York 21’ was a political and racist frame-up to not only “disrupt, discredit and destroy,” but to utterly dismantle the Black Panther Party from the inside out.
The absurd and excessive nature of such charges were clearly mounted as a federal effort to pit chapters and regions against each other, in a manner that would totally paralyze panther party leadership. What these charges represented was a form of unprecedented legal repression, created as a structural alternative to break their stronghold, reputation and community base. For the panthers who fortunately weren’t murdered or assassinated, exiled or imprisoned, the courts became a convenient and effective form of legal lynching, a straight-jacket beyond the walls—a robbery of valuable time and resources.
Each member of the ‘New York 21’ was held on $100,000 bail, totaling over $2.1 million. It was not until January of 1970 that the first panther was able to post bail. That panther was 22 year old Alice Faye Williams, better known as Afeni Shakur.
Self-Appointed, Black Anointed
In a grueling and tedious trial, Afeni Shakur (facing 300 years of prison time) daringly chose to be her own attorney in court, partly because financial resources were already razor-thin. Afeni, however, meticulously conducted her own legal research, her own interviews, as well as in-court cross examinations – fully realizing that “she would be the one serving, not the lawyers.” She was the only panther who served as their own counsel.
Here was a small-framed impoverished black girl from the backwoods of Lumberton, North Carolina, staring down a full team of New York state prosecutors – outwitting a full cast of establishment-owned media outlets. Here was a single mother with no formal degree, going legally toe to toe with COINTELPRO.
Despite the odds, after all the surveillance, warrantless wiretapping, infiltration and frame-ups, not one shred of state’s evidence stood in court. In their undying efforts to “discredit,” it was revealed during the trial that the FBI had actually planted undercover infiltrators who, under oath, admitted their role as provocateurs.
Though the case of the Black Panther ‘New York 21’ was the longest trial in New York state history, on her own guts and wit, Afeni Shakur would successfully secure her freedom. No money. No attorney. No privilege. Pregnant with her second child, Tupac Amaru Shakur, what Afeni was able to do in that courtroom was nothing short of miraculous. Magical. Mind blowing.
On May 12 1971, after 2 years of legal proceedings, all 21 panthers were acquitted of their charges. The jury needed just a mere 45 minutes to see the truth.
Sister Soldier, Woman Warrior
Afeni Shakur may have hailed from the Black Panther Party’s, esteemed Harlem Chapter, but her roots were originally from the Black Belt South. Viciously poor, but still mobile, her family moved to the Bronx when she was 11 years. Her inquisitive affection toward the Black Nationalist scene fit right in there.
Afeni first learned of the Black Panther Party at the corner of 125th and 7th Avenue while listening to party co-founder, Bobby Seale deliver a speech. A dedicated soldier from the very beginning, Afeni always placed principle over profit, the people above her own individual desire. Black Panther Party member and ‘New York 21’ co-defendant, Dhoruba Bin Wahad very warmly remembers Afeni as, “the type of person that worked hard, who would stay up all night to get leaflets done.”
Afeni was the kind of comrade who garnered respect from both the women and the men. As former Black Panther, Jamal Joseph stated, “Afeni taught me more about being a man, more than any other man or woman.” As the only high school member of the New York 21, Joseph very often, looked to Afeni for guidance and leadership.
The name Afeni was given to her by a community elder from South Carolina, a descendant of the Yoruba tradition who chose the name Afeni meaning, “lover of the people.” And love the people is exactly what Afeni did. A dedicated community organizer, fearless warrior, activist, scholar, teacher, and real-life revolutionary, Afeni Shakur gave her life to the people, to the full embodiment of Black Power, people power, (and as the sisters say today) Black Girl Magic!
As we commemorate the mother of Hip Hop’s “Black Jesus,” let us not forget the Black woman general who indubitably blazed her own legacy, who literally offered her life as a gift to the people, who taught her son, Tupac Amaru to do the same. Farewell to the Black woman general who just joined Malcolm, Harriet, Ida. All power to the people! Black Power!
Lamont Lilly is a contributing editor with the Triangle Free Press and Human Rights Delegate with Witness for Peace and organizer with Workers World Socialist Party. He has recently served as field staff in Baltimore, Ferguson, Oakland, Boston and Philadelphia. In February 2015, he traveled to both Syria and Lebanon with Ramsey Clark and Cynthia McKinney. Follow him on Twitter @LamontLilly.
Marking Al-Nakba 68: Events Around the World for Palestinian Return
Samidoun | May 8, 2016
Events and actions are being organized around the world to mark the 68th anniversary of the Nakba, the expulsion of the Palestinian people from their homes and lands in order to create a Zionist settler-colonial state on the land of Palestine. These events both remember over 68 years of Palestinian struggle, steadfastness, and resistance, but also support the ongoing struggle for Palestinian refugees’ return and the liberation of Palestine.
The imprisonment of Palestinians has always been a tool of the colonial project in Palestine, meant to maintain occupation, apartheid and oppression and criminalize the existence and resistance of Palestinians. From the martial law imposed in 1948 on the Palestinians who remained in the 78% of historic Palestine occupied at that time, to the imprisonment of 7,000 Palestinian political leaders, journalists, and freedom fighters today, the imprisonment of Palestinians and their leaders has always been part and parcel of the Nakba.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is directly involved in Nakba events in several cities internationally and supports mobilizations around the world on this critical day. Numerous events will be taking place throughout occupied Palestine and in the refugee camps of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
This list focuses on international events organized by Palestinian communities in exile and diaspora and solidarity movements. In order to add your city’s event to the list below, please email samidoun@samidoun.net or message us on Facebook. This page will be updated regularly!
AUSTRALIA
Sydney
Saturday, 14 May – Palestine Will Be Free Panel, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1558629097769523/
12 pm, part of the Socialism for the 21st Century Conference, University of Sydney.
Sunday, 15 May – Commemorating the Nakba Demonstration: 68 Years On, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1402030143429918/
1 pm, Town Hall, Sydney. Organized by Palestine Action Group Sydney
Brisbane
Friday, 13 May – Al Nakba 2016 Vigil. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1528327857474082/
6 pm, King George Square, Brisbane. Organized by Justice for Palestine Brisbane.
SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg
Sunday, 15 May – Nakba 1948: Palestinian Catastrophe and Israeli Ethnic Cleansing
1 pm, Zoo Lake, Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg. Organized by Women’s Boat to Gaza, BDS South Africa, Media Review Network, Palestine Solidarity Alliance, South African Jews for a Free Palestine, Food for the Soul
SPAIN
Madrid
Saturday, 14 May – Performance at School of Decolonization. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1557093397918178/
5:00 pm, Puerta del Sol, Madrid.
Saturday, 14 May – Demonstration followed by performances, dance and Palestinian, African and Latin American food. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1557093397918178/
6:00 pm, Glorieta de Marques de Vadillo – General Ricardos – Luisa Munoz, followed by La Kupula sala.
Sunday, 15 May – Nakba demonstration for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1557093397918178/
1:30 pm, Puerta del Sol, Madrid.
Sunday 15 May – Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba
5:30 pm, Recinto Ferial, Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain.
Includes collaborative mural, debate with Majed Dibsi, Palestinian journalist and political analyst, theatrical action, photo exhibition. Organied by Madrid Para Todos, the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine, CJA and Alco Sanse en Lucha
Barcelona
11 May – 15 May – Series of events organized by the Coalició Prou Complicitat amb Israel (CPCI). Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1613965512264082/
Wednesday, 11 May – Seminar: Why is it important to break ties with Israel? Ways toward a just peace. 7 pm, Aula Magna, Faculty of Geography and History, University of Barcelona. With Raji Sourani, Riya Hassan, and Blanca Campos. Moderated by David Bondia and joined by Catalan municipalities who have adopted BDS.
Thursday, 12 May – Raji Sourani at Catalonia Parliament. 4 pm, Parliament of Catalonia.
Friday, 13 May – Hope Award to recognize individuals and groups defending Palestine. 7 pm, Palau Robert, Passeig de Gracia 107, Barcelona. Organized by the Palestinian Community of Catalonia, and hosted by actress Rosa Boladeras.
Saturday, 14 May – Film Screening, “The Land Speaks Arabic.” 6 pm, La Sedeta, Carrer de Sicilia 321, Barcelona, with the participation of Riya Hassan, BNC. Organized by Sodepau and Association Helia.
Sunday, 15 May – Demonstration for Palestine – Long live Palestine! 6 pm, Plaza Catalonia.
GERMANY
Berlin
Sunday, 15 May – Nakba Day Demonstration, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/226921581019252/
3:00 pm, Karl-Marx-Platz, Berlin. Organized by the Nakba-Tag-Bundnis
Stuttgart
Saturday, 7 May – Palestine Nakba Day
1 pm – 6 pm, Schlossplatz, Stuttgart. With speakers George Rashmawi, Shir Hever, Attia Rajab, Reiner Weigand, Annette Groth, and performers Aeham Ahmed, Muhammad Tamim, Yalla Dabke. Organized by Palestine Solidarity Committee Stuttgart and the Palestinian Community of Stuttgart.
NETHERLANDS
Rotterdam
Saturday, 14 May – Demonstration in Commemoration of the Nakba. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/701962599944259/
2 pm – 4 pm, between Markthal and Hoogstraat, organized by Palestijnse Gemeenschap Nederland, Aidoun-Group Nederland, al Awda, Palestijnse Vrouwenunie, het Samenwerkingsverband Rotterdam voor Gaza and Nederlands Palestina Komitee
Groningen
Saturday, 14 May – Demonstration in Commemoration of the Nakba
1 pm – 3 pm, on the Grand Market by the town hall, organized by Palestijnse Gemeenschap Nederland, Aidoun-Group Nederland, al Awda, Palestijnse Vrouwenunie, het Samenwerkingsverband Rotterdam voor Gaza and Nederlands Palestina Komitee
Den Haag
Event TBA, http://www.palestina-komitee.nl/agenda/1226
Nijmegen
Event TBA, http://www.palestina-komitee.nl/agenda/1226
Amsterdam
Saturday, 14 May – Demonstration in Commemoration of the Nakba
1 pm – 4 pm, on the Dam and the Spui, organized by Palestijnse Gemeenschap Nederland, Aidoun-Group Nederland, al Awda, Palestijnse Vrouwenunie, het Samenwerkingsverband Rotterdam voor Gaza and Nederlands Palestina Komitee
Sunday, 15 May – Forum on the Nakba, 1948-2016. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1107523392631820/
3 pm, International Institute for Research and Education, Lombokstraat 40, Amsterdam. With speakers Mohammed Matter, Hatem Bazian, Amin Abou Rashed, Mohammad Altamary, Sami Shabib and Saleh Salayma, Sarah, and Khouloud Ajarma. Organized by Back to Palestine
DENMARK
Copenhagen
Series of events from May 9-May 15
Organized by the Nakba Initiative (Democratic Palestine Committees in Denmark, Boykot Israel, FN Forbundet, Human Rights March, Palaestina Orientering) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1701774023414034/, https://www.facebook.com/events/231959850498870/
Monday, 9 May – Palestinian film screenings, 5 pm – 9 pm, Verdenskulturcentret, Norre Alle 7, 2200 Norrebro
Tuesday, 10 May – History of Al-Nakba – presentation by Professor Nur Masalha of the University of London, 7 pm – 9:30 pm, Verdenskulturcentret, Norre Alle 7, 2200 Norrebro
Wednesday, 11 May – Palestinian culture and music, with dabkeh dance and traditional music performed by Nassim al-Dogom, 6 pm – 9 pm, Verdenskulturcentret, Norre Alle 7, 2200 Norrebro
Friday, 13 May – Demonstration for justice for Palestine, remembering the Nakba of 1948. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/231959850498870/ , 3 pm – 5 pm, Radhusplads, Copenhagen. With speakers: Trine Petrou Mach, Bilal al-Issa, Gerd Berlev, and music with Nassim al-Dogom,
BELGIUM
Brussels
Saturday, May 14 – Rally to Commemorate the Palestinian Nakba, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1062648220458440/
1 pm – 4 pm, Place de la Monnaie, Brussels, Belgium. Organized by the Palestinian Community of Belgium.
Maasmechelen
Sunday, 15 May – Movie Screening for Al-Nakba: 5 Broken Cameras. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/629274427223623/
6:30 pm, Valkeniersplein 19B, Maasmechelen. Organized by the Palestine Committee Maasmechelen.
Antwerp
Sunday, 15 May – Silent Wake to Commemorate Al-Nakba, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1720577544889621/
7:00 pm, Koning Albertpark, Kiosk, Antwerp, Belgium. Organized by Antwerp for Palestine.
FRANCE
Marseille
Saturday, 14 May – What Road for Palestine? Marking the Palestinian Nakba, discussion with Khaled Barakat. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1735832763364560/
6:30 pm, Manifesten, 59 Rue Thiers, 13001 Marseille. Organized by the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) Aix-Marseille and Generation Palestine Marseille
Lyon
Saturday, 14 May – Demonstration to Support the Palestinian People, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1564176307216565/
2:30 pm, Place Bellecour, 69002, Lyon
SWEDEN
Stockholm
Friday, 13 May – Palestinian Family Dinner and Evening Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1689505781301901/ 7 pm – 10 pm, Byblos Restaurant, Storgatan 75, Huvudsta Centrum. Organized by the Palestinian Association in Stockholm.
Saturday, 14 May – Palestinian Cultural Festival 2016, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/490506727788987/
11:30 am – 6 pm, Hallunda Folkets Hus, Borgvagen 1, 145 69 Norsborf (Stockholm)
Malmo
Sunday, 15 May – Demonstration in memory of the Nakba, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/890420817746611/
12:30 pm, Gustav Adolfs Torg, Malmo. Organized by Malmo Palestine Network
Sunday, 15 May – Public Meeting on Palestinian Right of Return
3 pm, Studieframjandet, Ystadgatan 53 (following demonstration). Organized by Group 194
ITALY
Milan
Friday, 6 May – Nakba – The Catastrophe after 68 Years. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1062237983822251/
7:30 pm, CSOA Lambretta, Milan. Featuring a speech by Rajeh Zayed and concert by Al-Raseef. Organized by UDAP (Arab Palestinian Democratic Union.)
Sunday, 15 May – Commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/777360559031857/
3 pm, Piazza Gabrio Rosa, Milan. Organized by Fronte Palestina, Palestina Rossa, Global Campaign to Return to Palestine
Redona
Monday, 16 May – Nakba 1948-2016, the Catastrophe Continues Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1720129394926553/
8:30 pm, Qoelet di Redona. Presentation by Nandino Capovilla, Pax Christi. Presented by Gruppo Iabbok.
PORTUGAL
Lisbon
Tuesday, 17 May – 68 Years of Nakba, Solidarity with Palestine. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1678654302395719/
6:30 pm – 8 pm, Espaco Bento Martins, J.F. Camide, Largo das Pimenteiras, 6A (Junto ao Colegio Militar). Speeches by Hikmat Ajjuri, Pezarat Correia, Jorge Cadima.
AUSTRIA
Vienna
Saturday, 14 May – Groovy Palestine, Alternative Music from Palestine on Nakba Day, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/605375089624773/
7 pm, OKAZ, Gusshausstrasse 14/3, 1040 Vienna. Includes discussion and performance by Jowan Safadi, Palestinian musician, followed by DJ sets by Kolonel Blip, El Captagon and Neva-i Solomon. Organized by OKAZ, Österreichisch Arabisches Kulturzentrum
IRELAND
Belfast
Thursday, 12 May – BADIL Speaking Tour on Palestinian Refugees
Time and Location TBA. More info: http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/nakba-week-badil-speaking-tour-on-palestinian-refugees. Organized by Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Sunday, 15 May – Tesco, Stop Trading With Israel Nakba Vigil 2016. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1738915249676703/
2 pm, Tesco, 2 Royal Ave, Belfast. Call on Tesco to boycott Israeli goods.
Cork
Monday, 9 May – BADIL Irish Speaking Tour on Palestinian Refugees. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/124262787978021/
7 pm, Quay Co-Op, 24 Sullivan’s Quay, Cork. With speakers Lubnah Shomali and Nidal al-Azzah from BADIL. Organized by Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Tour info: http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/nakba-week-badil-speaking-tour-on-palestinian-refugees
Limerick
Tuesday, 10 May – BADIL Irish Speaking Tour on Palestinian Refugees. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1603383736655913/
7 pm, Perys Hotel Limerick, Glentworth Street, Limerick. With speakers Lubnah Shomali and Nidal al-Azzah from BADIL. Organized by Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Tour info: http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/nakba-week-badil-speaking-tour-on-palestinian-refugees
Dublin
Wednesday, 11 May – BADIL Speaking Tour on Palestinian Refugees. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1804239273138237/
6:15 pm, Academy Plaza Hotel, 10-14 Findlater Place, Dublin. With speakers Lubnah Shomali and Nidal al-Azzah from BADIL. Organized by Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Tour info: http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/nakba-week-badil-speaking-tour-on-palestinian-refugees
Saturday, 14 May – March and “Moving Gallery” for Palestinian Refugees. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1157920480940081/
2 pm – 3 pm, St. Stephen’s Green (Grafton St Entrance), Dublin 2. March down Grafton St to the Spire. Organized by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Derry
Friday, 13 May – BADIL Speaking Tour on Palestinian Refugees.
7 pm, UNISON Building, Clarendon St, Derry. With speaker Lubnah Shomali from BADIL. Organized by Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
CHILE
Valdivia
Wednesday, 11 May- Al-Nakba, 68 Years of Exile. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1403070739992193/
6 pm, Sala Auditorium, Austral University of Chile, Valdivia, Chile. With speaker Karmach Elias, Nakba survivor born in Palestine in 1948. Organized by Arab Youth for Palestine Valdivia.
CANADA
Montreal, Quebec
Saturday, 14 May – Nocturnal Demonstration to Commemorate the Nakba; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1522138648094029/
7 pm – midnight, Station Metro Mont-Royale, Montreal. Organized by Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU), Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – UQAM (SPHR-UQAM) and Tadamon
Sunday, 15 May – Palestinian commemoration festival, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/927354794008542/
11 am – 5 pm, Concordia University, 1455 boulevard de Maisonneuve W., Montreal. With Palestinian cultural show, dance, music and children’s activities.
Toronto
Tuesday, 10 May – Personal stories of Palestinian Nakba Survivors. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1539654333004677/
7 pm, Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St, Toronto. Part of the North America Nakba Tour, organized by Free Palestine Movement and Al-Awda Coaliation and co-presented in Canada by the Palestinian Canadian Congress and Canada Friends of Sabeel.
Sunday, 15 May – Commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/214844732229034/
2 pm – 5 pm, Celebration Square, Mississauga. Organized by the National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba 68 – Toronto
Sunday, 15 May – Toronto Palestinian Film Festival Nakba Commemoration, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/997858870282775/
2 pm, Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St, Toronto. Film Screening of Encounter with a Lost Land with director Maryse Gargour over Skype. Organized by TPFF, Palestinian Canadian Congress, Students for Justice in Palestine – Ryerson.
Winnipeg
Sunday, 15 May – Commemoration of Al-Nakba 1948-2016, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/487890394740895/
1 pm – 4 pm, Memorial Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Including commemoration, community voices, Palestine dance, flag making and film screening. Organized by Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, Canadian Palestinian Association, Canada Palestine Support Network, Independent Jewish Voices, Peace Alliance Winnipeg
Ottawa
Sunday, 8 May – Personal Stories of Palestinian Nakba Survivors. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/966654723404454/
7 pm, Ben Franklin Place, Chamber Hall, 101 Centrepoint Dr, Ottawa. Part of the North America Nakba Tour, organized by Free Palestine Movement and Al-Awda Coaliation and co-presented in Canada by the Palestinian Canadian Congress and Canada Friends of Sabeel.
Kitchener
Wednesday, 11 May – The Exiled Palestinians. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1708770512722607/
6:45 pm, Forest Hill United, 121 Westmount St. E., Kitchener, Ontario. Part of the North America Nakba Tour, organized by Free Palestine Movement and Al-Awda Coaliation and co-presented in Canada by the Palestinian Canadian Congress and Canada Friends of Sabeel.
London, ON
Thursday, 12 May – Personal Stories of Palestinian Nakba Survivors. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1609037986088608/
7 pm, MAC Youth Centre, 366 Oxford St E, London. Part of the North America Nakba Tour, organized by Free Palestine Movement and Al-Awda Coaliation and co-presented in Canada by the Palestinian Canadian Congress and Canada Friends of Sabeel.
UNITED STATES
New York
Sunday, 15 May – Nakba Day March for Resistance and Return, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1720235081568888/
1:30 pm, Rally at City Hall Park before march over Brooklyn Bridge to Cadman Plaza for activities. Organized by NY4Palestine coalition.
Chicago
Sunday, May 8 – Nakba commemoration, with speakers, and entertainment and a children’s program, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/510727702462408/
1:30 pm – 6:30 pm, speakers including Dr. Ahmad Tibi, Debkeh performances, Palestinian food and fashion show; Prayer Center of Orland Park, 16530 104th Ave, Orland Park, Illinois. Hosted by American Muslims for Palestine – Chicago.
Minneapolis
Sunday, 15 May – Al-Nakba Protest. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/260517614279372/
1 pm, Loring Park, Minneapolis. Initiated by Anti-War Committee with many endorsers.
Oakland/Bay Area
Sunday, 15 May – George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/551591961667213/
4 pm, Uptown Auto Body and Fender, 401 26th Street, Oakland. Remember the Nakba, Black Panthers and Indigenous Resistance. Art exhibition and performance highlighting a multimedia exhibition, curated by Greg Thomas. Organized by Art Forces and AROC.
Baltimore
Sunday, 15 May – Nakba Day 2016 – Performances by Ryan Harvey and Kareem Samara. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/232554823767805/
6 pm, Location TBA. Check Facebook, organized by Baltimore – Palestine Solidarity.
Tampa
Saturday, 14 May – Still Walking: Nakba 68, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1717651068510404/
5 pm – 8 pm, Joe Chillura Courthouse Square. 600 E Kennedy Boulevard, Tampa, FL. Street theatre and reenactment of the Nakba of 1948. March from Joe Chillura Courthouse Park past Jose Marti Park, to the Immigration Statue in Centennial Park.
Knoxville
Sunday, 15 May – Nakba Day Poetry Reading. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1695026577430712/
12 pm, Market Square, Knoxville, Tennessee. Palestinian poetry read by friends, poets and community members.
San Diego
Saturday, 14 May – Commemorating 68 Years of Al-Nakba. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1585392255108855/
5 pm, Balboa Park, 1549 El Prado, San Diego. Includes Palestinian dinner, talk by Dr. Jamal Nassar, music by Naima Shalhoub, testimonies of Nakba survivors. Organized by Nakba Committee (includes Jewish Voice for Peace, KARAMA, BDS San Diego, PAWA SD and CAIR)
Albuquerque
Saturday, 7 May – Commemorating Al-Nakba with Nadia Ben-Youssef. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/488400578020681/
11 am – 1:30 pm, Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, 202 Harvard Drive SE, Albuquerque. With speaker Nadia Ben-Youssef of Adalah.
UK
List of activities below via Palestine Solidarity Campaign Nakba Week Schedule. Additional events below.
Tue 3 – Dr. Christos Giannou, A Surgeon in the Siege of Shatila, Guilford
Tue 3 – Prof. Manuel S. Hassassian, Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Milton Keynes
Wed 4 – Mahmoud Zawahra, Nottingham
Fri 6 – Film screening: The Lab (dir. Yotam Feldman), Wolverhampton
Fri 6 – Mahmoud Zawahra, Cardiff
Sat 7 – Prof. Karma Nabulsi, Palestine, Freedom of speech and Prevent, Luton
Sat 7 – Nakba presentation, Bradford upon Avon
Sat 7 – Tower Hamlets-Jenin Friendship Association Stall for Nakba, London E3
Sat 7 – Nakba commemorative vigil, Hereford
Sat 7 – Sabrina Tucci, Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme, Birmingham
Sat 7 – Nakba stall, Bradford
Sun 8 – Sponsored Walk for Palestine, Bristol
Sun 8 – Olive & PSC present- Palestine: A Journey Through The Culture, London NW10
Sun 8 – Nakba Week stall, Peterborough
Mon 9 – Live music, poetry & film screening, Tatreez Cafe, London N16
Mon 9 – Tim Sanders and Mahmoud Zawahra, Tower Hamlets, London E2
Mon 9 – Film Screening: Nakba, Bristol
Mon 9 – Eat for Palestine, Fundraiser, Norwich
Tue 10 – Nakba, Round Table Discussion with Prof. Karma Nabulsi, Parliament
Tue 10 – Film screening: Jaffa, the Orange’s Clockwork (dir. Eyal Sivan), London W4
Tue 10 – Screening of Miko Peled, The General’s Son, London SW9
Tue 10 – Mahmoud Zawahra, Oxford Town Hall
Wed 11 – Film screening: Five Broken Cameras, Wellingborough
Wed 11 – Awad Abdelfattah (National Democratic Assembly / Balad), London N15
Wed 11 – Kate Cargin, Living Under Military Occupation, Norwich
Wed 11 – Dr Khader Abu-Hayyeh, Nakba survivor, Hastings
Thu 12 – Haya al Farra (Palestinian Mission), Darlington
Thu 12 – Jafar Ramini, The Catastrophe that is Palestine, Salisbury
Thu 12 – Film screening: Life in Occupied Palestine (by Anna Baltzer, JVP), Exeter
Fri 13 – Film screening: The Time That Remains (dir. Elia Suleiman), SOAS, London WC1
Fri 13 – The Israel lobby and the European Union, Report Launch, London NW1
Fri 13 – Film screening: When I Saw You (dir. Annemarie Jacir), Shrewsbury
Fri 13 – Film screening: Palestine Blues (dir. Nida Sinnokrot), Hereford
Sat 14 – Day-School Conference: Prof Nur Masala, Awad Abdelfattah & more, London WC1
Sat 14 – Palestinian Forum in Britain, Nakba anniversary protest, London W8
Sat 14 – Remember the Nakba in quiet contemplation, Lancaster
Sat 14 – Nakba commemoration, Sheffield Town Hall
Sat 14 – Mahmoud Zawahra, Portsmouth
Sat 14 – Friends of Al Aqsa: Palestine Exhibition and Fun Day, Edinburgh
Sat 14 – The Nakba: Palestine Exodus, Video Conference with survivors, Bristol
Sat 14 – Nakba stall, Kettering
Sun 15 – Nakba stall, Northampton
Sun 15 – Interpal: Nakba Tube Trail, London E17
Sun 15 – Nakba Day, Lest We Forget, Kingston upon Thames
Sun 15 – Rafeef Ziadah, We Teach Life Sir album launch, Birmingham
Sun 15 – Nakba Day Vigil, Manchester
Sun 15 – Nakba Day, ‘Registered Alive’, with Maxine Peake, Ahmed Masoud & more, London N1
Islington
Friday, 13 May – Evening for Palestine. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/942198729227447/
7 pm, Hargrave Hall, Hargrave Road, Islington. Palestinian music, food, short film and talks by Palestinian youth. Organized by CADFA.
Manchester
Saturday, 14 May – Nakba Day Commemoration. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1140770009308235/
12 pm – 9 pm, Piccadilly Gardens, Live Feed from Gaza, talks, music, drama and poetry. 9 pm, Film screening and music.
London
Monday, 16 May – Book Launch and Seminar, “Mapping My Return, A Palestinian Memoir,” by Salman Abu Sitta. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/210407026005655/
6:30 pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, London. Organized by Palestinian Return Centre and Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Saturday, 21 May – Nakba Narratives 2016 Annual Dinner. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1595195460797894/
6 pm, Royal Nawaab London. Annual dinner for Interpal with speakers Majdi Aqil, Ang Swee Chai, Yvonne Ridley, Ibrahim Hewitt.
Cambridge
Monday, 16 May – Nakba Talk – One Democratic State with Awad Abdelfattah and Karl Sabbagh. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/580838385418582/
7:30 pm, Friends Meeting House, Jesus Lane, Cambridge. Event chaired by Dr Ruba Salih (Reader at SOAS) and supported by One Democratic State (ODS) and Cambridge Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
“It is the determined will of people that counts” …
Review of Dr Abu Sitta’s Mapping My Return: A Palestinian Memoir
By Vacy Vlazna | Dissident Voice | May 5, 2016
I spent the rest of my life on a long, winding journey of return, a journey that has taken me to dozens of counties over decades of travel, and turned my black hair to silver. But like a boomerang, I knew the end destination, and that the only way to it was the road of return I had decided to take.
— Salman Abu Sitta
The spirit of Dr Abu Sitta’s Mapping My Return: A Palestinian Memoir mirrors precisely the dynamic quintessence and will of its creator – in a word – sumoud – a compelling steadfastness to his homeland Palestine and to the right of return of every Palestinian.
It is the determined will of people that counts. It must of course be accompanied by vigorous planning and action. An iron will does not bend in the face of obstacles or challenges, failures or disappointments. These challenges only sharpen it. Its ultimate reward is to enforce justice, to return home.
Abu Sitta’s personal experiences, great intellect, moral substance and totality of purpose confer authoritative soundness to his part in Palestine’s modern history. The Palestinian narrative is rare and future readings, such as Ilan Pappe’s definitive history outlining Israel’s systematic strategies and crimes of the Nakba, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, now, thanks to Abu Sitta, will be imbued with the flesh and breath of Palestinian truth and rights.
Opening the door of the memoir, we step into and see, through the eyes of the 10 year old Salman, his birth place, the village of Ma’in in the Beersheba district as yet pristine and undefiled by the Zionist scourge and anguished loss. We witness the prosperity of the land abundant in maize, barley, date palms, figs, grapes, almonds, apricots, melons, cactus fruit and wheat harvested, gleaned, and threshed by families and poor itinerant workers. It is a generous land that feeds well its people and their livestock of camels, horses, cows, oxen, sheep, and goats.
We join in the robust vitality of Palestinian village life: the flirting, courting, marriage customs, the rituals, like the blessing of wells, defined by religion, superstitions and omens, children’s games and school lessons, and listen to the men gathered in the shigg sharing ‘anecdotes, news, future plans, hopes and fears’ and listen to the poetic recitation of family histories by storytellers ‘who are the real source of our history’.
Abu Sitta’s memoir is rich in this tradition. It chronicles his family’s illustrious lineage of the Tarabin, ‘the largest, wealthiest, strongest tribe in southern Palestine’ that extends into Egypt as far as Cairo. The Tarabin is the tribal tree from which the Abu Sitta sheiks branched since the 16th century from Darshan I to Abu Sitta’s father, Hussein. The Abu Sitta bloodline of belonging to and defending their precious land begat landowners and warriors with a history of Arab resistance to invaders.
Resistance to foreign invaders is oxygen to Abu Sitta’s father Sheik Hussein, a self-educated man who was ‘chief judge at the tribal court in Beersheba’. He became a key player in the Palestinian national movement ensuring no land was sold to Jews and spurned collaboration with the British.
Cousin Abdullah was leader of the southern front of Palestinian 1936-39 revolt blowing up railways, cutting telephone wires and ambushing British convoys. In 1938, he, allied with Abd al-Halim al-Joulani of al-Khalil, liberated Beersheba, ‘an area equal to half of Palestine’ from British control for a year. He also resisted the zionists from 1947-56.
Abu Sitta details the fateful impact of the arrival of European colonialism. Its imperial machinations to control Palestine, he clarifies, were predetermined by decades of covert British, German and Zionist intelligence gathering culminating in the Sykes-Picot betrayal and the ‘legally void, morally wicked and politically mischievous’ Balfour Declaration that opened the immigration floodgates of Jews bent on Palestine’s annihilation.
Abu Sitta documents the post WWII departure of the British that shamefully abandoned the meagrely armed Palestinians to the well armed terrorist Haganah, Irgun and Stern militias. With cousins, Abdullah, Hamed and brother Ibrahim at the front line of defense, Abu Sitta details the tragi-heroic resistance of villagers in the Beersheba district doomed to join the surviving hoards of terrified Palestinians fleeing massacres such as Burayr, Tantura, Deir Yassin, and death from 670 ethnically cleansed villages.
At 11 years of age, young Salman, like his contemporary Naji Al-Ali and hundreds of thousands of children, becomes Handala* incarnate destined to wander the paths most travelled to the wretched camps of the dispossessed. The Abu Sittas set up tents in Gaza alongside fellow ‘uprooted people, robbed of their land, but not of their identity and least of all family cohesion. Groups maintained their social structures, complete with the village mukhtars and sub-mukhtars’. Here, Sheikh Hussein, despite losing everything, was determined to maintain university costs for his four sons.
After 1948, the refugee template, with its trials and triumphs, of itinerant study, employment and residence was cast. Abu Sitta himself studied in Egypt, UK and Canada as well as set up business in Kuwait, Iraq, Yemen, Canada , and the UK.
Page upon page is packed with firsthand personal and historic facts, figures, key players, letters, and Palestinian endeavours ‘to fight the occupier’; the formation of the General Union of Palestinian Students, the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Palestinian Lawyers Syndicate, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, General Ahmed Fouad Sadek, Gamal And al-Nasser, Kamel al-Sharif, Ismail Shammour, Jawaharlal Nehru, Che Guevara, Edward Said, Khalil al-Wazir and Arafat with his ‘calamitous concessions’ peaking with the infamous Oslo Accords.
In the 60s the Royal Geographical Society library was the starting point of Abu Sitta’s journey of sleuthing maps and literature on Palestine before the Zionists savagely rent it to pieces ‘to wipe Palestine from memory.’ Then came the challenge, over decades, of meticulously making Palestine whole again.
Dr Abu Sitta is no dreamer. He is a pragmatic visionary whose unwavering yearning for home has morphed into the Palestinian Land Society, his literal pièce de résistance, that has created the phenomenal Atlas of Palestine, 1917-1966 and meticulous plans for the inevitable return.
We plan for the reconstruction of destroyed Palestinian villages. Our plans are derived from a massive database…. We are creating a file for every village, its house plans before 1948, its features and characteristics, its economies and its status of education… Young architects are now working on the reconstruction of these destroyed villages to be built in the same locations with the same beautiful old features, but with modern amenities.
Fahrenheit 451 is the burning point of paper, and at the end of (Ray) Bradbury’s book of the same name, hope, for a society that was culturally reduced to ashes by the systematic burning of books, lies in a group of intellectual renegade exiles who are individually responsible for memorising and preserving one book each and become its living version.
Dr Abu Sitta’s life is an Opus Magnus preserving the integrity of the land of Palestine, past, present and future in preparation for the certain return of all its stranded children. The outstanding feature of the memoir is its invitation to ‘meet’ a distinguished colossus of Palestinian sumoud.
* Handala is the eternal child; the eternal 10-year-old refugee child conceived in the Nakba fragmented childhood of the late Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al-Ali. In Palestine, Handala is loved and cherished as a symbol of righteous steadfast resistance.
The book will be launched in London on May 20th.
Dr. Vacy Vlazna is Coordinator of Justice for Palestine Matters. She was Human Rights Advisor to the GAM team in the second round of the Aceh peace talks, Helsinki, February 2005 and then withdrew on principle. Vacy was coordinator of the East Timor Justice Lobby as well as serving in East Timor with UNAMET and UNTAET from 1999-2001.
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Book Review
Why the War on Conspiracy Theories Is Bad Public Policy
By Kevin Barrett • Unz Review • February 1, 2019
A Review of Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas by Cass Sunstein (based on an earlier paper co-authored with Adrian Vermeule); In Defense of Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in Life and Business by Charlan Nemeth; and Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, edited by Joseph E. Uscinski
On January 25 2018 YouTube unleashed the latest salvo in the war on conspiracy theories, saying “we’ll begin reducing recommendations of borderline content and content that could misinform users in harmful ways—such as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, claiming the earth is flat, or making blatantly false claims about historic events like 9/11.”
At first glance that sounds reasonable. Nobody wants YouTube or anyone else to recommend bad information. And almost everyone agrees that phony miracle cures, flat earthism, and blatantly false claims about 9/11 and other historical events are undesirable.
But if we stop and seriously consider those words, we notice a couple of problems. First, the word “recommend” is not just misleading but mendacious. YouTube obviously doesn’t really recommend anything. When it says it does, it is lying. … continue
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