News Across the Spectrum that May Help Explain the Mess We're In. Or Not.
Diary of a Cyber Bedouin 2/4/12
I returned last week to Palestine after a short, tiring, but productive trip (Belgium, Italy, Holland, USA).
In this week's message (again select what you are interested in) there are links to: 1) brief comments on a conference in Palestine on strategic options/directions for Palestinians going forward, 2) a new syllabus I teach on Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian struggle (with lots of useful references but we could use more input), 3) updated resource of 64 common Zionist mythologies and links to debunk them, 4) a story about a Jewish editor who suggested Israel consider assassinating US President Obama, 5) Attack on Palestinian Human Rights Advocate, 6) Cyber attack on Israeli stock exchanges, and more.
Note: there are still people who try to write to me at the old closed hotmail account. Please write to
and write again if you do not hear back and it is important since your email may be lost in the hundreds of emails we get daily
1)Thoughts on a Palestinian conference on changing course held in Jericho Friday and Saturday
2) I am teaching a course this semester in Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle (a subject of my 2004 book "Sharing the Land of Canaan"). The syllabus and reading material maybe interesting for readers of this list. Any input would be appreciated. http://www.qumsiyeh.org/syllabus/ .
3) Updated resource (some links expired and were removed): "This year will mark 64 years since the founding of the state of Israel on the ruins of 540 Palestinian villages and towns. As 7 million of the 11 million Palestinians in the world remain refugees or displaced people denied basic human rights, it is more important to debunk myths and lies. I updated this list to now include 64 lies/myths (one for each year)." http://www.qumsiyeh.org/liesandtruths/
4) Jewish Newspaper Editor: Israel Should Consider Assassinating Obama
(after an uproar about this, the editor decided to apologize. The talk in Israeli media was not that this is impossible to happen but that it should not be said and it is "stupid" to say. Israel of course is well known for its targeted assassinations and bombings including those done via "false flag" operations such as the Lavon Affair when American and British interests were targeted by the Mosad while blaming others. Israel also intentionally targeted the USS Liberty ship to stop its intelligence gathering and claimed it was a mistaken attack)
8) (Video) Road to Tantura: Tantura is one of dozens of villages in which massacres were committed to drive their inhabitants out in 1948. This is a personal story of a Palestinian http://vimeo.com/34769420
January 16
I have lived in the US for 29 years and am currently visiting this large and still prosperous but perilously indebted country ($16 trillion in debt). I landed at New York’s JF Kennedy airport named after perhaps the only president who could have put a stop to the decline of the US into an Israeli occupied territory engaged in endless wars that bankrupted the economy. Since then I was, like the 320 million residents of this country, bombarded with media advertising and popular culture that promotes Zionism and tries to numb the people about what is really going on. Rupert Murdoch’s media empire still dominates the airwaves with “Fox News”. Talking heads stoke emotions of fear especially of the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. Zionist backed think tanks and lobby groups like “The Council for Foreign Relations” pedal a war on Iran just like they did a war on Iraq (compare CFR “Time to attack Iran”http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136917/matthew-kroenig/time-to-attack-iranwith “Next Stop Baghdad” http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/57805/kenneth-m-pollack/next-stop-baghdad). But America is also a great land of great people. Last night I attended a gathering of Jersey City Peace movement where they honored many good people including my friend Rich Siegel and his new album “The Way to Peace” (http://www.richsiegel.com/).
Since the letter to President Clinton in 1998 asking for Regime Change in Iraq signed by 15 neocons and Zionists (http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm), the national debt has nearly doubled. Since then over one million civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed. Since then, tens of thousands of new Israeli settlers moved to live on Palestinian lands contrary to International law. Since then, natural disasters and man-made disasters claimed so many lives. But since then millions of points of light shone brightly: good deeds by good people working for the common good.
In looking back, I would say 2011 was one of the better years though much of the work remains to be completed in 2012. 2011 brought the revolutionary changes that swept across the Arab world and that portend for democratization (long overdue) that would be good not only for the people of those countries but also for the cause of peace and justice in Palestine and beyond. (This despite the US-government led counter-revolutionary push in Libya and now Syria while cajoling dictators in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia). 2011 saw the final realization that the two-state “solution” in Palestine is a mirage dissipated by continued colonial activity and by a series of racist laws introduced in the Israeli Knesset. The year saw mass movement of Palestinians and others to enter Palestine (e.g. on Nakba Day and in July). We also saw a Palestinian UN bid begin (though now suspended). We saw attempts are putting the Palestinian house in order (though yet incomplete). I could go on but each of us could continue.
On a personal level, I lost good friends and colleagues (VittorioArrigoni, JawaherAburahma, Mustapha Tamimi, JulianoMer-Khamis, Scott Kennedy, and many more). I was arrested a few times, saw my last book out (on Popular resistance) and widely used, started two new books that are almost finished, graduated my first two masters students at Bethlehem University (with good publishable research), and we collectively accomplished much more for the cause of human rights and justice. We are grateful for hundreds of friends around the world who work to challenge apathy, promote human rights, and work for justice. My thoughts at the beginning of 2012 are similar to my thoughts at the beginning of 2011 but with even more optimism (see my notes January 2011 herehttp://mycatbirdseat.com/2011/01/mazin-qumsiyeh-tunisia-and-reshaping-the-arab-world/). The work will only get more in 2012.
January 13
I was finally released. Israeli soldiers abducted me while filming an attack on villagers of Al-Walaja. The attack started with dynamiting their village lands near their houses, a process that already shook and cracked houses and injured some residents before (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCDNg_ScDtU).
The villagers were speaking with soldiers demanding paperwork and telling them that court cases are pending and to stop blowing up their lands. Instead the soldiers arrogantly pushed and shoved and as they tried to arrest one young man, a group of Israeli soldiers and native Palestinians fell off the side of the bulldozed area of the route of the apartheid wall. Outside of camera views, Mustafa was beaten repeatedly in the car (I was hit twice) by a mean young Israeli soldiers who said he hated Arabs. The video we have of our abduction is at http://youtu.be/v_GE16wmcAo and still pictures can be seen here http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills and here http://chroniquespalestine.blogspot.com/
After the US government (under the Yolk of the Israel lobby) cut funding for UNESCO, people of the world and other governments should step up to the plate and donate to this institution. You can do so here:
http://www.unesco.org/donate/ Or mail your donation in US dollars or Euro checks to: UNESCO, Treasurer – BOC/TRS – 7 place de Fontenoy – 75352 PARIS 07 SP – France
Letter to Mr. Carl Bildt, Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister by MajedAbusalama (23 y.o. young man from Jabalia Refugee Camp)
