The Power of No

The Power of NO by Noura
The Power of Saying No By Jeff Halper
30 Israeli [Soldiers] Killed 8-Year-Old Palestinian Girl
AP Erases Video of Israeli Soldier Shooting Palestinian Boy
Israel's attack on Jericho: Palestinians remain without protection

The Power of NO
For Palestinians the ground beneath is trembling in that familiar way, bracing we all wait to see what is going happen next. In this surreal world that is Palestinian life, once again fate seems not about the needs of the people and nation building, as external forces disrupt any ability to effectively determine their own future. Just when I think Israeli politics could not get more blatantly barbaric and outrageous we see the Jericho fiasco, followed by the invasion of Jenin, the killing of more children and the media’s purposeful cover up of actual footage (see below), the announcement of building of more illegal settlements which will effectively surround Jerusalem and separate it from the West Bank. To top it off, the recent news was met with the increase in support of Israeli voters. Recent events point to the same dynamics at play and have given no reason to hope for a positive change.

Sick and tired of hoping, the other night some friends and I were talking about various possible Palestinian strategies that may be effective for nation building. The discussion being thrown around these days is that the acting Palestinian government should refuse to continue with the charade of being an international player in the game of politics. I said if that happens then it becomes easy for the West to pontificate from their throne that Pals don’t want peace, and there is in fact “no partner for peace” so they deserve whatever happens to them. One was saying that Palestinians should avoid any civilian casualties, and take the high moral ground and continue to operate within the bounds of international law. Another said “this is a war” why when civilians are routinely targeted here why should it be any different for us to target Israeli citizens. Of course, international law says that the occupied have the right to resist by any means necessary. This IS war, and in war apparently civilians are fair game when fighting for survival and freedom. However everyone agreed, when those with unlimited military, economic and political power use force to determine right, no one is able to stand in their way, not even international law. One thing is clear to all and that is the illusion of equality does not exist. With the ongoing scenarios unlikely to change route, it is due time that we support Palestinians in making the only real choice that is likely to empower rather than co-opt them. It then becomes apparent that the best tool available for Palestinians to control their destiny is one, the power to say NO. It now becomes the job of “we the people” to support a just solution that offers equality rather than occupation.


THE POWER OF SAYING NO
Jeff Halper
Tuesday, March 21, 2006

As the new Hamas government is sworn into power in the Palestinian Authority, we might ask: What would bring a people, the most secular of Arab populations with little history of religious fundamentalism, to vote Hamas? Mere protest at Fatah ineffectualness in negotiations and internal corruption doesn't go far enough. While warning Hamas that their vote did not constitute a mandate for imposing an Iran-like theocracy on Palestine, the Palestinians took the only option left to a powerless people when all other avenues of redress have been closed to them: non-cooperation.

Gandhi put it best: "How can one be compelled to accept slavery? I simply refuse to do the master's bidding. He may torture me, break my bones to atoms and even kill me. He will then have my dead body, not my obedience. Ultimately, therefore, it is I who am the victor and not he, for he has failed in getting me to do what he wanted done. Non-cooperation is directed not against…the Governors, but against the system they administer. The roots of non-cooperation lie not in hatred but in justice."

Non-cooperation, perhaps the most powerful means of non-violent resistance, arises in situations when the oppressed have no other avenues to achieve their freedom and their rights. Since it is the international community, the US, Israel and, yes, Fatah, who have closed all avenues of redress to the Palestinians, they carry the “blame" for the rise of Hamas. It is to them that the message of the Palestinian electorate is aimed: "To hell with all of you!"

For full article: http://www.icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu=5&submenu=1&item=87

Jeff Halper is the Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). He can be reached at jeff@icahd.org


30 Israeli [Soldiers] Killed 8-Year-Old Palestinian Girl
Associated Press

YAMOUN, West Bank, 19 March 2006 — Eight-year-old Akbar Zayed was on her way to have stitches removed from her chin when a barrage of Israeli Army bullets killed her on the spot, her family said yesterday. The army opened an investigation into Akbar’s killing, but the failed arrest raid left behind demolished homes, damaged cars and a family devastated by the death of a little girl.

The arrest raid in the West Bank village of Yamoun began like many others. Soldiers stormed the village of Yamoun late Friday, hunting down fugitives the army believed were holed up in a house. Troops cordoned off an area around the house, calling on the fugitives to surrender, the army said.
full article: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=79408&d=19&m=3&y=2006


AP Erases Video of Israeli Soldier Shooting Palestinian Boy
By Alison Weir

In the midst of journalism's "Sunshine Week"--during which the Associated Press and other news organizations are valiantly proclaiming the public's "right to know"--AP insists on conducting its own activities in the dark, and refuses to answer even the simplest questions about its system of international news reporting. Most of all, it refuses to explain why it erased footage of an Israeli soldier intentionally shooting a Palestinian boy. AP, according to its website, is the world's oldest and largest news organization. It is the behemoth of news reporting, providing what its editors determine is the news to a billion people each day. Through its feeds to thousands of newspapers, radio and television stations, AP is a major determinant in what Americans read, hear and see--and what they don't.

If we don't take action, no one else will.
AP can be reached at 212-621-1500.
full article: http://www.counterpunch.org/weir03182006.html


Israel's attack on Jericho: Palestinians remain without protection
Ali Abunimah and Arjan El Fassed of the Electronic Intifada

The Israeli attack on Jericho and kidnap of a number of Palestinian prisoners, including the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) demonstrates once again the fiction that there is a functioning Palestinian "government" in the occupied territories. The ease and impunity with which the occupation forces attack Palestinians everywhere serves to remind us that these territories remain today, as they have been since 1967, under full Israeli military dictatorship. It is a mistake to keep referring to a "Palestinian government," because this gives the false impression that Palestinians under occupation are in control of their destiny. Palestinian factions may, in the wake of the January elections, be negotiating to form a "government," but this does not mean that this "government" can exercise any control or protect Palestinians from the ravages of the occupying power.

The media coverage we have seen of the events in Jericho, especially the BBC, has been appallingly shallow and misleading. Let us remember why Ahmad Sa'adat and other prisoners in the Jericho jail were wanted by the occupation authorities. Sa'adat is accused of killing Rehavam Ze'evi, the founder of the Moledet Party and an Israeli cabinet minister. The missing contextual facts are that the PFLP killed Ze'evi in retaliation for Israel's murder of its leader Abu Ali Mustafa (Mustafa al-Zibri) in August 2001. Al-Zibri was not carrying arms or fighting, but sitting at his desk when an Israeli Apache helicopter fired a missile at him blowing him to pieces. Ze'evi was the leading advocate in Israel for the destruction of the Palestinian people, calling for their wholesale expulsion.

full article: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4550.shtml


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With Love from OPT