Protesting for Release of Gilad Shalit

Recently, there have been a lot of protests about the kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit. Hundreds of Israelis have gone out and protested in front of Ehud Olmert's home, where a tent has been erected. Shalit's family had moved from their home in Galilee to this tent, to pressure the Israeli government and Olmert to find a deal of his release. Gilad Shalit was abducted in 2006 by Palestinian militants that crossed the border from Gaza.

Well, let's just hope that Israel doesn't call an all out war on the Gaza strip once again, just like in 2006. The media is making this a huge deal, and are once again looking at one side of the story. There are thousands upon thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, most of them are innocent and were targets of cruel raids conducted by the IDF and Jewish Settlers. Why doesn't the American Media, or the International media present these pieces of information. From 1967 to 2005, there have been 650,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. In late 2006, there were 400 Palestinian children imprisoned in Israel. There are 3,500 Palestinian children that have been arrested in the occupied territories. In 2006 alone, there have been 5,666 Palestinians taken prisoner because of ridiculous raids.

With all these statistics and numbers, the media wants to make a huge riot for 1 soldier! This is unbelievable. Before the Israelis start protesting and using violence, look at these numbers, and then they will know why the Palestinian militants did this. There is no comparison I know, but as always, the Jewish superiority has played a role. One Israeli soldier abducted is about the equivalent of thousands of Palestinian civilians imprisoned. And when the families of those imprisoned Palestinians protest peacefully, the IDF come in and start shooting rubber bullets and tear gas, or worse, they open fire. It just looks ridiculous to me that everyone is protesting for one soldier, when thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians, including children are imprisoned. Anyway, the lives of Israelis are more important to the Jewish state. That's no surprise, just like in the Gaza offensive. 1 Israeli life meant one hundred Palestinian ones. The Israeli government said it themselves. What else do I have to write to capture the racism and discriminatory policies.

The Agonizing Death of the Two State Solution

With the building of these Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Israel is slowly putting the two state solution to sleep, or rather to death. The two state solution calls for a Palestinian state alongside an Israeli state. The Palestinian one shall be formed in the West Bank and Gaza, yet look at the West Bank now. How on earth is this going to be a Palestinian state with thousands of settlements dotting the whole map. Not only that, but the Apartheid Wall that is being built certainly does not help the cause, but it is making it worse. The wall does not follow the Green Line, which is the official border of the West Bank. There are hundreds of checkpoints in the territory. East Jerusalem is an occupied territory, yet Israel has annexed it, going against International law. Israel is building settlements right now, and it doesn't seem to want to stop. With the building of these settlements, Israel is securing its land, Judea and Samaria. They connect these settlements with each other on modern roads and they separate the Palestinian people from each other. These settlements are being built on tall hills overlooking Palestinian towns and cities, and they are circling around East Jerusalem, not to mention the whole of the West Bank. Jewish settlers have a clean and constant supply of water, versus the Palestinians, that barely do, and it is dirty water, full of disease. The Jews have a modern road system that goes straight into Israel, yet the Palestinians have dirt roads that they have to walk, and checkpoints that they have to pass and stand hours under the sun. Everyday, Israel is sending settlers into the occupied West Bank, which is illegal under international law, as is all the other things they are doing. The United Nations states that it is illegal to move populations in or out of the occupied territories. Israel is doing both. They are expelling the Palestinians out of the West Bank, and settling Jews in. It's unbelievable. With that said, how are we going to have two states? How is Israel going to remove the settlements and half a million settlers from the West Bank. The answer is it cannot, even if the government wants to, which it doesn't. They settlers will revolt against the government and there will be violent clashes. The Israeli government knows this will happen, yet it is still building and moving settlers in. And the amounts of money Israel is spending on the wall is tremendous. It's not going to tear it down with ease when the time comes, I'm sure.

Cruelty of the Jewish Settlers

Most of the time, you will hear that Palestinians and Arabs in general are being racist Jews and are violent with them. And this is a very hard stereotype to break in the West because of their one-sided media coverage. However, the very opposite is true.
The Jewish settlers that live in the West Bank are the cruel and racist ones, not the poor Palestinians. And this is what the world has to see. For example, in this photo, a group of Jewish settlers had fired a crude rocket into this Palestinian family's home, after the Gaza cease-fire had been set in place. The world knows nothing about it, because these settlers are not convicted and are not tried. They are probably detained by the police for about a week or less, and then are set free, to do whatever they want.
This example is one of the many that goes on in the West Bank. Palestinian families that live close by to settlements are subject to house raids, and harrasment that never ends. One example of this treachery is Noor's story. Jewish settlers broke into her house and beat her children until they are unconscious. After that they destroy her belongings: dishes, television sets, furniture. Then they leave, which is something lucky. Many times, the Palestinian family living in that house is kicked out of their home and the Jewish Settlers occupy it. How can anyone, and the state of Israel, justify these horrors.
Palestinians don't have any protection and are in constant fear of these raids. Military law is enforced on them, however for the settlers, it is Israeli civil law. A Palestinian can be detained for about 250 days without a trial or a reason for imprisonment. A Jewish settler can only be detained for 8 days. This is absolute discrimination, yet the United States supports the state of Israel because it is "a democracy, and recognizes human rights". It's a mockery, and I can't help but feel sorry for the Israeli government because it knows what its doing but chooses to lie to itself.
I found two videos on youtube that demonstrate the violence and treachery of these Jewish settlers. The first one is of a Palestinian woman in Hebron being harrased by a Jewish settler, here this is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2AaDg7-zD0
The next one is of a British film crew trying to shoot a documentary of a Palestinian family but is interrupted and harrased by two young Jewish settlers saying: Get out, this is our land, (a lot of swearing.)
WARNING: this video includes offensive material.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSAvaYY-y7Q

From Scapegoat to Villian

From day one, Zionists have used the the excuse of the Holocaust to establish and create their own state. They used the tragic holocaust to form their own tragedy: the expulsion of the Palestinian people, and the expropriation of their land.

The State of Israel was formed because the Jews did not feel safe anywhere if they did not have their own land. They considered Uganda and Cypress as a location for a Jewish state, but once World War I was over and the British occupied Palestine, their eyes reverted to that prize: the Holy Land.

The Jews immigrated in huge numbers from Europe and came into Palestine, but they were still a very small minority in Palestine. And that is the truth, a truth the Israelis currently do not want to believe. The Israelis think they came into Eretz Israel and found nothing, no people, no houses, nothing! It's extremely ridiculous, these claims. So we go now to the partition of Palestine in 1948 and then to the war. Israel gains more land and expels the Palestinian population from their homes. Now, in 1967 it occupies the West Bank and Gaza. Now they begin to systematically make life difficult for the Palestinians, by closing the borders, building checkpoints, and now the final touch is the Apartheid Wall that is not yet complete. So here we have these poor people being prosecuted by Hitler, and now they come to Palestine, create a Jewish state (solely Jewish), expel the Palestinians and their goal is the annexation of Gaza and the West Bank, once the "demographic problem" has reached a solution, as they say. Who are they to expel the rightful owners of the land and force them to go the neighboring countries? Those were the people that faced the fear of death from Hitler, and now they are imposing that fear on the Palestinian population if they choose to stay in the West Bank. The problem with the Jewish people is they think they are so superior and that all the holy land belongs to the Jews, yet in reality Christians and Muslims have a very strong claim, if not stronger than the Jews. Israelis don't want anyone to live in Israel unless they are Jewish. And in that racist and discriminatory policy, the State of Israel has just prevented millions of people from seeing their homeland, yet the world thinks that justice is served.

The Palestinians would have welcomed the Jews if they chose to live there, but why make their own state? Well the answer rests in every Israeli: because of their greed and their state of mind. The holocaust was a very sad event, but it passed and now it's time to start a new life, a life that is not based on cruelty and injustice.

A Jewish State If You Like it or Not

The State of Israel's top priority is to keep its status as a Jewish State, in other words ethnic cleansing. What else would you call it when they don't allow the rightful owners of a house in Haifa to live there, but welcome Jews from Eastern Europe that have never seen Haifa or probably heard of it all their lives? This is a reality Palestinians must face. Racism, racism, and more racism. I am going to give you an example:

A woman is pregnant. Her husband lives with her in Jerusalem. They are expecting a baby within three months. When their child is born, they could barely register the child in Jerusalem. The couple needs to prove that Jerusalem is their "center of life", as the Israelis call it. The couple has to retrieve electric bills, water bills, heating bills, and proof of the home ownership. And these documents all have to go back at least fifteen years. Who on Earth saves their electric bills over the course of fifteen years. That is impossible for Salma, because she recently moved from her parent's house, to Ahmad's house. And she has been living with Ahmad for a year, not fifteen. Since she left her parents house for a year (which was the only proof of her living in Jerusalem) and she has no official proof of living with Ahmad (because residency papers are extremely difficult to obtain), the Israeli government expels Salma from Jerusalem because she has "abandoned" it, when she was actually living there her whole life. Ahmad and their child can stay, but the child has to leave when he reaches the age of fourteen. Ahmad would have to follow Salma to the West Bank in order to live with his family. One family expelled, thousands more to go.

Thousands of people have to endure this racism in East Jerusalem. Let us remind the Israelis that East Jerusalem is an Occupied Territory and shares the status of the West Bank and Gaza since they were all captured in 1967. However Israel annexed East Jerusalem, and is slowly expelling the Palestinian population. They also built the separation wall along the border of the West Bank with the farthestmost suburbs of East Jerusalem. Now, a West Banker can never enter East Jerusalem.

A Jewish European family, Jewish being the key word, arrives from Ukraine, and they are immediately granted citizenship and residency papers as well as on option to live in "Judea and Samaria", or the rest of Israel. This family, that has never seen Jerusalem or Palestine in all its life, comes and within half an hour they are granted everything the Palestinians are rejected.

Israel is slowly expelling all the Palestinians from East Jerusalem, so the city would unanimously be Jewish. Isn't that racism, and discrimination against religion and nationality. Other than that, it is ethnic cleansing (well that sounds familiar doesn't it, hint hint: The Holocaust). which is extremely illegal internationally, not that all of the other things Israel is doing is legal. However the international community, being the United Nations chooses to keep its mouth shut. The United States however, plays an active role, and continues to supply weapons and financial support to the Jewish state because they think justice is served, and are very, very sympathetic with the Jews because of the Holocaust. Why not go build a Jewish Nation in California and save the world this trouble. I'm sure the Americans would "LOVE" that.

Racism in the Israeli Occupation

I will describe to you what is happening in this photo. An IDF soldier feels threatened by the presence of this three year old. Therefore he chooses to retrieve his gun (if you could call it a gun) and aim it at the little boy. This way, the 20+ year old IDF soldier can ensure his safety, his life, and his well-being.

What the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians is in all meaning apartheid. The whole formation of this Jewish state goes against anything we learned in life. Let me explain what I mean. Little children learn to share, to communicate, not be violent. Not to be greedy, or selfish, but to be polite and understanding. All of these characteristics stick with the person for as all long as he/she lives. Yet here we have an exception. The Israelis. No not all Israelis are bad, but the majority of them think that what the Israeli government is doing is correct, politically and morally. Why doesn't the world see these acts of racism, I do not know. And I am extremely perplexed at the state of the world. The United States ended racism and segregation of African Americans, yet here we have the IDF treating these poor people like insects. And Israel is so proud of it's military, and the world is impressed with how dedicated these soldiers are to their country. Well think again, I surely am not proud of what these people did and are doing to this population.

Racism is a big crime in the world, but the International community chooses to ignore what's happening in the West Bank and Gaza. Half the population is under the poverty line, they can't eat or sleep (they don't have a house). They can't go to work, because of the checkpoints that are sprouting up everywhere. First they expelled them from their homes and land. They made them flee into the West Bank and to neighboring countries. Next they want "Judea and Samaria", because it's the promised land in their holy book. Well, if the world was going to go on claims of their holy books, the world would be a stage for wars and crimes. We'll have the Holy Wars and crusades all over again. But in the world's eyes, Israel has the right to exist. Alright, and if it does, why does it not stick to its original borders? No, it wants to expand. All those characteristics that I mentioned above don't describe the IDF and the Israeli government. But the opposites would. They are greedy, selfish, rude, cruel. They want everything, all the holy land. They even wanted the Jolan Heights which belonged to Syria. And now they got it, the West Bank, Gaza, and the Jolan Heights. I came across a photo of the Jolan Heights today labeled, "The Land God Promised to Us [Jews]. Why not claim the whole earth while they are at it. The Jolan Heights is part of Syria and will always be part of Syria. But their greed is blinding them, and their state of mind, that everyone is inferior to them, isn't helping anyone. They choose to ignore the people that are already living on it, and even have the nerve to say that the land was barren and it was waiting for the Jews to come (for two thousand years). This is unbelievable. And I hope people that have a different stand than I should open their eyes to the horrors. What next are the Israelis going to occupy, Jordan, or Syria? Israel can justify anything it does with the United States behind it, even the illegal settlements and the ethnic cleansing that is almost complete in Jerusalem.

Expulsion of Palestinians, An Introduction

The horrors that Israel is casting upon the Palestinians is unbelievable. I'm reading another book right now on this subject, and it's titled "Palestine Inside Out", by Saree Makdisi. It's a brilliant book that outlines the lives of the Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation, in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. I couldn't control my emotions while reading this book. Anger swept over me, and I was clutching the book so hard. The material is unbelievable, but it is true. The lives of these poor people that were expelled from their homes is terrifying. They are under control, they cannot move about freely. They have to carry numerous permits just to accomplish everyday tasks, such as grocery shopping, going to work or school, and that such. The checkpoints however, are the hardest part of the Palestinian life. There are about 600 checkpoints in the West Bank. They are operated by the IDF soldiers, and they have to be obeyed. It's ridiculous, the whole ordeal that they have to go through. And Israel's sole goal, is to expel the Palestinians from their land so they can annex the West Bank to Israel, and finally include "Judea and Samaria", as they call the West Bank, in the map of Israel. I just can't grasp the concept, of these foreign people coming into this land that was called Palestine, and establishing a state, in vain, expelling the current population, and they are still not satisfied. They want the whole land, yet they don't want the people on it. Right now, after 2,000 years, the Jews remember that they had ancestors living in Palestine, and right away they wanted to establish a state, that already housed a nation, which is Palestine. And currently, the Israelis want to keep the status of their state, as Jewish, and the problem lies in the occupied territories. They are at a point where their ambitions have reached an obstacle, which is the Palestinian population in the West Bank. Israel calls them the "demographic problem". I believe this whole campaign is racist. Any Jew, from all over the world, as the right of return to Israel, yet the Palestinians, that were living on this land for generations on end, don't. A Jew from Latvia, in Eastern Europe, can come into Israel and within half an hour he could have his residency papers, and citizenship granted, as well as the option to live in Israel or the West Bank (in the numerous ILLEGAL settlements that are being established). Yet a Palestinian does not have this right. A whole generation of Palestinians haven't seen Jerusalem, because of these ridiculous checkpoints, yet any Jew from anywhere in the world can come with ease and buy a house right next to the Dome of the Rock mosque. It's unbelievable, and I'm surprised the world as stayed quiet about this for so long. To anyone that has opposing views, what argument can you bring forth that makes sense, and defends the state of Israel for these acts of apartheid and racism.

Hillary Clinton in the Middle East

Recently, Hillary Clinton has toured the Middle East, specifically Israel and the West Bank city of Ramallah. she met with various Israeli leaders on Tuesday to discuss the current situation with the Palestinians and the possible solutions. Benjamin Natenyahu, the current Prime Minister who is in the process of forming a government, does not support the Two-State Solution, involving a Palestinian State to be created in the West Bank and Gaza, and to live side by side with the state of Israel. Natenyahu, however supports the building of illegal settlements in the West Bank, which is right now, the main obstacle standing in the way of this solution. The Prime Minister does not want to achieve peace, in my opinion, he just wants to push the Palestinians out of their homes and land. By building these settlements, he is telling the world that he wants to expand the border of Israel past the pre-1967 borders, past the green line and into the West Bank to the Jordan River. Hillary Clinton however is determined to have this Two-State Solution in effect, and the United States will always support this plan. Everyone knows it is the only way for the violence to end in that region, and for the people of that region to live in peace of mind. But this is wear the United States and the Israelis reach a conflict, and I truly don't know how Benjamin Natenyahu is going to be persuaded to support the Two-State Solution, but I hope it will be done if he likes it or not.
Hillary Clinton also met with Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and discussed the current situation as well. She assured him that the establishment of a Palestinian State will always be the priority of the American government in that region, after he expressed concerns about Natenyahu's policies.
I believe that currently, the United States has to condemn the building of illegal settlements, as it is the first step in this long Two-State solution. It will only be more difficult to add to the number of already high settlers in the West Bank, and to remove them when the time comes of establishing a Palestinian State.

Queen Noor's Memoirs, an Inspiration

"Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life", is the story of Queen Noor's life, formerly known as Lisa Najeeb Halaby, and it was written from her perspective. This book is absolutely brilliant, to say the least, because it gave you insight on the circumstances that led to her and King Hussein's meet, and then their very eventful life and the struggles that they had to go through together. She sheds some light at the place where Jordan stands in this Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which is more like an Arab-Israeli conflict. So I will outline this book very briefly.
Lisa Najeeb Halaby graduated with a degree in Architecture and went of to Iran and then to Jordan, to complete the Intercontinental Airport which will serve as a hub to the new Royal Jordanian Airlines. She meets King Hussein there, because he and her father had close business ties. A friendship forms, and then they both fall deeply in love with each other. Lisa admires King Hussein in everything he does, and his willingness to achieve the impossible. Soon after, King Hussein proposes to Lisa, and there begins the long life ahead. Lisa takes the decision by herself to convert to Islam, because she found the religion very logical and pure and it gave her ease of mind. Upon her conversion, her name was changed from Lisa, to Noor, which means light in Arabic, Noor al Hussein or the Light of Hussein.
Her life with King Hussein was a happy and honest one. They both worked very hard. Queen Noor immediately adjusted and loved the Jordanian people. She knew she had to accomplish many things in this country, so that it can become more advanced and appear on the world stage. Many of her accomplishments included the creation of the Annual Jerash Festival, the work for the Bedouin women, many projects in the refugee camps, campaigns against land mines, and many more.
The book inspired me so much, because this woman was so devoted to her husband, and attached to him. She gave him her whole life, and that was proved when he became very ill, and then diagnosed with cancer. She was strong, and gave him hope, and light. She took care of all her step children, and had four of her own children from the King. Queen Noor believed in peace. Her approach to politics was that any military action will not yield any results, but political action is what ought to be done. Also, one of King Hussein's sayings, that is a favorite of mine is that "A peace-treaty is not a piece of paper, that is signed between countries, governments to ensure it's economic growth or stability, but it is a pact between people, and the people have to feel it, and live it to make real peace." (And I was just paraphrasing).
I admired King Hussein's ways of peace. He always wanted to make peace with Israel, but also wanted to form a Palestinian state in peace, and I believe that is the exact way to go about these things. Violence will not solve anything, deaths of innocent children will not earn the security of the killers. King Hussein hoped that the Arabs can come to peace with Israel and that a Palestinian state can be created, but he never lived to see that dream come true, yet I hope that I do see this in the future.