I have set up an e-petition urging the British Government to recognize the Genocide inflicted upon the Kurdish population by the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

If we get 100,000 signatures than they will debate this cause in the British Parliament, thus please sign and pass on your petition.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/25526

I would like to thank you all for the support and for being a friend to Kurdistan.

Laween Atroshi

The father was 12 years old when Israeli soldiers shot him in the head with a rubber coated steel bullet fragmenting his skull and damaging part of his brain. Ten years later, Israeli army officers severely beat and tortured him.He got married to his cousin immediately after.

Palestinians kicked out of their home in 1948

The family originally comes from Al-Walaja village, the village along with some 530 Palestinian villages, was destroyed and ethnically cleansed in 1948. Most of this village land came under Israeli rule. The part that came under Jordanian rule was used to build a new Al-Walaja where some of the relatives returned and built homes in the early 1960s.

After having their first child, the young couple received a blessing in the form of a donation of a very small plot of land from their uncle and they built a humble one room house (literally one room) in Al-Walaja. Both had jobs.

They moved out of the refugee camp and lived in this house for 3 years during which time, they delivered their second child who then died at 18 days of age (by SIDS.) Then the Israeli army demolished the home saying that it was built without permit (Israel gave no permits for any houses in the village since the occupation began in 1967.) The family rebuilt the house but Israeli threats forced them to not live in it (Israel wants also some NIS 20,000~ US$ 6.000 for the cost of destroying the home and wants to levy other fines on the family.)

So the young family came to live in a small dwelling underground and without windows (bought with money from selling the wife’s wedding jewelry) in the refugee camp of Dheisheh. There, the third child (second who is alive) was born and they named him Mohammed. He turned out to have Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (a genetic disease characterized by obesity, eye problems, kidney problems, hexadactyly or six fingers and toes, developmental delay etc.) An uncle and an aunt of Mohammed (refugees in Jordan) died before age 20 with this condition (we took blood samples from the family for genetics study at Bethlehem University.)

The first snow in years came and the roof of their dwelling collapsed. The husband had developed a psychiatric disorder and was treated at a local hospital. Both he and his wife were unable to hold jobs anymore. They had one more son (healthy) and she is now pregnant. Thankfully, UNRWA rehabilitated the home in the refugee camp, and the home in Al-Walaja remains unoccupied and unfinished (and no water or electricity).

The family is loving, hopeful and steadfast (we call it sumoud in Arabic). We spent a few hours during Eid Al-Fitr together and visited the home in Al-Walaja. I personally witnessed how the family cares for each other. Their eldest son Khaled (in 5th grade) is simply brilliant and very loving for his two younger brothers. A short video is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd17icOsDdo

This is one of millions of Palestinian stories of tragedy and persistence after ethnic cleansing and under colonial occupation.

Mazin Qumsiyeh,

PhD

A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home

http://www.qumsiyeh.org

Professor, Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities Chairman of the Board, Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People,

http://www.pcr.ps

That was one of my best friends whom I invited for Iftar at the beginning of this Ramadan. He works as a manager of a PA owned website that promotes the PA propaganda. They are launching a wide campaign to beautify the PA image to the Arab, israeli and even West audience !! “So, what are you doing now?” I asked just to know and probably to use in my writing. “We have just launched an English and Hebrew Website and need writers and editors.” he explained. “So, what am I supposed to write?” I asked again knowing that I would never get into that game. “everything against Hamas, even use spices, and exaggerate,whatever you like!” and knowing that I would never be able to write “whatever I like” at their site, I said: “No, my head is so precious, besides, I cant live without a head!”

In a hopeless and helpless attempt to attract the (ever heading right) zionist audience, some of the top PA personages are waging a campaign in the main zionist newspapers. Who would like to please his eyes with the faces of such personages in the zionist media, can see some of them at this link. This happens at the time the PA are waging a police campaign against its opponents in the West Bank (who oppose going unconditionally to direct talks with the zionists), and a fierce campaign against their “enemies” in Gaza…. polite to attract the zionists, but fierce with their own people !!

In the zionist jail, when I was barely 20 years old, there was a top leader of our party with us, some 50+ by then (was deported to France, later) . He was so much adored by all the prisoners as an intellectual who had a strong charisma. In a way I adored him as we all used to listen attentively to what he was saying. Usually, we used to sit tens around him and listen as if listening to a reverent saint breaching about Jesus !! One day, We were sitting by him as he talked of the Muslim Brothers, ie Hamas (and it took the Palestinian parties a long time to recognize Hamas as a legitimate party or movement other than what they were described to be the Paletinian branch of the global Muslim Brothers)… he talked a lot, but what I didnt like is when he said: “These people are bastards (Safileen, in Arabic) …. they are savages.” I was shocked to hear the word bastards because I never used it to describe anyone, then I told him shyly: “It is not good to curse others and use bad words… you can criticize them and their actions logically, but not to curse.” “because they are bastards, and I described them of what they deserve.” He repeated again. I didnt reply but that trigged an alarm sign in my little head.

Later, I decided to study the literary (narrative) of the other factions through borrowing their pamphlets in the jail, or at least what they allowed me to borrow and read. I was reading silly writings, foolish arguments and a history of much of fights between the Palestinian factions since the beginning of our catastrophe, our plight. Every party is trying to justify his narrative, to denounce the others, as if it is the only right party and all the others are sinners and evil doers !!

Two years ago, I started to see and say repeatedly that the “national reconciliation” is unattainable dream and the gap is deepened. Both of the parties, since the fight in Gaza (and even before that, ages ago, when the Islamists were a minority) are waging an endless and fierce campaign against each others. Fateh is composed of “corrupt immoral mafia” people (for Hamas) and Hamas, in turn, is a bunch of terrorists who live in the dark ages (dzalamyyoun, in plain arabic). This continuous fight is spoken and fed with and in every single medium; TV, Radio, songs, conferences, sessions, pamphlets, handouts, Youtube, Facebook and all what can you imagine of forums. The gap is not only so deep, but fierce and brutal. Every party is trying to attract the simple people (as if people are foolish) by his own narrative of hatred…. and here I am bargained to sell my head and fight within this circle of hatred… facts are irrelevant, you can use spices, lies and exaggerate or even invent what has never happen in order to beautify your ugly and bloody face.

national unity or annihilation

National Unity will never happen within the current discourse, within and by the current tools, within and by the current “mediators” of Arabs and non-Arabs. National unity can only be achieved by the defeat of one of the two projects: The American-Feudal-Arab project of Fateh (the PA) which serves (or at least coexist with) the zionist project of the “chosen people” to occupy the whole of Palestine and segregate the Palestinians in concentration camps… or the Islamic “revolutionary” or “Terrorist” resistance of Hamas of the Utopian society of Allah!!

There is no intermediate or middle solution that can gather the two “fierce enemies”. Both parties are sunk deep each in his own discourse of hatred, that generates more hatred. Shall I sell my head? No, never… my head is more precious and cleaner than their discourse of HATRED !!

Sami, the bedouin.

………………………………………

originally posted at my blogsite @:

http://samibedouin.wordpress.com/

The talks about the talks about the peace talks are to resume in Washington September2nd. The Obama administration decided not to spend any political capital challenging the Israeli lobby. In fact the US politicians want to blunt Republican criticism ahead of midterm elections by chalking out a diplomatic “success” in form if not in substance. Direct talks will lead to more erosion of Palestinian rights especially when conducted in Israeli-occupied Washington between Abbas whose mandate as president of the Palestinian Bantustan in the West Bank expired last January and Mr. Netanyahu, a known terrorist and war criminal leading the most extreme right-wing government in the history of the apartheid state of Israel. I believe most Palestinians(Abbas included) are neither optimistic nor pleased about this development. But few of us believe it was necessary for Abbas to yield yet again. Most(including large segments of Fatah) believe it is a huge mistake that just set back the real cause for peace. I challenge those who think otherwise to public debates on the issues.

An executive committee of the PLO representing various factions (who get paid through the same system) stamped its approval by a majority to the decision to go back to direct negotiations (and thus yield to the US pressure). I would be curious to read any deliberations and hear from any dissenting voices who voted no (and not just say no to their cadre members).The fig leaf that is used to save face for the officials going to fruitless negotiations is this statement from the Quartet:

“The Quartet reaffirms its full commitment to its previous statements,including in Trieste on 26 June 2009, in New York on 24 September 2009, and its statement in Moscow on 19 March 2010 which provides that direct,bilateral negotiations that resolve all final status issues should “lead toa settlement, negotiated between the parties, that ends the occupation which began in 1967 and results in the emergence of an independent, democratic,and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.”

Israel already rejected the notion of ending the occupation but are thrilled with the notion of direct negotiations without interference or”preconditions” between the occupier and the occupied. After all, it takes two to agree and Israel holds all the power and all the cards and it can dictate what it wants in “direct, bilateral negotiations”. The simple question is how TO GET A MODICUM OF Palestinian rights since the quartet even backed down on the simple demand of “suspending settlement activities”while negotiations go on (itself a retreat from the road map which requires dismantling all that was built illegally since 2002)? If you can’t get therapist to even suspend the rape for a time, why would your demand only direct negotiations with his rape victim in a closed room? If we accept the notion that Netanyahu is restricted by his political coalition from even this small gesture of a suspension of illegal colonial activities (see Geneva conventions), then why would we expect that he will be able to offer anything bigger (like dismantling settlements or sharing Jerusalem, or allowing refugees to reclaim their land)? If we believe the US and its quartet are now more serious, then how come nothing was achieved from the indirect negotiations under their tutelage?

The Zionist movement stole 78% of Palestine and does not believe there is an occupation of the remaining 22%. They already annexed 10% of the West Bank and also annexed the Golan heights. They already put 500,000 colonial settlers in the best and richest lands in the West Bank. They already steal80% of the water from the West Bank. They make billions off of the occupation and billions more from direct US aid tax-deductible donations from Zionists around the world. What is the incentive to Israel to bilaterally negotiate an “end to the occupation that began in 1967″ let alone deal with the more relevant and more significant issue of the ethnic cleansing committed in 1948 and still continuing in places like the Galilee and the Negev?

Initially we heard that Abbas will never go to the negotiations unless Israel stops building in its colonial settlements in the 22% of Palestine that some are still dreaming will become a “state”. In an interview with CNN after the US announcement of resumption of negotiations with no preconditions, Saeb Erekat said that he “hoped” that with the direct negotiations beginning, that Netanyahu will extend the “moratorium on building” in the settlements in the West Bank (supposedly set to expire in September). Today there are nearly 500,000 colonial settlers living in the West Bank and there was no moratorium worth the hasbara/propaganda created about it. So I would like to ask why is he now begging for renewal of a”moratorium” that was no moratorium? This is the same Erekat who told us repeatedly that the partial moratorium is a ruse. Colonial settlement construction continued and still moves with speed as we speak. I would love the opportunity to take Mr. Erekat or anyone who has eyes to see around Palestinian villages and show them what is actually happening on the ground.In my area in Har Gilo and Har Homa, colonial settlement building activity did not even take a breather. Actually, there was an acceleration last month in buildings in Har Gilo (on top of Beit Jala) and in building the wall that will make Al-Walaja a concentration camp pending finally ethnically cleansing what remains of this village population.

Yes, I know all the arguments for going back to negotiations. They go along these lines: we tried different forms of resistance, the balance of power is tipped completely to the Israeli side which is supported by the US (thanks to the Israel lobby), the European governments are not showing backbone,blah blah blah. One high ranking Fatah official said we have nothing left but negotiations. I am sorry, but if the leaders in Vietnam or Algeria or South Africa made similar defeatist statements, these countries would never have achieved their freedoms. If our leaders have lost faith in their cause,they should step aside and let those who have a positive message lead. If we are going to achieve an emasculated statelet by endless negotiations with such leaders reaping the rotten fruits falling down from the tree after 130years of struggle, then we do not want such statelet.

Leaders should first of all accept responsibility for their mistakes and level with their own people. The biggest mistake in the past 20 years has been this road of Oslo which ended the search for justice and reclamation of Palestinian rights to replace it with a road of “security for Israel” (the occupying power), positions and autonomy and an endless negotiations and”process”. The process could/would somehow(if all Israeli conditions are met) lead to state that will be less than the state of Zululand.

I could be too harsh in my statements. But should we not expect expert opinion on issues that are existential? Should we not at least expect consistency on the part of our supposed leaders who are really not experts in any area of international law or diplomacy? For example, they told us repeatedly that the reason for asking for settlement freeze is because as we negotiate, Israel has made a Palestinian state impossible with continued eating away what is left of Palestine. Now Palestinians have access to 8.3%of the land of Historic Palestine and this is shrinking (the Bantustans in the Galilee, Negev, Gaza and WB). Since Israel continued to build everywhere even after they announced a “partial settlement building moratorium”, why do you agree to go back to negotiations? If Netanyahu and all his ministers say there is never going to be a compromise on Jerusalem(illegally annexed by Israel according to International law), how will you force his government to change its mind? And how will you deal with the fact that Israeli politicians of all stripes say Palestinian refugees can’t return to their homes and lands and must instead be settled elsewhere(including the already over-crowded West Bank and Gaza of which half the population is refugees and displaced persons)? Is compromise now defined as you can bring any issues to the table of bilateral negotiations to which the occupiers already said they will just say no?

Our “leaders” knows that not only they had to cave in to go back to the negotiations but that further concessions are required to continue to fund their Bantustan economy (and VIP status) from Western donors and Arab countries beholden to the West. So why do they try to give out the notion that bilateral negotiations can succeed under such circumstances? If you can be threatened with a cut-off of aid to go back to fruitless negotiations,why do we believe that you can resist pressure to cut off aid unless you give up on Jerusalem or the refugees? Palestinian negotiators already are not allowed to raise the issue of treatment of Palestinians inside the state of Israel where Israel is demolishing whole villages. So many further concessions are needed to maintain the privileges of running the autonomy areas with money from the West and compliant Arab states? I believe at this stage, three more concessions were needed: a) to return to endless direct and public negotiations that prop-up the Israeli government (and could break the increasing isolation of this pariah state) , b) to retract the very mild measure of boycotting settlement products and refrain from supporting International investigations into Israeli war crimes or legal proceedings to hold it accountable, and c) to continue to suppress local resistance in all its forms.

Some might dispute this and claim that the PA supports popular resistance(and suppresses armed resistance). But unfortunately the facts of the last year tell a different story. Could they please come to places like Beit-Sahour, Beit-Jala, and Jayyus and explain to the people what had happened to end the popular resistance in those and dozens of other places? Could they explain why popular resistance in many places that used to be costly to the occupation is now ritualized media stunts. Could they meet with people who engage in real popular resistance regularly and are volunteers and not paid employees of the PA and ask them what are the challenges they face? The answers would be scandalous.

I am making three challenges here to all those who will be negotiating with Israeli politicians. 1) I challenge you to come and tie yourself to an Israeli bulldozer (or sit in front of one) in an act of civil disobedience,and 2) I challenge you to convene panels of independent experts (not those profiting) in every major Palestinian population center to discuss the direction of Oslo accords and what has transpired in the last 20 years, and3) based on 1 and 2, speak truth to the people. Much more sacrifices will be needed and are coming from our people with or without honest leadership.Would it not be more dignified and more likely to give us freedom if we have to do without the foreign aid for one or two years?

And sorry, past good deeds 20 years ago do not give ANYONE the right to give up on Palestinian rights. In international law, even duly elected leaders of occupied people cannot give away their people’s rights. Our lives are nothing compared to 5,000 years of our people’s history in this land. And even the struggle against Zionism has already lasted 130 year including lifetimes of many who “negotiated”. Who now remembers Hassan Dajani who tried to accommodate with the British occupation because of a balance of power.History will not be kind to those who give-up on their own people. We the common people, must take matters into our own hands.

ولا يغير الله ما بقوم
حتى يغيروا ما بأنفسهم

Confucius added “To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice.”

Other relevant articles on this subject

Peace Talks in the Shadow of Demolitions While President Barack Obama pressures Palestinians to re-engage in direct peace talks, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu loftily counsels President Mahmoud Abbas not to miss the opportunity, recent demolitions within the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel continue unabated and unaddressed.According to OCHA, July and August have marked the highest number of demolitions this year. As of the end of July, OCHA reports Israeli forces have destroyed over 230 structures effectively displacing and/or affecting over 1,100 Palestinians, including 400 children since the beginning of 2010. http://www.badil.org/en/press-releases/135-2010/2555-press-eng-024 Analysis by Israeli Paper Haaretz: Netanyahu has won, for now

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/analysis-netanyahu-has-won-for-now-1.309294

Economic emptiness in Palestine and Israel By Sam Bahour http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/115149-economic-emptiness-in-palestine-and-israel-

RAMADAN KAREEM FROM THE NETANYAHU AND OBAMA ADMINISTRATIONS by Jeff Halper http://www.icahd.org/?p=5994

Palestine: Occupied, Divided, Isolated, Oppressed and Unaided by StephenLendman http://www.uruknet.de/?p=68971

And as always, come visit us in occupied Palestine…

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhDA Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.orgProfessor/, Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities Chairman of the Board, Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, http://www.pcr.ps/

This is exactly what bewilders me when looking at the peaceful scene of the yellowish face of the beautiful desert in a sunny morning. Looking at the charming beauty of the desert, you would notice that its face is contoured with consecutive lines of the extensive horizon of dunes; brownish, yellowish, silver and even dark lines of intermingling dunes. These lines are tricky that the dunes are moving, creeping gradually to give the place to new born ones, and this is exactly why the Bedouins don’t trust the facial features, but follow the stars or the scars, that scars can tell the deep history of the face, the natural face or the face of nature !!

Photo by: Selmy Sawarkah

We have lots of lines here in Palestine, the Green Line, the Red Line, the snaky line of the Apartheid Wall, the blue line, the borderline (though the Zionists never had fixed borderlines, as their final lines to be drown by their army, as Ben-Gurion said once). So lines can be shaped and reshaped, drawn and redrawn as the Zionist occupation has almost omitted the natural lines of the desert to draw the racist line of its unattainable “pure” Jewish state for the “chosen people”.

The tricky lines of Dr. Ralph Salmi (which is the only name I would mention here) are far more complicated to track and re-weave them into a clear Persian carpet, that the start of this “brave” man was in Persia, the Islamic Republic of Iran now. I never met nor would ever like to meet this “great” American professor, but the bizarre stories I heard of him made me to try to collect these lines and draw a full picture, that my mind cant really trust separate lines…. someone can help me and google this name as I never did?

The first time I ever heard of this man was from my classmate as he said in a hushing voice as if he was revealing a secret and didn’t want anybody to hear: “Ralph Salmi is our professor back home, he escaped out of Iran when the Islamic revolution broke out.” That boy was talking of Mr. Salmi as if a little child admiring his brave father as he added: “Dr. Salmi is a great thinker, he’s the most prominent professor at our university, in California !!”

This boy amazed me with his vast geographical knowledge; if you asked him of any country in the world (specially in the Middle East), he would instantly tell you the details of the details, history, population, ethnicities’ percentage, agriculture. main industries..etc. It seemed to me that he had swallowed thousands of books before he came to amaze my primitive Bedouin mind. Later, after we graduated, he left back home to have his Master degree in Politics and came back to the Middle East to get married to a Christian Lebanese girl to work as a journalist with..with… the hell how could I know. But still I am surprised with the hectic pace he travels with like a swift bird that never land on any tree from Lebanon-Syria-Kuwait-Iraq as his “job” needed.

The second time I heard of Salmi was one year later; a little shy girl asked me as I mentioned his name: “Ah, you know Dr. Salmi?” “I hear of that great professor through his delegates to our university.” I said explaining. “Oh, yah. Dr. Salmi is responsible for the whole program in the Middle East. He’s a fascinating mentality, He says that all the American wars against the Arab communist parties were waste of time, we should have fought Islam from the very beginning.”

This girl surprised me as she almost followed the very steps of Dr. Salmi; she fell in love with an Engineering student from Gaza, they got married, lived a few months in the States (to brainwash the Gazan guy) to come back to dwell in Gaza for two years. As Dr. Salmi ran away from Iran in the very last moment (and was considered brave for this) this girl fled at the very last moment from Gaza when Hamas took over the Strip. I knew of this by the very mere chance; in the Zionist jail, I met a guy from a refugee camp in Gaza and asked him of that engineering student who is married to an American “shy” girl. He was astonished and skeptical and asked in amazement: “how do you know these people?”. I told him of my university story then he told me the details of their story. “We knew of them from the very beginning, they were chasing our cadres and collecting logistic information… they fled at the last moment !!”… and I remembered Dr. Salmi who fled from Iran at the very last moment !!

A drunkard old (but sweet) woman gave me the third line (sorry, the third story) of that great professor delegating “students” to the whole Middle East. “Professor Salmi came here to your university, last year, didn’t you see him?” she asked me, but was disappointed to my reply: “No, I didn’t know!”, “This great man is our family friend, he’s my husband old friend and always come to visit us at our villa.”

This woman, as far as I know, is in Afghanistan now !! What is she doing there? I am trying to collect the lines, not the desert lines but the tricky lines of the American delegates… probably she’s in a Christian “humanitarian” mission !! Christian? How come? But she is drunk all the time.

This old (but sweet) woman, once revealed a secret to me. She was buzzed and probably out of jealousy from her beautiful young mate who was attracting the whole guys to chat with her in the parties: “That girl is a zionist, all her fees are covered by the AIPAC!!” I didn’t reply but still respect and like that old but sweet woman that a year later she recommended a guy (who was coming at our side) to contact me as she told him: “I trust that bedouin for my daughter” !

Another story of a sweet girl that I loved in my last year at the University, but hated her later (and dont ask me why)…. Why should I remember? What Sudan and Dar-Fur has to do with this stunning girl? Why should I tell of her story, anyway.

The misty mishmash of the stories is intermingling in my exhausted mind, the same as I am dazing in the hazy lines of the desert …. Shall I deconstruct this whole mishmash and rebuild a new story of “peace” and “forgiveness”? The peaceful desert is no longer peaceful as its original lines were omitted by the steps of these “peaceful” delegates of the great Mr. (professor, Dr. or just) Ralph Salmi who I would never like to meet nor to see his delegates in our desert.

No one would understand the Shalits’ sorrow and pain (specially the mother) but only those who suffered the same condition or even worse, such as plenty of the Palestinian side. Again: two years ago, my brother went to visit a friend of him in a neighboring refugee camp and when he came back he was pale and sad. I aske him what happened and he told me that he didnt find his friend, his friend was assassinated a few days before he went to see him. When my brother knocked the door, he found nobody there but an exhausted mother and impoverished house in the heart of the refugee camp. “I couldn’t stay, every passing minute was heartbreaking for me” my brother said. There was only a lonely mother who was hallucinating of her assassinated son who was killed by a zionist undercover unit, and then shift to talk of her other four sons who are all captured in the zionist jail !!!

What of Hamid, my uncle? It is a long story, over 44 years now, when he was only 16 years and I wasnt born yet:

We are refugees from Ashdod who were kicked out for the jewish settlers to take our home and land. We are a bedouin family, but from my mother’s side is a kind of a feudal family that owned lots of land property in different places in Palestine. Directly before the Nakba my grandfather had hundreds of acres that lie exactly by the old port of Ashdod, to the west of the old railway station that its rubbles still stand there. Some of this land was vineyards but was damaged later to expand the Ashdod port and to build a new luxurious neighborhood for the new Russian settlers !!!

As we were kicked out by 1948 Nakba, we lost everything including the sheep and camels cattle… and nothing left but to live a humble life in a refugee camp waiting for the “humanitarian” aid of the UNRWA !!

44 years ago, Hamid left and never came back again. It seems that he crossed the borders to go back to see our home and land to be killed by the zionist settlers. He was only 16 years old by then now he suppose to be 60 !! My grand-mom went crazy and left no single international nor Arab body to ask and plead for her son, the International Red Cross, the UN offices, the Arab army, the PLo, and all what you can imagine.. but there was no trace of Hamid, her little son… she went hallucinating for months, walking the whole day from here to there, but in vain !! I saw her several times talking of Hamid, hallucinating, weeping, until she died recently dreaming of him coming to hug her… my mom also talked of him from time to time as she is two years older than him… Now I can draw a picture of him, a boy of 16, thin, brownish, heading west in the dusk of late november, to be shot dead because he went to see his own stolen home !!

The Shalit family are much lucky than my grandmom, they dont have to walk the whole day asking for their son; all the international personages are volunteering to help them (as I heard lately that Mr. Clinton is going to help them) to bring the “poor” soldier back home, the Shalits are sure that their son is treated like a prince and he is still alive, unlike my grandmom who never knew of her kid and what happened to him. Every single international leader has to pay homage to the Shalit family, visit them at home or their tent, promise to help, and express their sorrow of the “great suffering” of the Shalits (at the time they neglect, and dont mention a single word of the 11,000 Palestinian prisoners) !!!

Over 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, including children, women, and elder sick ones some of who are still captured even before Mr. Gilad was born.. these all are nothing compared to the “sweet little kid” of the Shalit settlers who was kidnapped from his military base while was ready to kill !!!

Now, if the “Israeli” government wants (and I doubt it would) to release their soldier, it MUST pay the price Hamas ask for… that simply if “israel” is under the pressure of one family, Hamas is under the direct pressure of 11,000 Palestinian families who are waiting for their kids to be released …. the Jewish blood is not redder than the Palestinian one… and the Palestinian suffering is much more greater than the crocodile tears of the zionist settlers !!!

We were standing in the courtroom like orphans in a slave market. By Jove! I heard the shouting of the vegetable peddlers coming out from very far; sweet melon! fresh cucumber ! Potato … come along … who outbids takes it! Fifteen! Now !! Over !… I didn’t pay attention when the judges asked us: “Do you have some thing to add?” What? Cucumber! Tomato! Oh! It was hard for me to keep balance. I did a great effort to regain my awareness. The judge looked at me strangely, as if at a lunatic mad. His prudent look had a paternal brilliance that forces you to respect him like a reverent saint. Saint? Peddler? Cucumber! The hell!! What shall I say? I will not keep silent. A little murmur went throughout the whole. Kifah tapped my shoulder encouragingly. I stepped two short strides and collected my courage and said in a confident voice that seemed louder than I wanted it to be: ” You sir judge … We all have a full trust and hope in your impartial justice … We ask for nothing but justice.” I felt a strange easiness as if I put a huge burden off my shoulders. I returned besides my colleagues. There were some students who came to support us but Sonia was shining over them all. She looked at me with her charming smile. Oh Sonia! Why did you come here today? I am dying, don’t kill me more. Don’t you see how I became now, a swaying shadow that can’t stand? My eyes filled with horror like a coward criminal. No…

The Judge! He stood up. He looked at us firmly, then looked throughout the whole searching as if he was looking for something. He knocked three harmonious times on the table before him. The whole court got utterly silent, all the eyes stared at him. I forgot myself looking at him foolishly. In his pose he looked like a Greek god casting his judgment over this lost world. He flitted some papers before him then looked straight ahead and started reciting his decision, like a trenchant sword that cut strait as a string of light: ” after consulting the police reports and hearing the attorney proceedings…the court decided that there is no legal reason to continue detaining them … so we order to release them immediately … ” Kifah jumped kissing me even before the judge ended reciting his decision. I felt a sweeping happiness comes over me. I am free! Yes, for the first time in my life I feel so free. My soul flies highly in the sky.

Judge? Peddler? How come? The hell !!! A courtroom? A small room that is called a courtroom, even smaller than the well-equipped interrogation room, all Zionists around save us. The judge, soldiers, jailers, intelligence officers, and even interrogators, all in all in harmonious unity. Nobody at all was allowed to meet us, not even my mother who had waited since early morning, we were left to face the judge; a sullen faced judge, like a nazi killer, who was looking at us loathingly, talking to an intelligence officer who was holding a file beside him, as he smiled a pale smile then frowned as he looked back at us.

“Sir judge, they are guiltless,” said the attorney, “the police have no charges against them… they have to be released.” The judge shocked his head irritated, and flipped the papers before him. The attorney waited but the judge said nothing. He kept flipping the papers, when an officer, intelligence one probably, aided him and handed him a paper from the file. The judge read it attentively and put it in the file again. He looked at us again in his sunken eyes, as if not seeing us really but through the intelligence file, then said: Do you have something to add other than what the attorney said?”, and his sunken eyes blinked to show a cadaverous face, as if he was ill, weak, about to die. “No, nothing,” said Kifah “we ask for nothing.” Then the judge looked at the attorney saying: “But the report of the Shabak says other than what you say; They are dangerous to the public.” And without giving the attorney any chance to talk he added: “ there are secret evidences that they might induce disorder and riot if released.” The attorney tried to interrupt: “but there’s no…” but the judge kept talking: “ they are to be detained administratively for three months to be renewed if needed,” and held the “secret” file and went out.

Free? What a vanity! Did they release us? Did they leave us? Absurd! A choppy sea of killing futility, crushing despair freezing our blood. They drew us hurrily from the court room as if they wanted to smuggling a precious loot: ” It is just three months and will get out soon.” Said a jailor as they drew us out. But we didn’t get out, we were doomed to wait death, slow death. Hope! What meaningless, barren word! The world got utterly dark in our eyes, vanished like a departing fly in the storm. When evening came, we lost everything, the last trace of hope, the last sense of life, everything swayed in the hazy gloom of nothingness; the dumb walls of the cell, the sullen faces, the stubbornly brooding steel door, all in all became black like death. Screaming? Shouting? Shout if you wanted till you split your though, till your eyes get out of your skull.

Silence! Stillness! The silence of the gloomy tombs in the darkest night, we kept silence until it lost its meaning. We drank stillness in our blood till the walls, tombs and the dead bodies screamed. Death, Oh Merciful God, death, death… !!

The end.

Sami, the bedouin

I looked up into the extensive sky were the Sheikh was extending his hands, but I saw nothing, nothing at all but the endless roof of the cell opening into a narrow armoured hole. I dazed into the roof, dived into the endless extension, the roof disappeared, I got into the clouds, and crossed the seven skies. I opened my eyes widely, inhaled the humid celestial air until it washed my soul. I saw God finally, by Jove I saw Him; I saw Him, I begged Him, I kissed His feet wetting them with my tears but he didn’t pay attention to me. He was standing as if delivering a speech, frowning, foaming as he shouted, waiving His hands angrily, knocking on a table before Him; was He protesting the lost world or threatening a harsh punishment ??? I tried to catch a word of His speech, Oh God, just one word!, but I couldn’t, it all was but a silent god.

Silence, utter silence!! Why all this brooding silence! Am I deafened? No…no, I cant believe !!! THE WORD OF GOD, has to boom like a thunder strike in this lost world! Why? Why is this silent protest? To whom God is speaking? Isn’t there any listener? I looked toward where God was heading his speech expecting to find the endless crowd of audience. I expected to see the face of Kifah there looking directly into the eyes of God, demanding him to revenge!! I turned my head nervously to see the crowd but I was astonished to see nobody, nothing at all but the endless extension of the desert. Oh, no!!! To whom God is speaking, casting his word? I wondered who echoed the Word? No, not the desert… no… never !!!

“There’s no god but Allah!!… Oh revengeful Allah!!” I was startled to hear that hoarse voice and turned my head to see Sheikh Buddha still muttering his prayers. I looked around the cell… Damn it, where is Kifah? Did he ascent to heaven? I cant believe!! I jumped standing and looked at Buddha wondering:

-“ Where’s Kifah, Sheikh?”
-“ They took him back.”
-“ How? When?”
-“ Half an hour ago, you were asleep.”

“Shit!!”… I mumbled and looked up at the hole in the ceiling but it was futile to guess the time. It was very dark, but I bet it was dawn or a bit before that.

I am sure they will start their dirty game soon, they will not wait until the morning; they would take one of us for interrogation, to fabricate the usual story of suicide, or they might accuse one of us of killing him for collaborating. They will wash their hands perfectly and spread them to dry up from the blood of Kifah. Bastards!! Surely they are scheming their plot now but whose turn will be the next?

Kifah died, killed, nothing remained from him but his memory. He used to lean his thin lean body against the wall and talk for long hours without stopping. A childish simple talk. Sometimes he irritated me with his consecutive question, those naïve questions about interrogation; how long would it last? When we will get out? What shall we do?… He thought that I am a big store of answers, and that I knew all that he didn’t. He used to end his questions and wait a little, looking at me: “Ha!… what do you think?… surely you know…. You have been into jail several times and have a long experience….” … Oh! What can I tell you, Kifah? How can I answer you? Is there a law for their eccentric behavior? No, no… there has never been a law but it is absolute nonsense, utter tyranny!! You, yourself told me once that your life is the chaos of mere haphazard chances, those crazy chaotic chances of being shuffled, plucked out of your place to be thrown in the middle of nowhere!! Is there a law for chance? Can you predict the grand lottery?

We didn’t wait for a long time. The sound of feet came stamping on the floor, getting closer every further step to stop finally by the stubborn door. The sound of the keys and the chain clanged ominously. A short jailer opened the door. I got ready to stand, I felt that my real battle had started, every thing is over now, nothing remained but bare confrontation. I will face them with my teeth, spit in their faces. I stood up on my feet but the jailer overtook me saying: “No not you”, then headed toward Buddha who stood up sluggishly. He handcuffed him and dragged him out by his shirt and closed the door.

The stamping feet went away slowly. I heard Buddha’s feet rapping at the floor confusedly. The sound perishes to die out finally. Silence enfolds me to wait the ghost of the unknown. I dazed at the wall which looked like a great giant spreading his hands to block my way, my vision.

To be continued- Part Three

Sami, the beouin

It’s difficult for us, punks in the First World, to really understand true love for punk. We’re spoiled. With somewhat cheap equipment, tons of places to play, and no one determining what you can say, starting a band in the US is relatively easy.

This is Damascus, though. If you want to play punk, you need to really want to. The hand of politics is everywhere. Both US foreign policy and domestic law can make or break your band: trade embargoes determine whether or not you can get equipment and censors make it difficult to speak about any real issues. While the suffocating restrictions and obstacles are annoying, the fact that the punks exist is a testament to their perseverance.

In this interview, Rashwan, from Syrian band, Mazhott (Diesel in Arabic), shares their story about playing their brand of Arabic-infused, old school, pop-punk.

So, how did Mazhott start? Why did you start the band? Tell me the story behind it

Me and Dani, the drummer, started around 2007. I had a couple of songs that I had written, and I was “bandless,” but then we called up a few friends to get a bassist. We called it, “mazhott,” because it’s a funny word in Arabic, so we thought it had a certain shock value. This kinda name had never been used for a band name before [here]…

It’s a funny word, but it also reminds me of the petrol sellers that come around in the morning for heating oil. Did this have any effect on it?

Well that was the idea, a catchy, unusual and everyday name. And its not a very loved thing–the heating oil or the sellers,
because of the noise they make…

[laughing] That shit can be annoying… So, instead of hitting metal gas tanks, you’re doing it with electric guitars. Are there a lot of kids in Syria that are into punk?

There are, but they are mostly after what’s on TV. And since Green Day’s American Idiot went big, punk has been spreading–although people don’t know what punk is, so we’re trying to let them know ..

Yeah, it’s difficult to face up to the pop music industry. It seems like anyone that is trying to do something new, has to find a way to spread their music underground. Are you guys handing out your demos for free? How did you guys record?

Well, I recorded everything at home, using Fruity Loops for drums and a small, [chat] mic for the rest. We’re try to hand out CD’s
and promote them on the internet, but it’s still very underground.

Man, you guys are tech savvy. The last time i was in Syria, there weren’t that many computers around at all.

[Laughing] .. Well, it has improved in this context, but not so much on the internet, though. I mean, I’ve been telling people for ages to check out our songs online, but they just look surprised. Yeah, I am telling you, man, people are crazy lazy over here.

That can be a problem in terms of DIY, but you are pulling it off. Did you guys have any problems starting the band, like in terms of equipment or even in terms of getting a space to play?

We still have [problems], man. I only have a guitar, but no amp, and Akram and Kareem (guitar/bass) don’t either. We still don’t have a place to practice, so we have to rent a place each time, and it’s pretty fucking expensive. It’s like almost impossible to get a gig, unless you’re very lucky, so we play for free all the time, whenever we get the chance.

You mentioned to me before that you guys canceled your last show because people were “fucked up”? What did you mean by that?

Well, the audience would have thrown eggs and tomatoes at us and beat us up, man. So, we decided not to do it, because they were not the kind of people who would appreciate out music or anything like it.

Yeah, I guess that’s always a problem with shows. It’s never good to not play to the right crowd. You guys need the crowd that comes with a bunch of beer. I usually like to wait until people are drunk to start playing. You guys need to get sponsored by Barada Beer (Syrian national beer brand).

[Laughing] We are thinking about it, actually.

You guys have played in some pretty cool places though, like in el Medine 2edime (Old City). How do you guys pull that stuff off?

We got lucky actually, but having Arabic lyrics helps. There aren’t many places to play here except the Old City, so whenever a band wants a gig, they go there first.

Have you played in other cities in Syria yet?

No, not yet. There’s no such thing as touring here, and the percentage of people that listen to rock, in general, is very limited too.

There’s a lot of metal in the Middle East these days, but punk is a different ballgame. Why do you think that there aren’t that many other punk bands forming?

Well, the thing is, people, here, don’t care much about either punk or metal. So, anyone that plays an electric guitar is a metal-head
in Syria, and [they] think punk is silly, or whatever. Metal fans say it’s too easy, so it’s not good enough. But, normal kids like it, somehow, because it’s more poppy in a way. You know?

Yeah, and metal is sort of banned here, so it’s difficult for us (Syrian punks) too, since we’re connected to it.

I think that also might have to do with lyrics too. Metal lyrics can be really cheesy, sometimes. Maybe, your lyrics are more relevant to peoples’ lives. What do you guys sing about?

We sing about stuff that matters to young people, in general, and social [issues]. [For example], the high school diploma, here, is unbelievably difficult, so, we wrote about that. We wrote about fathers forcing their young daughters to marry older men, about our generation that is frustrated and lost and don’t know wot to do with their lives, about less separating of boys and girls, and about how we need more attention and freedom.

So, why do you think that punk and metal are banned? Does anyone cause complications for you guys playing at all?

Well, metal fans, here, are considered Satanists, so they’re opposed by everybody. And, yes, we have had some problems of that kind, but not big ones, since we sing in Arabic, which is a very positive thing, actually. People can relate more to the songs and it’s something new, so they get more interested. I think, since we’re an Arabic-speaking country. it would be stupid to write songs in English.

Yeah, I know what you mean. A lot of bands, in the rest of the world, think that it’s better to write songs in English because it’s more international. But, punk is always local at heart, and it’s our way of talking about things that matter to us. I guess, it’s difficult to do that in syria, without getting too political, so that you don’t have any “friends” from the government come visit you.

Yeah, we try to stick to social stuff. We have a song about corruption, though, “Baba.” If you’re a son of someone, or know someone important, people treat you different–or they treat others, with no connection, in a bad way. You know? Those things ..

Do you think that the future of punk in Syria is different from the rest of the Middle East?

I don’t know, actually, but I sure hope so. Rock bands are realizing the importance of writing in Arabic, which could make a better future for rock, in general, including punk. But, punk is getting noticed anyway–much more than it used to.

So, what’s coming up for Mazhott? recording?

Yeah, hopefully, and more gigs!

How can people get in contact with you or hear your music?

They can email us on Myspace at www.myspace.com/mazhott or www.reverbnation.com/mazhott or on our group on Facebook.

Hey, I’ve gotta go the place (internet cafe) I’m at is closing. Salam.
Alright, Peace.
-Marwan

What? Existentialist? What’s that? And I was really astonished not only from the question but from the questioning person whom I never thought she knows (and I was right) anything of Sartre or Fanon.

What? Existentialist? Why the hell I am always taken to be –ist?

“You are communist, and we know that” roared the interrogator suddenly (actually not one but three interrogators to complete the “party”) which is part of their job to surprise you with new dimentions that you have never heard of!!!

“What? Existentialist?” and I, realizing that she is not an interrogator, burst in a sudden hysteric laugh. “why do you think I am ‘existentialis’” I got the courrage to ask in a defensive way as if facing a mean interrogator in a decisive time of a “session”. “No, but really just asking. I mean the way you think, the way you talk, they way you contemplate dreamingly.” She explained apologetically “Is all that (existentialism) in me?” I asked in a sarcastic but polite way. “I don’t know but just asking!!”

‘why the hell you ask’ I thought feeling the blood dripping on my side cheek. “I am the one to ask here, son of a bitch!” shouted the interrogator while his two mates were watching angrily as if echoing his tone. One of them seemed to be taking initial training on me, such a little “academician” probably studying my case of a “strong headed” person, or probably having a seminar of “crises management”!!!!…. I looked at him, at them actually, and took my final decision (I am not going to talk, even after death)

Existentialist!!! Communist!!! Atheist!!! Tribalist!! Why the hell you ask, you little ignorant lady. Does it matter for you if I am existentialist or f-k-ist?

So, I am existential-IST, sweet lady!!!!

“What does it mean to be existentialist dear?” I asked her in a defensive retaliation for her unexpected, perplexing and torturing question.

“I don’t know exactly, but it means to believe that you exist.”

‘The hell, I do exist. I am still not driven crazy.” I thought to myself. ‘I do feel the blood bruising over my side face.’ Silence! Silence… silence is my only weapon in this battle. Patience!! Who in Satan sake can be patient wile a very “academician” is holding his experiment on him, on his very body, very mind, on his ability to hold a “sustainable” coordination between his mind and body!!! Can an existentialist do?

“Get up, you dirty athe-IST” and he was looking at me in a clear irritation. ‘you mustn’t be irritated, dear interrogator. Irritation is the first step for falling’ I thought to myself and kept motionless and silent, and didn’t get up. He got up swiftly looking at his mates urging them to help him and they all jumped standing. ‘Is it time for a new “party”’ I thought to myself, still trying to hold silent and “coherent”, I loath this word “coherent”.

“I don’t know, but I am sure you can give me a full and “coherent” explanation.” Said the lady cunningly smiling while still looking that perplexing look of… of… don’t know but so sweet and submissive.
Oh sweet lady!! Why in heaven you come to “irritate” me? Why should I give a “coherent” explanation to everybody, including the Israeli interrogators?!!!

“take his clothes off!” the chief interrogator ordered his mates. They jumped on me but I kept completely silent, motionless. The very “academician” bunched my head angrily then retreated as if stung by a snake: “Oh, shit!! His dirty blood, this asshole!!” and he was “smeared” by my dripping blood on my side face.

Oh!! So clean and soft “academician”!! It’s awful to have a “blood-smeared hands”!!! But it’s my dear blood!!!

The hell, I have to stop writing!!!

And still the crazy question is angwishly waiting for a quenching answer…. Why the hell I am taken to be –ist all the time…. Why I cant be just a simple Bedouin who is dreaming to live a normal life in this very “holy, or promised” land of the “chosen people”???

Sami, the bedouin.