photo by Steven Beikirch (info@stop-the-hate.org)

NO PRIDE IN WAR!
NO PRIDE IN OCCUPATION!
NO PRIDE IN BIGOTRY!


"Let it be known that time is really just two days - a day in your favor, and a day against.
If it is your day, do not squander it, and if the day is against you, just remain patient."

Ali ben Abu Talib (c. 600-661), the fourth of the caliphs or successors of Muhammad

What do the colors of the Palestinian flag represent?

Green is for the land of Palestine,
White is for the peace in which the Palestinian people lived before they were made refugees,
Red is for their blood spilled trying to liberate their land, and
Black is for their life under occupation.

Palestine

Women for Palestine

[Top]

Education Issues

Dar El-Tifl El-Arabi School

Hope Flowers School
EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY: PEACE & DEMOCRACY

Palestine Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation

Rawdat El-Zuhur School

[Top]

Travel

Holy Land Trust

[Top]

Misc.

My Palestine trip journal

My Palestine trip photos

Historic Palestine Maps

IBDAA Cultural Center - Dheisheh Refugee Canp, Palestine

Map of the West Bank after the second Isreali redeployment (March 2000)

Map of the Gaza Strip (2000)

Palestinian Children's Theatre Center - Aida Refugee Camp, Bethlehem, Palestine

Palestinian Government Institutions

Palestinian National Authority

UNRWA and Palestine refugees ... 50 years - A Photo Exhibition

[Top]

Some Peoples Thoughts On Palestine

THE LAND OF STEADFASTNESS

March 2002
The Palestinian Times / LONDON
By Samah Jabr*

Jerusalem-the city of the widest horizon, the place that knows no historic, cultural or spiritual barriers-is now being strangled by an apartheid wall that the Israeli occupiers call the "security envelope of Jerusalem." Jerusalem, my birthplace and the place where my grandparents, parents and I have been living since we came to life, has recently been agreed upon-by the American Congress-to be the united Capital of the only occupation on earth, Israel. Our hometown is far from the reach and sight of its native people, and we are expected to be grateful if we get the Israeli-issued special papers that allow us to go to our homes and families; this is the rationale of the occupiers.

Every morning, when my sister and I go about our long and difficult trip around the suburban villages of Jerusalem, in and out of checkpoints, through hills and over dirt roads to reach our workplace on time, I think to myself: Occupied Palestine is, indeed, the land of steadfastness. I know this as much as I struggle to have a decent life in the city of my birth, Jerusalem, always driven and motivated by the realization that my circumstances are better than those of most of my people. After all, and despite all the harassment, I can go to my work on the Mount of Olives because of my Jerusalemite ID card, while my Gazan and West Banker colleagues risk being shot or arrested on their way to work. At work, I meet the expected, long, on-duty shifts, sleepless nights, difficult and grumpy bosses, very sick and desperate patients, and little or no payment. Nevertheless, I'm better off than others who are not even allowed to reach their workplace, the thing that adds a sense of worthlessness and boredom to other living hardships.

As I look back over the past two years of bloodshed and destruction and think of the massive Palestinian losses in human life and civic prosperity, I feel anger and pain at the point we've arrived to, but, certainly, there is no regret or remorse over the Intifada. Although Palestinians have their little and big disagreements over the ways and techniques of our popular, national struggle for liberation, we all agree that Israel should not have a peaceful and blessed occupation.

While the world hears only of Palestinians blowing themselves up in the hope to end the occupation, the majority of Palestinians are giving amazing, constructive examples of endurance and resiliency to keep the Palestinian identity and spirit in their occupied land. In spite of unbearable circumstances and the living conditions that are almost incompatible with life, our people are pushing life to go on with an indomitable will to resist a not-so-hidden agenda of ethnic cleansing and cultural/racial extermination.

My friend Reem is a schoolteacher living in Nablus under a tight curfew and a siege that prevents her, and hundreds of thousands of people, from going about earning their daily bread. Nevertheless, Reem is daily giving free lessons to 18 kids living in her apartment building. Reem and her fellow colleagues, who engage in an alternative popular teaching programme, have lost their formal jobs, but still have the energy to resist a policy that aims to create a future of illiterate Palestinian generations.

Abu Jaber, a citizen of Hebron, has had his house demolished by the Israeli Occupation Forces for the third time. Every time his house was demolished, Abu Jaber was at the head of leading the younger people in his family to carry on rebuilding the house again. In spite of his elderly age and limited physical capacity, Abu Jaber is strong in his will and persistence.

Palestinian steadfastness and perseverance is demonstrated by every pupil going to school under bullet-riddled skies, by every couple beginning a new life together amid all the violence and oppression, by every farmer planting new seeds and saplings instead of dwelling over their uprooted trees and burnt fields. Our people are rising up to their responsibility of preserving their Palestinian heritage and legacy for our children, despite all the odds.

Such non-violent dimensions of struggle like Palestinian self-empowerment are not any less fought against by the occupation than the Palestinian armed struggle, although more slyly. In fact, the open calls for mass transfer of the Palestinians that we are hearing more often nowadays-in addition to the exploitative core of the occupier's mentality-reflect the Israeli-perceived apprehension of our mere presence on this land, let alone our grassroots, civic, and disobedient action. Whether we resist peacefully or violently, we are equally condemned and targeted by the occupation. "The only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian." This is what an Israeli teacher and an educator told her pupils at the beginning of the new academic year, and this is why ever since the Intifada began children, women and non-armed civilians were the target of Israeli snipers. The latest, but not last, on the list include Shaden Abu-Hejleh, killed while she was stitching her Palestinian embroidery on her doorstep in Nablus, and 4-year-old Tawfiq Muhammad Barakeh, murdered under the rubble of his demolished house in Rafah.

As a colonial State, Israel has established its acceptance in the West over three myths: (1) being the only democracy in the Middle East; (2) being the only victims of history; and (3) the insignificance and worthlessness of Arabs and Muslims in general and the dehumanization of Palestinians in particular. The uprising of our whole nation in the face of our tormentors and the inflammatory, brutal reaction of Israel to our Intifada has exposed all the previous myths. Despite the fact that most of us are living as refugees, in the Diaspora, or were forced to accept a semi-Israeli citizenship in order to continue living in their very homes and villages, the Palestinians are still a nation; the victims of the past are the tormentors of today. Still too arrogant to acknowledge our rights in this land, the "only democracy" thinks that they have not won us over because the power they used was not enough, and they need to exact more evils and oppression over our people to burn out our fuse. Until they realize that in order to win and have peace they have to undo their wrongs, the occupation will keep defeating the moral and spiritual structure of the Jewish nation with every crime it commits against humanity.

When the occupiers took over our land by killing and expelling our people in 1948, they told the West, "There was nobody there." Only in the mid-1970s, when a few Palestinians engaged in flight hijacking, did the West start hearing of the word "Palestinians," but they assumed that the word meant a political group, not a nation. The Palestinian Intifada is bringing our plight to a wider audience, and, in spite of all the wicked efforts that aim to portray us as terrorists, enemies of humanity and civilization, and to discredit our struggle for liberation as an extension of "global Islamic terrorism," we continue our struggle with unshakable belief in the justness and moral advantage of our cause.

The Palestinian plight is not an orphan anymore. It is symbolic of all the other nation struggles against oppression, colonialism and uttered racism. It is the precursor for an international movement against imperialism and the presence of the Palestinian flag in every international anti-war and anti-globalization demonstration is an evidence for that. Today, we feel that we are the inheritors of all the expelled and exploited, the deputies of all the oppressed and dispossessed, the living memory of the revolutionary history. It does not satisfy Palestinians to bow to injustice and play the victims; instead we choose to be a living example of a popular liberation movement.

There are not many examples in history where a whole nation stood up in the face of a profoundly powerful and brutal occupation, like the Palestinians today. We are not seeking the world's pity or sympathy; what we really want is an international solidarity movement and the support of the progressive, liberal, moral international cadres.

Many Israelis say that Palestinians have the whole Arab world to go to. Other people say that the Palestinians have brought the suffering upon themselves because they won't just give up and accept the reality. Some friendlier others say that Palestinians should just leave and find a better life for themselves away from occupation. Very often I'm urged by my good-willing international friends to go stay with them in easier climes instead of "wasting my life in the midst of violence." What those people are missing is that-despite all the problems-we, Palestinians, love our homeland, just like people who love and care for their handicapped or retarded children, sick and/or senile elderly. I hate to call it "unconditional love" because this definition wrongly acknowledges "conditional love," which is anything but love. Palestinian love for their homeland is a giving, rather than a possessive, emotion. It is not a mere familiarity with the land or its products or its people or its culture, but rather the invisible ties of passion unconsciously binding us to the unique configuration of all those elements which make Palestine our only homeland and bring us together in the solidarity of homelessness.

Not long ago an Israeli journalist asked me, "How did you feel in a modern city like Tel Aviv-envy, jealousy, estrangement?" I answered, "I was happy in Tel Aviv. I love the place and long for it like I love and long for Jenin, Nablus, Haifa, Yaffa and every other part of Palestine." The journalist and her newspaper, Ha'aretz, did not like what I said and made a joke out of my response. "Samah Jabr: Tel Aviv is ours," and "Greater Palestine. Samah Jabr wants it all!" were the subtitles of "The end of empathy," another article that offers fabricated evidence that there is no Palestinian partner for peace. This lack of sensibility and understanding expressed by those whose lives rest on exploitative features does not surprise me; but I'm astonished at their illusive reliance on their walls and barriers in cutting off our strong belonging to our homeland.

While the Israelis go on with their aggression, deluded by the thought that they were promised this land, we Palestinians endure the pale face of life under occupation and the pains of the bloody labour of freedom, faithfully believing that we are promised to this land.

*Samah Jabr is a physician and a life-long resident of Jerusalem.

Eye to Eye

Look into my eyes
And tell me what you see
You don't see a damn thing,
'cause you can't possibly relate to me.

You're blinded by our differences.
My life makes no sense to you.
I'm the persecuted Palestinian.
You are the American red, white and blue.

Each day you wake in tranquility.
No fears to cross your eyes.
Each day I wake in gratitude.
Thanking God he let me rise.

You worry about your education
And the bills you have to pay.
I worry about my vulnerable life
And if I'll survive another day.

Your biggest fear is getting ticketed
As you cruise your Cadillac.
My fear is that the tank that just left
Will turn around and come back.

America, do you realize,
That the taxes that you pay
Feed the forces that traumatize
My every living day?

The bulldozers and the tanks,
The gases and the guns,
The bombs that fall outside my door,
All due to American funds.

Yet do you know the truth
Of where your money goes?
Do you let your media deceive your mind?
Is this a truth that no one knows?

You blame me for defending myself
Against the ways of Zionists
I'm terrorized in my own land
And I'm the terrorist?

You think that you know all about terrorism
But you don't know it the way I do.
So let me define the term for you.
And teach you what you thought you knew.

I've known terrorism for quite some time,
Fifty- four years and more.
It's the fruitless garden uprooted in my yard.
It's the bulldozer in front of my door.

Terrorism breathes the air I breathe.
It's the checkpoint on my way to school.
It's the curfew that jails me in my own home,
And the penalties of breaking that curfew rule.

Terrorism is the robbery of my land.
And the torture of my mother.
The imprisonment of my innocent father.
The bullet in my baby brother.

So America, don't tell me you know about
The things I feel and see.
I'm terrorized in my own land
And the blame is put on me.

But I will not rest, I shall never settle
For the injustice my people endure.
Palestine is OUR land and there we'll remain
Until the day OUR homeland is secure.

And if that time shall never come,
Then they will never see a day of peace.
I will not be thrown from my own home,
Nor will fight for justice cease.

And if I am killed, it will be for Falasteen.
It's written on my breath.
So in your own patriotic words,
Give me liberty or give me death.

-- Gihad Ali

"Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere...
and remember also that there is a cause to which many people have
committed themselves, difficulties and terrible obstacles notwithstanding.
Why? Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal,
a moral quest for equality and human rights."

--Prof. Edward W. Said (1935-2003)

Palestine


In her soil I wish to bury myself 
so I could feel the energy 
of the souls whose blood 
was shed while fighting for 
my freedom and justice 

I want to walk her lands that were demolished 
and as I feel the wind passing by 
all I hear are the sounds of cries and screams 
of those who were massacred 
but you still feel their sense of pride and hope 

Al Quds 

The heart of Palestine 
I wish to take small steps 
in this holy land 
so as each step I would take 
I would feel the presence of 
hope and peace 

Jenin 

A refugee camp 
where many innocent men, women and children 
were burned and some buried alive underneath 
their own homes 
where many stood proud 
and fought the tanks and missiles 
until the very end 

Nablus 

An occupied city 
where everyday a curfew is set 
occupation has risen 
yet the only thing that stood high 
was the Palestinian flag and the 
spirit of the people 

Biet Jala 

As its neighboring cities sit and watch 
Israeli soldiers, without hesitation 
Shooting randomly at anyone and anything that 
stood in their way 
where our Fourth of July 
has become their early death 

Gaza 

Where children still continue to smile and laugh 
Even under times of casualty, 
And even though they live under fear and hate 
it is freedom and justice they wish to see 

Dier Yassin 

A history of a stolen land 
And when I begin to reminisce about it 
My heart begins to cry 
For its return 

Ramallah 

We know it for its famous song, "Wein a Ramallah" 
Which reminds us of our Palestinian heritage and pride 

Al Khalil 

Where bullets of settlers may kill the souls of our true soldiers, 
But will not kill the spirits of the Palestinian people 
Who will continue on their footsteps 

Beit La7em 

Where the church of nativity was once under seize, 
Where many cried out to the world that they will 
Never forsake their holy church 

Qalkeelya 

Where many refuse to be victims in their own land 
And they are terrorists only because they refuse 
To put their hands up and surrender to Israeli soldiers 

Palestine 

A state with people who have hopes and dreams 
Who breathe justice and dream freedom 

Where children are born without a homeland 
but the homeland is born within that child 

An occupied state, where the Palestinians will 
continue fighting until Palestine becomes a state 

Where soldiers are born 
And heroes die 

Where beautiful olive trees are planted. A famous 
Palestinian poet once said, "If the olive tree knew 
the hands that planted them, their oil would have 
Become tears." 

"Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, 
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; 
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, 
Let us march on till victory is won." 

-- Amany Hajyassin







A History of Zionism



�We made the deserts bloom,�
The slogan of the  Zionists.
Though under the forests and parks,
A history is obliterated.

Beneath the forests are the remains,
Of the history and humanity of many 
A Palestinian family,
Who was dispossessed, though the crime is denied.

Quote me not, for you will be smeared with 
The charge of anti-Semitism.
If a family is yours to feed,
They might develop hunger pangs.

None are allowed to question the assertion,
That human beings once inhabited these forests and parks.
�No Palestinian lived here,� they will say.
�It was an empty land.�

-- Preston Taran











The Israeli War Machine
Who's its biggest benifactor?








Find out which US companies have investments in Israel.








Get the video documentary that the Israeli government banned. Israel's censorship board has banned the movie "Jenin, Jenin" produced by Mohammed Bakri, an Israeli Arab, 
that depicts events in the West Bank Palestinian town of Jenin. 
 

"Jenin, Jenin" is available through ArabFilm.com


"We will win our freedom.... Just look at the Israeli
soldiers with all their tanks and equipment and
weapons and they are afraid of little children... We
are not afraid... what more can they do to us"
Palestinian teenage girl in Jenin ruins (from the
documentary film "Jenin, Jenin").









FREE PALESTINE!

















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Copyright 2003 Steven Beikirch (info@stop-the-hate.org)

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photo by Steven Beikirch (info@stop-the-hate.org)

NO PRIDE IN WAR! NO PRIDE IN OCCUPATION! NO PRIDE IN BIGOTRY!

What do the colors of the Palestinian flag represent? Green is for the land of Palestine, White is for the peace in which the Palestinian people lived before they were made refugees, Red is for their blood spilled trying to liberate their land, and Black is for their life under occupation.

Arabic Press English Press Justice & Solidarity Issues Education Issues Travel Misc.

Arabic Press

English Press

Justice & Solidarity Issues

Education Issues

Travel

Misc.

Some Peoples Thoughts On Palestine

THE LAND OF STEADFASTNESS

FREE PALESTINE!

NO PRIDE IN WAR!
NO PRIDE IN OCCUPATION!
NO PRIDE IN BIGOTRY!

What do the colors of the Palestinian flag represent?

Green is for the land of Palestine,
White is for the peace in which the Palestinian people lived before they were made refugees,
Red is for their blood spilled trying to liberate their land, and
Black is for their life under occupation.

Arabic Press
English Press
Justice & Solidarity Issues
Education Issues
Travel
Misc.