aqsa news, issue 56, september 2014
DESCRIPTION
Friends of Al-AqsaTRANSCRIPT
A Q S A N E W SFriends of Al-Aqsa newspaper since 1997
Buildings destroyed in GazaShuja’iyya - The pinnacle of Israel’s barbarity
SPECIAL FEATURE
Fearing political Islam: Why Arabs betrayed Gaza
News
Israeli navy kills fisherman
PAGE 2
News
Egyptian army destroys 1,700 Gaza
tunnels
PAGE 5
Travel to Palestine
A witness to the Palestinian
struggle
PAGE 7
Interview & Review
Where should the birds fly
PAGE 9
Special Feature
In their silence, Israeli academies collude
with occupation
PAGE 12
Lights, Camera.. Cook
Palestinian food and culture evening
PAGE 18
THIS RAMADHAN JOIN OUR #ICHECKTHELABEL CAMPAIGN • BOYCOTT ISRAELI DATES • READ MORE ON PAGE 10
AQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014 /foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
3 4 14
TravelDreaming of Palestine
Page 17
51 DAYS OF WAR
Cost of War to Israel - $2.5 billion
Cost of Rebuilding Gaza - $7.8 Billion
• Israel destroys life and lives in Gaza• 2,145 Palestin-ians killed• 12,000 injured• 15,670 homes destroyed• 190 mosques bombed• Half a million people displaced
Israel’s attack on Gaza will be remembered for its ferocity and brutality-in 51 days of attacks, which began during the holy month of Ramadhan, Palestinians in Gaza faced more suffering than ever before.
“Now is the time to remember the people of Palestine,” said FOA Chair-man Ismail Patel in the af-termath of the bombs and bullets. “The ceasefire has come, but the misery remains unabated. The level of suffering in Gaza is unparalleled and they look to the outside word for justice. It is up to us to bring Israel to account.”
2 51 DAYS OF WARAQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014 /foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
Gaza, lest we forgetOn 7 July 2014, Israel launched a bombing campaign against Gaza that lasted 51 days before a ceasefire was reached on 26 August—by this time the tiny enclave was left looking like the aftermath of an earthquake.
Ariel photographs show images of entire regions that have been turned into rubble and ash. Images which would be more closely associated with a deadly earthquake or other natural disasters are the reality faced by 1.8 million people in Gaza. The difference? The world can-not freely send humanitarian relief teams and supplies to re-build Gaza, as Israel’s blockade is still in place.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Rights (UNOCHA) described the scale of the damage as “unprecedented since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967.”
The people of Gaza continue to suffer in agonised silence, while business continues as usu-al for Israel. How the international community reacts during the ceasefire will determine whether war crimes and crimes against humanity go unchallenged, or whether justice is achieved.
Those who have been left homeless now face the threat of disease from overcrowded condi-tions. A World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Gaza said, “I am particularly worried about the risk of water-borne and communicable disease in such settings where overcrowding, poor hygiene and lack of access to clean drinking water predispose to dis-ease outbreaks.”
Attacking UN schools – Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of War Crimes‘A moral outrage and a criminal act’
‘We’re only targeting militants in Gaza’, Israel continuously said during the bombing , yet the over-whelming number of those killed were civilians, a quar-ter of them children.
Protected buildings such as schools were not spared, and those sheltering within schools run by the UN found
that their refuge was peril-ous.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigated the bombing of three UN schools and concluded that Israel had committed war crimes. 45 people were killed when the schools were bombed despite repeated warnings to the Israeli army about the
location of the schools which were sheltering displaced people.
The targeting of schools was followed by internation-al condemnation, including from Israel’s long-time ally, the USA. UN Secretary Gen-eral Ban Ki-Moon called the bombing “a moral outrage and a criminal act.”
Bombing of MosquesIsrael ignored the usual rules of engagement as it target-ed protected buildings including mosques. 161 mosques were bombed, of which at least 41 were totally destroyed.
Over 1,000 children in Gaza
disabled for life
Explosive force Israel dropped on Gaza equivalent to that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb
51 DAYS OF WAR 3AQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014/foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
Hospitals – Killing those who survived the first attack“Targeting hospitals and
their surroundings is com-pletely unacceptable and a serious violation of inter-national humanitarian law,” said Tommaso Fabbri, Medi-cine Sans Frontier’s Head of Mission, Palestine
Israel bombed Gaza’s main hospital, Al-Shifa, on 28 July. Not only was the hospital overwhelmed with injured people and the dead, thousands of people were also using it as a place of ref-uge thinking they would be safe from Israeli bombs.
The most atrocious at-tack was on the Al Durrah Children’s Hospital in Gaza City where a two-year-old toddler in intensive care was killed. Many were deeply dis-
tressed by the fact that Israe-li bombs followed the little boy to the hospital. 30 more children were also injured in the attack.
Israel shelled 15 hospi-tals and 29 ambulances. Five medical staff were also killed despite being protected per-sons under international law.
WHO visited Gaza dur-ing the peak of the attack and called for the interna-tional donor community to respond to the dire situation in Gaza’s hospitals. The war has left the health services in Gaza on the verge of col-lapse.
The UK deployed a team of NHS staff directly to Gaza, consisting of doctors, nurses,
surgeons, anaesthetists and paramedics specialising in emergency medicine, ortho-
paedic trauma surgery and plastic surgery.
The baby who lived and died at war
Shayma was Gaza’s miracle baby—she lived five short days during the incessant bombing attack. Shayma was delivered by caesarean section from her dead mother who was killed in an Israeli air strike. Dr Fadi Al-Khrote, one of the doctors who ini-tially saved her, told Al Ja-zeera that Shayma’s moth-er, 23-year-old Shayma al-Sheikh Qanan, had been clinically dead for ten min-utes before the caesarean procedure had finished. The baby was a “miracle.”
“The baby suffered an oxygen deficiency in the womb after her mother’s heart stopped. The ongoing electricity shortages played a role [in her death] be-cause her oxygen tubes did not work properly and we had to resuscitate her more than once manually,” said Dr Abdel Karem al-Bawab, head of the maternity ward at Nasser hospital.
Shayma died after 5 days in hospital and was buried close to her mother. Her death was mourned by millions all over the world.
Buildings destroyed in GazaIsraeli targets in Gaza spared no one and no thing. High-rise buildings which housed people and businesses were completely
destroyed, including the 15-story Basha Tower. The Italian Complex, a 13 storey building which was overwhelmingly used as homes, was also destroyed. The target for that
strike was a Hamas office allegedly housed in the building. As a result, Israel destroyed the homes and lives of hundreds of people to target one small office. Such disproportionate violence was repeated relentlessly during the 51-day attack.
134 factories were also destroyed. “The Israeli war machine deliberately destroyed the infrastructure of the Palestinian na-tional economy by targeting factories which posed no security threat to the occupation,” said the Union of Palestinian Industries. Thousands have been left jobless in the wake of the war.
Israelis celebrating the spectacle of war
In an act condemned as despicable by millions around the world, Israelis in the town of Sderot treated the Gaza war as light enter-tainment.
Numerous reports emerged showing Israe-lis—in a carnival-like atmos-phere—gathering on hill-tops to watch bombs being dropped on Gaza, cheering and jeering as Palestinian lives were shredded apart. This was entertainment—even small children were brought along to watch.
Journalists who wit-nessed the sick display were
quick to condemn the Israe-lis, and some described being threatened if they reported on the issue. Pictures were circulated showing Israelis sitting on sofas which they had brought to the hill-side, eating popcorn and drink-ing as they watched events through binoculars.
CNN reporter, Diane Magnay, tweeted:
“Israelis on hill above Sderot cheer as bombs land on #gaza; threaten to ‘de-stroy our car if I say a word wrong’. Scum.”
She was quickly pulled from Gaza and re-assigned.
Destroyed
Severe/Moderate Damage
Northern Gaza (July 25)
Nuseirat (July 12)
Southern Gaza (Aug 1)
89 families completely wiped out
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What did they say?Amnesty International
The human toll of the violence is horrific. Children, women, men – nobody has been safe from indiscriminate bombing. Israel says it targeted ‘Hamas
operatives’ but most of the dead are civilians.
Human Rights Watch
Attacks targeting civilians or civilian property are unlawful, as are attacks that do not or cannot discriminate between civilians and combatants.
The presence of a single, low-level fighter would hardly justify the appalling obliteration of an entire family. Israel would never accept an argument that
any Israeli home of an Israel Defence Force member would be a valid military target.
United Nations Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs
As the primary care givers in Gaza, women will have to deal with the large numbers of family members killed and injured and the long-term impact of
damaged infrastructure and reduced services, while themselves suffering from psychosocial stress.
Defence for Children International
Israeli forces continue to target and kill children and civilians on a daily basis, making Israeli military statements claiming that these deaths are tragic
mistakes simply meaningless.
An end to electricityGaza’s single power plant
was shelled on 29 July, ignit-ing a fireball which forced the entire plant to shut, add-ing to the misery of Gazans who were now left without electricity .
Human Rights Watch said the attack was unlawful and wholly disproportion-ate. The impact was beyond measure. It drastically re-duced the pumping of wa-ter to households and the
treatment of sewage, both of which require electric power.
It also caused hospitals, already struggling to handle the surge of war casualties, to increase their reliance on precarious generators. It fur-ther affected the food supply because the lack of power meant refrigerators were not working and bakeries were unable to produce bread.
“If there were one at-tack that could be predict-ed to endanger the health and well-being of the greatest number of people in Gaza, hitting the terri-tory’s sole electricity plant would be it. Deliberately attacking the power plant would be a war crime,” said Eric Goldstein, Depu-ty Middle East and North Africa Director, Human Rights Watch.
Shuja’iyya - the pinnacle of Israel’s barbarity
Israel began an attack on the Shujaiyya neigh-bourhood in Gaza, where 110,000 people live, on 20 July. With 60 percent of homes destroyed, the bar-barity of the indiscriminate attack will remain etched in Palestinian memories for all time,.
The level of destruction was unprecedented, and the use of mortars, guided missiles, machine guns and sniper fire meant no one was safe.
“The appalling stories of mothers and fathers scouring the rubble for the body parts of their children and loved ones, so that they could have some semblance of a bur-ial, were heart wrenching to read,” Anonymous
17 children were killed
that day alone, in that sin-gle neighbourhood. Fami-lies were not given time to flee from the violence and eye witness accounts reveal that mortars were used to attack mothers with their children who were trying to escape from their homes only to be decimated by bombs.
Israel’s attack on Shu-jaiyya was not proportion-ate to any threat and was intended to destroy the area. 7,000 high explosive shells were used in total, leading to 65 deaths and approximately 300 inju-ries. The long-term impact of the destruction is yet to be estimated with thou-sands left homeless. The misery inflicted in Shujai-yya will live on for years.
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501 Palestinian children killed,
1 Israeli child killed
60,812 people internally displaced,
living in UN shelters
373,000 children in need of psychosocial support
450,000 households (20-30%) still unable to access water
51 DAYS OF WAR 5AQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014/foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
Nowhere was safeIsrael kills boys playing football on beach
Who would think playing a simple game of football on the beach could be fatal? On 16 July, the world witnessed the Israeli navy murdering four Palestinian boys playing on a beach in Gaza.
The attack occurred as the boys kicked a ball around in full view of photographers and journalists along the beach. There were two air-strikes—the first killed Is-
mail Muhammad Subhi Bakr, aged 9, as he ran to retrieve a football. The second fol-lowed quickly, killing his three friends as they tried to flee . Ahed Atef Ahed Bakr, 10, Zakariya Ahed Subhi Bakr, 10, and Muhammad Ramez Ezzat Bakr, 11, were all killed, leaving their fami-lies inconsolable with grief.
The killing was wit-nessed by reporters from
across the world who were staying at a hotel nearby. These included journalists from the AFP, The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
NBC journalist Ayman Mohyeldin tweeted: “Min-utes before they were killed by our hotel, I was kicking a ball with them.”
The ceasefire termsThe terms of the ceasefire replicate those from 2012 when Israel last attacked Gaza.• Israel will allow humanitarian aid and construction materials to enter Gaza through
its own borders• The fishing zone off the coast of Gaza is extended from 1 mile to 6 miles• The Rafah crossing with Egypt will be openedAs in 2012, Israel quickly began breaching these agreements. Although the ceasefire was intended to be a starting point for further negotiations, this has not been the case.
Israel breaches truce within days—fires on fishermen
Within two weeks of the truce being agreed, Israel had already breached the agreement. Fishermen in Gaza were given a short re-prieve from the 1 mile fish-ing limit illegally imposed by Israel, with the 6 mile limit agreed in the truce. Although this is still far below the in-ternational legal standard
for Gaza’s maritime zone, Is-rael already began to restrict the fishing limit to 5 miles by firing on fishing vessels and arresting fishermen who ventured towards the 6-mile boundary.
“Israel has historically agreed to concessions and within weeks revealed that it never intended to abide by
them. This deceit can be seen already—and the Gaza fish-ermen are the first victims,” said Shamiul Joarder, head of PR at Friends of Al-Aqsa.
Israel is also set to profit from the war on Gaza, as re-building materials will have to be purchased in Israel.
Reactions to attackWhen the bombs started
to drop on Gaza, the global community was outraged. For the first time in the his-tory of the conflict, there was a global shift in peo-ple’s opinions. This latest at-tack was one step too far for many, and social media was flooded with people’s com-ments and condemnations. For the first time, it seemed
that everyone was willing to talk about Palestine.
This extended to celebri-ties and well-known figures from around the world. Cris-tiano Ronaldo and Gianluigi Buffon showed their sup-port through antics on and off the pitch. While Penelope Cruz, her spouse Javier Bar-dem and others sent an open letter to the EU condemn-
ing the actions of the Israeli army, referring to it as “mass genocide”.
Everyone who spoke out faced the backlash of the pro-Israel camp, however, most have withstood their ferocious attacks. From Bri-an Adams to Selena Gomez, each has stood by their sup-port for peace.
60,812 people internally displaced,
living in UN shelters
373,000 children in need of psychosocial support
Three or more members of at least 142
Palestinian families killed, accounting for
739 fatalities
6 ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENTAQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014 /foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
Social Media - Changing War NarrativeIn the new age of con-
stant technological advances and tools of social media, the world is a much smaller community. For Gaza, it has brought the conflict into our lives like never before.
The rise of social media threatens media and news institutions, and we receive updates immediately as events occur. Now, we are in control of the news and can choose our own sources.
Platforms such as Twit-ter, YouTube and FaceBook give us access to ordinary people in the ground, of-ten before bulletin updates on 24-hour news channels. Thus, censored or bias me-
dia coverage is challenged far more effectively.
Accessing immediate global news stories is now a simple swipe on a smart-phone device. During the attack on Gaza, 1000’s of tweets were sent hourly updating followers around the world on the unfolding events. Many people chose to boycott news channels such as the BBC on charges of bias coverage. Genuine sources on the ground were deemed more ‘trustworthy’.
One source Farah Baker, a 16 year old teenager liv-ing in Gaza who used her ac-count to tweet sound clips, videos and pictures of Israeli
air bombardment of her neighbourhood during the night.
“This is in my area. I can’t stop crying. I might die to-night,” Farah writes in one of her tweets on the 28th of July which was subsequently retweeted over 16,000 times globally.
As a result of her tweets during the 51 day war, Farah now has a massive following of over 200,000 people uni-fied in their quest to find out more from the human faces behind the shocking statis-tics and publicised destruc-tion. Farah is by no means the first nor will she be the last Gazan to take to twitter.
Former LSE University stu-dent Mohammed Suliman from Gaza also tweeted dur-ing the bombardment and is being followed by a large number of users anticipating his informed tweets.
Thanks to brave individuals like Farah and Suliman, it is now becoming increasingly harder for states to cover up crimes committed against civilians.
Review
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised LandU.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
‘Does news coverage reflect the reality on the ground? This is the ques-tion the documentary Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land attempted to answer in 80 minutes. Written and directed by Sut Jhally and Bathsheba Ratzkoff, the doc-umentary follows how the effects of American foreign policy interests together with Israeli public rela-tion strategies influence the American narrative on the Middle East conflict.
Overlaying examples of past U.S. media coverage with coverage of the same event from British media outlets leaves a strong mes-sage. At times the American narrative is so skewed that the same event within two reports are unrecognisable. Analysis by various individu-als including experts such as Professor Noam Chomsky, Robert Jensen and Hanan
Ashrawi accompanies these examples helping to ex-plain the ‘strategies’ used within the media to favour a Pro-Israeli narrative. The bias of the American me-dia narrative is highlighted with a clear, systematically built case revealing the true depths to which the Palestin-ian struggle is hidden.
The documentary high-lights how repeated use of sanitised terminology, de-fensive positioning, missing context and selective re-porting has helped to main-tain Israel’s pristine image within the US. Thus this is a compelling piece which il-lustrates the way in which the American public via their media have viewed the Is-raeli – Palestinian conflict allowing this reviewer as a non-American to better un-derstand why the majority of Americans are unwittingly Pro-Israel.
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised LandU.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Released in 2004
Documentary
IMDb.com rating: 7.9
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LondonA MessageThe tears, the emotions
and the anguish we all felt as we witnessed Gaza be-ing devastated by Israel yet again will remain with us until justice is achieved, the blockade lifted and the occupation brought to an end. Those goal posts will not move.
While the horror of Gaza is no longer being up-loaded to our social media streams minute by minute, or day by day; the suffering continues. With thousands of unexploded devices scattered on the ground, the lack of medicine and restrictions on transport-ing the injured out of Gaza; the death toll has increased in the days of truce, with some saying it may even double.
This is not Israel’s first relentless violent attack on Gaza, and we at FOA and all of those working in soli-darity with the Palestinian people have vowed to bring Israel to account in any way we can and help end the blockade.
Bringing Israel to ac-count can take many forms, and the pressure will only come from ordinary citi-zens – you and me – on the ground. Our politicians
will not act, and that has been apparent from the re-sponse to the war. It is our civil action which will bring about change - god willing.
On the legal front in or-der to achieve this, first and foremost, we cannot forget Israel’s crimes. The UN, Human Rights Watch, Am-nesty International and a whole array of others, have recorded the innumerable war crimes committed dur-ing 51 days of war. There is a record of those acts and each one requires a pros-ecution for War Crimes.
We must pressure for ICC intervention, increase our efforts to spread the boycott (BDS Movement), and dissemination of the facts of Palestinian life under occupation. These will all help build the mo-mentum required to iso-late Israel as a first step in bringing justice for the Pal-estinians.
I urge everyone who was appalled with the Is-raeli atrocities committed in Gaza and its continued occupation to become an activist and take pro-active steps. Only then will Pales-tine be free and by working together, this can happen sooner.
Ismail Patel Follow on Twitter: @Ismailadampatel
For FOA London, this was a summer of unprecedented support, and we encouraged and welcomed people to the streets of London to demon-strate their opposition to the UK government’s support of Israel and its attack on Gaza.
A hundred thousand
attended demonstrations which FOA helped organise. The issue of Gaza has never before drawn such a large crowd of protestors, and we hope that the hundreds who volunteered to help will remain committed to this cause.
Walsall
Over the past few years, Aqsa United has come a long way. We have set up 3 other clubs named after Palestin-ian towns. Jerusalem Rang-ers FC, Bil’in Angels FC and Hebron Warriors FC respec-tively. These are all under the Aqsa United FC Umbrella.
Aqsa United’s clubs are now recognised by the Na-tional FA and on 25 May 2014, we were awarded
CDC status. The National FA recognises the community work of Aqsa United and our junior team Jerusalem Rang-ers was covered by BBC Mid-lands News in August 2014.
Aqsa United’s vice Cap-tain Nathan Timmins is cur-rently raising funds for Gaza by taking part in The Colour Run & Born Survivor on 27th September.
Aqsa United FC Reaches new Heights
Glasgow
It’s been a tremendous year for FOA Glasgow and we have witnessed aware-ness grow globally. Our list of annual events is ever grow-ing, including the sponsored walk in spring, the annual ladies dinner in Winter and with FoA becoming a house-hold name we are blessed with more volunteers than we know what to do with!
A new dimension of education was added to our work with the highly suc-cessful Political Workshop held in Glasgow Univer-
sity concentrating on Media Monitoring, Political Lobby-ing and most important of all Boycott Divestment and Sanctions. This was a huge success and many ordinary people developed the skills to become effective cam-paigners.
We invited along au-thor Avigale Abarbanel, an ex-Jewish citizen who has bravely given up her na-tionality in protest at Israeli actions. She provided an in-sight into the Isreali Zionist mindset.
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Coventry
A strong group of FOA volunteers in Coventry have had a very busy couple of months. Working with Cov-entry Friends of Palestine, and in solidarity with other cities, we held protests out-side the Council House every Friday during the conflict.
Protests also occurred outside the BBC studios against their bias report-ing. Further vigils were held outside the Cathedral where we distributed our FOA lit-erature to the general public as well as at Charity Events, Group Meetings and Masa-jids.
We worked with people from all backgrounds and sections of the community, showing that the issue of Palestine is not about reli-gion but about justice. In one protest, we read out all the names of those who were killed in Gaza.
Our actions now will fo-cus on the BDS Movement to ensure that people know exactly what to boycott and the reasons behind it. Our lobbying is widespread and we have engaged 50 local Councillors using FOA in-formation packs to educate them about the conflict.
Edinburgh
FOA Edinburgh has been involved in a number of events recently from film showings, fund raising and workshops to empower people with the knowledge about the true facts on Pal-
estine and Israel. We have also been campaigning, pro-testing, pushing Boycott Di-vestment and Sanctions and challenging the politician to take more action.
FOA Edinburgh hosted its own Question Time on Gaza, where we gave the public a chance to lobby MPs in person and challenge them to do more for the cause of Palestine. MPs from across the political spectrum were invited and politicians such as Kenny MacAskill Secre-tary for Justice attended,
along with others from SNP, Labour and Liberal demo-crats. The Tories declined. All the politicians came out in support of Palestine, some even expressing support for the Global Boycott, Divest-ment and Sanctions cam-paign. The crown called for an Arms embargo on Israel.
Question Time on Gaza
Dewsbury and Batley
The dedicated branch in Dewsbury and Batley have been busier than ever. From radio shows to boycott campaigns, to community magazines, we have done it all since Ramadhan began. When the war on Gaza start-ed, the community support was overwhelming.
Our focus turned to-wards increasing awareness of the boycott issue, partici-pating in the national pro-tests, and vigils in the town. We were supported by an ar-ray of people including Nick
Ruff from the Stop the War Coalition; Jane Gregory from the Palestine Solidarity Cam-paign; Mike Wood, MP for Batley and Spen; Coun Dar-ren O’Donovan (Lab, Dews West); Mohammed Shafiq from the Ramadhan Foun-dation, Rochdale and Iqbal Bhana OBE.
The vigil was attended by nearly a thousand people from all backgrounds and faiths. We extend our thanks to everyone who has sup-ported the branch.
#icheckthelabel
10 BOYCOTTAQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014 /foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
SodaStream products are labelled as “Made in Israel,” yet its main production facility is in the industrial zone of Mishor Edomin, an illegal settlement in the West Bank. As a result, SodaStream benefits from cheap land and water, stoeln from the indigenous Palestinian owners. It employs Palestinians as a cheap labour force that is given no job security. It enjoys tax benefits; and lax regulation of environmental and labor protection laws.
BOYCOTT ISRAELBoycott is a tool that people around the world can use to disengage from Israel and send a clear message that we oppose Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and their oppressive treatment of Palestinians. By boycotting, we are saying that we will not be complicit with Israel’s repeated breach of international law.
As politicians fail to bring Israel to account yet again, the power of boycott is in the hands of the people. The more people that implement it in their daily lives the more successful it will become.
TEVA is an Israeli pharmaceutical manufacturing company, and is one of the major generic medicines manufacturers and exporters in the world. TEVA’s net revenue in 2013 was $20.3 billion, and it is the biggest supplier of drugs to the NHS. TEVA is one of the main contributors to Israel’s economy, and 5.5% of Israel’s GDP goes to the Israeli Defence Force.
Ahava products come from stolen Palestinian natural resources in the Occupied Territory in the West Bank, and are produced in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem. They label their products as “Made in Israel”. Buying Ahava products means supporting the theft of Palestinian resources.
In July 2014, Coca Cola announced that it was partnering with the America Israel Business Connector (Conexx) to help Israeli entrepreneurs reach the global market. Titled ‘The Bridge’, Coca Cola is undertaking a 6 month programme to help promote Israeli companies around the globe. Thus, it is defying the global ‘Boycott Israel’ call, by carrying out the opposite action and promoting Israel instead. Coca Cola also has ties with illegal settlement company Tara Dairies.
G4S provides equipment and services to Israeli prisons in which Palestinian prisoners, including child prisoners, are illegally held and tortured. It also supplies equipment
and services for Israel’s illegal settlements and illegal separation wall. Palestinians want to hold G4S to account for its role in profiting from the detention of Palestinian
political prisoners, 1,600 of whom recently held a mass hunger strike.
Veolia is a French company whose business activities in Jerusalem and the West Bank directly serve Israel’s occupation and its illegal settlements. Veolia is both complicit
in the occupation and is profiting from it by providing transport services to illegal settlers.
HP signed a $74m contract with the Israeli Ministry of Interior and has installed and maintained a $5 million biometric ID card system to monitor Palestinians at the
checkpoints, helping to sustain the oppressive occupation. HP also provides technologies and services to the Israeli army, and administers the Israeli Navy’s IT
infrastructure. Israel’s navy routinely shoots at Palestinian fishermen who are simply trying to make a living.
M&S continue to source products from companies which operate in illegal Israeli settlements such as Delta Galil which has warehouses in the Barkan Settlement,
with whom Israeli trade has amounted to hundreds of millions of pounds. They use Hadiklaim as their exclusive dates distributor, which exploits stolen Palestinian
farmlands and Palestinians desperate for employment are made to work farms in dangerous conditions, receiving well below the minimum wage.
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COMPETITION!Design your own ‘Free Palestine’ t-shirt to win £20 shopping voucher!
Use the t-shirt on the left to design your own, and send it to us at FOA for a chance to win. We may even print your t-shirt!
Entries must be received by Friday 24th October to Friends of Al-Aqsa, P.O. Box 5127, Leicester, LE2 0DT
TIP: To save costs, why not ask a grown up to take a picture of your design and send it to us by email to [email protected]
Name: _____________________________________________________Address: ___________________________________________________Postcode: __________________________________________________Age: _______________________________________________________
Can you help Ibrahim get home?
Palestinians denied access to water
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Across2. Who whispered to Ibraheem (AS) 3 times3. The son of Ibraheem4. The clothing for Hajj6. The thing needed before performing the action of Hajj7. The month when hajj takes place8. The arabic term for sacrificing an animal
Down1. The section which has the foot imprint of Ibraheem (AS)3. He was ordered to kill his son5. Shaving ones hair completely
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14 SPECIAL FEATUREAQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014 /foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
Fearing political Islam: Why Arabs betrayed Gaza
By Ramzy Baroud
Some Arabs wish to see Israel crush any semblance of Palestinian resistance.
Ask any Arab ruler, and they will tell you of the great sacrifices their countries have made for Palestine and the Palestinians. However, both history and present reality are testaments, not only to Arab failure to live up to the role expected of them and stand in solidarity with
their own oppressed breth-ren, but also to the official Arab betrayal of the Palestin-ian cause. The current war on Gaza, and the dubious role played by Egypt in the ceasefire talks between Ha-mas and Israel are cases in point.
David Miller, a scholar at the Wilson Center in Wash-ington appreciates the depth of the unmistakable Arab betrayal. “I have never seen a situation like it, where you have so many Arab states ac-quiescing in the death and destruction in Gaza and the pummeling of Hamas,” Miller told the New York Times. “The silence is deafening.”
Miller explains Arab si-lence in relations to their loathing of political Islam
which rose to prominence following the so-called Arab Spring. Such rise saw the advent of movements like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and al-Nahda in Tuni-sia to the centres of power. The ‘Arab Spring’ challenged and, at least temporarily, disabled the hegemony over power by corruption-ridden, pro-western Arab elites, un-leashing the energies of civil societies that have been his-torically marginalized.
Political Islam, especially that which is affiliated with moderate Islamic ideology known as al-Wasatiyyah (roughly translated as ‘moderation’) swept-up the votes in several democratic elections. Like Hamas’s victory in the Palestinian elections in 2006, other such Islamic movements followed suit the moment the ‘Arab Spring’ pushed open a small margin for democracy and freedom of expression.
The danger of political Islamic movements that don’t adhere to an extremist ideology like that of the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda, for example, is that they are not easy to dismiss as ‘extremists,’ ‘terrorists’, and such. At times, in fact, often, they seem much more inclined to play the democratic game than self-proclaimed Arab ‘sec-ularist’, ‘liberal’ and ‘socialist’ movements.
Israel’s most recent war on Gaza, starting on July 7, came at a time that political Islam was being routed out in Egypt and criminalized in other Arab countries. It was the first major Israeli mili-tary attack on Gaza since the ousting of democratically-elected Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi on July 3, 2013. Although the
Israeli war morphed in the course of a few days to that of a genocide (thousands killed, thousands wounded, and nearly fourth of the Gazan population made homeless), most Arab coun-tries remained mostly silent. They mouthed-off some ran-dom condemnations that meant so very little. Egypt, however, went even further.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meeting with Egyptian Minister of Defense General Abdul Fatah Khalil al-Sisi
SPECIAL FEATURE 15AQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014/foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
Soon after the Israeli war ‘Operation Protective Edge’ began, Egypt proposed a most suspicious ceasefire, one that even the Times found peculiar. “The govern-ment in Cairo .. surprised Hamas by publicly propos-ing a cease-fire agreement that met most of Israel’s de-mands and none from the Palestinian group (Hamas),” wrote David Kirkpatrick on July 30. Hamas, the main Palestinian party in the con-flict, which is also declared by Egypt’s government as ‘terrorist,’ was not consulted and only learned about the proposal through the media. But, of course, Israel’s Ben-jamin Netanyahu welcomed the Egyptian proposal; Pal-estinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a main rival of Hamas, and a strong opponent of armed resist-ance (and arguably, any form
of Palestinian resistance, re-ally) welcomed the ‘broth-erly’ Egyptian gesture; other Arab rulers rushed to com-mend Egypt’s Abdul Fatah al-Sisi for his astute regional leadership.
Of course, the whole ex-ercise was a farce, meant to eventually blame Hamas and the resistance in Gaza for re-fusing an end to the conflict (which they didn’t start and were its ultimate victim), and to prop up Sisi as the new icon of peace and modera-tion in the region; the kind of ‘strong man’ with whom the United States government liked to do business.
It all failed, of course, for one single reason, the Gaza resistance held its ground, costing Israel serious mili-tary losses, and igniting worldwide sympathy and respect.
But no respect came from traditional Arab gov-ernments, of course, in-cluding those who praise the legendary ‘sumoud’ - steadfastness - of the Pal-estinian people at every opportunity, speech and sermon. The renewed suc-cess of Hamas, which argu-ably had been fading away into oblivion after the over-throw of Egypt’s brother-hood, and the severing of ties with Damascus and Tehran, was puzzling, and immensely frustrating to these governments.
If Hamas survives the Gaza battle, the resistance will promote its endurance before the Middle East’s supposedly strongest army
as a victory. Netanyahu will suffer dire consequences at home. Ties between Hamas and Iran could be renewed. The ‘resistance camp’ could once more rekindle. The moral victory for the Brotherhood and the moral defeat of Sisi (and his pros-pected regional role) would be astounding.
An alliance of sorts was founded between several Arab countries and Israel to ensure the demise of the resistance in Gaza - not just the resistance as an idea, and its practical expres-sions, but also its politi-cal manifestations as well, which are felt far and be-yond the confines of Gaza’s besieged borders.
Ramzy Baroud is a PhD scholar in People’s History at the University of Exeter. He is the Managing Editor of Middle East Eye. Baroud is an internationally-syndicated column-ist, a media consultant, an author and the founder of Pal-estineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London).
Former Israel lobbyist and current vice president of the Brookings Institution in Washington, Martin Indyk explains: “There’s an ‘align-ment of interests’ between nations that aren’t allies, yet have ‘common adversaries’... As they see that the US is less engaged than it was before, it’s natural that they look to each other - quietly, under the table in most respects - to find a way to help each other.”
Naturally, the latest round of ceasefire talks in Cairo failed because the par-ty that is hosting the talks deems the leading Palestin-ian resistance group Hamas, ‘terrorist’ and would hate to see a scenario in which Gaza
prevails over Israel. If the re-sistance demand of ending the siege is met, especially the demand of reactivating the Gaza seaport and airport, Egypt would be denied a ma-jor leverage against Hamas, the resistance, and the Pales-tinian people altogether.
And if the resistance wins - as in holding the Israeli mil-itary at bay, and achieving some of its demands - the po-litical discourse of the Mid-dle East is likely to change altogether, where the weak will, once again, dare chal-lenge the strong by demand-ing reforms, democracy, and threatening resistance as a realistic way to achieve such objectives.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah al Khalid al Sabah
16 RECIPEAQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014 /foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
Lets Bake…Ghraybeh (Middle Eastern Butter Cookies)This crumbly, buttery melt in your mouth goodness is a popular treat in the Middle East and is found in many local shops and cafes. This easy recipe can be made with only three base ingredients and is simple to prepare - go ahead and give it a go…
Ingredients • 1 cup melted Unsalted Butter• 1 cup Caster Sugar • 1 large Egg White• 1 tablespoon Orange Blossom Water (optional)• 2 cups Plain Flour• 1 sprinkle of Salt• Almond pieces or Pista-chio pieces to decorate • Icing sugar to decorate
Preparation• In a large bowl mix the butter, sugar and orange
blossom water, blending together until the mixture is a light yellow colour • Add the egg white and blend on medium setting until the egg white dis-solves• Add the flour and salt and blend on medium for another minute until the mixture becomes a dough• Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes • Pre-heat the oven to 180oC or 350 F • From the dough shape
little balls (half the size of a golf ball) and place about an inch apart on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper• Add an almond/ pista-chio piece in the centre of each ball, pressing lightly into the dough • Bake for 10 to 15 min-utes until lightly golden • Remove tray, allow to cool and then roll baked cookies in icing sugar before serving
American protesters prevent Israeli cargo ship from docking
The ‘Block the Boat’ pro-test in California was led by BDS campaigners and 5,000 people marched on the dock and spent 4 days preventing the Israeli ship Zim Piraeus from off-loading its cargo. This was intended to be an economic boycott of Israel which would send a clear message that Israeli actions in Gaza have appalled the world.
Eritreans and Sudanese coerced into leaving Israel, says Human Rights Watch
Israel is unlawfully co-ercing around 7,000 Eritrean and Sudanese nationals into returning to their home countries at great personal risk, according to a new Hu-man Rights Watch (HRW) report.
The 83-page report, ‘Make Their Lives Misera-ble:’ Israel’s Coercion of Eri-trean and Sudanese Asylum seekers to Leave Israel, says Israel’s legal system thwarts Eritrean and Sudanese asy-lum seekers’ attempts to se-cure protection under Israeli and international law.
Israel calls Eritreans and Sudanese a “threat” and “in-filtrators”, and denies them access to fair asylum proce-dures. The resulting insecure legal status is used as a pre-text to unlawfully detain or threaten to detain them in-definitely, forcing thousands to leave.
“Destroying people’s hope of finding protection by forcing them into a corner and then claiming they are voluntarily leaving Israel is transparently abusive,” said Gerry Simpson, the report’s author.
“Israeli officials say they want to make the lives of ‘in-
filtrators’ so miserable that they leave Israel, and then claim people are return-ing home of their own free will,” Simpson said, further adding, “Eritreans and Su-danese in Israel are left with the choice of living in fear of spending the rest of their days locked up in desert de-tention centres or of risking detention and abuse back
home.”Eritreans and Sudanese
began arriving in Israel through Egypt’s Sinai Pen-insula in large numbers in 2006, fleeing widespread persecution and oppression in their countries. By Decem-ber 2012, about 37,000 Eri-treans and 14,000 Sudanese had entered the country.
TRAVEL TO PALESTINE 17AQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014/foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
Dreaming of Palestine
By JuwairiyaBefore my trip to Palestine, I had a difficult task convinc-ing my family that it was safe to travel there. Finally, after months my brother agreed to go with me on this journey which I had longed for and I made the bookings as soon as possible after!
I had heard so much about the interrogation and the border crossing, and I had no illusions about the difficulties I might face on this journey. But as someone who trusts in God, I knew that Allah is with me and that was enough reas-surance.
The border crossing was in the end quiet easy! Yes, it did test my patience but patience is a part of my character so I coped well.
I was euphoric when I arrived in Palestine. I couldn’t be-lieve I was there. Wow! The land of the prophets, the land over which angels spread their wings, the Blessed Land and its blessed people.
Arriving at masjid Al-Aqsa was the culmination of the dream coming true. The sanctuary was beautiful. Words can't describe its beauty. It was like another dimension, an-other world. Everything was relaxed and calm and peaceful, and it was easy to forget the oppression which lay beyond the walls.
My memories of Al-Aqsa are accompanied with a feel-ing if happiness deep in my heart. With every step I thanked Allah for bringing me here. I remembered the Prophet had been here, on this same sacred ground and that gave me a feeling which of great joy.
For a moment I forgot that this blessed place was under any occupation.
As I left the masjid my heart sank, I felt sadness, I touched the wall of masjid Al-Aqsa and I made the intention and a promise to it, that I will spend my life defending you.
The next day we walked to the masjid to pray and I was again eager to get there. Then the Israeli soldiers at the gate stopped me, no one was allowed to pray the early morn-ing prayer today. But I was a tourist? I had a British pass-port………but, there was no access to masjid today. I quickly walked to another gate. I could feel the sweat running down my back. The imam had started to lead the prayer and I was missing it,
Again we were denied access. My eyes filled up with tears. The imam continued to lead the prayer and was there no one in the masjid? Was the masjid empty? I asked myself how this day had arrived where there are almost 2 billion Muslims in the world and yet the beautiful blessed masjid al-Aqsa was empty, save for the angels.
As I headed back to the hotel we bumped into another group of British tourists. We all prayed together and the leader of their group reminded us all that this day, we were not only travellers but we were also oppressed because we were denied the right to enter masjid Al-Aqsa. He talked about the beautiful people of Palestine and how on behalf of the whole ummah they protect the masjid. Again, I made my intention that I would come back to visit al-Aqsa, and I would spend my life encouraging people to visit this beauti-ful place.
Every day I met Palestinians, they asked, “sister where are you from?” I would say Scotland. They would be so happy to hear that, and then they would say “welcome, we thank you for coming to visit al Aqsa” I wanted to say …. don’t thank me, I feel ashamed, I live a life of luxury, a life of safety, a world that God has made easy for me. Even the little hardship I encountered on this journey to Palestine I com-plained about… yet you have it so difficult, every day you are humiliated, you are oppressed, your life in Jerusalem is so difficult, yet you always find a smile. I thank you for defend-ing al Aqsa. And I hope I can help in some way.
Living the dream
Last night I had another dream of visiting Masjid Al-Aqsa, surely this must be a sign that I would be visiting this sacred place soon.
18 AQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014 /foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
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19AQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014/foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
In history...Black September
In Arab history, ‘Black September’ refers to the time period covering September 1970 to July 1971, describing the events of unrest between Palestinians in Jordan and the Jorda-nian Government of King Hussein. By 1970, an estimated 60% of Jordan’s population was Palestinian largely due to the flee-ing of refugees from Palestine following the 1948 war as well as the Israeli occupation of West Bank in 1967. Due to the large influx of refugees, the PLO under Yasser Arafat, developed a strong pres-ence within Jordan leading to instability for the Jordanian monarchy. The trigger for the events of Black September occurred with the attempted assassination of King Hussein fol-lowed by the hijacking of three international airplanes by the Popular Front for the Libera-tion of Palestine (PFLP); a sub-group of the PLO. This led to the declaration of martial law by King Hussein and the creation of a military government to restore ‘order and security’. Heavy fighting broke out between the Jordanian army and members of the PLO lasting for 10 days with an estimated 5,000 casualties. The majority of them civilians as quoted by Palestinian officials. The aftermath of the events of Black September led to the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan and relocation in Lebanon. Jordan’s ties with Israel and the US were strengthened as both countries stood with King Hussein against the PLO. This led to heavy criticism of King Hussein within the Arab world for his actions against the PLO and Palestinians. In 1971 following the events of Black September Kuwait and Libya both ended financial aid to Jordan, followed by Syria closing its borders to Jordan. Thus Arab unity against Isra-el fragmented and Jordan became isolated within the Arab world. Whilst Black September was a military loss for the PLO, they went on to gain recognition as a leading representa-tive of the Palestinian people.
Abbas’ betrayalBlocks Palestine ICC application
In what FOA called the ultimate betrayal of the Pal-estinian nation, President Abbas blocked the Palestin-ian application to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Middle East Eye reported that Palestinian Justice Minister Saleem al-Saqqa and the General Pros-ecutor of the Court of Justice in Gaza, Ismail Jabr made an application to join the ICC on July 30. Foreign Affairs Minister Riad Maliki then disowned the Palestinian ap-plication in a private meet-ing with ICC Chief Prosecu-tor Fatou Bensouda in The Hague on 5 August—a meet-ing which occurred after al-most a month of Israeli bom-bardment of the Gaza Strip.
Standing outside the prosecutor’s office, Maliki condemned the previous 28 days of Israeli bombardment as “crimes against human-ity” and said he had met the prosecutor to find out what was required for Palestine to get access to the ICC. How-ever, behind closed doors, Maliki, under instructions from Abbas, in fact stopped the application from pro-gressing.
‘Abbass’s actions are in-excusable, and it is appalling that even with 2,140 deaths, 12,000 injured, 150,000 homes destroyed; the Pal-estinian Authority’s obliga-tion to join the ICC and bring Israel to account is being squandered by a select few of its leaders who put their
own political interests ahead of the needs of their people. This is the ultimate betrayal of the Palestinian people,’ said Ismail Patel, Chair of FOA.
This is the second Pal-estinian application to the ICC to have failed. An appli-cation in January 2009 was rejected on the grounds that it was legally not valid. This, however, changed when the UN General Assembly al-tered Palestine’s status to a non-member observer state. As a result, the only require-ment needed for the ICC to consider an application was for the head of state, head of government or minister of foreign affairs to confirm it.
Gaza facts: Electricity in GazaGaza is supplied electric-
ity through three sources - 120MW of electricity from Israel, 3 grid lines from Egypt supply 28MW, and the Gaza Power Plant, which has a generation capacity of 140MW. The power plant supplies the residents with electricity generated via fuel imported from Israel and smuggled via the under-ground tunnels on the Rafah border with Egypt.
The Gaza Power Plant has struggled to cope with demand because of the limit-ed fuel coming into the Strip due to the blockade and as a result it only generated 60-80MW of electricity. OCHA has reported in March 2014
that only 46% of electricity demand was met.
During Israel’s attack, a humanitarian crisis un-folded when they destroyed the Gaza Power Plant, 10 of the 12 Israeli electricity lines and 2 of the Egyptian lines. As a result, most people in Gaza have no electricity for at least 18 hours each day.
Furthermore, this has affected the ability of water pumps to operate and 50% less water is now being sup-plied. Damage to pipes have resulted in 450,000 people with no access to municipal water supplies. And sewage works are no longer able to operate even to the deficient level before the war.
It is estimated that infra-structure damage may need 20 years for repairs to be completed; however, these figures assume that no fur-ther bombing occurs. The blockade means that the re-quired re-building materials will not be accessible and thus, Palestinians will live in this misery until enough pressure is exerted on Is-rael to allow open access to building materials.
With the advent of the winter months, the misery faced by Gazans is only set to intensify.
By Hanife Moumin
20 AQSA NEWS | ISSUE 56 | SEPTEMBER 2014 /foapeaceinpalestine @friendsofalaqsa @friendsofalaqsa
No academic freedom at University of Illinois
The University of Illi-nois has come under intense scrutiny following its deci-sion to withdraw a job offer to professor Steven Salaita, after pressure from pro-Isra-el donors.
Prof Salaita, like many outraged people around the world, posted many tweets condemning Israel’s assault on Gaza.
The university came un-der pressure from a number of quarters including Jewish students and alumni, for his critical tweets. As a result of the pressure, the Universi-
ty’s Chancellor Phyllis Wise refused to approve his ap-pointment to the American Indian Studies Programme.
Thousands of academics signed a petition calling for Prof Salaita’s reinstatement, several lecturers cancelled their teaching in protest. A number of university de-partments have passed votes of no-confidence in the chan-cellor, Phyllis Wise.
A campus walk out was also held, reflecting the level of outrage against the uni-versity’s decision.
Palestinian football team the ‘Cinderella’ of Asian Cup
Following the Palestinian Football team’s successful qualification for the Asian Cup, they travelled to the Philippines to play in the tournament in September. Rather than a full squad of 23, however, only 14 trav-elled across.
6 players and the as-sistant coach, Saeb Jundi-yeh, were trapped in Gaza, restricted from leaving.
The Head Coach, Jamal Mahmoud, was denied a visa to the West Bank so the team received no training in prep-aration for the tournament. The team was affectionately dubbed ‘Cinderella’ as a re-sult.
It remains to be seen how the team will perform, but the odds are very much stacked against them.
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