Mission & Justice

Omar, a humanitarian worker; 29/5/08

Gaza now smells of falafel. The people here are transferring their used cooking oil into their cars to be used as fuel. With the fuel shortage continuing due to the Israeli blockade, donkeys now have the word ‘taxi’ written on their behinds. It is as if we have gone back to the Stone Age. Nevertheless, I missed my niece’s wedding because no donkey could carry me fast enough to arrive on time for the ceremony. I was upset that I missed an event so important for her. Fuel and electricity cuts have forced me to collect rubbish from the streets; I burn it to cook my food.

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Osama Al Sharif, 21/5/08 
President George W. Bush was not about to spoil Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations by talking about such irritating things like the continuing plight of the Palestinians, ending occupation and implementing international law. In his view, neither the occasion nor the venue, the Knesset, was suitable to mention such issues. Instead, the US president went into an emotional oration that praised the state of Israel and its democracy while confirming America’s unfettered support of guarding its security against the threats of terrorists and other enemies both foreign and domestic. It was an honest and straightforward speech because it summed up the speaker’s convictions, vision and comprehension of contemporary affairs. Israeli leaders were jubilant not because of what Bush has said, but because of what he had failed to say.

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Yoav Stern; 19/5/08, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984991.html
Activists and Arab rights organizations are accusing the Israel Police of brutality against protesters during a procession marking Nakba day 10 days ago in a pilgrimage to the abandoned village of Saphoria in Tzipori. Nakba day, meaning “day of the catastrophe” is an annual day of commemoration for the Palestinian people of the anniversary of the creation of Israel in 1948 (on the same day Israelis celebrate independence), which resulted in their displacement from their land. At a press conference held Monday, the activists presented video footage and photographs showing police officers beating journalists and even smashing the head of one of the protesters who was already handcuffed and sitting on the ground. The police officers and the protesters clashed toward the end of the procession. Officers fired tear gas grenades into the crowd, which, in turn, hurled stones at the officers and passing vehicles.

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Alan Ramsey; 17/5/08

Whatever you think of the Rudd Government’s first budget, know that the Labor Party’s national secretary, Tim Gartrell, is a happy man. Gartrell is the bloke who has to find the money to fund Labor’s election campaigns. As such, Gartrell turned budget night into a nice little earner, thank you. Labor took over the Great Hall of the Parliament, closed it to the general public for the night, and charged $2000 a ticket for a seat at a dinner table (for 10) hosted by a minister or parliamentary secretary, and $500 for a seat at a dinner table hosted by a Labor backbencher. The Great Hall’s sit-down capacity is 750. The Government’s executive capacity is 42 ministers and parliamentary secretaries. At $18,000 for 42 “top” tables and $4500 for 33 “also-ran” tables - less costs of about $150 a head - the return to Labor Party election funds had to be not less than $800,000. Plus another hefty bag from a so-called “Labor Business Forum, budget briefing” breakfast, sponsored by Leighton Holdings, which Gartrell organised in the Parliament’s second-floor Mural Hall (capacity 450) the morning after budget night. An additional $250,000, at least. We’ll know officially later this year.

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15/4/08

Palestinians have held protests across the occupied territories to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, when they were uprooted from their homes by the establishment of Israel. In the West Bank on Thursday, rallies and sirens commemorated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the 1948 war. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, speaking from Ramallah, called for an end to occupation and settlement building.”It’s time for the occupation to leave our land … and for the ‘catastrophe’ to come to an end,” Abbas said in a televised speech. “Our Palestinian people have carried in pain the memory, and hope to return to their homeland.”

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Maher Mughrabi; 15/5/08; a staff writer and part of the Palestinian diaspora.

In Ausgust 2004, the Israeli politician Shulamit Aloni received an invitation to a memorial. The event being commemorated was a massacre of Jews by Arabs in the city of Hebron during British rule of Palestine in 1929. The invitation said that it would be a state occasion, attended by Reuven Rivlin, then speaker of Israel’s parliament.In July 2006, this time in Jerusalem, a ceremony was held to honour the 60th anniversary of the bombing of the King David Hotel by members of the Zionist underground fighting British rule. That attack killed 91 people. The ceremony was not sponsored by the state, but it was attended by Benjamin Netanyahu, a former Israeli prime minister and the country’s opposition leader. The King David ceremony drew a protest from the British ambassador to Israel, who objected to “an act of terrorism” being dignified. Yet for Netanyahu and many other Israelis, that bombing is part of a heroic liberation struggle.

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Amin Abbas; 14/5/08

Tomorrow Palestinians - geographically displaced, politically divided and economically distressed - will be marking 60 years since al-Nakbah (the great catastrophe). Their misfortune began in May 1948, on the same day Israel celebrates its 60th birthday. The yin-yang character of the day marks a new beginning for one people and the beginning of the end for the other. Most people think of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one between two warring countries and people. This is no fault of theirs. The terminology describing the place is baffling. Occupied Territories, West Bank and Gaza Strip, 67 green-line borders, 242 borders, armistice borders, UN partition borders: the list goes on. As opposed to Israel, where does Palestine begin and end? Who are its inhabitants?

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