Today, May 15, 2012, Palestinians are remembering the 64th anniversary of the Nakba. In Arabic, “nakba” means “catastrophe,” and it refers to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, which was accompanied by the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. Many Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes, while others fled when they heard the news of massacres in nearby villages, such as Deir Yassin and Tantura. More than 450 Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated by Zionist forces, and most of them were razed to the ground to prevent the return of the Palestinian refugees. Many refugee families still carry the keys to the homes that they were forced to leave.
In Beit Ommar today, soldiers began … Continue reading
On Friday, May 11th, 2012, two Palestinian farmers were attacked in Beit Ommar by Israeli settlers from Karmei Tsur.
Walid Sabarna and Ibrahim Abu Maria were working on their land 150 meters from the settlement, when two security guards from the settlement accompanied by six soldiers approached them at 5 pm. The guards asked the farmers what they were doing here, and they gave the obvious answer: working on their land. The guards responded that this was not the case, but that the land belonged to them and that the farmers should go away.
They then attacked Walid, beating and kicking his right leg. He had an operation on this … Continue reading
On Friday, May 11, 2012, Palestinian, Israeli and international activists gathered outside Ofer prison in Ramallah to protest in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Over two hundred activists came and joined the demonstration. Israeli soldiers shot countless canisters of teargas at the demonstrators, as well as skunk water and rubber-coated and plastic-coated bullets. The activists set over a dozen tires on fire, creating a thick wall of smoke that made it difficult for the soldiers to see the demonstrators, so the soldiers shot into the crowd at random. Over 20 people were taken into the ambulances, and at least one was taken to the hospital.
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A letter from Thaer Halahleh, on day 75 of hunger strike against his detention without charge, to his two-year-old daughter Lamar, who he has never seen. Translated by Jalal Najjar.
“My Beloved Lamar, forgive me because the occupation took me away from you, and took away from me the pleasure of witnessing my first born child that I have always prayed to God to see, to kiss, to be happy with. It is not your fault, this is our destiny as Palestinian people to have our lives and the lives of our children taken away from us, to be apart from each other and to have a miserable life, nothing is … Continue reading
Yesterday, May 4th, 2012, a demonstration took place in Beit Ommar following a funeral in the village. After the funeral, some children started throwing rocks at the army watchtower at the entrance of the village. Some Israeli settlers arrived with guns and started shooting in the air. Additional soldiers came and forced the residents of Beit Ommar back towards the center of the town. Soldiers then entered the village and fired rubber-coated bullets, teargas and sound bombs. The teargas was aimed at people’s homes, causing many problems for the residents.
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As in much of Palestine and around the world, Beit Ommar residents have been demonstrating in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike who are risking their lives for their … Continue reading
Khader Adnan writes in gratitude for the support he was given while on hunger-strike and calls for solidarity with the prisoners:
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
Dear free people of the world. Dear oppressed and disenfranchised around the globe. Dear friends of our people, who stood with me with a stern belief in freedom and dignity for my people and our prisoners languishing in the Occupation’s prisons.
Dear free women and men, young and elderly, ordinary people as well as intellectual elites everywhere – I address you today with an outpouring of hope and pain for every Palestinian that suffers from the occupation of his … Continue reading
