EMHRN meeting in Vienna, November 12-13, 2005

I was in Vienna last weekend at a network meeting; the network is called the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN). The Arab HRA, the organisation I represent, sits on the Steering Committee of the network's Working Group, called the Working Group on Palestine/Israel.

We finalised European advocacy strategies in London and Brussels for December 2005, and spoke of future possibilities for late 2006.

Although the meeting schedule didn't allow for a visit into Vienna, we did manage to sample great chocolate, rich ice wine and some warm hospitality from a Croatian-minority couple living near the city of Neusiedl am See.

Room Keys at the Hotel

Guess who... found an iron that morning

Caffeine Advocacy

Why Gaza is still Occupied Territory

Gaza is still occupied. We heard it from a Gazawi (Gazan), the Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Raji Sourani. He was supposed to meet with us in Austria as part of the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network's 'Working group on Palestine/Israel', but because no Gazawi can currently leave Gaza, we had to settle for a teleconference with him.

This is what Raji had to say:

The Occupation remains and Gaza is completely disconnected from the West Bank and Al-Quds (Jerusalem). Israel maintains complete air and land control (in spite of the fact that there is no physical army presence on the ground).

Mainstream media talks about Gazawis now having the chance to step up to the plate and prove themselves. But here is the de facto situation on Gazawi ground:
- Lives of Gaza's inhabitants still completely controlled.
- Israeli navy presence just 10 metres from Gaza's shores.
- 3-5 kms from border, Israel fires sonic bombs as a method of intimidation.
- Political assassinations commonplace by Israeli apaches. Since the disengagement and until November 13, 2005 - 17 such killings.
- The Rafah border crossing is totally sealed.
- Unemployment in Gaza used to stand at 66% - today it is more. 81% people under poverty line – facing real economic, social, political strangulation.
- Israel decides what Gazawis drink, eat and wear. Very frightening.
- Buffer zones exist in the north and west; the army will shoot and kill any movement in that area.
- Gazawi fisherman can’t even go to the sea.
- There are 985 kilo bombs parked 360° around Gaza.
- Israel has been able to achieve this ‘withdrawal mirage’.
- However, the reality is very different and is not promising on any level.
- 1.4 million people are caged in. And nobody seems to see that.

He added:

- 7,000 settlers evacuated – which is great. But it’s business as usual. Remember, the withdrawal wasn't about the Palestinians; it was about a military presence that was working out too costly for them.
- Israel has marketed the Disengagement smartly; so much so that they can reasonably convince the Europeans to work with them on Israeli security.
- Israel is manufacturing another Bin Laden in Gaza by continuing their present practice in the region.

Advocating for Palestinians

To make inroads into seeing true Palestinian representation within Israel (and even in the Occupied Territories; yes Gaza is still occupied), the struggle can assume two forms:

- An internal struggle, and
- A struggle that employs external advocacy measures

True, empowerment of the population is vital to seeing representation... as are other internal strategies - like working with the Israeli public to make them aware of real Palestinian issues, political participation, and even (running contrary to the previous) economic and political boycotts. However, part of the struggle is applying external pressure on the Israeli government; international advocacy helps us get there.

I will be in Vienna, Austria tomorrow, and for the following 3 days, to work on just that. The Euro Med Human Rights Network's 'Working Group on Palestine/Israel', on whose Steering Committee the Arab HRA sits, will be meeting to talk about the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Barcelona Process and general advocacy strategies for Occupied Palestine and Israel.

Look, if they don't listen to us, maybe they'll listen to those that can prospectively make them richer. Maybe they'll listen to those that they aspire to be, the Europeans.

Anyway, details on the meeting to follow.
Must get to packing.
Leaving shortly.
Very.
Short.
Notice.

And in the words of Lascelles, my Jamaican/ Torontonian/ photographingmanofwisdomwithmanywordsofintellect, Keep the faith, the beat goes on...

Quotes from the West Bank

Two weeks ago I was in Bethlehem. In the West Bank.

There are stories of border crossings, the current status of Palestinian civil society, and why the Palestinian women I've met are not what I expected (not a bad thing). But I'll postpone those stories for tomorrow.

Today I'll leave you with quotes. Quotes from the two conferences I attended. Also in attendance were European funders and advocacy groups, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs, and words spoken but till date not understood...

"If you dig a hole with a needle, you make a packet, then you take a spoon, then you take a shovel..."

He then adds, "They are from us who is doing it yknow, they are not from them."

This from the moderator, "It’s kind of like an active forum. It’s kind of like a weird animal."

"Mohammed, let’s go step by step. I’m really feeling like, yknow, a car turning round and round in a playground..."

"Mohammed, Laila... wait! Everything is missing… I’m not bullshitting myself, neither you guys here yknow… I explained yesterday, working on the Israelis and not with the Israelis… Mohammed you are really trying to put make-up on the face of the thing… This is the normalisation terms that we used and we ate shit!"

This is an open call to all translators; we're west-banking on you.

Lubna Azabal

This post goes out to young, talented female actors world-over; and is especially directed to Belgian artists of Moroccan origin.

Belgian artists of Moroccan origin that exhibit soul in their step and breathe character in their smile.

I had the pleasure of meeting, albeit briefly, Lubna Azabal of Paradise Now / Exils / Viva Laldjérie - fame. She's in Nasereh for the French Cultural Centre's 1ère édition du Festival du Film Français de Nazareth.

I'm not sure how much of her spirit you can feel through the inserted photos, but I'll throw them in anyway because they're easy on the eyes.

Veo aspectos de las actrices de mi vida personal - Brooke, Jimagua, Zuzia - en ella

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Today a world collectively impoverished in the failure of our governments to effectively aid the destitute

Today, October 17, is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. That this Day has been observed since 1993 is telling – it speaks of the urgency to combat poverty for those that live along society's margins - social, economic and political, and it emphasises the role that developed nations are obliged to play in this global struggle.

The Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA) sees poverty as breeding an environment non-conducive to human rights. We believe that poverty constructs serious obstacles to the enjoyment of basic human rights, and leaves individuals within its grasp without basic human dignity; individuals living in poverty have only limited access to food, water and adequate housing.

The National Insurance Institute of Israel published a report last year which said that 54% of Arab children and 50% of Arab families live under the poverty line in Israel. This is the result of official policy that has brought about cuts to welfare benefits and other forms of social assistance, and only serves to further marginalise the poor – affecting most directly children and the elderly. These policies also exacerbate the divide between rich and poor; so much so that Israel, followed by the US, is currently the developed nation with the most number of people living under the poverty line.

The HRA feels that poverty warrants more urgency than, and should therefore be addressed before, sustainable development issues.

Currently, malnutrition seriously afflicts the Arab populations of Israel, in particular those that live in the Naqab (Negev) and in unrecognised villages. A direct result of malnutrition is the inability to enjoy the basic human rights of health, education and mental and physical growth. Left unresolved, the following generation stands to inherit the present generation's poverty and lack of basic human rights.

UNICEF declared that over 50% of children in the world currently live in poverty. Furthermore:

640 million lack adequate housing
400 million lack access to clean water
140 million children, for various reasons, are not in school

The HRA believes that all this is evidence of the failings of world governments. They have failed in implementing their international commitment to save the poor and children of the world and have failed to comply with their moral commitment to humanity.

This comes at a time when governments spend billions on weapons and hundreds of millions on wars that are immoral, and that to date have only exacerbated death, poverty, hatred, hunger and human rights violations in our world.

The above is a press release issued by the Arab HRA, jointly prepared by Mohammad Zeidan and me.

Palestine in Black and White. And Red and Green.

I scoured the Arab HRA archives for these photos - some from the Occupied Territories, others from Israel; unlike most photos posted on this website, I can't credit these to my name.

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Top-down: Photos 1-7

Protesting Sheikh Yassin's assassination in Israel - Photos 1, 2, 3, 4
Ramallah Checkpoint - Photo 5
Ramallah's Future - Photo 6
Kids at an Arab HRA summer camp - Photo 7

Between Kfar Manda and Sakhnin

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Naked stars wait for us between Kfar Manda and Sakhnin

So why are we still here?

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Instead we'll choose lonely highways where street lights don't live

Together we'll journey blind

And you in the embrace of restlessness, will slowly push me away

Hina Jilani's personal quest for really good falafel

The Special Representative to the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders, Ms. Hina Jilani, was at our office on Monday. She was officially touring Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to look at the conditions and challenges faced by human rights defenders. Unofficially, however, she was on a personal quest for the best falafel. Doubtless she came across it in an Arab neighbourhood. ;)

'Human rights defenders' is a term used to describe people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights.

In regard to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, she wrote this, 'conditions and an environment which place human rights defenders operating in these areas at grave risk and presents serious obstructions in every aspect of their functioning.' (UN OHCHR Press Release, October 11, 2005). Although Israel was comparatively 'freer', she acknowledged the difficulties defenders face here. From Monday's meeting, 2 points immediately spring to mind:

- NGO-ers have bags, computers and other material in their possession probed when travelling abroad.
- Lawyers and their clients are refused privacy to confer with one another in prison; to confer they must use a phone (which is open to the risk of being tapped) and be watched over by prison guards (whom, word has it, are endowed with hearing faculties little seen in this part of the world).

Bottom line?

For really good falafel: must travel to Arab town

Qatar sponsors Arab-Israeli soccer team, Sakhnin

Haaretz, September 11, 2005:

The president of the Qatar National Olympic Committee, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, met yesterday in the Qatari capital Doha with an Israeli delegation led by MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash-Ta'al) and Sakhnin mayor Mohammed Bashir to finalize the details of a $6 million donation to the Bnei Sakhnin soccer club.

Sakhnin is the only Arab Palestinian team in Israel's Premier Soccer League.
As recently as earlier this year, it was the only team without a home stadium.
Till today, it is the team that struggles most with finances.

But against all these odds, Sakhnin won last year's Premier League.

I only learnt about the team upon my arrival; but it hasn't taken me long to fall in love with them. Soccer is my game, and an Arab soccer team that makes it through with all the world's obstacles in place - wow. Respect. I look forward to watching a home-game in 10 days.

With regard to Qatari sponsorship of an Arab-Israeli team, I show support. There should be more support for Palestinian Arabs living within Israel. They're too often seen as 'collaborators' or 'Israeli' to warrant any help from Gulf nations. I appreciate Qatar's move and wish more GCC countries would see things in the same light. This community received Israeli citizenship by default (though some would disagree with the term) - either by not being forced off their lands by the Israeli forces or by not fleeing. Either way, the majority identify as Palestinian.

And no where did this show itself more publicly and collectively than in the October 2000 events. These events were a testament to how the struggles of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were the struggles of Palestinians living within Israel; their issues are not the same, and it cannot be expected that they be, but their collective identity is Palestinian.

For more on Sakhnin and the urgency to show it support, I'll leave you with excerpts from Jonathan Cook's article, Arab footballers make Israeli history:

The team, called Bnei Sakhnin, are carrying aloft the hopes of the Jewish state... Israeli media has been arguing that the victory reflects a new atmosphere of coexistence between the country's Jewish majority and its one million Arab citizens... In fact, relations between Jews and Arabs have rarely been worse... One of the disturbing trends noted by Mossawa are racist chants at football matches, particularly since Sakhnin and another Arab squad, Nazareth, qualified for the premier division last season... In June the first football fan was convicted of shouting "Death to the Arabs" at a match in Jerusalem.

Certainly, Sakhnin needs all the help they can get. The only major team without a stadium, Sakhnin have had to use a scrap of cleared land among olive groves for training. Their municipality, like most other Arab councils, is deep in the red after decades of underfunding from the central government... Today, overcrowded Sakhnin is surrounded on all sides by a military base, an industrial estate and a string of luxury hilltop Jewish communities, which have been given control of the town's lands...

...apparently worried by bad publicity, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stepped in to pledge $2 million for a stadium. The money is all very well, says Sakhnin engineer Kassem Abu Riya. "But where will Sakhnin find the land to build a stadium when we haven't the space for homes, let alone badly needed public facilities such as youth centres, recreation areas and proper schools?"