Palestine News

By Omar Barghouti

In 1965, the American Committee on Africa [1], following the lead of prominent British arts associations, sponsored a historic declaration against South African apartheid, signed by more than 60 cultural personalities. It read: "We say no to apartheid. We take this pledge in solemn resolve to refuse any encouragement of, or indeed, any professional association with the present Republic of South Africa, this until the day when all its people shall equally enjoy the educational and cultural advantages of that rich and beautiful land."

If one were to replace "Republic of South Africa" with the "State of Israel," the rest should apply just as strongly. Israel today—60 years after its establishment through a deliberate and systemic process of ethnic cleansing of a large majority of the indigenous Palestinian population (for an authoritative historical account of the "birth" of Israel, refer to Ilan Pappe's The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine)—still practices racial discrimination against its own "non-Jewish" citizens; it still maintains the longest military occupation in modern history; it still denies Palestinian refugees—uprooted, dispossessed and expelled by Zionists over the last six decades—their internationally recognized right to return to their homes and properties; and it still commits war crimes and violates basic human rights and tenets of international humanitarian law with utter impunity.

Israel at 60 is a more sophisticated, evolved and brutal form of apartheid than its South African predecessor, according to authoritative statements by South African anti-apartheid leaders, like Archbishop Desmond Tutu [2] and the country's current government minister Ronnie Kasrils [3], who is Jewish. It therefore deserves from all people of conscience around the world, particularly those who opposed South African apartheid, the same measures of solidarity and human compassion, through an effective application of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it abides by international law and respects basic human rights.

Some may argue, though, that, to them, art should transcend political division, unifying people in their common humanity. They forget, it seems, that masters and slaves do not quite share anything in common, least of all any notion of humanity. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I recall the wise words of Enuga S. Reddy [4], director of the United Nations Centre Against Apartheid, who in 1984 responded to criticism that the cultural boycott of South Africa infringed the freedom of expression, saying: "It is rather strange, to say the least, that the South African regime which denies all freedoms ... to the African majority ... should become a defender of the freedom of artists and sportsmen of the world. We have a list of people who have performed in South Africa because of ignorance of the situation or the lure of money or unconcern over racism. They need to be persuaded to stop entertaining apartheid, to stop profiting from apartheid money and to stop serving the propaganda purposes of the apartheid regime."

It is worth noting that the United Nations General Assembly [5] adopted a special resolution on the cultural boycott of South Africa in December 1980, almost two decades after civil society unions and associations in Britain and, later, in the U.S., adopted such a boycott. That decision also heeded consistent appeals by black organizations in South Africa which effectively censured several foreign entertainers who violated the boycott. Accusing those who defy the boycott of complicity in apartheid, Reddy stated: "There is no parallel to this in history, except to some extent under Nazism. The issue in Germany then was not segregation of audiences, but inhumanity and genocide and that is the issue in South Africa today." Despite all the obvious differences, so is the situation in occupied Palestine today as well.

-Omar Barghouti is a freelance choreographer and founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (www.PACBI.org). He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. (This article was originally published as part of a file compiled by Randy Gener, titled: 12 Positions on Cultural Sanctions -- Theatre practitioners offer their views on a call to boycott Israel, in American Theater Magazine, May-June 2008 issue)

Notes:

[1] http://www.angelfire.com/mt/internships/3.htm
[2] http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1984/tutu-bio.html
[3] http://www.intelligence.gov.za/Biography.htm
[4] http://www.geocities.com/enugareddy/
[5] http://www.un.org/ga/

5/10/2008 1:56:00 AM

Book Review: Our Eyes, and Dreams of Home

By Jim Miles

Our Eyes and "Dreams of Home" created by the children of Lajee Center with Rich Wiles. Lajee Center, Bethlehem, Palestine. 2007. (For more info visit: www.Lajee.org)

Our Eyes

The pictures arrive at first in the sad multi-tones of greys, the ever-present grey concrete walls of the narrow alleys of the refugee camp, the shadows and lines on faces, the abstract shadows of wire and fence on concrete, and the loom of the Wall that separates the camp from its outlying fields. At first sombre within all that grey, the pictures reveal many levels of understanding and feeling, as if each shade has it own significance, each texture its own meaning, each face its own hopes and dreams clouded by narrow horizons.

As described in the introduction “the idea behind this project was for the young people of the Lajee to constructively and creatively respond to the environment in which they live…producing…an international voice that transcends borders and languages…that can get over the Wall…pass through checkpoints…louder than gunfire.”

The photographs by the children of Lajee Center have been displayed at different sites around the world and are now available in this evocative book from the Lajee Center. The centre is a volunteer centre, established eight years ago to provide children of the camp with constructive educational activities to help them develop knowledge and skills. Set in Aida Refugee Camp, established after the 1948 Nakba, Aida camp, with a population of about 4,500 - over half of whom are children - is located 8 kilometres south of Jerusalem, bordering the city of Bethlehem. The children of the camp, provided with minimalist photography equipment, participated in several work-study camps over the pat few years to produce these thematically organized images of life in the camp.

Photography, much more so than the written word, is open to several levels of interpretation. First impressions come from the visual image, the tone, the physical perspective, and the objects themselves. Beyond that is the wonderful world of introspection and changing perspectives: the photographers physical perspective but also the emotional perspective (Why that particular subject at that particular place?); the perspective of the subject, if other than just the immutable, intractable presence of concrete and stone (What is the girl thinking? Why is she here at this place and this time? Where is she from? What are her hopes, dreams, and nightmares?) Finally there is the overall composition, the interplay of elements, human and physical, what inferences can be drawn from the photo?

The first of the four sections of photos, “A Window to Our World”, begins with a full spread photo representing all the elements described above and all the possible aspirations of youth anywhere in the world. As a written description here of course, I cannot capture those elements and aspirations as effectively as simply viewing the photo, but let me try to verbally present the various messages the photo carries. At first, a young girl stands slightly off centre, dressed in a simple yet elegant clean white dress, a white headband pulling back on long straight black hair, and clean white footwear. In the background, a narrow road, a concrete wall, and further down the road a group of boys, teens, and young men walking away down the road, and further in the background, sunlit concrete block buildings.

It is not a rich environment, devoid of grasses, trees, shrubs and not even so much as a hint of weeds, and also devoid of any symbols of what for most would be signs of a rich culture or commercial milieu. It is the girl’s face and body posture that draws the most introspection, leads to many questions and inferences.

She stands, eyes sad, without tears, mouth smiling but not truly joyful, someone’s daughter, sister, future wife and mother. She stands with a touch of adult femininity, her hips and back slightly curved with one foot forward. It is truly a wistful posture, expressing the true definition of that word, showing vague yearnings or mournfulness or unsatisfied desire to understand. In her moment of beauty she stands amid all that is grey and barren. Who knows her actual thoughts? What are her desires and wishes? What are her anguishes and despairs? Does she feel all this without truly comprehending it? Or contrarily, does she fully understand her unique presence, beyond her years, beyond what any child should have to face in life?

In the background, the group of boys – brothers, friends, none old enough to be a parent – walking away. More questions, more inferences. Walking where…and why? Is there a purpose – a game, a school - or is it more simply youth, caged, wandering with no real purpose? They are not running, their motions are not panicked or in flight or attack.

Only three hundred and eighty words, far short of the thousand a picture is worth. But to fill in the thousand would only be my mind making conjectures about what is happening, denying almost completely the emotional impact of the picture, for I could fill it all in with background information drawn from many sources and more than likely take away from the impact of the photo itself. Trite as the saying is, it is better to let the picture speak for itself.

The subsequent photos in the section show daily life as experienced and expressed by the children of Aida camp, the narrow streets, the Wall, the people, young and old, none of whom seem truly comfortable or at peace. The final photo perhaps explains why.

The Wall, eight metres high, its dark shadows looming over the foreground, fading into sunlit brightness in the distance. In the foreground, one small boy facing the camera, seemingly lost in thought, or as with most young people, lost in unverbalized emotions and experiences, stands on a ground of rocks and rubble, where again, no life thrives.

The caption, provided by the photographer, Layan Al Azza, states simply “My favourite thing was that people liked me and let me take photos of them. I don’t like life in the camp.”

The second section presents photos from a workshop with the theme on “A Child’s Rights in Palestine.” The short commentary at the beginning of the section ends with the poignant comment “A couple of hours after the exhibition had opened in Aida Camp a 13 year old child was shot in the head with a rubber coated steel bullet by the Israeli army less than 100 metres from the gallery in which children had proudly showed their work discussing human rights protection for children, a child’s rights in Palestine…”

The photos do not show the blood and the wounds to the body. Instead they show the wounds to a society struggling to survive. They show children laughing, sad, the Wall graffitied with “Stop Apartheid” and “Stop the Racist Wall”, a young man waving the Palestinian flag in front of the wall, posters, a street scene, more walls, a classroom with one smile among many faces against more grey walls, more narrow alleys, girls giggling, peeking over a railing, more concrete, pock-marked with bullet holes, a child crying, playing marbles, cooking, more Wall with thistles, and finally, a round steel gate with metal fences and concrete walls to represent Article 37 – “The Right to Protection from Torture and Deprivation of Liberty.”

The final section, “Our Dreams and Nightmares” was photographed in August-October 2007. Basic dreams – the right to a home, to be a farmer, to travel, to play volleyball, and most prominently, freedom and to have an education to make a better society – the dreams of all children around the world. The nightmares – of losing a home for the second time, of a worsening economic situation and no work (the simplicity and depth of children’s thinking), the killing of a family and friends by soldiers, prison, suffering.

The final four photos summarize it all: a smiling face with candles, “My dream to live in a world full of innocence and hope;” next, a gnarly tree with the vague outline of an old face, “Time is passing and I’m afraid that one day this face [lonely and old] will be mine.…”

The final two, simple and powerful, perhaps show the height of the dreams and the depth of the nightmare. First a photo of books, one titled “English for Palestine” and the caption “…with my culture and my studies I will build a better future.” In contrast the final picture of a shoe lying on its side on a gravelly street, dark shadows in the background, and further back, again, the Wall. Under the shoe lie the dark splashes of blood pooled in the roadway: “My nightmares are full of blood…Last year my brother was shot whilst playing in my bedroom.”

Is this what the world allows for its children? Is this the price of our western lives lived in relative luxury, our own children “full of innocence and hope” to be denied to others?

Dreams of Home

The fourth set of photographs from the workshops involved the children at Lajee Center interviewing the elders of the camp, the underlying theme clearly and simply as with the title, dreams of home, of the right of return. While those over sixteen could not enter Israeli occupied territory, the youth of the camp were allowed to return and visit the sites of their grandparent’s homes and villages. The photos in this section are colour, and they do not carry the grainy gritty evocativeness of the black and white of life in the camps, but the ongoing wish to return to home, to where the heart is, to where life at one time flourished and passed peacefully.

It is a book that expresses in words and photos the basic dignity of the older generation, all of whom had to flee their homes in the Nakba, most taking little but the clothes on their backs. Throughout though, two symbolic elements seem constant: the keys to the houses left behind, and the deeds of land that showed ownership. The main theme is of course the wish to return, of the importance of a home and land and the culture that goes with those elements. Accompanying this are the connections made between the original refugees and their grandchildren, passing on their memories, but more importantly their hopes and dreams of a return to a better future. For all the children it is pride and hope, as expressed by one participant Suhaib, “I get very excited and proud; as this house stood, my family and I will continue withstanding until we return.”

The photographs show the full range of human emotion and the geographic beauty of the land, including the remains of houses and buildings slowly succumbing to nature. For the refugees, a stoic pride, a dignity, shows in their clothes, demeanour, and facial expressions. For the youth, the full range from sullen hostility to the innocence of mugging for a camera. For the landscape, the beauty of the flowers and trees, the rock walls and crumbling houses that give lie to the Israeli myth of a barren land without people. The irony of “The Silver Family Nature Trail” plaque set in concrete in what used to be a Palestinian village. The ever-present, fences, barriers, metal spike belts in the roadway, and inevitably, the Wall. And in the distant background, the flash of a modern high speed train, an image of freedom and travel denied to the refugees behind the wall.

Above all, strength, dreams of a better future, and hope.

All the photographs in both books are a wonderful testament to the will of a people to survive in a hostile environment, not geographically, but imposed on them by an occupying force that denies them the basic elements of human rights. The work continually reveals different levels of emotion and understanding within the viewer as well as within the photographer. It is through the eyes of children, of being able to stand back from our supposedly adult intelligence and knowledge (but mostly our ingrained prejudices and unmoving ignorance), of renewing our vision of a better future and hope, of knowing with child-like conviction and emotion that the world can be a better place, a place of freedom and love.

These two books provide us with a wonderful opportunity to enter that vision, that world, to realize that the wishes of children are not just foolish immature desires and dreams but the expression of humanities strongest goal – to have a land and a culture that we call our own, to live in peace and in harmony with our neighbours near and far, and to know and feel free, to have friends, to love and be loved in a secure environment.

-Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of opinion pieces and book reviews for The Palestine Chronicle. Miles’ work is also presented globally through other alternative websites and news publications.

5/10/2008 1:56:00 AM

Shaping More Powerful Arguments for Palestine

By Anne Selden Annab

Following the lead of many others, in "Sinkable Israel," Ayman El-Amir writing for Al-Ahram(1) compared the plight of the Palestinians to that of the Native Americans... Sinkable Israel, would sink much faster if Arab writers realized that they undermine their own arguments by trying to equate the devastation of early Native American communities to modern Israel's barbarically modern and intentional ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine.

Zionist propaganda makes Israel float. Zionists want Americans to believe that "Israel" is a worthy and a necessary investment. You don't need to convince Arabs (or Muslims) that racist Israel is wrong- you need to convince all the taxpayers and charities in the West, especially Americans, that Israel is really is a rogue nation in long term and flagrant violation of international law and the Palestinians basic human rights.

Early America was not at all like Palestine. First and most obviously, Palestine was not an isolated island totally untouched by the influence of long established trade routes as well as various alphabets and manuscripts- book learning. Palestine was a well known place, with known written history as well as many stone buildings including ancient (or at least old) churches, mosques, synagogues, schools, businesses as well as permanent homes (2). Palestine, just like America one hundred years ago, had both urban as well as rural communities.

When Zionists began to invade Palestine, the people of Palestine had the ability to read and write (primarily in Arabic), they had books and they knew all about paper, glass, metal and other such crafts that help enhance the quality of life in many ways, as well as the rule of law.

Palestinians had door keys, whereas in Early America, there were no door keys, nor were there land deeds- in fact there were not even horses. Horses were introduced by Spanish settlers in the sixteenth century, very much revolutionizing travel, trade, hunting and tribal warfare.

Gallop up to 1776 and the official founding of the USA with our Declaration of Independence and the emergence of our Constitution with our Bill of Rights: Think about the very real potential for real freedom, equality, and prosperity for all people, including those now known as Native Americans, that was able to eventually emerge from "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America..." (3)

When the USA was first founded, women had no vote, nor did blacks or Native Americans. Those really were primitive times- worldwide. However our basic laws and ideals have enabled women, blacks and native Americans to gain legal rights, freedoms, economic opportunities, respect and relative security, whereas racist Israel's basic laws and policies ensure that the people of historic Palestine will continue to be harassed, oppressed, demonized and displaced in a continuing Nakba that has already targeted and destroyed countless Palestinian men, women and children, because they have been deemed the 'wrong' religion by the misnamed "Jewish State" that has been dividing and destroying historic Palestine for the past 60 years.

The rule of fair and just laws is a good foundation for any nation: The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 (4) gave United States citizenship to Native Americans, while halfway around the world, the ink was still relatively fresh on Balfour's formal endorsement of early Zionism on the condition that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine"(5).

Was Balfour aware that the father of modern Zionism, Theodor Hertzl, clearly encouraged some rather underhanded tactics based on bigotry that remain the basic philosophy of the misnamed "Jewish State" today? Tactics that clearly prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.

"In his diaries, Herzl made it clear that “the existing landed property was to be gently expropriated, any subsequent resale to the original owners was prohibited, and all immovables had to remain in exclusively Jewish hands. The poor population was to be worked across the frontier ‘unbemerkt’ (surreptitiously)… This population was to be refused all employment in the land of its birth… In 1901, the 5th Zionist Congress founded the Jewish National Fund. According to the by-laws of the JNF, acquired land became inalienable Jewish property and could no longer be sold or leased to non-Jews...”(6)

Never ever forget that when Israel declared itself a sovereign state in 1948, Native Americans legally had full and equal rights in America, plus tribal rights. Time lines are important to keep in mind. In equating the two very different tragedies in hopes of gaining American sympathy for the Palestinian cause, you actually prevent Americans from more fully understanding the escalating catastrophe that has been created by modern "Israel."

Never ever forget that in today's world, unlike even 100 years ago, we now have international law and known words coined to firmly condemn genocide. We also have the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 (7) which clearly states in Article 1:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

This year, this month of May, as our gardens bloom with spring flowers, this year is the 60th Year of Al-Nakba and Struggle to Return: Palestine 60 Years of Forced Exile (8). It is Time For Return (9). It is logical--it is legal--it is moral--it is right.

Notes:

(1) El-Amir, Ayman. "Sinkable Israel." http://weekly. ahram.org. eg/2008/895/ op2.htm
(2) Palestine Remembered http://www.palestineremembered.com/
Khalidi, Walid. Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians 1876-1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1991.
(3) Preamble to the Constitution of the United States http://www.ushistory.org/documents/constitution.htm
(4) Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/stories/0701_0146.html
(5) Balfour Declaration of 1917 http://www.yale. edu/lawweb/ avalon/mideast/ balfour.htm
(6) Sakhnini, Nizar. "The Zionist Project in Palestine: Colonial Settlement, Land Robbery and Ethnic Cleansing," 7 October 2005, http://www.al- awda.org/ zionists3. html
(7) Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.un. org/Overview/ rights.html
(8) The 60th Year of Al-Nakba and Struggle to Return http://www.al-awda.org/convention6/index.html
(9) Al-Awda Fact Sheet The Right To Return, a Basic Right Still Denied* http://www.al-awda.org/facts.html

5/10/2008 1:56:00 AM

There is Hope in Gaza

By Miko Peled

Israel's assault on the people of Gaza is so horrendous that it will not soon be forgotten. This vicious attempt by Israel to destroy an entire nation has tipped the scales for good and Zionism will forever be remembered as a blemish in the history of the Jewish people. The people of Gaza, however, give us hope and they will forever be remembered for their courage and resilience during these trying times.

The people of Gaza, while being deprived of rights and resources, still find the inner strength and the belief in their destiny to send their children to school. There are close to 800,000 children living in Gaza; they make up more than half of the population. The mothers and fathers and teachers of Gaza are creating hope where others see none, and they are building a future where some would claim there is none. But the price of education in Gaza is dear as the number of children targeted by Israeli violence rises continuously.

In a previous article ("It's time to visit Gaza") I quoted from journalist Charles Glass' The Tribes Triumphant and I wish to do so again here. Glass, unlike CNN or any other news agency is not obsessed with violence but is impressed as we all should be by the children: "Thousands and thousands of children's feet padding the dusty paths between their mother's front doors and their schools ... Beautiful youngsters so innocent that they could laugh even in Gaza." One can only imagine the mothers preparing lunches for these children, and making sure their clothes are ready and clean as they send them off to school. But the road to school in Gaza is an uncertain one, and risk of death by Israeli death squads is imminent.

I was deeply moved by Ramzy Baroud's recent piece about his late father ("There are no checkpoints in heaven"). Clearly the man was head and shoulders above most people and clearly he recognized the need to defy the occupation and maintain his dignity as a man and as a Palestinian. He paid dearly for this, because there is nothing more threatening to Israel's occupation than a man who would defy its brutal force.

Ramzy's story is similar to that of another friend of mine who is also from Gaza and who was also prevented from visiting his dying father. This gentleman is a physician and is devoted to saving the lives of children. He is an inspiring man of deep religious conviction and optimism. When I visit Gaza, as I am determined to do before this year is out, I hope that they will be able to join me. In fact, I hope to be able to go with a delegation.

For over 60 years Gaza has proven itself to be an endless source of optimism and courage. Even with a population density that is among the highest in the world, and a lack of resources that seems hopeless, and even with a brutal occupation and severe restrictions that have been part of life for Gazans since the destruction of Palestine some 60 years ago, still Gazans fight on. Resistance to the occupation, education and steadfastness are only a few of the hallmarks of the people of this ancient land.

I recall the first time I heard first-hand about the type of torture that is the daily bread of people in Gaza. It was more than 20 years ago, while I was living in Japan as a student, a young Israeli who I mistook for a friend shared the following story from his days of service as an officer in Israel's "glorious" naval special-forces, or as Israelis call it, "The Commando." He told us how, as a matter of routine he and his unit would patrol the Gaza coast aboard their naval warships. As they came upon a Gazan fishing boat they would stop the boat and force the fishermen to jump into the water. Then, they would blow up the boat. Once the boat was blown to bits, the Israeli sailors would shift their attention to the helpless fishermen in the water. Under gunpoint, one by one, they would force the fishermen count from one to a hundred. One by one these men, who eventually could no longer hold themselves above water, drowned to death. This, the young Israeli officer said, was done "to instill fear in the Arabs, and to teach them who was boss."

This young Israeli officer was one of Israel's "finest," the product of the finest Zionist education system. He saw no wrong in letting men drown in front of his eyes, and felt no urge to save a helpless human being from certain death. But he is not alone in his disregard for human life.

The Israel newspaper Haaretz's online edition recently published that "[Israeli] Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday defended the Israel Defense Forces' operations against Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip as necessary for the advancement of peace negotiations." According to Haaretz, Livni said: "I would expect that when civilians are harmed by deliberate terrorism, people won't make a comparison between them and Palestinian civilians that are harmed during Israel's defense operations." Furthermore, according to Haaretz: "Livni expressed concern at what she termed a growing trend of de-legitimization of Israel in world public opinion. Livni does not see the connection between Israeli actions and the reaction of the world community."

Livni is no different than the young officer who murdered Gazan fishermen. She and other members of the Israeli cabinet along with the military top brass see no problem with Israeli forces killing Palestinian children, and they seek and often receive the support of the world community. In their minds, Palestinians do not deserve the same rights as Israeli Jews, and therefore it is permissible to torture them and murder their children. What is not permissible is to criticize Israel for the killing innocent Palestinians. Livni and her comrades are disturbed that the rest of us do not see this as clearly as they do.

But rather than give attention to the lies and accusations of Zionist militants, we would do well to focus our attention to the people of Gaza and in particular to the children who are forced to live in this concentration camp. These children and their brave and caring parents represent hope in its truest form. They need courageous people who, like Ramzy Baroud's late father, are willing to defy the brutal Zionist regime but who unlike him are free of the restraints of that regime. People who live in Israel and the US need to stand by the people of Gaza and help them to tear down the walls of this ghetto.

-Miko Peled is an Israeli peace activist and writer living in the US. He is co founder of the Elbanna Peled Foundation in memory of Smadar Elhanan and Abir Aramin. Peled is the son of the late Israeli General Matti Peled. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Contact him at: mikopeled@aol.com.

5/10/2008 1:56:00 AM

Persecution of Palestinian Christians

By Dr. Elias Akleh

Greek Orthodox Christian celebrations of Saturday's Holy Fire and Sunday’s Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem late April were violated and spoiled by aggressive interruptions of Israeli army and police. Instead of Christian worshippers, armed Israeli soldiers crowded the entrance to the Church. Instead of lighted candles, police batons were raised. Instead of musical bands playing their instruments, Israeli soldiers brandished their automatic weapons, and instead of celebrating, Palestinian Christians were confronted by Israeli police thugs, were beaten, and many were arrested.

Since the early hours of the day hundreds of armed Israeli forces descended on the old city of Jerusalem, erected steel barriers closing its gates, established checkpoints within the city’s narrow streets leading to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and installed closed captioned video cameras to monitor worshippers. The Old City was, again, under occupation by Israeli military and police. Palestinian Christian worshippers from West Bank, from Gaza Strip, from 1948 occupied Palestinian cities, and even local Jerusalemite Palestinian Christians were denied access to the church of the Holy Sepulcher and to the St. Jacob Church to celebrate Easter. They were told that they had to obtain a military permit in order pray in the church. Many Christian worshippers, who insisted on performing their religious rights free from any military restrictions as they had done throughout the many past generations, tried to force their way through the Israeli barriers, but were met with savage beating, with tear gassing, and with arrest.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate denounced the Israeli measures denying Christian
worshippers access to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Official spokesman to the
Patriarchate father Issa Misleh said the Patriarchate denounces the measures taken by the
Israeli security forces against Christian worshippers during Holy Saturday celebrations.
Father Misleh said, “The manner in which the Israeli police officers dealt with worshippers heading to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Greek Orthodox Monastery to perform religious duties has gone beyond limits. Thousands of worshippers where forbidden to walk in the streets of the old city and many of them, including women and elderly civilians, were physically assaulted.”

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, himself, criticized the Israeli suppressive measures stating: “I refuse such actions against my congregation. The Greek Orthodox Church will cooperate with the rest of the Churches in joint action to put a stop to what happened today and to guarantee the Religious freedom for the people”. Church officials explained that praying is the right of all the people and no one has the right to prevent worshippers from conducting their ritual and religious duties especially in the City of Jerusalem.

The following press release was issued by different local Christian organizations criticizing the measures taken by the Israeli forces during the religious celebration, where Christians were harassed, singled out and prevented from worshipping freely in violation of the “Status Quo Law” that has existed for hundreds of years to regulate the different religious celebrations:

"The Laity Committee in the Holy Land/East Jerusalem - 26 April 2008
Christians Harassed in Jerusalem during Orthodox Easter Celebrations
During the Orthodox Easter celebrations, Palestinian Christians were denied their right to worship freely in Jerusalem; they were not allowed to arrive to the Orthodox Patriarchate where celebrations normally take place, and they were not allowed to reach the St. Jacob Cathedral near the Christian Quarter of the Old City. Since the early hours of the day, the Israeli police had set up barricades at the Gates of the Old City, and when Christian worshipers arrived the Israeli police started shouting at them and pushing them, and there was an incident when the police threw tear gas and beat the Christian worshipers with clubs.
It was obvious that Christians were singled out, compared to Jewish worshipers who arrive in hundreds of thousands to celebrate Pesach in Jerusalem. The number of Palestinian Christians who arrive to the Old City for Easter does not exceed two thousand persons, and this is a manageable number that can be accommodated. Moreover, there is no need for the police to interfere anyway, because the celebrations have been going on smoothly throughout the years, and there has never been an incident of violence or damage that warrants the closure.
The worshipers were stunned to see that a statement had been circulated by the police and posted on the wall of the Patriarchate, saying that whomever wants to worship in St. Jacob Cathedral must have a permit. This is indeed a flagrant violation of the rights of Christians to worship freely, and what makes the violation more dramatic is that it took place in Jerusalem on a holy day.
The presence of Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City, and the celebration procedures, are part of a Law that has been in place since 300 years. That law, known as the Status Quo Agreement, regulates the celebrations, and according to that Law, Christians have the right to access the Patriarchate and St. Jacob Cathedral. Preventing worshipers from entering is a violation of the Status Quo Agreement.
Such violations by the police should stop. The steps taken against Christians are illegal. We call upon the Consulates, Embassies, Christian organizations, and human rights organizations, to intervene immediately, so the harassment of Christians in Jerusalem will stop."

Religious freedom has been restricted by the Israeli military since its illegal occupation of the city. Jerusalem, a holy city for the three major religions has been off limit to the local Muslim as well as Christian Palestinians but not to Jewish Israelis. Pictures of Muslim worshippers kneeling in prayer behind the Israeli military checkpoints have been widespread in media resources all over the globe. Christian worshippers have no better luck, unfortunately media does not capture their hardships except in the major Christian celebrations such as Easter and Christmas. Christian Palestinian Jerusalemites suffer the most because Israel is adopting a silent policy of evacuating Jerusalem from its Christian citizens to make it a Jewish-only city.

While Muslim and Christian religious freedom is severely restricted by the Israeli government, Jewish Israelis are given the ultimate religious freedom to the point of intoxication. Jewish Israeli worshippers are given free access to the narrow streets of the Old City. They rush through the streets chanting and dancing loudly without any respect to the feelings of the local citizens. They smash the goods of any open Palestinian shops. Palestinians learnt to close their shops and stick to their homes during such extravagant Jewish celebration. Israeli worshippers spend most of the day and night dancing and drinking alcohol and blatantly provoking Palestinian residents of the city.

Armed Israeli soldiers can also been seen during these Jewish religious celebrations. Yet their presence is not to secure order and peace, but to protect the extremist Jewish Israeli worshippers from any Palestinian reaction to their provocations and disturbances of peace. Palestinian Jerusalemites had barely forgotten the insulting provocations of the religiously extremist Jewish Israelis and the harassment of Israeli forces a week before during the Jewish celebration of their Passover. In contrast, Christian Palestinians are denied access to their holy places during one of their holiest day of the year.

The presence of hundreds of Israeli armed soldiers and police forces in the city is clear evidence that Jerusalem is an occupied Palestinian city. The Israeli claim of securing religious freedom to worship and to have easy access to the holy places for the followers of the three religions in the city of Jerusalem is a mere propaganda. The suppressive measures of the Israeli forces against peaceful Christian worshippers during Easter are clear contradictions to this claim. These suppressive measures indicate a deliberate form of religious persecution that stems from the extremist religious ideology of God’s chosen people and the rejection of all others (Goyims).

-Dr. Elias Akleh is an Arab writer of Palestinian descent, born in the town of Beit-Jala. Currently he lives in the US. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

5/10/2008 1:56:00 AM