Monday, May 16, 2011

Round up on Palestinian affairs, Arab affairs & international affairs

Round up: Nakba, Gaza, Rafah border, Egypt, Beyonce & More








Gaza, May 16, Ofcourse, I will start by rounding up Nakba historical events yesterday. Palestinians, Arabs and internationals marched in masses yesterday in many countries commemorating the Palestinian that happened 63 years ago. Nakba day is when nearly 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes by armed Jewish gangs who confiscated their lands and homes, captured many of them, killed many of them and forced many of them to leave their own homes.


Starting from Gaza, hundreds of Gazans marched in masses reaching a few important borders:

1- Rafah border: Man Gazans protested there in parallel with my Egyptian activists who also showed up on the Egyptian side of Rafah to show support to their Palestinian brothers and sisters.

2- Many Gazans also marched in Khan Younis till they reached the border there.

3- Many Gazans marched in masses reaching Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, where Erez checkpoint is located (links between Gaza and The West Bank).

Ofcourse, Nakba events and the preparation for a 3rd intifada scared Israelis since a while ago when they pressured Facebook to close the 3rd intifada’s page on Facebook because thousands were liking the page every 5 seconds. Then, they reached out for many countries and started media propaganda campaigns to stop it. When Gazans approached Erez checkpoint and advanced a little, the Israeli forces there went ballistic and started firing tear-gas, bullets and tank shells on them. One Gazan was martyred and nearly 190 got injured. Many were poisoned, most of the injured were children, 3 were critically injured and among those was a journalist named Mohammed Othman who was directly shot by the Israeli forces.

In the West bank, 1 martyr fell and 100s got injured throught the West Bank after being shot. Israel used many tactics for cracking down on those un-armed Palestinian youth, they dressed plain clothes and also disguised as journalists to arrest Palestinian un-armed youth.
Palestinians and Lebanese people also showed up in Maroon Al Ras, again the Israeli forces there near the border line went crazy and killed 10 of them and injured many others.

In Golan heights, also many Palestinians and Syrians showed up. Israeli forces went crazy and killed 5 of them and injured many others.

In Jordan, many Palestinians and Jordanians marched to show support of Nakba until the Jordanian police cracked down on them injuring many.

In Egypt, thousands showed up in Tahrir square raising and waving the Palestinian and Egyptian flag in a spectacular view showing support of Nakba. Then, many showed up infront of the Israeli embassy to protest and demand its removal. Many decided to sit-in until the Egyptian army cracked down on them and arrest many including two Egyptian bloggers, twitter sensations and tahrir sq. revolutionists:

1- Tarek Al Shalaby (@tarekshalaby on twitter, plz follow him if you are on twitter and make #FreeTarekShalaby trend) and join this facebook page for his release:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/freetarekshalaby
 
2- Mosaab El Shamy (@Mosaaberizing on twitter, plz follow him if you are on twitter and make #FreeMosaabElShamy trend) and join this facebook page for his release:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Free-Mosaab-ElShamy/211994268821603?sk=info

Help us demand their freedom now Please.

Really funny Reality checks, no they are not jokes, they r real:


1- Israel filed a complaint to the UN saying Palestinians were “violent” while commemorating Nakba day. Let me remind you that Israel killed 15+ yesterday and injured 100s of un-armed Palestinian youth.

2- Bashar Al Assad, Syrian fascist president, showed his anger towards Israel’s brutal attacks against the Palestinians in Golan Heights. So, its okay to kill your own people but when Israel wants to shoot them you get angry??!!!! EXCUSE ME?!.

I get asked about Rafah border nearly every day. Any new news? Any new facilitation? Its opened right? Gaza isn’t sieged anymore right? And so many other questions.


Clearly, many misconceptions are flying in the air and they need to be cleared. Gaza’s siege is mainly imposed by Israel and was (and still a bit is) backed by Egyptian government. So even if Rafah is widely opened Gaza will still be sieged by Israel. Rafah border opens on old regulations where only 3 categories can dare try to get out of Gaza:

1- Who seek medical care outside (not all cases, just those who are in critical state).

2- Who seek education abroad and own a visa.

3- Who owns either accommodation permits or foreign nationalities.

Even those previously mentioned cases cant guarantee a definite exit, they can be denied and returned for any reason and sometimes for no reason. Facilitation was spoken about by the Egyptian government but nothing took place yet. Egypt and Hamas both want Rafah border to be controlled by Egyptians and Palestinians only. Israeli will not approve –ofcourse- and will attempt to disrupt this by either occupying the border or bombing it.

Israel fired warning shots against the Spirit of Rachel Corrie, a Malaysian ship carrying a humanitarian aid cargo to Gaza. People on board are fine and safe gladly but they were worried when both an Israeli armed ship and Egyptian ship were surrounding it and going around it.

Here are some link with more info:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24783

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180131.html


Ofcourse Egypt’s uprising rocked our world for so many days, many of us were glued to the TV cheering for tahrir square revolutionists and praying for their victory. It was so inspiring that many were touched but yet many had the thought of “KACHING”. They use everything and monetize every huge event so they made books, documentaries, films and so many other things. But come on, we are wise enough to know who is supporting Egypt’s uprise and who is trying to just make money out of it.


Beyonce, a very clever American entertainer\artist, decided to immediately benefit from this and recorded a song called “Who rules the world (Girls)” and guess what: The video clip’s idea is a heroin who starts a feminine revolution to rule the world and she even wwears something very similar to the folkloric Egyptian Pharaoh outfit, hmmm sounds familiar? Check this teaser out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrYy75PUbnE&feature=player_embedded

One Last thing, I will be interviewed live with Dr. Mustafa Al Bargothi, Dr. Eyad Sarraj and Joseph Dana to talk about Nakba events with Ismail Khalidi from the IMEU, tune in on this link:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/imeu/2011/05/16/the-nakba-day-protests-and-their-significance

Ok, Thats all for today. Thanks for reading.

Follow me on twitter: @Omar_Gaza and @GazawiNews

Follow the IMEU on twitter: @theIMEU

And on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/theIMEU            

Follow Joseph Dana on twitter: @ibnezra

Love and peace to all,

Omar 4m Gaza

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Gaza's avant garde beauty revealed

Revealing Gaza's avant garde beauty

When you remember Gaza or hear of it the first few things that come to your mind are: siege, suffering, power cuts, water-fuel-supplies shortages, war, martyrs, injuries, horrible living conditions, challenges, desperation, biggest open-air prison and similar stuff.

But what you don’t know is that Gaza is much more than this, Gaza holds beauty. Unfortunately Gaza’s beauty is covered and deformed by Israel’s constant barbaric attacks on Gaza that leaves no choice or time for anyone to stop and think about such unique beauty. I think it will do Gazans, Palestinians and pro-Palestinians good to read and watch something good and happy and beautiful about Gaza for a change, therefore I decided to dedicate this post to Gaza’s beauty by revealing Gaza’s avant garde beauty in a number of pictures below.

Pictures shedding a light on Gaza’s natural beauty taken by the amazing and talented Gazan Phtographer, Mohammed Asad:


























Photos taken by the artistic Wasseem Sarraj:






Miscellaneous:











P.S. It was very hard to find photos of happy children in Gaza so I tried to collect a few. If you dont believe me, google "Gaza children" and see that all the pictures are of devastated Gazan children. Since this post is supposed to be happy and beautiful I will end it by saying I hope you enjoyed it.