Samer Issawi is free, renewed belief in popular & nonviolent resistance

Samer Issawi is free, renewed belief in popular & nonviolent resistance

Gaza, December 25, Samer Tariq Issawi, born December 16, 1979 in Issawiyeh, north east of Jerusalem, is a Palestinian iconic hero of nonviolent resistance. On 15 April 2002, Samer was arrested by the Israeli army in Ramallah as part of “Operation Defensive Shield” during the Second Intifada alleging he was affiliated with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Nearly 10 years later, in October 2011, Issawi, then serving the ninth year of a 30-year jail sentence, he was released along with 1027 Palestinian prisoners as a result of an Egypt-brokered deal between Hamas and the Israeli government for the return of Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas on Gaza’s borderline. However, on 7 July 2012, he was arrested again.  His lawyer Andre Rosenthal stated that he had been taking his car to be fixed at a garage in the West Bank.

He was convicted of an 8 months sentence so he went on an open hunger strike since August, 2012.

Palestinian political prisoner and resistance icon Samer Issawi was released on Monday after spending over 17 months in the Israeli occupation detention centre Shatta Prison.

"Samer Issawi's family was ordered by Israeli terror police earlier today not to celebrate and to take down the flags raised at their home," according to The Free Samer Issawi Campaign page on Facebook.

Issawi ended his 265+ day long hunger strike on 23, April 2013 after accepting a deal brokered by Israeli and Palestinian officials to serve eight months on charges of violating bail conditions for an earlier release.

The law, which has been in place since the end of the British mandate in Palestine in 1948, allows for the arrest of Palestinians if they are deemed a "threat" to Israel's national security.

 Palestinian hunger strikes have posed a new challenge to the Israeli government, which has come under international criticism for its practice of detaining prisoners without trial.

Samer endured hell from his warders happen to be the occupiers of his land. They tried every possible physical and mental torture strategies to stop him from hunger striking but they failed. He stayed strong, he represented steadfastness and preferred death than giving in to injustice.

Samer said it loudly to the Electronic Intifada: “ I would prefer to die on my hospital bed to being deported from Jerusalem. Jerusalem is my soul and my life”, and he meant every word. He defied occupation with nothing but an empty stomach and won, he never compromised. They offered him a deal of being released and exiled to Gaza, he refused, he insisted on returning back home to Jerusalem and he got what he wanted. His defiance gave hope to the Palestinian masses inside and out of Palestine, he reignited the spark of popular resistance and proved that nonviolent resistance actually works. His release inspired festivities and celebrations across Palestine.

Samer’s family got popular too, they showed the same defiance when they talked to the media but the rising star was his sister Shireen Issawi, who represented the strength of Palestinian women. Shireen never gave up, she fought viciously for her brother on social media and stood by him every step of the way. Shireen became a role model and a symbol of strength and endurance, just like her brother.

Medhat Issawi, brother of Samer Issawi, was released only a few days before Samer after spending nearly 20 years off and on in Israeli jails for participating in protests and intifadas.

It was definitely a happy day for Palestine and a historic one nonetheless. Gaza united with the West bank and was anxiously waiting for Samer’s release. It was a national celebration and Gazans made sure they are a part of it and sent their love and support to the Issawi family even though many couldn’t track his release through live coverage due to daily power outages.

Samer Issawi is free, Palestine will be free.

Gaza's 1st lion cubs die after 3 days of birth

A Different Roar in Gaza

 
Written by: Omar Ghraieb

This week, the Gaza Strip witnessed the unprecedented birth of two African lion cubs at the Beesan Zoo, a facility in the northern part of the densely populated Strip that was built and opened by the Islamist Hamas movement. But just three days later, the cubs died, from unknown causes.

The mother lioness, who was discovered to be pregnant nearly six months ago, received extensive medical care, including vaccines, vitamins and good nutrition, before delivering the cubs naturally.

“Immediately after their birth, both cubs were moved into a warmer room to get the necessary care and they were regularly checked by a professional team of local veterinarians,” Shadi Hamad, general manager of the zoo, told The Media Line. “We called the cubs ‘Fajr’ and ‘Sijeel’ -- ‘Fajr’ after Hamas’s Fajr 5 rocket that was launched into Israel during the second war on Gaza, and ‘Sijeel’ after the name that Hamas decided to call the second war on the Strip that took place in November of 2012.”

Sijeel is also mentioned in the Qur’an as fiery rocks that rain down on unbelievers.
The birth of the cubs had taken Gaza by storm, with their pictures going viral on social media. Palestinians say it’s nice to have some good news out of the area that is better known as the site of heavy clashes between Israelis and Palestinians.

“The lioness got pregnant one year ago but suffered a miscarriage during ‘Pillar of Defense’ in November of 2012,” explained Nahed Al-Majdoob, head of security at Beesan Zoo, referring to an eight-day military incursion in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces with hundreds of Israeli air strikes on Gaza. Hamas fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities. “She suffered psychologically, which affected her physically.”

The parents of the cubs are the only lions in Gaza. They were smuggled in from Egypt four years ago, when they were only three months old, through the Rafah tunnels, which previously existed on the border between the Palestinian territory and Egypt. The Egyptian and Israeli armies have since destroyed most of these smuggling tunnels.

“They suffered at first because they were accustomed to the tropical weather of Africa, their origin, while Gaza has a cold winter,” Hamad said. “But they survived.”

The new cubs, too, had to be warmed due to the current cold temperatures in northern Gaza.

“The zoo isn’t well equipped to raise two cubs,” Al-Majdoob told The Media Line. “Therefore, the Hamas Ministry of Health employed a team of professional local vets to track the health of the cubs and their medical care.”
Gaza’s three small zoos include apes, monkeys, parrots, lions, snakes, ostriches, various kinds of birds and chickens.

Mohammed Jumua owned a small zoo that was completely destroyed by an Israeli rocket in 2008.

“I lost everything,” Jumua told The Media Line. “Most of my animals died. I paid extra to get the animals smuggled into Gaza from Egypt. My collateral damage reached half a million dollars. I was devastated and broke.”

Dr. Saud Shawa, owner and founder of Vetco, Gaza’s first veterinary services center and clinic, said that Gaza doesn’t have the proper capabilities to raise cubs or lions. He predicted that if not done carefully and correctly, the lions could die or become dangerous. His prediction came true three days later.

“Cubs need special care, vaccines, nutrition and vitamins. Not all of them are available in Gaza,” Dr. Shawa told The Media Line. “Raising lions isn’t easy and needs to be done professionally and safely based on a background and knowledge of that tropical world.”

First appeared on: The Media Line

Chapter 2: Gaza still under Israeli attacks, 16 killed

Chapter 2: Gaza still under Israeli attacks, 16 killed

Chapter two:

Gaza, March 11, Gaza remains under Israeli attacks for the second day in a row, while Islamic Jihad is still on “retaliation” mode. Another exchange of rockets that leads to 3 killed and many others injured in Gaza, a few injuries in Israeli settlements.

Again, Israeli warplanes raided different areas in Gaza starting from Rafah in the south and ending by Beit Hanoun in the north. Israeli F16s raided a motorbike; Israeli Apaches raided a tuk-tuk, Israeli tanks shelled eastern Gaza, and Israeli armed boats opened random and sporadic fire across Gaza shore.

This second day of Israeli attacks on Gaza left 3 killed and a few injured. Medics announced the death of Yehia Dahashan, 27, died after a serious injury due to an Israeli air raid on March 10. Medics also released the names of the 3 killed Gazans of the second day of Israeli attacks on Gaza:

Hussein Al Bureim, 51, and Mansour Abu Nasira, 21, and Mahdi Abu Shaweesh, 24.

Medics announced the discovery of a new body in Zayton Neighborhood, Gaza, after an Israeli air strike on a free zone there. Ahmed Deeb Salem, 23, with that the death toll rises to 16 in two days and 33 others injured.

Israel showed clear signs of panics today and that came in the following steps:

1-     Schools closed for further notice due to security concerns.

2-      Ben Gurion Airport closed due to security concerns. “Unprecedented”

3-      Israelis and settlers rushed to the “secured” shelters\bunkers.

4-      YouTube removed a video showing Islamic Jihad’s new rocket-launcher.

5-      Israeli hackers tried to hack Gaza’s internet network.

Ismail Haniyah, Prime Minister of Gaza’s De Facto government, released a very short statement to the press saying: “Haniyah is doing intensive calls with many parties to halt the Israeli attacks on Gaza”.

On the other hand, Mahmoud Abbas, Head of the Palestinian Authority, requested the Palestinians to maintain truce\cease fire so as to not give Israel a reason to commit crimes. He held Israel accountable for its crimes against humanity in Gaza, he also accused Israel of destroying Gaza’s infrastructure.

Israeli officials rushed to announce –in an indirect\official- way their will to cease fire if all parties can stick to it and to announce that they aren’t interested in any further escalation. They blamed Hamas for the latest Israeli attacks on Gaza and expressed their satisfaction behind the nature of the targeting in the last Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Palestinian officials in Gaza blamed Israel for breaking the cease fire first by the first Israeli air strike on Friday that left 2 killed. They considered it a provocation and asked the world to hold Israel accountable for their massacres in Gaza and Palestine.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, broke her silence by a very short statement released to the press, she said: “The European Union is following –with concern- the escalation of violence in Gaza and the Southern of Israel”.

To top things off, Gaza’s Energy Authority, announced that Gaza’s only power plant will be shutting down –completely- today, for the 3^rd time in a month, because of the lack of fuel. Gaza will sink under darkness again, but will be lit by the Israeli war machines.

Can you imagine yourself living in such drier situation? Well, this is what citizens of Gaza have to live through.

Palestinians in Gaza resorted to social media to get their voices heard and report what is happening in Gaza. 

However, the lack of electric power and the endless attempts of Israeli hackers to hack Gaza’s network left citizens of Gaza in a blackout.

Just in: The body of 

Stay tuned….

Omar from Gaza

Revealing "The Guardian" lies: Hamas didnt stop Christmas in Gaz

Revealing "The Guardian" lies: Hamas didnt stop Christmas in Gaza

Gaza, December 26, I can’t help but share my fury after reading “The Guardian” and seeing their false and misleading article and how its full of mistakes. Let’s dissect their mistakes one by one:

1-      Their headline: Gaza Christians long for days before Hamas canceled Christmas. Correction: Hamas didn’t cancel Christmas and Christians celebrate it every year. In fact, last night Latin Patriarchate Church held a mass celebrating Christmas and flocks of Christians attended it.

2-      They published the article on 23^{rd of} December. Correction: Christmas in on the 25^th.

3-      They mentioned that over 1.5 million of Gazans live in Gaza. Correction: According to Statistics centers in Gaza, over 1.8 million Gazans live in Gaza

4-      Christians are fewer than 1,400. Correction: Christians in Gaza are between 2,000 and 3,000 according to Al Arabiya.net and Wikipedia.

5-      Hamas attacks Christians in Gaza. Correction: Attacks on Christians in Gaza were carried out by individuals or extremist groups not by Hamas or the regular people of Gaza.

6-      The Guardian mentioned in an indirect way that racism is carried out against Christians in Gaza. Correction: Christians in Gaza live and pray freely, they are treated with equality.

7-      The Guardian wanted to show how the Palestinian division affected Christians mostly. Correction: The Palestinian division affected all Palestinians.

8-      The Guardian failed to mention the repercussions of the Israeli unjust illegal siege on Gaza and chose to blame Hamas for everything.

9-      They blamed the bad economy in Gaza on Hamas not on the Israeli illegal blockade.

10  They didn’t mention that Israel puts age limitation for Gaza’s Christians. They let those who are under 16 and over 40 only visit Bethlehem.

Need I right more?

If you aren’t convinced yet, I wrote an article for the media line about Christmas in Gaza and how Christians celebrated it, check it here:

http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=34046

The 3 Palestinian scams: Rafah border, Reconciliation & Electricity

Scams are no fun, specially local ones



Gaza, July 31, When you hear the word “scam” the first thing comes to your head is the hundreds of emails we get into our junk mail on daily basis either promoting money laundry or just selling bogus stuff. We all detest scams so much, but what if those scams were local and focal to the extent that they control your daily life? I bet you would detest them even more.

Our first and biggest most hilarious scam is\was the reconciliation, back in April Hamas and Fatah collided to come up with the most shameful scam in the Palestinian history: so-called reconciliation. The news of the reconciliation initial agreement broke suddenly and people around the world “including news agencies” were sharing whispers on how sudden and strange the news came. We heard nothing about preparations or initial meetings or nothing. We just heard “what we considered back then” the good news.

While Palestinians were busy celebrating, Hamas and Fatah were assigning dates and meetings to make this reconciliation final and start working on practical steps, but it never happened. They kept postponing the date for creating the transitional government saying they needed more time –more time maybe to benefit from this hoax- and people continued celebrating.

Apparently March15th movement and protests in Palestine were creating an international buzz which led Hamas and Fatah to come up with hoax to shut us up. They deceived us and few weeks ago both conflicted and STILL CONFLICTED parties Hamas and Fatah announced that the reconciliation reached a dead end after Hamas’s refusal of Salam Fayad and Fatah’s persistence on assigning Salam Fayad to the new transitional government. I feel ashamed because I was one of those who believed this hoax and thought that it might actually work –how naïve- and actually fought those who said it’s a hoax and asked me and Palestinians to becareful and not to believe in this.

Second Scam: After Egypt’s unprecedented revolution and victory in toppling Mubarak and his old regime, media outlets rushed to quote Egyptian officials who vowed to help end the siege on Gaza by opening Rafah border with less restrictions and adopting a new approach towards Gazans.

Another hoax well planned and advertised by the “new” regime in Egypt which is proving day after day that its not really different than Mubarak, same regime but different names. Media outlets then started singing and chanting about Rafah border’s great opening and that Gazans can easily travel and started predicting the future by saying “Rafah border opened, it’s the first step towards breaking the siege”. What was really funny is that I woke up everyday reading those headlines and laughing my heart out. Nothing changed at Rafah border. The first few days of this alleged new system failed epically. Then Hamas and the new Egyptian regime sank in bickering and fights and at the end Gazans were left sieged and bound to Gaza with minimal hope of traveling.

*Drum rolls*

The third and final ridiculous scam: lessening the daily long power cuts in Gaza by operating the third generator –Yeah Right- this made headlines to all local news networks.


Gazan officials in the power and energy Authority in Gaza resorted to local agencies to allegedly let Gazans know some good news about easing the daily long power cuts. Many officials said that the third generator in Gaza’s only power plant will be operated which will lessen the daily power cuts. Many Gazan officials backed up each other and kept their stories straight. Then they came up with a new scenario, “Gaza’s power plant has only 3 generators, two of them work and the third was completely damaged and took a lifetime and so much money to fix, it will be operated during the summer and Ramadan only”. Everyone believed these allegations until they saw no change in the daily power cuts. If anything, the power cuts were expanding and this was driving Gazans mad. The weather is super hot here in Gaza during summer and tomorrow is Ramadan which will require us to fast till 7 pm Gaza local time, the sun goes down at 7:30 – 8 pm in Gaza which leaves us with many hours of heat each day.


Ramadan will definitely be a challenge but Gazans are very used to this and we have seen even worse. But what makes us mad are those continuous and shameless local Palestinian scams made by Palestinian leaders and officials. Its like your own people are degrading the level of your intelligence, wouldn’t you be pissed off?


I guess that leads us to one thing: Never believe a Palestinian leader until you see practical and real steps taken on ground, even then don’t believe him and wait till the steps are made on a continuous basis, even then don’t believe him and wait till he finishes all his steps, even then don’t believe him and wait till he turns to the media to say what you believed in was a complete lie. Oh well, in the end, just don’t believe any Palestinian leader when it comes to internal issues, believe your instincts and experiences.