In solidarity with the people of Palestine
The Birds Outside the Cage
Terror and Freedom on the West Bank
By ELIZA ERNSHIRE
Ramallah, West Bank.
The Israeli army arrived in our street at 2 am yesterday morning.
For the past two weeks they have been in Ramallah every night and we knew it was only a matter of time before we would directly experience their invasion tactics. Every morning we had discussed where they had been the night before and how much damage they had inflicted. We had discussed whom they had arrested and who had managed to escape. We had listened with utmost sympathy to the stories of those caught in the apartment blocks that were being searched: to the women who had no time to cover themselves decently, to their husbands taken in nightdress and without shoes.
We had listened to the explosions from neighboring areas of Ramallah and had wondered not if but when our street would be targeted.
It was on August 14 at 2 am.
The only warning we received was a phone-call 10 seconds before the army arrived, telling us that the Israelis were at the Legislative Council, 5 minutes away.
We were still up as my flat-mate was traveling at 5:30 am and we were packing and talking about visa issues and what to do if her visa was denied.
The phone call and then the horrible sound of 10 jeeps and 2 tanks and an arrest-van.
And instant spotlights and shooting and explosions.
Then rocks hurled at our door (aren't Palestinian youths imprisoned for years for throwing rocks?), and four Israeli soldiers at the door with their faces painted and all pointing M-16's at our heads. They were shouting at us in Hebrew, ordering us outside.
We decided that we would distract them if we could to give any poor hunted man as much time as possible to escape.
We also gave the neighbors some relief by giving voice to their anger; a privilege for which they would have been shot.
The soldiers of the two jeeps at our doorstep got sick of dealing with us after 10 minutes and as flares exploded over our heads and heavy gun-fire filled the open paddock next to our house, they began to shout at us to get inside.
We went in and sat on the verandah overlooking the paddock in the spotlight of three other jeeps while soldiers raked the field with bullets. They were shouting at the empty field in the vain and arrogant belief that some wanted man would suddenly appear and they would receive the promotion for his capture. We were shouting back.
They said "come out!" so we did... rest here.
posted by Unknown @ 10:01 AM
5 Comments:
Well , if mr. Mirvat chose to raise "Palestinian" issues here , it worth my reaction.
eliza_ernshire@yahoo.co.uk
The article is a little bit long , so i shall not citate it , but write some key points .
1. There is no reason at all to compare the situation at Judea & Samaria ( so called West Bank ) .
2. There is a little room to compare Hamas and Hizballa : last year we left Gaza completely , but Hamas started to fire Kassam and the "freedom-seekers" chose Hamas . After that they complain.
Also Hizballa , after we left Lebanon completely , kept on military presence and provocations , inventing "Shebaa farms" problem . I've heard also about "7 villages problem". Give the thief a finger - he will want a complete hand !
3. There was no Israeli presence in Ramallah 1994-2002 ! But when the infamous Arafat ,instead of signing peace treaty with Barak , or at least keeping negociations go on, started Intifada - Israel had to intervene .
Do "Palestinians" ( I call them Arabs in Eretz Israel ) want freedom or they want become shahids for 72 virgins ?
What does the freedom mean for them ?
There is so much to comment on what emil has just said that I almost dont know where to start. So I will limit myself to one salient point.
Stop this insane argument that we left Gaza so everything should be peachy dandy and the Palestinians have no grievance anymore and their continued resistance is only proof of how evil they are. This is such CRAP.
We occupied Gaza for almost 40 years. We left it a tattered, poor, economically unviable proposition. Dont forget that for almost 40 years, 30% of Gaza, was occupied by 3% or so of its population and that was the Israeli settlers living in plush luxury next to 97% of Gaza people living in abject poverty. And since we have left we have lay siege, led incursions, carried out assassinations and kidnappings, undermined the democratically elected government, cut off funding and allowed no real economic activity.
Everything that happens in Gaza is still controlled and determined by Israel. We have left, sure, but all we did was close the prison doors and begin gaurding them from the outside instead of from the inside.
If I didnt know better, I would think leaving Gaza was a nice ruse to say to the outside world, "hey we left and look, we told you so, those palestinians blah blah blah.. now we really have to take care of business.. we gave them a chance but they dont want to take advantage of it to be peaceful."
Am I crazy? Dont think so, cuz just as Hamas and Fatah were starting to discuss a unity government, which could be a major step forward also for us, we start kidnapping some more democratically elected government officials which of course was going to torpedo the talks about unity government.
When are we going to learn? Lets stop pointing fingers at everyone else for a moment and lets take a look in the mirror. I gaurantee you, if we do that, and truly do that, then our so-called 'enemies' may start to look in the mirror also and all of a sudden we can see each other thru different eyes.
well mr.
it's Ms. mirvat first of all, you lived with arabs for so long, learn our names.
first of all i can raise any issue i want anywhere i like, if you don't like the topic you can kindly go away.
he's not the infamous arafat, he's Mr. Arafat to you. you're well aware that the bogus peace treaty was in no way a decent treaty as it left the PALESTINIANS with no control over their borders, air or water, kept enough settlements (jewish only illegal occupation settlements) and basically kept the palestinians in a prison.
i find it amazing that you all work with the logic of "we gave them gaza what else do they want" we gave them shabaa.. give the thief.. your people sir are the thieves and you're required by law and by UN resolution to give back what you have illegally ceased.
it's funny we call you the invaders in occupied palestine, sometimes the enemy and that goes for all arabs believe me.
if you want to know what freedom means check my last post,
meanwhile this might show you who the thief is, if you developped a tolerance to read.
"Deconstructing the walls of Jericho
Following 70 years of intensive excavations in the Land of Israel, archaeologists have found out: The patriarchs' acts are legendary, the Israelites did not sojourn in Egypt or make an exodus, they did not conquer the land. Neither is there any mention of the empire of David and Solomon, nor of the source of belief in the God of Israel. These facts have been known for years, but Israel is a stubborn people and nobody wants to hear about it
By Ze'ev Herzog
This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is the fact that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that the God of Israel, Jehovah, had a female consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai.Most of those who are engaged in scientific work in the interlocking spheres of the Bible, archaeology and the history of the Jewish people - and who once went into the field looking for proof to corroborate the Bible story - now agree that the historic events relating to the stages of the Jewish people's emergence are radically different from what that story tells.
What follows is a short account of the brief history of archaeology, with the emphasis on the crises and the big bang, so to speak, of the past decade. The critical question of this archaeological revolution has not yet trickled down into public consciousness, but it cannot be ignored.
Inventing the Bible stories
The archaeology of Palestine developed as a science at a relatively late date, in the late 19th and early 20th century, in tandem with the archaeology of the imperial cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. Those resource-intensive powers were the first target of the researchers, who were looking for impressive evidence from the past, usually in the service of the big museums in London, Paris and Berlin. That stage effectively passed over Palestine, with its fragmented geographical diversity. The conditions in ancient Palestine were inhospitable for the development of an extensive kingdom, and certainly no showcase projects such as the Egyptian shrines or the Mesopotamian palaces could have been established there. In fact, the archaeology of Palestine was not engendered at the initiative of museums but sprang from religious motives.
The main push behind archaeological research in Palestine was the country's relationship with the Holy Scriptures. The first excavators in Jericho and Shechem (Nablus) were biblical researchers who were looking for the remains of the cities cited in the Bible. Archaeology assumed momentum with the activity of William Foxwell Albright, who mastered the archeology, history and linguistics of the Land of Israel and the ancient Near East. Albright, an American whose father was a priest of Chilean descent, began excavating in Palestine in the 1920s. His declared approach was that archaeology was the principal scientific means to refute the critical claims against the historical veracity of the Bible stories, particularly those of the Wellhausen school in Germany.
READ the rest of this article at:
http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/jerques.htm
thank you lennybruce
i have to say this but that's the first time i hear a word of justice from the other side, at least on this blog.
22.08.2006
Dear Miss Mirvat ,
I’m sorry if I offended you , it was no way my purpose.
Your picture is charming , and by the way it’s enough to know any Semitic language in order to know , that names ending with the “taw” letter are female.
My angry and inaccurate reaction was written yesterday before my 1st cup of black coffee, and that may be the reason, although not a justification. I owe you a compensation and hope that one day you come to Israel and it will be my pleasure to show you nice parts of it ( and there are a lot of ).
No way have I argued about your right to discuss “Palestinian” issues. It is your full right , your talents ,your time (which I generally lack because of my job and a family with 2 small kids ).
I know the city of Ramallah very well ( especially El-Bireh ). But I ( and most other Israelis ) feel no need to get there , unless there is really no choice.
Although I don't intend to renounce my views ( especially about Mr. Arafat - his role in Damour massacre alone is enough to make him infamous ) , it would be better for me to stop writing at Lebanese blogs about "Palestinian" issues , unless it is connected directly to Lebanon and the last conflict. BTW I don't enter to Syrian , Iranian or "Palestinian" blogs – there is ( at least for now ) no room for conversation – just a blind hate. What is common in most Lebanese blogs – is a will for life and the attitude for the good. So here is a place for me to contribute .
My purpose is to try ( with my modest possibilities ) and build bridges with Lebanese people , regardless of their faith. I believe in good and strong relations between Israel and Lebanon and our peoples. There is no real dispute between our countries. Even the question of Shebaa farms can be resolved quickly. Also , to my best knowledge and 2 examples of my friend ( Arizona ) and my cousin ( Montreal ), Lebanese and Jews in America have quite good relations.
Also I appreciate very much , that you didn't delete my comment.
Dear Mirvat ,
Because my main purpose here is to apologize and, , again, no way I meant to insult you – today's post in my blog ( flowers' photos ) is dedicated to you. I hope, it is politically correct.
With the best wishes,
Emil
http://www.emil-jakubowicz.blogspot.com/
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