Dear friends and supporters,
Just a quick update to let you know that I am back in Palestine and hope to keep you updated on what is happening on the ground here over the next few months.
It is wonderful to be back and I am looking forward to seeing all my Palestinian, Israeli and international friends.
Over the past few days, however, Israel has once begun carrying out military attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip. Four days ago at least 7 people were killed, including three children in Khan Younis when Israeli warplanes and tanks launched attacks along the northern and eastern border of the Gaza Strip. On the same day, two Israelis were killed when Palestinian resistance members entered the Gaza Strip's Nahal Oz crossing point. The Popular Resistance Committee's An Nasser Salah Addin Brigades said the raid had been aimed at abducting Israeli soldiers. Two resistance fighters were also killed in the fire fight.
On the same day, Shimon Peres, Israel's President and former Prime Minister, called for a full Israeli invasion of the Gaza and for Israel to reoccupy the region. Israel also moved on Wednesday to deny entry to the incoming UN Human Rights investigator for the OPT, Richard Falk. Falk, a Jewish –American professor of international law at the prestigious Princeton University in June 2007 compared Israel's ongoing siege and occupation of Palestine as similar to what happened to Jews under Nazi Germany. Israel says it will attempt to prevent him from taking up his position because of his prejudice against Israel.
Despite the ongoing siege of Gaza and the everyday sorrows and hardship that the illegal and brutal Israeli occupation continues to bring both there and in the West Bank, the Palestinian people remain sumoud (steadfast) in their refusal to give up their land, their culture and their heritage. And like the Palestinian people, we too must remain sumoud in to opposition to oppression, human rights violations and the dehumanization of more than 4 million people living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
This year, as no doubt many of you will be aware, marks the 60th anniversary of Al Nakba (the catastrophe) which saw more than 700,000 Palestinian people were ethnically cleansed from their homeland. In the lead up to the 60th anniversary of Al Nakba in May, the Palestinian people and Palestine solidarity activists around the world will once again organising actions and activities which will be calling for an end to Israeli brutal and illegal occupation. While our governments stand by and do little, it is up to us to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, so please consider how you can be part of this.
It can be a simple as writing a letter to the newspaper and/or to your local politician. It could be joining in with or organising a stall near a busy shopping mall or on your uni campus to inform people about what is happening in Palestine or it could be holding a film showing or a forum on Palestine. Or starting a Palestine solidarity group on your campus, in your town or city, at your church, if there is not already one there. It could be joining or organising a speakout or a rally or a vigil to mark Al Nakba.
Whatever it is, no matter how big or small, it makes a difference. As Australian Aboriginal songwriter and singer, Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly, once penned about the struggle of our people in Australia, "From little things big things grow" **
For an end to the Israeli occupation and for a Free Palestine NOW!
In solidarity, Kim
www.livefromoccupiedpalestine.blogspot.com
** From Little Things Big Things Grow is a song about Aboriginal leader Vincent Lingiari and the Gurindji people who carried out a 8 year strike at Wave Hill Station in Australia's Northern Territory from 1966. In 1975, the then Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam, handed back some of the land to the Gurindi people. Whitlam famously poured sand from the land into Vincent Lingiari's hands, signalling the recognition of the Gurindji's ownership of the land. It was the first time any Australian government recognized the rights the Aboriginal people and the claim to land and the right to practice cultural and law on those lands.
Song Lyrics can be found at: http://unionsong.com/u036.html
1 comment:
You can't possibly be in "Palestine" because there's no such thing.
Arabs will die as long as they try to murder, and nothing you do will change that.
If they keep it up, they'll face the mother of all naqbas.
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