fonte:EI
Veolia reportedly drops light rail project, but campaign goes on
Adri Nieuwhof, The Electronic Intifada, 14 June 2009
On 8 June the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz announced that French transport giant Veolia might abandon the light rail project that will connect Jerusalem with several illegal Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land. Reports also indicate that Veolia wants to pull out of the 30-year contract to operate the train and is also reportedly trying to sell its five percent stake in the City Pass consortium to Israeli bus companies.
The City Pass consortium consists of French companies Alstom and Connex (Veolia Transport), two Israeli companies, as well as the Israeli Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi. The consortium holds the contract with the State of Israel for the construction of the light rail project. News of Veolia's withdrawal came a few days after the Israeli government filed a claim with court arbitrators against City Pass over delays in the project. Haartez noted heightened tensions between the partners in City Pass, mainly between equipment provider Alstom, operator Veolia and the Israeli contractor Ashtrom. Alstom's trains have already been delivered and are stored at the company's depot near the French Hill settlement, in occupied East Jerusalem.
The "Derail Veolia and Alstom Campaign," carried out by activists in many countries, is pressuring the two French transport companies to quit the light rail project. In early June, the leading French newspaper Le Monde published an article summing up the successes of the campaign, reporting that the company is losing money because of the publicity of its role in a project that is in violation of international law. After pressuring the mayor of Tehran over Veolia's role in developing the city's transport system, the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission was informed two weeks ago of Tehran's decision to cancel Veolia's involvement in the transport system. To date, Veolia has steadfastly refused to provide information about its participation in the light rail project.
Speaking to Gulf News on 9 June, Ambassador Hind Khoury, representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Paris, stated that Veolia's possible withdrawal from the light rail project was "certainly a positive development and a success," but "we can't declare victory while the infrastructure of this tramway sits on occupied Palestinian land." Khoury said that it was time to put pressure on Alstom to abandon the project because it plays a bigger role in the tramway than Veolia.
The pressure on Alstom to quit the light rail project is indeed increasing. Gulf News reported on 30 May that Palestinian Authority (PA) officials intensified diplomatic efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia to exclude Alstom from a multi-billion dollar contract for the Haramain Express railway. The Haramain Express will connect the holy cities of Mecca and Medina via Jedda. PA officials hope they will be able to pressure Alstom through Saudi Arabia.
In a television interview with Al Jazeera on 11 December 2008, Alstom's Heriberto Biarte explained that the company participated in the Jerusalem light rail project to improve the existing transport system and stated "We have no political, no diplomatic position to take." However, with its involvement in the project, activists argue, Alstom is directly implicated in maintaining illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the company is playing a key role in Israel's attempt to make its annexation of Palestinian East Jerusalem irreversible.
The "Derail Veolia and Alstom Campaign" plans to keep the pressure on Veolia and Alstom until the companies end their services to Israel's activities and projects that are in violation of international law. Targeted projects include the Jerusalem light rail project, the bus services that link Jerusalem with the illegal settlements, and the dumping of waste from Israel and the illegal settlements in Tovlan landfill in the Jordan Valley, occupied West Bank.
Adri Nieuwhof is a consultant and human rights advocate based in Switzerland.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Sunday, 14 June 2009
a musica Hip Hop e os jovems palestinianos em Gaza
fonte:EI
Young Palestinians in Gaza find their voice through hip-hop
Jordan Flaherty, The Electronic Intifada, 16 June 2009
The Maqusi Towers in Gaza City look a bit like US housing projects. The neighborhood consists of several tall apartment buildings grouped together in the northern part of town. It is also ground zero for Gaza's growing Hip-Hop community. On a recent evening in one small but well-decorated apartment, a dozen rappers and their friends and families relaxed, danced, smoked flavored tobacco, and rapped the lyrics to some of their songs.
The occasion was a post-show celebration of the taping of Hip Hop Kom, an "American Idol"-type talent competition for Palestinian rappers. Fifteen acts from across Palestine performed on Thursday night, and the show was broadcast simultaneously in Gaza City and the West Bank city of Ramallah. Through the use of video conferencing and projection, each city could see and hear the performances happening in the other. Five groups from Gaza participated, and Gazans came in first, third, and fourth place.
The Gaza City show was held in a small theatre in the Palestine Red Crescent building. Although only publicized by word of mouth, nearly 200 young people filled the theatre, loudly cheering for the rappers and breakdance crew who took the stage.
One of the organizers of the contest, a charismatic literature major named Ayman Meghames, is a minor celebrity here. Part of Gaza's first Hip-Hop group -- named PR: Palestinian Rapperz -- Ayman dedicates his time to supporting and publicizing Gaza's young music scene.
Armed with a ready smile, Ayman was seemingly everywhere at once that night. He was on stage introducing the acts, helping with technical difficulties, greeting friends, and coordinating with the West Bank organizers.
For Ayman, making music is a form of resistance to war and occupation, and also a tool to communicate the reality of life in Palestine. "Most of our lyrics are about the occupation," he tells me. "Lately we've also started singing about the conflict between Hamas and Fatah. Any problem, it needs to be written about." Rapper Chuck D, from the group Public Enemy, once called rap music the CNN for Black America. For Ayman and his friends, music is their weapon to break media silence. "Most of the world believes we are the terrorists," he says. "And the media is closed to us, so we get our message out through Hip-Hop."
One of the first acts to take the stage was a duo called Black Unit Band. Mohammed Wafy, one of the two singers, displays the innocent charm of a teen pop star as he jumps from the stage and into the audience. Tall and skinny with a shock of black hair, Mohammed is 18 and looks younger. Khaled Harara, the other singer (and Mohammed's next door neighbor) is a few years older and several pounds heavier, but no less energetic on stage.
As the evening progressed, the energy in the room continued to rise. The next act featured six members from two combined groups (DA MCs, and RG, for Revolutionary Guys) now collectively called DARG Team. The crowd was up on their feet, many of them singing along as the performers displayed a range of lyrical stylings.
In Mohammed Wafy's apartment, the performers waited anxiously for the results of the contest. The call came in on Ayman's cel phone. Putting it on speaker, everyone listened as the results were announced: DARG team had come in first place, and Black Unit had placed third. There were no hurt feelings apparent for those that didn't win -- for these young performers, every victory is a shared victory. DARG members will now go on to Denmark to produce an album (if they can get out of Gaza).
Fadi Bakhet, a studious and slightly preppy looking Afro-Palestinian in wire-rimmed glasses, is DARG's manager, and also the brother of one of the members. As the night continued, the gathering moved to his apartment. They celebrated the successful show, which also fell on the last day of exams for many students, and the laughing and conversation continued late into the night. The next day was hot and sunny, and thousands of Gazans gathered on the beach to swim and relax by the Mediterranean.
These stories may seem incongruent with much of the international reporting about Gaza and the Hamas government. But it is exactly for this reason that they should be told.
If you follow the reporting on Palestine in the US media, you may imagine a fundamentalist state. Hamas-stan, as at least one Israeli commentator has called it. You may imagine a nation of terrorists, where women are oppressed and men launch rockets. But perhaps when we learn that Palestinian families swim on Friday afternoons, that they study literature in the day and rap about imprisoned friends at night, we can rethink the America's unquestioning support for Israeli aggression against this almost entirely defenseless population.
Yesterday, I visited a journalism class at the Islamic University, taught by Rami Almeghari. The students had many questions, but one young woman's words in particular stayed with me. "What can we do to reach people in America and tell them how things really are here," she asked. "How can we get them to listen, and to see?"
Jordan Flaherty is a journalist based in New Orleans, and an editor of Left Turn Magazine. He was the first writer to bring the story of the Jena Six to a national audience and his reporting on post-Katrina New Orleans shared a journalism award from New America Media. His work has been published and broadcast in outlets including Die Zeit (in Germany), Clarin (in Argentina), Al-Jazeera, TeleSur, and Democracy Now. He is currently traveling in Gaza with a delegation of journalists, organizers and human rights workers from the US south. He can be reached at neworleans@leftturn.org.
Young Palestinians in Gaza find their voice through hip-hop
Jordan Flaherty, The Electronic Intifada, 16 June 2009
 |
| The DARG Team and friends at Hip Hop Kom. (Jordan Flaherty) |
The Maqusi Towers in Gaza City look a bit like US housing projects. The neighborhood consists of several tall apartment buildings grouped together in the northern part of town. It is also ground zero for Gaza's growing Hip-Hop community. On a recent evening in one small but well-decorated apartment, a dozen rappers and their friends and families relaxed, danced, smoked flavored tobacco, and rapped the lyrics to some of their songs.
The occasion was a post-show celebration of the taping of Hip Hop Kom, an "American Idol"-type talent competition for Palestinian rappers. Fifteen acts from across Palestine performed on Thursday night, and the show was broadcast simultaneously in Gaza City and the West Bank city of Ramallah. Through the use of video conferencing and projection, each city could see and hear the performances happening in the other. Five groups from Gaza participated, and Gazans came in first, third, and fourth place.
The Gaza City show was held in a small theatre in the Palestine Red Crescent building. Although only publicized by word of mouth, nearly 200 young people filled the theatre, loudly cheering for the rappers and breakdance crew who took the stage.
One of the organizers of the contest, a charismatic literature major named Ayman Meghames, is a minor celebrity here. Part of Gaza's first Hip-Hop group -- named PR: Palestinian Rapperz -- Ayman dedicates his time to supporting and publicizing Gaza's young music scene.
Armed with a ready smile, Ayman was seemingly everywhere at once that night. He was on stage introducing the acts, helping with technical difficulties, greeting friends, and coordinating with the West Bank organizers.
For Ayman, making music is a form of resistance to war and occupation, and also a tool to communicate the reality of life in Palestine. "Most of our lyrics are about the occupation," he tells me. "Lately we've also started singing about the conflict between Hamas and Fatah. Any problem, it needs to be written about." Rapper Chuck D, from the group Public Enemy, once called rap music the CNN for Black America. For Ayman and his friends, music is their weapon to break media silence. "Most of the world believes we are the terrorists," he says. "And the media is closed to us, so we get our message out through Hip-Hop."
 |
| The audience at Hip Hop Kom in Gaza City. (Jordan Flaherty) |
As the evening progressed, the energy in the room continued to rise. The next act featured six members from two combined groups (DA MCs, and RG, for Revolutionary Guys) now collectively called DARG Team. The crowd was up on their feet, many of them singing along as the performers displayed a range of lyrical stylings.
In Mohammed Wafy's apartment, the performers waited anxiously for the results of the contest. The call came in on Ayman's cel phone. Putting it on speaker, everyone listened as the results were announced: DARG team had come in first place, and Black Unit had placed third. There were no hurt feelings apparent for those that didn't win -- for these young performers, every victory is a shared victory. DARG members will now go on to Denmark to produce an album (if they can get out of Gaza).
Fadi Bakhet, a studious and slightly preppy looking Afro-Palestinian in wire-rimmed glasses, is DARG's manager, and also the brother of one of the members. As the night continued, the gathering moved to his apartment. They celebrated the successful show, which also fell on the last day of exams for many students, and the laughing and conversation continued late into the night. The next day was hot and sunny, and thousands of Gazans gathered on the beach to swim and relax by the Mediterranean.
These stories may seem incongruent with much of the international reporting about Gaza and the Hamas government. But it is exactly for this reason that they should be told.
If you follow the reporting on Palestine in the US media, you may imagine a fundamentalist state. Hamas-stan, as at least one Israeli commentator has called it. You may imagine a nation of terrorists, where women are oppressed and men launch rockets. But perhaps when we learn that Palestinian families swim on Friday afternoons, that they study literature in the day and rap about imprisoned friends at night, we can rethink the America's unquestioning support for Israeli aggression against this almost entirely defenseless population.
Yesterday, I visited a journalism class at the Islamic University, taught by Rami Almeghari. The students had many questions, but one young woman's words in particular stayed with me. "What can we do to reach people in America and tell them how things really are here," she asked. "How can we get them to listen, and to see?"
Jordan Flaherty is a journalist based in New Orleans, and an editor of Left Turn Magazine. He was the first writer to bring the story of the Jena Six to a national audience and his reporting on post-Katrina New Orleans shared a journalism award from New America Media. His work has been published and broadcast in outlets including Die Zeit (in Germany), Clarin (in Argentina), Al-Jazeera, TeleSur, and Democracy Now. He is currently traveling in Gaza with a delegation of journalists, organizers and human rights workers from the US south. He can be reached at neworleans@leftturn.org.
Em Israel, a vitima e o culpado
fonte:Palestine Chronicle
In Israel 'The Victim is the Guilty Party'
'Faith of Israel's Arab population in the justice system has been severely eroded.'
In Israel 'The Victim is the Guilty Party'
'Faith of Israel's Arab population in the justice system has been severely eroded.' By Jonathan Cook – Nazareth
The decision to prosecute 12 Israeli Arabs over what the local media have described as the “lynching” of an Israeli soldier on a bus shortly after he shot dead the driver and three passengers has been greeted with outrage from the country’s Arab minority.
The inhabitants of Shefa’amr, one of the largest Arab towns in the Galilee region and the location of the attack, are expected to stage a one-day strike today in protest against the indictments. Seven of the 12 face charges of attempted murder.
Jafar Farah, the head of Mossawa, an Arab political lobbying group, said the indictments, which follow a series of about-turns by state prosecutors, reflected “the current harsher political climate” for the Arab minority, one-fifth of the country’s population.
A right-wing government, established this year, includes the party of Avigdor Lieberman, which is openly hostile to Arabs.
Anger at the indictments has been compounded by a decision taken by the prosecution service a few days earlier to formally close an investigation into possible assistance the soldier, Eden Natan Zada, received from Jewish extremist groups.
Nakad Nakad, a member of a Shefa’amr public committee set up after Zada’s attack, said that the prosecution had “decided in this case that the victim is the guilty party”.
Zada, who was 19, carried out his attack in Aug 2005 in what was widely seen as an attempt to foil the government’s withdrawal of settlers from Gaza, which was due to take place days later. Zada was a member of Tapuah, an extremist religious settlement in the West Bank.
He took a bus into Shefa’amr with his army-issued M-16 rifle and a backpack stuffed with ammunition. According to witnesses, when the bus stopped, he shot the driver and sprayed the rest of the bus with bullets, killing three passengers and wounding 22.
Zada was overpowered after a female passenger grabbed the gun while he was trying to reload.
Police arrived a short time later and handcuffed Zada as residents surrounded the bus. According to police testimony, a tense stand-off developed before a group stormed the bus and beat Zada to death.
The incident was politically charged from its first moments.
Initial reports on Israeli TV showed a caption under Zada’s picture of “God bless his soul” -- usually reserved for Jewish victims of Palestinian terror attacks.
Zada’s two dozen victims, all Arabs, as well as their families, were denied state compensation after a ministerial panel ruled that a serving soldier could not be regarded as a terrorist.
Israel’s Arab minority were further angered by police inquiries that concentrated almost exclusively on the circumstances of Zada’s death.
Maher Talhami, a lawyer for three of the suspects in Shefa’amr, said police had recommended that parallel investigations into Zada’s connections to Kach, a group officially banned but openly espoused by extremist settlers, be closed after only four months.
Kach demands the violent expulsion of all Arabs from both Israel and the occupied territories.
“The authorities want Zada to be seen as a lone madman but the research we’ve conducted suggests he was part of a larger Jewish terror organization that operates freely even though it’s outside the law. It appears the attack was organized and planned.”
Another lawyer, familiar with the case who wished not to be identified, said: “Politics is playing a much larger part in the indictments than legal issues.” She said the conduct of the prosecution in the case had been highly unusual and inconsistent.
It took 10 months to charge the first suspects, who were placed under house arrest. A year later, after seeing secret police evidence, a judge ruled that the suspects were unlikely ever to be indicted and lifted the restrictions on them.
Their bail money was returned in April 2008, under protest from the police. Two months later, the prosecution did a U-turn and announced that all 12 would be charged with violent assault.
On Sunday more severe charges of attempted murder were imposed on seven of them, with the rest accused of assaulting police officers. A conviction for attempted murder carries a maximum 20-year jail term.
Mr. Talhami said that although he did not condone people taking the law into their hands, it was important to note that official Israeli policy was to show no mercy to those committing terrorist attacks.
“Arab and Jewish citizens watch the same Israeli TV and we see the state regularly honoring Jewish civilians and police for killing terrorists without compunction, even when they are ‘confirming the kill’ of someone who is already injured and posing no threat.”
He referred specifically to the case of an injured Palestinian who was shot dead by an Israeli policeman in Dimona in February last year as he lay bleeding on the ground after a suicide attack went wrong. “There was not even an investigation in that case, let alone an outcry,” he said.
Several analysts have also noted that the faith of Israel’s Arab population in the justice system has been severely eroded, particularly by the failure to prosecute any of the Israeli policemen who shot dead 13 unarmed Arab citizens during demonstrations in October 2000.
Arab legislators in the Knesset from all parties denounced the indictments. Jamal Zahalka of the Tajamu party said: “We demanded, and we are continuing to demand, an objective commission of inquiry to reveal who was behind Zada, who helped him and who authorised his pogrom in Shefa’amr.”
Zada’s choice of a Druze neighborhood in Shefa’amr to stage his attack suggested an unfamiliarity with the geography of the town and its politics.
Shefa’amr’s population is mixed between Muslims, Christians and Druze, with the latter community serving in the army and considered “loyal” by most Israeli Jews.
- Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit: www.jkcook.net. A version of this article originally appeared in The National - www.thenational.ae - published in Abu Dhabi.
Brown o zionista e a luta pelo poder
fonte:Palestine Chronicle
'Zionist' Brown Clings to Power by His Finger-nails
Brown declared himself a Zionist; said 'Britain will always stand firmly by Israel's side'.
'Zionist' Brown Clings to Power by His Finger-nails
Brown declared himself a Zionist; said 'Britain will always stand firmly by Israel's side'. By Stuart Littlewood – London
What does it take for Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to get the message? Having been deeply humiliated in the Euro elections and local government elections, he hangs on by his finger-nails. He simply will not do the decent thing and stand down.
The verdict of the people was clear enough. They've had enough of Brown and his ghastly crew. Oliver Cromwell said it for us, when dismissing Parliament back in 1653, with an elegance that’s sadly lacking today: “Ye sordid prostitutes... you have sat here too long for the good you do. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
But the charmless Brown refuses the revolver on the silver tray. He will not do us the courtesy of retiring to the library and blowing his brains out.
This is the same Gordon Brown who has presided over the ruination of our economy and the impoverishment of us all. The same Gordon Brown on whose watch parliamentary sleaze has blossomed into a national scandal, undermining the British political system and making us a laughing stock.
This is the same Gordon Brown who voted enthusiastically for the Iraq war.
This is the same Gordon Brown who appointed Friends of Israel to the chairs of our most important security bodies – the Intelligence & Security Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and Defence Committee.
This is the same Gordon Brown who declared himself a Zionist and told the Knesset that "Britain will always stand firmly by Israel's side" despite the crimes and unspeakable horrors it continues to inflict on its Palestinian neighbors. He spoke of "an unbreakable partnership based on shared values of liberty, democracy and justice" with Israel, when it is patently obvious to everyone else that few, if any, of those values are shared or practiced by that regime.
When petitioned recently for a complete arms embargo against Israel, Brown replied: “We do not believe that the current situation in the Middle East would be improved by imposing an arms embargo on Israel. Israel has the right to defend itself and faces real security threats.” He clearly doesn’t feel the same concern for Palestinian rights and security, even after the horrific onslaught against the Gazan population, and has pledged help to stop the so-called “smuggling” of arms to the Palestinian Resistance while apparently happy for the savage occupier to acquire all the death-dealing technology it wishes.
Brown is willing to talk to Netanyahu and calls on him to "engage constructively towards a two-state solution building on the Arab Peace Initiative", knowing full well that the Israeli PM - and his Likud party - have no intention of doing so. Read Likud's vile racist manifesto.
He’ll talk to Palestinian collaborators like Abbas but not to democratically-elected Hamas, who have already said they will commit to a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders and subject to the right of return of refugees Israel expelled, in accordance with international law.
And Brown’s eagerness to accept the invitation to become a patron of the Jewish National Fund shamefully aligns him with Israel’s continuing land-grab policy.
All in all, the poor chap appears to be very confused and a menace not only to us here in the UK but also to our friends in the Middle East.
How anyone thought he was prime ministerial material and should be allowed to inherit Blair’s “crown” unchallenged is one of the mysteries of British politics.
With his authority now in tatters, and commanding no respect except from his inner circle of hangers-on who owe their position to his patronage, he had to face a potentially rebellious parliamentary Labour Party yesterday. But his faithful hacks, supported by clapped-out former leaders like Kinnock, closed ranks to save him from being ousted by his disorganized critics, thus prolonging the unsavory, lame-duck spectacle until the general election that must take place within the next 12 months.
And while the Brown government endlessly contemplates its navel, the public are left wondering who gives a damn about the country’s best interests.
Of course, if and when Gordon Brown does go we’re almost certain to get another self-proclaimed Zionist, David Cameron, whose Conservative party is also steeped in sleaze and knee-deep in Israel stooges.
The only glimmer of hope is the possible emergence of Alan Johnson, the new home secretary, as Labour leader. An unknown quantity to most voters, he might however be made of the ‘right stuff’… If so, a rarity indeed.
- Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit: www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk.
um rapaz e uma perna artificial:a storia de Gaza
fonte:Palestine Chronicle
A Boy and an Artificial Leg: A Gaza Story
Growing numbers of children forever maimed are disregarded by the world media.
A Boy and an Artificial Leg: A Gaza Story
Growing numbers of children forever maimed are disregarded by the world media. By Ramzy Baroud
His room is ready; the walls have fresh paint and my kids prepared a basket of chocolates and other treats to place beside his bed. They hung a poster on his door that has been decorated with colored pens and glitter that says “Welcome Shobhi!” I have taught them that “Sobhi” actually means the “morning light”, and that during his visit, he will not be treated as a visitor, but as a brother. They have compiled a list of fun places to visit, parks, the beach and maybe a ferry ride.
Two weeks ago, my family, after months of anticipation, were scheduled to be the host family for a very special and unusual exchange program for kids from Gaza to visit the US. Our host child, Sobhi was schedule to arrive on May 30th.
My family was excited and a little nervous, I noticed my wife taking every opportunity to share the news of the arrival of our special visitor. We call Sobhi’s family from time to time, realizing that sending a child off to a foreign land to live with a strange family can be unsettling for a parent. But I think our occasional conversations are putting everyone at ease.
As time has progressed, we have learned more news of Sobhi’s life and family in Gaza, and through the weeks, news has changed and altered. We first thought he was 11 years old, and then learned that he is actually fifteen. We originally thought his family lived in the town of Khan Yunis, but then learned that he is from the northern town of Beit Lahia. We thought that he was maimed when his house was demolished in the Israeli attack of January 2009, but then later learned that his leg was actually blown off by an Israeli tank shell when the army opened fire on his family while they were farming their land. So, day by day, we are learning more about this fine young boy’s tragic lot.
Like Sobhi, disgracefully growing numbers of children forever maimed, dismembered and killed by Israel are not only somehow disregarded by the world media and therefore the world’s conscience - but to add insult to injury - they are even denied access to healthcare.
Sobhi is one of many Gazan children that have been taken under the wing of the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, a non-profit, US based organization that organizes medical exchange programs, sending injured children abroad for treatment when it is inaccessible in Palestine, as well as sending medical teams to Palestine for short-term medical missions.
While I cannot express my admiration and gratefulness for the tireless work of the staff of PCRF, in anticipation of Sobhi’s arrival, the irony fails to escape me, that of this innocent and unassuming son of a Gazan farmer, whose life is forever altered by a tank shell propelled by Israel and subsidized by the US, to venture alone across the world to be the recipient of another US manufactured implement; a plastic leg.
And now, as if things could get any worse, even the possibility of getting Sobhi here seems grim.
Coming from Gaza, Sobhi must cross the Rafah border to begin his journey from Cairo. But Egypt is refusing to grant Sobhi entry. It is the predicament that so many Gazans face following the January massacres: hospitals lay in ruins, medicine scarce, embargos on everything from medical equipment to medical teams that have flocked to Rafah’s border in droves from all over the world.
When Obama spoke in Cairo on June 4, the closest major city was Gaza, where children flooded the border, imploring the US leader to exert some pressure on Israel to open the border and end the blockade that has imprisoned the entire population for nearly two years. Children held banners with slogans like, “a light of hope for Gaza children”, and “Gaza children appeal for help”. Sahar Abu Foul, a nine-year-old girl who attended the rally, said that the children in Gaza want Obama's help "to secure a life like all other children." But considering his rigorous schedule, Obama couldn’t pencil in a visit to the border to address this young crowd. However, just before his arrival, Congress invested further money into fortifying the border area, allocating an addition 50 million dollars to secure the Rafah border, making Sobhi’s crossing all the more unlikely.
So the days pass. I telephone Sobhi, who speaks with such maturity and courtesy on the phone, inquiring about my health, the health of my family, and asking that God will grant us lives of good health and other mercies. His medical charts say that he is overcoming his depression and simply wants to join his father in the fields again. He has uncomplicated aspirations and a seemingly simple request; an artificial leg. His father, soft-spoken and a bit shy seems to be resigned to the unfortunate possibility of his son not coming to the US after all. I continue to encourage him, but I myself also feel that this special and unusual exchange may have been too good to be true. Sobhi says that he hopes that he will be able to help with the olive harvest this year. But sometimes having hope in a place like Gaza becomes more of a liability than a lifeline.
- Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers, journals and anthologies around the world. His latest book is, "The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle" (Pluto Press, London), and his forthcoming book is, “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story” (Pluto Press, London)
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