I extend my hand of support to all the Gazans that want to have their voices heard despite Hamas attacks against them. Justice will Prevail!

Hush!

Gaza has been under Hamas’ rule for a little over two months now, Human rights violations, poor economic and living conditions have become a daily routine for Gazans.
But do people hear about it…of course not!!! Not only does Hamas rule the people with fear, but to top the latest violations of human rights, is Hamas’ method to curtail freedom of speech.

On the 24th of August, Fatah organized a rally within the Gaza strip, it seems that it was a large rally with thousands attending. Now the true significance of what happened, was that the Hamas forces not only focused their attacks on the Fatah supporters but they attacked the press as well. At least four journalists were badly beaten and others arrested. Hamas wanted a blackout on what’s going on in Gaza, they want to show the world that Gaza has become a safe haven after their coup. But, the reality speaks of a different story.

Since their take over, many stories about their constant violations of Human rights have reached us… from threatening people to restricting their movement, the true face of Hamas has finally emerged!! However, once again Hamas is covering this reality up with their latest threat against the press and the freedom of speech.

All I can say now, is that I have reason to believe that Hamas’ days are numbered and I just hope that the Palestinians wake up in time to pull themselves together, so that there would be some stability and perhaps some peace.

Yes I admit I haven’t been writing at all, in fact ever since Hamas took over the Gaza strip I found myself unable to realize what was happening, I stopped reading/watching the news and for the first time in years I stayed away from any political discussion.

During that very dark week in June, the inevitable happened. Hamas took over the Gaza stirp through methods that to many Palestinians seemed shocking, but to me, I just found it utterly disgusting. I still find it mind boggling, especially, after all of Hamas’ actions in Gaza that there are still people who support them. There are still those who believe that religious extremism and Hamas are the best option for Palestine!!
What they don’t realize and what most of the people round the world don’t realize is that Hamas are far from religious. They stick to a few sayings from the Quran and the Prophet and twist the rest in a way that will only serve them, the way they acted during their coup and the way they are acting now is far from the true meaning of Islam, and is only for their own interest and not for the interest of the people.

Hamas claims that they are in power to help the people and resist against the occupation. I challenge anybody, somebody to tell me what Hamas has done ever since it gained power to help the people. Funding was stopped, the economy declined drastically, no security (except well in Gaza now, but that is only because they have terrorized everyone!), Corruption and scandals started to emerge, the list can go on and on. So people might say that it is not Hamas' fault and it is the West that stopped the funding and thus not giving Hamas a chance (as much as I disagree, since there is a lot evidence that shows Hamas supporters being paid money during the year and a half, whilst the rest of the population had to suffer)
Anyway forget about the people and let’s go to the resistance. Hamas was proud of their Suicide bombings during the Oslo years and the Second Intifada claiming that they were forms of resistance. Well, well, where are the bombings now?? Suddenly when it is within their interest that bombings are stopped, they decide to stop the resistance. But when there are peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis and the situation actually peaceful, Hamas rises up to the occasion and throws in a few suicide bombers, calling it resistance. Where are the attacks when Sheik Yassin was assassinated or Rantisi (both who were top Hamas leaders, who were assasinated by Israel)?? No retaliation what so ever… Now doesn’t that raise a lot questions!!!

I’m growing really tired of this nonsense, we have become two separate governments for one people, and the irony of it all is that we don’t even have a state!!! I don’t know what will happen in the future if Hamas will succumb to the pressure or if they decide to take over the West Bank, or maybe they win the early elections that might take place and then they will gain full control. All I know is that the old parties like Fatah, Hamas, and the rest are not doing their job anymore and what we need is new blood a new party that will resolve this two party conflict and actually bring peace to this region. Till then this conflict is going nowhere.

...

Back to the same storyline….

Well for the past couple of days, the Palestinians have been at it again. Starting last Sunday gunmen from Hamas and Fatah clashed in the streets of Gaza, to injure and kill more civilians. Today Hamas explicitly attacked a Fatah Security HQ killing 9 and injuring many others, that is after a truce was called by both sides! It seems to me that we are back to square one, it also seems that the unity government has a few weeks to go… Many saw this coming, but the question is what next?
Will Abu Mazen call for new elections? Will the Gaza strip fall under Egyptian rule and the West Bank under the Jordanian rule? Will the US and the EU, intervene in time to stop our descend towards a civil war? What will be Israel’s role in this?

All these questions are difficult to answer at the time being, but if nothing is done within the next few weeks, well we will witness the collapse of the Unity government and probably the end of the Palestinian Authority. This, will in return cause total chaos in the territories, which will not only be a disaster for the Palestinians, but will also affect it’s neighboring countries, from Israel to the rest of the Arab world.

So, if the situation keeps heading in the direction of a civil war, well let’s say Iraq will not be to only unstable country in the region (not saying that Palestine is perfectly stable, but once in a civil war things will get ugly). If this happens kiss the stability of the entire region goodbye. The US will once and for all be able to shape a new Middle East (which of course will cause more conflicts in the future) and the ongoing conflict between the Sunni and the Shia will escalate to levels that will be hard to contain in the future. Unfortunately, I have no power to do anything, things have escalated to an extent that a mere citizen can’t do a thing. But for those who can (governments, people with power), I beseech you stop this nightmare because if you don’t it soon, there will be more innocent blood on your hands.

With the 59th anniversary of the 1948 Nakbeh today, it makes me sad that we the Palestinians have turned against ourselves, after almost 60 years of suffering, the killings of all the Palestinians, the refugees and the lose of our land. Yet we now kill more of our people, and for what? Things have deteriorated completely since Hamas came to power last year. This proves one thing that Hamas is a cancer in Palestine, a foreign body that needs to be treated!!

More disasters from the Radical Islamists

I just came across an article on the Time magazine website that broke my heart. Not only have the Radical Islamists ruined our country economically. But they are also working on wiping out any traces of social freedom or openness. What they are doing is trying to force an Islamic society on the Palestinians who, by the time they are done with us, would be too ignorant to know our rights and freedoms!

This article here may not be completely accurate in its information, but in the end it gives you and idea of what people, of the like of Hamas, are trying to do to the Palestinian society, a society that has always been known to produce the largest number of educated people!!

Palestinians how much longer are you going to keep quiet to these atrocities?

Tell me all you Palestinian Christians out there, where do you fit in the Islamic nation that Hamas and other Islamists are trying to force upon us?

All you Intellects and artists, what do you think will happen to you, when the only art and literature allowed is the Quran?

What I say maybe too exaggerated, but in the end, no matter what, it is our lose!

The Chronicles of Dalia and the Permit.

I have once again chosen to move away from writing about Hamas and this time i'm writing about a personal experience i have found it hard not to write about.

Being a Palestinian means I have a green colored ID that restricts me from entering Jerusalem and Israel (for the Israeli government Jerusalem and Israel are two different entities).
Now with that said… my job requires me to meet with foreign organizations that are based in Israel, and due to the conflict most employees working for the organizations have a hard time getting into the Occupied Territories. So I decided I need to get a permit so I can go on with my work, of course getting that specific permit to enter Israel has to go through various stages.

First I have to apply for a ‘Magnetic Card’ that involves going to an office to Ramallah, getting the application and going to the Israeli Civil Administration office of Ramallah, which happens to be Bet El. After standing for at least an hour in line, waiting to go through a security check and then waiting for the Israeli soldier to take my ID, in which I enter a third waiting room, and wait for him to call out my name. Once the soldier calls out my name I have to have my picture taken, my hand print and later my finger print. This is all so that a security background check would be done on me, well I was lucky within a few minutes Israel decided that I am not a threat and I finally got my Card. I thought well this is it now it’s easy for me to get permits since I was marked, and registered as a person that poses no threat to Israel!
But that was only the beginning, I found out that I could not apply for permits unless it was either a holiday, (seeing that my ID says I am Muslim, I can’t apply for a permit during Christmas or Easter. Even though I celebrate them, since my mother is Christian). or I could also apply for a medical reason or for a work permit. I figured there is no problem there since my work required that I travel to Israel, so I got an official letter from my boss stating that I needed a permit and I decided to try my luck. Of course I paid a visit to the office in Ramallah and got an application for the permit, then I went off to Bet El, first try and the place was closed for Passover, I figured no problem I’ll come back next week.
I did just that, I went there waited for three hours to go through two security checks and at least two hours of waiting, for them to tell me that my application can not be processed there and was transferred to their office in Jerusalem. I asked them how will I go there and pick up the permit, when I can’t go there in the first place! Their answer: figure it out yourself!

So later that week I made a few phone calls to the office and they eventually requested my presence in front of the Military Officer in Bet El, I thought this is it a short interview and they’ll give me my permit. That was not the case I went there, saw the officer who barely talked to me, him standing from behind a bulletproof window, he took my ID and told me to wait… I waited and waited, for four long hours I was standing there in a waiting room, until the officer showed up again told me he still hasn’t received any orders concerning my permit and gave me my ID back. So in the end not only did I waste four hours and missed two important meetings for work, I didn’t get the permit. The officer told me that he will call me back and tell me about any developments, though I doubt anything will happen for another week!

Now, somebody please tell me how is it possible for a person who goes through this ordeal on a daily basis will sit back and do nothing about it? What I’m trying to say is that if it happened to anyone from across the World, would that person accept this treatment?

I of course will have to wait for an answer and hope that I am not rejected, so I can actually carry out my job with no complications.

OK so its been a while since I've written something here and this time I'm going to be bending the rules a bit... I'm going to be talking about "Music as a way for Peace" instead of any Hamas related topics. Though I will be back with some more news from the frontiers .

For the past few weeks I’ve become more and more involved with music, I watched the film “Knowledge is the beginning” on Daniel Barenboim’s and Edward Said’s vision of the West-East Divan Orchestra (for those of you who haven’t heard of it, it is an orchestra made up of Israelis and Arabs from all over the Middle East, including Palestinians).

Later that week, I joined music teachers from the Barenboim-Said Foundation on their weekly trip to Nablus to teach the children. Seeing the children’s bright faces while they went to their classes reminded me how important music is to all of us.

Now, and for the past week, a number of Palestinian cities are hosting the Choir of London for the Palestine Mozart Festival, which will bring Mozart to life in the cities and towns that have only witnessed violence and death. This festival might just release us from our realities to take us to a different world, perhaps Mozart’s world!

All these activities and events have made me realize that sometimes when dialogue is failing in bringing peace to the region, music can do just that.

Music being a universal language with no cultural barriers, can bring a lot of hope to this region. In the end if we can’t sit in a room and discuss the conflict, I’m sure we can always sit and agree on music. Some may like classical music, others might prefer Rap, Rock or Electronic music, we can all find someone, whether Palestinian or Israeli, that we can agree with, on the music.

One thing I tend to stress on throughout my posts, is that we are all humans and music is a beautiful human invention that is enjoyed by all, why not use it to promote peace? I admire Barenboim’s and Said’s work on the orchestra and I think we need more of these projects that can bring dialogue to both people, through the dialogue of music!

Mecca Accords, success?

So after an agreement between Palestinians and a hopeful end to violence between both factions we wait… we are now waiting for this deal to actually come through! We still have no government, even so the government is still filled with Hamas members, and all the agreements and changes that were made under the Hamas government are still to be taken in to account, which will only add to the Hamas members in the government. Which is also something the Hamas government did not do at all and considered that what the previous government did in the last months of its rule illegal.

What’s more is that the US and Israel will not recognize this government! I mean seriously, how much more can Abu Mazen do, the Palestinians were killing each other and the Israeli’s and Americans stood by and watched, the people were starving and both did nothing. Now that we actually are agreeing on something the US and Israel still claim that they will not support this government… now somebody please explain to me what the hell we’re supposed to do? First the US supports democratic elections and pushed Abu Mazen to stick to the elections date last year (even though Abu Mazen knew it would be a mistake) and then when Hamas was elected democratically they drop everything and say your on your own… what the hell are we supposed to do with no money for the people!!! Seriously I think the Palestinians should unite properly and show the world that Israel and the US are making a big mistake… Hamas it’s about time you change your policy for the good of the people. Abu Mazen you need to become firmer and really become a role model.
Now with that said, I’m going to add another entry soon about the corruption of Hamas within the government.

Finally!

Finally, some good news after a long series of depressing news and violence, Hamas and Fatah have agreed. For once there actually might, just might be some peace and quiet in this region. Lets just hope it lasts. I have a feeling (and feel free to call me a pessimist) that this agreement will last for a few months and then both parties are going to fight all over again. Many believe that both accepted the agreement cause there is money coming in from the Saudis, and well one wouldn’t want to piss off the Saudi King cause he has a lot of money! So this agreement may last till the money is spent (which should be soon) and then both Hamas and Fatah will find new excuses to fight over power.

So what is the solution? Anyone? Well I was thinking to my self a few weeks ago when the fighting was at its peak and things seemed to spiral out of control that what we need is a new party, a third party, an alternative... SO who’s with me in this? Who is willing to drop all this ridiculous political games and start a true third part that works for the interest of its people and country? No Religion, No Violence, and most importantly No killing other fellow Palestinians.