They Say Its Just a Parking Lot

(BBC Photo- "Israeli Racist Occupation violets the dead as well as the living")

The Simon Wiesenthal Center claims that the site given to them to build their "tolerant museum" is a parking lot and its been so for the past 50 years. Rabbi Heir the found of the Wiesenthal Center says- (in an interview with the Jerusalem Post in 2005)

"We never would have accepted a site if the government of Israel or the Jerusalem Municipality had said it was a Muslim cemetery."

"We would have laughed. It would have been preposterous. We never would have accepted it."

If that were the case then why, after finding 250 bodies does the Museum of Tolerance construction continue?

Was it not enough for Rabbi Heir to know that 250 bodies, marked or unmarked, makes for something of a graveyard? In fact archeologists are suggesting that under this initial layer of bodies there is most likely another five or six layers of graves. In fact at Mamun'Allah cemetary was the largest Muslim cemetery in Palestine, with an estimated 15,000 bodies buried there. It included Sahaba and mujahedeen who fought with Salaha-udin to take back Al-Quds from the Crudsaders, sufi saints and hanafi scholars, qadi's, mufti's and the rich of Al-Quds, the poor and destitute, along with countless others- Jews and Christians-before the Muslims arrived there.

So when Rabbi Heir says it was a parking lot for the past 50 years and Muslims (extremists) are only doing it becuase it offers a chance for "land grab" in West Jerusalem, it should shame us all into action!

How can a Rabbi, a person who is responsible for peoples lives, morals, principles, entrusted with the sacred rituals of birth, marriage, community and DEATH be so cold and distant as to say that Jews should not be held to a higher standard then Muslims hold themselves when it comes to their dead.

Since when are the dead, of any faith treated wtih this sort of dignity. Since when can you tell a family whose ancestors are buried in the graveyard that "your religious leaders said its not sacred anymore, that once they were buidling a school on all of it, that they built a parking lot on it, that they built a hotel on it". Did ever cross the Rabbi's mind under what conditions those decisions were made, by whom and for what purpose those decisions were made?

The Rabbi, for promoting understanding and tolerance, has no inkling that those "Muslim scholars and trustees" he refers to are not accepted by the vast Palestinian diaspora as being representative of their will, that they are appointed by the Israeli government and many times rubber stamp decision already made by the Israeli government.

All this aside, how can a Rabbi think that a finding bodies under the ground would mean the continuation of building a Museum of Tolerance? I mean imagine if Europe decided to destroy derilect Jewish cemeteries in Poland or Germany or France, or worse to "develop with luxury apartments and districts" by bulldozing concentration camps and "sealing under the foundation" the bodies of those countless Jews who were murdered by the Nazi's. Would it be acceptable if instead that development was a "Museum of Understanding" to uplift and bring business to a really hard press region?

I would hope Muslims would be the first to stand up and say "No" to such a thing, as I would hope a Rabbi representing an organization that purports itself to be a international "human rights organization" would be the first to step and say, "this is wrong, I will not desecrate the resting place of the dead in order to build a Museum of Tolerance."

When the Rabbi and the proponents say its "just a parking lot" then my response is does a parking lot have hundreds if not thousands of graves? And how would we, in any corner of the world, treat the graves of any of our deceased? Does a parking lot look like this:



Does that look like a parking lot to you?

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Oppose $30 Billion in Military Aid to Apartheid Israel

To whom it may concern:

I oppose the proposed ten-year agreement between the United States and Apartheid Israel for $30 billion in U.S. military aid to Apartheid Israel. This military aid package, amounting to $3 billion per year, represents a 25% increase over the current U.S. annual military aid appropriation to Apartheid Israel of $2.4 billion. Apartheid Israel is already the largest recipient of U.S. military aid before the proposed increase.

Rather than increasing military aid, the United States should sanction Apartheid Israel by cutting off military aid to it for its continued violations of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act and U.S. Foreign Assistance Acts.

The U.S. Arms Export Control Act prohibits foreign countries from using U.S. weapons against civilians or civilian infrastructure and limits their use to 'legitimate self-defense' or for 'internal security.' The U.S. Foreign Assistance Act states that 'no assistance may be provided under this part [of the law] to the government of any country which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights'.

Rather than use U.S. military aid for 'legitimate self-defense' or 'internal security,' Apartheid Israel relies upon it to prosecute its illegal 40-year old foreign military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip as well as it's altogether illegitimate existence. 'Gross violations of internationally recognized human rights' against Palestinians living under Apartheid Israel’s illegal military occupation have been well-documented by numerous Palestinian, 'Israeli,' U.S., and international human rights organizations, as well as by the U.S. government.

I urge you to take action to uphold the laws of the United States and hold Apartheid Israel accountable for its violations of U.S. law rather than provide it with additional military aid.

Thanking you in advance,
Zahra Billoo
San Francisco, CA

Send a letter to your elected officials now, by clicking here.

"This Week in Palestine"

By Guest Blogger Rose Mishaan

It has been a pretty eventful week and a half. After the Hamas "coup" of Gaza, the Fatah forces have been making their presence known in the West Bank -- mostly in the form of many armed guards standing around the main square and various government buildings in Ramallah and occasionally masked men with rifles riding around town in jeeps. The situation seems to have stabilized somewhat, at least here. I can't say much for those trapped in Gaza with no way in, no way out, no aid, no food, and no fuel.

Aside from the sectarian fighting, the occupation is alive and well. I cross the Qalandia checkpoint twice a day on my way to and from work in Jerusalem. Its a two-hour trek to get to Jerusalem, usually an hour to go back. The checkpoint ordeal can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 45+ minutes, depending on the political climate, holidays, or just the mood of the soldiers at the time. Lately they've started adding another temporary checkpoint about 100 meters after the first one. here they come on the bus and check all the IDs again, sometimes just stand outside the door and hold the bus up and don't check IDs, and sometimes take people off the bus, even after they have cleared the main checkpoint.

As part of my internship, I went to survey the aftermath of 4 house demolitions last week, around Jerusalem. The tactic of house demolitions is one way that the [apartheid] Israeli government has been trying to "Judaize" Jerusalem and drive Palestinians off the land. They are devastating. The government can demolish a house with little or no warning on the basis that the family did not get a permit to build. The problem is, it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to get building permits from the municipality, even when they own the land and plan to do the construction themselves. ICAHD (the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions), the organization I am working with this summer has started a campaign to rebuild every Palestinian house that is destroyed by the [apartheid] Israeli government this year. They are doing this as a political act of resistance against the occupation and the policy of house demolitions. At the campaign launch, we went to the house of a woman in the old city of Jerusalem. She had lived there for many years, after her family's house was destroyed when the Mughrabi Quarter of old Jerusalem was leveled to make room for a plaza in front of the Wailing Wall, in 1967. Those living in the Mughrabi Quarter were largely refugees from the 1948 Nakbe (catastrophe). She showed us her house and how she had tried to make improvements to the house, and how the army came and tore them down -- including the ceiling in her front room, which to this day she has not been able to rebuild.

The rubble of the houses was hard to take. strewn among the bricks, cement, and tiles, were personal possessions, bed sheets, toys, furniture. The first place we visited: the house had been destroyed that morning. The family was wandering through the ruins, somewhat dazed. They were building the house on land that they owned. The last one was on a family's property that they had owned for over 300 years. They had the deeds to prove this. Their main home was left standing, but the addition that they were building to house their extended family, was demolished.

Yesterday, I headed to the town of Bil'in in the West Bank, to go to a weekly protest by the villagers against the building of the wall through their land. Several hundred people participate in this protest weekly, waving flags, marching, and chanting. As we marched down the road, you could see the army and police convoys in the distance -- a solid wall of soldiers in the distance. The people stop as they approach the soldiers. They stand there with arms up to show they are unarmed and then continue to chant in Hebrew and Arabic. Eventually, the soldiers start shooting tear gas through the crowd. People run back. Some that are willing to risk arrest stay up front and refuse to be pushed back. As people run back, you can hear the tear gas canisters whizzing around, and see them landing in the midst of the protesters. For those of us new to the protest, like myself, this is a scary experience. The canisters can hit people and burn them or otherwise injure them. The gas is very uncomfortable and there are always a few people who need medical attention. The Red Cross/Crescent folks always accompany the protesters and assist those that are injured. For those that come here every week, this is normal. They are used to it. When the shooting subsides, they return to meet the soldiers again. Then the soldiers start firing live ammunition as "warning shots" and try arresting people. This week they got two. Then the jeeps drive down the road towards the town, as the protesters run back again. The soldiers fire more tear gas and start shooting rubber bullets (kind of a misnomer, since rubber bullets are just steel bullets with a layer of rubber around them. They can, and have, killed people. By this point, I have decided to hang toward the back, as I don't think my stomach, or my nerves, can take another round of tear gas and shooting.

At the end of the day, we are all weary from the ordeal. The villagers return to their homes, the internationals head back to their various centers of operation, and the wall stands. Next Friday they will try again.

Back in 1099...

Israeli missile leaves destruction in Gaza (17/05/2007)

"On Friday 19 August 1099 he [qadi of Damascus Abu Saad al-Harawi] led his companions into the great mosques of Baghdad. In the afternoon as the faithful were converging from all over the city to pray, he began eating ostentatiously, although it was Ramadan, the month of obligatory fasting. Within a few moments an angry crowd passed around him. But al-Harawi then rose and calmly asked those surrounding him how it was that they could feel so indignant at the violation of the fast whereas the massacre of thousands of Muslims and the destruction of the holy places of Islam met with their complete indifference. Having thus silenced the crowd, he proceeded to describe in detail the evils that had overwhelmed Syria, Bilad al-Sham , and especially those that had just befallen Jerusalem. The refugees wept, and they made others weep, Ibn al-Athir writes."

...

"Wearing no turban, his head shaved as a sign of mourning, the vulnerable qadi Abu Sa'ad al-Harawi burst with a loud cry into the spacious diwan of the caliph al-Mustazhir Billah, a throng of companions, young and old, trailing in his wake.

'How dare you slumber in the shade of complacent safety', he began, 'leading lives as frivolous as garden flowers while your brothers in Syria have no dwelling place save the saddles of camels and the bellies of vultures? Blood has been spilled! Beautiful young girls have been shamed, and must now hide their sweet faces in their hands! Shall the valorous Arabs resign themselves to insult, and the valiant Persians accept dishonour?'

'It was a speech that brought tears to many an eye and moved men's hearts', the Arab chroniclers would later write. The entire audience broke out in wails and lamentations. But al-Harawi had not come to elicit sobs.

'Man's meanest weapon', he shouted, 'is to shed tears when rapiers stir the coals of war.' "

From Amin Maalouf's The Crusades Through Arab Eyes