Je vous invite a lire ci dessous le temoignage du directeur du centre culturel de al rowwad. ce soir encore je viens de travailler sur les photos prises la semaine derniere a la repetition des jeunes palestiniens qui preparent leur tournee en France cet eté...et encore une fois ils doivent faire face a une incursion militaire. tout est fait pour briser ces jeunes generations. quelles perspectives et futur leur offre-t-on? combien de temps cela peut continuer ainsi?
I invite you to read the text of the director of the cultural centre of Al Rowwad. tonight again i was working on the pictures that I took a few days ago of the same kids that were rehearsing for their play that they are going to show this summer in France and Belgium...and once again they have to face an Israeli military incursion. everything is done to break the young Palestinian generations. what kind of future and perspectives do they have? how long can it continue like this?
Il est 16h23, ce Mardi 18 Avril, 2006. Depuis plus de deux heures que les jeeps israéliens encerclent le camp à côté de l'école des filles (le deuxième période de 6 à 9 ans) et les bombes de gaz lacrymogène et les balles en caoutchouc empoisonnent le calme de camp.
Un de nos enfants, Husam Alazza (15 ans) qui avait le caméra vidéo pour filmer un entrevue avec un autre enfant, pour préparer un reportage pour notre tournée en France et en Belgique de 14 Juin jusqu'au 2 août 2006, a essayé de prendre quelques images des jeeps à côté de la mosquée, et en face de l'école. À peine la tête sorti, une balle en caoutchouc l'a frappé. Heureusement, la balle a cassé le caméscope avant de le blesser au joue.
Il est revenu au centre, le sang coulant sur son visage et son corps.
Cela continue les provocations pendant toute cette semaine et la semaine dernière lorsque deux fois, ces barbares ont blessé 6 enfants avec leur balles en caoutchouc. Le gaz a envahit le vieux centre et le nouveau centre aussi, et leur provocation n'a aucune excuse ou justificatif... Ils se cachent derrière leur véhicules blindées et derrière leur murs et tours d'observation, et nous où est que nous pouvons nous cacher?
Je remercie les Grands Etats Unis et la Magnifique Union Européen pour leur Sagesse en supportant le plus grand état d'occupation et de racisme, le Grand Israël et de nous punir pour nos crimes de revendiquer la fin de l'occupation et vivre tout simplement comme des êtres humains... Nous resterons fidèles à notre humanité, et à pousser nos cris.. peut-être qu'un jours quelques sourdes oreilles décident d'écouter..
It is 16h23, this Tuesday 18 April, 2006. Since more than 2 hours, the Israeli military jeeps are encircling the camp near the girls school (the second shift of classes for girls age 6 to 9 years old) and the tear gas bombs as well as the rubber bullets empoison the calm in Aida camp.
One of our kids, Husam Alazza (15 years old) who has a video camera to film an interview with another kid to prepare a reportage for our theatre performances tour in summer (June 14th – August 2nd) 2006 in France and Belgium, have tried to take some images of the incursion near the mosque and the girls school. While he opened the camera and wanted to film, immediately he was shot by a rubber bullet (the rubber bullets are composed of a thing layer of rubber enveloping a metallic sphere). Fortunately, the bullet broke the camera before hitting his cheek.
He came back top the center blood flowing on his face and his body.
This continues the series of provocations from a lawless army of occupation during this whole week and the last week. These barbaric bandits have injured 6 children, and Husam is the 7 th with their rubber bullets. The gas invaded the whole camp; our old center as well as the new building. They hide behind their armored vehicles and behind their racist walls and towers of observation. Where can we hide?
I just want to thank the great United States of America, and the Magnificent European Union for their wisdom in supporting the greatest occupation and racist country in the world and punishing our Palestinian people for our crimes of claiming the end of occupation and to live simply as normal human beings.
We stay honest to our humanity and shout loud, may be one day, some of these deaf ears decide to listen.
Abed
--
AbdelFattah Abu-Srour, PhD
Director of Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center
____________________________________________
Al-Rowwad is an Independent Center for artistic, cultural, and theatre training for children in Aida Camp trying to provide a "safe" and healthy environment to help children creativity and discharge of stress in the war conditions they are forced to live in
Mobile: (972) 522 401 325- Telefax: +970 2 275 0030
email: alrowwadtheatre@yahoo.com w
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Nouvelles attaques au camp de Aida/ New attacks on Aida refugee camp
Un enfant blesse du camp de aida- Photo prise par Al Rowwad/ A young Palestinian hurt in Aida refugee camp. Picture taken by Al Rowwad.
voir ci-dessous le texte du directeur de Al Rowwad.
hier soir encore je travaillais sur les photos que j'ai prises des enfants du centre de Al Rowwad, en train de danser et de repeter leur piece de theatre pour leur tournee de cet ete...et cela continue encore, des nouvelles incursions, des nouveaux blesses, il s'agit de detruire les nouvelles generations. quelles perspectives donnent-on a ces jeunes Palestiniens???
see below a newt text from the director of the Al Rowwad Centre.
Yesterday night I was working on the pictures that I took in Aida Camp, of teh children laughing and dancing, rehearsing their play that they will show this summer in France and Belgium...and here we go again, the same children face military incursions, one of them was hurt. the aim is to destroy the will of these young generations. what perspectives do we give to them?
Il est 16h23, ce Mardi 18 Avril, 2006. Depuis plus de deux heures que
les
jeeps israéliens encerclent le camp à côté de l'école des filles (le
deuxième période de 6 à 9 ans) et les bombes de gaz lacrymogène et les
balles en caoutchouc empoisonnent le calme de camp. Un de nos enfants,
Husam
Alazza (15 ans) qui avait le caméra vidéo pour filmer un entrevue avec
un
autre enfant, pour préparer un reportage pour notre tournée en France
et en
Belgique de 14 Juin jusqu'au 2 août 2006, a essayé de prendre quelques
images des jeeps à côté de la mosquée, et en face de l'école. À peine
la
tête sorti, une balle en caoutchouc l'a frappé. Heureusement, la balle
a
cassé le caméscope avant de le blesser au joue. Il est revenu au
centre, le
sang coulant sur son visage et son corps. Cela continue les
provocations
pendant toute cette semaine et la semaine dernière lorsque deux fois,
ces
barbares ont blessé 6 enfants avec leur balles en caoutchouc. Le gaz a
envahit le vieux centre et le nouveau centre aussi, et leur
provocation n'a
aucune excuse ou justificatif... Ils se cachent derrière leur
véhicules
blindées et derrière leur murs et tours d'observation, et nous où est
que
nous pouvons nous cacher? Je remercie les Grands Etats Unis et la
Magnifique
Union Européen pour leur Sagesse en supportant le plus grand état
d'occupation et de racisme, le Grand Israël et de nous punir pour nos
crimes
de revendiquer la fin de l'occupation et vivre tout simplement comme
des
êtres humains... Nous resterons fidèles à notre humanité, et à
pousser nos
cris... peut-être qu'un jours quelques sourdes oreilles décident
d'écouter...
It is 16h23, this Tuesday 18 April, 2006. Since more than 2 hours,
the
Israeli military jeeps are encircling the camp near the girls school
(the
second shift of classes for girls age 6 to 9 years old) and the tear
gas
bombs as well as the rubber bullets empoison the calm in Aida camp.
One of
our kids, Husam Alazza (15 years old) who has a video camera to film
an
interview with another kid to prepare a reportage for our theatre
performances tour in summer (June 14th – August 2nd) 2006 in France
and
Belgium, have tried to take some images of the incursion near the
mosque
and the girls school. While he opened the camera and wanted to film,
immediately he was shot by a rubber bullet (the rubber bullets are
composed
of a thing layer of rubber enveloping a metallic sphere). Fortunately,
the
bullet broke the camera before hitting his cheek. He came back top the
center blood flowing on his face and his body. This continues the
series of
provocations from a lawless army of occupation during this whole week
and
the last week. These barbaric bandits have injured 6 children, and
Husam is
the 7 th with their rubber bullets. The gas invaded the whole camp;
our old
center as well as the new building. They hide behind their armored
vehicles
and behind their racist walls and towers of observation. Where can we
hide?
I just want to thank the great United States of America, and the
Magnificent
European Union for their wisdom in supporting the greatest occupation
and
racist country in the world and punishing our Palestinian people for
our
crimes of claiming the end of occupation and to live simply as normal
human
beings. We stay honest to our humanity and shout loud, may be one day,
some
of these deaf ears decide to listen.
Abed
AbdelFattah Abu-Srour, PhD
Director of Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center
____________________________________________
Al-Rowwad is an Independent Center for artistic, cultural, and theatre
training for children in Aida Camp trying to provide a "safe" and
healthy
environment to help children creativity and discharge of stress in the
war
conditions they are forced to live in Mobile: (972) 522 401 325-
Telefax:
+970 2 275 0030
email: alrowwadtheatre@yahoo.com web site:
http://alrowwad.virtualactivism.net
Monday, April 17, 2006
(c) Anne Paq/ tourbillonphoto.com
Samedi 15 Avril 2006
En arrivant vers le camp de refugies de Aida, pres de la Tombe de Rachel qui est devenue une veritable forteresse militaire, j'ai encore eu un choc. un nouveau pan de Mur a ete construit a l endroit ou ils ont prevu de construire une nouvelle colonie, incluant une synagogue. Le camp de refugies est desormais entoure de tous les cotes. les clashes sont presque quotidiens.
Voir aussi les photos et textes dans les blogs precedents.
When I arrived near Aida Refugee camp, next to Rachel's tomb which has become a military fortress, once again i had a shock. A new section of the Wall has been built where the Israeli authorities are planning to build a new colony, including a synagogue. just in the middle of Bethlehem and in the face of the Palestinian refugees. The refugee camp is now totally surrounded and whereever you turn your eyes you will see either the Wall, military soldiers or settlements. Clashes are almost daily.
See also textes and pictures below
>
Encore un nouveau pan de Mur au camp de Aida / Another section of the Wall in Aida camp
(c) Anne Paq/ Tourbillonphoto.com
Samedi 15 Avril 2006.
De l autre cote du nouveau Mur, vue du cimetiere.
les habitants du camp de refugie de Aida vivent desormais completement entoures de Mur, de tours militaires et colonies.
Derriere le Mur, les enfants du centre culturel de Al Rowwad repetent leur piece de theatre qui va etre en tournee cet ete en France et Belgique. En depit des violences et de la situation, ils continuent a affirmer leur droit a exister et a la dignite.
On the other side of the Wall, the view from the new cemetery.
The inhabitants from Aida refugee camp are now completely surrounded by the Wall, military towers and settlements.
Behind thw Wall, the children from Al-Rowwad Cultural center rehearse their play that will be shown in Europe this summer. Despite the situation and the repeated violencem they continue to affirm their right to exist and their right to dignity.
See below a recent report from the Director.
Subject: news from Aida Camp - nouvelles de Camp Aida
Date: Monday 10 April 2006 01:56
From: "A. Abu-Srour"
To: Alrowwad Theatre
Israeli occupation soldiers during this whole week continued their harassement to Aida camp inhabitants, with tear gas, rubber bullets, taking
hostages and shooting 3 kids 11-13 years old (one of them is a deaf-mute child) with rubber bullets in the head and abdomen, and provocative actions throug the loud speakers of their armored jeeps.
On thursday, 2 workers on the popular committee went to a store to take out some of their equipment to start working in one of the job creation projects in the camp. It was an Israeli soldier who opened the door and the weapon pointed at them ordered them to come in. The director of the Camp, who is a UNRWA employee, with another employee went to check what happened (the building is just next to their office), they were also taken hostage... so another UNRWA employee called the UNRWA direction and 2 hours later, the UNRWA employees were released however, Mustafa jamil Abusrour, and Mustafa Shawkat Malash were kept hostages. We went to see and 'negotiate' the liberation of the hostages, and took a glance where the soldiers hide, and they were painted black on their faces. We asked if they had any responsible to talk with, the answer was "go home". around 2 hours later, a military
jeep came in from the militray point occupyin the Mosque of Bilal Ibn Rabah
(transformed into a synagogue after 1967 occupation and renamed Rachel Tomb)and passed back and forth, no body moved, and they didn't say
anything... then the jeeb went into the camp, and made several tours, and then on
the other end of the camp we heard some shooting. It was tear gas and rubber bullets...
Anyway, about 6 hours later, the 2 hostages were released and the soldiers went out of the building... it seemed that they used it as a hiding place to surprise the kids and to watch on the building of the new illegal wall and new Synagogue to the east of Aida, south of the mosque Bilal ibn Rabah..
The most provocative today and tonight (april 8th) after they assasinated a "wanted" palestinian in Bethlehem, the jeep entered the camp, near the girls school (few meters from the illegal apratheid wall), and the another one near the intercontinental hotel. According to soemone living in that place, one of those arrogant soldiers starts shouting in a shameless tune:"Come out to me inhabitants of Aida... Come out and take your dose"
The soldier next to him was telling the one who was shooting what to shoot... once tear gas, another time rubber bullets... Some of the kids gathered a bit far, and threw stones at them, but they were not even close to the jeeb, but the shooting and tear gas continued. At around 4:30 p.m, a mother of a twin girls who were in the theatre rehearsals called at the center, and asked me not to let the girls leave the center, because the army was just shooting tear gas near the school where their house also is located....
and life contines... and we continue to write... and you
continue to read... how long would that continue.... how long before those who have some authority in this world excerce their authority to force such gangesters and bandits to stop their crimes against the humans that we are, and against the humanity itself? can one help us with an answer?
wishing you a better day and a better night, and a better week than the one
I had...
AbdelFattah Abu-Srour, PhD
Director of Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center
____________________________________________
Al-Rowwad is an Independent Center for artistic, cultural, and theatre
training for children in Aida Camp trying to provide a "safe" and
healthy
environment to help children creativity and discharge of stress in the
war
conditions they are forced to live in Mobile: (972) 522 401 325-
Telefax:
+970 2 275 0030
email: alrowwadtheatre@yahoo.com web site:
http://alrowwad.virtualactivism.net
Encore un nouveau pan de Mur au camp de Aida / Another section of the Wall in Aida camp
(c) Anne Paq/tourbillonphoto.com
Samedi 15 Avril 2006.
Photos prises au memes endroits a quelques semaines d'intervalle, au milieu de Bethlehem, juste a cote du camp de Aida. Un nouveau pan du Mur a ete erige avec une tour militaire pour proteger la nouvelle colonie qui va etre construite, dont une synagogue, a quelques metres du cimetiere mulsuman!
Pictures taken at the same spot, in the middle of Bethlehem, just next to Aida Refugee camp. A new section of the Wall has been built with a military watch tower, to protect the new settlement, which will include a synagogue, just a few meters away from the Muslim Cemetery!
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Who is a terrorist? article from Gideon Levy on Gaza
Who is a terrorist?
By Gideon Levy
The scenes from Gaza are heartbreaking. Heartbreaking? That's not for certain. The sight of the Aben family from Beit Lahiya mourning its 12-year-old daughter Hadil last week did not stir any particular shock in Israel. Nor did anyone take to the streets and protest over the sight of her wounded mother and little brother lying in shock on the floor of their shanty in Gaza.
On the day Hadil Aben was killed, Yedioth Aharonoth carried a story about Nelly, the dog from Kibbutz Zikim that died of heart failure from the booming noise of the Israeli artillery firing into Gaza.
Instead of expressions of sorrow at the death of children, the upper echelons of the defense establishment came out with a stream of strident statements. The defense minister said that the only thing to do was step up the pressure on the Palestinians. The deputy chief of staff spoke about a possible invasion of Gaza and the head of army operations added, "what we've seen so far are only the previews." The IDF announced it would further reduce the "safety range" that is designed to avoid shells hitting the civilian population.
Advertisement
It was a chilling, united chorus. Israel is dropping thousands of bombs on towns and villages, on the "the launching pads" of the Qassams - another dubious term created by the defense establishment and blindly adopted by the press - and only the Palestinians, whose Qassam rockets haven't killed anyone since the disengagement, are called "terrorists."
Nor was there any substantive debate after a possible slip of the tongue by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in an interview to the BBC, in which she said that there was a difference between attacking civilians and attacking soldiers. Even though she did not resolutely stand by her own words in an interview with Channel 10, Livni dared to speak the truth: If harming civilians is a measure of terror, then Israel is a terror state. With 18 killed in Gaza alone in 12 days, three of them children, the absence of intent cannot suffice for us. Someone who uses artillery to shell population centers and says with horrific indifference that this is "just a preview," as if it were another reality show on TV, cannot claim that he does not intend to kill children.
Those responsible for such bombings around the world are rightfully considered war criminals. That's terror - just ask Livni. And when it is done in the name of a state, it is much worse than in those cases when the perpetrators are from rogue organizations.
Israel declares it is striving to apply pressure with its cannon on the Palestinian population, so that it will prevent the Qassam fire. That is a hollow argument. No Palestinian leader can promote a cease-fire while dozens of civilians are being hurt. No Palestinian, no matter how peaceable, can prevent with his body the launches from inside Palestinian Authority territory. Could Hadil Aben's parents have done something? What exactly was the crime of these poor people? And how, exactly, will killing their daughter lead to a halt in the Qassams?
The continuing imprisonment of besieged Gaza is precisely the opposite policy that should be applied to serve Israeli interests. The current policy only strengthens support for the Hamas, just like the terror attacks within Israel always strengthen the Israeli right. A nation under siege, its leadership boycotted, will have far more determination and resolve to fight to its last drop of blood. It is impossible to break the spirit of a desperate people. Only a nation that sees a light at the end of its desperation will change its ways.
What would happen if Israel were to turn to the world and call upon it to enlist in the cause of support for the residents of Gaza, to donate and invest money to help them out of their utter poverty? If an Israeli prime minister did such a thing and at the same time called for a meeting with his elected Palestinian counterpart, it would create far more effective and positive pressure than any cannon fire.
If the Palestinians only saw for the first time in their lives that Israel also had their well-being in mind, which is not necessarily bad for Israel, they would have a lot more to lose and they would expel the Qassam launchers themselves. Only the Palestinians can do that, and sowing the seeds of hope is the only way to do so. And if, in the current situation, the artillery fire were to end, and they were to stop the Qassams, would Israel ease the siege, enable freedom of movement from Gaza to the West Bank, allow Palestinians to work in Israel, agree to the construction of a seaport and airport in besieged Gaza? Israel's declarations prove that the answer to all these questions is an unequivocal no. Its current policy and the policies we have seen it adopt lead only to intensification of the violence on the part of the Palestinians.
No Qassam justifies the killing and terror that the shells sow in Gaza. Cannons are meant for war against an army. Using them against a helpless civilian population is supposed to be beyond the realm of the legitimate, without any ifs or buts about it. A state does not shell towns. Period. Just like in the war against crime that is also deadly and endangers state security, no end justifies all the means. Would it ever occur to the Israeli police to evacuate an entire neighborhood from which some murderers came? Would anyone decide to shell such a neighborhood, even if it would mean minimizing the crime coming out of it?
Those who really want to end the Qassam launches from Gaza, should turn Israeli policy upside down. To show restraint in the face of the Qassams, to lift the siege, to immediately meet with the elected Palestinian leadership and call on the world to stop withholding the funds from the Palestinian Authority. Only a free and secure and thriving Gaza will stop launching Qassams. Have we ever tried that?
By Gideon Levy
The scenes from Gaza are heartbreaking. Heartbreaking? That's not for certain. The sight of the Aben family from Beit Lahiya mourning its 12-year-old daughter Hadil last week did not stir any particular shock in Israel. Nor did anyone take to the streets and protest over the sight of her wounded mother and little brother lying in shock on the floor of their shanty in Gaza.
On the day Hadil Aben was killed, Yedioth Aharonoth carried a story about Nelly, the dog from Kibbutz Zikim that died of heart failure from the booming noise of the Israeli artillery firing into Gaza.
Instead of expressions of sorrow at the death of children, the upper echelons of the defense establishment came out with a stream of strident statements. The defense minister said that the only thing to do was step up the pressure on the Palestinians. The deputy chief of staff spoke about a possible invasion of Gaza and the head of army operations added, "what we've seen so far are only the previews." The IDF announced it would further reduce the "safety range" that is designed to avoid shells hitting the civilian population.
Advertisement
It was a chilling, united chorus. Israel is dropping thousands of bombs on towns and villages, on the "the launching pads" of the Qassams - another dubious term created by the defense establishment and blindly adopted by the press - and only the Palestinians, whose Qassam rockets haven't killed anyone since the disengagement, are called "terrorists."
Nor was there any substantive debate after a possible slip of the tongue by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in an interview to the BBC, in which she said that there was a difference between attacking civilians and attacking soldiers. Even though she did not resolutely stand by her own words in an interview with Channel 10, Livni dared to speak the truth: If harming civilians is a measure of terror, then Israel is a terror state. With 18 killed in Gaza alone in 12 days, three of them children, the absence of intent cannot suffice for us. Someone who uses artillery to shell population centers and says with horrific indifference that this is "just a preview," as if it were another reality show on TV, cannot claim that he does not intend to kill children.
Those responsible for such bombings around the world are rightfully considered war criminals. That's terror - just ask Livni. And when it is done in the name of a state, it is much worse than in those cases when the perpetrators are from rogue organizations.
Israel declares it is striving to apply pressure with its cannon on the Palestinian population, so that it will prevent the Qassam fire. That is a hollow argument. No Palestinian leader can promote a cease-fire while dozens of civilians are being hurt. No Palestinian, no matter how peaceable, can prevent with his body the launches from inside Palestinian Authority territory. Could Hadil Aben's parents have done something? What exactly was the crime of these poor people? And how, exactly, will killing their daughter lead to a halt in the Qassams?
The continuing imprisonment of besieged Gaza is precisely the opposite policy that should be applied to serve Israeli interests. The current policy only strengthens support for the Hamas, just like the terror attacks within Israel always strengthen the Israeli right. A nation under siege, its leadership boycotted, will have far more determination and resolve to fight to its last drop of blood. It is impossible to break the spirit of a desperate people. Only a nation that sees a light at the end of its desperation will change its ways.
What would happen if Israel were to turn to the world and call upon it to enlist in the cause of support for the residents of Gaza, to donate and invest money to help them out of their utter poverty? If an Israeli prime minister did such a thing and at the same time called for a meeting with his elected Palestinian counterpart, it would create far more effective and positive pressure than any cannon fire.
If the Palestinians only saw for the first time in their lives that Israel also had their well-being in mind, which is not necessarily bad for Israel, they would have a lot more to lose and they would expel the Qassam launchers themselves. Only the Palestinians can do that, and sowing the seeds of hope is the only way to do so. And if, in the current situation, the artillery fire were to end, and they were to stop the Qassams, would Israel ease the siege, enable freedom of movement from Gaza to the West Bank, allow Palestinians to work in Israel, agree to the construction of a seaport and airport in besieged Gaza? Israel's declarations prove that the answer to all these questions is an unequivocal no. Its current policy and the policies we have seen it adopt lead only to intensification of the violence on the part of the Palestinians.
No Qassam justifies the killing and terror that the shells sow in Gaza. Cannons are meant for war against an army. Using them against a helpless civilian population is supposed to be beyond the realm of the legitimate, without any ifs or buts about it. A state does not shell towns. Period. Just like in the war against crime that is also deadly and endangers state security, no end justifies all the means. Would it ever occur to the Israeli police to evacuate an entire neighborhood from which some murderers came? Would anyone decide to shell such a neighborhood, even if it would mean minimizing the crime coming out of it?
Those who really want to end the Qassam launches from Gaza, should turn Israeli policy upside down. To show restraint in the face of the Qassams, to lift the siege, to immediately meet with the elected Palestinian leadership and call on the world to stop withholding the funds from the Palestinian Authority. Only a free and secure and thriving Gaza will stop launching Qassams. Have we ever tried that?
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
from Gaza
Pour ceux qui ne lisent pas l'anglais vous pouvez quand meme voir les photos sur le blog d'une journaliste palestinienne a: http://www.a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/
les bombardements a gaza continuent. lundi une fille de 12 ans a ete tuee devant sa maison, 13 autres membres de sa famille ont ete blesses, un de ses freres a perdu la vue. les autorites israeliennes ont cependant affirme qu'ils allaient continuer et ils continuent.
pourquoi les sanctions ne sont-elles pas prises contre Israel et sont imposees aux Palestiniens? Je suis honteuse de la position de l'Union europeenne. non seulement cela est moralement injustifiable et les consequences humaines vont etre desastreuses mais c est aussi une terrible erreur politique. j'ai bien peur que le pire reste encore a venir.
Have a look to the blog of Leila at http://www.a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/
i am sick really those days,
why the sanctions are imposed on the Palestinians and not on Israel?
i am ashamed of the position of Europe-it is not only morally wrong but a big political mistake.
i am afraid the worse is still to come.
The Earth is Closing in on Us
Leila el Haddad - Wednesday, 12 April 2006, 01:58
The shells keep falling. They’ve gotten inside my head, so that its not just my house shaking but but my brain throbbing. It’s like someone is banging a gong next to my ear every few minutes; sometimes 5 times a minute, like last night.
And just when I savor a few moments of silence, it starts again as if to say “you’re not going to get away that easily.”
We went to sleep to the rattling of our windows and invasive pounding and after-echo of the shells. We sleep as they fall. We pray fajir, and they fall again. We wake, and they are still falling. When they are closer, when they fall in Shija’iya east of Gaza City, they make my stomach drop. And I want to hide, but I don’t know where.
The Earth is Closing in on Us.
That’s the thing about occupation-it invades even your most private of spaces. And while the shells were falling inside my head, they also killed little Hadil Ghabin today.
A shell landed on her home in Beit Lahiya, shattering her helpless body and injuring 5 members of her family, including Hadil’s pregnant mother, Safia, and her 19-year-old sister.
My headeaches seem inconsequential when I think of little Hadil. Sometimes people here say they prefer death to this existence; you’ll frequently here at funerals: “Irta7at”…she’s more comfortable now anyhow-what was there to live for here?”
The Earth is squeezing us
I wish we were its wheat
so we could die and live again.
That has become our sad reality. Death provides relief.
Sometimes it feels like we are all in some collective torture room; who is playing God with us this night, I wonder? When I look up into the sky, and hear the shells, or see the faceless helicopter gunships cruising intently through the moonlit sky, I wonder, do they see me?
And when the shells start falling again, I can’t help but imagine some beside-himself with boredom 18-year-old on the border, lighting a cig or SMSing his girlfriend back in Tel Aviv “just a few more rounds to go hon.….give it another whirl, Ron, its been 2 minutes already.”
Sometimes, when I’m on edge, I might just yell out and wave my arms at them.
Do they hear me?
We decided to escape this evening to my father’s farm in central Gaza, where we roasted potatoes and warmed tea on a small mangal, as we listened to thikr about the Prophet on the occasion of his mawlid from a nearby mosque, under the ominous roars of fighter jets, patrolling the otherwise lonely skies above.
“Where are you heading off to?” asked Osama, the shopkeeper downstairs. “Off to the farm. We’re suffocating,” I replied, Yousuf tugging at my arm… “mama…Yallah! Yallah!”
“Wallah Laila, we’re not just suffocating…we’re asphyxiating. I feel I can’t breathe anymore. And my head is pounding and pounding. All I hear is BOOM boom now.”
The Earth is Closing in on Us.
And little Hadil is dead.
And suddenly, the seams of childhood disappeared
Hadil Ghabin, 9 years old, was killed last night after an Israeli shell struck her family's home. 13 other members of her family were injured, including her pregnant mother, several toddlers, and her 15-year-old brother Ahmed, who lost his eye sight.
Hadil's mother was baking bread when the shells began to fall around them. She gathered her children and they huddled inside the house for safety.
According to her aunts, Hadil loved reading, writing stories, and playing "make-believe". "She would always gather all the neighbourhood children and tell them all sorts of wild stories," told me her Aunt.
And why not, for sometimes imagination is the only refuge we have here, the only realm that cannot be invaded. May she live the fairy tales she could only imagine during her short life. Photos and videos of the sad event (all mine):
Say to her, "My dear, my dear,
It is not so dreadful here."
Overcome with emotion, Hadil's mother collapsed when the body of her daughter, limp and expressionless, was brought to the house for a final farewell.
Hadil's 10-year-old brother Ahmed lost his sight in the attack.
"And suddenly, the seams of childhood
disappeared
And the stories and dreams
flew away
like a kite"
Neighbours tried to comfort the grieving family, as they wept alongside them and threw fragrant basil flowers on her lifeless body before the burial.
One-year old Rawan comforts her other sister, Rana
Even as Hadil was being carried away, shells continued to pound the area, leaving billows of white smoke in the distance and an acrid smell lingering in the air.
The Israeli Army asserted today that despite the civlian deaths, which resulted from narrowing their range of attack, the shelling will continue.
The Ghabin household. The mother was baking bread when the shelling began, and gathered her children together in the living room when their house was hit.
Videos:
Video one: A village mourns
Video two: the shelling of northern Gaza, not far from the Ghabin household and the farming village of Fa'dos, continues.
posted by Lailaumyousuf @ Tuesday, April 11
les bombardements a gaza continuent. lundi une fille de 12 ans a ete tuee devant sa maison, 13 autres membres de sa famille ont ete blesses, un de ses freres a perdu la vue. les autorites israeliennes ont cependant affirme qu'ils allaient continuer et ils continuent.
pourquoi les sanctions ne sont-elles pas prises contre Israel et sont imposees aux Palestiniens? Je suis honteuse de la position de l'Union europeenne. non seulement cela est moralement injustifiable et les consequences humaines vont etre desastreuses mais c est aussi une terrible erreur politique. j'ai bien peur que le pire reste encore a venir.
Have a look to the blog of Leila at http://www.a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/
i am sick really those days,
why the sanctions are imposed on the Palestinians and not on Israel?
i am ashamed of the position of Europe-it is not only morally wrong but a big political mistake.
i am afraid the worse is still to come.
The Earth is Closing in on Us
Leila el Haddad - Wednesday, 12 April 2006, 01:58
The shells keep falling. They’ve gotten inside my head, so that its not just my house shaking but but my brain throbbing. It’s like someone is banging a gong next to my ear every few minutes; sometimes 5 times a minute, like last night.
And just when I savor a few moments of silence, it starts again as if to say “you’re not going to get away that easily.”
We went to sleep to the rattling of our windows and invasive pounding and after-echo of the shells. We sleep as they fall. We pray fajir, and they fall again. We wake, and they are still falling. When they are closer, when they fall in Shija’iya east of Gaza City, they make my stomach drop. And I want to hide, but I don’t know where.
The Earth is Closing in on Us.
That’s the thing about occupation-it invades even your most private of spaces. And while the shells were falling inside my head, they also killed little Hadil Ghabin today.
A shell landed on her home in Beit Lahiya, shattering her helpless body and injuring 5 members of her family, including Hadil’s pregnant mother, Safia, and her 19-year-old sister.
My headeaches seem inconsequential when I think of little Hadil. Sometimes people here say they prefer death to this existence; you’ll frequently here at funerals: “Irta7at”…she’s more comfortable now anyhow-what was there to live for here?”
The Earth is squeezing us
I wish we were its wheat
so we could die and live again.
That has become our sad reality. Death provides relief.
Sometimes it feels like we are all in some collective torture room; who is playing God with us this night, I wonder? When I look up into the sky, and hear the shells, or see the faceless helicopter gunships cruising intently through the moonlit sky, I wonder, do they see me?
And when the shells start falling again, I can’t help but imagine some beside-himself with boredom 18-year-old on the border, lighting a cig or SMSing his girlfriend back in Tel Aviv “just a few more rounds to go hon.….give it another whirl, Ron, its been 2 minutes already.”
Sometimes, when I’m on edge, I might just yell out and wave my arms at them.
Do they hear me?
We decided to escape this evening to my father’s farm in central Gaza, where we roasted potatoes and warmed tea on a small mangal, as we listened to thikr about the Prophet on the occasion of his mawlid from a nearby mosque, under the ominous roars of fighter jets, patrolling the otherwise lonely skies above.
“Where are you heading off to?” asked Osama, the shopkeeper downstairs. “Off to the farm. We’re suffocating,” I replied, Yousuf tugging at my arm… “mama…Yallah! Yallah!”
“Wallah Laila, we’re not just suffocating…we’re asphyxiating. I feel I can’t breathe anymore. And my head is pounding and pounding. All I hear is BOOM boom now.”
The Earth is Closing in on Us.
And little Hadil is dead.
And suddenly, the seams of childhood disappeared
Hadil Ghabin, 9 years old, was killed last night after an Israeli shell struck her family's home. 13 other members of her family were injured, including her pregnant mother, several toddlers, and her 15-year-old brother Ahmed, who lost his eye sight.
Hadil's mother was baking bread when the shells began to fall around them. She gathered her children and they huddled inside the house for safety.
According to her aunts, Hadil loved reading, writing stories, and playing "make-believe". "She would always gather all the neighbourhood children and tell them all sorts of wild stories," told me her Aunt.
And why not, for sometimes imagination is the only refuge we have here, the only realm that cannot be invaded. May she live the fairy tales she could only imagine during her short life. Photos and videos of the sad event (all mine):
Say to her, "My dear, my dear,
It is not so dreadful here."
Overcome with emotion, Hadil's mother collapsed when the body of her daughter, limp and expressionless, was brought to the house for a final farewell.
Hadil's 10-year-old brother Ahmed lost his sight in the attack.
"And suddenly, the seams of childhood
disappeared
And the stories and dreams
flew away
like a kite"
Neighbours tried to comfort the grieving family, as they wept alongside them and threw fragrant basil flowers on her lifeless body before the burial.
One-year old Rawan comforts her other sister, Rana
Even as Hadil was being carried away, shells continued to pound the area, leaving billows of white smoke in the distance and an acrid smell lingering in the air.
The Israeli Army asserted today that despite the civlian deaths, which resulted from narrowing their range of attack, the shelling will continue.
The Ghabin household. The mother was baking bread when the shelling began, and gathered her children together in the living room when their house was hit.
Videos:
Video one: A village mourns
Video two: the shelling of northern Gaza, not far from the Ghabin household and the farming village of Fa'dos, continues.
posted by Lailaumyousuf @ Tuesday, April 11
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
De la musique et de la danse contre les Murs/ Music and Dance against the Walls.
(c) Anne Paq
Ouverture du premier festival de danse contemporaine a Ramallah
Voir texte dans blog precedent.
Opening of the first contemporary danse festival in Ramallah.
See text in previous blog.
De la musique et de la danse contre les Murs/ Some music and dance against the Walls
(c) Anne Paq
Mercredi 5 Avril 2006.
de la musique contre le Mur. a Abu Dis samedi dernier des palestiniens, israeliens et internationaux ont joue des deux cotes du Mur. un ecran video projete sur le mur permettait de voir ce qui se passait de l'autre cote.
A Ramallah, hier soir c etait l'ouverture du premier festival de danse contemporaine , la salle etait pleine pour voir une performance du groupe LAMADA de danseurs francais dansant sur la musique envoutante de l'oud joue par le trio palestinien Joubran. Un beau moment qui prend une resonnance toute particuliere ici.
de la musique contre les murs, en esperant qu'elle va resonner et etre entendue.
Wedenesday 5 April 2006. Some music and dance against the walls. in Abu Dis last Saturday there was a gathering of Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals that played some music on both sides of the wall, each trying to be heard by the others. A video screen was projected against the Wall that allowed the participants to see each other.
In Ramallah last night, it was the opening of the first Ramallah contemporary dance festival. The Ramallah Cultural Palace was full to see the performance of the French group LAMADA. They danced under the strange and fascinating musci from oud played by the Palestinian trio Joubran. A nice moment that took a particular meaning and echo here.
Some music against the Walls, hoping that it will resonate and be heard.