Just Another Day

[Jefferson23]

December 2014

2014 was a terrible year. It was one of the cruelest and deadliest in the history of the occupation. After so much killing, devastation, pain and suffering it is natural to want to “get back to normal”. We must not get back to normal. That “normal” is morally reprehensible. It is deadly, guaranteeing the very opposite of peace and justice. For the millions of Palestinians living under occupation, that “normal” means living a practically defenseless existence in the face of a constant threat of harm. Human rights violations must never become the norm – not after 47 years, not after one hundred.

http://www.btselem.org/video/20141231_just_another_day

[oberliner]

1. A truly amazing group of Israelis

B'tselem has been doing such outstanding work for so many years. IT's a shame that what they have documented has been getting worse rather than better. In any case, these folks are some of the best that Israel has to offer. Let's do our best to support their work, and while we are at it - make some noise in support of the Geneva Initiative.

The status quo cannot and should not be maintained.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. Thanks for the post. Happy Newy Year.

Nobody should have to live that way.

[Jefferson23]

3. No one.

All the best to you and yours in the new year, too.

[azurnoir]

4. Thank you

[polly7]

5. Thank you,

I saw this today and it seems to go with your video. I can't imagine what it would be like to live one day under occupation let alone every single minute of every day.

In Gaza, Just Another Steadfast Day/Year/Decade of Occupation

Saturday, January 03, 2015

by Abby Zimet, staff writer

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' recent move to join the International Criminal Court, thus setting the stage for filing a war crimes case against Israel, comes amidst the ongoing travesties that constitute Palestine's and particularly Gaza's "perpetual cycle of suffering" -- teenagers shot in the back, Santa protesters tear-gassed, Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to Muslim holy sites, the demolition last year of 188 homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem whose loss rendered homeless 882 people, over half of them children, and the grievous housing shortage caused by them in conjunction with Israel's murderous 51-day assault on Gaza, which today has left many thousands living in rubble.

That grievous history lay behind Abbas' decision to move forward with joining international organizations, including the Criminal Court, which in turn came after he failed to convince the U.N. Security Council to put a deadline on ending the Israeli occupation. Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinian Liberation Organization, said the move was undertaken “to ensure the protection...of our people...There must be accountability, and those who are concerned about courts should stop committing crimes.”

The Palestinian action was criticized as "counter-productive" by the U.S. State Department, which argued it would "badly damage the atmosphere" of those with whom peace must be made, even if in fact they've committed war crimes. But the U.S. stands increasingly alone with Israel both internationally and domestically: Even a key U.S. Jewish leader has blasted a "Zionist dream (based) on the repeated slaughter of innocents... no country and no people would live the way that Gazans have been made to live."

Gazans themselves continue to try to view themselves not as helpless victims, but as part of a larger resistance to a "war" - even though many outsiders use the word "massacre" to describe the hundreds of dead children, the villages razed, the "sheer weight of Gaza's suffering." Their task, they say, is to turn their steadfastness into liberation, arguing "the point is freedom, not suffering." As they struggle, there are ways to help. A New Year's video from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem notes that while last year was among the cruelest and deadliest of a too-long occupation, what Palestinians desperately need is not a return to "normal," but a change from the atrocities of Just Another Day.

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2015/01/03/gaza-just-another-steadfast-dayyeardecade-occupation

[oberliner]

6. You should try it - that way you don't have to imagine

Known as the intellectual, cultural and political center of the West Bank, Ramallah is like many cities in the Middle East: there is a call for prayer five times a day; plenty of street art to engage the eye; coffeehouses; a variety of restaurants and fast food shops; stalls selling olives and every kind of fruit.

As a student living in Ramallah you will discover the vibrant cultural life of this city of 50,000, including cinema, theater, popular dance, literature, poetry and music.

http://www.bcanet.org/pages.aspx?pid=435&name=About-Ramallah

Try studying or working there for a little while and you will be able to actually know what it's like.

[polly7]

7. Ahhh, yes ..........

it must be wonderful - the checkpoints, the land theft, the barbed wire, the wall, the murders, collective punishment that kills indiscriminately tiny children who have done nothing to anyone, so many living in rubble with no hope for anything better. I imagine it's amazing. You must be Palestinian! Did you flee first to Syria with the other 540,000 displaced refugees?

Are you a Palestinian who's lived under occupation?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

10. Now, now...

let's not bring reality back into the picture.

[Jefferson23]

8. I am always pleased to see B"tselem utilized by others, thank you for this post, polly. n/t

[polly7]

9. You're very welcome.

That video you shared was just heartbreaking (but excellent). I'm just glad that so many around the world are seeing what it's really like for the majority of Palestinians under occupation. According to some, like for the NA Indians allowed to maintain gorgeous casinos while many, many of them fight for basic survival on reserves like Pine Ridge, a whole imprisoned people should be grateful for the bright, shiny things while ignoring the reality for most. It's mind-boggling.