#GazaUnderAttack : Updates from Gaza

#WestBankUnderAttack Israeli AND #US forces displace villagers from homes for military training in the Jordan Valley

On November 11th Palestinians from the Jordan Valley villages of AelRaesAhemer, AelMaleh, and Ael Meta, were awoken by Israeli occupation forces at 6:00 AM and forced to leave their homes and villages because the military was to use the area for military training.

The villages are part of Area C in the West Bank, and therefore are under full Israeli civil and security control. Palestinians in Area C, which covers over 60% of the West Bank, are practically forbidden to build on their own property; while neighboring illegal settlements continue to expand. The villages undergo constant attacks and threats from either the army or settlers, including home demolitions, physical beatings, destruction of property, etc.

U.S. Forces have recently arrived in Israel and the West Bank to conduct a joint military exercise simulating a war in the Middle East that would require the U.S. to intervene. The drill is considered to be the largest joint military exercise carried out by the two countries, and is severely affecting the lives of Palestinian villagers throughout the West Bank. It also violates Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states that “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.”

After Israeli occupation forces displaced the villagers out of their homes, they then began to practice shooting tanks, missiles, and artillery into the areas of the villages throughout the day.

According to the information we received from several people, the villagers will be able to return to their homes at 6:00 PM. Some may have to go through this process every day for up to two months, until the Israeli and U.S. Forces are finished with their joint military exercise.“The Military told us that we are not allowed to return to our homes at all. We don´t know what to expect,” explained a Palestinian.

#GazaUnderAttack | Minister: 25 mosques bombed in Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) –The minister of religious affairs in Gaza said Monday that Israel has damaged over 25 mosques in six days of heavy shelling across the enclave.

“The occupation (Israel) in their aggression did not only commit crimes against civilians, as happened to Salah, al-Dalou, and Azzam families, but targeted mosques, cemeteries and houses of worship,” Ismail Radwan said at a news conference outside Al-Abbas mosque.

“The enemy directly targeted Sheikh Shaban cemetery, the emergency cemetery, in addition to Mahatta, Tal Zatar, and Bani Suheil cemeteries which led to scattering the bodies of the dead and martyrs.

“They also targeted and destroyed completely the Ribat mosque in Gaza City and Al-Rahman mosque in the central Gaza Strip.”

Radwan called on Islamic scholars and imams in Palestine and around the world to pray for the injured and Palestinian fighters.

He called on the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayeb, and all his counterparts to visit the Gaza Strip and stand by the Palestinian people.

The minister urged the international community and human rights organizations to put Israeli leaders on trial for war crimes and called on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to fulfill their duties and support Palestinians in preserving their holy places.

“The Fall of the Oppressor” ~ A Poem by @DimaEleiwa

The Fall of the Oppressor

They’re trying to mess with my head, psychologically.
Telling me my wife is cheating on me.
I know, he’s lying, the picture is clear.
I know, he’s bluffing, yet the lie still pressures me.
It reminds me of how weak and helpless I am here…

But my faith is strong, I know I will end up outside these walls.
Behind these bars time took a different definition.
The day became an hour, and the minute became a second.
I wasn’t born to live my life here…

I wasn’t born to meet my family behind the glass and on the telephone.
An m16 in the hand of a soldier wanting to teach you manner.s
Want to defend yourself?  Here’s a life sentence.

Who cares about us?

Definitely not my government.
Definitely not the law that never recognized my rights.
You don’t need an expert to tell you how dirty their law is,
When 40% of my people know what it means to be a political prisoner

Sometimes i ask myself why I can’t be optimistic…
The plate gets thrown on the floor, its hardly eatable.
When i was a child they taught me that prison is for the criminal who wants to harm me.

Here my crime is…  being born palestinian
The temperature of the floor
Lets me know if its September or February
Iremember my family, the sky, joy…
As many obstacles they put, I will never forget the seasons.
I won’t forget 48, I wont forget the massacres…

I kept reminding myself I will not rot, I know the day is coming
I am not rotting.  I know the day is coming.

I ask of God to show me the end of this building.
Greet the relatives and tell them I still believe in miracles.
I could have been a doctor, a singer, an engineer.
But fate is pointing a gun to my head.
All my plans are disappearing in front of me.

I’m sitting on a chair, handcuffed from the top and the bottom.
The bread is hard.
Mother I feel i’m getting sick and dizzy…

Yet my focus is on freedom.
I’m isolated far away and hidden from reality

Mother i have a new friend, his name is as mine, and his face is the same as mine
solitary confinement, mother i miss my home.

If I die, take all of my stuff
and throw my coffin at the judge.
The ghosts of my ancestors are calling
demanding their land, where the prisons are, where their children are suffering.

We have to remember the names,
I don’t see one drop of justice, all I see is administrative detention.
I didn’t choose to be here, it wasn’t my choice
keep your head up, your life is valuable.

Their system thought it had everything under control.
But all of a sudden, a hunger strike began.
They thought the human being is hungry and would be greedy for his food.
But the human being is only hungry for one thing:  The fall of the oppressor.

……The fall of the oppressor

~ by Dima Eleiwa