Is Riad Hamad's case as dead as his body??
By Adib Kawar • Jun 28th, 2008 at 21:26 • Category: Analysis, Biography, Grassroots Activism, Israel, Newswire, Palestine, Resistance, Uprooted Palestinians' Testimonies, Zionism92 years after the martyrdom of his grandfather for the cause of Arab nationalism, a man was killed for devoting his efforts to his people, the Arabs of the Middle East. He was hanged in slightly different manner by the new colonialists of Palestine. Riad was born in Beirut in a Lebanese family; his grandfather, Omar Hamad, was hanged by the Ottoman Turkish ruler of what is now Syria and Lebanon, because he was an Arab nationalist who struggled for the liberation of the Arab homeland and its unity. Hamad, the grandfather, and his comrades resisted the Ottoman occupation of most of the Arab homeland. He was among 14 others who were hanged in Martyrs Square in Beirut and 23 were killed in Martyrs Square in Damascus by the Ottoman Ruler of this Turkish occupied Arab land, Jamal Pasha known Al-Jazzar (The Butcher).
The Martyrs' Statue, on which Riad's name should be engraved besides that of his grandfather..
Riad inherited the struggling resistance sprit of his Arab nationalism from his grandfather, Omar, and when he emigrated to the U.S. he carried with him this spirit and ideas. Riad the Lebanese by birth, and now American by nationality, still kept his spirit and conviction and started his fight for the pan Arab cause of occupied Palestine and its displaced indigenous Arab population, and concentrated on the welfare of the unfortunate Palestinian children scattered throughout occupied Palestine and its Arab surroundings.
Riad Hamad ran the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund (PCWF), which cared from the human side for those unfortunate children deprived of all niceties of life in their wretched Palestinian refugee camps without indulging in politics through his charity welfare fund. Just for example he requested me to donate money, which he collected from supporters of the cause and his own contribution out of his meager salary as a computer teacher in a middle school to:
1st A young Palestinian refugee boy to complete several eye operation to enable him to regain his eyesight. The boy, Kais, lives in a Palestinian refugee camp in Aleppo in a northern Syrian city.
2nd To help a Palestinian family to treat its three children who had become crippled in their first few years of life, the money was paid to house the family near a hospital and for their medical treatment.
But unfortunately the Zionist movement could not absorb and allow even that to happen, namely giving charity to help these victims of the Nazi-like Zionist state and its fascist organizations of assassins.
One has to read through the following article to make sure of the fallacy of the suicide lie created by some to distort facts, that a man admired by those who knew him from far and near, as well as his teenage students, was someone with hateful agendas. They would like us to believe that this man bound himself with adhesive tape round his head closing his mouth to prevent himself from calling for help, tightening down his arms so as not to fight his assassins and his legs to prevent him from escaping them. One has just to read the following paragraph of this article to reach the proof that he was assassinated, and by the enemies of the Palestinian people whose homeland they confiscated.
Solomonia: Radical NGO Founder Riad Hamad Found Dead, Probably…
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On January 17, 2007, a Texas Federal Court judge dismissed as "wholly frivolous" and "baseless" Palestine Children's Welfare Fund (PCWF) Riad ElSolh Hamad's … |
"Hamad ran the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund (PCWF), a radical Gaza-based "charity" that helped children by teaching them to hate Jews. He sued a number of people and entities like David Horowitz, NGO Monitor and others, lost big and had to pay court costs."
This picture is to prove the above quote!!!
Who is David Horowitz: Now I am a Conservative and I am grateful to the people I once despised. Naturally I am glad I did not have the power to repress them. Rense.com By Henry Makow, PhD who added:
Horowitz's Center for the Study of Popular Culture, which claims 40,000 supporters, is a Zionist shill. It is (quote) "dedicated to defending the cultural foundations of a free society, a task made even more pressing by the attack on America of September 11th, the Iraq conflict and the internal opponents of freedom this attack has revealed."
As if the Zionists and Neo Cons weren't responsible for these attacks, and the phony "War on Terror" which protects our freedom by taking it away.
RIAD HAMAD ~~ VICTIM OF MOSSAD – F B I MURDER TO BE REMEMBERED …
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When Riad Hamad’s body, bound with duct tape, was pulled from the water, the initial reaction was that a murder had occurred. But quickly–some say too … |
And the following are a collection of articles immediately after his assassination written by those who knew him:
TLAXCALA : Suicide ? The strange death of Riad Hamad, a Lebanese …
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Web site of Tlaxcala, the translator's network for linguistic diversity. |
With all the above information in hand, and after all this hushing on the case, out of simple logic, who murdered Riad Hamad As-Solh… the peace activist and struggler for the unfortunate children of Palestine other than those who call these children the terrorists of the future, who other than the entity that cannot tolerate the welfare of the children and grandchildren of its victims.
The following quotes are nothing but Zionist hate mongering against Arab resistance to Zionist occupation of Palestine, as if the struggle for the freedom, liberty and independence of one's homeland is a crime, and as if only Zionism and colonialism has the right to exist.
On January 17, 2007, a Texas Federal Court judge dismissed as "wholly frivolous" and "baseless" Palestine Children's Welfare Fund (PCWF) Riad ElSolh Hamad's defamation suit against NGO Monitor, Frontpage Jerusalem, the Center for Study of Popular Culture and others. Hamad charged the organizations had defamed him and violated his constitutional and civil rights linking him and his charity in newspaper and Internet articles to Islamic fundamentalist terror.
In addition to dismissing Hamad's claims as "groundless", United States District Court Judge, Sam Sparks, leveled Rule 11 sanctions against Hamad and ordered him to pay defendants' attorney's fees and costs totaling almost $60,000 as well as a $1000 fine to each defendant for Hamad's repeated violation of court orders…
NGO Monitor's report on the PCWF:
…these worthy goals are being undermined by the promotion of an atmosphere of hatred and violence. There is no humanitarian justification for publishing drawings by small children depicting the burning maps of the State of Israel. The T-shirt on sale with the poem alluding to martyrdom only helps to push Palestinian children deeper into more misery. The message board includes outrageous claims that reflect the propaganda of those wishing to pursue the conflict without end. On the basis of this evidence, one can conclude that this NGO raises its funds on false premises, and that its activities are a far cry from the purely humanitarian mission claimed in its mission statement.
According to Discover the Networks:
…Hamad has said, "Britain allowed several hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to land in Palestine, despite the opposition of the original inhabitants. In our opinion, [the Jews] arrived illegally and will be deported to their nation of origin…sooner or later." He has also suggested that it is a misconception to assume "that most of us Arabs recognize the right of Israel to exist."
The FBI has investigated Hamad on a number of occasions. His resume includes being fired from Austin Community College for allegedly "making racist slurs and sexist jokes in the classroom." In Hamad's version of the event, however, he explains that he was in fact fired for "making statements against the U.S. government." Hamad is currently an instructor at a different school, in his words, "till I get fired again."
Or he's murdered, apparently [Update: See below]. More about PCWF in this piece at FrontPage by Joe Kaufman.
Update: The Texas Scribbler links to the police press release [PDF] noting that:
…tape was found around the eyes, and the hands and legs were loosely bound. The bindings of his hands and legs and placement of the tape were consistent with Hamad having done this to himself. Detectives know that Hamad walked from his vehicle to the water on his own based on evidence retrieved from the scene.
No doubt the rapists of the whole country and people are capable of anything, claiming they have the right to other people's land (Didn't the claim a country without a people, which proved false all the way as it had been inhabited throughout history, and they had to wage one war after the other to uproot its indigenous population without success), for a people without a land that is false too (They are a converted religious groups belonging to different nationalities, ethnicities coming from different parts of the world)… They are liable to assassinate the peace activist, Riad Hamad, who sacrificed his life for the welfare of those unfortunate children in their refugee camps, after assassinating and still assassinating thousands and thousand freedom fighters?!
Adib Kawar is a writer, researcher, translator Arab and/Palestinian and Zionist affairs - Hobby painter. Bachelor of Arts, American University of Beirut 1954. Was born in Nazareth - Palestine, residing in Beirut - Lebanon. Retired ex-Manager of an industry and marketing.
من مواليد الناصرة فلسطين، مقيم في بيروت - لبنان. خريج الجامعة الأمريكية في بيروت 1954
المهنة سابقا - مدير مؤسسة صناعية وتسويق، متقاعد حاليا.
كاتب، باحث، مترجم متخصص في القضية الفلسطينية والصهيونية، الهواية الرسم
المؤلفات: "شكل الدولة العربية العتيدة"، "المرأة اليهودية في فلسطين المحتلة"، "الدعاية الصهيونية في الرواية الأمريكية" (عربي و إنجليزي) "شهادات لمقتلعين فلسطينيين) و "التعليم الفلسطيني تحت الاحتلالين"
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I knew and worked with Riad Hamad, founder of the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund since 2004. committed suicide.
The last time I spoke to Riad on the phone was a few days after the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.
Riad left a message on my cell phone the afternoon of that day when while getting ready for work the doorbell rang in his modest apartment in Austin, Texas.
About 18 FBI and IRS agents bearing guns and a search warrant from Judge Robert Pittman, [well known for his hostility to Palestinians and Arabs and with whom Riad has had previous experience with] searched every nook and cranny of his apartment.
They left with more than forty boxes of papers, files, computers, CDs and an ounce and a half of catnip.
No charges were filed at the time against Riad and he was not arrested, but the investigators claim they had probable cause to investigate wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.
The Palestine Children's Welfare Fund is an enterprise that was established by a group of individuals whose goals are to improve the living standards of the children of Palestine in the refugee camps inside Palestine.
Riad was one of the first people I crossed paths with when I woke up and became an activist for human rights, international law, justice and peace for all.
Riad also had the best sense of humor of any activist I have met since.
Everyone who ever met Riad knew they were in the Presence of Uniqueness.
Riad, was a nonviolent committed Muslim and a better Christian than many I have known who claim to be one, for he DID what Jesus commanded his followers to do:
Bless all, do good unto the poor, the hungry and oppressed, and Riad and PCWF have blessed many children of Palestine and crafts people..
PCWF/Palestine Children's Welfare Fund was founded as a purely humanitarian enterprise and as an exercise in NONVIOLENT resistance.
I personally met some of the Bethlehem children identified by one PCWF partner, The Holy Land Trust/HLT.
HLT was founded by Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem who identify the neediest of children in occupied territory and they teach and advocate nonviolent resistance against the military occupation of Palestine.
Not one of the human beings associated with PCWF and Holy Land Trust are terrorists;
But every one is a victim of the state terror inflicted by the 40 years of Israeli military occupation aided and abetted by USA government blind allegiance and supported by over 3.2 billion American tax dollars a year.
PCWF aims to provide the children of the occupied territory with better educational opportunities, health facilities and a future with hope; a future without violence, hatred and discrimination.
PCWF has branches and volunteers in more than ten countries and is not connected with any militant or political association of any kind.
PCWF works throughout Europe, Canada and the United States and operates its financial and social work from Palestine to ensure that our work is based in the place where it is needed the most; the children of Palestine.
PCWF works in close coordination with the Union of Health Workers Committees in Gaza, an organization that operates Alawda hospital in Gaza, the largest hospital in Gaza, an open air prison for 1.5 million Palestinians under the boot of Israel who controls all borders; land, sea and air.
PCWF works with various civic and social societies, the Union of Health Workers Committees in Gaza and other Palestinian cities to locate and provide sponsors for the neediest of children in the West Bank and Gaza.
PCWF's goal is to provide the children with their basic needs such as food, clothing, educational tools and health care regardless of religious affiliation.
PCWF is a non-political, non-religious enterprise whose aspirations are purely humanitarian and for the purpose of emancipating the children of Palestine and the human rights of the people and children of Palestine.
PCWF is still alive and serving the children of Palestine:
Before Riad's demise he put everything in order regarding PCWF, except he was unable to find a person to replace him in filling and distributing the goods made by West Bank artisans.
I spoke with Riad's friend and PCWF Paul Larudee, shortly after Riad's death.
He told me PCWF was in need of an Austin, Texas area volunteer who could fill the orders for West Bank goods, and help keep Riad's dream alive:
If you can help, please phone:
Paul Larudee, Treasurer and Grants Administrator
510-236-5338
PCWF is accepting tax-exempt donations:
PCWF
405 Vista Heights Rd.
El Cerrito, CA 94530
http://www.pcwf.org/
PS-While I was writing my first book, KEEP HOPE ALIVE based of the memoirs of a Palestinian American Muslim and 1948 refugee from the Galilee, Dr. Khaled Diab; six fictional characters welled up within me and they began conversing with Dr. D. as I wrote down his memories.
One of them was inspired by Riad.
In an email to Riad I told him I had named a fictional character after him that I had been imagining to be a voice from heaven; a Ghandhi-like character who seeks the Ultimate Mystery of The Universe by crossing every faith path, committing to none and loving all.
Riad emailed me back that 'Riad' in Arabic translates into HEAVEN in English.
I call Riad my brother, friend and comrade.
Riad was a comrade in the pursuit of freedom of conscience and speech. Riad wrote irreverent letters to politicians and editors calling them on their hypocrisies and injustices.
Riad was also a brother in the good fight for justice which requires equal human rights as the way to achieve peace and security.
My friend Riad also sent me gifts crafted in the West Bank. I will never get another material gift from Riad, but his life, good works, inspiration and dreams live on in PCWF.
Riad often wrote: GIVE THEM A FISHING LINE TO live with dignity. DO NOT give them charity unless they are disabled, sick or orphans. Do what Jesus and Mohammad told us to do…and again, SHUKRAN for your generosity, work and support. Salamat, Riad Hamad
The last gift I received from Riad were two tapestries crafted by the artisan women in Hebron. When Riad gifted me, he joked, "These were made by the terrorist women in Hebron. The Christian Zionists were paying them slave wages, but PCWF pays them a living wage and when the shekel is worth more that the dollar, PCWF pays them in shekels."
Shukran and Salamat 2 U Riad, whose voice will never be silenced and whose hands that only did good will never be bound while people of good will do something to keep PCWF alive.
shukran Adib and Eileen, for tending this bridge on the silence…. inshaallah, we can continue Riad work for Palestine
Shukran Jaime!
I just returned home from my canceled speaking engagement at the University of Tampa and i am so very grateful to have received your encouraging message for I was censored from speaking by forces who cannot bear the light, the truth and the way:
That only JUSTICE will ever reap security for Israel and Justice requires: Equal human rights for Palestinians, RESPECT and COMPASSION for the pain of the 'other' who is really [Israeli!] our self in other skin and in a different place.
Not a day goes by that I don't miss Riad, his wit and how much he inspired me by his love for those that suffer because of the policies of the USA government and the blind arrogance of those that claim to be Christian who have no eyes to see, ears to hear or hearts that bleed for those under military occupation.
"Blessed are the Peacemakers; THEY shall be called the children of God."-Jesus as quoted in Matthew 5:9
Blessed is Riad for offering US a way.
please eileem give me a way to keep a contact with riad fund i am proudly his friend and friend of his fiends and we feel orphans after riad death. i dont read this often but hope wth tis message something can be done. i kept contact wioh riad for 6 years and he is my friend death or alive. we still work for palestinian children but i see the pcwf website is close and i want to keep on the work for palestinian chidren. find me throgh people who knows me and keep a contact with us in spain
salamat!
Here in lebanon!!! as low as but sorry for say i can’t believed …