Palestine Think Tank » Falastin

quote of the day

Guest Post — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:02:31 +0000

The children appear traumatized. The teachers say that when they hear a loud noise they look to the sky and cry out and weep. They don’t know what the future holds. They deserve better.
Mia Farrow, after visiting Gaza as goodwill ambassador for UNICEF

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Mary Rizzo — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:48:48 +0000

On Palestine it is equally important to remember that double standard holds there as well. The freely elected government of Palestine was summarily ostracized by the United States and Europe, by people who take every opportunity to lecture us about espousing democratic practices.

America even waged war to impose democracy on Iraq. How does that make sense. For the sake of America's friends in the area, including Israel, instead of wearing kid gloves when dealing with Israel, you should be wearing boxing gloves.

And on Lebanon, get Israel out of Shaba'a Farms and the other Lebanese territories yesterday, not tomorrow.

Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Diplomat

falastin quote of the day

Mary Rizzo — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:17:25 +0000

Yes, I know that some are saying the question of Palestine is no longer an Arab issue—that it is only a Palestinian problem. But an overwhelming majority of Arabs feel that it is a pan-Arab cause. We are one people with one history, one culture, one language. Millions still believe in what Nasser talked about, what he gave to us. Zionism has divided much of the Arab world. It fosters the elements of division and fragmentation in the land, people and culture of the Arab nation. But we still have a common cause, a common enemy. – George Habash

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Mary Rizzo — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:05:15 +0000

Why should the Arabs hope for anything new from the new US president with regard to Palestine, having agreed so enthusiastically to Bush’s roadmap and having fixed their demands on Israel’s fulfilling its obligations under the plan after the Palestinians had carried out theirs? That they should not hope for much was clearly demonstrated during the war on Gaza. The Palestinian Authority (PA) on the West Bank not only repressed the resistance forces, but it also clamped down on peaceful demonstrations of solidarity with the people in Gaza. By so doing, the PA argued, the Palestinians would be in a position to insist that Israel meet its obligations under the roadmap because they were demonstrating their commitment to the destruction of terrorist infrastructure. The Arabs applauded Bush’s vision, and today they are applauding Obama’s. Bush envisioned a Palestinian state before the end of his term. Why expect anything from Obama, who has made exactly the same pledge?
From Cairo With Love
Azmi Bishara, Palestinian intellectual and exiled former MK

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Guest Post — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:54:08 +0000

This country is our country, this land is our land, Falastin (Palestine) is our homeland, we have no other homeland, and we shall remain faithful to our faith, values, history and the legacy of our forefathers.
Abdul Sattar Qassem, former presidential candidate and Professor of Political Science at al-Najah University in Nablus

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Mary Rizzo — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:22:32 +0000

For a Palestinian everyday is a nakba because he/she has to fight against the same things that happened more than 60 years ago. While rulers who have their bellies a meter in front of them sit around a table pretending to solve the numerous problems that face their citizens while they can’t even agree among themselves.
"Realistic Bird", a blogger

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Mary Rizzo — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:02:26 +0000

Racial discrimination against the indigenous Palestinian people who became citizens of the State of Israel was formalized and institutionalized through the creation by law of a “Jewish nationality”, which is distinct from Israeli citizenship. No “Israeli” nationality exists in Israel, and the Supreme Court has persistently refused to recognize one as it would end the system of Jewish supremacy in Israel. The 1950 Law of Return entitles all Jews — and only Jews — to the rights of nationals, namely the right to enter “Eretz Yisrael” (Israel and the OPT) and immediately enjoy full legal and political rights. “Jewish nationality” under the Law of Return is extraterritorial in contravention of international public law norms pertaining to nationality. It includes Jewish citizens of other countries, irrespective of whether they wish to be part of the collective of “Jewish nationals,” and excludes “non-Jews” (i.e., Palestinians) from nationality rights in Israel.
Omar Barghouti

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Mary Rizzo — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:03:40 +0000

Why Palestine?
Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest for equality and human rights.
Edward Said

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Mary Rizzo — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:20:47 +0000

The death siege of Gaza is designed to go on igniting the Palestinian community. It is designed to go on exploiting disenfranchised groups inside Israel. It is designed to present the false image of an Israel seeking peace and holding its fire. It is designed, first and foremost, to prevent true political process and a just peace while simultaneously absolving Israel of responsibility for war. The siege imposed in the name of Israel's defense is designed to defend only Israel's powerful, to defend the policies of force and appropriation that serve them so well.
Rela Mazali

quote of the day

Mary Rizzo — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:41:28 +0000

We will eat salt, but we will not bow our heads for anybody other than God, because we are faithful to the rights of our people and our nation. We will not betray it.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh

quote of the day

Mary Rizzo — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:39:23 +0000

I would propose to everyone in this room that the first question on our minds when dealing with a humanitarian crisis of this magnitude is not whether or not these people are terrorists, but how we can help them?
Samer Badawi, United Palestinian Appeal

quote of the day

Mary Rizzo — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:31:40 +0000

The progressive movement against the war of occupation in Iraq is a reason for hope, as is resistance to free trade agreements in Latin America. Those are moments that we have to celebrate: that people still find the resolve and energy to resist.
Danny Glover, American actor

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Mary Rizzo — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:41:27 +0000

The Palestinian flag represents all Palestinian Arab aspirations regardless of party.
Flags of the World

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Mary Rizzo — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:32:21 +0000

I am the David child wielding a single stone
Against the Israeli Goliath.
I am not afraid,
For truth is with me and God is on my side.
If I die,
A choir of angels will honour me
And later, my parents will grasp my outstretched hand
And join me in Heaven.
I am the tears of
Mothers weeping for their dead sons.
I am the footsteps of ancient prophets
Who foretold of doom and destruction
To those who torture and oppress me.
Edna Yaghi

falastin quote of the day

Mary Rizzo — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:30:06 +0000

"Israel as an occupying power has an obligation to ensure adequate medical care for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and especially pregnant women, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, but Israel has consistently disregarded its obligation and the army has often impeded access for Palestinian women, children and men to healthcare facilities." Amnesty International

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Mary Rizzo — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:59:46 +0000

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, by the end of 2006 around half a million Palestinian olive trees had been uprooted by the Israeli military for security reasons, such as their proximity to Israeli roads, checkpoints or closures. But despite the burdens of the occupation, Palestine’s farmers continue cultivating olives. By doing this, they’re not only sustaining the local economy, but continuing their own resistance to the occupation of their land.

Palestine Monitor

Falastin quote

Mary Rizzo — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:43:24 +0000

My sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and in the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after their return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?
Mahatma Gandhi

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Mary Rizzo — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:39:56 +0000

Given the gendered socio-economic structure, house demolitions inordinately impacts women, for the home is where women most acutely invest their time, build their safety nets, advance their talents and hobbies, carry on their work of looking after the family, and carrying on with their life responsibilities. Once the home is destroyed, women are left with the metaphoric and symbolic burdens—which are no less real than the material loss of a safe place to live—of not having a sense of safety and place of belonging, a source of memories.
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Ph.D Resisting Women

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Mary Rizzo — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:00:18 +0000

To this day Palestinians still have no state or armed forces. Our occupiers subject us to curfews, expulsions, home demolitions, legalized torture, and a highly imaginative assortment of human rights violations. No justifiable comparison can be drawn between the level of official accountability to which Palestinans are held for the actions of a few individuals and the responsibility for the systematic and intense violence against the entire Palestinian population practiced with impunity by the state of Israel.
Samah Jabr, physician

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Mary Rizzo — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:15:56 +0000

So indeed, what happens to a Palestinian woman when she finds out something is wrong? All Palestinian patients who need radiation therapy must get it in Egypt, Jordan or Israel: radiation therapy does not exist in the Occupied Territories. This is mainly due to Israel's objection to the import of radioactive materials into the area, but also to the lack of expertise in handling such equipment. This dependency on services provided outside of the Palestinian health system makes patients extremely vulnerable. Israel's policy of closure, and its total control over the Occupied Palestinian Territories, severely restricts women's ability to receive regular and prompt treatment after diagnosis.

The fact is, if you are a Palestinian being treated in Israel, you need a miracle to be able to complete a cycle of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. If you are from Gaza, even miracles may not be enough. The Israeli closure regime does not take into consideration its effects on the life and death of patients.
Maskit Bendel, writing for Bridges, A Jewish Feminist Journal