United in the Struggle Against Israeli Apartheid

Today, an article from Electronic Intifada refutes the notion that Christians in Palestine are oppressed by their Muslim brothers and sisters. Instead, it notes that Palestinian Christians and Muslims are united in the struggle against Israeli apartheid.

Coexistence in Gaza

Mohammed Omer

GAZA CITY, November 27 (IPS) - As Sunday dawns in Gaza City the traditional Islamic call to prayer mingles melodically with church bells.

Side by side, mosque and church doors swing open, welcoming the faithful. Greetings are eagerly exchanged.

The October kidnapping and murder of Rami Ayyad, the manager of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, sent shudders through the Christian community.

Was this a hate crime or simply a tragic occurrence?

Monsignor Manuel Musallam, head of Gaza's Roman Catholic community, doubts the attack was religiously motivated.

"Rami was not only Christian," the Musallam told IPS. "He was Palestinian. Violent acts against Christians are not a phenomenon unique to Gaza."

Immediately upon hearing of the murder, the elected Prime Minister Ismail Hanyieh of Hamas ordered the Palestinian ministry of interior to dispatch an investigative committee to "urgently look into the matter," labeling Ayyad's death a "murderous crime."

"We are all one people who suffer together for the sake of freedom, independence and restoration of our inalienable citizenship rights," Hanyieh stated publicly. "We are waging a single struggle and refuse to allow any party to tamper with or manipulate this historical relationship, [between Muslims and Christians]."

Currently, Palestine's Christian community hovers between two and 10 percent.

In Gaza, approximately 3,000 Christians still call this territory home -- with the majority of the community living within Gaza City near the three main churches: the Greek Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, and the Gaza Baptist.

Christians in Gaza have the same rights as their Muslim neighbors, rights guaranteed under the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. Within the Legislative Council, several seats have been reserved for Christian leaders.

Seventeen-year-old Christian student Ali al-Jeldah told IPS about attending a dual faith school: "My life is normal and I've never felt oppressed. Being Muslim or Christian is never an issue."

"I have many Muslim friends. We hang out and study together with no differences at all," Al Jeldah said.

Lelias Ali, a 16-year-old Muslim student at Holy Family School, concurs. "We have a unity of struggle, a unity of aim -- to live under the same circumstances. This land is for both of us and being a Christian or Muslim should not separate us," she said.

"I have lots of friends. Being Muslim or Christian is not an issue," Diana al-Sadi, a 17-year-old student told IPS.

"I go to my friends' homes for happy and sad occasions," al-Sadi said, "including Christmas and Easter. They visit mine during Eid [the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan]."

When the students were asked if Christians are being harassed by Hamas or the Palestinian police, all agreed that this was not the case.

"Every society has extremists," Lelias Ali states. "Sometimes I'm criticized for not wearing my hijab [headscarf]. But that has nothing to do with being Muslim or Christian. Those people don't represent our Palestinian society."

Pausing for a moment, she considered the assertions in the international media regarding Muslims and Christians: "We should not let such ideas sneak into our minds. If we don't unite, then we lose."

Asked if Christians in Gaza feel singled out or oppressed, Musallam says, "Palestinian Christians are not a religious community set apart in some corner. They are part of the Palestinian people."

But what of Hamas, an Islamic political organization? Have Palestinian Christians experienced persecution or racism under their leadership, as Western papers insinuate?

"Our relationship with Hamas is as people of one nation," Musallam contends. "Hamas doesn't fight religious groups. Its fight is against the Israeli occupation.

And what of the Western media assertions that Gaza's Christians are considering emigrating because of Islamic oppression?

Sighing, Musallam corrects the misconception. "If Christians emigrate," he states resolutely, "It's not because of Muslims. It is because we suffer from Israeli siege. We seek a life of freedom. A life different from the life of the dogs we are currently forced to live."

All rights reserved, IPS - Inter Press Service (2007). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.

The Plight and Resistance of Christians in Palestine

With Christmas approaching, ARA decided to post some stories of Christians in Palestine fighting against Israeli apartheid alongside their Muslim brothers and sisters. Their resistance takes the form of "steadfastness" or refusal to leave their homeland. These stories are important to popularize in the United States because many Christians are unaware that Palestinian Christians suffer from Israeli apartheid. Here, their stories will be given a chance to be heard. This particular story can be found on page 13 of the pdf pamphlet available here.

Faith in the Holy Land
Taking faith beyond the church

Costa Dabbagh, a Palestinian Christian in his 60s, has never met some of his grandchildren. He cannot see his daughter, who lives just 90km away. He cannot visit the rest of his family, who are scattered across the globe. He has faced bombings, the strafings of Israeli fighter jets, fighting between rival Palestinian factions and the fear of being a refugee. But he has chosen to remain in Gaza , his home. “Just after the Israeli occupation, my parents, my brother and sister moved away. I was offered a job in Australia and even got my visa. But I stayed,” he recalls. “My family kept asking me to join them, and I often thought of leaving. But I think it was God's wish for me”.

This grey-haired man remembers leaving Haifa in Israel with his family at the age of eight – “in darkness and under fire” – and fleeing to Gaza in 1948. He stays, not because he serves the tiny Christian community here as executive secretary of the Near East Council of Churches (NECC), but because of his courageous commitment to a wider humanity.

Trapped

The Gaza Strip is a land which has been crushed. Rubble, chunks of concrete and half-destroyed buildings line the dusty streets of Gaza City . Behind a sign reading ‘funded by USAID’ is a multistory building seemingly flattened with one blow. Even the small signs of modern life – washing hanging brave little beach umbrellas on the coastline vainly hoping for tourists – are dwarfed by bleakness. The departure of Israel 's settlers has not changed anything fundamental: the soldiers are gone, but the borders are still closed and poverty is increasing. Intermittent factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas is taking a terrible toll, as people trapped within the borders turn on each other.

At the time we were speaking to Costa, people were queuing for bread outside the bakeries because flour was not being allowed in through the borders. “It reminds me of a joke about Marie Antoinette we learned in school,” says Costa, “when she said, ‘let them eat cake.’”

Unemployment is skyrocketing to unprecedented levels and 80 per cent of Gazans depend on UNRWA food aid to put even the most basic meal on the table.

A moment of normality

There are few places here where life can feel normal, even fleetingly. The NECC office is one of them. It is tranquil and serene, in contrast to the tumult outside. In a nearby building, young women learn tailoring and accounting in the hope that they can some day have a job. Young men learn woodworking. There is a sense of hope and purpose. In the NECC family clinic, the cool tile floors and pristine white walls are startling after the grimy, broken down feeling of everything around it. More than half the children here are anaemic. Medicine stocks are running out and some people can no longer afford even the tiny clinic fee – seven shekels, or 85 pence. But the doctors continue to work.

Regardless of faith

“Christians are part and parcel of this land. We have never felt like outsiders,” says Costa. “Yes, we are Christians, but we are Palestinian Arab Christians. We all suffer the same problems – we are traveling in the same boat. The NECC has been an example here. People see that we have no agenda other than our Christian witness – to help people regardless of faith. The young people who come to our centres are so vulnerable. We train them and integrate them into society. We make them feel they have a future, which is now more important than ever.”

“We should stay”

“I was born a Christian and continue to be one. But I always judge people according to their actions. If I see an Israeli soldier without a uniform, I will see him as a son of God. But if he directs his guns at my children and my grandchildren, I will not give in, I am not defending myself from ‘Jews’ but from someone who wants to eradicate me and uproot me from my land. I will never leave Gaza . Our faith says we should stay - to try to create hope. But ultimately, hope can only be achieved with community and implementation of UN resolutions.”

Pray for all Christians faithful to our Lord in their difficult circumstances and thank God for their faithful witness. And pray that more Christians may be able to stay in the Holy Land and maintain the witness of faith for the world to share in. Remember too Ghassan Makhalfeh tour guide, and his family. Georges Rishmawi Greek Orthodox Christian and leader of Siraj - working for peaceful solutions Bob and Maurine Tobin of Sabeel.

Michael Dykes

The Case of the New England Committee to Defend Palestine

Approximately two years ago, Noah Cohen wrote an important article detailing the systematic repression faced by Palestine solidarity activists in the US. The article is called, "Repression of Palestinian Activists in the US: Where are the Defenders of Justice?" and it can be found here. The article recounts the encounters of leading organizers of the New England Committee to Defend Palestine (NECDP) with police, local Zionists, and progressive organizations, and clearly demonstrates that the struggle for the freedom of Palestine is just as much a struggle for our own freedom from racist attacks and imperialism in the United States.

This article also draws attention to some important dynamics for Palestine solidarity activists as well as all those who would seek to fight against imperialism and racism generally.

First, in this instance, the police and other authorities systematically intimidated, harassed, conducted surveillance on, and even arrested and tortured Palestine solidarity activists. The overall effect of such measures is to dramatically decrease the willingness of others to actively involve themselves in these struggles.

Second, while these attacks occur under the larger attack on Arab and Muslim folks conducted in the name of the "war on terror," their political character is often overlooked or downplayed. This cannot be tolerated, as immigration authorities have systematically sought the deportation of politically active people.

Third, the relationship between Zionists and the police is critical in this regard. The article notes that Zionists organizing events in the area paid police to provide security, contacted police about the intentions of Palestine solidarity activists to protest their events and even contacted the FBI. On the advice of these racists, police conducted surveillance on Palestine activists, obtaining photos of principle organizers who would later face intimidation, arrest, and torture.

Finally, the role of traditional support networks is considered, and a critical eye is cast on such organizations as the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - along with its lackey the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) - and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). Throughout these ordeals, these organizations failed to consistently uphold and defend the basic rights of Palestine solidarity activists, let alone their own basic principles. The author attributes this failure to two reasons. First, many of these progressive organizations are dominated by liberal Zionism. While critical of the state of Israel, they do not fundamentally challenge its existence as a racist Jewish state. Second, many progressives continue to be dominated by racist attitudes toward the struggles of Arab and Muslim people against colonialism. In this instance, the result was that these organizations consistently refused to fight for the freedom of Palestine solidarity activists in the US.

We must absorb and consider these key lessons as we take up the struggle for Palestine ourselves.

Our Lion

This is a poetry submission from an ARA supporter regarding the recent sale of a statue from ancient Mesopotamia. ARA would like to encourage other creative-minded folks to send over their own works on these and other topics for publication on the blog. Anonymity will be maintained for those who prefer it. Send submissions to struggle@wsuara.org.

Our Lion

this ancient lion of ours

has been auctioned off.

proceeds will go to a charitable trust formed by the martin family.

one of these days
an iraqi is going to steal the mona lisa
and sell it for 57 million dollars
for the proceeds to go to a charitable trust formed by abeer qassim hamza's family.
and it will be a popular news item
for many a web surfer to marvel at

and pat themselves on the back

for being informed.
perhaps they auction mesopotamia's artifacts

and protect mesopotamia's oil ministry

and write mesopotamia's constitution

and stand guard at mesopotamia's soil, rivers and skies
because the true owners

are too displaced
too tortured
too orphaned

too dead

to protect their own things themselves.