Sugar Cubes

A letter from the Aljazeera cameraman prisoner in Guantanamo, to his British lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith (the first of three letters)

Punished for three grains of rice and four ants
By Sami Muhydin al-Hajj,

Guantanamo Bay, November 6, 2005

Dear Clive:
Let me make a confession: I cannot stop asking myself this question, why do they punish me? It is becoming an obsession, but I cannot get it out of my head. All these punishments began when they put me in prison in Bagram, Afghanistan.

They only allowed us to go to the athroom twice a day, the first time just after dawn and then just before dusk. We could only go when it was our turn. I remember that once I was very desperate and I whispered to the man in front of me in the queue, to let me get in front of him. The soldier, guarding us, bellowed with fury, “Do not speak!” and then ordered me to get out. He tied my hands to a wire and left me there all day on my feet and shivering with the cold weather. Eventually, I soiled my trousers, to the enjoyment of the soldiers and the whores present.

Then to Kandahar:
In full summer, under the blazing sun and walking on the burning soil, one soldier shouts, “You! Hold it there… the second one… the third one and also the fourth one! Why did you speak? Get on your knees with your hands on your head!

We were left like this, under the torrid sun and kneeling on the burning stones until one of us collapsed and the rest went to his aid. [Continue…]

I’ve reblogged this because I strongly believe it is a moral duty more than anything to spread this, to make Sami Al-Hajj heard and let the World know about the injustice done to the prisoners at Guantanamo “detainment camp”.

News of the blogosphere…

Laila from Raising Yousuf reports that the big day of elections is less than two weeks away. She has been recruited by the Guardians Unlimited to write about the elections in a series of posts.

From Ramallah Online, in Palestinian village of Al-Walaja people still live under the same conditions caused by Al-Nakba nearly 54 years ago. The Isreali military forces attackd the village and bulldozed Palestinians properties declaring the area to be a closed military zone.

From KABOBfest, the Palestine Solidarity Movement will hold its fifth annual conference at Georgetown University, Washington, DC from the 17th - 19th of Febreuary, 2006. The spokesperson of PSM, Nadeem Muaddi said the divestment from Israel has become a national concern.

Norwegians activists are under attack from Israel’s supporters in the US and Condoleeza Rice threatens with serious political consequences.

What we talk about…

On Ariel Sharon’s health condition:

SteamedPenguin at the beginning, was afraid Sharon would die quickly, then he was afraid Sharon would live.

KABOBfest’s blogger Will’s post number 400 was also about Sharon, Will says he was surprised not to see any news about Sharon’s health on Yahoo frontpage sidebar.

Laila of Raising Yousuf wonders what will Sharon say when he meets all his peaces on his final day, what will he say to his Maker?

Sugar Cubes compared the poor media coverage of Arafat’s sickness and death to the excessive focus of MSM on Sharon’s health and hospitalization. From Arafat to Sharon and recently Abramoff, who decides what’s a top story?

Photo Credit: Raising Yousuf

From peacepalestine, in a letter from Al Jazeera camerman who is improsined in Guantanamo, Sami Al-Hajj, he asks a question which he can not get out of his mind, why are they punishing him?. Sami was tied to a wire out in the cold, standing all day on his feet just because he asked to go to the bathroom, feeling desperate he eventually soiled his trousers “to the enjoynment of the soldiers and whores watching“.

SteamedPenguin, thinks that Taliban = USA : “So I figure a dark hegemonical backwards empire beating up against misogynist, homophobic, anti-education, anti-progress goat-fucking clowns equals itself out.”

Sugar Cubes tried to shed some light on blogging in Arabic.

Read nasrawi talking about his date with Kamanche.

The little things that matter…

Haitham Sabbah has started a campaign to ask blog services to recognize and list Palestine in their countries category. If a blog service does not recognize Palestine intentionally the pledge states that its supporters will not use it.

From Sugar Cubes, Arab-American author and radio show host Samar Jarrah appeared on a Fox News‘ segment called “Your Turn” as a special guest on “Dialogue Between Arabs and Americans” to talk about her book “Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts”, you can read a review of her book here. Samar did a fabulous job tackling different controversial topics of interest to the average American when it comes to Islam and the Arab World. She explained the difference between Islam and culture and talked about women in Islam. About Palestine, Samar says that Arabs still have the question of Palestine in their hearts even after september 11, the Afghanistan and war on Iraq, and they are still looking for a peacefull solution for the Palestine-Isreal conflict. Read the written interview here

From Sabbah’s Blog, a member of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation are trying to educate the U.S. public by airing Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) on several TV stations. The campaign aims at educating the American public on the human rights conditions in the holy land of Palestine and the daily misfortune Palestinians are going through. Imagine Life, as a Palestinian Campain has also made a complimentary film called Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land.

Haitham Sabbah has created this pledge to ask the below Blog engines to add Palestine under their list of countries:

Please show your support by siging this pledge and invite at least 5 friends to sign it too.

It is important to send these Blog Services and request they add Palestine to their country list:

10.01.06

Reporters Without Borders / Internet Freedom desk

Corporate responsibility: Reporters Without Borders urges Internet users and bloggers to support its recommendations on freedom of expression

Sign the petition on : http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16119

On 6 January, Reporters Without Borders issued six concrete proposals aimed at ensuring that Internet-sector companies respect free expression when operating in repressive countries. The organisation calls on bloggers and Internet user to sign an online petition in support of this initiative.

These recommendations will be addressed to the US government and US legislators because all the companies named in this document are based in the United States. Nonetheless, they concern all democratic countries and have therefore will be sent to European Union officials and to the Secretary General of the OECD as well.

Reporters Without Borders’ proposals

- E-mail services:
No US company would be allowed to host e-mail servers within a repressive country*. So, if the authorities of a repressive country want personal information about the user of a US company’s e-mail service, they would have to request it under a procedure supervised by US judicial authorities .

- Search engines:
Search engines would not be allowed to incorporate automatic filters that censor “protected” words. The list of “protected” keywords such as “democracy” or “human rights” should be appended to the law or code of conduct.

- Content hosts (websites, blogs, discussion forums etc)
US companies would not be allowed to locate their host servers within repressive countries. If the authorities of a repressive country desire the closure of a publication hosted by a US company, they would have to request it under a procedure supervised by the US judicial authorities. Like search engines, content hosts would not be allowed to incorporate automatic filters that censor “protected” key-words.

- Internet censorship technologies
Reporters Without Borders proposes two options:

Option a: US companies would no longer be permitted to sell Internet censorship software to repressive states.

Option b: They would still be able to market this type of software but it will have to incorporate a list of “protected” keywords that are rendered technically impossible to censor.

- Internet surveillance technology and equipment
US companies would have to obtain the express permission of the Department of Commerce in order to sell to a repressive country any technology or equipment which can be used to intercept electronic communications or which is specifically designed to assist the authorities in monitoring Internet users.

- Training
US companies would have to obtain the express permission of the Department of Commerce before providing any programme of training in Internet surveillance and censorship techniques in a repressive country.

* A list of countries that repress freedom of expression would be drawn up on the basis of documents provided by the US State Department and would be appended to the code of conduct or law that is adopted. This list would be regularly updated.

Note: The purpose of these recommendations is to protect freedom of expression. They in no way aim to restrict the necessary cooperation between governments in their efforts to combat terrorism, paedophilia and cyber-crime.

More information about this initiative

The Israeli Committee Against Hourse

ICAHD is a non-violent, direct-action group originally established to oppose and resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories. As our activists gained direct knowledge of the brutalities of the Occupation, we expanded our resistance activities to other areas - land expropriation, settlement expansion, by-pass road construction, policies of “closure” and “separation,” the wholesale uprooting of fruit and olive trees and more. The fierce repression of Palestinian efforts to “shake off” the Occupation following the latest Intifada has only added urgency to our efforts.

As a direct-action group, ICAHD is comprised of members of many Israeli peace and human rights organizations. All of our work in the Occupied Territories is closely coordinated with local Palestinian organizations.

Watch a presentation video about their work here

The past week witnessed Palestinian calls for the release of the four CPT and ISM hostages who were abducted on the 29th of Novemeber in Iraq. Demonstrations were held in Nablus, Hebron and Ramallah. Press conferences were held and statements were made by the different Palestinian political parties demanding the immediate release of the International volunteers who stood by Palestinians in the face of the occupation and preached nothing but peace. All Palestinians united in their call, please don’t let their voices pass unheard

News of the Blogsphere:

Global Voices 2005 Annual Summit took place in London on the 10th of this month, December. Our lovely AquaCool and Haitham Sabbah were among the attendees. Haitham was given only two minutes to speak, ranking third while a fellow geek broke the record taking only 30 seconds to finish his speech. How did I know? well, I have my reliable sources . Haitham took some pictures for your entertainment too.

The prison’s gate had closed on The Bethlehem Ghetto declaring it a ghetto for real. Bethlehem Bloggers appeal to the World, on behalf of every Palestinian, to stand with the people of this city. The Holy city of Bethlehem needs friends now more than ever, please visit and help spreading the truth.

Photo credit: Bethlehem Bloggers

Khaled Mishaal, top Hamas official in lebanon appealed to Palestinians and the PA to stop the bloodshed between two big Gazan families who reside in Beit Hanoon, north of Gaza. Earlier, Mishaal announced that the ceasefire truce between Hamas and Israel will not be renewed. Rafah Pundits as well, Israeli navy opened fire on a group of Palestinian fishermen killing two and leaving three more critically injured.

Isreal military forces carried out arrests in the last four days in the West Bank. In a single day, that is 24 hours, 35 were arrested in Al-Khalil (Hebron). In Baqa’a Refugee Camp also, B’Tselem demands that Shaul Mofaz interfers to stop the demolishing of Palestinian houses. While at it, after three months have passed since the evacuation of Gaza City (although the air raids and assassinations never stopped), Israeli authorities still hadn’t cleaned the rubble of demolished Isreali settlements, hindering with any progressive projects planned.

Non-violent resistance in Palestine continues by Palestinians and International activists despite of everything. Mean while, more demonstrations were held in Ramallah calling for the release of the four CPT hostages in Iraq.

If there is such thing as cute news, this must be it, Imaan of Living in Gaza City says her little cute daughters pray…before they do some dancing

What we talk about:

peacepalestine posts another letter from Vanunu asking for your support as his trial, scheduled on the 6th of January 2006, is approaching.

From peacepalestine too, a new national group called the American Council on Middle East Policy (ACME) announces its formation, and talks about its very first project: a petition against Senator Hillary Clinton’s support of the Apartheid Wall.

Mazin Qumsiyeh lists 10 critical changes in Palestine-Israel, pointing them out for activists urging them to do more than hoping for the best.

The little things that matter…

umkahlil posts about Gannit Ankari, an Israeli art history professor, who apparently gets it. Gannit had an interview with Al-Jazeera. Gannit admirably devotes an English-language book to the Palestinian art which was ignored by the west.Israel had done the needful to spread a myth that art did not exist in Palestine prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948.

International Solidarity Movement organizes a conference against The Wall in Bilin, Al-Khalil (Hebron) from 20-21 February, 2006. Please stand by peace and non-violent resistance in the face of oppression and injustice. Read an abstract of the conference here

Zaytoun partnered with War on Want to give farmers a thoughtful gift, help them out.

Via Zaytoun again, a fundraising event is held for Bethlehem Children with Disability and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church 235, Shaftesbury Avenue Central London . London Fenzi Consort will be performing Christmas choral music from 15th Century to the present day, they will also lead the audience in traditional carols. There is going to be poetry reading by Andy De La Tour and Susan Wooldridge too. Rmember the “forgotten faithful” by buying a ticket and help treating the phsycially and psychologically ill young people, help sponsoring day cares for children and a lot more.

Nablus came to its twin city Dundee to know for the first time what does it mean to be in an unoccupied country. You can return the visit any time between the 12th to 19th of March, 2006. Contact Olive Cooperative for more info or dial 01382-550210 and speak to Andree.

The 29th of November was the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. A candle vigil was held in East Jerusalem. Wish that by next year occupation will be history, that we celebrate the 29th as the day that brought us all together to protest the partition of the Palestinian land into two separate states in 1947 and affirm our rights of the land.

News of the Blogsphere:

Following up the Palestinian parliamentary elections, Barghouti wins internal Fatah elections, Barghuti is seen as a successor to president Abbas. It is worthy of mention, that Fatah elections did not go smoothly, at all. Hamas’s list of candidates is ready, and Ariel Sharon threatens to arrest Hamas candidates immediately if they go through Israeli military roadblocks.

Four activists from CPT were kidnapped in Iraq. A CPT’s press release says the four men were on their way to meet with members of the Islamic Scholars Association. Palestinian political parties condemned the crime and demanded the release of the four CPT while Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza demonstrated and called for their immediate release, describing them as friends and appealing to the Iraqi people through signs in Arabic and English. Please sign the petition. One of the four activists is Tom Fox, a fellow blogger who is waiting in the light.

Sabbah reports that a reporter from Al Jazeera was arrested in the West Bank by the Israeli occupational forces. Awad Rajoub, Palestinian reporter was arrested at his home in Al-Khalil (Hebron). Rajoub reports for Al-Jazeera Arabic Website. He also writes for Islam Online and Al Sharq Qatari newspaper.

Rafah Pundits writes about the shortcomings of Rafah Crossing, the crossing is opened only four hours everyday while thousands line up waiting for their turn. More importantly, Palestinian analyst says the situation is not much different, Israeli occupational forces still decide on who is permitted to enter and who is not remotely with the aid of their surveillance cameras. Other problems addressed are the restrictions on the Egyptian side, problems leaving Gaza Strip and more. Rafah Pundits reported earlier that Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli Defence Minister, threteaned to shut down Rafah Crossing.

umkahlil confesses: I’m in love!

What we talk about:

If you are not with us then you are against us! seems like Haitham Sabbah was inspired by Bush, or wait, I think that Bush was inspired by zionists and Haitham was only venting out his frustration. Thankfully, some still believe in that “Religion belongs to God, but the homeland belongs to all”, and be it a Muslim, Christian or Jewish (randomly ordered), those who inhibited the land of Palestine centuries ago before they were kicked, twice in 1948 and 1967, have the right to return.

peacepalestine posted a very interesting interview with Mahmoud Musa, the academic director of the Canadian Center for Comparative Cultural research and president of the Association for One Democratic State in Palestine/Israel. Mahmoud Musa believes that the Palestinian Authority should dissolve itself and form a human rights party that will struggle for political and social democracy for the people of Palestine.

Violations of human rights were (and being) committed by Israeli occupational forces, some of them were recognized and reported and many were not :

they have shelled a house, setting it on fire while its residents still inside, they are carrying out an ethnic cleansing policy in order to save some space for new settlements, fired rubber-coated bullets, sprayed tear-gas as they broke into an Israeli detention facility of Palestinian prisoners leaving behind more than 20 detainees injured, and implementing a new policy of torture and impisonment of children.

The little things that matter…

Gilad Atzmon, dedicated a ballad to the people murdered by the Israeli occupational forces in Palestine. Now what was more delightful to hear, Gilad’s delightful music or him calling Bush, Blair and Sharon“the three biggest killers of mankind”?

Freedom Clothing Project now offers you the first “Made in the West Bank and Gaza” clothing label in the UK. Dress for a better world!

nasrawi made a trip to Jerusalem, he says the annexation reflected on the residents, tension is in the air . He also took some lovely pictures of the old city.

The sounds of Palestinians waiting, with the patience of cactus, on checkpoints is recorded as unforgettable tunes and acoustics by several artists from around the globe. Checkpoint 303 is the electronic expirement of recording the daily nightmare of Palestinians living under occupation.

Dude, Are you a zinoist? (yes or no). The questionnaire was made by two of peacepalestine’s commenters.

According to newspaper reports, Intel, one of the largest chip-makers in the world, will be building a $3.5 billion plant next to its existing facility in ‘Kiryat Gat’. The extra plant will be built on land that belongs to the Palestinian village of Iraq Al Manshiya. According to Zionist historian Benny Morris, Israel expelled the villagers of Iraq Al Manshiya by “intimidation using all means.”

Please Call and write to:

Craig R Barret, Chairman of the Board
Email: Craig.R.barrett@intel.com,
Phone: 480-554-5977

Paul Otelline, President and CEO
Email: Paul.Otellini@intel.com
Phone: 408-765-5551

To demand that Intel abandon its investments in Israel.

Please note:

please cc your correspondence to alerts@al-awda.org

[Via umkahlil]

In the name of God, the Compassionate and Merciful

“O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done.”-The Holy Qur’an, 49:6

The Islamic and National forces in the governorate of Hebron/Palestine express their deep regret for the kidnapping of four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Iraq.

The Islamic and National forces in the governorate of Hebron/Palestine have had long experience confronting Israeli crimes and violations with the CPT since 1995, and wish to confirm that the members of this group have had and still have a major role in confronting Israeli crimes and violations, and in the protection of the property and the lives of the Palestinian citizens.

More than once they placed themselves in front of the occupation’s tanks, and they confronted Israeli occupation bulldozers with their bodies defending Palestinians’ homes against destruction. They accompanied our children when they were threatened and attacked by Israeli settlers on their way to and from their schools. Because of what they were doing, the CPT members were subjected to arrest, beating and pursuit by the Israeli soldiers and settlers in more than one location in Palestine. Many of them were denied entry to Palestine, or deported by the occupation authorities because of their activities in confronting the occupation.

We appeal to our brothers in the resistance and all those with alert consciences in Iraq, with whom we consider ourselves to be in the same trench confronting American aggression and occupation, to instantly and quickly release the four kidnapped persons (two Canadians, one Briton and one American) from CPT, in appreciation for their role in standing beside and supporting our Palestinian people and all the Arab and Islamic peoples.

Freedom for the Iraqi and Palestinian people.
Shame and disgrace on the Zionist and American occupation.

The Islamic and National Forces in the Governorate of Hebron:
Islamic Resistance Movement/Hamas
Palestine People’s Party
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Democratic Union of Palestine/Fada
Fatah
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Palestinian Liberation Front
Palestinian Popular Struggle Front

Hebron, 29 November 2005

CPT Hebron contacted EI about the four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams who were abducted in Iraq last Saturday. The four men are two CPTers and two delegates, one American, one British, and two Canadian. One, a CPT staff member, was to have come to work with CPT Hebron after his time in Iraq. Another worked in Palestine last year, and was active in demonstrating against Israel’s West Bank Barrier in Jayyous. The four men were en route to a meeting with members of the Islamic Scholars Association when they were abducted just 100 yards from the mosque where their meeting was scheduled. The full text of CPT’s official press release follows.

Please read, spread and circulate: