Showing posts with label land day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label land day. Show all posts

Friday, May 29

How stupid can the thought police get?

The short answer? Very, very, very stupid.
And dangerous.

I'm relating of course to the "Naqbe" law, which, if passed, will forbid Israeli citizens to undertake public activities in commemoration of the Palestinian catastrophe, the Naqbe.

Democracy includes the freedom of expression and freedom of the press. According to the proposed law, indicating "Naqbe Day" will be a criminal offence. Israel has never really been a true democracy according to accepted international standards, but the current government are showing their true and very ugly face.

The law proposal is supported by the minister of justice, Yacov Ne'eman as well as by the minister of education, Gideon Sa'ar. When similar racist law proposals were suggested a few years ago, they would be judged as racist and non-democratic by the knesset's legal councellor and find their way to their proper place, the nearest garbage can.

I don't think we can ever create a true peace with the Palestinians, if we do not recognize their catastrophe, when the majority of them became refugees and lost almost all they had. By making the very mentioning of the Naqbe an offence, we are creating yet more distance from a true peace agreement. And it is not the politicians who will be paying the price.
All of us will do so. Everybody's blood is red.


Friday, March 28

Land Day in Jaffa - Yom El Ard, YomHadama

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Over one thousand people marched in Jaffa, against the ethnic cleansing carried out by big money in close cooperation with the public housing companies and the municipality. Representatives from all factions in Jaffa and beyond stood together, united. Jaffa's people, women, men and children, marched together for the future of their city, for their own future.
"Together we will stop the bulldozers", "The municipality destroys, the community builds" were some of the slogans carried by the participants.
After the march we convened in the park on Yefet Street, "Gan HaShanyim", where representatives from the various groups making up the Jaffa "popular committee against home demolitions" and political parties spoke about what they believe Jaffa's future should be. From sheikh Raed Salah, through Balad Knesset member Dr. Jamal Zehalka, "City for us all" (עיר לכולנו) representative Dov Khenin and Knesset member sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur to activist Reuven Abergil, of Panther fame, the message was clear: Jaffa is for its people, who will not move.