Today is my father's birthday.
I still remember his face.
I still remember his voice.
I still remember how he explained the news in the newspapers when i was 6, since i read all kind of things back then.
I still remember how he told me that i could be anyone i wanted to be.
I still remember how he made a swing and a hammock for us in our backyard.
I still remember playing in the rain with him and my sisters.
I still remember how he used to stay behind his closed working room door for hours.
I still remember how he asked me to go study to other city when I was 12, to pursuit a better education.
I still remember how I missed my family a lot.
I still remember how lonely it was.
I still remember how I've became more independent year after year.
I still remember how i got angry when he didn't like my hiking and travelling hobby.
I still remember how unreal it felt when he was sick again.
I still remember I was standing in front of the phone, miles away from home, didn't know what to tell him. Didn't have a clue what to say to him.
I still remember how proud his face was, in my graduation. Just few months before that day.
That day, on October 2003, I still remember that I didn't have a chance to said thank you or i'm sorry.
Today would have been his 63rd birthday.
I wish he were here so i could give him a big hug.
i wish he were here to watch Damar and Dimas.
"Dear Lord, forgive me my sins, and the sins of my parents, have mercy on them both as they have looked after me when I was little" (A muslim prayer for her parents)
I miss you, Pah.
To everyone who read this :
Take your time to call your parents. Say hi. Say how much you love them.
Or just call them to hear their voices...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
"G*#LOK!"
Baru sampai di rumah setelah mengantarkan mbak Yuk ke tempat ngetem angkot dekat Bintaro Plaza. Pulang ke rumah dalam kondisi hujan ditemani Damar yang tertidur di kursi sebelah supir dan Dimas yang nangkring di atas rem tangan. Not safe at all, by the way! Jangan ditiru!
Di sepanjang jalan pergi dan pulang diklakson mulu oleh mobil-mobil di belakangku karena aku beberapa kali ngasih jalan sama pejalan kaki, motor atau mobil yang mau nyebrang.
Di perempatan sebelum Sekolah Internasional Jepang, perempatan dimana lampu lalu lintas seringnya cuman jadi pajangan, aku (yang dalam posisi lampu hijau) hampir menabrak kendaraan-kendaraan dari arah kanan-kiri yang pasti melanggar lampu merah. Dan seorang supir angkot, bapak-bapak berjanggut, dari arah kanan melewatiku sambil berteriak, "GOBLOK!"
Phew.
Wew.
Well.
(Sigh)
Bapak supir angkot yang pasti tidak akan membaca tulisanku ini, semoga Bapak selamat sampai tujuan.
Semoga setoran Bapak tidak seret.
Semoga anak-anak Bapak bisa sekolah dan harga-harga bahan kebutuhan masih bisa dijangkau oleh keluarga Bapak.
Semoga tidak ada laki-laki dewasa yang berteriak "Goblok!" kepada anak perempuan, istri atau ibu Bapak.
Di sepanjang jalan pergi dan pulang diklakson mulu oleh mobil-mobil di belakangku karena aku beberapa kali ngasih jalan sama pejalan kaki, motor atau mobil yang mau nyebrang.
Di perempatan sebelum Sekolah Internasional Jepang, perempatan dimana lampu lalu lintas seringnya cuman jadi pajangan, aku (yang dalam posisi lampu hijau) hampir menabrak kendaraan-kendaraan dari arah kanan-kiri yang pasti melanggar lampu merah. Dan seorang supir angkot, bapak-bapak berjanggut, dari arah kanan melewatiku sambil berteriak, "GOBLOK!"
Phew.
Wew.
Well.
(Sigh)
Bapak supir angkot yang pasti tidak akan membaca tulisanku ini, semoga Bapak selamat sampai tujuan.
Semoga setoran Bapak tidak seret.
Semoga anak-anak Bapak bisa sekolah dan harga-harga bahan kebutuhan masih bisa dijangkau oleh keluarga Bapak.
Semoga tidak ada laki-laki dewasa yang berteriak "Goblok!" kepada anak perempuan, istri atau ibu Bapak.
My Islam and His Islam : About Woman
Hmmm, read these articles and think.
women character, about how women have this 'genetic' bad character. Just because they're women. "Too fast to judge, cursing a lot, and ungrateful to their husband.”
marriage. This is about how a wife should and shouldn't do according to Islam. That a wife should be devoted to his husband, while a husband should be devoted to his mother.
I don't know about the writer's perception of Islam, but my perception of Islam is full of love Islam, full of peace Islam. And doesn't judge human by their gender Islam. Nor hate others for their race and religion. And This is Islam I will teach my children.
Walahualam. Only God Knows.
Wonderful article from a muslim woman.
Radical Feminism, a la Islam
by Umm Farouq
women character, about how women have this 'genetic' bad character. Just because they're women. "Too fast to judge, cursing a lot, and ungrateful to their husband.”
marriage. This is about how a wife should and shouldn't do according to Islam. That a wife should be devoted to his husband, while a husband should be devoted to his mother.
I don't know about the writer's perception of Islam, but my perception of Islam is full of love Islam, full of peace Islam. And doesn't judge human by their gender Islam. Nor hate others for their race and religion. And This is Islam I will teach my children.
Walahualam. Only God Knows.
Wonderful article from a muslim woman.
Radical Feminism, a la Islam
by Umm Farouq
Someone asked to explain what my wearing HijabMan's "This is What a Radical Muslim Feminist Looks Like" T-shirt means.
It would mean that I am a female Muslim who takes the rights that have been decreed to me by my Creator.
I'm not subservient or meek, nor do I accept cultural idiocies as replacements for my God-given religion. It does not mean that I am not faced on a regular basis with situations involving choosing culture over religion, because I am. However, I grew tired long ago of being a sucker, as did the feminists from the movements that spurred from the 1920s suffragettes to the 1970s ERA-ers to ladies like the feminists of today featured in the film Borat who were horrified by his (unbeknownst to the poor ladies) satirical woman-bashing Khazak rhetoric. I will choose my religion, because I know I can always back up my actions with proof. You and your backwards cultural whatevers can go fly. They are fluff and nutter. I am substance.
Watch me get up and walk out of a room, because I will. If taking my rights means to you that I am haughty, so be it. Let the haughtiness begin.
Let me repeat: I am not subservient or meek. I speak from my heart. When there is an injustice, I roar.
As a radical Muslim feminist I know my rights as a wife, which are to be fed, sheltered, clothed, and cared for in a way befitting to me. I have the right to a marriage contract which safeguards me in case of a divorce. Man, it's a pre-nup that was given to women over 1400 years ago. Please find that in the Western law books! Fourteen hundred years ago in England, women were either witches or hysterical. Muslimahs were neither. Which do you want, a divorce, or your head? Muslimahs could keep both.
Anything I choose to do for my husband in the home, such as cooking, cleaning, and general care of the household, are not required of me, but rather are charities. I choose to be benevolent towards him because it makes both of us happy and helps to create a loving environment, and I know my reward will be with Allah. But if I'm down and out, like I am today, you better believe he'll bring home the Popeye's and I'll need a foot massage. It's a two-way street.
As a radical Muslim feminist, by the will of Allah I will empower my children with educational opportunites and give them the means, even if it requires that I not buy new clothing or eat the foods I really desire; even if it makes me give up the computer or the telephone or trips overseas--my children will have a way out because I refuse to allow them to live a life they do not want. I have three daughters. They must be empowered with knowledge.
Being a radical Muslim feminist also means that I will teach my son to wash his own clothing, cook his own food, mend his own holes, and most importantly, own his own behavior. I will not run after him with a plate and spoon when he is 26 years old, worried about his potential starvation. He will be self-sufficient, giving, and will respect me and his sisters and his wife. If he fails in any of these areas, then I will know that my mothering of him was a failure, too, and that I joined the ranks of the women who have propagated generations of no-good 'i am entitled to everything' empty Muslim men. May Allah protect me from that.
As a radical Muslim feminist, I will not tolerate double standards.
But guess what? I'm not radical at all, nor am I a feminist. I'm just a Muslim.
That, in a nutshell, is what the T-shirt means to me.
Maybe one day I'll add to this, but right now I have kiddies who want to paint.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Pasar Tradisional, Nasibmu Kini.
Berita sedih siang ini. Pasar Koja dibongkar.
Bagaimana Jakarta bisa jadi tempat yang aman dan nyaman untuk hidup, kalau orang mencari uang dengan halal pun dipersulit. Alasannya peremajaan, tapi apa iya? Sudah bukan rahasia lagi kalau pembongkaran dan penggusuran biasanya untuk kepentingan segelintir orang. Dalam hal ini seringnya pemegang modal besar.
Berapa banyak Hipermarket yang lokasinya berdekatan dengan pasar tradisional?
Berapa banyak pedagang lama yang tidak bisa berdagang lagi karena harga sewa baru yang tidak terjangkau?
Sedih.
Nomor atau situs mana yang bisa dihubungi untuk menanyakan kebijakan pemerintah tentang ini?
Pemerintah Amerika mungkin rajanya standar ganda, tapi paling tidak rakyatnya tau mau kemana menyuarakan pendapatnya (diluar pendapat itu diperhatikan atau tidak).
Akhirnya cuma bisa memulai dari yang paling bisa dilakukan, memilih untuk tidak belanja di hipermarket-hipermarket itu. Terutama yang dari luar negeri. Memilih membeli di pasar tradisional dan pedagang sayur keliling. Memilih memakai produk pertanian dalam negeri.
Pasar Koja. Pasar Rawasari. Pasar Barito.
Jakarta memang butuh lahan hijau. Tapi jangan pedagang kecil terus yang digusur.
Kalau berani, gusur juga Mal-mal mewah di Kelapa Gading, Pondok Indah, Senayan dan perumahan elit di jakarta utara yang menghilangkan daerah resapan air dan lebih merugikan terhadap lingkungan.
Jiwa 'Israel' ternyata ada dimana-mana (jaaahhh...Israel lagi disalah-salahin!). Termasuk di pembuat kebijakan yang menghilangkan hak mencari nafkah pedagang kecil.
Artikel tentang Perda Pasar
Bagaimana Jakarta bisa jadi tempat yang aman dan nyaman untuk hidup, kalau orang mencari uang dengan halal pun dipersulit. Alasannya peremajaan, tapi apa iya? Sudah bukan rahasia lagi kalau pembongkaran dan penggusuran biasanya untuk kepentingan segelintir orang. Dalam hal ini seringnya pemegang modal besar.
Berapa banyak Hipermarket yang lokasinya berdekatan dengan pasar tradisional?
Berapa banyak pedagang lama yang tidak bisa berdagang lagi karena harga sewa baru yang tidak terjangkau?
Sedih.
Nomor atau situs mana yang bisa dihubungi untuk menanyakan kebijakan pemerintah tentang ini?
Pemerintah Amerika mungkin rajanya standar ganda, tapi paling tidak rakyatnya tau mau kemana menyuarakan pendapatnya (diluar pendapat itu diperhatikan atau tidak).
Akhirnya cuma bisa memulai dari yang paling bisa dilakukan, memilih untuk tidak belanja di hipermarket-hipermarket itu. Terutama yang dari luar negeri. Memilih membeli di pasar tradisional dan pedagang sayur keliling. Memilih memakai produk pertanian dalam negeri.
Pasar Koja. Pasar Rawasari. Pasar Barito.
Jakarta memang butuh lahan hijau. Tapi jangan pedagang kecil terus yang digusur.
Kalau berani, gusur juga Mal-mal mewah di Kelapa Gading, Pondok Indah, Senayan dan perumahan elit di jakarta utara yang menghilangkan daerah resapan air dan lebih merugikan terhadap lingkungan.
Jiwa 'Israel' ternyata ada dimana-mana (jaaahhh...Israel lagi disalah-salahin!). Termasuk di pembuat kebijakan yang menghilangkan hak mencari nafkah pedagang kecil.
Artikel tentang Perda Pasar
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Refuseniks : Courage to Refuse
Akhir-akhir ini mbaca komentar-komentar di dunia maya membuatku pusing. Baik itu di kompas, indonesiamatters, independent, bbc uk, et cetera. Mungkin komen-komenku juga bikin orang yang mbaca pusing. Don't know >,<
Akhirnya mulai mbuka Haaretz, Jpost dan blog-blog lain. Most of the time i found something more interesting.
Seperti situs-situs ini :
1. www.couragetorefuse.org
2. www.breakingthesilence.org.il
3. www.btselem.org
4. www.dw-world.de
5. www.marksteelinfo.com
Yang lain...nanti ku-update kalau nemu lagi ^^
Sementara semua orang (termasuk aku) berdebat kusir, ada satu pernyataan dari 'the real players'. Para refuseniks. Tentara IDF yang menolak untuk ikut berpartisipasi dalam misi okupasi.
Yup, OCCUPATION. In case y'all didn't notice.
Tujuan tentara-tentara ini adalah "to end the occupation and bring peace to Israel".
Ini pernyataan mereka. The Combatant's Letter
No religion argument. No historic rhetorical. No blame game.
Just common sense and humanity.
Shame on us.
Akhirnya mulai mbuka Haaretz, Jpost dan blog-blog lain. Most of the time i found something more interesting.
Seperti situs-situs ini :
1. www.couragetorefuse.org
2. www.breakingthesilence.org.il
3. www.btselem.org
4. www.dw-world.de
5. www.marksteelinfo.com
Yang lain...nanti ku-update kalau nemu lagi ^^
Sementara semua orang (termasuk aku) berdebat kusir, ada satu pernyataan dari 'the real players'. Para refuseniks. Tentara IDF yang menolak untuk ikut berpartisipasi dalam misi okupasi.
Yup, OCCUPATION. In case y'all didn't notice.
Tujuan tentara-tentara ini adalah "to end the occupation and bring peace to Israel".
Ini pernyataan mereka. The Combatant's Letter
We, reserve combat officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who were raised upon the principles of Zionism, self-sacrifice and giving to the people of Israel and to the State of Israel, who have always served in the front lines, and who were the first to carry out any mission in order to protect the State of Israel and strengthen it.
We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of Israel for long weeks every year, in spite of the dear cost to our personal lives, have been on reserve duty in the Occupied Territories, and were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people.
We, whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this Occupation exacts from both sides,
We, who sensed how the commands issued to us in the Occupied Territories destroy all the values that we were raised upon,
We, who understand now that the price of Occupation is the loss of IDF’s human character and the corruption of the entire Israeli society,
We, who know that the Territories are not a part of Israel, and that all settlements are bound to be evacuated,
We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements.
We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.
We hereby declare that we shall continue serving the Israel Defense Force in any mission that serves Israel’s defense.
The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose – and we shall take no part in them.
No religion argument. No historic rhetorical. No blame game.
Just common sense and humanity.
Shame on us.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Talking about double standards
British Broadcasting Corporation and Anti-Semite paranoia.
Reminds me of Chelsea fans who had no faith in Avram Grant, and accused of being anti-semites. And so did the british press. Super sensitive people, jews people. They seem to be the only victim in every occasion. State of the Victims, State of Israel.
This decision seems to be based on a reaction to accusations of bias over Gaza coverage. Well I guess these are The Rules of the Western Media in dealing with the Middle East 1.0 :
And The Rules of the Western Media in dealing with the Middle East 2.0 :
You can find the double standards here.
So much for free press.
So much for human rights.
Well, what the hell BBC, Palestinians will survive without your free airtime.
The BBC has refused to broadcast a national humanitarian appeal for Gaza, leaving aid agencies with a potential shortfall of millions of pounds in donations.
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella group for 13 aid charities, launched its appeal yesterday saying the devastation in Gaza was "so huge British aid agencies were compelled to act".
But the BBC made a rare breach of an agreement dating to 1963, saying it would not give free airtime to the appeal. Other broadcasters followed suit. Previously, broadcasters had agreed on the video and script to be used with the DEC, to be shown after primetime news bulletins.
The BBC, which has been criticised in the past over alleged bias in its coverage of the Middle East, said it did not want to risk public confidence in its impartiality. A BBC spokesperson said: "The decision was made because of question marks about the delivery of aid in a volatile situation and also to avoid any risk of compromising public confidence in the BBC's impartiality in the context of [a] news story."
The DEC's chief executive, Brendan Gormley, said: "We are totally apolitical ... this appeal is a response to humanitarian principles. The BBC seems to be confusing impartiality with equal airtime."
DEC appeals have recently raised £10m for the Congo and £18m for Burma.
An ITV spokesman said the broadcasters, after assessing the DEC's needs, had been unable "to reach a consensus necessary for an appeal".
Sky said: "By convention, if all broadcasters do not carry the appeal, then none do. The decision was effectively made for us."
Reminds me of Chelsea fans who had no faith in Avram Grant, and accused of being anti-semites. And so did the british press. Super sensitive people, jews people. They seem to be the only victim in every occasion. State of the Victims, State of Israel.
This decision seems to be based on a reaction to accusations of bias over Gaza coverage. Well I guess these are The Rules of the Western Media in dealing with the Middle East 1.0 :
Rule 1: See the Middle East through Israeli eyes.
Rule 2: Treat American and Israeli governmental statements as hard news.
Rule 3: Ignore the historical context.
Rule 4: Avoid the fundamental legal and moral issues posed by the Israeli occupation.
Rule 5: Suppress or minimize news unfavorable to the Israelis.
Rule 6: Muddy the waters when necessary.
Rule 7: Credit all Israeli claims, even if wholly unfounded.
Rule 8: Doubt all Palestinian assertions, no matter how self-evident.
Rule 9: Condemn only Palestinian violence.
Rule 10: Disparage the international consensus supporting Palestinian rights
And The Rules of the Western Media in dealing with the Middle East 2.0 :
Rule 1: In the Middle East, it is always the Arabs that attack first, and it's always Israel who defends itself. This is called "retaliation".
Rule 2: The Arabs, whether Palestinians or Lebanese, are not allowed to kill Israelis. This is called "terrorism".
Rule 3: Israel has the right to kill Arab civilians; this is called "self-defense", or these days "collateral damage".
Rule 4: When Israel kills too many civilians the Western world calls for restraint. This is called the "reaction of the international community".
Rule 5: Palestinians and Lebanese do not have the right to capture Israeli military, not even a limited number, not even 1 or 2.
Rule 6: Israel has the right to capture as many Palestinians as they want (Palestinians: around 10000 to date, 300 of which are children, Lebanese: 1000s to date, being held without trial). There is no limit; there is no need for proof of guilt or trial. All that is needed is the magic word: "terrorism"
Rule 7: When you say "Hezbollah", always be sure to add "supported by Syria and Iran"
Rule 8: When you say "Israel", never say "supported by the USA, the UK and other European countries", for people (God forbid) might believe this is not an equal conflict.
Rule 9: When it comes to Israel, don't mention the words "occupied territories", "UN resolutions", "Geneva conventions". This could distress the audience of Fox.
Rule 10: Israelis speak better English than Arabs. This is why we let them speak out as much as possible, so that they can explain rules 1 through 9. This is called "neutral journalism".
Rule 11: If you don't agree with these rules or if you favor the Arab side over the Israeli side, you must be a very dangerous anti-Semite. You may even have to make a public apology if you express your honest opinion (isn't democracy wonderful ?).
You can find the double standards here.
So much for free press.
So much for human rights.
Well, what the hell BBC, Palestinians will survive without your free airtime.
Refugee = Pengungsi (part 1)
Refugee :noun
1. a person who flees for refuge or safety, esp. to a foreign country, as in time of political upheaval, war, etc.
2. political refugee : a person who has fled from a homeland because of political persecution.
Hari ini Hassan Wirajuda mengatakan bahwa Indonesia tidak akan menerima pengungsi Myanmar, Rohingya, karena mereka 'economic migrants' dan bukan pencari suaka politik (political asylum seeker). Beritanya ada di sini.
I don't get it.
Kenapa mereka bukan pencari suaka politik?
Ini menurut Amnesty International.
Amnesty International is concerned that the local Myanmar authorities’ policies regarding the Rohingya population in the northern Rakhine State result in violations of a wide range of their basic human rights. While the general human rights situation in Myanmar is far from satisfactory, the Rohingyas suffer from specific deeply discriminatory polices targeting them. The vast majority of Rohingyas are effectively denied Myanmar citizenship; subjected to severe restrictions on freedom of movement; forced labour; forced evictions; and extortion and arbitrary taxation
Kenapa Indonesia, dalam hal ini Deplu atau pemerintah pusat, tidak mau menerima pengungsi yang mengalami perlakuan tidak manusiawi di tanah airnya, Myanmar, dan mengalami kekerasan dari militer Thailand dalam perjalanan mereka mencari kehidupan yang lebih baik?
Not the 'we-have-our-own-problems' answer again. C'mon.
We can send docters, diplomates and money to Middle East, why can't we help the refugees who come knocking on our door?
Artikel lain tentang pengungsi Rohingya.
_________________________________________________________________________________
update : from what i saw on news at least the sabang people and authorities were helping Rohingya people, and not sending them to drift on the ocean like Thai navy.
Aku masih berharap pemerintah Indonesia bisa memikirkan solusi yang lebih baik dari mendeportasi pengungsi Rohingya kembali ke rejim militer Myanmar.
Treat others as you want to be treated. That's all.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Never To Forget
It really is that easy to forget. Just turn off your tv. Stay away from internet. Then it'll go away. But my eyes and my hand have betrayed me. I turned on the tv again, watched Aljazeera "Gaza in Ruins" 16.00 WIB. And there he was, the former Israeli Ambassador for something. I forget his name.
Still detached from reality as others who support this, this...i don't know what to say anymore. And his justifications for the killing?
Still the same old despicable words. Nonsense propaganda.
I think i'll use Gideon Levy's words, since i'm so upset to write something.
Geez, I was (and still) so sicked by that Israel spokeperson I finally threw something at my tv set. Wew, so childish.
I was so frustrated.
And then I read this post, written by an Australian activist Sharyn Lock.
What will be their reward? I don't know. I won't dare to guess.
Only Palestinians themselves have the right to answer that.
I'm just glad that they're alive.
And that the world won't forget them.
Still detached from reality as others who support this, this...i don't know what to say anymore. And his justifications for the killing?
Still the same old despicable words. Nonsense propaganda.
I think i'll use Gideon Levy's words, since i'm so upset to write something.
Justifying the most brutal war Israel has ever fought and in so doing are complacent in the fraud that the "occupation of Gaza is over"
Justifying mass killings by evoking the alibi that Hamas "deliberately mingles between its fighters and the civilian population."
Judging a helpless people denied a government and army - which includes a fundamentalist movement using improper means to fight for a just cause, namely the end of the occupation - in the same way you judge a regional power, which considers itself humanitarian and democratic but which has shown itself to be a brutal and cruel conqueror.
Geez, I was (and still) so sicked by that Israel spokeperson I finally threw something at my tv set. Wew, so childish.
I was so frustrated.
And then I read this post, written by an Australian activist Sharyn Lock.
The strength of Gaza people astounds me. Everyone was out today fixing things. Re-laying water pipes, clearing rubble. Putting aside the thoughts of the children who are dead, to smile for the children who are still alive. How is it done? Where do they find the courage? And what will be their reward for getting up and going on, one more time?
What will be their reward? I don't know. I won't dare to guess.
Only Palestinians themselves have the right to answer that.
I'm just glad that they're alive.
And that the world won't forget them.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
MORALITY SPOTS
Seorang ahli genetika Inggris, Steven Rose, berbicara di suatu stasiun radio lokal (radio 4's Today Programme) tentang penelitian baru yang memungkinkan kita menemukan bagian dari otak yang disebut "Morality spots". Morality spots adalah bagian dari otak yang menentukan moralitas seseorang.
Ketika ditanya "How can we know about these spots?", jawabannya adalah :
"Well we could test the brains of the Israeli cabinet and see if they've got no morality spots whatsoever."
Anti semites? >,<
No.
Just anti immoral, ignorance and arrogance people.
Nice thoughts !
Artikel bagus lainnya dari independent, yang memuat kesamaan Israel dan Al Qaeda, ditulis oleh Mark Steel, seorang komedian dan penulis Inggris. Thank you, Mr. Steel!
Morality spots? Hmmmm, mungkin bisa dites juga ke otaknya anggota-anggota DPR yang sering mengambil sesuatu yang bukan haknya. Atau pejabat yang suka membangun rumah dinas mewah. Atau TNI dan polisi yang suka arogan.
Atau ibu rumah tangga seperti saya kalau tidak memperlakukan Pekerja Rumah Tangga dengan baik dan memberikan gaji sesuai haknya.
Ketika ditanya "How can we know about these spots?", jawabannya adalah :
"Well we could test the brains of the Israeli cabinet and see if they've got no morality spots whatsoever."
Anti semites? >,<
No.
Just anti immoral, ignorance and arrogance people.
Nice thoughts !
Artikel bagus lainnya dari independent, yang memuat kesamaan Israel dan Al Qaeda, ditulis oleh Mark Steel, seorang komedian dan penulis Inggris. Thank you, Mr. Steel!
Morality spots? Hmmmm, mungkin bisa dites juga ke otaknya anggota-anggota DPR yang sering mengambil sesuatu yang bukan haknya. Atau pejabat yang suka membangun rumah dinas mewah. Atau TNI dan polisi yang suka arogan.
Atau ibu rumah tangga seperti saya kalau tidak memperlakukan Pekerja Rumah Tangga dengan baik dan memberikan gaji sesuai haknya.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
January 20th 2009, From Dimas To Obama
Dimas is unwell.
He got this asthma attack yesterday. Didn't sleep all night.
So today we spent morning and afternoon in hospital. Thanks God, He's okay now.
So exhausted he felt asleep on the couch.
I hope he'll be able to sleep well tonight.
And yes! Today is the day.
Despite all doubts about Obama, I have to say that I love the "we are one" inaugural concert. Love Bono, as always.
”Let freedom ring. On this spot where we’re standing 46 years ago Dr. King had a dream. On Tuesday, that dream comes to pass,” before launching into ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’, U2’s tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“This is not just an American dream,” he said, adding that it was “also an Irish dream, a European dream, an African dream… an Israeli dream… and also a Palestinian dream.”
Love Bruce Springsteen and Peter Seeger,
"As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me."
Did you see them?
Forget Obama with his hear-see-speak nothing. Forget him with his "deep concerned" and "strongest ally" talks.
I want to believe, with so many nice people out there,
with or without Obama, change will come.
Barack Hussein Obama, good luck!
May God help you.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
My children, Their children
Yesterday, January 17th, was Dimas 2nd birthday.
My little man Dimas :)
Didn't feel like celebrating tho'. Just hugs and kisses, a little more tickling, a lot of laughs and love from me, his dad and his big brother.
Just thanking God that we have wonderful life, wonderful family, wonderful friends.
Thanking God for the blessing...
This morning i found this beautiful yet heartbreaking article in www.counterpunch.org,
Written by Ellen Cantarow, musician and writer, reported from the West Bank and Israel during the 1980s for the Village Voice, Mother Jones, Grand Street and other publications. She has visited and about the region periodically since 2000.
On March 20,2004, she wrote "I am Jewish. I am Israeli. I am a citizen of this state, and I am very upset." , opposing the occupation.
She is also a Boston-based pianist, singer and teacher.
Now I Am My Mother, Weeping...
I Could Not Save a Single Child
By ELLEN CANTAROW
When I was a child my mother used to cry, “I couldn’t save a single Jewish child.”
Now I am my mother: I cannot save a single child in Gaza.
Not the ones wrapped in green cocoons lying row on row, surrounded by throngs of grieving men. I cannot comfort the fathers who jump up and down in agony, screaming as their children lie dead before them on the ground.
I cannot comfort the mother whose eyes, ravaged and blanked by terror, stare beyond me from the photograph, nor save the little one with bloodied, bruised face who stands beside her, nor the older brother, the only two who survived of six. I cannot say, “Come, we have a big, comfortable basement with a bed for you and the children, and a bath, and plenty of food. We will take you and shelter you.” I cannot welcome them to a home full of calm, of sunlight, with the warmth of potted plants, the refrigerator full of food, the showers waiting to receive them, the warm water streaming down to comfort their bruised and tired bodies.
I cannot save a single Gaza child.
Not the ones I saw on Al-Jazeera lying dead with heads all bloodied, under blankets on the ravaged ground. Not the little one, 2, maybe 3, bloodied bandages covering her bloodied skull and face leaving me her bruised lips and part of one dull and hopeless eye, her helpless bigger sister, surely no more than 4, beside her. I cannot take her, bring her back to normal life, hug her and sing to her, hold her up against my piano and ask her to listen to the strings as I run my fingers over them, watch while her face lights up with pleasure as she spots my cats, hold her, hold her, and hold her….
I cannot save the little girl, maybe 5, who says the soldier stood and looked at her, then shot her hand and then, as she turned to run to her mother, her back: “One bullet went out my back and through my stomach.” Will doctors in a hospital the siege had already drained of medicines and equipment, a hospital where patients must share beds, where the floors are full of the wounded, and the blood pools around them --- will the doctors working quickly, as expertly as they know within the chaos of the terrified families pouring in from the terrified streets of Gaza City, will the doctors working as quickly as they know, but in this wasteland, save her?
I cannot save the newborn Mohammed, monitors on his chest, a respirator over his tiny face, born within the ground-shaking, ear-splitting terror of bombs falling from F16s, into a life from hell, where the smoke of exploding shells and bombs gags the other children, the women, the men, fleeing helpless before the behemoth wielding their “pure arms” to crush these “two-legged cockroaches,” these Palestinians of whom Golda Meir said, “There are no Palestinians,” and whom the Hebron settlers curse in savage scrawled grafitti: ARABS TO THE GAS CHAMBERS. These people concerning whom the Rabbi said, “One Arab is not worth a million Jewish fingernails.” Concerning whom Avigdor Lieberman, that man of the Israeli people, says, drop the atom bomb on them as the Americans did on Japan.
I cannot lift the dark-faced, dark-haired teenaged girl from the stretcher, rock her in my arms and say, “Darling, Shhh, it will be all right,” because it will not be alright. She is already dead, face down on the stretcher where the hopeless cover her body while I watch her image at my computer.
It will not be alright.
It will not be alright.
It will not be alright. I am my mother, and it is 1942 all over again, and this is the Warsaw Ghetto – different, I’ll admit. I’ll admit they aren’t killing everyone. Just some of them. Only 400. Only 600. Only 800. Only 1000. When does “collateral damage” become malice aforethought? When does that malice translate as “deaths?” When do deaths become “a massacre?” How many in a massacre? A holocaust? The shoa Mr. Vilnai wanted?
I cannot save a single child in Gaza. I am my mother, and we are weeping together.
(All of the images of Gaza in the prose-poem above are from Al-Jazeera English. The references to Deputy Defense Secretary Matan Vilnai and other figures come from my archives and library.)
My little man Dimas :)
Didn't feel like celebrating tho'. Just hugs and kisses, a little more tickling, a lot of laughs and love from me, his dad and his big brother.
Just thanking God that we have wonderful life, wonderful family, wonderful friends.
Thanking God for the blessing...
This morning i found this beautiful yet heartbreaking article in www.counterpunch.org,
Written by Ellen Cantarow, musician and writer, reported from the West Bank and Israel during the 1980s for the Village Voice, Mother Jones, Grand Street and other publications. She has visited and about the region periodically since 2000.
On March 20,2004, she wrote "I am Jewish. I am Israeli. I am a citizen of this state, and I am very upset." , opposing the occupation.
She is also a Boston-based pianist, singer and teacher.
Now I Am My Mother, Weeping...
I Could Not Save a Single Child
By ELLEN CANTAROW
When I was a child my mother used to cry, “I couldn’t save a single Jewish child.”
Now I am my mother: I cannot save a single child in Gaza.
Not the ones wrapped in green cocoons lying row on row, surrounded by throngs of grieving men. I cannot comfort the fathers who jump up and down in agony, screaming as their children lie dead before them on the ground.
I cannot comfort the mother whose eyes, ravaged and blanked by terror, stare beyond me from the photograph, nor save the little one with bloodied, bruised face who stands beside her, nor the older brother, the only two who survived of six. I cannot say, “Come, we have a big, comfortable basement with a bed for you and the children, and a bath, and plenty of food. We will take you and shelter you.” I cannot welcome them to a home full of calm, of sunlight, with the warmth of potted plants, the refrigerator full of food, the showers waiting to receive them, the warm water streaming down to comfort their bruised and tired bodies.
I cannot save a single Gaza child.
Not the ones I saw on Al-Jazeera lying dead with heads all bloodied, under blankets on the ravaged ground. Not the little one, 2, maybe 3, bloodied bandages covering her bloodied skull and face leaving me her bruised lips and part of one dull and hopeless eye, her helpless bigger sister, surely no more than 4, beside her. I cannot take her, bring her back to normal life, hug her and sing to her, hold her up against my piano and ask her to listen to the strings as I run my fingers over them, watch while her face lights up with pleasure as she spots my cats, hold her, hold her, and hold her….
I cannot save the little girl, maybe 5, who says the soldier stood and looked at her, then shot her hand and then, as she turned to run to her mother, her back: “One bullet went out my back and through my stomach.” Will doctors in a hospital the siege had already drained of medicines and equipment, a hospital where patients must share beds, where the floors are full of the wounded, and the blood pools around them --- will the doctors working quickly, as expertly as they know within the chaos of the terrified families pouring in from the terrified streets of Gaza City, will the doctors working as quickly as they know, but in this wasteland, save her?
I cannot save the newborn Mohammed, monitors on his chest, a respirator over his tiny face, born within the ground-shaking, ear-splitting terror of bombs falling from F16s, into a life from hell, where the smoke of exploding shells and bombs gags the other children, the women, the men, fleeing helpless before the behemoth wielding their “pure arms” to crush these “two-legged cockroaches,” these Palestinians of whom Golda Meir said, “There are no Palestinians,” and whom the Hebron settlers curse in savage scrawled grafitti: ARABS TO THE GAS CHAMBERS. These people concerning whom the Rabbi said, “One Arab is not worth a million Jewish fingernails.” Concerning whom Avigdor Lieberman, that man of the Israeli people, says, drop the atom bomb on them as the Americans did on Japan.
I cannot lift the dark-faced, dark-haired teenaged girl from the stretcher, rock her in my arms and say, “Darling, Shhh, it will be all right,” because it will not be alright. She is already dead, face down on the stretcher where the hopeless cover her body while I watch her image at my computer.
It will not be alright.
It will not be alright.
It will not be alright. I am my mother, and it is 1942 all over again, and this is the Warsaw Ghetto – different, I’ll admit. I’ll admit they aren’t killing everyone. Just some of them. Only 400. Only 600. Only 800. Only 1000. When does “collateral damage” become malice aforethought? When does that malice translate as “deaths?” When do deaths become “a massacre?” How many in a massacre? A holocaust? The shoa Mr. Vilnai wanted?
I cannot save a single child in Gaza. I am my mother, and we are weeping together.
(All of the images of Gaza in the prose-poem above are from Al-Jazeera English. The references to Deputy Defense Secretary Matan Vilnai and other figures come from my archives and library.)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Another story from Laila
Laila ElHaddad adalah seorang ibu muda dari dua anak, Yousuf dan Noor. Mereka tinggal di Amerika Serikat. Ayahnya, Mousa ElHaddad, dan ibunya masih tinggal di Gaza, keduanya adalah dokter. Membaca blog Laila seakan mendengarkan sahabat perempuanmu bercerita tentang hari-hari dan pikirannya.
Mereka dan semua di Gaza, they're always very much in my prayers.
Raising Yousuf and Noor: diary of a Palestinian mother: The children of Israel's war
Mereka dan semua di Gaza, they're always very much in my prayers.
Raising Yousuf and Noor: diary of a Palestinian mother: The children of Israel's war
Friday, January 16, 2009
Dear Damar
Dear Damar,
Damar sakit ya, Nak?
Soalnya Damar :
1. bilang "Ndak usah sekolah ya, Mah?", padahal biasanya libur juga minta sekolah
2. bilang "Ndak usah maen di luar yak", padahal biasanya disuruh pulang susah
3. jam 9 pagi sudah tidur lagi, padahal biasanya siang dikasih ultimatum dulu baru mau take a nap
4. minum susunya jadi males, padahal biasanya kudu ditahan-tahan biar ndak kekenyangan susu terus lupa makan
Damar demam ya.
Cepet sembuh ya, Nak.
I love you so much...
Mamahmu yang lagi diare >,<
hehehehehe....T_T
Damar sakit ya, Nak?
Soalnya Damar :
1. bilang "Ndak usah sekolah ya, Mah?", padahal biasanya libur juga minta sekolah
2. bilang "Ndak usah maen di luar yak", padahal biasanya disuruh pulang susah
3. jam 9 pagi sudah tidur lagi, padahal biasanya siang dikasih ultimatum dulu baru mau take a nap
4. minum susunya jadi males, padahal biasanya kudu ditahan-tahan biar ndak kekenyangan susu terus lupa makan
Damar demam ya.
Cepet sembuh ya, Nak.
I love you so much...
Mamahmu yang lagi diare >,<
hehehehehe....T_T
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Gaza, The twentieth day
The twentienth day.
I guess i'm blank. I'm numb.
1054 dead, 330 are children.
330 children just like Damar and Dimas.
Dan itu hanya perkiraan.
Dua puluh hari diserang tanpa henti (3 hours humanitarian corridor my ass!), tidak ada kesempatan mencari orang-orang yang tertimbun runtuhan rumahnya.
What humanity?
Serangan akan berhenti dalam 5 menit setelah Hamas berhenti menembakkan roket, kata juru bicara Israel. I didn't believe that, at all. He's a big lier.
Seperti juru bicara Israel yang lain.
Kalau Hamas berhenti menembakkan roket-roket menyedihkan itu, Israel dengan mudah akan menemukan alasan yang lain.
Pembantaian di Sabra-Shatila tahun 1982 dilakukan setelah kaum lelaki Palestina di kamp itu dievakuasi bersama dengan aktivis PLO demi kesepakatan damai.
Stop the rockets. And we'll see what their next excuse is.
Muak, berargumentasi dan menjawab pertanyaan zionis yang datang ke blog ini.
Kenyataannya ribuan orang telah tewas, dan entah berapa lagi sampai pembantaian ini berhenti.
I don't want to have any discussion about who's wrong or right right now.
The pictures and numbers are speak for themselves.
It is unbelievable.
I don't care.
Just stop the killing.
Biarkan anak-anak itu hidup.
I guess i'm blank. I'm numb.
1054 dead, 330 are children.
330 children just like Damar and Dimas.
Dan itu hanya perkiraan.
Dua puluh hari diserang tanpa henti (3 hours humanitarian corridor my ass!), tidak ada kesempatan mencari orang-orang yang tertimbun runtuhan rumahnya.
What humanity?
Serangan akan berhenti dalam 5 menit setelah Hamas berhenti menembakkan roket, kata juru bicara Israel. I didn't believe that, at all. He's a big lier.
Seperti juru bicara Israel yang lain.
Kalau Hamas berhenti menembakkan roket-roket menyedihkan itu, Israel dengan mudah akan menemukan alasan yang lain.
Pembantaian di Sabra-Shatila tahun 1982 dilakukan setelah kaum lelaki Palestina di kamp itu dievakuasi bersama dengan aktivis PLO demi kesepakatan damai.
Stop the rockets. And we'll see what their next excuse is.
Muak, berargumentasi dan menjawab pertanyaan zionis yang datang ke blog ini.
Kenyataannya ribuan orang telah tewas, dan entah berapa lagi sampai pembantaian ini berhenti.
I don't want to have any discussion about who's wrong or right right now.
The pictures and numbers are speak for themselves.
It is unbelievable.
I don't care.
Just stop the killing.
Biarkan anak-anak itu hidup.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Rainy Days and Us
Class room.
The friendship tree.
Damar, "don't take my picture, mamah!"
It was raining hard since dawn.
But Damar is always more than happy to go to school ^^
With our 'water-proof uniform' we went to Damar's school, about 2 km from home, by motorbike.
Another normal day at school for Damar. Jangan lupa bersyukur ya, Nak...
Dimas Arga Nurtsany
Another cloudy days.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Fight Fair
Another rainy and cloudy day here in Jakarta.
Bad weather lately. Feeling sad for the passengers of Teratai Prima Ferry.
As the bad weather goes on, so does the grim reality.
I guess I'm tired with those shocking words and hatreds in the internet. From both sides. I'm sorry my fellows, you can say your interpretations about any religion as u like, but I still believe every soul and life is precious. I still believe we should treat others as we wish to be treated. You can't beat people in Monas, nor bomb a restaurant in Bali and say it's a Jihad.
If I hate zionists it's because of their crimes against humanity, not because they're jews.
And, I'm so sick with the facts that some people really okay (if not glad) to see hundreeds of children and mothers die. "Three less terrorists in the world", they said, having seen a picture of the bodies of three gazan toddlers.
Perhaps it's never been about Hamas, or Fatah, or PLO. It's some kind of hatred that makes people forget that we're all the same. Human, with blood and flesh, heart and mind.
And i don't believe they want peace with Palestinians, nor two states solution. War is exciting and risky for some people. It clouds their senses and brings out the worst aspect of so-called 'patriotism'.
And now I'm doing the blame game again...
While reading the sydney morning herald's articles i found this old story.
The Emperor Nero was upset that his prized lions were being distressed by Christians who ran away from them in the Colosseum. Nero ordered that at the next circus a Christian was to be buried up to his neck in the sand to make things easier for the lions. When the lions entered the ring, the biggest and meanest saw the hapless condemned, swaggered over and stood astride the Christian's head, roaring for approval from the crowd. At that moment, the Christian craned his neck and bit off the lion's testicles. The crowd was shocked. "Fight fair! Fight fair!" they yelled.
The Zeitoun airstrikes.
The white phosphorus bombs.
The tanks and infantry from the ground, the Apache, F-16 and helicopter gunships from the air, the naval combat ships from the sea.
The bombing of 1.5 million people in a cage made by the State of Israel.
More than 900 Palestinians dead. More than 4000 wounded.
Self defense.
Fight fair.
Bad weather lately. Feeling sad for the passengers of Teratai Prima Ferry.
As the bad weather goes on, so does the grim reality.
I guess I'm tired with those shocking words and hatreds in the internet. From both sides. I'm sorry my fellows, you can say your interpretations about any religion as u like, but I still believe every soul and life is precious. I still believe we should treat others as we wish to be treated. You can't beat people in Monas, nor bomb a restaurant in Bali and say it's a Jihad.
If I hate zionists it's because of their crimes against humanity, not because they're jews.
And, I'm so sick with the facts that some people really okay (if not glad) to see hundreeds of children and mothers die. "Three less terrorists in the world", they said, having seen a picture of the bodies of three gazan toddlers.
Perhaps it's never been about Hamas, or Fatah, or PLO. It's some kind of hatred that makes people forget that we're all the same. Human, with blood and flesh, heart and mind.
And i don't believe they want peace with Palestinians, nor two states solution. War is exciting and risky for some people. It clouds their senses and brings out the worst aspect of so-called 'patriotism'.
And now I'm doing the blame game again...
While reading the sydney morning herald's articles i found this old story.
The Emperor Nero was upset that his prized lions were being distressed by Christians who ran away from them in the Colosseum. Nero ordered that at the next circus a Christian was to be buried up to his neck in the sand to make things easier for the lions. When the lions entered the ring, the biggest and meanest saw the hapless condemned, swaggered over and stood astride the Christian's head, roaring for approval from the crowd. At that moment, the Christian craned his neck and bit off the lion's testicles. The crowd was shocked. "Fight fair! Fight fair!" they yelled.
The Zeitoun airstrikes.
The white phosphorus bombs.
The tanks and infantry from the ground, the Apache, F-16 and helicopter gunships from the air, the naval combat ships from the sea.
The bombing of 1.5 million people in a cage made by the State of Israel.
More than 900 Palestinians dead. More than 4000 wounded.
Self defense.
Fight fair.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
A Different Path
by young_activist
I do not believe in principled non-violence. I am a pragmatist. I think every tactic must be judged by it effect and nothing else. When violence is the most effective option available it use is justifiable. But just as non-violence must be judged by its outcomes so to should violence.
For the last sixty years Palestinians have been unjustifiably subjected to unimaginable horrors. That they are angry is understandable. That their anger has manifested itself in violence is regrettable, but that is also understandable. The right of Palestinians to armed resistance is enshrined in international law and in the minds of many people across the world. The lone surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising has said that that Palestinians are the heirs of his struggle. Nelson Mandela has called them his brothers in arms. In the face of dispossession and occupation by a racist war machine I too recognize the right of an oppressed people to armed struggle. I must ask though, what has violence accomplished for the Palestinian people?
The Palestinians remain dispossessed, they remain occupied, and they are still the victims of oppression and apartheid. Armed resistance has been ongoing for decades and it has provided nothing but pretexts for the Israeli government to appropriate more land and continue its racist policies. For all of its rhetoric Hamas has not even been able to protect its own citizens from the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.
Israel is the regions only nuclear power and it enjoys uncritical support from the world's only superpower. It has the world's fourth most powerful military and the most advanced technology. Palestine is a weak splintered nation. It has no tanks, no air force, no heavy weapons, and no sophisticated spy network. If Palestinians confront Israel militarily they will be crushed every time, but they have the power to chose the field on which their battle for freedom is waged. Wouldn't it make sense for the Palestinians to fight that battle on a plane where they have the greatest advantage? The strength of Palestine does not lie in its military assets, but in the courage of its people and the justice of its cause. This is where Israel must be engaged.
In 1999 a nation with a tenth the population of Palestine and the diaspora with less than three-hundred fighters won its independence from an American backed nation thirty-five times the size of Israel. That nation is East Timor and its road towards independence holds valuable lessons for the Palestinians. Almost immediately after Indonesia's 1975 invasion western solidarity movements emerged and campaigned for an end to Indonesian military need.
However, many western governments such as Australia, Britain, and the U.S actively supported the occupation and continued military cooperation with Indonesia. Then the world was shocked into action by an atrocity so horrible that it could not be ignored. At a funeral for an independence campaigner killed by Indonesian soldiers troops went on a rampage and killed hundreds of people, including a human rights activist from New Zealand, and beat two American journalists. The entire incident was captured on film by an undercover British journalist and smuggled to the outside world where it garnered critical support both internationally and inside Indonesia.
Independence for East Timor would not have been possible without international support. Palestine will also not be able to gain its freedom without support from within Israel and around the world. Violence and terrorism would have alienated support for East Timor internationally and polarized the issue along ethnic lines. The media is biased against the repressed and for the oppressor. It is wrong and it is unfair, but it is the reality with which we must work. Violence by Palestinians will be extensively reported and violence by Israelis will almost always be ignored. The battle for Palestine will not be won or lost in the streets of Gaza, it will be fought in the hearts and minds of foreigners and Israelis. This is something the Palestinian militants seem to be unaware of, but it is something that Israel's leaders are perfectly knowledgeable of. They know that all they have to do is mention Palestinian violence and they will be given a free hand to do whatever they want.
Without extensive foreign and domestic support Israel would not be able to continue its present policies towards the Palestinians. Because of tragedies in the past persecution, both real and perceived. has become an important component of Jewish identity. This is particularly true for Israelis who do not understand the history of the Palestinians, but only think of them as a violent group of rabid antisemites. Violence has only reinforced this ideas. The effect has been that the issue has been polarized for many Israelis along ethnic lines. A unilateral end to Palestinian violence will demonstrate to Israelis that the desires of Palestinians for freedom are not targeted at them. This will remove any last semblance of legitimacy from Israeli military operations and it will give more Israelis the chance to view the conflict in an objective manner and start pressuring their government, both through the normal political channels and joint action with Palestinians, to change its policies. There is already a grassroots network in Israel, but at the moment they are confined to the far left and are too marginalized to have a serious impact.
In the U.S, perhaps the most critical foreign nation, that network is even more marginalized. Criticism of Israel's human rights records is confined to a small number of highly intelligent, highly informed, activists. These people are the critical human infrastructure needed to bring about a change in policies, but by themselves they will be able to change very little. I can't tell you how many people I have spoken with, liberal people, people who I know would support the cause of justice and freedom if they knew that the Palestinian cause is the cause of justice and freedom, who have been so disturbed by the extensively covered Palestinian violence that they are unable to consider that Israel is not without blame.
I know how they think because I used to be one of these people. In 2006 I watched in horror as the "good guys" invaded Lebanon. It was an event so horrific and laden with civilian casualties that it garnered quasi sympathetic coverage even in the U.S. I watched in even greater horror as every politician from every party, people who I thought represented me, came out in droves to declare their full support for Israel's "right to defend its citizens", but said nothing of the citizens of Lebanon and Palestine who were being massacred by American made weapons. This event and my government's response to it was so shockingly outside of my conception of Israel that I realized there must be another to this story, I side that I did not know.
I began researching the Middle East and my government's role in it. At first I was sceptical of the Palestinians. I remember thinking that this war was only the product of a new and inexperienced leader in Israel, not any cynical policy. If only we had a great statesmen, a great man of peace like Sharon back in power, I remember thinking, this would have never happened. But, as I learned more I slowly realized that American support for Israel was entirely unjustifiable.
This is how other Americans will come to realize what has happened to the Palestinians. Israel is more fearful of a single camera than it is of an army of stone throwers. This is why it has been so restrictive of foreign media in Gaza and the West Bank. This is why it has done so much to frustrate the work of Palestinian journalists.
The liberation of Palestine will not take place within the framework of armed struggle. It is time for a third intifada. This intifada must be exclusively nonviolent. In the past the vast work of nonviolent activists have been ignored in the west because it is easier to cover Palestinian violence. The media is biased against Palestine it is true, but there are some things they will not be able to ignore. The media would not be able to ignore the Palestinian refugees if they followed the advice of Gandhi's grandson and walked over the border to their historic homeland in the tens of thousands in complete defiance of the Israeli military and also without any violence. The media would not be able to ignore such an event if it succeeded and they would definitely not be able to ignore it if the Israeli massacred the refugees in full view of foreign cameras. The Palestinians must do such things to shock the west and to shock Israelis into action.
People will die. It is unfortunate, but it is unavoidable. Even more will die, though, if the occupation continues. It is better that their deaths should be used to bring an end to the occupation. Shock, defiance, and sabotage are the only viable tactics at the disposal of the Palestinians. As they win widespread international support boycotts, sanctions, and divestment will become available as well. This is the only practical way for a weak and powerless nation to triumph over one of the world's most powerful governments.
Source:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A great thought of a young friend of mine. You can find her thoughts in here : http://1humanity.blogspot.com/
It would bring no harm to always open up our minds and our hearts.
I do not believe in principled non-violence. I am a pragmatist. I think every tactic must be judged by it effect and nothing else. When violence is the most effective option available it use is justifiable. But just as non-violence must be judged by its outcomes so to should violence.
For the last sixty years Palestinians have been unjustifiably subjected to unimaginable horrors. That they are angry is understandable. That their anger has manifested itself in violence is regrettable, but that is also understandable. The right of Palestinians to armed resistance is enshrined in international law and in the minds of many people across the world. The lone surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising has said that that Palestinians are the heirs of his struggle. Nelson Mandela has called them his brothers in arms. In the face of dispossession and occupation by a racist war machine I too recognize the right of an oppressed people to armed struggle. I must ask though, what has violence accomplished for the Palestinian people?
The Palestinians remain dispossessed, they remain occupied, and they are still the victims of oppression and apartheid. Armed resistance has been ongoing for decades and it has provided nothing but pretexts for the Israeli government to appropriate more land and continue its racist policies. For all of its rhetoric Hamas has not even been able to protect its own citizens from the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.
Israel is the regions only nuclear power and it enjoys uncritical support from the world's only superpower. It has the world's fourth most powerful military and the most advanced technology. Palestine is a weak splintered nation. It has no tanks, no air force, no heavy weapons, and no sophisticated spy network. If Palestinians confront Israel militarily they will be crushed every time, but they have the power to chose the field on which their battle for freedom is waged. Wouldn't it make sense for the Palestinians to fight that battle on a plane where they have the greatest advantage? The strength of Palestine does not lie in its military assets, but in the courage of its people and the justice of its cause. This is where Israel must be engaged.
In 1999 a nation with a tenth the population of Palestine and the diaspora with less than three-hundred fighters won its independence from an American backed nation thirty-five times the size of Israel. That nation is East Timor and its road towards independence holds valuable lessons for the Palestinians. Almost immediately after Indonesia's 1975 invasion western solidarity movements emerged and campaigned for an end to Indonesian military need.
However, many western governments such as Australia, Britain, and the U.S actively supported the occupation and continued military cooperation with Indonesia. Then the world was shocked into action by an atrocity so horrible that it could not be ignored. At a funeral for an independence campaigner killed by Indonesian soldiers troops went on a rampage and killed hundreds of people, including a human rights activist from New Zealand, and beat two American journalists. The entire incident was captured on film by an undercover British journalist and smuggled to the outside world where it garnered critical support both internationally and inside Indonesia.
Independence for East Timor would not have been possible without international support. Palestine will also not be able to gain its freedom without support from within Israel and around the world. Violence and terrorism would have alienated support for East Timor internationally and polarized the issue along ethnic lines. The media is biased against the repressed and for the oppressor. It is wrong and it is unfair, but it is the reality with which we must work. Violence by Palestinians will be extensively reported and violence by Israelis will almost always be ignored. The battle for Palestine will not be won or lost in the streets of Gaza, it will be fought in the hearts and minds of foreigners and Israelis. This is something the Palestinian militants seem to be unaware of, but it is something that Israel's leaders are perfectly knowledgeable of. They know that all they have to do is mention Palestinian violence and they will be given a free hand to do whatever they want.
Without extensive foreign and domestic support Israel would not be able to continue its present policies towards the Palestinians. Because of tragedies in the past persecution, both real and perceived. has become an important component of Jewish identity. This is particularly true for Israelis who do not understand the history of the Palestinians, but only think of them as a violent group of rabid antisemites. Violence has only reinforced this ideas. The effect has been that the issue has been polarized for many Israelis along ethnic lines. A unilateral end to Palestinian violence will demonstrate to Israelis that the desires of Palestinians for freedom are not targeted at them. This will remove any last semblance of legitimacy from Israeli military operations and it will give more Israelis the chance to view the conflict in an objective manner and start pressuring their government, both through the normal political channels and joint action with Palestinians, to change its policies. There is already a grassroots network in Israel, but at the moment they are confined to the far left and are too marginalized to have a serious impact.
In the U.S, perhaps the most critical foreign nation, that network is even more marginalized. Criticism of Israel's human rights records is confined to a small number of highly intelligent, highly informed, activists. These people are the critical human infrastructure needed to bring about a change in policies, but by themselves they will be able to change very little. I can't tell you how many people I have spoken with, liberal people, people who I know would support the cause of justice and freedom if they knew that the Palestinian cause is the cause of justice and freedom, who have been so disturbed by the extensively covered Palestinian violence that they are unable to consider that Israel is not without blame.
I know how they think because I used to be one of these people. In 2006 I watched in horror as the "good guys" invaded Lebanon. It was an event so horrific and laden with civilian casualties that it garnered quasi sympathetic coverage even in the U.S. I watched in even greater horror as every politician from every party, people who I thought represented me, came out in droves to declare their full support for Israel's "right to defend its citizens", but said nothing of the citizens of Lebanon and Palestine who were being massacred by American made weapons. This event and my government's response to it was so shockingly outside of my conception of Israel that I realized there must be another to this story, I side that I did not know.
I began researching the Middle East and my government's role in it. At first I was sceptical of the Palestinians. I remember thinking that this war was only the product of a new and inexperienced leader in Israel, not any cynical policy. If only we had a great statesmen, a great man of peace like Sharon back in power, I remember thinking, this would have never happened. But, as I learned more I slowly realized that American support for Israel was entirely unjustifiable.
This is how other Americans will come to realize what has happened to the Palestinians. Israel is more fearful of a single camera than it is of an army of stone throwers. This is why it has been so restrictive of foreign media in Gaza and the West Bank. This is why it has done so much to frustrate the work of Palestinian journalists.
The liberation of Palestine will not take place within the framework of armed struggle. It is time for a third intifada. This intifada must be exclusively nonviolent. In the past the vast work of nonviolent activists have been ignored in the west because it is easier to cover Palestinian violence. The media is biased against Palestine it is true, but there are some things they will not be able to ignore. The media would not be able to ignore the Palestinian refugees if they followed the advice of Gandhi's grandson and walked over the border to their historic homeland in the tens of thousands in complete defiance of the Israeli military and also without any violence. The media would not be able to ignore such an event if it succeeded and they would definitely not be able to ignore it if the Israeli massacred the refugees in full view of foreign cameras. The Palestinians must do such things to shock the west and to shock Israelis into action.
People will die. It is unfortunate, but it is unavoidable. Even more will die, though, if the occupation continues. It is better that their deaths should be used to bring an end to the occupation. Shock, defiance, and sabotage are the only viable tactics at the disposal of the Palestinians. As they win widespread international support boycotts, sanctions, and divestment will become available as well. This is the only practical way for a weak and powerless nation to triumph over one of the world's most powerful governments.
Source:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A great thought of a young friend of mine. You can find her thoughts in here : http://1humanity.blogspot.com/
It would bring no harm to always open up our minds and our hearts.
Mereka Punya Pilihan (terjemahan bebas jam 3 pagi...)
Aku menonton Aljazeera kemarin.
Reporter mereka pergi ke Tel Aviv dan bertanya pada warga Israel. 91 % rakyat Israel mendukung penyerangan atas Gaza kali ini. Tapi seorang wanita setengah baya, seorang ibu mungkin, mengatakan sesuatu yang menghantuiku sampai sekarang.
Wanita Israel ini ditanya apa pendapatnya tentang wanita dan anak-anak yang tewas di Gaza dan apakah hal itu bisa dibenarkan. Ini jawabannya.
"Sure, it breaks my heart when I see things like this. But no one cares when it happens to us. We suck it up and keep quiet. We don't show the whole world and complain. We don't let it get to us. Because our women don't shout and cry like the Arab women do"
Aku tidak percaya ada manusia yang bisa mengatakan hal seperti itu, di saat seperti ini.
Anak-anak mereka tewas dan mereka bahkan tidak berhak untuk menangis?
Hak-hak dasar mereka dihilangkan dan menurutnya mereka tidak perlu berteriak?
Temanku bilang, "Saya mulai muak dengan kebodohan orang-orang sini. Jangan tersinggung ya? kamu kan termasuk yang mengutuk Israel kan? Mereka manusia juga. There's no such thing like occupation. It just grows hatred. Jews believe, Palestina itu tanah yang dijanjikan oleh Tuhan. Coba mengerti mereka. Think like them. Bayangkan kalo Damar dan Dimas tewas oleh roket Hamas. Sometime we don't give them a chance." Dan bla,bla,bla...
Aku terlalu capek untuk menuliskan apa yang kukatakan padanya. Argumen dan fakta yang sama, I guess.
And here we are. The warwatchers.
Duduk nyaman di depan televisi kita. Berharap dunia berubah.
Terlalu banyak kekerasan, di semua pihak.
They're just warwatchers.
Datang dari kota-kota kecil di selatan Israel dengan teropong dan mobil mewah mereka. Tertawa dan bercanda sementara sebuah bom meledak di atas gaza.
War tourists.
Ya, temanku tersayang.
Aku marah.
'Orang-orang sini' marah.
Seluruh dunia marah.
Dan kamu tidak bisa menyalahkan mereka untuk itu.
Mereka tidak bodoh, tidak membabi-buta.
Kamu tidak bisa mengatakan, "Israel ngga punya pilihan". Israel punya.
Israel bisa menghentikan serangan.
israel bisa menghentikan isolasi mereka terhadap Gaza.
Israel bisa memulai dialog baru.
Dan berhenti menyalahkan orang lain untuk setiap anak yang mereka bunuh.
Mereka punya pilihan.
Seperti Jonathan Benartzi, keponakan Benyamin Netanyahu yang menjadi warga Israel pertama yang disidang dan dipenjara karena menolak bergabung dengan militer.
Seperti Yonathan Saphira, the man who didn't walk by.
Dia dikeluarkan dari angkatan udara israel tahun 2003 karena menolak menjatuhkan bom di Wilayah terokupasi Palestina (see? kamu naive teman, kalo bilang there isn't any occupation!) ketika dia menganggap akan banyak penduduk sipil yang akan menjadi korban.
Seperti warga israel lain yang tergabung dalam Jewish Voice for Peace, termasuk 1000 orang Israel yang berdemo di jalanan tel Aviv, mengutuk serangan ke Gaza.
Jadi aku ngga akan memahami kenapa kamu marah ketika jalanan macet oleh Demo anti Israel dan kamu sedang terburu-buru. And i won't apologize for that.
Dan TIDAK, berapa kali aku harus bilang padamu, dan siapapun yang menganggap ini masalah agama, fanatisme buta. Aku tidak membenci Yahudi atau Kristen atau sesama Muslim (walau sedikit kasian dengan ekstrimis dari sisi manapun).
Tidak ingin mengusir kaum zionis ke Kutub Utara (ide yang sedikit terlalu menggoda akhir-akhir ini...). Tidak peduli apapun agama, bangsa atau warna kulit mereka.
At the end of the day (kata favorit Ayman Mohyeldin, i hope he stays safe...), we're not them. We can only think how it feels to be them.
we are the warwatchers.
Reporter mereka pergi ke Tel Aviv dan bertanya pada warga Israel. 91 % rakyat Israel mendukung penyerangan atas Gaza kali ini. Tapi seorang wanita setengah baya, seorang ibu mungkin, mengatakan sesuatu yang menghantuiku sampai sekarang.
Wanita Israel ini ditanya apa pendapatnya tentang wanita dan anak-anak yang tewas di Gaza dan apakah hal itu bisa dibenarkan. Ini jawabannya.
"Sure, it breaks my heart when I see things like this. But no one cares when it happens to us. We suck it up and keep quiet. We don't show the whole world and complain. We don't let it get to us. Because our women don't shout and cry like the Arab women do"
Aku tidak percaya ada manusia yang bisa mengatakan hal seperti itu, di saat seperti ini.
Anak-anak mereka tewas dan mereka bahkan tidak berhak untuk menangis?
Hak-hak dasar mereka dihilangkan dan menurutnya mereka tidak perlu berteriak?
Temanku bilang, "Saya mulai muak dengan kebodohan orang-orang sini. Jangan tersinggung ya? kamu kan termasuk yang mengutuk Israel kan? Mereka manusia juga. There's no such thing like occupation. It just grows hatred. Jews believe, Palestina itu tanah yang dijanjikan oleh Tuhan. Coba mengerti mereka. Think like them. Bayangkan kalo Damar dan Dimas tewas oleh roket Hamas. Sometime we don't give them a chance." Dan bla,bla,bla...
Aku terlalu capek untuk menuliskan apa yang kukatakan padanya. Argumen dan fakta yang sama, I guess.
And here we are. The warwatchers.
Duduk nyaman di depan televisi kita. Berharap dunia berubah.
Terlalu banyak kekerasan, di semua pihak.
They're just warwatchers.
Datang dari kota-kota kecil di selatan Israel dengan teropong dan mobil mewah mereka. Tertawa dan bercanda sementara sebuah bom meledak di atas gaza.
War tourists.
Ya, temanku tersayang.
Aku marah.
'Orang-orang sini' marah.
Seluruh dunia marah.
Dan kamu tidak bisa menyalahkan mereka untuk itu.
Mereka tidak bodoh, tidak membabi-buta.
Kamu tidak bisa mengatakan, "Israel ngga punya pilihan". Israel punya.
Israel bisa menghentikan serangan.
israel bisa menghentikan isolasi mereka terhadap Gaza.
Israel bisa memulai dialog baru.
Dan berhenti menyalahkan orang lain untuk setiap anak yang mereka bunuh.
Mereka punya pilihan.
Seperti Jonathan Benartzi, keponakan Benyamin Netanyahu yang menjadi warga Israel pertama yang disidang dan dipenjara karena menolak bergabung dengan militer.
Seperti Yonathan Saphira, the man who didn't walk by.
Dia dikeluarkan dari angkatan udara israel tahun 2003 karena menolak menjatuhkan bom di Wilayah terokupasi Palestina (see? kamu naive teman, kalo bilang there isn't any occupation!) ketika dia menganggap akan banyak penduduk sipil yang akan menjadi korban.
Seperti warga israel lain yang tergabung dalam Jewish Voice for Peace, termasuk 1000 orang Israel yang berdemo di jalanan tel Aviv, mengutuk serangan ke Gaza.
Jadi aku ngga akan memahami kenapa kamu marah ketika jalanan macet oleh Demo anti Israel dan kamu sedang terburu-buru. And i won't apologize for that.
Dan TIDAK, berapa kali aku harus bilang padamu, dan siapapun yang menganggap ini masalah agama, fanatisme buta. Aku tidak membenci Yahudi atau Kristen atau sesama Muslim (walau sedikit kasian dengan ekstrimis dari sisi manapun).
Tidak ingin mengusir kaum zionis ke Kutub Utara (ide yang sedikit terlalu menggoda akhir-akhir ini...). Tidak peduli apapun agama, bangsa atau warna kulit mereka.
At the end of the day (kata favorit Ayman Mohyeldin, i hope he stays safe...), we're not them. We can only think how it feels to be them.
we are the warwatchers.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
They do have a choice
i watched this interview by aljazeera reporter yesterday. Alan Fisher went to Tel Aviv to ask the Israelis what they thought about Gaza. They were all in favor, of course. But this middle age woman, a mother perhaps, said something that haunted me.
This Israeli woman was asked what she thought of the woman and children that were dying in Gaza and if it's justifiable by any means.
This is her answer, "Sure, it breaks my heart when I see things like this. But no one cares when it happens to us. We suck it up and keep quiet. We don't show the whole world and complain. We don't let it get to us. Because our women don't shout and cry like the Arab women do."
I can't believe any human being can say such a thing.
Their children were dead and they didn't even have the right to cry?
Their most basic human rights were taken away from them and she said they shouldn't shout?
My friend said, "I'm sick with you people, who cursed israel like hell. They're human too. There no such thing like occupation. It just grows hatred. Israel didn't have any choice. Jews believe, that Palestina is the promised land, their ancestral land. Please understand them. Sometime we don't give them a chance...You guys are angry without knowing the real problems"
And so on...
I'm too tired to tell you here what i've told him. The same old arguments and facts, i guess.
And here we are. The warwatchers.
Sitting comfortably in front of our television. Wishing the world to change. Too much violence, on every side.
They're just warwatchers.
Coming from some town in the southern part of Israel with their binocular and laughing and joking while the bomb explodes on Gaza. War tourists.
Yes my dear friend, I'm angry. Indonesian people are angry. The whole world is angry. And you can't blame them for that. They're not stupid, nor blind.
You can't say "Israel doesn't have any choice". They do have choice.
They can stop this assault. They can lift the blockages. They can start a new dialogue. And stop blaming other for those children they've killed.
They have a choice. Like Jonathan Benartzi, the first Israeli soldier to be court-martialed and jailed for refusing to join the military. His uncle is Benyamin Netanyahu.
Like Yonatan Shapira, the man who didn't walk by. He was dismissed from Israel's air force in 2003 because he refused to take part in aerial attacks in areas of the Occupied Territories of Palestine where there exist large concentrations of civilians liable to become "collateral damage."
Like any other Israelis who joined the Jewish Voice for Peace, including the 1,000 Israelis who protested in the streets of Tel Aviv, in condemning ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza.
And NO, how many times i have to say THIS, I don't want to wipe anyone off the map. No matter what religion, race or skin colour they may have.
This Israeli woman was asked what she thought of the woman and children that were dying in Gaza and if it's justifiable by any means.
This is her answer, "Sure, it breaks my heart when I see things like this. But no one cares when it happens to us. We suck it up and keep quiet. We don't show the whole world and complain. We don't let it get to us. Because our women don't shout and cry like the Arab women do."
I can't believe any human being can say such a thing.
Their children were dead and they didn't even have the right to cry?
Their most basic human rights were taken away from them and she said they shouldn't shout?
My friend said, "I'm sick with you people, who cursed israel like hell. They're human too. There no such thing like occupation. It just grows hatred. Israel didn't have any choice. Jews believe, that Palestina is the promised land, their ancestral land. Please understand them. Sometime we don't give them a chance...You guys are angry without knowing the real problems"
And so on...
I'm too tired to tell you here what i've told him. The same old arguments and facts, i guess.
And here we are. The warwatchers.
Sitting comfortably in front of our television. Wishing the world to change. Too much violence, on every side.
They're just warwatchers.
Coming from some town in the southern part of Israel with their binocular and laughing and joking while the bomb explodes on Gaza. War tourists.
Yes my dear friend, I'm angry. Indonesian people are angry. The whole world is angry. And you can't blame them for that. They're not stupid, nor blind.
You can't say "Israel doesn't have any choice". They do have choice.
They can stop this assault. They can lift the blockages. They can start a new dialogue. And stop blaming other for those children they've killed.
They have a choice. Like Jonathan Benartzi, the first Israeli soldier to be court-martialed and jailed for refusing to join the military. His uncle is Benyamin Netanyahu.
Like Yonatan Shapira, the man who didn't walk by. He was dismissed from Israel's air force in 2003 because he refused to take part in aerial attacks in areas of the Occupied Territories of Palestine where there exist large concentrations of civilians liable to become "collateral damage."
Like any other Israelis who joined the Jewish Voice for Peace, including the 1,000 Israelis who protested in the streets of Tel Aviv, in condemning ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza.
And NO, how many times i have to say THIS, I don't want to wipe anyone off the map. No matter what religion, race or skin colour they may have.
Friday, January 9, 2009
News from Mona
Gaza Update
by Mona El-farra
8th of January -13th day of the Israeli Attack against Gaza
720 are killed
including :
-215 children
-89 women
-12 1st aid health workers
more than 3000 are injured many with serious injuries
11 ambulances were attacked and destroyed while on duty
health workers are not allowed to evacute many of the injured ,in many occasions
the medical teams face new sort of burns , there is a possibility that israel uses white phosphorus against civilians ,INVESTIGATION IS NEEDED AT ONCE .
health teams in Gaza need to be assisted , as they are overwhelmed with the increasing numbe rof the casualities and lack of supplies and electricity ,
new born babies inside the hospitals are under great threat , due to power flactuation in the special care baby units SCBU
43 were killed inside one of the UN schools , were those fleed to the school ,as their homes were under heavy shelling or destroyed ,the UN asked for immediate investigation and denied Israeli claim of the presence of armed men inside the school
no electricity in Gaza
80%of areas have no water, due to the destroyment of the infra structure, due to the heavy shelling
70%of telecommunications are destroyed too
yesterday Israeli army allowed 3 hours of ceasfire , so the civilians can go to get thier supplies,but there were no enough bread, vegetables, meat, grosseries and no cash with the population, and thousands are homeless!
thousands of Rafah citizens at the moment are homeless, have been evacuated , and their homes were demolished at the southern part of rafah on the borders ,.
i am indirect contact with my fellow doctors in gaza, but may be i will lose this contact soon ,as the communications is getting less , and this will lead to real catastrophy on the level of evacuating of the injured
PRAY FOR US this is usual message i receive from friends, neighbours and relatives in Gaza
thank you all for your solidarity , friendship , and humanitarian concern
source
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight it's 763...
The newest incident was UN aid convoy with UN flags hit by Israeli tanks at the Erez crossing, during the 3 hours 'humanitarian aid'. One Palestinian driver killed.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009181482839688.html
by Mona El-farra
8th of January -13th day of the Israeli Attack against Gaza
720 are killed
including :
-215 children
-89 women
-12 1st aid health workers
more than 3000 are injured many with serious injuries
11 ambulances were attacked and destroyed while on duty
health workers are not allowed to evacute many of the injured ,in many occasions
the medical teams face new sort of burns , there is a possibility that israel uses white phosphorus against civilians ,INVESTIGATION IS NEEDED AT ONCE .
health teams in Gaza need to be assisted , as they are overwhelmed with the increasing numbe rof the casualities and lack of supplies and electricity ,
new born babies inside the hospitals are under great threat , due to power flactuation in the special care baby units SCBU
43 were killed inside one of the UN schools , were those fleed to the school ,as their homes were under heavy shelling or destroyed ,the UN asked for immediate investigation and denied Israeli claim of the presence of armed men inside the school
no electricity in Gaza
80%of areas have no water, due to the destroyment of the infra structure, due to the heavy shelling
70%of telecommunications are destroyed too
yesterday Israeli army allowed 3 hours of ceasfire , so the civilians can go to get thier supplies,but there were no enough bread, vegetables, meat, grosseries and no cash with the population, and thousands are homeless!
thousands of Rafah citizens at the moment are homeless, have been evacuated , and their homes were demolished at the southern part of rafah on the borders ,.
i am indirect contact with my fellow doctors in gaza, but may be i will lose this contact soon ,as the communications is getting less , and this will lead to real catastrophy on the level of evacuating of the injured
PRAY FOR US this is usual message i receive from friends, neighbours and relatives in Gaza
thank you all for your solidarity , friendship , and humanitarian concern
source
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight it's 763...
The newest incident was UN aid convoy with UN flags hit by Israeli tanks at the Erez crossing, during the 3 hours 'humanitarian aid'. One Palestinian driver killed.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009181482839688.html
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
life in spite of everything
680 Palestinians dead. 3075 wounded
10 Israelis dead.
Israel spokeperson said, "3 hours a day of cease fire".
That's 21 hours a day of bombardment.
Wow...
Found this interesting site, www.mepeace.org and www.othervoice.org
At home,
Damar sudah mulai sekolah lagi.
Menyenangkan melihat dia di kelas. Duduk depan (karena kalo di belakang dia akan sibuk maen), sekali-kali ngangkat tangan tanpa ditunjuk gurunya (wew, he's braver than me...or smarter than me? ^^), nyanyi twingkle twingkle little star waktu singing time. Sahabatnya anak perempuan imut bernama salvi.
Dimas sudah lulus! Sudah ngga ASI lagi ^^
Perjuangan kami 2 minggu akhirnya berhasil juga.
Terima kasih untuk 2 tahun yang menyenangkan selama masa breasfeedingmu ya, Nak...
10 Israelis dead.
Israel spokeperson said, "3 hours a day of cease fire".
That's 21 hours a day of bombardment.
Wow...
Found this interesting site, www.mepeace.org and www.othervoice.org
At home,
Damar sudah mulai sekolah lagi.
Menyenangkan melihat dia di kelas. Duduk depan (karena kalo di belakang dia akan sibuk maen), sekali-kali ngangkat tangan tanpa ditunjuk gurunya (wew, he's braver than me...or smarter than me? ^^), nyanyi twingkle twingkle little star waktu singing time. Sahabatnya anak perempuan imut bernama salvi.
Dimas sudah lulus! Sudah ngga ASI lagi ^^
Perjuangan kami 2 minggu akhirnya berhasil juga.
Terima kasih untuk 2 tahun yang menyenangkan selama masa breasfeedingmu ya, Nak...
Monday, January 5, 2009
The tenth night
Statement
HRM Queen Rania on the children of Gaza
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children
Statement to the Press on Gaza - In Amman, Jordan
Our Humanity is Incomplete
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” ... Article one, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” … Article three, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Over the past 41 years, the people of Gaza have been living under occupation. Over the past 18 months, they have been living under siege. And for the past 10 days, the people of Gaza have been subject to a cruel and continuous military attack.
Either the declaration is not so universal, or the people of Gaza are not human beings, worthy of the same “universal” rights. This is the message the world is sending out today.
Today, I am here with representative members of the UN family, to share with you the extent of the humanitarian crisis that is Gaza.
But not only is there a humanitarian crisis in Gaza... there is a crisis in our global humanity. Nelson Mandela once said that “our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Today, I tell you, our humanity is incomplete without theirs. It is incomplete. It is not universal.
This is the message I am sending world leaders: Our humanity is incomplete when children, irrespective of nationality, are victims of military operations.
More than seventy dead children. Close to six hundred injured. What does the world tell to their mothers? To the Palestinian mother who lost five daughters in one day? To the mothers watching their children cry in pain, huddle in fear, and deal with more trauma than any of us will experience in an entire lifetime?
That they are collateral damage?
That their lives don’t matter?
That their deaths don’t count?
That the children of Gaza do not have “the right to life, liberty and security”?
What do we tell them?!
It is imperative that every nation acts to end the fighting, and open all crossings, especially Karni, to permit the uninterrupted passage of wheat, fuel, medicine, and other vital supplies.
At the very least, we must push for a ceasefire, a humanitarian ceasefire, a ceasefire for children, to help the wounded, to look for those buried under the rubble, to tend to the sick and elderly trapped in their homes, and to bring in vital medical supplies, equipment and staff.
At the very least, governments should… governments must contribute to UNRWA’s emergency appeal for $34 million to meet the immediate needs of Gaza’s innocent civilians.
The children of Gaza, the dead and the barely living... their mothers... their fathers are not acceptable collateral damage; their lives do matter, their loss does count. They are not divisible from our universal humanity – no child is, no civilian is.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source : www.unicef.org
I wonder what would Oprah said about Palestine and Israel now. She's a friend of Queen Rania if i'm not mistaken.
I remember watching her show a few years ago, after 9/11, and she only put 2 minutes at the end of the show for a palestinian man to tell his side of story.
But off course, for one american show that was a lot.
550 dead, 2700 wounded. 25 percent are women and children.
A pregnant mom and her 4 children. 3 Paramedics and a docter. Families, entire family, wiped out.
I'm watching those pictures on Al Jazeera right now, as i write. Listening Ayman Mohyeldin's and Alan fisher's voice explaining what's happening there. It's pitch dark in Gaza. Only fire and explosions. The sounds of F-16. The sounds of heavy machine gun. In a very densely populated area. Area where families cannot leave their homes. Homes with no electricity, food, water...
How many children die at this very moment?
My children, Damar 4,5 yo and Dimas 2 yo are sleeping peacefuly beside me. Safe and warm.
Everytime i see those pictures i think about them.
So, how can i forget those children in Gaza?
How can i even get 'bored' with these things i see, hear, read and write?
This is the glimpse inside Gaza,
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/200915122556916110.html
It's 1.30 am here right now. Perhaps it's 8.30 or 9.30 pm there?
I'm still watching Al Jazeera, and I can't help but to cry.
May Allah keep you safe...
Friday, January 2, 2009
Rekening Bantuan Palestina
Remember them, the children of Gaza...
Salurkan bantuan anda untuk rakyat Palestina melalui:
BCA, a.n. Medical Emergency Rescue Committee
No. Rek. 686.0153678
Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), a.n. MER-C
No. Rek. 301.00521.15
Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM), a.n. Medical Emergency Rescue Committee
No. Rek. 009.0121.773
SMS Donasi: MERC PEDULI kirim ke 7505 (Donasi Rp 5.000,-sms + biaya operator + PPn)
Bisa juga dilihat di http://www.mer-c.org
Salurkan bantuan anda untuk rakyat Palestina melalui:
BCA, a.n. Medical Emergency Rescue Committee
No. Rek. 686.0153678
Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), a.n. MER-C
No. Rek. 301.00521.15
Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM), a.n. Medical Emergency Rescue Committee
No. Rek. 009.0121.773
SMS Donasi: MERC PEDULI kirim ke 7505 (Donasi Rp 5.000,-sms + biaya operator + PPn)
Bisa juga dilihat di http://www.mer-c.org
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