Strong Words

JEWISH SOCIALISTS SAY:

stop the bombing and the siege
end the occupation
and give peace a chance!


Jewish Socialists condemn the Israeli siege and bombing of the Palestinian people in Gaza. We express our solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, and in the occupied territories, and with those Israelis who oppose their government and its war.

We support those young Israelis who would rather go to jail than serve in the armed forces of occupation and war.

We call upon our own and other governments to cease supporting Israel's aggression, and put pressure on Israel's leaders to halt this war, lift the blockade, and end the occupation of Palestinian lands.

The Jewish Socialists' Group has many differences with the politics of Hamas. This war, on a largely defenceless people, is not about Hamas. It was Israeli forces that broke a four-month long ceasefire with a raid killing six Palestinians on November 4. This attack was launched as Hamas and Fatah were agreeing a unified approach. On November 5, Israel stepped up its siege of Gaza, on land and sea, which has brought warnings of human and environmental disaster.

Even so, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told a European parliamentary delegation that Hamas was prepared to declare a long-term truce with Israel, and negotiate for a Palestinian state within 1967 borders. (Amira Hass, Haaretz (November 15 2008)


Evidently, Israeli leaders, including Labour Defence Minister Ehud Barak, were not interested. They had already planned this war. A couple of days after Haniyeh's spech the Israeli navy seized Palestinian fishing boats and crews.

Israel's military-political elite don't care about poorer Israelis, mainly from Arab countries, whom they shoved out to exposed places like Sderot. They have not even evacuated the children. They did not care about captured soldier Gilad Shalit, whose release they could have negotiated long ago, had they and their US backers not preferred a pretext for war, in Gaza and then Lebanon, where Washington wanted to test its latest bombs.

Every people has the right to resist occupation. But the tactic of hitting civilian targets like Sderot is wrong, and the Israeli government has used it to raise public support for war against the Palestinian people. Even so,

500 Sderot residents petitioned asking the government not to escalate the conflict but to seek peace.
A majority of Israelis thought their government should negotiate with Hamas or whoever else the Palestuinian people elected.
A majority of people on both sides wanted the cease fire to continue, and would be prepared to share this land in a just peace.

But 40 years of occupation have so poisoned Israeli politics that Barak and Olmert are competing with the far-right Benyamin Netanyahu to show who is best at waging war. The Israeli Right has been encouraged by neo-cons and right-wing Christian fundamentalists in the United States, who want Israel to spearhead a major Middle East war.

The majority of Americans, including more than 75% of American Jews, voted for Barack Obama and change. Obama's wooing of the unrepresentative Zionist lobbyists AIPAC, and Hillary Clinton's pledge that if Israel was attacked, America would "obliterate" Iran, suggest change is yet to come. The Israeli forces may have timed their attack before Obama takes office, but he has said only that he "understands" them. EU leaders have urged a ceasefire, but Israel continues to enjoy EU trade privileges and a promised closer relationship".

If we want to help the Palestinian people and those Israelis who want a genuine peace, we have to change our own government's policies. Jewish Socialists, together with our friends in European Jews for Just Peace, and similar bodies in the United States and Canada, are campaigning for this.

Alongside solidarity with the Palestinian people, we have a special job - to challenge leaders who claim to speak for the Jewish community, but subordinate its interests to Israeli policy and its reactionary allies. We say politicians must stop listening to the Zionist Lobby - and stop using it as an excuse!

Jewish Socialists stand for peace, freedom and equality in the Middle East, and for unity to fight antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and every other kind of prejudice here and now.

source : jewist socialists' group

He's Free

From facebook :

LATEST UPDATE FROM THE RIZK FAMILY

Wednesday February 11th, 4:00am

Philip is out, he is safe and home with his family.
He requests that all upcoming planned protests and marches still take place to end siege on Gaza.

Tilang atau Damai?

Temanku mengirim email tentang form merah dan biru dalam 'pertilangan'.

SLIP MERAH, berarti kita menyangkal kalau melanggar aturan Dan mau membela diri secara hukum (ikut sidang) di pengadilan setempat.
Itupun di pengadilan nanti masih banyak calo, antrian panjang, Dan oknum pengadilan yang melakukan pungutan liar berupa pembengkakan nilai tilai tilang. Kalau kita tidak mengikuti sidang, dokumen tilang dititipkan di kejaksaan setempat, disinipun banyak calo dan oknum kejaksaan yang melakukan pungutan liar berupa pembengkakan nilai
tilang.

SLIP BIRU, berarti kita mengakui kesalahan kita dan bersedia membayar denda.

Kita tinggal transfer dana via ATM ke nomer rekening tertentu (kalo gak salah norek Bank BUMN).

Sesudah itu kita tinggal bawa bukti transfer untuk di tukar dengan SIM/STNK kita di kapolsek terdekat dimana kita ditilang.
You know what!? Denda yang tercantum dalam KUHP Pengguna Jalan Raya tidak melebihi 50ribu! dan dananya RESMI MASUK KE KAS NEGARA.

One of the most corrupted institution in Indonesia is Police Force. While corruption in judicial institution is the most costly.

Tentu tidak semua polisi korup. Aku yakin masih banyak polisi-polisi jujur yang menghidupi keluarga dan menyekolahkan anak-anaknya dengan gaji yang mepet (God bless them...)
Seorang polisi muda yang menjadi ketua RT di kompleks perumahanku di Balikpapan dulu adalah seorang yang sederhana dan berdedikasi. Dia hanya memiliki sebuah motor tua dan rumah cicilan yang belum dikeramik lantainya. Seorang yang idealis dan rajin menjadi muadzin di mushola kecil di kompleks.

Pengalaman mengenai polisi lainnya waktu aku kuliah di Bandung, tahun 1998. Aku ditilang karena berbelok ke kiri sewaktu lampu merah menyala. Maklum kalau di Jogja hampir di semua perempatan kita bisa langsung belok kiri. Aku distop dan diajak ke pos. "Dik, ini sidangnya hari rabu jam 9 pagi ya!" Kujawab, "waduh Pak, hari itu saya ujian" Si Bapak Polisi akhirnya mengganti form tilangnya dan menyuruhku membayar ke bank dan mengambil SIM di kantor polisi.

The point is,
sebenarnya nggak salah polisi juga kalo mereka sering minta uang damai. Kalau ngga ada yang minta damai, kalau semua orang ngga pakai calo dan uang untuk bikin SIM dan keperluan lain, polisi juga ngga bisa korupsi.

Dengan sangat, sangat, sangat malu aku mengakui kalau SIMku sekarang masih SIM 'haram', SIM nembak. Sedang berusaha mengambil SIM 'halal', ASAP!
Dewo, sudah berhasil melewati semua ujian teori dan praktek dan sudah punya SIM halal. Butuh 3 kali ujian praktek mobil sampai dia lulus. Bandingkan dengan ujian SIM di Jepang!!! Ada yang ratusan kali ujian belum lulus juga.

Jadi, kalau ada yang ngeluh kenapa budaya berkendaraan di jalan umum kita ancur, ya mungkin karena memang kita ngga tau aturan lalu lintas (salah satunya ya aturan tentang form merah dan biru itu). Kenapa ngga tau? Ya, karena SIM-nya nembak!

As simple as that.

Coba liat di jalan tol. Hitung berapa mobil yang menggunakan lajur kiri untuk menyalip atau melewati batas kecepatan.

Believe me! At the end of the day, pendidikan dan faktor ekonomi rasanya berpengaruh kecil dalam masalah sopan-santun berkendaraan.

The Bad and The Good : More About Refuseniks

The Bad
Reading this kind of 'democracy' makes me sick.
I always wonder why 80-90% of them support the war or 'campaign'. This is why.

The Yisrael Beiteinu youths gather for a final consultation as dozens of elderly party supporters slowly make their way into the white tent where the movement's conference is being held, behind the Plaza Hotel in Upper Nazareth.

The youths, ages 16-18, many of them good friends from school, had stood for a long time before the event began at the intersection near the hotel, waving Israeli flags and shouting "Death to the Arabs" and "No loyalty, no citizenship" at passing cars.

This country has needed a dictatorship for a long time already. But I'm not talking about an extreme dictatorship. We need someone who can put things in order. Lieberman is the only one who speaks the truth." Adds Edan Ivanov, an 18 year old who describes himself as being "up on current events":

"We've had enough here with the 'leftist democracy' - and I put that term in quotes, don't get me wrong. People have put the dictator label on Lieberman because of the things he says. But the truth is that in Israel there can't be a full democracy when there are Arabs here who oppose it.

"All Lieberman's really saying is that anyone who isn't prepared to sign an oath of loyalty to the state, because of his personal views, cannot receive equal rights; he can't vote for the executive authority. People here are gradually coming to understand what needs to be done concerning a person who is not loyal."

That's not freedom of speech, my friend!
That's far from democracy, in case you didn't know.

On "election day" at the school on January 5, MK Miller drew boisterous applause when he gave a fiery speech denouncing anyone who dared to demonstrate against the operation in Gaza, and called for "the people who support those who fight against us" not to be given equal rights.

Slansky requested a chance to speak and addressed the students: "If anyone repeats the undemocratic things said here by Miller on my exams, I will deduct points from his grade." The high-schoolers responded with a hail of boos.

"I told Miller I couldn't grasp what he meant to say, because one of the most important democratic principles that we teach is the limits of authority, and freedom of expression," Slansky said this week.

"After they booed, I realized I didn't have a chance there. It was a very unpleasant feeling, obviously. I understand that there's an issue of election propaganda, but when a candidate speaks this way to students whose critical abilities are lacking, who don't have that broader view - it just shows how much work I have left to do."

Is it upsetting?

"Of course it's upsetting, but what should we do? Just give up? Stop teaching civics? To blame the school for the students being intolerant and non-pluralistic is to make a very dire accusation. It's the society in which we live. I can't be the last one to put on the brakes. I do my best."

"On the first level, of conveying the basic principles of democracy, the teachers are quite successful ... On other levels, such as inculcating democracy as a worldview and translating these values to the classroom, we see other things. You can have discussions in civics class and study entire texts, and then suddenly a boy says to a girl, 'Shut up, you slut,' and the teacher doesn't stop everything right then and there. When that happens you lose the connection between what's being taught and what's happening. In my daughter's class, the kids told a joke that went something like: 'How long does it take an Arab woman to get rid of the trash? Nine months,' and the teacher didn't stop or say anything to them about it."

Do schools also teach messages that contradict democratic education?

"In the school system there's a discrepancy between the official curriculum and the 'unofficial' curriculum [including what's known as Shelach], Land of Israel studies that have a nationalist bent, and preparatory workshops for the army and the Gadna pre-military youth corps. The [Holocaust-related] trips to Poland could have been an occasion to teach broader humanistic understanding, but they end up being all about 'Then we were weak and now we are strong - We won't give them another chance to kill us.'

"When I talk in civics class about the Arab minority, and about its uniqueness in being a majority that became a minority, my students argue and say it's not true that they were a majority. When I go to the history teacher and ask her why the students don't know that in 1947 there was a certain number of Arabs here, and in 1948 there was a different number, she becomes evasive and says it's not part of the material."

The failure of the school system is evident not just in student's opinions, but sometimes in their actions, too. There have been a number of disturbing incidents: On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day last year, dozens of Jewish youths attacked two Arab youths after seeing a message on ICQ urging them "to put an end to all the Arabs walking around the Pisga [Pisgat Ze'ev]"; youths took part in the violence against Arabs in Acre last October; and just this week, Jewish youths from Tiberias went after a young Arab with clubs as he was walking on the city's boardwalk.

What kind of person will they grow up to be?


The Good
I have more and more respect for these young men and women.
On Saturday evening (february 7th), the refuseniks spoke to Palestinian on Bethlehem.

Five young Israelis who refused military service defied a ban on Israelis entering Palestinian Authority territory on Saturday evening to share their tales of prison, isolation, and struggle with an audience outside the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

On Tuesday Israelis are expected to elect the most right-wing government in recent memory, but these five, represent a countervailing force, however small, to an Israeli society that appears more than ever to be in the grip of the right wing. On Tuesday, Israelis will go to the polls in parliamentary elections in which the top slot is expected to go to the right-wing Likud party, and the third largest share of the votes to Avigdor Lieberman’s “Israel Our Home” party, one of whose slogans is “No loyalty, no citizenship.”

“Refusing is a break from the Jewish-Israeli consensus,” said 22-year-old Alex Cohn, “It’s the beginning of a journey, not an end.” Cohn spent a total of five months in a military prison in 2005 for his refusal.

The refuseniks’ message of moral objection was welcomed by at least some of the Palestinians who attended the panel. One student from Bethlehem said, “Every day I go to school at the Al-Quds university, which is in a town next to Jerusalem. I have to pass through a checkpoint twice a day. So, statistically speaking, if I’m standing in front of five Israelis, they’re probably going to be pointing guns at me. Instead I’m standing here applauding you.”

The young Israelis also talked about what 19-year-old Mia Tamarin called “the stamp of the refuser,” the social isolation they face in a society where everyone is a soldier. Tamarin, a committed pacifist who spent two years in an educational program where she met women from all over the Middle East, said that her decision to refuse also led her to leave home.

Alex Cohn also said he faced tension with his family. “When my brother heard he called me very angrily, saying ‘you’re going to rot in prison,’” he said, then recalling that his brother changed tones, “’You’re going to sit in prison and read books while I’m risking my life.’”

Israel’s rightward lurch going into Tuesday’s elections, Cohn said, “is like falling down a cliff. It’s a nightmare. We can only hope that people wake up from this nightmare.”

“But,” he added, “Maybe it will lift the mask of Israeli democracy, and there will be more pressure on Israel from the outside.

Courage to refuse.
Courage to do the right thing.

Right or Wrong It's My Country?

I always kinda like President SBY. He seems more sincere than other politicians.
And we've made progress on our corruption index last year.

Transparency International, a watchdog group that compiles a widely watched corruption index, gave Indonesia a score of 2.6 out of 10 for 2008, up from 1.9 in 2003, and ranked it 126th out of 180 countries surveyed.

The news is here

Not something to be proud of, though, 126th out of 180 >,<

I read something about him again today. In the ceremony of National Press Day and the 63rd anniversary of PWI (Indonesian Journalist Association)he said that "Right or wrong It's my country" is not enough.

It should be Right is right and Wrong is wrong. That's the concept of loyalty for our country. Why don’t we just say since right or wrong is my country. Let us assure our country is right and not wrong.

Beritanya di sini dan sini.
Here's our press freedom index.

He's not perfect of course, but I guess I'm going to vote for him this year. Perhaps...

Gusti Allah Tidak 'Ndeso'

Renungan hari ini.

Emha Ainun Nadjib: Gusti Allah Tidak “Ndeso”
Beragama yang Tidak Korupsi
Oleh: Faisal

Suatu kali Emha Ainun Nadjib ditodong pertanyaan beruntun. “Cak Nun,” kata sang penanya, “misalnya pada waktu bersamaan tiba-tiba sampeyan menghadapi tiga pilihan, yang harus dipilih salah satu: pergi ke masjid untuk shalat Jumat, mengantar pacar berenang, atau mengantar tukang becak miskin ke rumah sakit akibat tabrak lari, mana yang sampeyan pilih?“


Cak Nun menjawab lantang, “Ya nolong orang kecelakaan.”
“Tapi sampeyan kan dosa karena tidak sembahyang?” kejar si penanya.
“Ah, mosok Gusti Allah ndeso gitu,” jawab Cak Nun.
“Kalau saya memilih shalat Jumat, itu namanya mau masuk surga tidak ngajak-ngajak, ” katanya lagi. “Dan lagi belum tentu Tuhan memasukkan ke surga orang yang
memperlakukan sembahyang sebagai credit point pribadi.


Bagi kita yang menjumpai orang yang saat itu juga harus ditolong, Tuhan tidak berada di mesjid,
melainkan pada diri orang yang kecelakaan itu. Tuhan mengidentifikasikan dirinya pada sejumlah orang. Kata Tuhan: kalau engkau menolong orang sakit, Akulah yang sakit itu. Kalau engkau menegur orang yang kesepian, Akulah yang kesepian itu. Kalau engkau memberi makan orang kelaparan, Akulah yang kelaparan itu.

Seraya bertanya balik, Emha berujar, “Kira-kira Tuhan suka yang mana dari tiga orang ini. Pertama, orang yang shalat lima waktu, membaca al-quran, membangun masjid, tapi korupsi uang negara.

Kedua, orang yang tiap hari berdakwah, shalat, hapal al-quran, menganjurkan hidup sederhana, tapi dia sendiri kaya-raya, pelit, dan mengobarkan semangat permusuhan. Ketiga, orang yang tidak shalat, tidak membaca al-quran, tapi suka beramal, tidak korupsi, dan penuh kasih sayang?”

Kalau saya, ucap Cak Nun, memilih orang yang ketiga. Kalau korupsi uang negara, itu namanya membangun neraka, bukan membangun masjid. Kalau korupsi uang rakyat, itu namanya bukan membaca al-quran, tapi menginjak-injaknya. Kalau korupsi uang rakyat, itu namanya tidak sembahyang, tapi menginjak Tuhan. Sedang orang yang suka beramal, tidak korupsi, dan penuh kasih sayang, itulah orang yang sesungguhnya sembahyang dan membaca al-quran.

Kriteria kesalehan seseorang tidak hanya diukur lewat shalatnya. Standar kesalehan seseorang tidak melulu dilihat dari banyaknya dia hadir di kebaktian atau misa. Tolok ukur kesalehan hakikatnya adalah output sosialnya: kasih sayang sosial, sikap demokratis, cinta kasih, kemesraan dengan orang lain, memberi, membantu sesama. Idealnya, orang beragama itu mesti shalat, misa, atau ikut kebaktian, tetapi juga tidak korupsi dan memiliki perilaku yang santun dan berkasih sayang.

Agama adalah akhlak. Agama adalah perilaku. Agama adalah sikap. Semua agama tentu mengajarkan kesantunan, belas kasih, dan cinta kasih sesama. Bila kita cuma puasa, shalat,
baca al-quran, pergi kebaktian, misa, datang ke pura, menurut saya, kita belum layak disebut orang yang beragama. Tetapi, bila saat bersamaan kita tidak mencuri uang negara, meyantuni fakir miskin, memberi makan anak-anak terlantar, hidup bersih, maka itulah orang beragama.

Ukuran keberagamaan seseorang sesungguhnya bukan dari kesalehan personalnya, melainkan diukur dari kesalehan sosialnya. Bukan kesalehan pribadi, tapi kesalehan sosial. Orang beragama adalah orang yang bisa menggembirakan tetangganya. Orang beragama ialah orang yang menghormati orang lain, meski beda agama. Orang yang punya solidaritas dan keprihatinan sosial pada kaum mustadh’afin (kaum tertindas). Juga tidak korupsi dan tidak mengambil yang bukan haknya. Karena itu, orang beragama mestinya memunculkan sikap dan jiwa sosial tinggi. Bukan orang-orang yang meratakan dahinya ke lantai masjid, sementara beberapa meter darinya, orang-orang miskin meronta kelaparan.

Ekstrinsik VS Intrinsik

Dalam sebuah hadis diceritakan, suatu ketika Nabi Muhammad SAW mendengar berita perihal seorang yang shalat di malam hari dan puasa di siang hari, tetapi menyakiti tetangganya dengan lisannya. Nabi Muhammad SAW menjawab singkat, “Ia di neraka.” Hadis ini memperlihatkan kepada kita bahwa ibadah ritual saja belum cukup. Ibadah ritual mesti dibarengi ibadah sosial.
Pelaksanaan ibadah ritual yang tulus harus melahirkan kepedulian pada lingkungan sosial.

Hadis di atas juga ingin mengatakan, agama jangan dipakai sebagai tameng memperoleh kedudukan dan citra baik di hadapan orang lain. Hal ini sejalan dengan definisi keberagamaan dari Gordon W Allport. Allport, psikolog, membagi dua macam cara beragama: ekstrinsik dan intrinsik.

Yang ekstrinsik memandang agama sebagai sesuatu yang dapat dimanfaatkan. Agama dimanfaatkan demikian rupa agar dia memperoleh status darinya. Ia puasa, misa, kebaktian, atau membaca kitab suci, bukan untuk meraih keberkahan Tuhan, melainkan supaya orang lain menghargai dirinya. Dia beragama demi status dan harga diri. Ajaran agama tidak menghujam ke dalam dirinya.

Yang kedua, yang intrinsik, adalah cara beragama yang memasukkan nilai-nilai agama ke dalam dirinya. Nilai dan ajaran agama terhujam jauh ke dalam jiwa penganutnya. Adanya internalisasi nilai spiritual keagamaan. Ibadah ritual bukan hanya praktik tanpa makna. Semua ibadah itu memiliki pengaruh dalam sikapnya sehari-hari. Baginya, agama adalah penghayatan batin kepada Tuhan. Cara beragama yang intrinsiklah yang mampu menciptakan lingkungan yang bersih dan penuh kasih sayang.

Keberagamaan ekstrinsik, cara beragama yang tidak tulus, melahirkan egoisme. Egoisme bertanggungjawab atas kegagalan manusia mencari kebahagiaan, kata Leo Tolstoy. Kebahagiaan tidak terletak pada kesenangan diri sendiri. Kebahagiaan terletak pada kebersamaan. Sebaliknya, cara beragama yang intrinsik menciptakan kebersamaan. Karena itu, menciptakan kebahagiaan dalam diri penganutnya dan lingkungan sosialnya. Ada penghayatan terhadap pelaksanaan ritual-ritual agama.

Cara beragama yang ekstrinsik menjadikan agama sebagai alat politis dan ekonomis. Sebuah sikap beragama yang memunculkan sikap hipokrit; kemunafikan. Syaikh Al Ghazali dan Sayid Quthb pernah berkata, kita ribut tentang bid’ah dalam shalat dan haji, tetapi dengan tenang melakukan bid’ah dalam urusan ekonomi dan politik. Kita puasa tetapi dengan tenang melakukan korupsi. Juga kekerasan, pencurian, dan penindasan.

Indonesia, sebuah negeri yang katanya agamis, merupakan negara penuh pertikaian. Majalah Newsweek edisi 9 Juli 2001 mencatat, Indonesia dengan 17.000 pulau ini menyimpan 1.000 titik api yang sewaktu-waktu siap menyala. Bila tidak dikelola, dengan mudah beralih menjadi bentuk kekerasan yang memakan korban. Peringatan Newsweek lima tahun lalu itu, rupanya mulai memperlihatkan kebenaran. Poso, Maluku, Papua Barat, Aceh menjadi contohnya. Ironis.

Jalaluddin Rakhmat, dalam Islam Alternatif , menulis betapa banyak umat Islam disibukkan dengan urusan ibadah mahdhah (ritual), tetapi mengabaikan kemiskinan, kebodohan, penyakit, kelaparan, kesengsaraan, dan kesulitan hidup yang diderita saudara-saudara mereka. Betapa banyak orang kaya Islam yang dengan khusuk meratakan dahinya di atas sajadah, sementara di sekitarnya tubuh-tubuh layu digerogoti penyakit dan kekurangan gizi.

Kita kerap melihat jutaan uang dihabiskan untuk upacara-upacara keagamaan, di saat ribuan anak di sudut-sudut negeri ini tidak dapat melanjutkan sekolah. Jutaan uang dihamburkan untuk membangun rumah ibadah yang megah, di saat ribuan orang tua masih harus menanggung beban mencari sesuap nasi. Jutaan uang dipakai untuk naik haji berulang kali, di saat ribuan orang sakit menggelepar menunggu maut karena tidak dapat membayar biaya rumah sakit. Secara ekstrinsik mereka beragama, tetapi secara intrinsik tidak beragama. [ed.AYS]

Sumber : Jalal Center

Philip Rizk

Aku baru membaca tentang Pilip Rizk hari Minggu yang lalu di Jews Sans Frontieres. Berita lain ada di Reuter.
Kemudian hari ini di facebook kutemukan update terbaru dari keluarga Rizk.

LATEST UPDATE FROM JEANNETTE and CHRISTINA RIZK

Monday Feb. 9th 5:40 am

At 1:30am when we had just gone to bed the doorbell rang. 5 plain clothed men and two in full riot gear and machine guns stood outside our door. They wanted to enter to search the house. We found out that they were looking for evidence against Philip. Two men entered and began searching through the papers of our home office. In the meantime we contacted a German Embassy official and a professor from AUC as well as some friends. They all came immediately many others were awake and praying.

The police left but returned soon after to ask my father to go with them and write up a report about the fact that they had searched our home. Of course, we did not trust them. Then they insisted to pass by his office where they would continue the search. In the meantime Amnesty International had contacted us and an wonderful lawyer arrived just in time to firmly tell the secret police that they could not take any further actions without a police warrant. We closed and locked the front door and settled in to see what would happen next. The secret police was waiting downstairs for orders that never came. At 5a.m. they finally left.

Philip, 26 tahun, adalah seorang aktivis kemanusiaan, pembuat film dan penulis yang pernah tinggal di Gaza selama 2 tahun. Dia menulis tentang gaza dan palestina di blognya Tabula Gaza. Ini adalah tulisan terakhirnya sebelum ditangkap polisi Mesir.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Rafah to Close

Word on the street is that Egypt is closing Rafah crossing to all journalists and doctors entering or exiting Gaza on Friday.

Does this mean more bloodbaths to come?

Hal ini membuatku mempertanyakan lagi suatu hal yang sejak setahun lalu kupikirkan ketika menulis Breaking the Silence. What the hell is wrong with Egypt????
Sementara ini yang kutemukan tentang pemerintah Mesir dan perbatasan Rafah, satu-satunya perbatasan Gaza dengan negara selain Israel. Setahun yang lalu Aljazeera menjawab beberapa pertanyaan seputar perbatasan Rafah.

Seperti yang kita tahu, toh pintu Rafah tetap ditutup selama blokade Gaza.Pemerintah Mesir memberi kontribusi yang cukup besar terhadap penderitaan penduduk Gaza dengan menolak membuka pintu Rafah tanpa ijin dari Israel.

Anyway,
I hope Philip Rizk will be released soon, safe and sound.

What They Found In Gaza

A group of 8 lawyers from National Lawyers Guild in the United States, who have come here to the Gaza Strip to assess the effects of the recent attacks on the people of gaza. They spent five days interviewing communities particularly impacted by the recent Israeli offensive, including medical personnel, humanitarian aid workers and United Nations representatives.

And this is what they found.

Targeting of Civilians and Civilian Infrastructure

We spoke to Khaled Abed Rabbo, who witnessed an Israeli soldier execute his 2-year-old and 7-year-old daughters, and critically injure a third daughter, Samar, 4-years old, on a sunny afternoon outside his home. Two other Israeli soldiers were standing nearby eating chips and chocolates at the time on January 7, 2009. Abed Rabbo recounts standing in front of the Israeli soldiers with his mother, wife and daughters for 5 - 7 minutes before one of the soldiers opened fire on his family

United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)

John Ging, the Director of Gaza Operations for UNRWA reported that Israeli forces fired missiles at UNRWA schools in Gaza City, Jabalyia and Bet Lahiya. The United Nation compound in Gaza city was also hit with white phosphorous shells and missiles. Ging noted that al United Nations buildings and vehicles all fly UN flags, are marked in blue paint from the top, and that during hostilities the UN personnel remained in constant contact with Israeli authorities.

Misuse of Weapons

Our delegation has heard allegations of the use of DIME (Dense Inert Metal Explosive) weaponry, white phosphorus and other possible weapons whose use in civilian areas is prohibited. We have also heard of the use of prohibited weapons, such as flachettes. We have found our own evidence of the use of flachette shells, which we will combine with evidence collected by Amnesty International to push for further investigation. We have not found any conclusive evidence of the use of DIME, though we believe that this warrants further investigation and disclosure by the Israeli military.

Our findings overwhelmingly point to the use of conventional weapons in a prohibited manner, specifically, the use of battlefield weaponry in densely populated civilian areas. Customary international law forbids the use of weapons calculated to cause unnecessary suffering.

Preventing Access to Medical and Humanitarian Aid

Zaytoun neighborhood, which came under attack and invasion by ground foces on January 3, 2009. The Palestinian Red Crescent received 145 calls from Zaytoun for help, but were denied entry by Israel. Bashar Ahmed Murad, Director of Emergency Medical Services for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told us that "a lot of people could have been saved, but hey weren't given medical care by the Israelis, nor did the Israeli army allow Palestinian medical services in."
When paramedics were finally allowed to enter on January 7, Israeli forces only gave them a 3-hour "lull" to work and prohibited ambulances into the area. Instead they forced paramedics park the ambulances 2 kilometers away and enter the area on foot. Murad told delegation members how they had to pile the wounded on donkey carts and have the medical workers pull the carts in order to help the most people possible in the short time they were given.
After the 3 hours were over, the Israeli army started shooting toward the ambulances. The Red Crescent was not able to reach that area again to evacuate the dead until January 17, 2009 when the Israeli army pulled out.

Al-Shurrab Family

On January 16th, Israeli forces shot at the jeep of Mohammed Shurrab, 64 years of age, and two of his sons, Kassab and Ibrahim, aged 28 and 18 as they were returning from their fields. Mohammad was shot in the left arm and Ibrahim was shot in the leg.
The elder son, Kassab, sustained a fatal bullet wound to the chest, being shot multiple times after being ordered out of the car. Mohammad, bleeding from his wound, contacted the media, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and a number of NGOs via mobile phone in order to acquire medical assistance.
Israeli forces denied medical relief agencies clearance to reach them until almost 24 hours after Mohammad, Ibrahim and Kassab had been shot. Earlier that morning, Ibrahim had succumbed to his wound and died. Mohammad Shurrab and his sons were shot during a so-called "lull" in Israeli ground operations, which Israeli forces had agreed to in order to allow humanitarian relief to enter and be
distributed in the Gaza Strip.

International humanitarian law also prohibits attacks on medical personnel, medical units and medical transports exclusively assigned to carry out medical functions. Delegate members saw ambulances seriously damaged and destroyed, some apparenly deliberately crushed by Israeli tanks. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the Palestinian Ministry of Health informed delegates that 15 Palestinian medics were killed and 21 injured in the course of Israel's assualt

War crimes indeed.

A Roller Coaster

Browsing and reading something on the internet is like riding a rollercoaster.
Sometimes you read something like this horrible article, nothing but a racist's opinion, and you're down. You're upset, you're sad.

And then you read this hiden truth and you're back on track again. Shorta. Cause you know, perhaps even the truth cannot change those ignorant and brainwashed minds.

Killing people in random for whatsoever reason is terrorism, They said.
Dropping bombs and shooting civilians in a dense-populated area is self defense (Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza), They said.
Killing opposition leaders is a brutal act used by a terrorist regime, They said.
Assassinating leaders from the so-called terrorist organization or 'evil country' is a heroic act (MEK, Israel), They said.

Just change the subject. And it'll all change.
They can easily and shamelessly lie.

On Iraq :

Lie #1--They Attacked Us: Iraq Supported Al Qaeda
Lies #2 and #3--Imminent Threats: Iraq's Bio-Chem and Nuclear Weapons Programs
Lie #4--It Will Be Easy: Iraq as a "Cakewalk
Lie #5--The Moral Justification: Iraq as a Democratic Model

On lebanon :

The killing of 4 unarmed UN monitors. At least 10 phone calls were made to Israeli commanders over a period of six hours warning that artillery and aerial bombardments were either dangerously close to or hitting the monitors' building. Tzipi Livny said ""There will never be an [Israeli] army commander that will intentionally aim at civilians or UN soldiers [sic]"

On Gaza:

Simon Peres at Davos, "Why did they fire rockets? There was no siege against Gaza. Why did they fight us, what did they want? There was never a day of starvation in Gaza."

Why am I ranting about them again?
Maybe because they're the 'Great Democratic Nation'? Free speech, anyone?

And the Ups part for my rollercoaster tonight is Islamicate : islam doesn't speak, muslims do.
Always a great site to visit.

Ketika Aku Tidak Menulis

Ketika aku capek dan 'my body is not so delicious' (ckckckc...),
ketika batere alkaline-nya Damar Dimas tidak perlu di-charge seharian,
ketika asisten andalanku, Mbak Yuk, pulang kampung nengok Putri tercintanya,
ketika aku pikir aku ndak bisa menulis.

Aku menulis lagi.

Hanya melepaskan diri dari mengepel susu tumpah,
mengelap ingus dan muntah,
mengganti baju dan celana yang basah,

Hanya libur sebentar dari membujuk Damar makan wortel,
menghela nafas waktu Dimas cuma mau baksonya dan menolak kol,
menahan nafas ketika mereka kejar-kejaran dan berakhir dengan Dimas koprol,

Hujan deras seharian,
ndak sempat ngeluarin jemuran,
Jakarta banjir dan macet, jadi semacam kebiasaan.
Like my mom in law said when we moved 'temporarely' to this city, "you'll get used to it"
Pehuleesss....

Masak perkedel kentang dan sup di dapur sementara anak-anak menaburkan semua jenis barang di penjuru rumah. Termasuk coco crunch dan jeruk.
Mengalah ketika Dimas mengganti 'Tak ada yang bisa'nya Andra & The Backbone di RCTI dengan dvd Pak Pos Pat.
Mengunci pintu kamar jam 3 siang, dan tertidur sejam sementara anak-anak masih melompat-lompat di atasku.
Hmmmm, gimana caranya supaya batereku lebih long lasting dibanding batere mereka....

Jam 10 malam.

The boys are sleeping now. All of them. Including their dad.

Yayyyy!!!!!

Introspeksi hari ini : Harus lebih sabar.