News of the blogosphere…

PSM (Palestine Solidarity Movement) Fifth Annual Divestment Conferece has taken place from February 17-19 in Washington DC, US attracting more than six hundred student and community activists from ninety different university and organization from across the US as mentioned in a report by The Hatchet.

Witnesses from KABOBfest, said JDL protesters and Israel alliances from Georgetown University failed to provoke conference attendees. Protesters flooded the activists with infamous chants, some of which included insults to Prophet Mohammed (blessings and peace be upon him).

Pro-Israel protester chanting “We love cartoons”. Photo credit: by KABOBfest

In the closing session, PSM Conference concluded by declaring the 30th of March as National Day of Divestment Action.

Summary on the conference can be found here. Full coverage of the confernce was provided on KABOBfest's Blog. Fifth Annual Divestment Conference has seen success on more than one level thanks to Georgetown University's solid efforts.

Dave from davereed.org attended the conference and wrote a comprehensive summary on Saturday's sessions offering his personal observations and opinions.

On the conference, Ramallah Online, blogs an article explaining how divestment can serve as a non-violent reply to oppression.

Haitham Sabbah writes about the new Israeli war crimes in Nablus and Balata Refugee Camp:

On Sunday over 30 Israeli vehicles, supported by encircling Apache helicopters, invaded the camp. They broke into several homes, turning them into military installations

The next morning, children threw stones on the Israeli military vehicles, soldiers returned the assault by shooting them from the very rooftops used to be theirs one day ago.

Sabbah adds:

The cruelest of the killings in this devastating period was that of two teenagers…

In the same post, Haitham says on the 24th of February, twenty Palestinians were injured most of them aged 12-22. Since the start of the incursion, eight Palestinians died. Only two Israeli soldiers reported injury compared to seventy civilians on the Palestinian side.

Ambulances and journalists obviously had no immune against what Sabbah describes by:

the Israeli Occupation Forces did not stop what it practice best; killing.

He then offers a link to last week report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

On the same devastating news:

umkahlil urges you to write to your congressman. karmalised dedicates a post titled: “Israel Has No Shame” . ninathedog says the incursion is the largest and longest since the pullout from Gaza.
moomin13 of Postcards from Palestine, was there during the siege attack, she says:

It was I think I can say the scariest 3 das of my life but it's normal for the people there.

What we talk about…

KABOBfest suggests that we warm up for more dumb moves by the US, who is now supporting Israel in cutting off all aids to Palestinians after seeing the outcome of the Palestinian elections.

Ramallah Online, says act now! stop the hate speech. The Israel Project had launched an Ad campaign ironically named “Mothers of Peace”. The ad contains misleading, erroneous information about Palestinians and their lives. Ramallah Online adds:

Comcast needs to know that you feel this grossly discriminatory ad, sponsored by The Israel Project, depicting an entire race and generation of children as “hateful killing robots”, is a clear form of bigotry and racism! These ads are neither informative nor educational. They are simply promoting racist perceptions rather than facts.

Contact information of Comcast and a sample letter are provided here.

nasrawi talks about the ethnic discrimination and humliating treatment he received at the crossing border between Jordan Valey and Israel:

It was insulting and it stole my dignity. It made me strip my pants to my knees, walk around the building without shoes and jacket when external temperatures stood at 7 degrees, it went through personal messages and contacts on my cellphone unrelated to ‘security’, it refused to speak with Canadian Foreign Ministry Officials that I was in contact with, it made fun of Arabs, Muslims and the Middle East, and it made it a crime to speak Arabic.

nasrawi though, says he has no biases towards or against Israelis.

Daoud Kuttab talks about democracy in the Middle East and the US policy toward Hamas winning the elections recently.

Sugar Cubes talks about the Israeli soldier who shot 13 year-old Iman Al-Hams. The soldier identified as Captain R, was not only acquitted of all charges but has recently received a promotion to the rank of major. Read full transcript of the conversation between Captain R and the watchtower here.

The little things that matter…

Via KABOBfest, Palestine Remembered has started a project to record and collect stories of Palestinians who witnessed Al-Nakba (foundation of Israel and the dispossion of nearly 750,000 Palestinians on 1948). Its aim is to make an oral history which depicts the memories of Palestinian refugees before, during and after Al-Nakba. The site contains interviews of Palestinians who were only twelve when it all started.