Global Voices » Ola Anan

New Palestinian Village Bab Al Shams Established in East Jerusalem

Ola Anan — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 21:05:39 +0000

As part of the popular resistance movement in Palestine, a group of about 250 Palestinian activists established the new village of Bab Al Shams or “The Gate of the Sun”, on a piece of confiscated land in Eastern Jerusalem, referred by Israeli authorities as “Area E1“.

The newly established #BabaAlshams village is located on the “E1″ area east of Jerusalem, tweets @_mahmoud

A Press release was published on the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee website earlier today, describing the reasons behind the establishment of Bab Al Shams. In their Press release, they said:

For decades, Israel has established facts on the ground as the International community remained silent in response to these violations. The time has come now to change the rules of the game, for us to establish facts on the ground – our own land.

Photograph of the Palestinian flag flown on Bab Al Shams. Photo shared on Twitter by @Lemapal

In addition to the Press release, the Palestinian activists used Twitter to declare their movement, and provide updates and photographs from the ground.

Activist Abir Kopty was among the first few to declare the establishment of Bab Al Shams as she tweets:

@AbirKopty: We a group of #Palestinian women and men have established the new village of #BabAlShams on Palestinian land on what Israel refers to as #E1

She also clarifies:

@AbirKopty: #BabAlShams is a new village, not one revived but it symbolizes a lot of things including return to our land.

Tents erected on Bab Al Shams. Photograph shared on Twitter by @AbirKopty

This movement could be considered as the first initiative to take an effective reaction to the confiscation of Palestinian land by the Israeli army, and its declaration that this area will soon be built into an Israeli settlement, which is illegal under international law.

Palestinian Pal_1948 explains [ar]:

اعلنت حكومة الإحتلال مؤخراً بناء 4 الاف وحدة سكنية، وغرف فندقية، ومنطقة صناعية في المنطقة , فقام قرابة 300 شاب فلسطيني باقامة قرية باب الشمس .

@Pal_1948: The Israeli government recently announced the construction of 4,000 residential units and hotel rooms, and an industrial zone in the region [E1], so a group of 300 young Palestinians established the Village of Bab Al Shams.

He adds:

حتى الان تم نصب 25 خيمة، تضم عيادة طبية مجهزة، يتواجد فيها طبيب مناوب وخلال الساعات القادمة ستم نصب 50 خيمة

@Pal_1948: So far, 25 tents have been erected, with an equipped medical clinic, where there is a doctor on call and in the coming hours about 50 tents will be set up.

A photograph inside the medical tent, shared on Twitter by @Tweet_Palestine

A few hours later, the Israeli army surrounded the area, closed the checkpoints leading to Bab Al Shams, and handed the activists an administrative eviction notice to evacuate the village. Interestingly, the Israeli supreme court issued a suspending order, which states that the village cannot be evicted for 6 days.

Fadi Arouri explains with a photo of the eviction notice:

الجيش يسلم قرار إخلاء فوري لقرية باب الشمس بالرغم من قرار المحكمة العليا بمنع الإخلاء قبل ٦ ايام

@farouri: The [Israeli] army delivers immediate evacuation notice of Village Bab Alshams, despite the Supreme Court's decision to prevent eviction by 6 days.

Abir kopty wasn't surprised by the Israeli notice, and tweeted:

@AbirKopty: We were ready to the eviction order so along with building #BabAlShams we went to the court & got suspending order! We are using their tools.

Despite the Israeli notice of evacuation and the cold weather, the Palestinian activists decided that they will stay the night at their tents in the new village. Keep following updates on Twitter on the hashtag #BabAlshams for further developments.

Palestine: Demonstrations Against Rising Living Costs Continue

Ola Anan — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:40:55 +0000

Protests against high prices and unemployment that started almost a week ago are continuing in major cities in the West Bank. On September 10, 2012 there was a call for strikes in public transportation and schools.

International and Palestinian activists have been participating in and writing about the demonstrations on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Activist Scott Campbell summarized the events taking place in a number of Palestinian cities:

‏@angrywhitekid: No public transport in Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarem… Tires burning in Nablus, Hebron & on road btwn Ramallah & Qalandia

Striking public sector employees gather in front of Prime Minister Fayyad's offices. Image by Twitter user @sheikhNB.

Blogger Ola Al-Tamimi, a resident of Hebron, was participating in and tweeting from the demonstrations. She saw how a peaceful demonstration started with chants against Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, then changed [ar]:

@OlaAlTamimi: أخيرا ظهر الغاز المسيل للجموع المختبىء في مخازن الشرطة كل هادا عشان الهتاف ضد أبو مازن والسلطة #الخليل

Finally, the tear gas which is hidden in police stores appeared. All of this happened because of the chants against Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] and the Palestinian Authority.

Ola was asked what was really behind these protests, and who was responsible for attacking the municipality building with stones later. She replied [ar]:

@OlaAlTamimi: الي في الشارع ناس عاديين ومنهم نشطاء وطنيين ..فجأة طلع مين يكسر ويخرب وعددهم لا يتجاوز 50 شخص من مظاهرة شارك فيها 10 الاف شخص

Those in the street were just normal people, including some activists. Suddenly a group turned up who were breaking and vandalizing things, but their number was no more than 50 out of 10,000 protesters.

These acts of vandalism resulted in clashes between the police and the protesters, as journalist Noah Browning witnessed:

‏@sheikhNB: In Hebron, police in riot gear are firing tear gas at protestors, trading volleys of stones w them, surging back and forth.

In Nablus the scene was similar, starting with peaceful demonstrations then ending with a riot. Yamama Shakaa tweeted [ar]:

@yamama_sh: كان الاحتجاج ضد الغلاء .. بعدين ضد فياض.. بعدين ضد السلطة.. و هلأ صار ضد بعض ..

The protest was against high prices, then against Fayyad, then against the Authority, and now it's against each other.

Muhammad Masharqa, a blogger from Hebron, expressed his opposition to the use of violence in peaceful demonstrations. He wrote [ar]:

أقول لكل المستعجلين على العنف صبراً، فإن احتلالاً ينتظرنا، نجمع له ويجمع لنا، فحضر له دون أن تحرفنا عن مطالبنا، فالجماهير التي انطلقت بوعيها من إسقاط حكومة فياض إلى تحميل أبو مازن للمسؤولية سوف تتطور بوعيها إلى بناء البديل الوطني الشرعي والممثل انطلاقاً من برنامج نضالي شامل ضد الاحتلال.

I say to those who are in a rush to use violence to be patient. The occupation awaits us, preparing itself for us as we are preparing ourselves for it. Let's get ready without deviating from our demands. The people started by calling for the fall of Fayyad's government then learned to attribute responsibility to Abu Mazen, and they will now evolve and build a legitimate, national, representative alternative, launching a comprehensive program of struggle against occupation.

On September 11, hundreds of Palestinians responded to a call (starting on Facebook) to protest in Ramallah for dignity and freedom and against the Paris Protocol, the economic annex of the Oslo Accords.

Surprisingly, the demonstration was able to reach Al Muqata'a, the presidential headquarters, and protestors chanted against the Oslo agreement, the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas without any interference from or clashes with the security force members standing nearby. Linah Al Saafin had an explanation:

@LinahAlsaafin: By letting protesters reach Muqata'a today, PA showed its “democratic” face to confuse people into not protesting against them.

These demonstrations came right after the Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced that VAT would be reduced to 15% and diesel, gas and kerosene would revert to August prices – an announcement which did not satisfy protesters.

These protests were directly targeting the economic annex to the Oslo Accords, known as the Paris Protocol. The protocol was signed in 1994 between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel and controls their economic relationship, including trade, agricultural products, and imports and exports. Palestinians are currently asking for the revision and modification of this protocol, if not cancelling it altogether. Blogger Raya Ziada has explained in a blog post [ar] why the Palestinians should get rid of the Paris Protocol.

Abir Kopty believes the current events are just a beginning and that Palestinians will move on to target wider political issues, especially the Israeli occupation. She tweeted:

@AbirKopty: I'm really hoping that after this wave of protests, we #EndOslo & move forward towards Israel.

For more reactions on Twitter, follow the hash tag: #PalProtests. For photos see the set entitled Palestinian Social Struggles by Flickr user Activestills.

Palestine: Protests Erupt Against High Prices and Unemployment

Ola Anan — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:16:32 +0000

Protests are growing in the Palestinian territories, especially in the major cities of the West Bank: Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Nablus. Demonstrators are expressing their anger with the Palestinian Authority, with the high cost of living, and the high rate of unemployment among Palestinian youth.

The protests started after the Palestinian Authority declared an increase of about 8% in fuel and petrol prices in the West Bank, starting from the beginning of September. There was therefore a rapid rise in prices, without any significant increase in salaries or wages in the Palestinian territories.

Aban Idrees witnessed a protest in Hebron and tweeted [ar]:

@abanidrees: في مدينة الخليل شلل تام في حركةالمرور بعد إحتجاجات اليوم ضد الغلاء والمطالبة بإسقاط حكومة فياض حيث لا تكاد سيارة تتحرك في الشارع

In Hebron the traffic is in absolute paralysis after the protests against the high cost of living demanding the government of Fayyad to resign. Cars are barely moving in the street

Blogger Ola Al Tamimi also tweeted from Hebron [ar]:

@OlaAlTamimi: شارع عين سارة أكبر شوارع الخليل مغلق بالشاحنات وأجساد الناس .. وبدأت بعض الناس بالتحرك باتجاه مقر الأمن الوطني ومبنى المحافظة

Ain Sarah, the biggest street in Hebron, is now blocked by trucks and people. Some protests are beginning to move towards the National Security headquarters and the municipality building

Ola added [ar]:

@OlaAlTamimi:أول مرة بتاريخ الخليل بتصير مظاهرة وما في حدا بنضرب من أجهزة الأمن الوقائي

This is the first time a protest has taken place in Hebron when nobody was beaten by the Preventive Security Services

Hafez Omar, a Palestinian activist and artist, tweeted [ar]:

@hafezomar:لأول مرة منذ العام ١٩٣٦ يتظاهر الفلسطينيون من أجل لقمة العيش!! العار لمن يريدنا أن ننسى فلسطين جريا وراء رغيف الخبز…

This is the first time since 1936 that the Palestinians have protested for the sake of the cost of living! Shame on whoever wants us to forget Palestine and run after a loaf of bread…

Twitter was also flooded with funny slogans by Palestinian protesters. Rana Baker tweeted [ar]:

@RanaGaza: من أجمل الشعارات التي رفعت اليوم في فلسطين ضد حكومة ‎‫فياض‬‏ و غلاء الأسعار: “صرت أنزل ع السوق أعمل Like و أروح.” ‎‫‬‏

One of the best banners raised today in Palestine against Fayyad's government and the high prices: “Nowadays when I go to the market, I just ‘like’ and go home!”

Another banner was captured by Lamees Suradi:

@lames7:أحلى تعليق من نابلس اذا مع الفقرا مش واقفين ولا مع الاسرى واقفين فهمونا ليش بعدكم قاعدين!

The nicest comment from Nablus: “If you are not standing with the poor then you are not standing with the prisoners either; please explain to us why are you still in power!”

Twitter user iPalestine tweeted about an attempted self-immolation by a man called Hussein Qahwaji [ar]:

@PFLP67: مواطن قام بسكب البنزين على جسده وجسد ابنته البالغة من العمر 5 سنوات وحاول إحراق نفسه لكن المواطنين منعوه بالقوة.

A citizen poured gasoline on his body and that of his 5-year-old daughter and tried to set himself on fire, but others stopped him from doing so by force.

Some reports said that Qahwaji's daughter suffers from cancer, and is actually being treated in Jordan, and that he could not afford to visit her.

It wasn't the first case of a Palestinian using self-immolation as a protest. On September 2, 17-year-old Ehab Abu al-Nada died in Gaza after he set himself on fire, maybe in imitation of the Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi. Ehab Abu al-Nada had left school and used to work for 13 hours a day for just 30 shekels (about US$ 7.4) in order to help his father with family expenses.

The incident gained a lot of attention, especially after a photo was published of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh with Ihab's father; Haniyeh visited to give him “emergency aid” of US$ 2,000 after Ehab's death.

Many wonder if this new movement will continue, and whether it could spread to other towns and cities. John Lyndon asked:

@johnlyndon1: Self immolation in Gaza; Fayyad effigy burning in Hebron; protests in major West Bank cities. Is spring arriving late in #Palestine?

Palestine: Documentary About Arafat's Death Prompts Questions

Ola Anan — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 21:03:39 +0000

On 3 July, 2012 the news channel Al Jazeera broadcast a documentary that investigated the mysterious death of Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. He died in Paris on 11 November, 2004 and the documentary alleges that rather than dying of natural causes, Arafat was poisoned with polonium.

Both during and after the airing of the documentary, many Palestinian Twitter users tweeted their thoughts and reactions regarding the evidence presented in it. The majority were not surprised by the allegations that Arafat was poisoned, something that has long been claimed by many. However the allegation that polonium was used was a new detail.

‏

Yasser Arafat at the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2001. Image by Remy Steinegger (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Twitter user This Is Gaza tweeted:

@ThisIsGaZa:الجزيرة تكشف حقائق جديدة عن وفاة عرفات عثر تحقيق للجزيرة استمر تسعة أشهر على مستويات عالية من مادة البولونيوم السام في مقتنيات للرئيس عرفات

Al Jazeera reveals new facts about Arafat's death after a nine-month investigation found high levels of the poisonous element polonium in the belongings of [late] president Arafat.

And I commented:

@olanan: هلأ الكل يتساءل عن الجديد الذي قدمه وثائقي الجزيرة ‘والشعب كله كان عارف انو مات مسموم'. الجديد هو الادلة المادية.. بالأول كان اشاعات فقط!

Everyone is now wondering what new information was given in the Al Jazeera documentary, when the whole nation knew he was poisoned. What's new is that evidence is provided, when at first there were just rumours.

Many Palestinians questioned why the documentary was being broadcast now, and resorted to conspiracy theories as an explanation. Twitter user Majd responded:

@majds: قمة الوقاحة: ان يتواطؤا ل 8 سنوات باخفاء حقيقة اغتيال الشهيد ياسر عرفات، وبعدها عندما يأتي من يكشف الحقائق بمهنية، يقولون له: توقيتك مشبوه!!

It is galling when those who have conspired for eight years to hide the truth of Yasser Arafat's assassination, then say when someone comes to reveal the truth, “Your timing is suspicious!”

Yasser Arafat's mausoleum. Image by Mary-Katherine Ream (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Nour Abed did not hide her bad opinion of Al Jazeera and the media in general, but she did praise it for the documetary:

‏@NourGaza: كلنا يعلم أن قناة الجزيرة كغيرها مجرد إعلام موجه له أسبابه وأهدافه وراء كل طرح جديد, ولكن هذا لا ينفي أنها كشفت معلومات جديدة عن موت ‎‫#عرفات‬!

We all know that Al Jazeera like any other channel has an agenda, with its reasons and aims behind every new action, but you cannot deny that it has revealed new information about Arafat's death.

Diana Alzeer was looking forward to even more answers:

‏@ManaraRam: The next question I want an answer for is “Who killed Arafat?”

Ismaeil Mohaisen tweeted some accusations against the Palestinian Authority:
‏

@IsmaeilFadel: لا زلنا بإنتظار تعليق من السلطة..! خصوصاً وأن الوثائقى أشار ببعض أصابع حتى ولو بشكل غير مُباشر! هناك أشخاص متورطين، لا شك فى ذلك! ‎‪#Arafat‬

We are still waiting for a comment from the Palestinian Authority. Especially because the documentary implied the involvement of certain people. There is no doubt of that!

In a similar vein, Rami Khrais tweeted:

‏@Abuelrim: أهم ضربة للسلطة الفلسطينية بخلاف طلب سهى استخراج جثة زوجها للتحقق من التسمّم، هو إشارة التقرير أن أي تحقيق لم يجر منذ وفاته.

The biggest blow to the Palestinian Authority – besides Suha Arafat's request for an examination for poison in her husband's remains – is the report pointing out that no [official] investigation took place after his death.

The documentary ended with Yasser Arafat's widow Suha Arafat requesting that the Palestinian Authority exhume her late husband’s body so the investigation could be continued. President Mahmoud Abbas made a statement saying that the Palestinian Authority “saw no reason” why the body should not be exhumed. We are now waiting to see what will happen next.

Palestine: PalFest Literature Festival in Gaza for First Time

Ola Anan — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:19:29 +0000

This year for the first time the Palestinian Festival of Literature, or PalFest, was held in Gaza. Since it was founded in 2008, the festival's aim has been to bring together Palestinian and international authors, and it organises public events in the evenings and creative writing workshops for Palestinian students during the day.

According to the festival's founder, Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, having the festival in Gaza has been the ultimate goal of the event since it began, but it has always faced tremendous difficulties in getting permits for the participating authors to come through the Rafah Crossing. This year they were successful at last, and a group of about forty Egyptian, Tunisian, Sudanese and Palestinian authors, artists and activists were granted permission to visit Gaza and participate in PalFest 2012 from May 5 to 10.

Books donated to PalFest Gaza. Image by PalFest on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Workshops

The first day of the event, May 6, was dedicated to workshops at three universities: Al Aqsa University, Al Azhar University and the Islamic Univeristy. As blogger Nader ElKhuzundar described:

The events kicked off by holding two workshops at both Al Azhar and the Islamic University of Gaza on writing and blogging in both Arabic and English. PalFest 2012 authors were astonished by the fact that many students attended the workshops. They were more astonished by the fact that most of the attendees were females.

Palestinian bloggers and tweeps attending PalFest. Image by @tamer_ps and posted by @olanan.

Music and poetry

The next day, May 7, was for a lot of the Palestinians the highlight of the PalFest activities. A four-hour concert took place at Rashad Al Shawa Cultural Theatre, with three Palestinian groups and the Egyptian group Eskenderella.

Palestinian Roba Salibi wrote:

@RobaSalibi: فرقة اسكندريلا اشي خيالي وفوق الوصف. كتير انبسطت باغانيهم وكل اشي فيهم في غزة اليوم . نفسي اروح احضنهم كلهم

Eskenderella is amazing and beyond description. I've enjoyed all of their songs and everything they've done in Gaza today. I just want to hug them all.

In the following video uploaded by PalFest, Egyptian poet Amin Haddad recites a poem, and Eskenderella performs “Ya Falisteeniya” (O Palestinian):

Egypt and Palestine together

Throughout PalFest there was a strong sense of solidarity between the Palestinians and Egyptians. Palestinian Tamer Hamam commented:

@tamer_ps: نفس الأشخاص .. نفس الحناجر .. نفس الأصوات .. نفس القوة .. نفس الإيمان .. هتفت غزة مبارح .. يسقط حكم العسكر .. يسقط الإحتلال

The same people, the same throats, the same voices, the same power, the same conviction. Gaza chanted yesterday, “Down with military rule, down with the occupation”

Nour Abed wrote:

@NourGaza: الحماس مش راضي يهدى! ومع الهتاف لمصر وفلسطين الواحد وكأنو احنا بميدان التحرير!

The enthusiasm is not calming down! And with us chanting for Egypt and Palestine, you feel as if you're in Tahrir Square!

#PalHunger

A mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners was not forgotten by the participants. Egyptian Samia Jaheen tweeted:

@samjaheen: رحنا اعتصام أهالي الأسرى المضربين عن الطعام. واحدة منهم حكيتلنا انها متبنية أسير مصري في سجون الصهاينة. غزة رمز العزة فعلا

We visited the prisoners families’ sit-in. One of them told us that she is sponsoring an Egyptian prisoner in a Zionist [Israeli] jail. Gaza is truly the symbol of dignity.

Palestinian blogger Matar wrote:

“زار غزة قبل أيام وفد بالفست تحت عنوان “احتفالية فلسطين للأدب”، كنتُ مشغولاً ومنهمكاً بقضية الأسرى، وعندما قالت ليّ صديقتي أنهم آتون، قلتُ لها: ربما الوقت ليس مناسباً، قضية الأسرى هي أولويتنا. اليوم حين ودّعناهم أدركتُ كم كنتُ مخطئاً ، كيف كنتُ أفكر بهذه الطريقة؟”

A few days ago, the PalFest delegation visited Gaza for the Palestinian Festival of Literature. I was busy with the prisoners’ cause, and when a friend of mine told me about their visit, I said, “Maybe this is not an appropriate time; our priority now is the prisoners’ cause. Today, as we were exchanging goodbyes, I realized how mistaken I was. What was I thinking?

Palestinian Mahmoud Omar echoed the sentiment:

@_Mahmoud: NOTE: #PalfestGaza is totally consistent with #PalHunger , don't think otherwise.

Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif at the #PalHunger sit-in. Image by PalFest on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Shutdown

Despite having permission for its events, PalFest attracted the attention of members of the Hamas government. Nader ElKhuzundar described what happened:

In the last day of PalFest, a session was held in Qasr Al-Basha in the old part of Gaza City. The session included a goodbye performance by Eskenderella as well as speeches, presentations and readings by PalFest authors. The event drifted into [a discussion of] politics and suddenly, the electricity was cut. Everybody thought it was the electricity schedule under which Gaza has been living for years now so they continued the event. Five minutes later, a suspicious movement was noticed by the hall’s entrance then suddenly, the police stormed the hall, confiscated a woman’s camera as she was filming the event and called the event off claiming that there’s no official permit. [...] Three hours later, the Chief of Police, his deputy and a colonel in the Interior Ministry visited the hotel. They officially apologized, stating it was an “individual error” and that they have opened an investigation into what happened. They stated that PalFest would always be welcome in Gaza.

However, a member of Hamas security admitted that the authorities had been reading the PalFest delegation's tweets and press statements, and were angered by the accusations that Hamas suppresses freedom of speech in Gaza.

Palestinian Saif Al Yazori wrote:

@SaifYazori: رغم اسفي من الي حصل في دار الباشا ولكني سعيد لان الوفد المصري ﻻمس الامر على حقيقته ولربما تكون بذرة تغيير ‎‪

Although I am sorry for what happened in Dar El Basha, I'm glad that the Egyptian delegation has experienced things as they really are. Maybe this will be a seed for change.

Blogger Nalan Sarraj wrote:

I want to apologize to the Palfest crew, but it's not my fault my government authority [Hamas] forgot how to love Palestine.

Dr Haidar Eid introducing the closing night of PalFest. Image by PalFest on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Goodbyes

Palestinian Ebaa Rezeq was sad to see PalFest end:

@Gazanism: مش مستوعبة إني ودّعت الوفد من شوي!!! يا ريت في كلمة أحسن وأبلغ من كلمة شكراً تنحكى إلهم..شكراً من القلب.

I can't believe that I've just said goodbye to the delegation! I wish there were a better word than “thank you”… Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Egyptian Nariman wrote:

@nariology: بعد شهور من الاحساس بالعجز، يوم واحد في غزة أعاد لي ضرورة الإيمان بالمستحيل..

After months of feeling helpless, one day in Gaza has given me back the sense of needing to believe in the impossible.

Palestine: Launch of “100 Palestinian Blog Posts” Competition

Ola Anan — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:42:20 +0000

In a recent article on Global Voices, we introduced a Palestinian initiative called “Diwan Ghazza”, a cultural platform that aims to raise awareness and empower Palestinian youth. As Yasmeen El Khoudary, fellow Global Voices author and co-founder of the initiative, explained:

We seek to show the world a better image of Gaza (an image that exists, but has been ignored for so long), by empowerment through knowledge and by providing a venue for youth to speak out about Gaza's forgotten face.

On April 15, Diwan Ghazza announced a competition that is open to Palestinian bloggers everywhere. The idea is to collect the 100 best Palestinian blog posts, and then to publish them in a book, in Arabic and English if possible, later this year.

This contest was inspired by a recent initiative called the “100 Posts” book project [ar], by a group of Egyptian bloggers. That project resulted in a book called “The Alphabet of Spontaneous Creativity” [ar], which contained 100 posts written by Arab bloggers from five different countries (including seven Palestinian bloggers, one of them me). The paper version of the book was launched at the Cairo International Book Fair in February 2012.

The following are the rules [ar] for “100 Palestinian Blog Posts”:

1 – Each blogger is asked to nominate one blog entry only, previously published on his/her own blog.

2 – Entries will be accepted in Arabic or English.

3 – Entries can be in one or more of the following categories: literature, poetry, society, politics, fiction, and thoughts.

4 – Entries should have been written during 2011 and 2012.

5 – Entries should not have been formally published in any paper or electronic form (such as journals, books or magazines).

6 – Entries should not contain insults, racist or anti-religious content, or politically sensitive subjects.

The contest is open to any Palestinian blogger, regardless of his or her country of residence. Entries will be evaluated by a jury of Arab and Palestinian authors, in addition to an online voting process.

Those interested in participating should fill out the form here [ar].

For further information, see the official event page on Facebook [ar], or contact diwanghazza@gmail.com.

Palestine: Gazans Suffer Due to Fuel and Electricity Shortage

Ola Anan — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:16:27 +0000

Over the past decade, the words “Gaza” and “crisis” have become almost complementary. The crises have ranged from war and military raids and invasions, to military occupation, and in this case to an electricity and fuel outage.

In addition to an ongoing Israeli-led blockade, the Gaza Strip is suffering from a fresh fuel crisis, with the only fuel currently available being an overpriced Israeli fuel supply in limited quantities. The shortage of fuel has added to the shortage of electricity, as it is used to supply the main generators of the electricity company, alternative power generators at hospitals, bakeries and sewage pumps, in addition to power generators used in households.

Palestinians wait to fill containers with fuel. Image by Majdi Fathi, copyright Demotix (21/03/2012).

Gaza's netizens have been commenting on the situation (when there is electricity to do so):

@Omar_Gaza: Gaza is heading into very dark dangerous turn because of fuel shortage! Bakeries, schools, hospitals, stores, cars, taxies & life will stop sooooon

The first victim of the power outage facing the Strip was seven-month-old baby Mohammed Al Helou, who died after the generator running his respirator ran out of fuel.

@LeilZahra: As we tweet the energy away, hospitals in #Gaza are denied the life-saving energy to sustain their patients #Gas4Gaza

@LuluDeRaven:تخيلوا لو اسرائيل ضربت غزة الان في هاد الوضع؟ لا المستشفيات تقدر تتحمل ولا في وقود لسيارات الاسعاف ولا المطافي ولا اشي !!!

Imagine if Israel attacked Gaza in this situation? Hospitals don't have the capacity to manage, and there's no fuel for ambulances or firetrucks or anything else!

Shortage of electricity and/or fuel is becoming the most popular topic among Palestinians on social media platforms. Things such as Facebook statuses cursing the electricity company, or happy tweets indicating the return of electricity, have become customary.

@Ibtihal4Gaza: ما في أحلى انك تصحى تلاقي في كهربا في البيت‏ #غزة #أشياء_نادرة

It feels so good to wake up and find electricity at home #gaza #RareThings

The electricity company has been dividing the Gaza Strip into areas and neighborhoods, and each gets a power supply for six hours daily on a rotating basis.

Blogger Randa Abu Ramadan has written a blog post [ar] that analyzes your personality according to the time your house gets electricity:

إذا بتيجي عندك من 12 بالليل لـ 6 الصبح: انت شخص طيب ومضحوك عليك, وبتصدق أي كلمة بحكوهالك, لأنو في ناس تانية بتيجي عندهم الكهربا في مواعيد أحسن من هيك, وانت يا ويلي عليك معطيينك موعد عاطل بنفعش لإشي

If you get electricity from midnight to 6am you are a kind person, but you're also naive and easily deceivable. Other people get electricity at better times, but what a pity, you get it at a bad time that isn't useful for anything!

Moreover, people have to find a way to organize their day according to electricity. Yousef Abu Watfa, a reporter for Al Jazeera Talk, has written [ar] about how his friend's mother is affected when doing housework:

أما والدته فتضطر إلى أن تؤجل جميع أعمالها المنزلية إلى ما بعد منتصف الليل حتى تقوم بغسيل ملابس العائلة، حتى تتحول في ذات الوقت إلى طهي الطعام الذي يتطلب استخدام بعض الأدوات الكهربائية.

His mother has to postpone her household chores until after midnight in order to do laundry and cooking, which requires using electrical appliances.

Large numbers of gas tubes are accumulating in stations in the Gaza Strip, as the fuel crisis deepens. Image by Ahmed Deeb, copyright Demotix (05/03/2012).

This could be summarized in a tweet written by Fady [ar]:

@chefadi90: تويتر بعلمنا نختصر افكارنا في 140 حرف , وغزة علمتنا كيف تختصر كل حياتك في 6 ساعات بتيجي فيهم الكهرباء كل يوم

Twitter teaches us to summarize our thoughts in 140 characters, while Gaza teaches us how to compress our whole life into the 6 hours of electricity that we get every day.

Nour Abed, a school teacher, tweets [ar]:

@NourGaza: أطفالي في المدرسة: أجدُّ على كراستهم المهترئة آثاراَ من الشمع المنسكب, كتبوا واجبهم على ضوء الشمعة!

My students at school: when I find tracks of melted wax on their notebooks, I realize that they wrote their homework by candlelight!

As a recent poll shows that 48 percent of Gazans blame their local government for the fuel crisis in Gaza. Izz Shawa wrote on Twitter [ar]:

@izzshawa:الحكومة التي يتطلع لها الشعب في غزة هي التي لا تصدر الأزمات الى غيرها ولكن تبذل قصارى جهدها لحلها وان لم تقدر تعمل على تخفيف حدتها

People in Gaza are looking forward to having a government that doesn't blame the others for their problems, but does their best to solve it or ease it if they can't solve it.

Blogger Yasser Ashour also noticed the exchange of accusations between Palestinian officials as he wrote on his blog [ar]:

لما يعملوا مقابلة مع مسؤل من الشركة ويسألوه عن السبب بيقول : الاحتلال يشدد حصاره ، ولما نسأل قيادي في حكومة غزة ؟ بيقول : سلطة رام الله محتكرة الأموال وبتعمل على قطع الكهربا عن غزة

When we ask an official from the electricity company about the reason he says: The [Israeli] Occupation is increasing its siege over Gaza. When we ask an official from the Gaza government he says: The Ramallah government [the Palestinian Authority] is monopolizing the money and is the reason behind the power outage.

Although the official representatives of the Gaza government have come out with a number of declarations defending themselves, claiming that a huge “conspiracy” is being conducted against them, a lot of people are still not convinced. Blogger and photographer Khaled Safi writes in a blog post [ar]:

لا أجد الوقت الكافي لأتابع تصريحات هنا واتهامات هناك، أصلاً لا أجد الكهرباء لأسمع وجهة نظركم الكريمة، معظم يومي خارج بيتي إما في انتظار المواصلات أو في معركة الوقود أو مناظرة المخبز الصباحية

I can't find the time to keep up with statements and accusations here and there. In fact, I don't get electricity in order to hear your point of view [on TV]. I spend most of my day outside of my house, either waiting for transportation, or in a battle for fuel (at gas stations), or in a morning debate at the bakery.

This post was written jointly by Ola Anan and Yasmeen El Khoudary

With Gaza Under Attack, #TerroristIsrael Trends on Twitter

Ola Anan — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:57:54 +0000

On Twitter, Palestinians and Palestine activists have been spreading the news about #GazaUnderAttack nonstop since March 9, 2012, provoked by ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip that have so far killed 23 Palestinians and injured more than 100, some of them seriously. On March 11, busy activists introduced a new hashtag to remind people of previous assaults by the Israeli army against the Palestinian people (not only in the Gaza Strip) called #TerroristIsrael.

The new hashtag went viral on Twitter, became a trending topic around the world, and even became a top story on the Twitter Discover page.

@JalalAK_jojo: #TerroristIsrael number One story on Twitter Discover now

The content of the tweets with this hashtag varied.

Some tweets included information and statistics:

@MadeInNablus: #TerroristIsrael has denied the right of millions of Palestinians to return to their homeland. 1 in 3 refugees worldwide is a Palestinian.

…or mentions of previous attacks:

@MarahMajed: ضرب مدارس قطاع غزة اثناء الحرب بالصواريخ و الفسفور المحرم دولياً والتي كانت تمتلىء بالمدنيين الغزيين

During the war bombing the Gaza Strip's schools, full of civilians, with missiles and internationally banned phosphorous. #TerroristIsrael‏

…while other tweets contained powerful images:

@AnjumKiani: Could be Your sister, my sister ! #TerroristIsrael Take pictures & intimidate students in #Palestine #Gaza

Israeli soldiers posing with a Young Palestinian hostage.

…not to mention a lot of emotional and supportive tweets in different languages:

@Nortencabronado: El mundo encontrara la paz cuando Palestina sea libre y reconocida como un País. Viva palestina Viva Gaza Viva la PAZ!

The world will find peace when Palestine is free and recognized as a country. Long live Palestine, long live Gaza, long live PEACE!

A lot of Twitter users were convinced that pro-Palestinian topics are always being censored and prevented from trending worldwide, and so were surprised at the success on this occasion.

@WafaFt: Stunned that #TerroristIsrael is actually trending, didn't think twitter would let that happen

However, this wasn't the first time that a Palestinian hashtag trended worldwide. Just a few weeks ago, activists on Twitter were publicising the case of Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan. A daily hashtag was created for his case – different each day – and each day managed to trend worldwide. The same pattern is now being used to advocate for Hana Shalabi, now on her 24th day of hunger strike.