In The Electronic Intifada, Palestinian DAM, the first Arab World rap group from Lydd and US based band the Philistines take NYC’s East Village by storm! Their CD is finally out: Free the P, dedicated to the youth of Palestine. The proceeds will go to Slingshot Hip-hop, a documentary film that focuses on the daily life of Palestinian rappers living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel. DAM performed “Born here” and Invincible dazzled the crowd with her “No Compromises”. Other artists performed at the show were Immortal Technique, Akil Dassan , Anthony Morales in addition to the rest of Free-the-P artists. At the end of the show Tamer Nafar the most out-spoken Palestinian rapper stressed the solidarity of all Palestinians regardless of their religions.
Sabbah of Sabbah’s Blog talks about Paradise Now, a story two Palestinian childhood friends who have been recruited for a major operation in Tel Aviv. It centers on what is presumably their final day on earth. Starring Kais Nashif and Ali Suliman, directed by Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad. “Paradise Now-and as expected- did not escape the Anti-Semitic charges from Zionists“, Sabbah adds, “a small google for Paradise Now will lead you to so many rants and accusations to the movie and to critique review Germany’s daily WELT (Dutch) to the German Authorities who Co-Financed it (poor Germans)”.Hani Abu Assad’s Paradise Now won the AGICOA’s Blue Angel Award for the best European film at the Berlinale 2005 and Amnesty International Film Prize. The film has been acquired by Warner Independent Pictures. Sugar Cubes posts a movie review written by ihath about Paradise Now.
On media again, umkahlil quotes Palestine Chronicle regarding the lack of coverage in the New York Times about Palestinian non-violent resistance. She writes also about Joe Carr’s account of the October 15 Bil’in protest. Joe writes: “I completely affirm Palestinians right to resist Israeli colonial occupation. Palestinians have the right to do much more than throw rocks at soldiers committing colonial genocide, and they must if they are to survive. Boys with rocks are hardly a match for the Israeli Military heavily stocked with the US’s most deadly weapons, so it is my responsibility to help protect these boys as they symbolically resist. ” Joe was injured while protecting Palestinian children from rubber-coated bullets during the anti-wall demonstration. umkahlil calls to action for Walid Hanatche who has been in administrative detention for three-and-a-half years, since May 2002 without charge, Walid’s wife has been diagnosed lately with brain cancer, both Walid and his wife are students at Birzeit University.
In peacepalestine, the Academy forces Italy to exclude Private. The film by Saverio Costanzo has been excluded by the Academy in the category of Best Foreign Film, thecutter suspects the scandal has political reasons behind it. Private won the Golden Leopard, the top award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. The film reviews are worth checking, quoting one of them:
Elemental fear and the struggle for dignity thicken the air in a Palestinian family’s house taken over by Israeli soldiers in the tense thriller “Private.”
What a Palestinian wants? asks Sabbah, priorities of Palestinians have shifted for the first time after the Gaza disengagement with economics coming on top, ending of occupation and corruption ranking second with a wide gap between the first priority and the second of approximately 15 percent according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. On the other hand, Yossi Beilin says Israelies want to dump the Road Map because the deadlines will pass unmet and the map will expire leading to unending violence. The Road Map might reach a dead end soon, according to Mahmood Abbas prisdent of Palestinian National Authority.
Bethlehem Bloggers say suffering does not always come with blood and explosions, to explain, they illustrate with one example: marriage in Palestine, it’s not that simple even if the couple live so near. You or your future wife might risk losing the right to return to your home after leaving for a few hours. Freedom of movement is not guaranteed for non-Jews and the Apartheid Wall has turn Palestinians life into a living hell. Moreover, a new illegal settlement is being built around Bethlehem. A review for the new documentary 500 Dunam on the Moon posted by Bethlehem Bloggers. 500 Dunam on the Moon narrates the story of three villages in one: Ain Hawd, Ein Hod, and Ain Hawd Al-Jadida (same village). Lina Abu al-Hayja wonders why is there writings on the moon?. Lina is one of the participants in the film, the majority are Abu al-Hayja (Abu al-Haija) descendents, the original inhibitants of Ain Hawd village.
In Winds of ChangeChange in the Middle East?, Marsden wonders why Ha’aretz changed the wording in its news story on a Palestinian teenager killed for throwing Molotov cocktails from “IDF kills Palestinian suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli cars” to “IDF kills Palestinian suspected of fire-bombing Israeli cars” and says Israeli officials call for changes in Syrian rule!
In Rafah Pundits, two hundred Fatah members resigned expressing their concerns over the lack of democracy and transparency, weakness in performance and growing nepotism within the Fatah party.
International Solidarity Movement reports that Israeli military arrested non-violent activists in Bil’in and accused them of damaging the foundation of annexation barrier - 23/10/05.
From Palestine Blogs, a post that talks about house demolitions in Palestine, the article titled Bulldozing the chance for peace says “Since 1948, Israel has bulldozed more than 400 Palestinian villages and built more than 600 Jewish colonies in their place.” and that “some 2,000 demolition orders for Occupied Jerusalem, and another 2,000 or more in the West Bank, remain outstanding, threatening some 6,000 families.” At the end Palestine Blogs quotes Theodore Herzl who described the process of seizing Palestine from its inhabitants on 1897 by “The process of expropriation and displacement must be carried out prudently and discreetly. Let the landowners sell us their land at exorbitant prices. We shall sell nothing back to them.”
In PALESTINEFREEVOICE, In a period of 36 weeks, 15,825 Israeli violations resulted in the death of 112 Palestinians and injury of 852 others, while 2,907 civilians were arrested and 35,344 dunums of arable lands were expropriated. And Palestinians warn of allowing Jews inside Al Aqsa Mosque.