A harrowing and indispensable first-hand account of the experience of the first 85 days of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, from a prominent Palestinian writer.
I've only read a few Palestinian prisoners stories and I have to stop each time. I'm usually one who can sit and read for hours. It's devastating but necessary reading - we MUST get these stories to as many eyes as possible.
"We call upon our colleagues in the homeland and internationally to support our steadfast attempts to defend and preserve our universities for the sake of the future of our people, and our ability to remain on our Palestinian land in Gaza. We built these universities from tents. And from tents, with the support of our friends, we will rebuild them once again."
"We call upon our colleagues in the homeland and internationally to support our steadfast attempts to defend and preserve our universities for the sake of the future of our people, and our ability to remain on our Palestinian land in Gaza. We built these universities from tents. And from tents, with the support of our friends, we will rebuild them once again."
"With calls for divestment only growing louder, we asked students nationwide to share how their schools have responded to protests calling for a ceasefire and in support of #Palestine"
Open letter from North American academics condemning scholasticide in #Gaza
If that's you, please consider signing
"“[T]hree university presidents have been killed in the Israeli attacks, along with more than 95 university deans and professors [...] Meanwhile, 88,000 students have been deprived of receiving their university education"
Any of the Palestinian memoirs/biographies are great in so many ways. You can come in with little idea of the Middle East and get a human story as well as where that falls in the history/context of something people call complicated, but isn't.
One shows humor in the face of such circumstances as Palestinian refugees face and another shows that this carnage (by Israel) you see today has been happening a very long time (British+Zionists).
Practices recorded by UNRWA include the use of a nail gun on prisoners’ knees, sexual abuse against both men and women and the insertion of what appears to be an electrified metal stick into prisoners’ rectums.
Secondly, did your mom never teach you two wrongs don’t make a right?
Thirdly, the death toll in #Gaza has surpassed 30,000 — a large majority women and children.
But again, you’re just gonna argue that all those kids were Hamas.
Fourth, is the state of Israel a member of the UN or a terrorist organisation? Because there are standards for members of the UN, whereas for terrorist organisations…
There is no depth to what sort of mental gymnastics you’ll get up to defending Israel’s atrocities, because you can’t even conceive you’ve been brainwashed.
It turns my stomach.
Also you edited your earlier comment after my reply to it. Tsk tsk
Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Gaza, October 2023–January 2024 (A Preliminary Report from Librarians and Archivists with Palestine).
"The destruction of cultural heritage in Gaza impoverishes the collective identity of the Palestinian people, irrevocably denies them their history, and violates their sovereignty. In this report, we offer a partial list of archives, libraries, and museums in Gaza that have been destroyed, damaged, or looted by Israeli armed forces
since October 7, 2023."
"We compile and offer this information with the understanding that the erasure
of Palestinian culture and history has long been an Israeli tactic of war and occupation, a means to further limit the self-determination of the Palestinian people."
Even if you compare it to other accepted genocides, this one does not fit.
You haven’t though, and that is the point.
So let’s do it together, shall we?
Let’s compare.
What is the definition of a genocide?
A mental element: the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”; and A physical element, which includes the following five acts, enumerated exhaustively: Killing members of the group Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
The intent is the most difficult element to determine. To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group. It is this special intent, or dolus specialis, that makes the crime of genocide so unique. In addition, case law has associated intent with the existence of a State or organizational plan or policy, even if the definition of genocide in international law does not include that element.
Importantly, the victims of genocide are deliberately targeted - not randomly – because of their real or perceived membership of one of the four groups protected under the Convention (which excludes political groups, for example). This means that the target of destruction must be the group, as such, and not its members as individuals. Genocide can also be committed against only a part of the group, as long as that part is identifiable (including within a geographically limited area) and “substantial.”
“Killing”, “Serious bodily harm” “mental harm”
The death toll in #Gaza has surpassed 30,000 — a large majority women and children. Over 70,000 Palestinians have been injured. >12,300 children dead. 17,000 without parents.
Deploring that surgeons have had no choice but to carry out amputations on children without anaesthesia, he said that medical teams have added a new acronym to their vocabulary: “WCNSF” — wounded child, no surviving family. The psychological injuries they suffered have led children as young as five to say they “would prefer to die”, he recalled, adding that — although his organization’s staff are scared and beyond exhausted — they choose to continue working despite increasing risks.
check, check and check
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
Orphaned perhaps not close enough? Why force separation though, when the’re no-one to separate them from? But don’t worry, we got the actual separation also covered:
“I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant says following an assessment at the IDF Southern Command in Beersheba.
“We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” he adds.
And I think you’ll accept that’s not a source biased in favour of Palestine, eh?
That’s probably not good enough though, as it’s not from this year, right, so it doesn’t count that some Israeli were calling for “kill them all” in 2016?
So while the ICJ has yet to give a verdict to the actual genocide bit, they have given a verdict that the genocidal rhetoric and actions are definitely happening and Israel must do everything to stop it. If it wasn’t happening, that’s not a verdict they would give.
To pretend that it’s not happening because there’s yet to be an official verdict from the ICJ doesn’t mean that we can’t tell if there’s a genocide going on. Come on.
Honestly, what would it take for you to admit that it’s a genocide? And not even that. You’re saying I’m “randomly throwing around” the word, as if there’s zero indication of a genocide? The sheer willfull ignorance, it’s staggering.
Not just the UNRWA report: Countless accounts of Israeli torture in Gaza (www.aljazeera.com)
Practices recorded by UNRWA include the use of a nail gun on prisoners’ knees, sexual abuse against both men and women and the insertion of what appears to be an electrified metal stick into prisoners’ rectums.
The 10-year-old boy who has become the face of starvation in Gaza (www.smh.com.au)