1. Palestine is a question of brutal denial of all basic human rights including the right to life, to identity, to land and to freedom. 2. Palestinians have every right to defend their rights and resist the Israeli occupation and its terrorist military regimes. 3. Resistance in all forms against the armed colonial settlers and the army of occupation is a legitimate form of the struggle for freedom. 4. The just cause of the Palestinians does not justify killing Israeli children, women and civilians. Such acts against humanity equate the victim with aggressor, and undermine the Palestinians higher moral grounds. 5. Islam and all religions are all about protecting life. Human dignity is one and undivided. Killing one child on either side is equivalent to murder of all human beings. 6. Suicide bombing is an act of ultimate despair, a horrific reaction to a very inhuman living in a seriously damaged environment of hopelessness. Suicide bombing is the ultimate cry of help. 7. The last two years have only proved that Palestinian violence was used as a justification for further Israeli terror and destruction of life and house. Violence has terrorized both communities, deepened the hatred, and radicalized both nations in fear and paranoia. Violence has thrown the two societies into a vicious tribal revenge. People have thus become hostage to politicians and their terror and manipulations. 8. We believe that the best form of resistance is the none-violent form of struggle. Palestinian and Israeli masses should rise together against evil. 9. The ultimate political solution would have to be just, fair and implementable. In the core of any settlement lies the wise vision of peace. Only courageous leaders can fulfill the promise. 10. Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land is the root of all evil. The American unconditional support to Israel in violating UN Security Council resolutions and stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction is hypocritical, evil, and will continue to be a source of conflict with Arabs and Muslims. 11. The West should know that the Jewish problem is not yet solved, will not be solved until the Palestinian legitimate rights are restored and protected. 12. The war in Iraq will be seized by the racist military regime in Israel headed by the trio of Sharon, Netanyaho, and Mofaz as an opportunity to finish the 1948 war of independence, namely to steal more land by driving Palestinians out and force the rest into living in apartheid buntestans. This is not fiction. This is what the Israeli army chief of staff declared. He is the same man who said that Palestinians are a cancer which needs a more radical treatment than just chemotherapy of bombing! 13. Enlightened Jews, Palestinians and Friends of peace and justice every where should rise above the ocean of hatred and division and should be united in their struggle to achieve their noble goals. Read More...
By: Amira Hass
Date: 27/05/2013
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Slain Bedouin girls' mother, a victim of Israeli-Palestinian bureaucracy
Abir Dandis, the mother of the two girls who were murdered in the Negev town of Al-Fura’a last week, couldn't find a police officer to listen to her warnings, neither in Arad nor in Ma’ale Adumim. Both police stations operate in areas where Israel wants to gather the Bedouin into permanent communities, against their will, in order to clear more land for Jewish communities. The dismissive treatment Dandis received shows how the Bedouin are considered simply to be lawbreakers by their very nature. But as a resident of the West Bank asking for help for her daughters, whose father was Israeli, Dandis faced the legal-bureaucratic maze created by the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian police is not allowed to arrest Israeli civilians. It must hand suspects over to the Israel Police. The Palestinian police complain that in cases of Israelis suspected of committing crimes against Palestinian residents, the Israel Police tend not to investigate or prosecute them. In addition, the town of Al-Azaria, where Dandis lives, is in Area B, under Palestinian civilian authority and Israeli security authority. According to the testimony of Palestinian residents, neither the IDF nor the Israel Police has any interest in internal Palestinian crime even though they have both the authority and the obligation to act in Area B. The Palestinian police are limited in what it can do in Area B. Bringing in reinforcements or carrying weapons in emergency situations requires coordination with, and obtaining permission from, the IDF. If Dandis fears that the man who murdered her daughters is going to attack her as well, she has plenty of reason to fear that she will not receive appropriate, immediate police protection from either the Israelis or the Palestinians. Dandis told Jack Khoury of Haaretz that the Ma’ale Adumim police referred her to the Palestinian Civil Affairs Coordination and Liaison Committee. Theoretically, this committee (which is subordinate to the Civil Affairs Ministry) is the logical place to go for such matters. Its parallel agency in Israel is the Civilian Liaison Committee (which is part of the Coordination and Liaison Administration - a part of the Civil Administration under the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories). In their meetings, they are supposed to discuss matters such as settlers’ complaints about the high volume of the loudspeakers at mosques or Palestinians’ complaints about attacks by settlers. But the Palestinians see the Liaison Committee as a place to submit requests for permission to travel to Israel, and get the impression that its clerks do not have much power when faced with their Israeli counterparts. In any case, the coordination process is cumbersome and long. The Palestinian police has a family welfare unit, and activists in Palestinian women’s organizations say that in recent years, its performance has improved. But, as stated, it has no authority over Israeli civilians and residents. Several non-governmental women’s groups also operate in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, and women in similar situations approach them for help. The manager of one such organization told Haaretz that Dandis also fell victim to this confusing duplication of procedures and laws. Had Dandis approached her, she said, she would have referred her to Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which has expertise in navigating Israel’s laws and authorities.
By: Phoebe Greenwood
Date: 27/05/2013
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John Kerry unveils plan to boost Palestinian economy
John Kerry revealed his long-awaited plan for peace in the Middle East on Sunday, hinging on a $4bn (£2.6bn) investment in the Palestinian private sector. The US secretary of state, speaking at the World Economic Forum on the Jordanian shores of the Dead Sea, told an audience including Israeli president Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that an independent Palestinian economy is essential to achieving a sustainable peace. Speaking under the conference banner "Breaking the Impasse", Kerry announced a plan that he promised would be "bigger, bolder and more ambitious" than anything since the Oslo accords, more than 20 years ago. Tony Blair is to lead a group of private sector leaders in devising a plan to release the Palestinian economy from its dependence on international donors. The initial findings of Blair's taskforce, Kerry boasted, were "stunning", predicting a 50% increase in Palestinian GDP over three years, a cut of two-thirds in unemployment rates and almost double the Palestinian median wage. Currently, 40% of the Palestinian economy is supplied by donor aid. Kerry assured Abbas that the economic plan was not a substitute for a political solution, which remains the US's "top priority". Peres, who had taken the stage just minutes before, also issued a personal plea to his Palestinian counterpart to return to the negotiations. "Let me say to my dear friend President Abbas," Peres said, "Should we really dance around the table? Lets sit together. You'll be surprised how much can be achieved in open, direct and organised meetings."
By: Jillian Kestler-D'Amours
Date: 27/05/2013
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Isolation Devastates East Jerusalem Economy
Thick locks hug the front gates of shuttered shops, now covered in graffiti and dust from lack of use. Only a handful of customers pass along the dimly lit road, sometimes stopping to check the ripeness of fruits and vegetables, or ordering meat in near-empty butcher shops. “All the shops are closed. I’m the only one open. This used to be the best place,” said 64-year-old Mustafa Sunocret, selling vegetables out of a small storefront in the marketplace near his family’s home in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. Amidst the brightly coloured scarves, clothes and carpets, ceramic pottery and religious souvenirs filling the shops of Jerusalem’s historic Old City, Palestinian merchants are struggling to keep their businesses alive. Faced with worsening health problems, Sunocret told IPS that he cannot work outside of the Old City, even as the cost of maintaining his shop, with high electricity, water and municipal tax bills to pay, weighs on him. “I only have this shop,” he said. “There is no other work. I’m tired.” Abed Ajloni, the owner of an antiques shop in the Old City, owes the Jerusalem municipality 250,000 Israeli shekels (68,300 U.S. dollars) in taxes. He told IPS that almost every day, the city’s tax collectors come into the Old City, accompanied by Israeli police and soldiers, to pressure people there to pay. “It feels like they’re coming again to occupy the city, with the soldiers and police,” Ajloni, who has owned the same shop for 35 years, told IPS. “But where can I go? What can I do? All my life I was in this place.” He added, “Does Jerusalem belong to us, or to someone else? Who’s responsible for Jerusalem? Who?” Illegal annexation Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in 1967. In July 1980, it passed a law stating that “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel”. But Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem and subsequent application of Israeli laws over the entire city remain unrecognised by the international community. Under international law, East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory – along with the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syrian Golan Heights – and Palestinian residents of the city are protected under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Jerusalem has historically been the economic, political and cultural centre of life for the entire Palestinian population. But after decades languishing under destructive Israeli policies meant to isolate the city from the rest of the Occupied Territories and a lack of municipal services and investment, East Jerusalem has slipped into a state of poverty and neglect. “After some 45 years of occupation, Arab Jerusalemites suffer from political and cultural schizophrenia, simultaneously connected with and isolated from their two hinterlands: Ramallah and the West Bank to their east, West Jerusalem and Israel to the west,” the International Crisis Group recently wrote. Israeli restrictions on planning and building, home demolitions, lack of investment in education and jobs, construction of an eight-foot-high separation barrier between and around Palestinian neighbourhoods and the creation of a permit system to enter Jerusalem have all contributed to the city’s isolation. Formal Palestinian political groups have also been banned from the city, and between 2001-2009, Israel closed an estimated 26 organisations, including the former Palestinian Liberation Organisation headquarters in Jerusalem, the Orient House and the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce. Extreme poverty Israel’s policies have also led to higher prices for basic goods and services and forced many Palestinian business owners to close shop and move to Ramallah or other Palestinian neighbourhoods on the other side of the wall. Many Palestinian Jerusalemites also prefer to do their shopping in the West Bank, or in West Jerusalem, where prices are lower. While Palestinians constitute 39 percent of the city’s population today, almost 80 percent of East Jerusalem residents, including 85 percent of children, live below the poverty line. “How could you develop [an] economy if you don’t control your resources? How could you develop [an] economy if you don’t have any control of your borders?” said Zakaria Odeh, director of the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, of “this kind of fragmentation, checkpoints, closure”. “Without freedom of movement of goods and human beings, how could you develop an economy?” he asked. “You can’t talk about independent economy in Jerusalem or the West Bank or in all of Palestine without a political solution. We don’t have a Palestinian economy; we have economic activities. That’s all we have,” Odeh told IPS. Israel’s separation barrier alone, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD), has caused a direct loss of over one billion dollars to Palestinians in Jerusalem, and continues to incur 200 million dollars per year in lost opportunities. Israel’s severing and control over the Jerusalem-Jericho road – the historical trade route that connected Jerusalem to the rest of the West Bank and Middle East – has also contributed to the city’s economic downturn. Separation of Jerusalem from West Bank Before the First Intifada (Arabic for “uprising”) began in the late 1980s, East Jerusalem contributed approximately 14 to 15 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the Occupied Palestinian territories (OPT). By 2000, that number had dropped to less than eight percent; in 2010, the East Jerusalem economy, compared to the rest of the OPT, was estimated at only seven percent. “Economic separation resulted in the contraction in the relative size of the East Jerusalem economy, its detachment from the remaining OPT and the gradual redirection of East Jerusalem employment towards the Israeli labour market,” the U.N. report found. Decades ago, Israel adopted a policy to maintain a so-called “demographic balance” in Jerusalem and attempt to limit Palestinian residents of the city to 26.5 percent or less of the total population. To maintain this composition, Israel built numerous Jewish-Israeli settlements inside and in a ring around Jerusalem and changed the municipal boundaries to encompass Jewish neighbourhoods while excluding Palestinian ones. It is now estimated that 90,000 Palestinians holding Jerusalem residency rights live on the other side of the separation barrier and must cross through Israeli checkpoints in order to reach Jerusalem for school, medical treatment, work, and other services. “Israel is using all kinds of tools to push the Palestinians to leave; sometimes they are visible, and sometimes invisible tools,” explained Ziad al-Hammouri, director of the Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights (JCSER). Al-Hammouri told IPS that at least 25 percent of the 1,000 Palestinian shops in the Old City were closed in recent years as a result of high municipal taxes and a lack of customers. “Taxation is an invisible tool…as dangerous as revoking ID cards and demolishing houses,” he said. “Israel will use this as pressure and as a tool in the future to confiscate these shops and properties.”
By the Same Author
Date: 30/11/2006
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'Now is the Time'
I have a feeling which becomes stronger as the days pass that now is the time for starting a new path for peace. Although such feelings sometimes are strange and bizarre, the facts on the ground drag the thinking to a whole new direction. The election of Hamas for the government of Palestine is nothing but a new motive in that direction. Since its election and up until the massacre of Beit Hanoun - and what is in between of the strangulating and strict siege - the whole world roared for the renewed pains of the Palestinian people. Even in Israel itself, women and men are denouncing such massacres and famines. Moreover, Europe expressed its resentment through marches and demonstrations, the last of which was the European Union denouncement of Israel; the Arab League voice was raised a little higher. From another perspective, there is evidence that the long-term dialogue, which started as if it is a dialogue between two deaf parties Fatah and Hamas, returned the sense of conscious awareness for the talking parties. They are on the edge of a new declaration, which I think became almost ready, waiting for a deal regarding the Israeli soldier, exchange of prisoners, stoppage of rockets, and guarantees to transfer money. All such positive initiatives were crowned by a significant European initiative, which Toni Blair, personally, drafted a week before it was declared, calling for participation of Iran and Syria in regional political negotiations regarding Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon. The Spanish Prime Minister announced the new European initiative which is holding a special conference for peace in the Middle East. At all levels, steps are accelerating, and at all doors hands are knocking, and Palestinians have to realize that they have to move fast and work harder before it is too late in order to take advantage of the accelerating events. Hamas, in particular, went through a bitter experience, since its winning of the elections. No one was spared from conspiring against Hamas, even if the victims were the Palestinian people as a whole. Hamas did not do well in its leadership and management of the past events. It was not ready, despite its genuineness and intentions. Today, Hamas has a golden and historical opportunity and I hope that it does not waste it and waste another 24 years of the Palestinian people's lives. Briefly, Hamas has a heavy responsibility, which is not just winning elections, forming governments, appointing ministers, distributing allowances for ministers and others, marching parades, distributing goods and scholarships, hiring individuals, and releasing enthusiastic slogans. This is not the responsibility of the government; This is not what we expect from the government. The responsibility of Hamas is finding solutions for the cause of Palestinian people and its chronic battle with Israel. It is a political battle that can not be solved by power or rockets; it is an ideological battle that Hamas should go through amongst itself and its Cadres regarding the horizon of the solution that guarantees that Muslims, Christians, Jews, and all religions live in an equal environment in the holy land, based on adoption of rightness, law, and peace. It is not Hamas role to keep challenging by slogans of resistance, confrontation, refusal, and hard-mindedness. Such solutions are the easy ones. The main and difficult mission is the ability to reach solutions and ideal formulation for co-existence, without having dominance or control for a certain religion over another. The noble-minded and final solution for any liberation movement or revolution is the liberation of human beings, and ensuring rightness and implanting justice without discrimination or favoritism. That is peace which Islam calls for. That is why Islam is calling us to preserve blood and life and enjoyment of peace as the big meaning for Islam is peace itself. As a result, Hamas has a basic duty of showing the bright face of Islam after it was exposed to many aching defeats, particularly after the world- with some conspiring Islamic assistance, was successful in linking the name of Islam with Terrorism. This is the significant role of Hamas, that is; to give Islam the image that is able to convert the international public opinion to support Islam, the Islam of rightness, the Islam of human rights, the Islam of peace. Over the past decades, we got used to play broken CDs to listen to it in every occasion, when houses and blood was scattered in every occasion we revert to sadness and grief, where many of us became professional in slapping our own faces and releasing the tuning slogans, and reverting to old-fashioned means of solace. What is needed today in this new era is something that is related to thinking and ideology to break through the world. What is needed today is new minds and intellectuals, to save us and our cause from the immature and slogans. Such slogans and means brought us nothing but more defeats. We have tried the slogans and failed over and over again. This is the real challenge for Hamas movement. If it succeeded, we succeed with it. If it failed, it will be a new setback for us that might extend for long decades, terminating Hamas, as others did, and terminating a new generation of our Palestinian cause. The political scene in Palestine and Israel offers no solace. In Palestine, the usual old populist rhetoric was wheeled out with people calling for earthquake-like revenge, while mediocre politicians got busy trying to score public relations points over other mediocrities. They reminded me of student speakers at London's Hyde Park Corner. The exception was President Mahmoud Abbas who seemed in genuine pain and was genuinely angry. He was always committed to peace and denouncing killings and violence. The Israeli scene is even worse. The signs are ominous when people like Avigdor Lieberman are welcomed into the Cabinet while the once promising Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, appears to have been thoroughly chewed and absorbed by the military establishment. This should not be the time for mediocrity, politicking or revenge from individuals and other parties. They have wasted too much time and too many lives. They were occupied with wars and killings in the name of dignity, freedom, and security. They were not concerned about peace, which is solely means dignity, freedom, and security. It is now more urgent than ever for all those who still truly believe in peace - Palestinians, Israelis and friends and allies all over the world - to unite their efforts in order to give reconciliation and peace a last chance. This is vital as there are international moves and signs signaling that it is about time. This is evidenced nowadays that warmongers like Donald Rumsfeld are out, the rest should be pursued wherever they are and particularly in Palestine and Israel. Even Blair himself who was calling for war became in his way to be vanished politically, despite the fact that he is trying to be peace calling. I don't need to contemplate their paranoid question: Do they want to make peace? The answer, on behalf of all people, is an unequivocal "yes." But, we have to expose the foes of peace and freedom. We know how powerful the Pentagon and the Israeli war machine are. This war machine, with its hegemony over Israeli politics, is bigger than Israel itself and must be stopped. It is a tool of death and destruction. The Israeli political community, public and leadership alike, must know that it is a captive of this powerful establishment. Israelis should know that their security will only be found through strategic peace with Palestinians, and not through the power to kill, subservience to the powerful military machine or dependence on the American administration. Responsible Palestinian leaders, from Hamas particularly, must make every effort to restore the Israeli public's confidence in Palestinians, lost after six years of horror and lies. They should make the effort to convince their own constituencies of the merits of peace and help shape a new culture. This should be done systematically and on all fronts. Imagine if Hamas comes out today, after all this pain, and declares a complete ban on all forms of violence and extend its hand for peace, rather than launching rockets and announcing publicly its responsibility for them. Israel must be told, by Hamas and others, that it is a country in the Middle East, and so is Palestine. These two countries must live together or die together. Between them, they have all the ingredients for prosperity and together they can help the region and the world. The world must be offered the chance to see the good Palestinian, the good Arab and the good Muslim. We must be offered the chance to see the good Jew and the well-intentioned Christians and West. It is all in our grasp, but, we need to take that important leap by acting now with courage and wisdom. A unified vision and strategy on the Palestinian side must lead us toward peace. Hamas is an essential part of the political map and should declare its readiness to rise to the responsibility of not only making internal reforms but, more importantly, participation in making peace with Israel. Hamas' rise to power was well-deserved and democratic. It is tragic that it was not ready for this dramatic chance, and it is tragic Hamas was never given a fair chance to govern. After months of pressure, Hamas is yielding to the calls of the international community. Hamas should be encouraged and be engaged on all levels and all conspiracies must stop. A truly democratic culture based on the rule of law is one of the keys to peace. Fatah and Hamas need to stand behind Abbas' leadership who can help the nation and the region because of his unique stature, position and the worldwide respect for his leadership that is based on his strategic vision of peacemaking. His only weak point is not having the proper tools at his disposal. Hamas and Fatah should provide him with such supportive tools, similar to what is being done by intellectuals and academics. And now is the time. Eyad El Sarraj director general of Gaza Community Mental Health Programme and a human rights activist.
Date: 15/02/2006
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At a Crossroads
The recent parliamentary elections in Palestine were the equivalent of a political earthquake. It is an earthquake that brings with it the possibility of dramatic change in the Middle East and beyond. The elections represented the first time in history that an Islamic movement came to power in the Arab world through peaceful and clean democratic elections. It is important, however, to note that religion itself played only a small role in the vote, no more, in my opinion, than 15 percent. The bulk of the vote was a protest against Fateh for its dismal record on all fronts and a defiant message against the Israeli occupation and American policies. Hamas now is challenged by its history to face the future. I believe it has some smart people who will help it climb down the tree, because if Hamas succeeds in running the country and negotiating peace, the next ten years will see the Arab world ruled by Islamic governments. Hamas is currently agonizing over the issue of recognizing Israel and renouncing violence, but I think it will do so with time. This is a historical moment for the Islamic movement and an opportunity it won't want to miss. Hamas leaders have already declared that they will respect all previous agreements between Israel and the PA, and Mahmoud Zahhar, in recent days, further said that America is "not our enemy and she holds the key to peace in the Middle East." The question now is how others react. Fateh is finding it all very difficult to swallow, from the president on down. However, it is important that there is a serious internal dialogue with Hamas and that the vote of the people is respected. Even if the vote gave people the opportunity to punish Fateh, Fateh should not punish people by letting Hamas run aground. The Israeli government will be more than happy if Hamas does not change. Israel already started on a unilateral course under Ariel Sharon. Should Hamas show no inclination to change, it will be all the justification Israel needs to stave off any (muted) international pressure to negotiate and instead continue what Sharon started, grabbing whatever land it wants and giving nothing to the Palestinians, who in any case are not considered by Israel as partners for peace. The declared Hamas positions of not recognizing Israel and refusing to surrender arms play well in the hearts and minds of the masses, who believe that Israel should first recognize Palestinian rights and end the occupation of Palestinian and Arab land. But Hamas would be well advised to declare its commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative of March 2002, which calls for mutual recognition of Israel and full relations conditioned on Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land. Hamas could also form a cabinet of technocrats and give President Mahmoud Abbas the mandate to conduct foreign policy while Hamas restructures and rehabilitates the Palestinian Authority. Israel, for its part, stands at a crossroads. Israel has never taken Palestinian rights seriously, let alone been willing to accede to them. The ascendancy of Hamas represents a chance for Israel, but, and this goes for whoever sits at the helm of the Palestinian polity, Israel will never achieve peace without recognizing that Palestinians have rights that must be fulfilled. Hamas' victory represents the ultimate proof. If it were not for the Israeli occupation there would be no Hamas and no armed resistance.
Dr. Eyad El Sarraj is head of the Gaza Community Mental Health Project.
Date: 24/10/2005
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Occupation and Mental Health
The collective Palestinian psyche is a mixture of painful memories, old and recent traumas, an unyielding quest for freedom and a profound longing for a dignified life. In December 1987, the Palestinian popular uprising, the Intifada, against the Israeli military occupation opened a dramatic new chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with far-reaching psychological, political, and socio-economic consequences. The Israeli army's response to the Intifada was to increase brutal and oppressive measures. These measures included killings, detentions without trial, demolition of homes, torture, deportation, and curfews. The Palestinian Human Rights Information Center estimates that during the period of the first Intifada (December 1987 to December 1993), 1,282 Palestinians died (of which 332 were children) as a result of the conflict and 130,472 Palestinians were injured. Among the injured there are those that remain with permanent disabilities. Furthermore, approximately 57,000 Palestinians were arrested (many of whom were subjected to systematic physical and psychological torture)(1), over 481 were deported and 2,532 had their homes demolished. The psychosocial and financial costs for the affected families in terms of medical and psychosocial care, loss of productive time, chronic disability, loss of function, and loss of life and property are enormous. (2) Two kinds of trauma have been considered the most difficult to cope with – torture and home demolitions
In 1990, the GCMHP established programs to care for children who were most traumatized. Many children have detailed and sequential forms of trauma. Most come from overcrowded homes and many have had their parents arrested, humiliated, beaten and imprisoned. In many instances there was a direct link between events in which the child witnessed humiliation of the father and his desire to throw stones at Israeli soldiers. Children who come from families of imprisoned fathers were more ready to join the struggle against the occupation. Mental disorder in the Palestinian culture is seen as either a form of weakness, spoiled behavior or spiritual possession, but always stigmatic. Throughout the years, the most immediate resource for Palestinians has been the family, which is still cohesive and eager to assume responsibility for the weak, elderly or ill. Although the years of occupation and conflict have impacted negatively the physical, psychological and mental well being of Palestinians, the Israeli unilateral disengagement from Gaza could be an opportunity for peace. Ending the cycle of violence and victimization can only be achieved through a political settlement and through national reconciliation. **Eyad El Sarraj is a psychiatrist, human rights and peace activist. He founded the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) in 1990 to provide comprehensive community mental health services - therapy, training and research - to the population of the Gaza Strip. He is currently the Chairman. Date: 29/03/2004
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Arabs and the Glass House; A letter to President Bush
Mr. George W. Bush,
The President of the United States of America The White House Washington DC USA Mr. President, I am in full support of your vision and initiative for a greater Middle East. It would be really great if we would get rid of all the dictators, kings or presidents in the Arab countries. It is a beautiful dream to think that one day we will see democracy and respect of human rights within the rule of law. Arab countries, almost all, are lagging seriously behind the rest of the world. Lack of democracy is one of the reasons for violence and terror.
Indeed Mr. President, it would be a miracle if we wake up one day to find no political prisoners, no torture, no military courts and full respect of international laws and treaties. It would certainly be a huge leap into civilisation and progress. Some Arab politicians are scared of reform because it means that they would be out of office, and may be out of pocket if not in jail. They use any excuse to reject it, such as "reform should not be imposed from outside." No one is suggesting that reform will be imposed from outside. They should listen to advice from friends like you. I am sure you also would welcome their advice too, that is if they have any to offer. Well Mr. President, I have some advice. To begin with it is vital that you treat the Arabs as partners and not just an area of oil reserves. Why not give us an example by reforming the US policies? Would it not be good if America showed more respect to human rights in Guantanamo and elsewhere? Would it not be beautiful if America began to show respect for international legality, including respect for United Nations Security Council resolutions and ratifying the treaties on the protection of the environment? Would it not be encouraging if America stopped being one of a minority of two on the international stage -- itself and Israel against the rest of the world? Would it not open up new possibilities if America started to show fairness by asking Israel to end its four decades of occupation of Palestine and open its doors for the inspection of its stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction -- otherwise America would consider sanctions and possibly war? Mr. President, by taking action in this way I am confident that you will offer an irresistible example for the Arabs and the rest of the world. After all we are friends and no one is imposing anything on any body. Finally, Mr. President I want to tell you an Arab popular proverb. It says: ‘He who lives in a glass house should not throw stones at others’. I’m sure you understand. Sincerely,
Eyad El Sarraj, MD NB. This is my second letter to you and I hope this time I’ll get an answer although I understand how much busy you are. Contact us
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