Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud al-Zahar come out against key clause in Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal in which Abbas would serve as both president and prime minister of future Palestinian government.
By Reuters
Hamas’s Gaza-based leadership challenged on Wednesday a Palestinian reconciliation deal signed by the Islamist group’s political chief in exile and President Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah movement.
Bringing divisions within Hamas to the surface, the group’s “Change and Reform” Gaza parliamentary bloc came out against a key clause in the pact under which Abbas would serve both as president and prime minister of a future Palestinian government.
Ismail Haniyeh
Photo by: Reuters
The legislative bloc includes Hamas’s top Gaza-based leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud al-Zahar. They did not attend the ceremony in Qatar where Hamas’s political chief in exile, Khaled Meshal, and Abbas signed the agreement on Monday.
Analysts have long spoken of a split within Hamas between those in the movement who have controlled the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip for the past five years and Meshal, who had made his base in Damascus.
“We call upon the parties who signed and those who sponsored Palestinian reconciliation to reconsider and … not to bypass Palestinian law,” the parliamentary bloc said in a statement, arguing that a dual presidential-prime ministerial role for Abbas would be illegal.
The deal was aimed at reuniting the deeply split Palestinian national movement after past accords that followed Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007 failed to get off the ground over disagreements over who would head a new government.
Hamas is shunned by the West over its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accords. A unity government seems likely to stop long-faltering Middle East peace efforts in their tracks.
Khalil Shaheen, a West Bank political analyst, said Gaza-based Hamas officials viewed acceptance of Abbas as prime minister as a political embarrassment, especially since Hamas defeated Abbas’s Fatah in a Palestinian election in 2006.
He said Hamas could try to resolve its internal dispute by reorganizing power-sharing between its leaders in exile and those in the Palestinian territories.
“Otherwise, and if the dispute continues, it could undermine the implementation of the agreement,” Shaheen said.
Fatah lawmaker Abdallah Abdallah defended the Doha agreement saying there was no clause in the Palestinian law preventing Abbas from serving as both president and prime minister.
“It is clear that some people [in Hamas] have personal interests and not nationalist interests and they are trying to find a pretext to undermine such a step that paved the way towards ending the division,” Abdallah told Reuters in the West Bank.
The accord is supposed to open the way for Palestinian presidential and parliamentary election possibly later this year, and to rebuild the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip following a 2008-2009 Israeli offensive.
Israel already threatens war on Iran. It’s also involved with Washington, Turkey, Jordan, and other rogue Arab states behind Syria’s externally generated insurgency.
Gaza’s also threatened. On January 1, Haaretz writer Amos Harel headlined “Will 2012 bring another Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza?” saying:
Repeated Israeli air strikes and incursions target Gaza. Perhaps they precede a broader offensive. Israel’s IDF chief Benny Gantz “said on Army radio that ‘Operation Cast Lead was carried out in a professional, determined manner, and significantly strengthened Israel’s deterrent strength.’ ”
At the same time, he suggested another round of fighting is likely. “Particularly worrisome (are the alleged) weapons smuggl(ed) into the Gaza Strip. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have….many thousands of rockets; hundreds” able to reach central Israel, said Harel.
As a result, “the IDF is preparing itself for the possibility of a land operation in another few months.”
On January 16, Jerusalem Post writer Yaakov Katz headlined, “IDF preparing for major Gaza action within months,” saying:
“The IDF General Staff has ordered the Southern Command to prepare for a possible large Gaza operation that could occur within the next few months, the Jerusalem Post has learned.”
If true, preparations have been ongoing much longer. Three years ago, Southern Command head General Yoav Galant trained forces for two years prior to Cast Lead. Plans involved inflicting major damage while limiting Israeli casualties.
Now, said Katz, operational plans are being finalized and distributed to IDF units to be deployed against Gaza.
During Cast Lead, brigade units were used. They combined armor, infantry and combat engineer forces. Cast Lead’s model will be replicated. Gaza Division head General Yossi Bachar plans “significantly larger” operations than last time.
“Every officer will need to know where he needs to be with his troops and what his mission will be,” according to an unnamed senior IDF official. “Gaza has changed and the weaponry in Hamas’ and Islamic Jihad’s hands has significantly grown in quantity and quality.”
Katz said Hamas’ military wing is over 20,000 strong in five brigades. Each has a number of battalions. “(S)pecial teams” have “anti-tank missiles, mortar and rocket fire and anti-aircraft shoulder-to-air missiles.”
Orders to attack aren’t issued. Preparations are ongoing to be ready “at a moment’s notice and if needed.”
According to an unnamed General Staff official, “Gaza is possibly Israel’s most volatile front today. It is a front that can explode at any given moment.” In fact, Hamas and other resistance groups respond only when attacked. Israel does it belligerently. Victims are blamed.
Perhaps more slaughter’s coming. If so, civilians will suffer most. Israel calls them legitimate targets. International law prohibits attacking them. Doing so constitutes crimes of war and against humanity. Nonetheless, they’re standard Israeli policy. Lawlessness and brutality define its agenda. War strategy embodies them.
Israel notoriously uses false flag incidents to justify attacks or all-out war. In June 1982, Arafat was falsely blamed for Abu Nidal militants’ attempted assassination of Israeli UK ambassador Shlomo Argov.
War on Lebanon followed. Around 18,000 Palestinians were massacred. Israel occupied South Lebanon until May 2000. It still illegally holds Sheba Farms, a 14-square mile water-rich area near Syria’s Golan. It’s also been lawlessly occupied since 1967 along with Ghajar, a bordering Lebanese village.
If Israel plans Cast Lead II, expect one or more manufactured incidents preceding it. The possibility is real. Like Washington, Israel chooses confrontation, not diplomacy; hostility, not conflict resolution; and war, not peace. The business of both countries is war. Expect new theaters opened in 2012.
At the same time, sham peace talks continue in Jordan. Two rounds were held. Two more are planned on January 21 and January 26. Nothing’s been accomplished. Israel doesn’t negotiate. It demands. Longtime collaborator Abbas never represented Palestinian interests and doesn’t now.
WikiLeaks cables disclosed Israel informed him of Cast Lead before launching it. During the slaughter, his silence showed complicity. Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s telegrams to US deputy ambassador Luis Moreni said Israel asked if Egypt and Fatah would take over Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas.
At issue now is what do they know about possible new attacks, and how will they respond if launched?
A Final Comment
On December 26, Israel’s High Court ruled that state and private Israeli companies may plunder Palestinian West Bank quarries. Doing so violated international law and past Supreme Court decisions.
Expect Israel to take full advantage. At issue is controlling all Palestinian resources and valued land. In March 2009, Yesh Din human rights volunteers petitioned the High Court to prevent it. On January 10, they requested another hearing for reconsideration. It posed the following questions:
(1) What are Israel’s boundaries with respect to Palestinian resources? In addition, under military occupation, how do 1907 Hague Convention Articles 43 and 55 apply?
Article 43 says occupiers “shall take all the measures in (their) power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country.”
Article 55 stipulates that occupiers are regarded only as administrators with temporary possession over “public buildings, real estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct,” reflecting temporary possession only.
(2) Have long-term occupiers authority to grant its citizens or corporations exploitive power over territory not their own?
(3) May occupiers exploit the principles of “continuity” and “reasonableness?”
(4) Do Israel quarries employing Palestinians justify exploiting them?
Yesh Din said the High Court decision “revolutionizes the international law of belligerent occupation, in its ruling that the State of Israel, as an Occupying Power in a prolonged occupation, has the authority to grant Israelis and Israeli corporations the right to quarry (Palestinian) natural resources, including in quarries that did not exist prior to the occupation – and with only limitation being the reasonableness of the use of the natural resource.”
In other words, what right has Israel to exploit Palestinian resources lawlessly? None whatever.
In the mid-1970s, Israeli West Bank quarry operations began. Ten sites exist. Eight remain active. Israel declares them all “state land.” They produce 12 million tons of mined material annually. Nearly all of it goes to Israel.
In 1983, Israel’s High Court ruled occupied areas off-limits for “open field….economic exploitation.” In its December decision, President Dorit Beinisch said the Court called the quarry issue political to be settled under final status negotiations. She also claimed Yesh Din’s petition 40 years after quarry operations began justified denying it.
Twisting international law, she said Israel may “utilize natural resources in a reasonable manner” despite no legal basis for doing so. She also claimed Israel’s decades-long occupation justified it. She called it the “reality on the ground.”
In fact, occupiers only have temporary trustee authority. It excludes exploitation. It requires administering natural resources for the benefit of occupied people, not the occupier. Ruling otherwise effectively justifies Israel’s illegal settlements and all stolen Palestinian land.
In this and other rulings, the Beinisch court trampled on international law and lost legitimacy in the process.
The British government gets hot under the collar at the very thought of Gaza smuggling anything in. So much so, that as Israel’s murderous assault on Gaza was coming to an end in January 2009 our then prime minister Gordon Brown promised to send naval units to stop the Hamas government “smuggling” arms which the Gazans desperately needed to defend themselves and their tiny coastal strip from their state-of-the-art weapons-freakin’ oppressors.
He announced: “We will do everything we can to prevent the arms trading at the root of the problems.” Brown was speaking as Israel carried out another 50 air-strikes on Gaza overnight. It was a particularly stupid and ignorant remark considering arms smuggling is certainly not the cause of the problem and, in any case, the Palestinians are perfectly entitled to put up armed resistance against an illegal occupier.
Now, the British government suddenly says it’s OK for Gazans to smuggle essential fuel oil for electricity generation through the tunnels they use to import black market goods and we’ve been helping Israel to destroy.
“Regarding fuel supplies in Gaza, the UK has not made any specific representations to Israel on this as we do not see Israeli restrictions on supplies of electricity or fuel as being the main cause of electricity shortages in Gaza.
“The Gaza Electricity Distribution Company is sourcing industrial diesel for the Gaza power plant through the tunnels so there is no shortage of fuel for the power plant, and in fact we understand there could be up to a month’s worth of fuel in storage.”
It’s loaded with the same yellow-streaked drivel I’ve been receiving for several years – the Government “remains concerned”… “we are pressing the Israeli Government”… “we condemn”… “we have urged the Israelis”…
There is never any real action, just endless flim-flam.
Another gem is this: “With fishing limits and exports, we and EU partners are urging the Israelis to extend the current fishing limit from 3 to 12 miles and to allow increased exports from Gaza to the West Bank, Israel and other third countries.”
Israel has no business restricting Gaza’s fishing boats to 3 miles in the first place. Maritime law needs to be enforced.
As for the smuggling of essential fuel oil through the tunnels, there is surely someone in the Foreign Office who knows that the Geneva Conventions place a solemn obligation on occupying powers to supply utilities such as water and power to occupied populations. According to the UN Israel still occupies Gaza, So Britain needs to explain why it approves of forcing Gaza’s civilians to resort to black market methods to obtain vital fuel oil
Gaza still starved of everything important, thanks to the British government and others
Oxfam reports that the near total ban on fuel imports for public sale, imposed by Israel in October 2008, also remains in place. Fuel for home heating, running cars and private industry is only available through the black market. Now fuel oil for utilities including hospitals and basic services is ranked the same, apparently.
While on the subject of energy needs, let’s remember that Gaza has an extensive offshore gas field which Israel prevents the Palestinians from exploiting and is trying to steal.
According to Oxfam 75 percent of the population currently receives humanitarian aid. Approximately 1.1 million people are receiving food aid from humanitarian
organizations, primarily UNWRA and the World Food Programme. By doing nothing to end the illegal blockade/occupation the international community milks the West’s taxpayers year after year to provide cover for Israel’s crimes.
How clever is it for us to be subsidising those thugs and their cruel ambitions?
Only 11 percent of construction materials needed for aid agencies and PA approved projects have been allowed into Gaza, therefore people do not benefit as they should from humanitarian organizations’ reconstruction efforts. Only 28 percent of the building plan for UNRWA projects in Gaza has been approved, and these are facing serious delays. Israel’s ban on building materials has prevented the reconstruction of most of the 3,540 homes destroyed and the 2,870 damaged during Operation Cast Lead, which means that extended families are often squeezed into one house or, in some cases, one room.
Oxfam reports that 250 schools in Gaza are still out of action. 85 percent of schools that are operational have to work double shifts, which means shorter class time and an end to extra-curricular activities.
Starved of essential imports, including raw materials, and its exports blocked, Gaza has seen its economy decimated. The private sector has lost 120,000 jobs. 26 percent of the Gazan workforce, including 38 percent of youths, are unemployed
Materials for 17 water and sanitation projects are held up by the Israeli authorities. In the meantime 90-95 percent of water from Gaza’s only source, the underground aquifer, is undrinkable. Experts warn that at the current rate of depletion, the aquifer will become unusable by 2016, and the damage will be irreversible by 2020.
Gaza residents are restricted to an average of 91 litres of water per day compared to 280 litres used by Israelis. The World Health Organization says 100-150 litres a day is required meet health needs
There has been no change to the unilaterally imposed ‘buffer zone’, a restricted-access area around Gaza’s perimeter with Israel, which extends in places up to 1,500 metres into Gaza and on the coast limits fishing to 3 nautical miles. This places 35 percent of Gaza’s farmland and 85 percent of its coastal fishing waters off limits, making a devastating hole in the economy. The lives and livelihoods of an estimated 178,000 people are directly affected, including 3,500 licensed fishermen. Israel enforces the buffer zone by sniper fire and shelling.
From January to December there were 72 reports of fishermen being shot at. The 2010 annual fishing catch was down by 45 percent compared to 2008 before the 3 mile limit was imposed – a desperate serious matter for a population whose children are undernourished.
I have just received a letter from Alistair Burt, the foreign office minister for Middle East affairs, saying the same sort of thing Lord Hylton was quoting… that ”we continue to press the Israeli Government at ministerial and official level to ease access restrictions, including to increase the fishing limits from 3 to 12 miles, blah, blah, blah…”
He also claims the Department for International Development “addresses the key access constraints” and “promotes economic growth”. Does it hell.
As the situation clearly shows, none of the British government’s diplomatic diarrhoea has made the slightest difference to Israel’s appalling conduct. Nor is it meant to, remembering how foreign secretary William Hague and Middle East minister Alistair Burt, and their boss David Cameron, have pledged undying support for that regime.
The 5th Baron Hylton (Lord Hylton) has been sitting in the House of Lords, our “upper chamber”, since 1967 and in his gentlemanly way has done much for the Palestinian cause. But he’s curiously reluctant, in spite of prodding, to name and shame the minister or Foreign Office adviser who wrote the nonsense that appears on his blog. Could it be the same one that wrote to me?
ed note–please take note of the fact that it was MASKED ‘Hamas’ police doing the beating here, which means more than likely it was Israeli intelligence operatives doing the dirty deed. At a time when Israel desperately needs to drive a wedge between Shia and Sunni (Iran and the Arabs) something like this is EXACTLY what ‘the doctor ordered’ and therefore we should all assume that ONCE AGAIN, SURPRISE SURPRISE, things are not what they ‘seem’ when it comes to events in the Middle East, and espeically when Israel is involved.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Masked Hamas police beat and detained members of the Gaza Strip’s tiny Shiite community during a religious commemoration last week, a follower and local rights groups said Tuesday, accusing their Islamist rulers of religious intolerance.
It was the first claim of harassment by a group of Shiite worshippers against the territory’s mainstream rulers, who are Sunni Muslims. Hamas officials, who have close ties with Shiite Iran, denied the allegations.
A man who described himself as a Shiite said police burst into a house where followers were marking Arbaeen, commemorating the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. The man said about 15 worshippers were beaten and detained.
He declined to be identified, fearing further harassment. But some of the men filed complaints to the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the rights group Mezan, which both sharply condemned Hamas over the attack.
Mezan said in a statement that during Saturday evening’s incident in the town of Beit Lahia, police smashed up the apartment, broke the bones of seven of the men, detained some of them at a police station and beat them again before sending them to a military hospital for treatment.
“The attack is a violation of the freedom … to practice one’s faith,” said Mezan official Samir Zakout.
Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Ghussein said Tuesday that police stormed the apartment of a group of “outlaws” who were planning “criminal acts.” He said he was unaware of the presence of any Shiites in Gaza. He said his offices would look into right groups’ allegations that the men were beaten.
There are no official statistics on the number of Gaza’s Shiites. They are believed to number several dozen — a minuscule minority among a population of 1.6 million people who are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, including the territory’s Islamist militant Hamas rulers.
In many parts of the Middle East, Shiites and Sunnis have had strained relations due to deep theological differences that date back centuries. These differences have boiled over into violence over the years in places like Iraq and Pakistan.
Despite such strains, the attack in Gaza seemed surprising, given Hamas’ traditionally warm ties with Iran. The fundamentalist Shiite government in Iran has given hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as military training and other backing, to Hamas.
In a separate incident, Mezan said Tuesday that a prominent rights activist who has criticized Palestinian leaders and militants was stabbed and slightly wounded by unknown assailants.
The attack on Mahmoud Abu Rahma last Friday came after he published an essay that criticized Palestinian leaders and militant groups for threatening, silencing and even harming critics.
“It is safe to assume that neither the government nor the resistance is willing to step in to protect people who dare to criticize them,” he wrote.
Zakout said soon after the essay was published, Abu Rahma received threats by e-mail and text message. Hamas police condemned the attack and said they were searching for the assailants
The author’s uncle, Hazem Elaydi, comforts his mother in the family’s home in Maghazi refugee camp.
The date is 21 December 2011, a day that will live within me for the rest of my life. As I went through the Rafah crossing, my eyes scanned the faces of every man before me; I was searching for my uncle, Hazem Elaydi. I had not seen him in more than twenty years, since before he was illegally imprisoned by Israel during the first intifada. I traveled across the world to see himafter his release during the prisoner exchange dealbetween Israel and Hamas in October.
Every time I travel to Palestine, my first few days in my homeland are always filled with tears and covered by a cloud of disbelief. The sheer joy of being home makes me feel as if I’m in a dream, that I could not be so lucky as to return to my homeland yet again, and this last trip was no exception.
I remember first seeing his smiling face. Even as I ran to his arms, I stared at his face trying to remember its details in case I really was dreaming and would soon wake up from this beautiful fantasy. As I hugged him, I tried to learn his scent, hoping that I could add this detail to the archive of my memory of him to draw on later when I was no longer near him. As we rode from Rafah to the old family home where my father, aunts and uncles were all born and raised in Maghazi refugee camp, I stared at him. I tried to learn the shape of his smile, the shades of black, brown and gray in his beard, the fine lines forming around his eyes, the depth of his voice and the innocent and child-like quality of his uniquely high-pitched laugh.
When we arrived, we sat in the family room and I quickly stole the seat next to him. I held his hand and wondered what I could say to him to show him how happy I was to meet him. I wanted to be articulate, but he cannot understand my native tongue. I wanted to impress him without being obnoxious. I wanted him to know me and be proud of me but I was too intimidated to speak. Instead, I sat silent and tried to force myself to believe that I wasn’t dreaming.
Everyone in my family asked me what I did when I first saw my uncle. Did I cry like my older brother? Did I pass out from shock like my cousin? My reaction included neither tears nor the loss of consciousness. Although it’s not as exciting a story, my reaction to seeing him came in small, nearly overwhelming doses of sudden awareness.
That first day, when I was sitting in my father’s childhood home, reality slowly set in. Last year, I sat in this room as my family welcomed me back to Gaza after six years of being away. This time was different. This time was not about welcoming me home or asking me about Egypt or my brothers; this time I was sitting in this room to meet my uncle. The uncle I knew only from photos, stories and a few sporadic phone calls. Now I am in his presence.
All those countless times I begged for his release in my prayers were fruitful. All those moments of anguish when my grandmother desperately cried for him have been offset by her joy of seeing him. I looked around and saw my 17-year-old cousin who was named after my uncle and met him for the first time two months ago. It was real. My uncle was among us and free and himself and unafraid and I was there with him. My eyes swelled with tears and I suppressed them. The time to cry had passed and now was a time for smiles and laughter, I told myself.
I remember the first time I heard someone call out my uncle’s name to ask him a question. I don’t remember the question or who was asking, I just remember realizing that finally my uncle was near enough for us to merely call his name when we wanted to speak with him.
Here to stay
I remember the first time someone made reference to “Hazem’s house.” Again, I cannot remember the context, but I can remember the overpowering joy I felt as awareness of the realness of his release set in. He has a house, I thought, his own house. This is not temporary; he’s here to stay. I’m not imagining this. I forced myself not to cry. I looked at my dear uncle and smiled; the moments I have with him are limited to the length of my visit and I will not spend them trying to convince myself of something it took me two weeks to come to terms with back in October. He is here and I will make the best of it.
I tried to learn his personality, his sense of humor, the way he spoke to people, his mannerisms, and everything else that Skype conversations and phone calls can’t give away. I realized that he was very different from anyone I knew. Unlike most people I knew in Gaza, he never interrupted anyone in conversation. He was respectful and patient and always paid very close attention when others spoke to him. Everyone who met him instantly trusted him. There was something about him; there was honesty in his eyes, thoughtfulness in his facial expression, wisdom in the curve of his brow. Something about him made me instantly feel like I could trust him with all of my secrets and feel like they were safer than before.
He always gave humble advice in every context and topic of conversation, but he never preached. He offered the best solutions to every issue and cited where the wisdom of his advice came from. When we were invited to dinner at two places the same night, he was the one that resolved the issue. When my brothers’ haircuts were too wild for Gaza’s conservative culture, instead of staring and judging, he explained to them people’s reactions. When my cousins and I had a sudden desire to go to the beach in the middle of a winter afternoon, he took us and let us stay as long as we wanted. He is easy going and took everything in life in small doses. He was our tie to occupation and injustice before his release and now he is our anchor.
My uncle’s release not only brought great joy to my family and reunited all of my aunts and uncles both in Gaza and the diaspora, but it also changed the dynamic of our family. It felt like a lot of the pettiness that often exists with large families seemed to disappear from ours for a while. My grandmother is more upbeat and focuses her attention on choosing for me a husband and sharing stories from a time when Palestine’s air was free and her trees more fruitful. The cousins we worried about have been tamed by the influence of a respected uncle. And finally, we no longer have to hang posters, photos and plaques bearing his face on our walls to feel his presence. My uncle Hazem is with us and we treasure him even more than before.
I tried to learn who my uncle was and observe him so that when my ten-day opportunity to get to know him was over, I’d have plenty to draw on when I later tried to remember him. I memorized how much he adored his wife, how gentle and patient he was with his young nieces and nephews, how understanding he was with me and my older cousins, how accommodating and affectionate he was with his mother, and how contemplative he seemed in the moments he had to himself.
Instant remorse
As a Palestinian who only knows her homeland through short visits, the most difficult part of my trips home is leaving. This time was the worst. I avoided saying goodbye to my uncle for as long as I could. I made up excuses, came up with stories to share and favors to ask and staged family photos, but the impeding sorrow was unavoidable. As soon as my uncle released me from the last hug I was able to share with him, I felt instant remorse.
Why did I go to bed so early when my family was having our evening gatherings? Why didn’t I sit with my uncle more? Why didn’t I say more when I was with him? Why didn’t we book a later flight? Do I really need to go back to school? Why didn’t I take an extra year off? What if I come back to Gaza in the summer? I realized that my trip had been too short and that I spent far too much of it eating and sleeping or sitting around waiting for electricity, an Internet connection, or bath water to heat up. In the end, I was grateful for the beautiful opportunity to get to know my uncle and his incredible wife and to see the way my family had changed with his presence. Now, I look forward to my next opportunity to see my uncle.
Oddly, this experience has led me to wonder about the moment I will meet another Palestinian that I have heard stories about my entire life and have a deep attachment to but have never met: my Palestinian hometown of Bir al-Saba.
Many refugees in the diaspora have grown so accustomed to their lives outside of their hometowns that they no longer identify with their ancestral villages and towns. My uncle’s release has taught me that nothing is too far out of our reach. My imagination was never creative enough to piece together an alternate reality where my uncle Hazem was no longer a prisoner. Even with my hopelessness, this miracle occurred. When I try to picture Bir al-Saba, I see images of Maghazi Camp, the Sinai Desert and photos of Bedouins I’ve seen in books and online.
Now when I remember meeting my uncle, I think about my coming encounter with Bir al-Saba and learning her history, roads, buildings, schools, wells and her market. I think about memorizing her scent and her landscape; the colors in her sunsets; how dark it must get before the first stars begin to appear in her sky; and how warmly she will welcome me and her other estranged children.
Even though the right of return seems far-fetched to so many refugees, meeting my uncle has reinvigorated my belief in this right. His release is proof that the victims of injustice should never lose hope because history and experience have proven that all types of oppression eventually come to an end. Like I said before, I always tied the release of my uncle to the freedom of Palestine and to our return to our hometown and, after meeting him and experiencing the miracle of his release, I believe this even more strongly.
During Operation Cast Lead Israel committed massive war crimes for all the world to see. Among these crimes the use of White Phosphorus in densely populated areas, use of Depleted Uranium, bombing civilian targets of all sorts without military necessity, destroying civilian infrastructure with no military justification and the infamous massacre of the Samouni family… among many other crimes.
In the aftermath of Cast Lead, Justice Richard Goldstone, a Zionist Jew, was commissioned by the United Nations to write a report on the alleged war crimes. Although the report did not go nearly far enough in exposing the brutality of all the crimes committed, crimes committed by the fourth largest military in the world against a essentially defenceless and captive population, it did allege that Israel (and Hamas) was almost undoubtedly guilty of war crimes and possibly, crimes against humanity.
But on April 1st, 2011 Justice Goldstone had an apparent change of heart and effectively said that he was wrong. With regard to the Samouni family he said, Israel simply made a mistake. It seems that the world in which we live in, a world of impunity for the favoured Israeli state, is set to continue. Unless of course we the people decide enough is enough. –
MY CHILDREN KEEP ASKING ME ‘WILL THERE BE ANOTHER WAR’
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
On 10 January 2009, at around 16:30, Wafa al-Radea (39) and her sister Ghada (32) were targeted by two Israeli drone missiles while walking on Haboub street, one of the main roads in Beit Lahiya. The sisters were walking during the Israeli announced hour long ceasefire, and were on their way to a clinic nearby because Wafa felt that she was close to delivering a baby. Both women were severely injured in the attack.
“When people came to help I could hear them speak but was unable to respond. They were saying that I was dead,” remembers Wafa. While Ghada was taken to hospital with severe injuries to her legs, people had covered Wafa as they thought she was dead. Eventually an ambulance brought her to a hospital where doctors carried out a caesarean section surgery in an attempt to save her baby. It was only during the surgery the doctors realized Wafa was still alive. While her son, Iyad, was born, doctors amputated Wafa’s right leg and attempted to treat her other injuries. On 12 January both sisters were transferred to a hospital in Egypt for additional medical treatment. Wafa underwent a series of operations until the end of April and then had 3 months of rehabilitation. Wafa and Ghada returned to Gaza on 29 and 27 June 2009.
Wafa vividly remembers the months she spent in Egypt. “My clearest memory of that time is the unbearable pain caused by the changing of the bandages. It took nurses 5 to 6 hours each time. I underwent many surgeries. After an operation to transplant skin from my left thigh to a lower part of my leg, nurses removed the transplanted cells by mistake when cleaning the wound. I had to undergo the same surgery again, this time taking skin from my arms. I was screaming because of the pain. My brother Walid (25) lost consciousness and was bleeding from his nose. He couldn’t bear what was happening to me. I was very angry at everyone after the operation.” Wafa’s brother Walid was with her throughout the whole period in Egypt. She didn’t see any other relatives from Gaza. “It was very difficult for them to visit me because travelling to Egypt is costly and they had to look after the children,” she says.
Wafa is the mother of 8 children: Ehab (20), Lina (19), Hani (17), Shourouq (15), Mo’taz (13), Saher (12), Jehad (9), and Iyad (3). During her time in Egypt Wafa had limited contact with her children. She says: “in the first 3 months I couldn’t speak to my children over the phone. I refused. I was unable to talk. They were waiting for me for 6 months. The children were curious to know what happened to me.”
“When I left my children I was walking and my children had not seen my wounds. The most difficult moment was when I came back with only 1 leg and many injuries. I was a different Wafa. When I came back I was supposed to be happy and the people were supposed to be happy for seeing me but everyone was crying,” Wafa recalls. “I noticed that my children watched my every move. Jehad kept following me with his eyes, watching how I went to the living room, how I sat down. He refused to go out and play with other children. He just wanted to stay with me in the home. I was very affected by the situation of my children. They are always ready to help me whenever I try to move or do anything.”
Wafa’s eldest daughters, Lina (19) and Shourouq (16) had taken care of Iyad while their mother was in hospital in Egypt. “One of them would go to school in the morning and leave Iyad with her sister. In the afternoon it was the other way around.” She continues: “when I came home they brought Iyad and put him on my lap. He was blond and beautiful and I thought he was a nephew. I couldn’t imagine that he was my son. I asked them about Iyad and they told me that he was on my lap.” Wafa takes a lot of strength from having her children around her. She says “I am very grateful and happy for having my children. They help me with everything and keep my morale high. Even when I am sad, I would smile if my children came to me. I want them to feel that I am happy because I am with them.”
Wafa finds it difficult to accept help from her children: “I always used to be the one who would help them. Before, I used to go to the school to check on the children and walk to the market to do the shopping. Now if want to go out I must use a car. And if I want to move in the house I must use a wheelchair. I also use the walkers and if Iyad wants to take my hand I cannot give him my hand because I am afraid that I will fall. I need my hands to hold the walkers.”
Wafa received one year of physiotherapy in Gaza for her back, pelvis and her left leg. Despite several attempts, so far she has no prosthetic leg. She also still undergoes treatment for her left leg. “My leg is getting better but I am still in hospital from time to time, for example when I have inflammations. One month ago I was in hospital for 6 days. In winter my wounds hurt more and I feel pain in my pelvis, back, abdomen and legs.”
Despite constantly being confronted with the past Wafa tries to focus on the future. “I hope that our children will not have to pass through similar experiences when they are older. I wish that their lives will be better. But my children keep asking me ‘will there be another war, come again and kill us all?’ They are afraid and I see how the war negatively impacted on them,” she says.
Wafa feels great frustration over how the crime against her and her sister caused so much suffering and yet goes unpunished. “It has been 3 years since they [Israel] attacked us and there is still no response. I spoke to many people from human rights organizations about my story and what is the result of it? There is no result or action whatsoever.”
PCHR submitted a criminal complaint to the Israeli authorities on behalf of Wafa al-Radea on 07 October 2009. To-date, no response has been received.
Hamas declares it will given up all violent action, choosing the well proven Arab Spring non violent demonstration process instead. It agrees to join the PLO government and allow their presidential candidate to run unopposed.
And for icing on the cake it accepts a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and agrees to abide by the Oslo accords.
Was there deafening celebration here in Zionist controlled American? No. There was deafening silence. Here in the land of the free, most American know nothing about this.
Happy New Year to all you Americans out there who think you are free. You aren’t.
What most Americans are allowed to know about geopolitics is decided by our Elites, be they Dems or Repubs. Why should you believe me you say? I don’t expect you to. I have Uri Avnery to carry my water today, and I his.
Regular readers know I do these duet pieces with Uri as he is admired here at VT as the ultimate authority on domestic Israeli policy. That is why hardly any one knows of him over here. It’s called a media ban…part of our ‘free’ press.
They are so afraid of Uri they will not even contradict him as that would just attract more attention to who he is and his long activist and journalism career as an critic of the War Dogs of Israel.
His journey has taken him from 14 year old Irgun member, the ’48 war, to the early Knesset days, and a few assassination attempts, to the being the masthead of the Gush Shalom peace movement.
Uri Avnery – After First ‘Targeted Attack’
Zionist hardliners have publicly asked their army to take him out in a ‘targeted killing’.
Mind you, Israel is the country that American Zionist Jews constantly claim is the ‘only democracy in the Middle East’. But they know that America media will never report this targeted killing story (they didn’t).
On the contrary, I am sure they can’t wait for the day when they can start doing targeted killing here. Some say they started long ago, but I digress. This is a two punch intro.
First, the good news about the pull out from Iraq, and the eventually pull out from the disaster in Afghanistan, a defeat from the first day, was followed by the kick off of the new Asian Cold War.
We have to defend against China as their non offensive capability is not non offensive enough. They like Iran, want to have some type of effective defensive from U.S. Military power that is flanking them.
We had the silly Australian photo op of a tiny Marine training facility there…like Marines who are deployed need training. And then we have the ‘break through’ opening to the country formally known as Burma…of no geopolitical consequence whatsoever. Can you say Kabuki Theater?
The ludicrous idea of an attack on Iran is widely known all over the world, even by cab drivers. The U. S. military is facing automatically triggered cutbacks in deficit reductions, major troop draw downs in Europe and here at home.
But we are to believe we are going on the offensive defense against China, the country that buys our debt and supplies much of our military equipment. You just can’t make this stuff up.
My only conclusion is that our elites really think we are that stupid. Our Republican presidential candidates mostly are.
They are tripping over themselves as to who can kick Iran’s butt, squash Hamas…and any other military inferior target they can find to pretend they are a threat to the U.S.
American Power and Treasure – Being Misused
Does the American regime ever make their case for the threat? No. They don’t even try. What the do is what is called in the sales business…the ‘assumed close’.
If pressed, they say the proof is ‘classified’…the tried and true dodge. Our sources tell us what is classified is that they are hyping the threat.
Whatever happened to the CNN rage against bullies that was going on over the summer? I thought bully thing being cool and a role model…was out.
So what is the point of my intro missive? It’s ‘Occupy America’ time folks. We need some game changing street action here. We are in an election year and we need to do something different.
Radical me, I suggest the Left and Right getting together to protest against all candidates who are obvious unsuited to be President.
Our Elites and the MSM are not used to seeing the folks do that. We don’t want Israeli, MSM, or American shadow government candidates…none of them. It’s like…not a real choice. There is only one that is not in the bag. You know who that is.
But let me go on record here. The elites are still running the game here. The politicians are their puppets. Tunisa, Egypt, Bahrain, the Syrians were dying to overthrow their elites.
What will we do? ‘They’, are convince we are sheep, partially our fault. They are betting our staying that way.
I am praying that Americans prove this year that they are not suckers for the usual disinformation campaign…even addicted to it. For example, we had this prominent coverage of the ‘peak oil’ theory in the early 2000′s…and then all the wars really being to secure shrinking oil resources.
We are Literally Awash in Oil and Gas Reserves
And what was the real deal? It’s out now, thanks to Gordon Duff’s work, that the world is awash in petro-reserves that threaten to crash market prices in one of the elites’ prime businesses (the others are banking and food).
The new wars that are in incubator now, Western wars of terror, are to keep new reserves from coming onto the market. Nigeria is just one of the countries on the Aztec sacrificial block.
Enough of me, now onto Uri. He’s older and wiser…and I did not fight in the 1948 war, just being an idea in my father’s mind at the time.
As you read this Uri gem, ask yourself if American media a fraud for banning a man like this from American viewers.
In a criminal investigation withholding evidence is a felony. I think what is being done to us media wise is a felony…radical me. “Lay it on them Uri.”
Uri, in his mid-80′s – still ducking the rubber bullets and tear gas
IS THERE no limit to the villainy of Hamas? Seems there isn’t. This week, they did something quite unforgivable. They stole a war.
FOR SOME weeks now, our almost new Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz, has been announcing at every possible opportunity that a new war against the Gaza Strip is inevitable.
Several commanders of the troops around the Strip have been repeating this dire forecast, as have their camp-followers, a.k.a. military commentators.
One of these comforted us. True, Hamas can now hit Tel Aviv with their rockets, but that will not be so terrible, because it will be a short war.
Just three or four days. As one of the generals said, it will be much more “hard and painful” (for the Arabs) than Cast Lead I, so it will not last for three weeks, as that did. We shall all stay in our shelters – those of us who have shelters, anyway – for just a few days.
Why is the war inevitable? Because of the terrorism, stupid. Hamas is a terrorist organization, isn’t it?
But along comes the supreme Hamas leader, Khaled Mash’al, and declares that Hamas has given up all violent action. From now on it will concentrate on non-violent mass demonstrations, in the spirit of the Arab Spring.
When Hamas forswears terrorism, there is no pretext for an attack on Gaza.
Abbas and Mash’al – Hamas Occupies Fatah?
But is a pretext needed? Our army will not let itself be thwarted by the likes of Mash’al. When the army wants a war, it will have a war.
This was proved in 1982, when Ariel Sharon attacked Lebanon, despite the fact that the Lebanese border had been absolutely quiet for 11 months.
After the war, the myth was born that it was preceded by daily shooting. Today, almost every Israeli can “remember” the shooting – an astonishing example of the power of suggestion.
[Editors Note: Uri did another great piece called Instilled Memory (with my normal lead in) which details more how Israelis can generally can come to believe something happened, despite the archive records showing that it did not. The mythical version is more attractive to them than the truth. Israelis do not uniquely suffer from this mass affliction, but they do excel at it... Jim W Dean]
WHY DOES the Chief of Staff want to attack?
A cynic might say that every new Chief of Staff needs a war to call his own. But we are not cynics, are we?
Every few days, a solitary rocket is launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel. It rarely hits anything but an empty field. For months, now, no one has been hurt.
The usual sequence is like this: our air force carries out a “targeted liquidation” of Palestinian militants in the strip.
The army claims invariably that these specific “terrorists” had intended to attack Israelis. How did the army know of their intentions? Well, our army is a master thought reader.
After the persons have been killed, their organization considers it its duty to avenge their blood by launching a rocket or a mortar shell, or even two or three. This “cannot be tolerated” by the army, and so it goes on.
After every such episode, the talk about a war starts again. As American politicians put it in their speeches at AIPAC conferences: “No country can tolerate its citizens being exposed to rockets!”
Gaza Prime Minister – Ismail Haniyeh
But of course, the reasons for Cast Lead II are more serious. Hamas is being accepted by the international community.
Their Prime Minister, Isma’il Haniyeh, is now traveling around the Arab and Muslim world, after being shut in Gaza – a kind of Strip-arrest – for four years.
Now he can cross into Egypt because the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’ parent organization, has become a major player there.
Even worse, Hamas is about to join the PLO and take part in the Palestinian government.
High time to do something about it. Attack Gaza, for example. Compel Hamas to become extremist again.
NOT CONTENT with stealing our war, Mash’al is carrying out a series of more sinister actions.
By joining the PLO, he is committing Hamas to the Oslo agreementsand all the other official deals between Israel and the PLO. He has announced that Hamas accepts a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
He has let it be known that Hamas would not contest the Palestinian presidency this year, so that the Fatah candidate – whoever that may be – would be elected practically unopposed and be able to negotiate with Israel.
All this would put the present Israeli government in a difficult position.
Mash’al has some experience in causing trouble for Israel. In 1977, the (first) Netanyahu government decided to get rid of him in Amman.
A team of Mossad agents was sent to assassinate him in the street by spraying his ear with an untraceable poison. But instead of doing the decent thing and dying quietly from a mysterious cause, like Yasser Arafat, he let his bodyguard chase the attackers and catch them.
Queen Noor with the King – Before he Died
King Hussein, Israel’s longstanding friend and ally, was hopping mad.
He presented Netanyahu with a choice: either the agents would be tried in Jordan and possibly hanged, or the Mossad would immediately send the secret antidote to save Mash’al. Netanyahu capitulated, and here we have Mash’al, very much alive and kicking.
Another curious outcome of this misadventure: the king demanded that the Hamas founder and leader, the paralyzedSheik Ahmad Yassin, be released from Israeli prison.
Netanyahu obliged, Yassin was released and assassinated by Israel seven years later. When his successor, Abd al-Aziz Rantissi, was assassinated soon after, the path was cleared for Mash’al to become the Hamas chief.
And instead of showing his gratitude, he now confronts us with a dire challenge: non-violent action, indirect peace overtures, the two-state solution.
A QUESTION: why does our Chief of Staff long for a little war in Gaza, when he could have all the war he desires in Iran? Not just a little operation, but a big war, a very very big war.
Well, he knows that he cannot have it.
Some time ago I did something no experienced commentator ever does. I promised that there would be no Israeli military attack on Iran. (Nor, for that matter, an American one.)
An experienced journalist or politician never makes such a prediction without leaving a loophole for himself. He puts in an inconspicuous “unless”. If his forecast goes awry, he points to that loophole.
I do have some experience – some 60 or so years of it – but I did not leave any loophole. I said No War, and now General Gantz says the same in so many words. No Tehran, just poor little Gaza.
Why? Because of that one word: Hormuz.
Iran displayed multiple tactics during their maneuvers
Not the ancient Persian god Hormuzd, but the narrow strait that is the entrance and exit of the Persian Gulf, through which 20% of the world’s oil (and 35% of the sea-borne oil) flows.
My contention was that no sane (or even mildly insane) leader would risk the closing of the strait, because the economic consequences would be catastrophic, even apocalyptic.
IT SEEMS that the leaders of Iran were not sure that all the world’s leaders read this column, so, just in case, they spelled it out themselves.
This week they conducted conspicuous military maneuvers around the Strait of Hormuz, accompanied by the unequivocal threat to close it.
The US responded with vainglorious counter-threats. The invincible US Navy was ready to open the strait by force, if needed. How, pray? The mightiest multi-billion aircraft carrier can be easily sunk by a battery of cheap land-to-sea missiles, as well as by small missile-boats.
Let’s assume Iran starts to act out its threats. The whole might of the US air force and navy is brought to bear. Iranian ships will be sunk, missile and army installations bombed.
Still the Iranian missiles will come in, making passage through the strait impossible.
What next? There will be no alternative to “boots on the ground”. The US army will have to land on the shore and occupy all the territory from which missiles can be effectively launched. That would be a major operation.
Fierce Iranian resistance must be expected, judging from the experience of the eight-year Iraqi-Iranian war. The oil wells in neighboring Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states will also be hit.
Who Would Pay for Shutting Down the Hormuz Straights? – Those Who Caused IT?
Such a war would go far beyond the dimensions of the American invasions of Iraq or Afghanistan, perhaps even of Vietnam. Is the bankrupt US up to it? Economically, politically and in terms of morale?
The closing of the strait is the ultimate weapon. I don’t believe that the Iranians will use it against the imposition of sanctions, severe as they may be, as they have threatened. Only a military attack would warrant such a response.
If Israel attacks alone – “the most stupid idea I ever heard of,” as our former Mossad chief put it – that will make no difference. Iran will consider it an American action, and close the strait.
That’s why the Obama administration put its foot down, and hand-delivered to Netanyahu and Ehud Barak an unequivocal order to abstain from any military action.
That’s where we are now. No war in Iran. Just the prospect of a war in Gaza. And along comes this evil Mash’al and tries to spoil the chances of that, too.
My friend Amra Amra informed me that the Chicago Movement for Palestinian Rights were planning on commemorating the third year since the massacre on Gaza, which Israel dubbed as Operation Cast Lead, by releasing balloons with the name of each child killedattached- a total of 344. One of the coordinators asked if we could possibly emulate the same action in Palestine.
After some initial planning, we decided to take the balloons to the village of Nabi Saleh, as opposed to Qalandiya checkpoint, which separates the rest of the West Bank from Jerusalem. It was easier to coordinate with the villagers and a lot less hassle, especially on such short notice.
Friday morning came. Along with a handful of other friends/activists, we got the balloons and managed to stuff them all in the back of a ford (mini-bus). As we got closer to Nabi Saleh, I was sick with worry about what the soldiers manning the yellow gate at the entrance to the village would do once they saw the balloons. I was scared they would open the back door and let the balloons fly away. I reached behind me and gripped the strings tightly. From experience, I know their maliciousness knows no mercy. We decided on a story: We were going to Beit Rima (the village just after Nabi Saleh) for a kid’s birthday party. I nicknamed it, Operation Susu’s Birthday.
It was such a ridiculous situation. Ridiculous that we should be holding our breath just because of some balloons, ridiculous that these young soldiers had the power to do anything to us, ridiculous in that we were sitting uncomfortably with the balloons batting our faces, necks and shoulders, threatening to engulf us. This is occupation, when the gravity and tension weigh up against the absurdities and unnecessities, creating a split personality-one full of apprehension and anger, the other just seconds away from a good dose of hysterical hyena laughing.
Thankfully, nothing happened. They demanded to see the ID of the driver and the person sitting in the passenger seat. They opened the door and peered at each and every one of us. One soldier said, “Balloon?” but we ignored him. Then we passed. We all breathed audibly. We jumped out of the ford and walked through the village with the balloons. Kids outside in the cold morning were exclaiming, “I want a balloon!” We told them to come find us just before the protest started, still a few hours away. We went to one of the welcoming houses, and downstairs inside a room we got busy with work. We cut the papers with the names of the children of Gaza killed into strips, hole-punched them, and tied them to each balloon string. There were a lot of pictures taken, kids were careful not to be overly exuberant, and we had a great time. The kids asked what the strips of paper were, and we told them about the commemoration of the Gaza massacre.
One medic, a regular in Nabi Saleh who’s well-known by the villagers, took a stab at black humor. “So when you all get killed,” he told the children in the room, “We’ll remember your names by flying some balloons.”
“Don’t joke about this kind of stuff,” I snapped. The kids however wanted to know more.
“Is Mustafa’s name tied to one of the balloons?” 7 year old Rand asked, referring to Mustafa Tamimi, the young man killed after an Israeli soldier fired a tear gas canister directly at his face a few weeks ago.
“Mustafa was 28 years old,” the medic replied. “Did he look like a kid to you?”
We talked about what was the best way to include the balloons in the protest. Should we have the kids go down the road in front of the soldiers before the demonstration began? The soldiers wouldn’t fire tear gas at them, right? Of course they would. We’ve all witnessed it more than once. The army fires tear gas at children singing and chanting. The parents shook their heads. It’s safer if the kids were with the protest crowd; that way at least there will be people to protect and shield them once the Israeli occupation forces intensified their sadistic suppression of the villagers’ basic rights.
We decided to visit another favorite house of ours in the village. As we were making our way down the road we watched powerless, meters away, as two Israeli jeeps came hurtling up the road, before it kidnapped two international activists who were taking pictures of the village and of where Mustafa had fell.
Protest time: Amra and I got the balloons, and I gave one to a kid so he could entice the other ones to come our way. They came running. They were so enthusiastic. It was perfect timing, as the demo passed by and swept them along. We went down the street chanting. We turned the bend and continued to where the soldiers with their jeeps and skunk truck were waiting for us. The kids were interspersed in the crowd, some in the front, most in the middle. We waited for the sky to rain tear gas. A few canisters were fired (a few being abnormal; usually dozens are fired from the onset). Instead, the skunk truck rumbled forward, its nozzle spraying that nasty stuff. We all ran back, and I noticed all the kids had scampered, using their common sense. Their ages were between 14 to 5 years old.
We didn’t get to release the balloons all at the same time like planned, but it didn’t matter. I realized how silly this part of the idea was. The soldiers don’t differentiate between child, man, or woman. Getting the children together in a group to release the balloons at the same time in front of the soldiers was indeed a powerful and symbolic image, yet owing to the aggressive reality on the ground, it was not a feasible idea. It was impossible to replicate an identical event amidst the IOF, dodging tear gas canisters fired at our bodies, and running away from the skunk water. Still, the most important thing was that we got our message across, and that the kids had a blast.
That’s about how far the balloons went..the demo was ugly with a lot of tear gas, multiple arrests, skunk water sprayed numerously, and a couple of violent house raids which terrified the children inside. Sometimes I’d look up, my chest constricting, and see the clouds of tear gas hanging over our heads, other times it would be clumps of balloons floating away. It made me think of ten year old Ahmad Mousa from Nilin, shot and murdered by Israel in 2008. It made me think of 5 year old Jana singing Bombing Gasto the tune of Jingle Bells.
Yesterday in Chicago, more than 300 balloons were released in downtown Grant Park — one balloon for each child killed during Israel’s 22-day assault on the Gaza Strip three years ago.
Attached to the balloons were the names and descriptions of each child. The organizers, the youth-led Chicago Movement for Palestinian Rights, stated in their call for the event:
The balloons are 100% biodegradable and the cards will be made from flowerseed paper. So wherever they land, these cards will plant seeds in the ground that will bloom into beautiful flowers in the spring. This is our way of paying tribute to the memory of each child.
At least a hundred people attended (this is my conservative estimate) and organizers announced that people came from out of state to participate. Attendees assembled in Millennium Park and marched to Grant Park, chanting solidarity messages.
