Israelis for Obama

Well, I am convinced........ that there is no hope.
HT al-Falasteenyia

Is it too late for an American overseas to register to vote?

If you are an American living overseas, how can you vote in this November's presidential election? I heard about this site yesterday on NPR, and looked at it today. You can fill out the forms to register and request an absentee ballot online and then print them out. Some states will allow you to email them, but you have to look up each state's rules. I was last living in California, which allows you to fax them as long as you also mail the signed forms. If your ballot does not arrive on time, there is also a way to print out a Federal write in absentee ballot, provided you register first. Honestly, I wasn't going to bother to vote, but this business about McCain supporters sending out 28 million copies of a right-wing, terror propaganda DVD titled Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West has me mad.

The site is called Overseas Vote Foundation and here is a video explaining it all.

West Bank Water Crisis Coverage

The BBC's website and al Jazeera both had coverage this week about the water situation here in the West Bank. The village I live in is connected to the West Bank water system, and the water has been off several days each week most of the summer. We have storage tanks on the roof of the house so we don't immediately run out of water when the main line runs out, but many times the storage tanks ran dry too. Alhamdulillah we live in a house with a cistern to collect the rain water that fell on the roof during the winter, so we use that when the water is off. Last week the water went off on Tuesday, and our storage tank on the roof was empty by Wednesday night. I have dozens of bottles of drinking water stored around the house, and we use the garden hose from the cistern to bring water to wash and flush toilets. That week the water stayed off until Saturday. This week the water went off on Tuesday as usual, but I did dishes and made everyone bathe with the well water so that the storage tank on the roof didn't run out. And I always use the hose to fill up my washing machine. I am so glad I have an American style top loading machine! My friend down the street lives in an apartment building without a cistern, and it is much harder for her. When her water runs out, it is really hard, since she has 5 kids. Can you imagine not being able to flush the toilets regularly? But I know that we still have it better than all those villages that aren't even connected to a water supply, like those in the article and video below. On the other hand, in one of our neighboring villages, they are connected to the same system as the neighboring Israeli settlement, and their water is on all the time.

I used to mostly use the cistern's water for my garden and cleaning outside, but this year I have let a lot of the garden die. Last year the cistern ran dry before the summer was over, and I can't afford to have that happen again. Much as I love flowers, flushing the toilets is a higher priority.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7571779.stm

West Bank struggles for water

By Wyre Davies BBC News, Jerusalem

The former United Nations Secretary General, Boutros Ghali, may not have been right when he said in the 1990s that the next major war in the Middle East would be about water, not politics.

His statement, though, accurately reflected the strategic and political importance of water in the region.

For Israelis and Palestinians the control of water is almost as important as the control of land.

This year, much lower than average rainfall has led to drought conditions.

In Israel it is only just beginning to have an impact, but just a few miles away in the occupied West Bank, the crisis is much more acute for the Palestinians living there.

'Humiliating'

Rabab Zorab lives just outside Bethlehem. Her husband has a good job and they have a comfortable home.

But, playing with her one-year-old daughter Justina, Rabab said it was humiliating having to wash at the homes of family members, or to go days without clean clothes because they have no water.

The Zorab family hasn't had running water for more than two weeks.

Like every other family in this apartment block they have "back-up" tanks on the roof.

The tanks, though, are nearly empty despite the family's careful attempts not to use much of the precious water.

Abir Suqar lives in the same apartment block. She also has young children, two small boys, and has nowhere near enough water to do her daily chores.

"There's no water to have a bath or shower," says Abir.

The young mother looks almost embarrassed as she says she is having to buy the boys new clothes because she cannot wash the ones they have.

In some areas of the West Bank, Palestinians only have one-third of the minimum daily amount of water recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Official figures show that per capita water consumption is three times less than in Israel, even though Israelis and Palestinians theoretically share many of the same water supplies.

Growing population

It is all about control.

Agriculture is an important industry in Israel and the country has developed some of the world's most efficient irrigation systems.

But the cultivation of non-native crops - like bananas, which consume large amounts of water - is controversial.

Human rights groups accuse Israel of using its occupation of the Palestinian territories to control the supply of water from vast underground aquifers.

Uri Shani, the Director of Israel's Water Authority, says the problem is more fundamental.

"The population of this region - Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Jordan - has grown by more than 20 million in the last century", said Mr Shani.

"All of these people use, consume and drink water."

One of the West Bank Palestinians' greatest grievances is that while they struggle with irregular or unpredictable water supplies, nearby Jewish settlements enjoy the benefits of regular access to running water.

The settlements, considered illegal under international law, are highly controversial and, like water, are seen as one of the biggest obstacles to peace.

The Israeli government insists that all communities in the West Bank - Jewish or Palestinian - have the same access to resources.

'Crisis management'

The Head of the Palestinian Water Authority is Shaddad Attili.

With a shrug of the shoulders, he says that because of the Israeli occupation he is utterly disempowered to do anything about the chronic shortage of water.

" I am the minister for "virtual" water," says Mr Attili, without a hint of a smile.

On a map of the West Bank he shows that the Mountain Aquifer lies largely under Palestinian territory, but says his department is prevented by Israel from sinking wells to extract water.

"All I do is crisis management. I can't even put two ends of a pipe together without Israel's permission", he says, somewhat sarcastically.

Israel insists that it is supplying the Palestinians with more than their agreed share of water, under interim agreements.

In the meantime Israel is helping to ease the pressure on traditional supplies by developing alternative sources of fresh water, especially desalination plants on the coast.

But with more than two million Palestinians in the West Bank not connected to a running water supply, there are concerns that the current drought may lead to an even more unfair distribution of this precious resource.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7571779.stm

Published: 2008/08/20 10:47:39 GMT

videos

I was looking for some more reports about yesterday's news online, and I found these videos on YouTube.

Here is al Jazeera's report on the little boy shot in Na'alin yesterday


Another video of the house in Beit Haninah being blown up. I couldn't find anything on al Jazeera about it.


Here is an al Jazeera report on the court ruling ordering the wall in the village of Jeyyous to be moved, giving the village back some, but far from all, of their agricultural land.


This is an episode of an al Jazeera series called "Street Food." It talks about food in Jerusalem, for both Israelis and Palestinians. It was interesting, but I have to admit that the part I liked best was the video of the markets in the Old City.

video of Beit Haninah house destroyed

I read on IMEMC this morning that the Israelis were planning to destroy a large building in Beit Hanina that was built without a permit. There is an interesting post here by an American activist who was staying in the building when the Israelis arrived on Monday morning. From his description, this building was within walking distance of my father-in-law's house. This afternoon I came across these two videos on LiveLeak. I am not sure if they are the same building.

The first is the raw footage of the explosion that brought the house down. LiveLeak reported that,

The city said that the four-story construction was "one of the most severe" building violations ever carried out in Jerusalem, and was in blatant violation of court-orders.

However in the second video former Palestinian Legislative Council member Hatem Abdul Qadr said that the house was destroyed because the owners had only "added a few meters" to the legal building.

Five families lost their homes.

At-Tuwani

This video was on Joy_in_Palestine's blog this morning. It is about the Palestinian village of at-Tuwani in the south Hebron hills, where the Christian Peacemakers Teams maintain a presence to try and protect the villagers.

And this video is also about the same area, and the children who have a daily struggle just to get to school.

video of shooting

Al Jazeera and the BBC both now have the video of the shooting I wrote about last night.

An Israeli human rights group has just released graphic video footage obtained during clashes between Israeli troops and demonstrators protesting against the separation barrier on the West Bank. The video has sparked outrage, as it shows what appears to be an Israeli soldier shooting a Palestinian at close range. Al Jazeera's Emma Hayward reports.

a ruined mosque and the rest of the al Jazeera documentary on Jaffa

Al Jazeera has posted the second part of their documentary on Jaffa. This one deals with the aftermath of the war in 1948, looking at the lives of Jaffa residents who became refugees and those that stayed behind.

About half way through the last of the clips below, it tells of 2 mosques that were left after the Israelis destroyed the neighborhoods around them. One has been renovated, but the other is in a sad state. The Siksek mosque was built by members of the Siksek family over 100 years ago. The Israelis confiscated it, and sold it into private ownership. It was most recently used as a store room for a plastics factory. The reporter who did the documentary entered the mosque with a descendant of the family who built it, and he cried when he saw the destruction. I wish they had some clearer pictures of the interior, but here are 2 screen shots of the mosque incase you don't have the bandwidth to watch the video.

Here are the videos:
Palestine Street - The Bride in Exile - 15 May 08 - Part 1

Palestine Street - The Bride in Exile - 15 May 08 - Part 2

Palestine Street - The Bride in Exile - 15 May 08 - Part 3

Palestine Street - The Bride in Exile - 15 May 08 - Part 4

alJazeera documentary on Jaffa

Al Jazeera has put online the first part of a documentary about Jaffa before and after the naqba. It is called Palestine street - The Lost Bride. I thought calling the street that already has several other names "Palestine Street" was kind of a lame idea, but the documentary was interesting. These 4 parts are only episode one. I love that al Jazeera has some of their programs up online, but I wish they could make it a little easier to watch the longer shows that are broken up into parts, by making a playlist for them so you don't have to hunt for the next part, or at least not saying that it is a "2 part documentary" and then dividing part one into "4 parts." Anyway, here it is all lined up for you.........

Palestine Street - The Lost Bride - 14 May 08 - Part 1


Palestine Street - The Lost Bride - 14 May 08 - Part 2


Palestine Street - The Lost Bride - 14 May 08 - Part 3


Palestine Street - The Lost Bride - 14 May 08 - Part 4

Road 443

Please watch these excellent videos about Road 443. This road was built in the West Bank, on Palestinian land. When it was built, the people living next to it were told that they would benefit from it, but now they are not even allowed to use it.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this first video really explains the situation.

The second half shows some of the non-violent demonstrations against this injustice.

Deir Yassin Remembered

I am, as usual, a couple days late. April 9th was the 60th anniversary of the massacre at Deir Yassin, a village that was ethnically cleansed in order to help establish the State of Israel. You can read about the massacre at Deir Yassin Remembered. In short, over 100 of the 750 residents of the village were killed that day, half of whom were women and children. The site has accounts of the events from both Palestinian and Israeli sources. I was shocked to read one account that said that the members of the group that perpetrated the attack at Deir Yassin had considered Beit Hanina as a possible target instead. Very close to home, that sent an extra shiver of horror down my spine. And Israeli Historian Benny Morris's justification of the whole policy of transfer was horrifying.

The video below is worth the half an hour it takes to watch:

"I saw it in Palestine"

I saw it in Palestine is a blog by a member of the Christian Peacemakers Team based in a small village near Hebron/el Kalil in the West Bank. Please go read today's post, it's short, and breaks my heart.

"Momma, when I'm older will I go to jail like Daddy?"

Here is the author's video introduction:

Israel's plans for the old city of Jerusalem