Palestinian Refugee Revolution Canada

There is no other way to put in words what I’m about to say. I heard just yesterday of a friend of a friend who was ordered to strip down to her underwear revealing her upper body to the female airport security guard before boarding a plane to the West Bank at Pearson International Airport, Canada. To make matters even worse, she and her brother were not allowed to board their laptops on the plane and they were told to load it in someone else’s luggage. Their laptops were not given back to them and other passengers passing by security were allowed laptops. This woman and her brother are on NO list. why they were subject to this humiliation in Canada remains a question. If anyone knows how to help or has any knowledge of protocol at airport security, please message me. I will include details of their story on the blog soon.

Nakba Day: Returning to Lebanon’s border

Survivors of Israeli shooting on the Lebanese border recount their stories, one year on.

Nour Samaha Last Modified: 15 May 2012 14:45 

At least six people were killed and 100 injured after the Israeli army opened fire at the Lebanese border [EPA]

It was meant to be a day of commemoration, albeit amid an atmosphere of festive defiance; hundreds of multi-coloured balloons were floating in the skies, national flags adorning the hill top were fluttering in the wind, speeches rich with patriotism were booming over the loud speakers.

But what started off as a “day out” to the border for thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese - many of whom had never seen the occupied territories before - quickly turned to bloodshed.

By the end of the day, six young men had been killed - and 126 people wounded - after Israeli soldiers opened fire on the unarmed demonstrators, reported the ad hoc committee Palestine Action in Lebanon, which counted the corpses and the injured.

This was the scene at Maroun el Ras, a town situated on the Lebanese border with Israel, on Nakba Day 2011.

The day, known as “The Catastrophe” in Arabic, commemorates the exodus of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and their land on May 15, 1948, sparked by Israeli violence immediately following the declaration of the Israeli state.

‘Maybe it’s time to go home’

“I remember getting on the bus from Beirut on the morning of Nakba Day with my friends, and everyone was really happy, really enthusiastic,” said Munib Masri, a 24-year-old Palestinian who attended last year’s event. “It wasn’t an aggressive situation.”

“I still remember seeing the first person getting shot,” he said. “I will never forget that image. He was about 15 or 16 years old, and I remember he had the Palestinian flag in his hand. Maybe he wanted to hang it on the fence? He had managed to get through the barbed wire, and had gotten caught in it. I heard a shot, and saw him fall.”

“That image of him caught in the wire, and not being able to move, I will never forget.”

From that point on Munib was in a daze, he said. “People were getting shot, falling down. We stayed put, by the border, breaking up stones for people to throw.”

Munib was standing with his back to the fence when he felt there was something wrong. “That’s when I realised I had been shot.”

“They put me on the floor of the ambulance. In the bed next to me was a dead body”

- Munib Masri

The bullet had entered Munib’s back and, rather than shooting through the other side, it exploded inside his body. It damaged his spinal cord, his spleen, his kidney, and his stomach.

“The first thing I thought about was ‘maybe it’s time to go home’, but I couldn’t get up,” he said. As people rushed to him, he remembers trying to speak. All that came out was mouthfuls of blood.

At the ambulance, a bystander, convinced that Munib was close to death, grabbed him to recite the Muslim declaration of faith, usually said before one dies.

“They put me on the floor of the ambulance. In the bed next to me was a dead body,” he said. “All I kept thinking about was my mother, God, and how badly I wanted some water.”

Munib’s condition was stabilised in hospital in Bint Jbeil, before being air-lifted to one of the main Beirut hospitals, where he stayed in intensive care for ten days.

The doctors removed a kidney, his spleen, and part of his stomach. His spine is permanently damaged.

“I eventually woke up, and relief flooded over me,” he said. “I thought I had died.”

He spent approximately two months in hospital before being allowed to leave for Atlanta in the United States.

One year later and Munib is still in the US, where he has had to undergo intensive rehabilitation and physiotherapy for his injury. He is paralysed from the waist down, and will be spending his foreseeable future in a wheelchair.

“It takes a long time to recover; I went through a lot of pain, and living day to day with my condition takes a lot, but I have my family who is by my side,” he explained. “I can now do things, like go to university, but my mum has to take me around.”

“The harder i work in therapy, the better chance i have of recovery, but this is easier said than done,” he said.

Yet he considers himself lucky, in comparison with others who were there that day. “Thank God, I have all these resources around me. What I wonder about are the other people who were shot, the people from the refugee camps. Who is taking care of them?”

Bullet to the heart

Miled Majthoub, a 20-year-old Palestinian living in Ain el Helweh refugee camp, had also gone down to mark Nakba Day. Bussed to the border area with thousands of others from the camp in the southern town of Sidon, Miled and his friends had not intended on going down to the border fence.

“We went to show the Israelis that we hadn’t forgotten our land, and we will not let it go. ”

- Miled Majthoub, Palestinian refugee

“The elders on the day told us to go to the border, in order to show support and solidarity,” he said. “We went to show the Israelis that we hadn’t forgotten our land, and we will not let it go.”

While on the border, he watched as friends of his started getting shot all around him. “One of them was killed,” he said.

Miled had managed to reach the fence when he was shot, twice. “I was shot near the heart and in the stomach,” he said.

One bullet missed his heart by one centimetre.

He was rushed to hospital, where he spent ten days under observation, while doctors attempted to remove the shells.

“I’m a little better today, but there is constant pain around the area where the bullets hit,” he said. It has not stopped him from working, however, as he spends his days on-site as a construction labourer.

“There are some minor things I can’t do, like heavy lifting, but luckily my boss doesn’t push me,” he said.

‘You stopped feeling fear’

Arabi el Andari, a 38-year-old Lebanese citizen, had gone to Maroun el Ras with friends a little later in the day, when they were greeted with the news that there were dead and injured on the border.

“After a while, with every shot fired from the Israelis, people were becoming more and more furious,” he said. “You stopped feeling fear, and you were not afraid of death.”

The border area is littered with anti-tank landmines, and Arabi, with a few others, took it upon themselves to stop people from stepping on them.

“Every time the Israelis shot, everyone threw themselves on the ground, so we wanted to make sure they weren’t throwing themselves on the mines,” he said.

He had been trying to get people to move away from the border and back up the hill, when he moved to an area closer to the border. Several of his friends had gathered there and he wanted them to retreat from the fence.

“That’s when I got shot,” he said. “I looked down, and saw that my leg had literally been taken apart.”

The bullet, similar to the one that hit Munib, also exploded on impact, completely shattering his leg.

As people began to carry him away, he noticed his leg was hanging at a right angle. “I have no idea what held it together. I started shouting” ‘My leg! My leg!’ - because I didn’t want them to leave it behind,” he said. Taking his keffiyeh off, he made them tie it around his leg to hold it in place.

“Today I have about 50 per cent recovery in the muscles and nerves, and in some parts of my leg I cannot feel anything at all.”

- Arabi el Andari

He was taken to the hospital in Beirut, where they performed surgery while clamping his mangled leg together.

Since then, he’s undergone five operations to support the bone structure insert metal plates into his right leg above his ankle. The doctors have said he still has one more bout of surgery to go.

“I’m still on crutches, although I would say I’m finally independent again,” he told Al Jazeera. “Today I have about 50 per cent recovery in the muscles and nerves, and in some parts of my leg I cannot feel anything at all.”

“You can overcome the pain after the operations because of all the medication they give you, but the toughest thing is not being able to do anything normal, like walk, or drive, or just move around - and having to depend on someone else all the time to help you do things.”

Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta, a craniofacial, plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the American University Hospital in Beirut, operated on both Munib and Arabi.

He said the bullets used were a type of fragmentation bullet, otherwise known as hollow-point bullets, which are illegal in international war according to the Hague Convention. In addition, in 2010, one of the amendments made in the Rome Statute included the use of expanding bullets as a war crime.

“The damage done by this bullet relates to how much energy it leaves inside the tissue. If you fragment the bullet, you are able to dissipate all the energy inside the body because [the bullet] does not leave, explained Dr Abu Sitta.

Hollow-point bullets have an indentation at the tip, allowing the bullet to slow when entering tissue and either fragmenting or collapsnig in on itself on impact, causing maximum damage.

Dr Abu Sitta, who had previously witnessed the same type of bullets in patients he operated on when working in Gaza during the Second Intifada, was able to compare the fragmentation from Munib’s bullet with one he already had.

“Both Munib and Arabi were hit with the same bullets I saw during the Second Intifada in Gaza,” he said. “The Israelis denied using these bullets in Gaza, and also this time around on the border.”

The right to return

“Would I go back again? Yes, I would,” said Arabi. “But I would put myself forward as an example to the youth, to show them what could happen.”

While determined to show his solidarity with the right of Palestinians to return to their land, and to commemorate Nakba Day, he also wants others to be aware of the consequences, “so they can think twice in some situations”, he said.

Miled has no second thoughts about returning to the border. “This is our land, and we will never let it go,” he said. “It is our land, even if we are killed in the name of it.”

“If we need to go to the border again, we will do so, and if death is sent by God, then we welcome it.”

For Munib, while he regrets his injuries, he would not hesitate to go back. “It’s about standing up for what you believe in, and standing up for Palestine.”

BREAKING NEWS: Al Jazeera just reported that an agreement has been reached concerning the Palestinian prisoners.

CALL TO ACTION: Rally to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Nakba in Montreal Tomorrow!

“Nakba Commemoration

1 PM, Sunday, May 13
Gather at Bethune Square

Save the date!

On the 64th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine, and as the Palestinian people enter the 64th year of dispossession and exile, the Montreal Coalition to Commemorate Al-Nakba is organizing one unified event to commemorate the Nakba, stand against the continuing Nakba, and call for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and freedom for Palestine. 64 years after the Nakba - the war of 1948 in which over 800,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and land and the state of Israel created on that land - Palestinians continue to struggle for their right to return, for freedom from occupation, for justice, and against the Nakba that continues today.

Save the date now and plan to be part of this important event! 

Sunday, May 13
1 PM - 4 PM
Gather at Bethune Square on Blvd Maisonneuve West & Guy, march on Saint Catherine Street all the way to Philips Square.
Speakers, street theatre, photo display, distribution of Nakba Info Sheets, and other events are planned during this event.

The Montreal Coalition to Commemorate Al-Nakba includes: Antonio Atroso, Québec Solidaire, Coalition for Justice & Peace in Palestine (CJPP), Canadian Boat to Gaza, Palestinian & Jewish Unity (PAJU), Canadian Palestinian Foundation of Quebec (CPFQ), Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Palestinian Canadian Congress (PCC), Canadian Friends of Sabeel (CFOS), Tadamon, the Palestinian Cultural Club of Montreal (PCCM), Canadians for a Free Palestine, FNEEQ-CSN, Rezeq Faraj Group Montréal, Ronit Milo, Naturei Karta, and Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CJPME) (http://bit.ly/JKoXrz).

To join the coalition or for more information please contact: nakba2012mtl@googlegroups.com.

(Source: facebook.com)

Important: date of Toronto protest changed to May 20th at 2:00 PM

CALL TO ACTION: rally outside the Israeli Consulate to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Nakba in Vancouver BC

Description:

“SAVE THE DATE!

On the 64th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine, and as the Palestinian people enter the 64th year of dispossession and exile, the Vancouver Coalition to Commemorate Al-Nakba is organizing 2 events to commemorate the Nakba, stand against the continuing Nakba, and call for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and freedom for Palestine. 64 years after the Nakba - the war of 1948 in which over 800,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and land and the state of Israel created on that land - Palestinians continue to struggle for their right to return, for freedom from occupation, for justice, and against the Nakba that continues today.

Save the date now and plan to be part of these 2 important events! 

Tuesday, May 15
6 PM - 10 PM
Community Supper: Sharing Stories, Creating Resistance
Unitarian Church, 949 W. 49th St (49th and Oak), Vancouver 
This community supper will bring together the community to share stories, creative work, and discussions about indigenous resistance, continuing Nakba, and struggles for freedom.

Saturday, May 19
2 PM 
MARCH OF RETURN: MARCH FOR PALESTINE
Gather at Clark Park (14th and Commercial) at 2 PM, March to Grandview Park
Rally at Grandview Park
March and rally commemorating the Nakba, standing against the continuing Nakba, calling for justice, freedom and return for Palestine! We will also stand against Canada’s complicity and its own genocide of indigenous people. Creative actions welcome! This is a family friendly march.

The Vancouver Coalition to Commemorate Al-Nakba includes the Alliance for People’s Health, Arab Students Association - UBC, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, Canada Palestine Association, CPSHR - Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights, Canadian Boat to Gaza, CanPalNet, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Independent Jewish Voices, No One Is Illegal - Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territories, RAGA (Race, Autobiography, Gender & Age Studies) Centre at UBC, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Seriously Free Speech Committee, Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG), Solidarity For Palestinian Human Rights-UBC (SPHR-UBC), SANSAD - South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, Stopwar.ca. To join the coalition or for more information please contact nakbavancouver@gmail.com.”

(Source: facebook.com)

CALL TO ACTION: Rally outside the Israeli Consulate to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Nakba in Toronto ON

Middle Eastern Student Association York University:

Date: Sunday, May 20th, 2012

Time: 2:00 PM

Place: outside the Israeli Consulate which is located at 180 Bloor W, Toronto, ON M5S 2V6

Description:

(Source: facebook.com)