“God gave Noah the rainbow sign. No more water, the fire next time!” – James Baldwin, in The Fire Next Time.
It is starting to get cold in Nablus. There are fires all around. At night, smoke palls over the city. The old city of Nablus in Palestine is under curfew. Residents have reported the murder of a number of young men and the abduction of others. It is difficult for the Israelis to get their tanks and armoured vehicles down the narrow streets. In nearby village of Nabi Saleh, a young man, Qusay al-Tamimi, darts out with a pistol in his hand. He is shot dead, in the legs and in the stomach. Is Qusay the brother of Ahed Tamimi, whose father once said: ‘my children have known only a life of checkpoints, iden tity papers, detentions, house demolitions, intimidation, humiliation and violence.‘
Another Palestinian family in Nablus is in shock. The mother has already lost a son and a husband to Israeli shelling. Their 24 year-old son had his wages stolen by soldiers on at least two occasions. The 18 year old son wants to leave Palestine and work in Australia but he faces a huge bureaucracy here and opposition there. Their three sisters are all married and one has already fled the country. The noise of gunfights surround their apartment. The second husband is still suffering wounds from his youth requiring metal plates in his legs. His mind is out of control having been put in detention time and again. In 2012 his brother-in-law in Australia managed to convince Senator for Queensland, Claire Moore, to seek help in the Australian parliament. Then Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, put in a word for the detainees when last in Tel Aviv. That was years ago. Some say Bob Carr was the high water mark of concern for Palestine in the Australian parliament. At that time, I wrote to the foreign minister Bob Carr about my concerns regarding the abduction and detention by Israel military of *** ****.
I received the following reply from the Department of Foreign affairs and Trade saying:
The Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv and Australian Representative Office in Ramallah have sought information about the circumstances of Mr ***’s arrest and detention, including from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Peter Sawczak – Director, Levant and Iran Section, 13 June 2012.
This time around, will Penny Wong do the same as Bob Carr? The foreign minister made a step in the right direction by refusing to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, rescinding the support of the previous Morrison government.
Meanwhile despite this escalation of murders, abductions, military raids and settler violence, the ABC is silent. Usually the journos wait and if the news abroad sparks an outrage that last for days, only then will they report the latest Israeli violence in the occupied territories. Or remain silent until they could be accused of bias.
The ABC reported the massacre at Bucha Ukraine but little is heard of the massacres of Palestinians in Nablus and Jenin on the West Bank, in Gaza, and in Sabra and Shatilla in Beirut. How long will they wait? The ABC will probably not report this latest incident, unless of course Penny Wong wants to get into the fray. But Penny will probably wait too. Our foreign minister already has the Israelis offside. Her office is swamped, the Senator is hardly ever in the country. The Palestinian ambassador to Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi, is in Ramallah, uncontactable.
Meanwhile the Israeli siege of Nablus is in its eight day. Here is a report from a journalist on the ground, Nida Ibrahim wearing a button on her chest of her murdered colleague, Shireen Abu Akleh.
https://www.change.org/StopIsraeliMurders
Israeli forces continue siege of Nablus for eighth day
Wed, Oct 26, 2022
Father
Baby Elisa has spent nearly half of her life at this Israeli checkpoint. Born in a Nablus hospital late on Monday, her parents are trying to bring her home to qalqilya city, a trip that often takes around 40 minutes. But it’s been hours due to an Israeli blockade imposed on Nablus more than a week ago.
Father
The baby has a little difficulty breathing, so we want to take her to an incubator. Eileen is one of hundreds trying to leave Nablus through this checkpoint, which is the only way out.
Truck driver
I’ve been waiting for more than one and a half hours. I won’t make any profit. The gas is expensive, and I’m wasting it on the roads.
Nida Ibrahim
Israel says the siege aims to prevent the growing number of gun attacks. The Israeli army told Al Jazeera more than 170 have been carried out so far this year. An armed group in Nablus called the lion’s den has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent weeks, and Israeli soldier was killed in one drive by shooting last week. The Israeli policy of collective punishment is not new. For decades, Israel has been demolishing Palestinian homes, blocking roads and imposing measures against whole communities and neighborhoods.
Palestinians say they’re being killed, detained and their lives are getting more difficult. All under the pretext of security. Israeli officials believe the blockade will put pressure on Palestinians to abandon arms and deter them from carrying out attacks. While the Palestinian Authority has succeeded in recruiting some fighters to its ranks, others say, only a political solution will end the need for armed groups. General dissatisfaction with the Palestinian Authority has led to many people supporting them despite the growing restrictions.
Hassan Ayyoub – political scientist
It’s a reaction that people would give legitimacy and give support to any group to any person to any faction if you want, that may come out and show that resilience that we missed for so so so many, many, many, many years.
Nida Ibrahim
Those negotiations and promises of independence and statehood have been going on for decades. And that means baby Eileen and her fellow Palestinians could be looking at a lifetime of waiting. Nida Ibrahim Al Jazeera the occupied West Bank
A house divided
All my life (72 years) the Australian government has voted for Israel; it has never voted for Palestine; it has never recognised Palestine as a state; it always emphasises the need for Israel to exist but never the need for the Palestinians to have a homeland. They are stateless because of Israel; because of Austrlian support for Israel; because of US support for Israel …
Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, is about to vote in the same way as all Australian parliaments have voted in the UN they have followed the United States uncritically, dumbly, without empathy for the plight of the Palestinian.
Australia’s Attorney General, Doc Evatt, as the president of the United Nations assembly, proposed the existence of Israel under a so-called two-state-solution. There is no such thing. When the state of Israel will not allow Palestinian citizens of Jerusalem to vote in their own parliamentary elections, where is the democracy, let alone a two-state-solution?
During most of my father’s life (1917-1968) there was only one land, it was Palestine until it was divided in 1948. During my grandfather’s life (1862-1953) Hebrews, Christians, and Muslims all lived in that one place. But the Zionist had to come and steal the land the houses the olive trees the lemon trees Jaffa oranges the falafel the bagel the culture.
There can be only one state in Palestine where democratic rights are shared by all.
Till then it is a house divided – an everlasting conflict.
My homeland is far.
Like vapor, its soil has passed off
Into my innermost being.
I don’t see it.
– Mahmoud Darwish
Ian Curr
26 October 2022
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