Our Wednesday News Analysis | Opinion | And Who Is Supposed to Protect the Palestinians?

A picture shows burnt cars, reportedly set ablaze by Israeli settlers, in the area of in al-Lubban al-Sharqiya in the occupied West Bank last week.Credit: AHMAD GHARABLI - AFP

There aren’t many populations in the world as helpless as the Palestinians who live in their own country. No one protects their lives and property, let alone their dignity, and no one intends to do so.

They are totally abandoned to their fates, as is their property. Their houses and cars can be torched, their fields set on fire.

It’s all right to shoot them mercilessly, killing old people and babies, with no defense forces at their side. No police, no military: no one.

If some such desperate defense force is organized, it’s immediately criminalized by Israel. Its fighters are labeled “terrorists,” their actions “terror attacks,” and their fates sealed, with death or prison the only options.

Amid the utter chaos created by the occupation, the ban on Palestinians defending themselves is one of the craziest rules; it’s an accepted norm that isn’t even discussed. Why aren’t the Palestinians allowed to defend themselves? Who exactly is supposed to do it for them? Why, when talking about “security,” it’s only about Israel’s security? Palestinians have more victims of assaults, bloodshed, pogroms, and violence – and no defensive tools at their disposal...

Read more: Opinion | And Who Is Supposed to Protect the Palestinians?

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FROM WISCONSIN TO GAZA TO JENIN: AN AMERICAN WRITER’S LIVED EXPERIENCE IN PALESTINE [BOOK REVIEW]

Source: Sam Bahour
https://sbahour.medium.com/from-wisconsin-to-gaza-to-jenin-an-american-writers-lived-experience-in-palestine-book-review-66d51691b49a

By Sam Bahour
Published June 25, 2023

Crossing Borders: The Search for Dignity in Palestine
By Christa Bruhn
Little Creek Press (May 20, 2023), 506 pages, $28.95

"She closes the book hopeful that a life of dignity for Palestinians will not be in the too-distant future.

My respected friend, Sam Bahour: 'I would reframe her take on ‘dignity' by acknowledging that it is not a particular destination point, but the road traveled every day, with every meal, and through every checkpoint.

Crossing Borders confirms that “dignity” is alive and well in Palestine
and surely in the author herself as she lives every moment to its fullest,
despite challenging odds, at times. ‘"

Christa Bruhn’s newly published memoir is not the first to revolve around Palestine. However, it is uniquely placed among the few books which were written by writers who, themselves, experienced Palestine.

If you walk away from reading this book feeling that you have just read a memoir of an American daughter of a German immigrant raised under Nazi Germany, and the mother of three Palestinian Americans, who meets Palestine from the ground level, you would be correct...

Read more: From Wisconsin to Gaza to Jenin: An American Writer’s Lived Experience in Palestine [Book Review]

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JENIN TELLS THE STORY OF PALESTINE

Source: Middle East Monitor
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230626-jenin-tells-the-story-of-palestine/

By Dr Amira Abo el-Fetouh
Published June 26, 2023

Smoke rises after Israeli forces' aerial bombardment attack on the city of Jenin, West Bank on June 19, 2023 [Nedal Eshtayah - Anadolu Agency]

"Despite their massive military superiority and use of latest surveillance technology, the occupation forces failed to monitor the movements
of the resistance fighters or predict their operations.

The delusion of Israel's deterrence factor that the occupation state gloats about died in the face of the will and determination of a few resistance fighters."

Jenin refugee camp is just one kilometre square, but is home to 12,000 Palestinians. It lies seventy kilometres north of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, and very close to the part of Palestine occupied since 1948 which now forms the occupation state. The people of Jenin have sacrificed their lives for freedom and dignity, and created a legend of resistance to the occupation, so much so that the Gaza Strip no longer monopolises resistance.

The camp has stood alone in the fierce war waged against its residents by the Zionist army, which invaded on 19 June with its Apache helicopters and armoured vehicles. Six Palestinians, including a child, were martyred and dozens were injured. However, the heroes of Jenin did not stand idly by, asking for the help of their Arab brothers who have rushed to normalise relations with the enemy state, nor did they ask for the support of the pro-Israel international community, which turns a blind eye to the crimes committed against Palestinian civilians. Instead, they confronted the attack, defended their camp, and gave the enemy a harsh lesson, damaging seven military vehicles with roadside bombs and wounding seven soldiers. A helicopter was also damaged, according to the Israeli army itself...

Read more: Jenin tells the story of Palestine