Hebron hospice feeds thousands during Ramadan

HEBRON (Ma’an) — A hospice in Hebron provides daily Ramadan meals for over 3,000 people, a Mosque official said Friday.

“At the beginning, the hospice was built next to the Ibrahimi mosque from the East,” director of the Islamic Waqf in Hebron Zaid al-Jabari told Ma’an.

“In 1964, parts of the hospice were demolished within a project to remove the buildings adjacent to the mosque. It was then transferred next to the the ‘Sultan pool’, before being returned to its current location in 1984,” he added.

The hospice provides food for poor families in Hebron and is a popular place to seek blessings after returning from pilgrimages.

Over 500 kg of red meat, 1000 kg of white meat and 300 kg of green beans are cooked everyday and distributed to the needy. Milk and bread are also provided.

The Ibrahimi Mosque is considered the fourth holiest site in Islam.

(www.maannews.net / 03.08.2012)

Israel set to approve hotels in settlements as part of “Greater Jerusalem” scheme

 

The Israeli government is set to approve government grants for building hotels in the 1967-Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Israeli government is set to approve government grants for building hotels in the 1967-Occupied Palestinian Territories, particularly in Occupied Jerusalem, which will speed up the establishment of Israel’s plans for “Greater Jerusalem”. Haaretz newspaper has described the government’s decision to approve a draft resolution as the first of its kind.

An Israeli law of 1959 only allows governments to give loans and grants for construction purposes within Israel itself. The latest move will give the go-ahead for hotels to be built inside illegal settlements on occupied territory near Jerusalem, the most notable being Ma’aleh Adumin and the Gush Etzion bloc to the south of the city. The decision by the Ministry of Tourism is intended to ease the pressure for hotel rooms in Jerusalem.

According to Haaretz, the draft recommends that an additional 9,500 hotel rooms will be needed to accommodate the increasing number of tourists coming to Jerusalem from around the world. The newspaper noted that a 2010 study commissioned by the same ministry projected shortages of hotel rooms in Jerusalem.

Critics of the scheme contend that the shortage of hotel rooms is a side-issue, and that the main reason for the proposal to build hotels in the illegal settlements is to boost Israel’s Judaisation plans for “Greater Jerusalem” and take even more Palestinian land. An article by Ron Pundak of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum in Haarez on 1 August referred to “the prime minister’s policy of de facto annexation of the West Bank”. The hotel scheme, claim Palestinians, has to be seen as part of the same process.

(www.middleeastmonitor.com / 03.08.2012)

2 Lessons for Islamic Work from the Sunnah

There are many important aspects of the Prophet’s Sunnah that we sorelyneed to revive when calling others to     righteousness. One of these is Prophet’s example of patience, which stemmed from his certainty of faith. This can manifest itself when we emulate the gradual approach Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used in communicating the teachings of Islam to the people, since such an approach requires patience.

It is therefore no surprise that Allah describes all the prophets as having patience: “And We made from among them leaders guiding by Our command, because they were patient and they were certain of Our signs.” [Sūrah al-Sajdah: 24]

This verse indicates that leadership in matters of religion is achieved through patience and conviction.

When Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) emigrated from Mecca to Madinah, he took his time building the community, and he showed tremendous foresight and planning. He was not impatient to make changes at a pace too fast for people to cope with. Some developments may have appeared like setbacks, but the Prophet (peace be upon him) understood why those steps were necessary.

A good example of this was the Treaty of Hudaybiyah, where the Prophet agreed not to make pilgrimage to Mecca during that year and agreed to very unbalanced terms of peace with Quraysh. Most of his Companions considered this to be a setback for the Muslims. However, the Prophet (peace be upon him) understood it to be a great achievement for Islam.

Indeed, the Qur’an declares it a “victory”. Allah says: “Indeed, We have given you (O Muhammad) a clear victory.” [Sūrah al-Fath: 1]

As a result of the treaty, the tribes of Arabia were free to peacefully enter into alliances with the Muslims and many of them embraced Islam during this time.

Likewise, we have the example of the Prophet’s reaction when the Muslims returned from the Mu’tah campaign in the north of Arabia, where they faced the Byzantine forces and returned after a protracted series of skirmishes without any decisive victory on either side. Many of the Muslims in Madinah saw this as a setback, since the Byzantines has been making threatening overtures to the Muslims and they had even killed a number of peaceful Muslims emissaries hoping to provoke a conflict and draw the Muslim forces up north in the first place, where a Roman army of 200,000 soldiers awaited them.

Some of the people of Madinah welcomed the returning armydespairingly and berated them by covering their faces with dust and saying: “O fleeing ones, did you flee for the sake of Allah?”   

The Prophet (peace be upon him) corrected them: “They are returning successfully, not fleeing.” The truth is, the very fact that the Muslims were able to face the massive Byzantine forces without being routed was actually a testament to the Muslims’ strength. It was all the better that further violence was avoided on both sides.

In both of these landmark historical events, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had been able to look at the situation with a patient and thoughtful eye. He could see the progress that was being made, because he was able to look at the bigger picture and take the judicious steps needed to reach his goals.

Another aspect of the Prophet’s Sunnah that we need to inculcate into our lives is his consideration for the feelings and sensitivities of others. He knew how to relate to people and he treated everyone with kindness and respect.

Moreover, he was always willing to overlook past wrongs. In this way, he drew near to him many people who had originally been hostile to him. This is an aspect of the Prophet’s Sunnah that that many Islamic preachers today neglect. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) preferred to build bridges to those who rejected his Message. He always left an opportunity open for positive relations with people, even with those who openly showed him enmity.

When people who had wronged him in the past approached him in a positive manner, he would not remind them of their former abuses, nor did he turn them away. Instead, he would behave in a manner that would help them to forget their former wrongs. The most striking example of this is during the conquest of Mecca, when he pardoned everyone.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, addressing the assembled people of Quraysh on that day, saying: “What do you think I shall do with you?”

They said: “What is good. You are a noble brother and the son of a noble brother.”

He then declared: “Go, for you are free.”

Likewise, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had forbidden Muslims from deriding the polytheists of the past or insulting the unbelievers who have died. This is partially out of respect for the feelings of those who are alive. He said: “Do not deride the dead, causing pain to the living.” [Sahīh al-Bukhārī (1393)]

The Prophets all understood that they were guides for the people. They were there to help the people and to remove the difficulties, wrongdoing, and strife that plagued them. They were not sent by Allah to stir up those problems and add fuel to the fire. They were not there to make it difficult for people to embrace the truth. They never asked the people for any compensation, but only sought to provide guidance.

Allah describes them, saying: “Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, so from their guidance take an example. Say: ‘I ask of you for this message no payment. It is but a reminder to all the creation’.” [Sūrah al-An`ām: 90]

(sunni-news.net / 03.08.2012)

Assad is preparing his defence at The Hague

What will happen to Bashar al-Assad? This question is frequently raised in informal contacts now taking place within efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria.

Intermediaries claim that President Assad would be amenable to stepping aside if he and his immediate family were guaranteed immunity from prosecution.

Earlier this week the Syrian National Council (SNC), an umbrella organisation for opposition groups, came close to offering such a deal by suggesting a “Yemeni solution” to a crisis that has already claimed 20,000 lives. The phrase refers to a deal under which Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down in favour of his deputy Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

The Syrian version of the “Yemeni solution” would see Assad handing over to one of his vice presidents who would then form a transition government and hold free elections within a reasonable timespan.

It is not clear where Assad might go under such a deal. Will he stay in Syria? Does the SNC have the authority to grant Assad, his mother, wife, and brother Maher immunity?

The SNC has not yet answered those questions.

Theoretically, the interim government, formed under one of Assad’s vice presidents, would be able to grant him immunity. However, such a decision would not bind future Syrian governments. Also, it would not be binding for the 139 nations that have signed the Rome Statute which created the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Rome Statute was signed in 1998 after a decade of negotiations involving over 70 countries. The statute gives the ICC the right to prosecute cases relating to crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and ethnic cleansing. So far 139 countries have signed the statute and 121 have ratified it as part of their national law.

The hitch is that the ICC could only prosecute cases in countries that have adopted the statute, and Syria has not. In countries outside the remit of the ICC, prosecution could come with authorisation from the Security Council. Assad may hope that Russia that has supported him for so long might veto moves to bring a case against him.

But would Russia want to antagonise the new Syria, and the bulk of the Muslim world, in order to please a lost pawn?

To hedge his bets, Assad has been preparing his defence against charges that might be levelled against him.

The interviews that Assad has granted to American, Iranian, German, and Turkish televisions in the past seven months offer a glimpse of his scheme.

Assad’s defence seems to be based on four pillars.

The first is that he is not informed about the atrocities.

In the interview granted to the American network ABC, he uses the phrases “don’t know” and “haven’t heard” no fewer than 11 times.

He claims that he has not seen the mass of documents sent to his government by the United Nations last December, detailing 225 cases of torture, rape and murder carried out by his security forces.

In all legal systems, however, ignorance of the law is no defence and the Statute of Rome is no exception. This was the line used, without success, by Serbian despot Slobodan Milosevic and the Liberian dictator Charles Taylor. All that Assad needed to find out what was going on was to watch his own television to see people being killed by his henchmen.

Assad’s second line of defence is to dissociate himself from the Syrian armed forces, blaming them as solely responsible for the atrocities.

In the ABC interview he says: “They are not my forces, they are military forces belong to the government (Sic)”. “I don’t own them, so they are not my forces.”

He harps on the same theme in his interview with the Iranian TV. “It is the commanders who decide how to deal with the situation,” he claims.

The Syrian top brass has been uneasy about Assad’s efforts to shift the blame onto the army. Former Defence Minister General Ali Habib resigned after he demanded that, when it came to firing on civilians, Assad give orders in writing. His successor General Daoud Rajha is reported to have made similar demands days before he was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus.

This week, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi parroted Assad’s line with reference to chemical weapons. He said such weapons would only be used “under the generals’ decision”, thus exonerating the president in advance.

That line, too, is hard to sell. Under the Syrian Constitution Assad is Commander-in-Chief which means that no rules of engagement could be adopted without his approval.

A similar line of defence was used by Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic at the ICC. Nevertheless, the supremacy of political authority over the military is established in almost every judicial system. Syrian generals may well be liable to prosecution for their role in the carnage but that would not exonerate Assad’s as the supreme political authority.

Assad’s third line of defence is that there is no war situation in Syria and that what we see is a campaign by foreign terrorist groups acting on behalf of powers angry at his alliance with the so-called “Resistance Front.”

This is the theme he used in interview with Iranian and Turkish televisions.

The problem for Assad is that he has weakened his case by declaring that Syria was facing “real war” just days before the International Red Cross decided that his country was in a state of civil war. Whether real war or civil war, the upshot is that the Geneva Conventions apply in Syria today. That means charges of war crimes could be brought against Assad.

Assad’s fourth line of defence, best exposed in the interview with the German television, is to dismiss the UN, and implicitly the ICC, as a sham.

“The UN is controlled by the United States and has no credibility,” he says.

In other words, he would not recognise the authority of the ICC to try him even if the Security Council did trigger the procedure.

That line has been used by former Ivory Coast dictator Laurent Gbagbo and the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Assad risks finding himself in queer company.

(sunni-news.net / 03.08.2012)

Hamas deplores Yarmouk camp massacre in Damascus

BEIRUT, (PIC)– The Hamas Movement strongly denounced the bombing of the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus which claimed the lives of 20 Palestinians and led to the injury of several others on Thursday evening.

In a press release, Hamas mourned the families of the victims and called on the Syrian rivals not to drag the Palestinian refugees into the Syrian crisis.

“As we express our pain for the bloodshed of the Palestinians, we also express our great pain and sorrow for the ongoing bloodshed of the dear Syrian people,” Hamas underscored.

According to Palestinian soruces, Ja’una street in the Yarmouk refugee camp was bombed with mortar shells a few minutes after the Palestinian families broke their fast at twilight yesterday.

(occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com / 03.08.2012)

Israel losing international support, says British ambassador

Matthew Gould says Jewish state losing mainstream political support over lack of peace progress and West Bank expansion

Israeli border police at the Kalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem. The British ambassador says Isreal is losing international support, and is being perceived as Goliath, and Palestine as David. Photograph: Oliver Weiken/EPA

The British ambassador to Israel has said international support for the Jewish state among those in the political mainstream is eroding, driven by settlement expansion in the West Bank and continued restrictions on Gaza.

There is “growing concern” in the UK over lack of progress towards peace with the Palestinians, and Israel was now being seen as Goliath against the Palestinians as David, said Matthew Gould, in reference to the biblical story.

In an unusually forthright interview for Israel’s Channel 10 news, Gould said he detected a shift among the middle ground of British members of parliament towards a more critical view of Israel.

“Israelis might wake up in 10 years’ time and find out that the level of understanding in the international community has suddenly changed, and that patience for continuing the status quo has reduced,” he said.

“Support for Israel is starting to erode and that’s not about these people on the fringe who are shouting loudly and calling for boycotts and all the rest of it. The interesting category are those members of parliament in the middle, and in that group I see a shift.”

But, he added, Britain was “by no means unique” in its growing concern about the lack of progress towards peace. “Anyone who cares about Israel’s standing in the world should be concerned about the erosion of popular support.”

The shift was a result of Israeli government policies, Gould said, suggesting that it could not be countered or obscured by hasbara. The Hebrew word for explanation refers to efforts by the Israeli government and its supporters to promote a pro-Israel agenda and challenge what it sees as negative media coverage.

“The centre ground, the majority, the British public may not be expert, but they are not stupid and they see a stream of announcements about new building in settlements, they read stories about what’s going on in the West Bank, they read about restrictions in Gaza. The substance of what’s going wrong is really what’s driving this,” Gould said.

He added: “Israel is now seen as the Goliath and it’s the Palestinians who are seen as the David.” In the biblical story of David and Goliath, the young future king of Israel defeats the mighty Philistine warrior armed only with a sling and stones.

Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, said: “The feelings of friendship among Israelis towards the British and Britain in general are as strong as they have always been. It makes us sad to hear the ambassador talking about a growing asymmetry. But diplomats don’t just make comments, they convey messages. We have taken good note.”

Dermot Kehoe, the chief executive of Bicom, an organisation that promotes Israel in the UK, said: “The Britain/Israel relationship has never been stronger in terms of trade, technology and security cooperation. Our polling shows the relationship is not eroding.

“The ambassador is right to highlight the importance of the peace process to the British public. However, Israel is not Goliath. It is a small country surrounded by threats from Iran to Hezbollah to Hamas. The Palestinians also share responsibilities to return to the negotiating table in the search for a lasting peace.”

An Israeli official dismissed the David and Goliath allusion, saying it “does not describe anything near reality. It’s a dishonest attempt to take a biblical myth and turn it upside down to make Israel look bad in Jewish terminology.” In the past 30 years, he added, there had been other attempts, particularly by the Palestinians, “to dispossess Jews of our history”.

The British embassy in Tel Aviv declined to comment on the interview.

At 40, Gould is the first Jewish person to serve as British ambassador to Israel. He said in an interview to mark his arrival in Israel in 2010 that being Jewish gave him “a visceral understanding of why Israel is so fixated on its own security and why security and peace mean so much to Israel and why it’s a country which feels so keenly that it lives on the knife edge”. He previously held posts in Tehran, Washington and Downing Street.

A second high-profile British diplomat last month said that the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians were diminishing. In an article for Prospect, Tom Phillips, who was Gould’s predecessor as ambassador to Israel, said both sides and the international community were responsible for “the chances of a solution to the long-running conflict [growing] bleaker”.

Phillips, who recently retired after a stint as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, wrote: “This is the most complex conflict I know. And it may already be too late to achieve a two-state solution, even if that would have been the right solution, and the only possible solution.”

(www.guardian.co.uk / 03.08.2012)

Sources: Hamas frees leader of militant group in Gaza

Al-Saedni is one of the founders of the Tawhid and Jihad group.

GAZA CITY (Reuters) — Gaza’s Hamas government has freed a militant group’s leader who is believed to have ties to al-Qaida and had been detained for 17 months, a source from a Jihadist Salafi group said on Friday.

Hisham Al-Saedni, also known as Abu Al-Waleed Al-Maqdissi, was freed late on Thursday, the source said. Hamas declined immediate comment.

Saedni, in his late 50s, is believed to head the Jihadist Salafi group Tawhid and Jihad (One God and Holy War). The group adopts an Islamist ideology shared by al-Qaida, and sources said that Saedni himself joined al-Qaida in Iraq at the beginning of the US-led invasion in 2003.

Hamas had accused Saedni of attempting to disrupt public order in the Gaza Strip and arrested him on March 4, 2011.

Members identifying themselves with Tawhid and Jihad kidnapped and killed a pro-Palestinian Italian activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, last year, in an apparent attempt to secure the release of Saedni.

A number of Jihadist Salafi groups have surfaced in Gaza in recent years. Unlike Hamas, they endorse an ideology of global Jihad and some accuse Hamas of failing to implement Islamic laws in the coastal enclave.

(www.maannews.net / 03.08.2012)

Abu Bakar Bashir threatens war if Burma harms Muslim Rohingyas

Indonesian radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has written a letter from jail threatening war if Myanmar continues to harm Muslim Rohingyas.

JAILED Islamist cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has threatened to wage war if Burma continues to harm Muslim Rohingyas.

The 74-year-old made the threat in a letter to the country’s president Thein Sein, seen on a website yesterday.

He is widely regarded as a spiritual leader of radical Islam in Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim country – and is currently serving a 15-year-jail term for funding terror.

“We’ve heard Muslims screaming in your country because of your acts of evil… you have taken them out from their homes and are killing them,” he wrote in the letter dated July 22, which was passed on to followers and published on the website voa-islam.com.

“If you neglect these calls, by Allah our Lord, you have witnessed the fall of proud and conceited countries in the hands of our mujahideen soldiers,” he added.

The letter was confirmed as authentic by Son Hadi, the spokesman for Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), a group founded by Bashir in 2008 and labelled a terrorist organisation by the United States.

An outspoken supporter of violent jihad, Bashir was convicted in 2010 of financing a terror cell in Aceh province. Earlier this year, the country’s top court overturned a lower court’s decision to cut his 15-year term.

“You must know that we are brothers as Muslims. Their pains is our pain, their sorrows are our sorrows, and their blood that you shed is our blood too,” Bashir wrote. “By the will of Allah, we can destroy you and your people.”

Son Hadi said yesterday that the letter was submitted on Monday to the Burma embassy in Jakarta. The embassy was not reachable for comment.

About 100 Muslim extremists from the Indonesian branch of pro-Caliphate organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir protested yesterday outside the Burma embassy and vowed a Jihad to stop the “Muslim cleansing”.

“We are ready to die to help our fellow Muslims in Myanmar [Burma]. A Jihad is the only way to stop this massacre,” one of the protesters on loudspeaker told the crowd, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest).

Violence erupted in June in Rakhine state, in western Burma, between Buddhists and Rohingya, leaving about 80 people dead from both sides, according to official estimates deemed low by rights groups.

Burma security forces opened fire on Rohingya Muslims, committed rape and stood by as rival mobs attacked each other during the recent wave of sectarian violence, New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

The authorities failed to protect both Muslims and Buddhists and then “unleashed a campaign of violence and mass roundups against the Rohingya”, the group said in a report.

(www.heraldsun.com.au / 03.08.2012)

Syrische vluchtelingen mogen blijven

Minister Leers belooft bescherming voor Syrische asielzoekers die moeten vrezen voor vervolging of geweld in hun eigen land.

In een brief aan de Tweede Kamer laat minister Leers voor Immigratie, Integratie en Asiel weten dat tegenstanders van het Assad-regime niet worden teruggestuurd naar Syrië.

Leers moest een nieuw standpunt innemen over de Syrische asielzoekers in Nederland, omdat het moratorium op asielbesluiten na 1 jaar was verlopen. Er liggen nu zeker 500 dossiers die de Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND) gaat bekijken.

Mensenrechten in Syrië
De IND houdt daarbij rekening met de risico’s op ernstige schendingen van de mensenrechten in Syrië. Wie ‘geen actief aanhanger’ is van het regime van de Syrische president Bashar al-Assad wordt niet teruggestuurd.

Staatsterreur
Leers baseert zijn nieuwe standpunt op een ambtsbericht van het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken. Daaruit blijkt dat het Syrische regime zich onder meer schuldig maakt aan staatsterreur door de inzet van knokploegen en criminelen tegen de bevolking, grootschalige willekeurige arrestaties en foltering van gevangenen met de dood tot gevolg.

Tijdens de aanhoudende ongeregeldheden in diverse steden worden tegenstanders van het regime niet gespaard, aldus het ambtsbericht.

(www.bnr.nl / 03.08.2012)

How Israel’s siege on Gaza killed my sister

Zeinab’s life could have been saved. But Israel deemed her a “security threat,” making it impossible for her to get a simple operation.

“You will become an uncle soon,” my sister Zeinab told me cheerfully. She didn’t know then what fate had in store for her, for us.

In April 2007, as I was getting ready to sit my high school final exams known as tawjihi, one of the most important exams in Palestine, I learned that my pregnant sister had fallen sick. She was taken to hospital where she received medical attention for two days.

Doctors decided that she should have an abortion. Otherwise, her life would be at risk. Tearfully, she agreed. I stopped thinking of the idea of me becoming an uncle.

A “simple” operation

A month later, she was taken to the hospital. She had a problem with her gallbladder. She had to undergo surgery. The operation was described as “simple” by doctors, yet some of the equipment needed for it was not available in Gaza hospitals. She applied to get a permit to travel to Jerusalem to have it there, but she was denied entry under the pretext of her being a security threat to Israel. My 26-year-old sister was a security threat to Israel. A security threat.

It took her almost a week to learn that she was denied entry. Poison started to spread in her body through the veins. Her skin turned yellow, literally. I was shocked as I saw yellow invading her body when I went to visit her at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

A security threat?

The Rafah crossing — which separates Gaza from Egypt — was closed most of the time by then as Fatah and Hamas loyalists were fighting in Gaza. The European Union team which had been monitoring the crossing suspended its mission as the entire coastal enclave went into chaos.

The crossing was finally opened one last time before Hamas took over the administration of Gaza. My sister, along with my dad and aunt, managed to cross into Egypt in an ambulance.

Too late

I talked to her a day before I sat my information technology exam. Her voice sounded like that of someone talking from a deep hole.

It was too late. My eldest sister passed away days later in Cairo.

“Let’s go to your house,” Mohammad, one of my cousins, suggested as I was waiting in front of the main gate of Khaled Bin al-Waleed School after sitting the first English exam. “You wait, dude. We are not in a hurry. Why should we go to our house?” I replied. “Nothing, but I thought it would be a good idea to do so,” he said.

As we walked along with Bilal, another cousin of mine, they started talking about the importance of patience and the reward awaiting patient people. I was asked questions about my sister; they had difficulty talking about her death.

I showed resilience when my eldest brother was killed on 7 March 2004 at the age of 18. I know what loss is. In vain, I tried to hide the drops of tears falling from my eyes. My cheeks were washed with the tears of loss.

My family waited three days until my dad, aunt and my sister’s dead body got a permit to get back to Gaza via the Israeli-controlled Karim Abu Salem crossing.

During that time, my dad had to return my sister’s body to al-Arish hospital (50 kilometers south of the Rafah crossing) twice, for it was hard to get a permit to get back into Gaza.

Some Israeli soldiers waited for the dead body at the crossing. Those very Israeli soldiers served a state that prevented her from travelling to Jerusalem for a vital operation.

(Zeinab had a dreadful experience in Jerusalem previously. When she fell ill at the age of 12, my dad brought her to a hospital in Jerusalem, where an Israeli doctor removed her spleen. The doctor later acknowledged that the operation was not necessary. We believe that this procedure led to many of Zeinab’s subsequent health problems.)

“Why do you cry, all of us will die?” a rude Israeli soldier — attempting to be wise — asked my dad. He got no answer. Dad was not in the mood to answer him.

They finally left the crossing and made it to Gaza. My 26-year-old sister was buried next to many other loved ones in al-Nuseirat Cemetery as the voice of the stupid Israeli soldier echoed in the sky.

“Why do you cry, all of us will die?”

All of us will die, wise.

Yousef M. Aljamal is a Gaza-based translator and blogger. His website iswww.yeljamal.wordpress.com. He can be followed on Twitter: @YousefAljamal.

(electronicintifada.net / 03.08.2012)