kerkko.fi

YOU

Take my water.
Burn my olive trees.
Destroy my house.
Take my job.
Steal my land.
Imprison my father.
Kill my mother.
Bomb my country.
Starve us all.
Humiliate us all.

BUT

I am to blame:
I shot a rocket back.

The "Gaza Youth Breaks Out" manifesto does not put forth any clear analysis of the current historical situation, or outline a response to it. It does not invite anyone to join anything. Its tone is denunciatory rather than analytical. Its language is apolitical: the terminology of resistance common to Palestinian manifestos is replaced here by use of the f-word. It lacks any mobilisational dimension.

Without being rooted in any particular or collective vision of change, the demands articulated in the manifesto are meaningless. Perhaps this is why it is so attractive to those who have read it on Facebook, and the European and American media who have taken it up. It caters to western tastes and desires, especially to the fantasy of a digitally connected youth emerging from cyberspace as agents of transformative change in the real world.

In the case of Palestine, this fantasy does a number of things besides soothing guilty consciences. It reframes the issue of justice for Palestine in vacuous and unthreatening terms, casts the method by which change may occur into virtual space, and empties the Palestinian body politic of the thoughtfully articulated demands of its millions of citizens.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2011/01/10/karma-nabulsi/facebook-in-gaza/

Source: Israeli television Channel 2 comedy show "Eretz Nehederet" ("Wonderful Country"), Season 8, Episode 1, skit "Kindergarten Hope".

We, the youth in Gaza, are fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights, and the indifference of the international community. We want to scream and break this wall of silence, injustice, and indifference; scream with all the power in our souls in order to release this immense frustration that consumes us because of the situation we live in.

We are like lice between two nails living a nightmare inside a nightmare, no room for hope, no space for freedom. We are sick of being caught in this political struggle; sick of coal dark nights with airplanes circling above our homes; sick of innocent farmers getting shot in the buffer zone; sick of bearded guys walking around with their guns abusing their power, beating up or incarcerating young people demonstrating for what they believe in.

We are sick of the wall of shame that separates us from the rest of our country and keeps us imprisoned in a stamp-sized piece of land; sick of being portrayed as terrorists, homemade fanatics with explosives in our pockets and evil in our eyes; sick of the indifference we meet from the international community, the so-called experts in expressing concerns and drafting resolutions but cowards in enforcing anything they agree on.

We are sick and tired of living a shitty life, being kept in jail by Israel, beaten up by Hamas, and completely ignored by the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris that "there was a single door [in the peace process] and that it was imperative to move through it now." French diplomats said Sarkozy had three things to say to Netanyahu: "you think you have time, but you do not"; "you think you have an alternative solution, but you do not"; and "you think you are stronger than the Palestinians, but you are not".

http://wikileaks.fi/cable/2009/06/09PARIS827.html

http://graphicsweb.wsj.com/documents/YearInPhotos10/year-in-photos-2010.html

"The resistance is stronger and bolder today," the head of the Taliban civilian administration in Khost said. "A few years ago the Taliban could move only at night. Now we walk around in the middle of the day. We control our lands and our villages while [the Americans] can only come in by air. The government is besieged in its fortresses, and corruption is paralysing it. One of the main reasons for our popularity is the failure of this government."

"The war has changed," says a commander of the Taliban in Quetta. "I used to fear the government wherever I went. Now we move everywhere and carry our guns with us. Two years ago we were just trying to defend our areas. Now we control this area. It is a mistake to call all fighters Taliban. The Taliban are madrasa students and I am a mullah, but most of my fighters are peasants and farmers and students who come from government schools."

"The Americans came and sat here," said a former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan. "They said they needed to talk to the Taliban but could not find them. I said go and look, they are everywhere." The real reason the Americans did not talk was that they had no respect for the Taliban. "I told the Americans to respect their enemy. You cannot negotiate with the Taliban from a position of strength. If you want talks you have to treat the Taliban as equals."

"It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward."

"Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?"

"A girl about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death."

"I think that one of the positions took her out."

"I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over."

"This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/nov/16/israel2/print

Several months ago, a state-funded school in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank was fined for segregating white Jewish students from non-white Jewish students. Now, the Israeli education ministry has agreed with the white parents' request to allow the school to continue its racial discrimination under private funding. Israeli law does not ban racial discrimination by private organizations, even schools. A court interpreted these laws to also apply to illegal settlements, which are located in areas supposedly under Palestinian control. The Palestinian Authority does not allow racial discrimination, but due to the Israeli military occupation, it has no authority over the area.