New YouTube film series spotlights 4 women in Gaza, Jerusalem

The Palestine Telegraph

Monday marked the premier episode of a 90-part series titled "Sleepless in Gaza ... and Jerusalem," which looks into the lives of four Palestinian women, Muslim and Christian, in a new humanistic approach to discussing Palestinian issues in the global media. The women, two living in Gaza and two in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, will discuss their daily lives in a never-before-seen manner that the producers are calling a "human look at the Palestinians."

The "Sleepless" YouTube site was launched on Sunday afternoon and already the hits are pouring in from across the region and the globe. As of noon Monday, over 1,000 viewers had watched the trailer that launches the innovative and unique experience of looking inside Palestine through the eyes of its women.

"It is to get around the usual rhetoric that often accompanies talk of Palestinian issues," said one of the executive producers on the project, Abdallah Schleifer, a professor of journalism at the American University in Cairo and an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC.

PINA TV production camera crews will be covering Ashira Ramadan, a broadcast journalist based in Jerusalem; Ashira's friend in Gaza, the documentary film maker Nagham Mohanna; Donna Maria Mattas, a 17 year-old student at the Holy Family school in Gaza, who dreams of growing up to be a journalist; and Ala' Khayo Mkari, who works with Caritas in Jerusalem.

According to the YouTube page, "the intention of this series is neither rant nor rhetoric. It is rather an opportunity for all of us, who do not live in Gaza, occupied Arab Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, to grasp how these four young Palestinian women live out their daily lives, precisely because their lives are stories we journalists were taught almost dismissively to think of as ‘human interest' and almost necessarily conflict driven."

The series will be broken down into 26-minute segments and will be filmed in Jerusalem/West Bank and Gaza, then edited and uploaded the same day. It will run 6 days a week with Friday being the day off for rest, the email said.

"How, as human beings, these four Palestinians can also experience moments of personal and community achievement, and the warmth of friends and family life that in real life is possible even in the most difficult circumstances of siege and occupation," the producers write.

The media campaign to publicize the series is in full swing, with a Facebook group set up titled "Sleepless in Gaza ... and Jerusalem."

Stories of these women should shed light on the realities of living in Gaza and the West Bank, with the goal of educating those interested in Palestinian issues and daily life.

It will be directed by Ramzy Khouri, who is based in Ramallah and Schleifer and Walid Sababa will act as Executive Producers for the PINA TV-produced series.

A Cultural Revival

by Lucy Birmingham

The Wall Street Journal

The spirit of Japan's Ainu artists

Koji Yuki was 20 years old when he turned against his father and buried his Ainu identity. That was the year Shoji Yuki died; a radical activist, he had long fought to win legal rights for the Ainu, Japan's underclass, and have them recognized as an indigenous people. More than a century of government-backed racial and social discrimination and forced assimilation had stripped the once-proud hunter-gatherers and tradesmen of their identity and livelihood.

The Ainu cause had torn apart the Yuki family. "My father divorced my mother when I was young and devoted himself to the Ainu liberation movement," says Mr. Yuki. "I couldn't understand the way he lived his life."

Years later, Mr. Yuki changed his mind about his father's efforts, and today the son is himself a powerful voice for the Ainu. But he speaks through culture rather than politics, as one of the leaders of a remarkable revival of Ainu arts, dance and music -- with a cool, contemporary edge.

The origins of the Ainu are still debated. The most popular theory is that they are descendants of the Jomon people who lived throughout Japan 13,000 years ago. They are considered a race different from the "mainland" Japanese, who are called "Wajin" in the Ainu language.

The Ainu eventually settled in Japan's north, and for centuries their villages dotted Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands. (These were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II, though Japan has disputed the claim for four of the Kuril Islands.) The Ainu culture fell victim to Japanese expansion in the 1800s, and most Ainu now live in Hokkaido, the second-largest of Japan's four main islands. In 2006 the Hokkaido government put the number of people of Ainu ancestry there at about 24,000; the national census doesn't include such a count, but after generations of intermarriage the total is far larger. Many hide their Ainu identity, still fearful of discrimination.

Handsome with a powerful gait, Mr. Yuki, 45, reveals a shyness as he explains his work as a hanga (wood block print) artist. "Hanga is not part of the Ainu traditional arts, but woodcarving is," he says. "So I asked my favorite Japanese hanga artists to teach me. I might be the only Ainu doing this professionally." His prints are mainly of animals native to his Hokkaido homeland, such as the deer, fox, bear, owl and magnificent red-crowned crane. The island, known for its severe snowy winters (it's a popular ski destination), is the site of breathtaking mountain ranges, volcanoes, lush forests and crystal lakes, and unique flora and fauna. It's easy to understand the Ainu reverence for nature and the animistic belief in spirits.

"My prints are based on traditional Ainu legends, mainly animal spirits," says Mr. Yuki at a one-man exhibition in Tokyo. "The bear is especially important." Among the Ainu, the bear is considered the most sacred of animals; one of the works in the exhibition is "Hepere Cinita," or Dream of the Baby Bear. (All the works in the exhibition carry titles in the Ainu language.) His "Sarorun Kamuy," or Crane God, he says, "represents the Ainu's desire to return to their roots, like the great cranes that migrate back to Hokkaido every winter."

He created the work in 2008, after the Ainu won official indigenous status from the Japanese government. That followed the U.N. General Assembly's passage in 2007 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and came just before a 2008 Group of Eight wealthy nations summit in Hokkaido.

Mr. Yuki the hanga artist and carver is also a musician, founder and leader of the Ainu Arts Project, a decade-old community-based music group. "We're a native rock band based on traditional Ainu music," says Mr. Yuki, explaining that he was inspired by the aboriginal Australian band Yothu Yindi and Native American bands. The 25 members, from kids to seniors, perform 50 to 60 times a year. They sing mainly in the Ainu language and dress in the splendid Ainu attusi robe. Along with the guitar, drums and bass, they play the Ainu tonkori (like a zither) and mukkuri (similar to a jew's harp).

"We've chosen a rock sound because we don't want people to associate the Ainu with just old tradition," Mr. Yuki explained. "With hanga, music and singing I can convey the traditional Ainu culture and spirit with new expressions, just like Oki and Mina Sakai."

Mina Sakai is a 27-year-old musician who founded the Ainu Rebels hip-hop group; Oki is Oki Kanno, the dynamic, 50-something leader of the Oki Dub Ainu Band, and probably the Ainu's biggest star. Half-Ainu and half-Japanese (as is Ms. Sakai), Mr. Kanno has taken the band on tours of the U.S., Australia, South America, Europe and Africa, and collaborated with numerous indigenous artists, including the well-known Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai and the Australian aboriginal band Waak Waak Jungi. The band's sound is a hot, rhythmic fusion of reggae (hence the "dub," a reggae genre), African music and electronica highlighted with traditional mukkuri and amplified tonkori.

"I'm called the 'Tonkori Man,'" Mr. Kanno says after a recent Tokyo gig where the packed house, including fans from Brazil, jumped and jived throughout the three-hour nonstop performance.

It was a tonkori that Mr. Kanno received as a gift in 1992 that persuaded him to pursue music. He had just returned to Japan after five years working in film production in New York City. Fluent in English (and its expletives), Mr. Kanno says he has no formal musical training. "But I've got my ancestors backing me, which makes my music strong," he adds. "My ancestors were really great. They created powerful rhythms and melodies, inspired by the different cultures they came in contact with through trading."

Unfretted, with three to five strings and a long, thin, wooden body, the tonkori is the Ainu people's only stringed instrument. With its limited pitch, it calls on the player to create rhythmic variations rather than melodies. Mr. Kanno spent 15 years getting his amplified version finely tuned; now he has a powerful, original sound that isn't drowned out by the bass and drums. Mr. Kanno is clear about his goal: "What I want to do is create a really cool Ainu groove, a new type of music."

A major impetus for the cultural revival was the Law for the Promotion of Ainu Culture, enacted in 1997 (a major turnaround from laws of the mid-1800s that cemented bans on the language and customs.) It led to the establishment of government-backed institutions such as the Ainu Culture Center in Tokyo, which opened that year.

Universities also are opening once-closed doors with courses in Ainu studies. Waseda University in Tokyo recently sponsored an indigenous-dance workshop with Native American Rosalie Daystar Jones and Ainu Rebels founder Ms. Sakai as guest teachers. (Ainu dance was added last year to Unesco's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.)

Ms. Sakai, with a smile that lights up a room, has become an inspiration for young Ainu. Her own inspiration was a visit with Haida Indians in Canada during a high-school class trip. She loved their new songs -- cool, positive and energetic. After years of facing discrimination in her Hokkaido hometown, she suddenly took pride in her Ainu heritage.

Ms. Sakai and her brother, Atsushi, started the Ainu Rebels in 2006 as a way to dig into their Ainu roots. The group wore attusi robes and Ainu headwear and incorporated Ainu ritual dances like the crane dance for women and the sword dance for men. Lyrics were sung in the Ainu language -- with a fresh hip-hop take. Among older Ainu, reactions to the Rebels was mixed. "Because it was so new, some conservative elders didn't really like the idea, but others were happy about it," says Atsushi Sakai. The Tokyo-based group grew to eight members, all of Ainu descent, and was spotlighted as a case of empowered Ainu youth reviving and recreating Ainu tradition.

Ms. Sakai balanced her music with activism. In July 2008, just ahead of the G8 summit, she helped organize an event in Hokkaido that attracted indigenous peoples from around the world. The festival mixed traditional culture with calls for Ainu rights, including a formal apology from government leaders for past wrongs.

Caught between old and new worlds, Ms. Sakai is struggling to find her place as an artist. "It's important that I spread Ainu culture and create pride among the Ainu, so there is no more prejudice or discrimination against us," she explains. "But this means I am not totally free as an artist."

The Ainu Rebels disbanded last autumn because Ms. Sakai decided to pursue a career as a professional singer. (The Rebels were an amateur group.) In collaboration with composer Masashi Hamauzu, she is creating a contemporary sound that includes an amplified tonkori, with lyrics in English, Japanese and Ainu. "I'm now taking an Ainu language course," she says with a smile. "It's so important that the language is revived."

Like most Ainu, Ms. Sakai isn't fluent in the language (in which "Ainu" means simply "the people"). The language, which appears to have no genealogical connection with any other language family, is considered "critically endangered" -- one step up from extinct -- by Unesco, which cites a 2006 poll by the Hokkaido government that just 14 people believe they could teach it. Always spoken rather than written, the language was eventually recorded by transcribers in katakana, a Japanese syllabary, as well as Roman letters and Russian Cyrillic.

The Ainu epic narratives, called Yukar, were barely saved from extinction by transcribers such as Matsu Kannari, an Ainu who served as a Christian missionary. From 1926 until her death in 1961, Ms. Kannari (who wrote as Imekanu) recorded thousands of pages of the dramatic tales. Many are about gods, ancestors and heroes, and some are more than 8,000 lines long. Miraculously, they are still recited from memory by studious Ainu like Jirota Kitahara, 33, a bear of a man with a thick Ainu-style beard. Mr. Kitahara began learning the Yukar in earnest at 18, listening to old tape recordings of Yukar performances with his parent's Ainu music group.

"The Yukar are kind of like action movies," he explains. "Part of one epic I recited today is about a warrior who falls in love with a very beautiful lady he discovers among the enemy -- a kind of 'Romeo and Juliet' theme." Mr. Kitahara's performance on the large Tokyo stage was far from the homey irori -- sunken hearths -- where Ainu storytellers of old entertained their audiences. But he captivated his audience, young and old, with a vigorous, undulating delivery that reverberated throughout the hall. Following tradition, he was accompanied by an assistant who set the tempo with the beat of a stick. While the Ainu language, Yukar, storytelling and folk tales are slowly gaining interest among the Japanese, Mr. Kitahara says there's a long way to go.

Illustrator and manga artist Sayo Ogasawara's solution lies in online picture books. Written in Japanese and Ainu, her "digital books" are part of a series of illustrated Ainu folk tales for children available on the Ainu Culture Center Web site. Kids can click onto tales like "The Girl Who Became a Woodpecker" that teach about Ainu history. (In the best fable tradition, they also carry morals. The woodpecker story's: Take care of your elders...or else!)

"My mother didn't teach me about Ainu things," says Ms. Ogasawara, who grew up in Hokkaido and now lives in Tokyo. "Ainu of her generation wanted to get rid of their heritage." Half-Japanese, she began to learn about her Ainu heritage in junior high school when writing a report on her family. Intrigued, she decided to learn more on her own. Tall with a graceful step, Ms. Ogasawara, 34, became a dancer and back-up singer with the Ainu Rebels. Now as she creates a new genre of Ainu art, she says, "There's so much I want to share. I'm still learning."

Embroidery artist Shizue Ukaji, 76, knows well the struggle to learn and the joy of sharing her heritage. "When I was a child, I really wanted to draw pictures, but like most Ainu we were so poor we had no pencils or paper to draw on," she recalls. In time, as a young adult, she was able to follow her passion. Protesting for Ainu rights followed, despite objections from many fellow Ainu. Now, as an elder, she is deeply respected for her years of dedication to the cause.

Drawing led Ms. Ukaji to embroidery and appliqué a decade ago. She may spend as much as a year making one of her traditional attusi robes, with appliquéd geometric patterns and intricate embroidery; they're prized for their beauty and worn for special occasions. (The traditional Ainu patterns, bold and stylized, have no representational meaning, though cuffs and hems are often embroidered with thorn-like shapes -- as Ms. Ukaji explains, to "prevent evil spirits from entering the body.") Once made of fish and animal skins and later with textiles woven from tree bark and plant fibers, the robes are now mostly cotton.

One day, her embroidery led to an epiphany. "I realized, when threads are bound together, they become strong and something new," she says, pointing to a beautiful new attusi robe with geometric appliqu[eacute] not unlike an abstract painting. Inspired by her ancestors, she used a material made from woven plant fibers. "Threads like these are important for all of humanity."

—Lucy Birmingham is a writer based in Tokyo.

The trauma of watching one’s home turning into military base

by Dr Vaidehi Nathan

Organiser

Island of Shame, David Vine, Princeton University Press, Pp 259, Price not mention (HB)

THE story is spine chilling. Only it is not fiction but the true account of the inhabitants of an island which became US military base almost overnight. ‘Island of Shame’ by David Vine is an account that leaves one wondering if there is anything called ethics and humanity in a world dominated by weapons and military expansionism. Another disturbing aspect is the mention of India as among the US military bases around the globe.

The island is Diego Garcia, a tiny spot in the Indian Ocean, then inhabited by around 2000 Chagossians. The term Chagossian refers to the people of the Chagos Archipelago, a group of 64 small coral islands in the Indian Ocean, half way between Africa and Indonesia. To make it their strategic military base, the US military set up lied its way through the Senate and the Congress. The United Kingdom acted the facilitator by "acquiring" the island for the US, to overcome its own defence fund shortages.

According to Vine, the Chagos belonged to Mauritius, which was a British colony at that time (June 1965). When Diego Garcia became the ‘chosen spot’ the British government made a take-it-or-doom offer to the representatives of the Mauritius freedom struggle. "Accept the detachment of Chagos from Mauritius and £ 3 million, or no independence. Ramagoolam chose independence and the money." He went on to become the first Prime Minister of Mauritius. Much like the partition on no freedom offer to India.

The inhabitants of the island were removed like dead fish from the aquarium and thrown out without any compensation and care. When the base employed labour, it was ensured that no native got a job, however menial, as they did not want any trouble and claims. The entire military top brass of the US and the president were aware of the fact and conscious of what they were doing. It was the people and the Senate and Congress which were kept in the dark. The latter were told that the island was generally unpopulated and only a few, less than hundred hired labourers were there. The population of nearly 2000 people were loaded into overloaded cargo ships and ‘dropped’ in Mauritius and Seychelles. The Chagossians faced social discrimination here. Their children were teased in schools, isolated were the adults were not employed if it was revealed that they were from Chagos.

The US media that boasts of its freedom abided by the government instruction not to reveal the story. The author gives the instance of Washington Post and Economist which first deferred the story and then months later watered it down so much that no one took notice.

"Today, the United States has what is likely the largest collection of military bases in the world history, totaling more than 5,300 globally and an estimated 1,000 bases outside its own territory of the 50 states and Washington DC. Slowly, awareness has been growing about this massive deployment of US forces on the sovereign territory of other nations" says Vine. The book gives the map of the location of the bases and India figures in them. The book goes on to describe how these military bases and the strength are used by the US to force political decisions on the host countries.

A very well documented book that makes a disturbing reading. It scares one to think of what military might could do to human dignity. The book gives extensive notes and references. A must read book.

(Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,New Jersey -08540)

‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ starts today in 40 cities

The Palestine Telegraph

The sixth international Israeli Apartheid Week kicks off on Monday; with the "week-long" festivities taking place over 14 days in over 40 cities across the globe.

Organizers say this year's events are meant to "educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement."

The IAW's Web site says 2010's apartheid week "takes place following a year of incredible successes for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on the global level."

Organizers say the event will not only push for an end to "colonization of all Arab lands" and the "full equality for Arab/Palestinian citizens of Israel," but also the dismantling of the West Bank security fence and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

IAW released a trailer on YouTube earlier in February, showing a series of pastoral and urban West Bank and Gaza scenes as concrete sections of the wall plummet from the sky and mar the landscape. Halfway through the video, the words "Boycott, Divest, Sanction" appear and obliterate the wall.

IAW began in 2005 only in Toronto but by 2006 had spread to Montreal and Oxford, adding five more locations in 2007, including New York. In 2008, 19 additional locations were added, and by 2009, IAW was held in 27 cities. This year, over 40 cities are part of the proceedings, from Cape Town to Beirut to Melbourne.

The first IAW was organized by the University of Toronto's Arab Students' Collective in order to show "solidarity with the people of Palestine and other oppressed nations. The first IAW was a five day event that featured lectures on the Nakba, as Palestinians refer to the dispersal of their population in the pre-state Israel following the 1948 war, as well as Palestinian prisoners, labor apartheid, and the Apartheid Wall. It also featured a lecture on 'Resisting Apartheid' that featured Haifa University professor Dr. Ilan Pappe," according to IAW.

Noah Kochman, chair of the political affairs and advocacy department from the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students at McGill University in Montreal, said that activists at McGill and other universities in Canada will seek to counter IAW by reaching out to what according to him is the 80 percent of students "who don't know about Israel and haven't yet made their mind up about Israel."

Kochman said that in addition to "combating the harassment and intimidation of Israeli supporters on campuses and the demonization of Israel," groups like his are moving to "harder-hitting, countering campaigns." These include the "don't play with the truth campaign," in which the CFJS will hand out "truth cards" on campus to dispel what Kochman says are misconceptions about Israel, in addition to hosting a series of pro-Israel speakers on Canadian campuses.

Kochman says his group won't seek to avoid politics or change the subject, saying they will directly address issues such as the Goldstone Report, Operation Cast Lead and the Gaza Blockade. Kochman also said that IAW, for its part, does not address the peace process rather, "is devoted to the demonization of Israel."

Dax D'Orazio, media coordinator for Students Against Israeli Apartheid at Carleton University, told The Jerusalem Post Sunday that his organization and others that are taking part in IAW are working "with the university community to launch a socially responsible investment policy that will work against investment in groups that violate labor rights and international law."

D'Orazio discounted criticism that IAW is devoted to delegitimizing Israel or is anti-Zionist or anti-Semitic in nature, saying that such criticism "is part of an ongoing campaign to blur the line between the advocacy of Palestinian rights and anti-Semitism."

D'Orazio added that in terms of the diplomatic process, the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign and IAW "don't deal with the issue of Israel being a Jewish state, or whether there should be a onestate, or two-state or threestate solution. What they advocate is boycott, divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel to abide by international law."

D'Orazio said that he felt the "grassroots" movement is "definitely picking up momentum," even though they have received "nothing but scorn from the usual suspects."

D'Orazio said his group's goal is to make Carleton University the first Canadian university to completely divest from Israeli companies.

D'Orazio said that while the situation in Israel "is obviously not the exact same thing as Apartheid South Africa," there are strong parallels between the two, particularly in regard to the divestment and boycott campaigns launched against both.

Last Thursday, the IAW was met with condemnation by the Canadian province of Ontario's legislature, which issued a resolution denouncing the name of the event. The measure was unanimously approved by all those present at the voting session.

Mr. Fish's Cartoons - Droning On and On

by Mr. Fish

Truthdig

What is the value of a human life to America and Britain? Not much. And now life is getting even cheaper in Afghanistan

by Mark Townshend

The Observer

• Nato commander committed to reducing number of casualties but toll continues to rise
• Average compensation paid by Britain to bereaved families falls from £7,300 to £2,900

Twenty compensation claims relating to the killing of innocent Afghan civilians during operations by the UK armed forces are being investigated by the Ministry of Defence.

In the past, Britain has paid an average of £7,300 for every civilian death in war, although the last figures available, for the year ending April 2009, show that figure had fallen to £2,900.

The issue of compensation for civilian casualties has moved to the top of the political agenda as Nato commanders place an increasing emphasis on securing the support of the Afghan population. Officials are already negotiating to establish a standard system of compensation payments among member states operating in Afghanistan.

Sarah Holewinski, executive director of Civic (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict), said: "We've been working to get a uniform system set up for four years now, and we are hopeful that nations are finally prepared to push this through."

Britain still offers one of the most generous schemes to Afghan civilians. The US, for instance, pays a maximum "condolence" payment of £1,660 for civilian casualties, while Germany opts for a system of community aid rather than payments to individuals.

It is understood that payouts have been made to the relatives of 12 Afghans killed in a US rocket attack in the south of the country two weeks ago, signalling a new impetus among Nato forces to atone swiftly for mistakes.

Holewinski said: "There are signs that they are increasingly recognising that it must dignify and recognise civilians."

She hoped that the reduction in British compensation payments was an anomaly. The figures reveal that, during the year to April 2008, the MoD paid £73,000 for the deaths of 10 Afghan civilians. The next year, however, it paid only £32,000 to compensate the families of 11 dead Afghans. The trend was also mirrored in the size of payments to Afghan civilians who had been injured.

The 22 injured Afghans received an average of £1,400 in the year until April 2008, but an average of £1,060 during the following year. By contrast, injured British troops are entitled to a maximum tax-free lump sum of £570,000.

A significant increase in the number of legal claims lodged by Afghan civilians against the government is also evident with the volume of complaints for damage to property rising from 35 to 700 – 20 times higher – over the past two years. Payouts to damaged property trebled to £360,000 during the same period.

The number of legal claims lodged by Afghan civilians against the government stood at 2,120 between April 2008 and 2009. Of these, 736 have been settled with figures ranging from £18 to £9,500. The average settlement is £572.

An MoD spokesman said: "We have strict procedures, frequently updated in light of experience, intended to both minimise the risk of casualties occurring and to investigate any incidents that do happen. Compensation claims brought against the Ministry of Defence as part of the International Security Assistance Force are considered on the basis of whether or not the department has a legal liability to pay compensation. Where there is a proven legal liability compensation is paid."

Efforts to agree an official Afghan compensation scheme run parallel with last week's confirmation by General Stanley McChrystal, commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, that he has ordered troops to limit night raids in an effort to win over the local population. His directive followed mounting complaints from Afghans who were enraged over foreign soldiers bursting into their homes as they slept.

Nader Nadery, a commissioner at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said: "After civilian deaths, night raids had become the second biggest issue for Afghans."

An inquest into one night raid in Narang district, eastern Afghanistan, in which eight boys from one family were killed, is continuing, with Nato officials keen to pinpoint the source of the faulty intelligence that led to the blunder. The Observer has been told that McChrystal's directive stemmed directly from the incident. The family involved have yet to receive compensation for the attack, which is believed to have involved covert US and Afghan forces.

A report by the New York-based Open Society Institute, which promotes democracy, has identified 98 civilians who were killed during night raids in 2009. The report also flagged allegations of ill-treatment, aggressive behaviour and cultural insensitivity.

"Afghans gave accounts of international forces tearing or chopping the Qur'an with an axe, taking women away in helicopters and returning them dead, and shooting babies or children at point- blank range," the report states.

Although McChrystal has focused his military strategy on reducing civilian casualties, the toll continues to mount. Last Sunday a Nato air strike killed 27 civilians, including several women and children, in Uruzgan province, southern Afghanistan, prompting a public apology from McChrystal.

New Demolition Orders Issued in Silwan as Main Road Collapses A Second Time

International Solidarity Movement

The Jerusalem Municipality issued a further 8 demolition orders on February 24 applying to Palestinian homes in Silwan village East Jerusalem. The main street of Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood of Silwan collapsed that evening at the same point it collapsed in January due to structural damage caused by settler project “City of David”’s subterranean excavations.

A large force of Israeli Police and Border Police, accompanied by Jerusalem Municipality representatives, executed an early morning raid on the village of Silwan that day to deliver a further 8 administrative demolition orders. Amongst the affected families are that of Riad a-Tawil, Nayef Alqam, Hani Haymoni, Yassin Salaymeh and Salfiti.

The demolition orders state “Under Construction & Management Law of 1956 you are ordered to immediately halt all current construction work and return the area’s condition to its status prior to initial construction [to remove the structure entirely]. If no action is implemented with regards to this warning the Municipality will consider taking legal action against you via administrative demolition.”

Riad a-Tawil stated that Municipality representatives visited his shop in the Wadi Hilweh district of Silwan to measure and photograph it from the exterior prior to their delivery of the demolition order to be applied to the property. He denounced the exclusive enforcement of the law on Silwan’s Palestinian residents whilst various illegal settlement construction continues unabated in the village.

Hani Haymoni reports similar treatment, wherein Municipality officials photographed and assessed his family home from the outside before issuing its order for demolition. The house is home to 8 members of the Haymoni family.

The same evening at approximately 8:30pm the Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood’s main street collapsed a second time, the cavity having been repaired since it collapsed at the same point on 2 January 2010. The collapse was due to structural damage caused by extensive excavations undertaken by settler conglomerate Elad’s “City of David” project underneath large areas of Silwan, severely compromising the structural integrity and safety of Palestinian homes, shops and streets. Elad has employed methods of “political archeology” to lay claim to the area, claiming to have uncovered the Biblical city of King David, reinforcing the right-wing ideological vision of Jerusalem as Israel’s unified capital on the basis of ancient history. Its plans are to convert the majority of Silwan in to a “Biblical theme park”, which, should they succeed would ethnically cleanse thousands of Palestinian residents from the region.

There are already over 200 standing demolition orders on Palestinian homes in Silwan that face a renewed threat since Jerusalem mayor Nir Barakat’s statement last week that the Municipality will implement all demolition orders on structures deemed illegal. The statement was made in response to an in effect order of eviction on the illegal Jewish settlement project of Beit Yehnatan in Silwan issued by the Jerusalem Civil Court. Although the law stipulating the illegality of construction without the required permit applies to all residents of Silwan, it has only been applied to Palestinians to date, betraying the Municipality’s racist policies regarding the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem. The law has been used as one of the Municipality’s fundamental tools in its attempts to limit or prevent natural growth of Silwan’s native population and its underhanded support for seemingly private settler projects such as Beit Yehnatan or Elad’s “City of David” project.