13th Day: THE HALF % STATE

The Shameful Half Percent State poster/ stencil.

When words can no longer find their way to my mind
When news about Palmer Report and Erekat's "tough" response no longer move me
I sit alone and wonder about the Shameful Destiny of the Half Percent State.

Proposed Stencils (Art by OS SELMAN added on Sept. 07th)

14th Day: Comparing PA Bantustans to Tel Aviv Alone

Numbers are interesting.

Ever since I made yesterday's calculations, I've been taken by an obsession with comparing the PA Territories with Tel Aviv.

If  the future Palestinian state was to be compared to Tel Aviv urban area only, we can come up with some very interesting results. Below are columns comparing Tel Aviv to PA Territories as I prefer to call them, which exclude the Gaza Strip. The calculations assume PA Territories [was] a city in its own right. 

What do we learn?

The West Bank, Green is
the PA Country/ Bantustans

The PA Territories which will be included in the Bantustanized-State is almost 0.59% the size of historical Palestine's size. The PA officials have long claimed that they "gave up 78% percent of historical Palestine for peace. The truth is, they gave nearly 99.49% of it for profit.

The PA Territories where the future [bantustanized] state will have a sort of governmental control or more accurately: visual control (because actual control will be left for Israel) is appx. comparable to Tel Aviv's Metro area alone in terms of both size and population, only 10% smaller. 

The best scenario which the PA can experience would be a complete Israeli withdrawal from Areas B in which case the PA state would be comparable to Tel Aviv's Urban Area, only 10% smaller. 

So far, the Palestinian population under direct and "full" Palestinian control (those living within Area A) does not seem to have a reliable statistics. 

It is now obvious there is not one single reliable source that provides a complete census of the population of the Palestinians whether in the West bank, Israel, Gaza Strip, and in East Jerusalem, nor Jewish population in those areas (Major discrimination were found between various sources that ranged from few hundreds up to a million and more.). Nor does there seem to be a source that gave a single unified estimate for the Area covering historical Palestine without experiencing discrepancies between various data.

Population-wise: It is not clear if the US' claim back in 2005 that Palestinian Arabs have exceeded the number of Israeli Jews in the land of Historical Palestine is still valid. The Numbers seem to be inflated on both sides.

The information was acquired, or calculated, based on data found on wikipedia.org, CIA World Fact Book plus other sources, assuming they're the most up-to-date:

Tel Aviv Area	PA Territories Area, based on Oslo (Percentage from the West Bank excluding E. Jerusalem, total area 5,640 km2)
- City 51.4 km2 - Urban 176 km2 - Metro 1,516 km2 Appx. Population - City 404,400 - Urban 1,284,400 - Metro 3,325,700	- Area A (2.7%) 152.2 km2 - Area B (25.1%) 1415.6 km2 - Area C (72.2%) 4,072 km2 Appx. Population - West Bank (2010) Appx. 2,568,555 (not clear whether this number includes East Jerusalem Palestinians and according the CIA World Fact Book or if Israeli settlers were included, in which case this would bring the number down to 2,097,055 if Israeli settlers were excluded) or 1,714,845 (according to PCBS as of 2010) or 2,345,000 according to Jerusalem Post as of 2010)
Percentage of Tel Aviv Area based on Historic Palestine (total area of 26,920 km2)	Percentage of PA Territories based on Historic Palestine (total area of 26,920 km2)
- City (Area A) 0.2% - Urban (Area B) 0.65% - Metro (Area C) 5.6%	- Area A (City) 0.56% - Area B (Urban) 5.25% - Area C (Metro) 15.1%

16th Day: Where did our revolution go wrong?

In a previous post, I argued that Palestine never had a revolution. 

Today I was on my way back from Bethlehem to Ramallah. The radio station the driver was blasting was not a typical pop music station that appeals to young thuggish-styled drivers, nor a Quran station that the more-religious drivers force everyone to listen to. This driver has tuned into a station that played patriotic music. It is now official, the September 20th has really become a patriotic movement amongst little informed Palestinians/ the majority. 

One song in particular which caught my attention was the sweet Wallah Lazra'ak Biddar which is a love song dedicated for a Palestine that was "farmed and made green" for generations by our ancestors. The song declares "From al-Jarmaq (Mount Meron) a Safadi (a person from the ethnically cleansed town of Safad) sings 'Gaza and al-Bireh are home."

History wouldn't have it any other way as Abu Mazen, a Safadi, has declared Gaza and al-Bireh (Where the PA headquarters are located) his only home, not Safad which he now recognizes as part of Israel. 

As I recall the PLO so-called revolution, I wonder how well-forged our history has been. Sometimes it feels as if Palestine's history has been a big conspiracy, a hoax, or merely perfect series of mistakes that go so harmoniously forever towards our demise. Where did we go wrong? Or should I ask: how good have we performed our mistakes to bring us to this state? 

From early on in our modern history we have been committing mistakes, one after the other, as if our leadership cannot perform anything right, but instead has become a perfect sinner. 

I do not like to think of our history as a hoax, but really, has this all been one big hoax? How come the PA is so perfect at riding the waves of revolution and gain all the support when they are completely against it? Why do we as Palestinians support mistakes? Why do we never question our leadership without escaping oppression? Why am I not out on the streets now demanding that not only Gaza and Ramallah, but Safad and Haifa belong to me equally, because history said so, not because the PLO decided it was not anymore. 

After two weeks, I will be called a traitor for not loving the bomb. Until then, please enjoy the very sweet Wallah lazra3ak biddar. 

17th Day: Hashtag Revolutions and the Patriotism of Rejecting Your Own "Statehood"

How patriotic would it be for a nation to overthrow their government within weeks, or even during the early years of statehood? Probably not patriotic at all. It would be recorded as an imminent failure to them and a mark that will forever stain their history of struggle and self-determination. I believe this could be a major drive behind the PA's insistence on gaining a seat in the UN as a State of Palestine after two weeks, which will suppress any opposition the PA may be facing with the wave of revolutions spreading across the Arab World. 

I remember back in high-school how I eagerly read about the Battle for Algiers and about the Algerian revolution. I remember how I watched the Arabic movie "Djamila Bouhired" with enthusiasm. I also remember how disappointing the Algerian history unraveled later on as Algeria was becoming a closed society and how terrorism and civil strife took the lives of tens of thousands if not more Algerians who were once viewed as a beacon of hope to all revolutionary nations. Yet, Algeria could not afford a second revolution. Typically it takes ages to forget about a revolution and start a new one. It comes once in a "modern" history. You either win it or you don't. Unless a second phase in your history comes that completely and fundamentally reshapes the country and that is when people forget about their first revolution and join a second with a new generation that rejects their parents decisions/ failures.

What I call the Hashtag revolutions (courtesy of Twitter's hashtags) are revolutions against all the mistakes committed by previous generations. The Hashtags have so far been widely used during post-modern revolutions, and were successful during a number of them: #Dec18 for Tunisia, #Jan25 for Egypt #Feb17 for Libya...etc. 

On the other end, Palestinians attempted so many of them, none were successful and none seem to be serving their purpose no matter how rightful their motivation sounds and how much justice it does serve. The reason? None of these Palestinian revolutions demand true justice which should be the rejection of the PA as an entity which does not serve the Palestinian national interests. 

There is a quite revolution going on, however, which has been extremely powerful and only growing in gaining international support. It is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, or hashtag #BDS.

One of the many BDS campaigns is the Stop Funding Apartheid. Most of these campaigns are run from abroad successfully. The latest campaign shows a typical Palestinian woman who probably appeals to a Westernized eye. A woman who does not look European, yet modern and looks familiar enough to gain sympathy in a society that judges people based on their resemblance to it. Her face, if it only had a smile, would be a perfect face for a University campaign billboard on any US highway. So far, the campaign has gained numerous success. "I am not allowed on Israel's segregated roads". The sentence is down to the point and is strikingly clear about it: you are not allowed because Israel is an Apartheid. So what do I do to help this woman, and any one who is not allowed on Israel's roads? I'd have to stop funding Apartheid. This cannot get any simpler than that. Using the term segregation does not go as far away from the American mind-set as would the word Apartheid which brings back memories of the most recent Apartheid: South Africa. Segregation, however, brings back the American Blacks history of segregation and struggle for equality. Both words were used and the history of both nations is now presented to the readers telling them that "your history is repeating itself, don't allow it to happen again to us."

It is only a campaign such as this one that will be successful. This is a revolution. BDS hashtag is Palestine's post modern revolution which needs the entire World's support for it to be successful. It is also the only successful Palestinian movement that retains both our dignity, our rights and dismisses all claims for a two-state solution without being too straight-forward about it. Soon, the move should become more obvious about demanding equality and that is when their campaign should shift to Arabic and not only English. 

The only Arabic language attempt against a two state solution I've seen in Ramallah was quickly absorbed and was viciously attacked by everyone. It was in 2010 when a huge billboard that said: "Two state solution =  Failure. One State, Two people = Only Hope" was attacked with red paint and markers. A comment that was left on the billboard said "How dare you forget about the martyrs blood?". I could not help but assume it was a PA supporter who wrote the sentence blindly without giving a though to what the martyrs actually would have wanted and how much the PA served their memory. Still, I believe it was too early to present the new approach to Palestinians without previously preparing them to accept such a notice and building a strong ground to support it even amongst PA enthusiasts. 

The wording was horrible as well. The perfect time for a billboard like this woud have been September 13th, 2013, on the 20th anniversary of the failed Oslo Accords or more accurately termed Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements. The billboard should have only been presented after years of mobilization and exposing lies and corruption by the PA. Exposing how much Oslo has failed us as Palestinians. And on September 13th, a billboard in Arabic that reads "On September 13th, 1993, the PLO signed Oslo, 20 years later how better off are you?" or a more creative approach such as a familiar-looking Palestinian 20-year old who declares: "I was born when Oslo was signed. 20 years later the West Bank shrunk by 60 percent, my family became poorer, and my rights have diminished" etc.

The new generation has to be dramatically far more self-aware and far more conscious about their national politics. They should also look far more different than their own government: In 2011 Egypt, those demonstrating out on the street were waves upon waves of impovrished and "sarcastic" individuals who looked nothing like their ultra-rich and "stern-faced" government. In 1979, the Iranian revolution changed an open and Westernized society into a conservative one that simply wanted to end the old ways and corruption into a revolution they believed was their only hope; in 2009, the youth attempted a revolution that was crushed and accused of working for a foreign agenda. It'll take probably another 30 years before Young Iranians who were not shot or killed and have no memory of their parents failed revolution in 2009, to attempt to change the system.

In Palestine, a UN bid will serve the following purposes: It will put a seal on a long Palestinian nationalist struggle for independence, thus ending the unofficial struggle with Israel. It will be almost like a CPR to elongate a seemingly short-life for the current PA. The PA will change from being the Palestinian Authority, to the Government of Palestine. A different name that serves the same purposes of protecting Israel and providing means for the Palestinian population to grow within their Israeli-imposed borders while still negotiating for an ever diminishing possibility to acquire the entire 1967 territories.

On the morning of September 20th, me and hundreds of thousands of  Palestinians will still not be allowed to drive on segregated roads that were made for Israelis by Israelis. We will still be going through checkpoints and we will still be at the mercy of teenaged soldiers who can stop us for any reason whatsoever as we drive through their check points. They will ask us for Hawiya-National ID. We will be too afraid to say "Sorry, this is our land and you have no right to ask us for our National ID", and if one was brave enough to do, he'll be left out as most of those other passengers inside a run-down bus between any two places in the West Bank will have a wedding to attend, a husband who waits at home, a sick mother, or food to be prepared. He will be persecuted and found guilty at Israeli Army courts. He will serve time in Israeli prison, and his name will merely make it to the data-base of the PA's Ministry of Detainees' Affairs, but the MOD will have no power to force Israel's occupation forces from freeing anyone. When was the last time the PA was capable of anything that was in disagreement with Israel after all? 

So, how patriotic would it be for a Palestinian to quickly reject a Palestinian state? Probably not patriotic at all. He'll have to wait for another 30 years before it becomes less shameful to overcome your pride and have little memory of the blood that was strained in a strife for independence. The PA recognizes this, and 30 years does sound like a lot of money to be generated from the donor community, despite the fact that the Palestinian citizens of the state will live under the mercy of their factual occupier. 

23rd Day: Palestine never had a revolution

This article includes some CLASSIFIED materials never published before:

Time to revolt, with a first.

I am not spreading a myth of any sort, and I am not trying to swim against the current for publicity. (I have absolutely no disciples, and I am not even using my real name). But Palestine really never had an uprising that took the shape of a real revolution.

The last time Palestinians went out in masses was in 1936 during what came to be known as the Great Arab Revolt. The revolution was one of three major revolutions that took place under the British Mandate of Palestine, The Arabs of Palestine had revolted in 1920, 1929 and in 1936. The Great Arab revolution is said to have initiated the concept of an independent Palestinian identity. This claim, if true, already dismisses the first two "revolution"- mostly riots that claimed the lives of numerous Arabs as well as local Jews (In 1929, an ancient Jewish community in Hebron was eradicated by ignorants who were never educated about the difference between colonialist Zionists, and their fellow Arabs of Jewish heritage.)

The Great Arab revolution started as diplomatic civil disobedience by an Arab elite committee which consisted mainly of affluent, westernized and privileged Arabs who pursued their demands through civil strikes and "other forms of political protest". According to sources of Wikipedia by "October 1936 this phase had been defeated by the British civil administration using a combination of political concessions, international diplomacy [...] and the threat of martial law."

From that date on, regular Palestinian peasants fully backed by the elites and urban residents carried on a violent resistance movement that targeted British forces and others accused of efforts to swamp in more European Jews who the peasants were convinced were clearly intending to take over their lands. But the revolution was crushed. It is a major disappointment to history to see a nation so eager for independence and self-determination lose ten percent of its male population to either death, injuries or exile due to a brutal British crack down on their most organized form of civil disobedience... and local Arab greed.

If Palestine was to have it's freedom, it was supposed to have happened in 1936, or 1937 at most. 

Arab Palestinian Men and Women joined the Armed Resistence
in 1936-39

In 2011, Egyptians stormed down-towns in defiance of their brutal regime. Within 18 day they toppled their government and are now slowly but surely replacing an outdated and completely rejected government with one that meets their aspirations.

In 1936-1939, Arabs of Palestine led their one and only real revolution which was succumbed with brutality and greed. On Wikipedia, a picture of Palestinian Arab nationalist intellectual Khalil al-Sakakini has a caption which claims that he "called the revolt a 'life-and-death struggle.'" If we assumed he was right, then that revolution may be the reason why until this day we have not gained any of our nationalistic aspirations.

In 2011, Egyptian revolutionaries were scared. As the riot police and the scariest of them all "Amn ad-Dawla"- the State Security Investigations Service were brutally facing the revolution at Tahrir Square and everywhere across Egypt, the young revolutionaries were making it very clear: there was no way for them to back off. It was either life or death. That was not a motto. Egyptians knew that if they backed off they will be tracked down, tortured and even killed. They knew that it would cause the revolution to fade-away and they won't know when it will be rekindled again. They knew their government will do all it could for at least the next half a century to stop any form of civil disobedience and will only grow into a more brutal regime. The choice was simple: You either die as a martyr inside of Tahrir Square and hope that those who remain get a  better future, or you die somewhere underground, tortured and deprived of humanity, while others still live under the same violent system you tried to overcome.

The Arab revolution of 1936 had only one minuscule success: It is attributed to the birth of a Palestinian identity, one that was unique to those who were part of the revolution, and all of us who came afterwards.

But the revolution failed. Thus, the majority of its demands faded as soon as it was gone, and those who won got everything instead.

Go further in history to 1965. The birth of the PLO which was called a revolution. Excuse my language but if everytime its a revolution when a woman gives birth to a baby, we'll all be Che Guevaras without the cigars. The 1965 birth of the self proclaimed representative of the Palestinian people was merely an attempt to evolve the nationalist identity of Palestinians, using guns, high-jacking of airplanes, as well as other forms of terrorist activities. The PLO also embarked on an endless diplomatic cycle to further elaborate on its political aspirations.

Recognized by most Arab countries as the sole representative of the Palestinians, the PLO seesawed its nationalist aspirations according to place and time. Soon after its establishment and out of fear of being ousted by the Jordanian King they proclaimed very revolutionarily that they had no intention of taking over the West Bank, claiming that the West Bank was an integral part of the Jordanian Kingdom, its citizens fully nationalized Jordanians, and that their hopes were merely to take over the lands taken under the Zionist entity!

The revolutionary thought of the PLO did not stop there: In 1970 they attempted a coup against the king of Jordan who exiled all of them to Lebanon. Sometimes I wonder why he did not kill them all? It just looks like a well-organized plan to force Palestinians to lose their longest frontier with their enemy (Jordan has the longest borders with Israel) while keeping an establishing grass-root for a typical Arab dictatorship in a healthy ground to further sprout.

For the next 20 years, the PLO played an endless depletion war that absolutely contributed nothing to the liberation of Palestine for the years following their exile. Becoming a major part of the Lebanese civil war and fighting endlessly the wrong enemy.

Soon they were exiled. 

Sooner, Palestinians began their 1987 uprising in the West Bank and Gaza. The uprising was far from a revolution. Despite having the PLO as its primary leadership, the uprising consisted mainly of stikes, boycott actions and peaceful civil disobedience and sit-ins. The uprising was faced by heavy Israeli response against the infamous Palestinian child carrying a rock in one hand and a peace-sign in the other.

The uprising, known as the First Intifada, had no clear message to the occupier. "End the Occupation" was the vague motto which should not have been our message at that time in history specifically. It only makes me suspect that the PLO had to throw-together a "revolution" quickly before Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza started demanding equal-rights from the Israelis. Palestinians did not just suddenly evolved from demanding their entire historic homeland (which includes Israel) to suddenly demanding that Israel leaves their West Bank and Gaza. 

Why should they? In reality, the PLO was the secret hand behind the Palestinian uprising. It's already established agenda for a two-state solution which were first laid out in the early 1970s by Yasser Arafat, had to finally see the light.

Palestinians were being mocked and tricked into making dangerous demands to "end the occupation", meaning that Israel moves back to it's territories then everyone lives happily ever after.

The PLO, by the time of the 1st intifada, had not given up it's demand to act upon its name: the  Palestine Liberation Organization, was making its first concessions, but with Palestinian blood that they did not see with their own eyes.

Fast forward to post-Oslo agreement. The PLO, now represented by Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, attempted its second uprising: al-Aqsa uprising in 1996, which was a reactionary response to Israel violating the sanctity of the al-Aqsa mosque and threatening its foundations. The aprising claimed tens of lives of Palestinians but was crushed quicker than it started.

Then came Camp David. Arafat was presented with the most Israel could offer. After all, Israel thought the Palestinians were on the defeated side. Israel was the winner and was the one to make the calls.

Arafat refused becasue accepting meant Palestinians could revolt against the PLO. So it was better to delay the process, start a new uprising which demands are still as vague as ever, and waste five more years until he was gone.

In 2011 alone, Palestinian attempted and still will be attempting few "revolutions".

The first was probably the most ridiculous of all. It was a twitter and facebook advocated-for-revolution to: End the Palestinian division between Hamas and Fatah. Meaning if it got violent I'd be killed to have Hamas and Fatah officials make out and stay on their high-seats. The "revolution" also demanded new elections for the PLO's Palestinian National Council (PNC), a cowardly undercover attempt to erase the PLO's ancient status quo without appearing too direct when addressing the issue.

This so-called revolution was mostly a media-run battle that Palestinians were not part of. The few numbered Palestinians, mostly honest individuals who wanted to brainlessly participate, were about the only ones to ever be part of this "revolution". People on the streets walked past the "revolution" and never realized anything was going on.

Soonest than I thought, I met Moeen Koa, a Palestinian who worked at the Palestinian president's media desk. Koa was the least-brightest person I've met in a very long time, and with a Bachelor's and Master's degrees from some of the UK's and the US' top universities, it was shocking to see how little his knowledge in English extended.

Koa was the secret force behind the kidnapped-End the Division Facebook page, one that attracted thousands of online supporters. Later on, I secretly obtained a copy of a draft letter which he had requested its translation from a foreign source.

The document was adressed to the "Dear Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton" 

The DRAFT letter was published without any changes made to it.

"Dear Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Honorable Secretary of State,

The following is our political vision:

Since we are committed to the two-state solution we look forward to restarting direct negotiations concerning the final status immediately. We are fully prepared for the prospect of amending state-borders and swapping lands as required for the interest of the future Palestinian state. We are prepared to negotiating a just solution to the issue of the Palestinian refugees and the affirmation that East Jerusalem will become the capital of the Palestinian state.

We are committed to the principles of democracy such as conducting elections, allowing for a multi-party system and guaranteeing pluralism in politics, among all other.

We are committed to direct negotiations under American auspices and we completely denounce violence.

We are committed to financial transparency through integrity, fighting corruption and the acts of good governance.

We guarantee public freedoms especially the freedom of opinion and expression.

We are committed to, and the protection of, human rights and we abide by the rule of law. Procedures Items: 1- This is a youth-driven trend that has been influenced by transformations taking place across the Arab World and utilizes the same peaceful means. We are ready to jump aboard and get out on the streets to implement peaceful demonstrations and other peaceful activities. 2- We will be working on true influence in decision-making in government institutions and regulatory frameworks. a. Item has to do with Palestinian Authority and its associated institutions

b. Item has to do with the organizational level We are looking forward towards a strategic partnership with the U.S. Administration and to further discuss the details that ensue."

After having read the letter, it was nearly impossible for me to ever trust #Mar26 movement. Plus that was the date of birth to my crazy ex, whom I don't trust either.

On June 5th, another revolution was planned. It was supposed to commemorate the Naksa or the defeat of the 1967 war. The revolution was supposed to bring Palestinians out of their coma. Alas, it failed as most Palestinians were busy with the daily routine which they have grown too used to since Fayyad decided to build an economy based on foreign aid which employs 80 percent of the working force and produces nothing in return.

The latest in these revolutions is the Olive Revolt. Using an olive tree symbol and a shade of pink both of which resemble those used at the Bank of Palestine, the Olive Revolt surely caught my attention. Reading about this revolt I realized how uneducated and what a pseudo-intellect I must be, as I simply did not get it. This time again.

Why was Egypt's revolution so successful? Why are ours so... not.

This brings us to the moral of the story which is quite simple: In Egypt, it was citizens who ran the revolution, despite being those who had access to internet, or those who did not. The motto everyone repeated and understood perfectly was "ash-Sha'b Yureed Isqat Annizam", or the people demand toppling the system.

And that they got, in 18 days. Exactly what we failed to gain in nearly 100 years of struggle, 70 out of which were nationalistic armed and/or diplomatic resistance.

We simply never had a "demand". It was always vague, or at least problematic. If we demanded ending the occupation, we are automatically recognizing the existence of Israel. If we denied Israel's existence, we embark on acts of resistance and terror. We simply never played it right.

At least two other "Revolutions" are coming our way in September. I do not place much hopes on them. One is being planned on-line with Arabs living outside of Palestine, the second will be Sulta's attempt to further-delay the real revolution from happening. Much like they did in 1987 and in 2000.

I do, however, think what we need is a revolution.

Since Palestine gave birth to its Palestinian Arab identity, it failed to produce a real revolution.

What we need now is a real revolution that comes with all the bells and whistles: a new flag, a new anthem, a real simple motto, but most importantly: people who are convinced their lives will not be wasted if they're gone. Real revolutionaries who do not aspire to aid the governing body, and a call that can never be challenged at the international level. Not as vague as previous ones but perhaps as clear as "one man, one vote, Justice an Equality for all", for instance.

25th Day: Palestinian Diaspora Deserves Equal Representation

Today, an article titled "UN statehood bid 'threatens Palestinian rights'" appeared in Ma'an News Agency, the popular Palestinian news outlet which literary means Together.

In theory, the subject of a Palestinian right to self-determination is unquestionable. In my opinion, anyone who questions the "readiness" of Palestinians to have their own state from the perspective of available state-run institutes and work-force is questioning whether Palestinians have had enough humiliation for the past 63 years or the same as asking if Palestinians are human enough to be at the same mental and cognitive level as other humans to be capable of running a state.

But this is exactly what I am not questioning.

Way to go, Oslo.

Palestinians have been subject to all kinds of atrocities, oppression and violation of their human rights way before the creation of the Zionist state of Israel and still are to this day. During the British mandate, local indigenous Palestinian Arabs were treated as second-class citizens compared to newly arrived European Jews escaping the persecution of the Nazis and the Holocaust in Europe. In reality, the mal-treatment of Arabs only increased after the rise of Third Reich, but the truth is that Palestinian Arabs were always viewed in light of their skin color and their un-European cultural background as less human from the a preconceived perspective of a racist colonialist. The Jews, on the other hand, have already guaranteed their goal to establish a modern European state and were simply being rewarded with an established country.

Palestine was a country of only less than one million Palestinian Arabs who were distributed across nearly a thousand towns and villages. In a sense the landscape would appear to be vast and empty (only 28 thousand square Kilometers). This fact was altered into the Zionist agenda which marketed for Palestine as a land without people. The truth is, Palestine was not any emptier than any other Mediterranean region or most modern countries, and with at least a dozen major cities and centers, it was certainly an established region with civil centers as well as vast farmlands.

On the other hand, Palestine had its share of institutes and not only empty buildings. Palestinian institutions and orders have always been implemented in a way or another and most were set by rules and endorsed agreements. These institutes changed with time but they have always existed. Palestinian civil institutes have already been established through local units such as Maxtara (Mayorship)  or Islamic rules, yet under the Ottoman rule, Palestinian leadership fell under the rules and legal system of the Ottoman empire and was directly serving its interest. Palestine, like all other countries and region which were part of the Ottoman empire, had few attempts to self-determination some of which succeeded even if only for a short period.

Palestine, when lost to Zionist colonialism, offered its already established cities, theaters, houses, and public buildings to the new colonialists, but not the local indigenous population who were forced out of their lands whether at gun-points or out of fear for their lives. Some of the Palestinian rules and regulation which were adopted during the British mandate still apply to the Israeli legal system nowadays.

Today's Palestinian leadership, however, was not the natural result of an established civil order. It was the result of an agreement which was secretly endorsed by the head of the PLO at the time: Yasser Arafat.

The way Oslo produced a Palestinian government is very questionable or at least problematic: for how would a hand-full of unelected officials at a self-declared sole representative of the Palestinians determine the fate for millions of Palestinians scattered across the globe with an admitted agenda for concessions? Oslo produced a new concept for a two-state solution which meant Palestinians not only give up their aspiration for a unified landscape for their historic homeland, but also meant that many Palestinians will be excluded from the political equation.

Ma'an's article was the first attempt of its kind I have seen at a PA-loving media source to shed the light on the Palestinian statehood from a perspective other than the official fiery speeches about self-determination and putting an end to the suffering of the Palestinians, plus the question about the right to have a state. The news excerpt quoted a high authority on the international legal system, Guy Goodwin-Gill, who is a professor of international law at Oxford University. Offered in seven pages, the legal advise warns about the possible exclusion of most Palestinians had Palestine been admitted as a legal entity other than the PLO, which is the only body which is accepted universally to represent the Palestinians anywhere they're found.

The advise argued that losing the status of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians means that "there will no longer be an institution that can represent the inalienable rights of the entire Palestinian people in the UN and related international institutions". Losing the status of the PLO means that the 65 percent of Palestinians, mostly refugees, will lose their sole representative. Having their authority and Israel mutually recognize each other's states means that the Palestinian refugees might lose their 63-year old plea, and may only have the choice to move into the West Bank or Gaza, if allowed by the future State of Palestine.

The legal advise also questioned the role the PA will play after dissolving of the PLO in favor of a recognized state at the UN, a state which is effectively still under occupation. The advise noted that the PA "has limited legislative and executive competence, limited territorial jurisdiction, and limited personal jurisdiction over Palestinians not present in the areas for which it has been accorded responsibility [the PA] is a subsidiary body, competent only to exercise those powers conferred on it by the Palestinian National Council. By definition, it does not have the capacity to assume greater powers."

The legal advise however fails to point out that the PA intentionally excluded the representation of many Palestinians to their countries of citizenship, including those Palestinians who held the Israeli citizenship. In reality, many of those Palestinians, whether fully nationalized Israelis, Jordanians, Egyptians, Europeans, Americans, or any other nationality who felt sentimental about Palestine, or who wish to one day move to their ancestral homeland despite enjoying full rights of their new citizenship, will not be allowed to do so.

Palestinians today account for nearly 11 million people scattered across the globe and in every country on earth. The PA has practically a legal authority over nearly 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, and 1.5 million in the Gaza Strip (depending on how you think of the current agreement to end the division between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank). These account for less than 31 percent of the entire Palestinian population world-wide. I am not sure if the legal advise took that into consideration.

The Palestinian Authority in its desperate battle to build it's civil institutes in the West Bank, coordinate with the IDF on security issues, and cosmopolitanize Ramallah to make its future capital have practically left all Palestinians outside of the West Bank un-represented, including the residents of Gaza who were left to look for themselves through digging tunnels in the sandy rocks of Gaza.

If the future Palestinian state was to be declared and recognized, Palestinians should have an exclusive right to a dual citizenship immediately, and if their country of residence happened to insist on not allowing a dual citizenship they should be given an immediate right to hold a semi-governmental document that allows them to live, work and vote in Palestine. After 63 of unusual events and bizarre responses to these events including UN resolutions and whathaveyou, it may be only be apprehensible to allow for exceptional new measures.

As Palestinians, we should start demanding equal rights for our fellow Palestinians anywhere they are. Excluding Palestinians for simply not residing in the right locality has been an Israeli tactic to push Palestinians out of Palestine. Let us not allow our government to mimic these tactics.

27th Day: Libya Overcomes

Benghazi was the first liberated city in Libya and the
"cradle of revolt against" Gaddafi - [Malaysian Insider]

The Libyan Revolution won on the first hour of this day in an unanticipated advance that sent shocks across the World. 

Again, I was unable to go to sleep before I was sure the news were completely true and before I examined the euphoric chants of tens of thousands of residents of Benghazi (freed during the first phases of the revolution). Those were enough proof that the revolution has overcome months of fighting. Young Tripolitanian men stomped the portraits of the colonel, firing guns in the air in celebration, and news about residents welcoming the revolutionaries with open arms were spreading across the news. I am still amazed by how fast things have unfolded in the past 24 hours.

The revolution had officially started on February 17th (Twitter's Hashtag #Feb17) after Libyans called for marches against nearly 42 years of brutal dictatorship under Col. Muammar Gaddafi. During the first days of the revolution, Television stations brought clips of demonstrations literary growing as they marched on high-ways across Libya. 

Some said that a joke that dispersed quickly from Tunisia to Egypt had stirred the uprising. The joke goes as follow: "Tunisians, having won the revolution and got rid of their own tyrant, ask Libyans [whose country is situated half way between them and Egypt] to stoop a little so they can see the real men of Egypt". The joke quickly dispersed across the region, touching on the traditional and historic machismo of Libyan men. The joke may have brought few laughs here and there but it certainly was an insult to the man-hood of Libyan men who quickly wanted their leader out. 

Gaddafi Airplane and Iron-Fist Sculpture, symbol used
to crush US planes and the Libyan opposition- from [Wikipedia]

Certainly, the joke could not have toppled a regime, but people went out on the streets two days before the proposed date for the revolution in an act of rebellion on February 15th inspired by two successful revolutions in their Arab neighboring countries and in defiance of Gaddafi who was claiming that Libya cannot be as "stupid' as it's neighboring nations. Gaddafi who had praised Tunisia's Ben Ali after he was ousted and claimed Egyptian revolutionaries were hired US Agents with Agendas, was already way too overdue in the eyes of young Libyans who now wanted to be part of a changing region. Gaddafi first claimed that the uprising in Libya was being run by mislead kids who brought some of what remained of the alleged agendas from Tahrir Square (suggesting the agendas were actual documents!).  

The further the revolution ignited the more Gaddafi was finding creative terms to brand the revolutionaries. During his infamous cuckoo speech at his compound which was left in ruins for 25 years after it was bombed during a US assault on Tripoli in 1986, Gaddafi called the rebels "rats" "roaches" "stray dogs", and claimed they were victims to "hallucination pills" and other drugs, urging their parents to "take them inside their homes" before they would cause further damage. 

But the revolution continued, and soon, it was no longer being referred to as a revolution on various televisions and other media sources as terms describing the situation shifted from "civil unrest" to "civil war". Soon, I lost track of what was happening there since the news were similar everyday and I feared Libya will be divided into two countries: The Eastern Libya with Benghazi as it's capital city (historically known as Cyrenaica) and Western Libya with Tripoli as it's capital city (historically known as Tripolitania). 

The NATO intervension was making the picture even bleaker. With the little trust I and so many numerous Arabs had of it (regardless of the , it was hard to continue openly support all of the decisions taken by the revolution. Nonetheless, I could not disapprove of bringing in the NATO decision, as I was certainly not the one living under a maniac and an oppressive dictatorship. My discontent was the decisions taken by the NATO alliance especially with the war taking way longer than having anticipated which I feared will be paid for heavily by Libyans after the revolution.

Today, I felt quite jealous of Libyans. I do admit it, but I felt ecstatically proud as well. The Libyans have taken the route of diplomacy as well as armed resistance in order to achieve their goal towards freedom. Whereas we, the Palestinians, were still discussing the feasability of calling in the NATO forces, affirming our embracement of sterile Arabist nationalist polimics, and the futile support of losing non-armed martyrs with absolutely zero-gains and losses on all ends.

Today, so many Libyans expressed their joy via twitter. Some of the most disheartening tweets came from @ShababLibya (LibyanYouthMovement) who recalled his uncle “Sadig Al Shwehdi, one of the most famous victims of Gaddafii's crimes hanged on live TV in the 80s”. To recall every single crime committed by Gaddafi is a taint in the face of humanity, one that stood in silence watching decades of brutality go unaccountable for. 

Most Palestinians I know were happy that today marked the day Libya’s Gaddafi was gone. Many Palestinians recall Gaddafi with utmost abhorrence: On the one hand he was the one who kicked Palestinians out to the borders of Libya ordering them to go back home to liberate Palestine if they so wished to. His insults towards the Palestinians were not over even only last week as Gaddafi branded fleeing Tripolitanians and other Libyans as “Palestinians and Somali’s”, in an attempt to stigmatize these nations, and degrade Libyans taking refuge far from fighting. On the other end, few Arabs and Palestinians were quick to judge the revolution based on its decision to allow NATO forces. Via twitter, one of the most expressive tweets regarding the situation came from @Cyrenaican, a Libyan who wrote in admonition: “How dare you let NATO intervention trump ur sympathy or support for the Libyan ppl, who fought vs this brutal regime w/ everything they had […] We fought and died, with incredible bravery, sacrifice. How can you not be happy for us? Why should we not celebrate?” 

I felt an urge to respond to him, to tell him that we supported him and all other Libyans who were hungry for liberation and freedom. Palestinians have made numerous mistakes when it came to our POV regarding other’s decisions when it concerned freedom and liberation: We made the mistake in Iraq, in Kuwait, even in PLO’s official stance on Western Sahara which angered those who assumed they could find in a Palestinian supporter further reason for an international sympathy. The mistake could not have repeated itself in Libya. Why should we exemplify revolutionaries yet dare make so many numerous mistakes when it comes to the freedom and independence others seek? 

I showed my support of Libya from the beginning, and I still do. I know Cyrenaicans now know the true taste of freedom, and so are all Libyans who fought tirelessly until this day. 

On the 27th day prior to an alleged Palestinian Authority “Statehood”, I am not confident the PA has stood on the right side of the equation. Once again, we are frowned upon by those seeking freedom. The Palestinian Authority is too cautious to take strong sides, and to assert itself as a decisive decision maker in the region. What seems to matter to the PA is to keep a neutral stance as to keep the room open had things shifted in the future. The PA, once again, proves to be playing an endless political game in order to secure the most gains, even when it came to a revolution already won.

PS: By the time this article was written, Col. Muammar Gaddafi's whereabouts were unknown. Two of his sons were arrested and one of them already escaped with the help of some of the remaining Gaddafi forces.

28th Day: #FLAGMAN and the Resurrection of Karama

 Around 3:00 AM, again on Twitter, there was a mysterious new Hashtag: #FLAGMAN.

the AMAZING FLAGMAN- by Carlos Latuff

For those of you unfamiliar with Twitter, hashtags are "keywords" one inserts within the available 140 characters allowed to express oneself. They are preceded by the pound (#) sign. Twitter explains that this is an easy way to find similar posts (tweets) to follow, or posts of common interest. It is pretty addictive actually. I think I personally had started few Hashtags that never "trended" on twitter.

It did not take me a long time to find out that FLAGMAN was a mysterious Egyptian guy who climbed, ropeless, 14 stories yielding to the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, to replace the Israeli Flag with an Egyptian one.

The guy became an instant hero.

I was following the tweets of his arrest as he climbed down then his immediate release upon the demands of thousands of cheering demonstrators. The guy became a national hero within seconds.

His Hashtag trended on twitter becoming the top tweet within minutes. In less than half an hour, a new Facebook Page was created for him dedicated to an Anonymous Hero who "climbed and took down the Flag" referring to the Israeli flag which was soon in ashes. Within seconds of it's creation, it already boasted 1000 members (please click on the highlighted link to see the current count).

First tweets about his identity came from strangers claiming his name was Mustafa Kamel, which coincided with the name of an Egyptian nationalist from the late 19th century. I joked about the name of #FLAGMAN claiming his mother had planned for this coincidence to happen from the day he was born.

But soon the real name was out. Not as impressive as the first it was Ahmad as-Shahat BUT it was a perfectly Egyptian-sounding name: The Egyptian "Average Joe". It was baffling to watch the video later on during the day, to see what the thousands upon thousands of chants were all about. The best tweet, retweeted by someone I follow on twitter came from @LadyBlueeeeeee who wrote "Egyptian Beans give you wings!" in Arabic. Egyptians were proud, and made everyone else proud. They certainly boasted my ego as a Palestinian.

It was clear that Egyptian do not want Israel on their soil. The Camp David peace treaty with Israel is worthless to them, and one Egyptian with wings can take down the lie about peace that was forcibly shoved down their throats for decades.

Egyptians are clearly some of the most stubborn, yet good-humoured people I am coming to find out about. Within an hour of the incident a new online game with a theme song was created for #FLAGMAN and the infamous caricature artist Carlos Latuff created an iconic picture of #FLAGMAN depicting a Spiderman-like character holding a burning Israeli flag.

The peace treaty with Israel, I come to learn, is part of the past that Egyptians now want to be completely done with. Their former dictator Hosni Mubarak has suffocated their freedoms in the name of Israeli safety and an alleged national security that they never felt. It was a big lie, everyone knew it, and now they don't want to live it anymore.

#FLAGMAN ignited a new hope for Egyptians who after months of ecstatically celebrating their winning revolution were yet to truly experience a complete change, and were tired of feeling Israel was placed before their own interests as Egypt's priority. "The People Want" was not just a slogan they perpetually repeated for 18 bloody days, they want their demands to be met. Israel's safety is not on their list of priorities. They toppled an entire system, a dictator who ruled them with corruption and an iron fist, and secret agents that counted their every breath. It was not hard for them to at least decide who stays and who leaves Egypt after they have won, to decide who they consider a friend and who they do not welcome. Very simple yet profound logic.

With the Israeli flag down and people calling against the acts of normalization with Israel, I anticipate that the Egyptian-Israeli relationship will no longer stay the way they used to be under Mubarak. The Egyptian people want, and their wants are not to be ostracized by their own people in favor of what they consider enemies/ outsiders, and their natural resources given away practically for free to a foreign obnoxious and unwelcomed power.

Egyptians demonstrating in front of the Israeli Embassy
in Cario- used with permission from Ghazala Irshad

#FLAGMAN gave back to the Arab World a feeling they almost thought they lost. al-Karama. Karama is a word that should enter the Merriam Webster dictionary with a simple explanation: Origin: Arabic First use in English: 2011. It should explain how the sense of pride, the demand for respect, dignity and self-worth, were combined together on that day. Arabs felt they regained their own Karama. Israel, they know, was part of the oppression they experienced through their dictators and tyrants. The feeling of regaining one's Karama is the same one felt when Tunisia was Free from it's Dictator, when Mubarak was overthrown by the people, and when the next dictator is stomped over by people long-suffering people who deserved much better all along.

#FLAGMAN will be a decisive day in the Arab History, which will directly affect the Palestinian history. Egyptians will now play their strategic role but with Karama and not merely answer to a higher authority, represented by the US and other foreign powers, and certainly not by Israel.

The Palestinian Authority, long passively submitting to all foreign powers against the people's wants, will soon have to look for alternative ways to appease a very likely public outcry and discontent. The PA is not different than the rest of the Arab Dictators, except with the privilage (and curse) of ruling under an occupying foreign power, and allowing for a bantustanized situation to formulate in Palestine (Israel). The PA now is fully aware that it has lost it's back-up support after Mubarak. They cannot wait for September 20th to arrive to see what they will do next.

During the Tahrir Square celebrations following the overthrowing of the Mubarak regime, there was seen a young man standing above a thin and high street-light pole, he was relaxed and waving an Egyptian flag as if he was standing on the most solid ground. It took us months to find out his identity. It was the same #FLAGMAN, and with him comes a new hope for all of us fearing a complete fracture in our already stained history of surrender and bad-leadership. We know that if we give up, our closest neighbour to the West [the Egyptian people] won't allow it. They're already challenging Israel's bid on building a wall separating Israel's Negev from Sinai Desert saying: "you can build all the walls in the world, we have 80 million flagmen."

And I say, "climb it, like an Egyptian".

Pre-State Statement: On the 30th Day Towards "Statehood", Gaza bleeds

... Saeb Erekat has spoken, and the nation rejoiced! For he has finally come out on the first pages of all Palestinian Authority-controlled media on August 18th warning the Zionist entity with a firm [verbal] response if they chose to attack Gaza, calling it an irresponsible action, following a deadly attack on a bus in the South of Israel. 

Affirming how the leaks were "slander", not expressive
enough of [a worst] reality.- [The guardian]

"Israel is the occupying power.” Declared Mr. Erekat, “Under international humanitarian law, it is responsible for the welfare and safety of the Palestinian population living under its occupation,". 

The former chief negotiator in the name of the Palestinians has supposedly stepped down back in January after Aljazeera news channel made public what came to be known as the Palestine Papers which exposed him as a lying sack of shit [of candies] in the way he has literary lived his life to negotiate (confirming the title for his Semi-Autobiography in Arabic “Life is Negotiations”), and after having under-gone a face-blushingly embarrassing near-death experience on live-television on Aljazeera where he foolishly agreed to appear to defend his back-door deals with Israel and the years he bamboozled the Palestinian people into an endless cycle of negotiations that they paid for with their own blood and economic well-fare. 

The former chief negotiator was back, now in full-fledged obnoxiousness, complete with the Palestinian Kaffiyeh and the infamous threatening finger that decorates the iconic portraits of all un-voted for traitors who happened to lead all Third World Countries [and semi-countries] around the World. 

Erekat the Savior, as portrayed on Palestinian Maan-News
complete with a Kaffiyeh and a Finger. The Halo on top of
his head partially visible - [Maan News Agency]

But I must admit that for months all Palestinian-controlled media had given small doses of Erekat to the public, typically a small unnoticed news excerpt where he just had to appear wearing his Kaffiyeh and making that same finger gesture of strength and dominance for months until the meat was ripe and he was ready to be served on a plate of empty promises. 

The funniest tweet I read on that day came from someone I cannot recall (darn it), but it went something like this: “Erekat is warning Israel against any irresponsible Action in Gaza, or else… he’ll go back to negotiations” (please tweet-mate, if you ever read this provide me with the right tweet!)

Erekat was back, the hero of the Palestine Papers, the same papers that exposed how the PA probably knew about the war on Gaza back in 2009, that same war which resulted with over 1500 deaths amongst civilians and few armed men, yet did nothing to stop it and continued to negotiate their way before and after, because that is what the Palestinian Authority does best: forever negotiating.

Erekat was back when now Israel was making it no secret that it intended to retaliate (collectively punish) the entire Gaza Strip for an attack that was not adopted by any Palestinian faction, much less to be specifically linked to Gaza. 

Was that Erekat's way to apologize to the Strip after having stood in negotiative silence when a war was being planned against it? I ain’t no Conspiracy Theorist, but with only 30 days left until September 20th, I am not sure Israel wanted to lose its favorite chief-negotiator of all time. The one who has given the longest time any Palestinian would have for Israel to expand settlements, practically annex 60 percent of what remained of the West Bank, and the one whose best interest lies in an Israeli-controlled Rafah border in Gaza. 

Israel attacked Gaza again earlier this morning, I followed the tweets of, mostly, cynical Palestinians from Gaza who have grown way too accustomed to living under daily attacks of Israel and F-16 noises breaking the sound barrier. By 5:00 AM, there were six confirmed deaths and over 23 injuries. By the end of the day, there were 15 deaths and over 40 injuries. Once again, praise shall be to the political corruption of men who know they cannot save lives nor stop the blood rollercoaster, yet are in need of making strong statements that help repair their shattered reputation and gain their former spot as… chief negotiators.

With only 30 days left towards "Statehood", Gaza bleeds. 

In order to spare myself the headache of having to explain the September 20th bid (or the so-called September Entitlement) on a bantustanized and much debated PA statehood, please visit Aljazeera for further details:

(or just use your collective-memory and imagination):

Abbas: Palestine to go to UN in September - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Abbas, too ready to run a "State"?- [Reuters]