Description by this short video: “Dutch politician and leader of CU party, Gert-Jan Segers, is a guest at Op 1 to talk about the sanctions he wants to impose towards the Islamitic Iran regime. Segers said that when asked about Israel’s occupation, “Israel is not an apartheid regime.”
“We Will Not Go Down”
(Song for Gaza)
During the military operation, “Cast Lead.” that Israel started in December 2008 and reached a climax a short time later, Michael Heart sang a song; it was a song about Gaza, where the greatest massacre among the Palestinians was carried out by the Israeli army at the time. This was a “Song for Gaza” and was called “We Will Not Go Down.” youtube.com/watch?v=dlfhoU66s5Y
“Inappropriate Or Offensive.”
When I decided to watch this video, I received a warning first:
“The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as inappropriate or offensive to some audiences. It may not be suitable for all viewers. “I understand and will continue.”
After reading this warning, I had an extreme suspicion that this video might be removed sooner or later by YouTube. That is why I decided to write down the words of this memorable song here:
“A blind flash of white light lit up the sky over Gaza tonight. People running for cover, not knowing they will be dead or alive. They came with their tanks and their planes with ravaging flames; nothing remains, just a voice rising up in the smoky haze.
We will not go down in the night without a fight. You can burn up our mosques, homes, and schools, but our spirit will never die
When children alike were murdered and massacred night after night. While the so-called leaders of countries afar debate who is wrong and who is right. But the powers’ words were in vain. And the bombs fell down like acid rain through the tears and blindness of the pain. You can still hear that voice through the smoky haze.
We will not go down in the night without a fight. You can burn up our mosques, our homes, and our schools; our spirit will never die. We will not go down in Gaza tonight.”
Flashback – Dr. James Zogby from the Arab American Institute.
Let’s go back now to the year 2002. One of the bloodiest Israeli military operations took place this year in Gaza; numerous Palestinian civilians lost their lives then. The Palestinian refugee camp Jenin was the center of the atrocities committed by the Israeli army at the time. Dr. James Zogby from the Arab American Institute said the following about this gruesome massacre among the Palestinians at Jenin:
“The dust had not settled, and the dead had not been buried when Israel’s propaganda machine went into full swing. They set up a straw man and argued that “technically speaking”, Jenin was not a “massacre.” We may never know how many Palestinians died in Jenin. In the end, however, it is not the number who died that will tell the story. It is the savage cruelty experienced by those who survived Israel’s assault that will ultimately define the legacy of that devastated square mile of earth. Their story must be told and remembered.”
(Source: “Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion 2002” (Cune Press 2003 (edited by Ramzy Baroud).
The Experiences of Mae Shaheen, a Young Palestinian Journalist.
In his “Introduction” of “Searching Jenin…”, Ramzy Baroud wrote about the experiences of a young Palestinian journalist, Mae Shaheen, during the terrible carnage the Israeli army had caused:
“Chaos wrought by Israeli armored vehicles and snipers enforcing a curfew trapped a young Palestinian journalist. Mae Shaheen had entered the camp at dawn and paced the dusty streets for hours. She spent her day meeting people and recording their testimonies. But her interviews took longer than planned. Now the light was growing dim, and she found herself walking alone through abandoned lanes. There were no taxis to carry her back home. Residents who might have helped had sealed their doors. They did not trust knocking strangers. She could only hear the roar of the tanks’ diesel engines in the distance. Everything else was silent.
As she walked, Mae saw a neighborhood in ruins. Where were the men, women, and children who had lived here just days before? Cinder block houses and apartments were smashed. The scene was surreal. It was like a Hollywood production set. By now, the sun had set, and a desert chill had settled in. The electricity was off, and street lights were dead. The neighborhood waited in the darkness. A curfew had been imposed at dusk, and Mae Shaheen knew she was in trouble. Mae could hear the tanks closing in. She could hear the loudspeakers. “Those who violate the curfew will be shot!” they announced in Arabic. Mae found a place in the rubble and hid in fear. In a few minutes, the tanks turned, and the sound of their engines grew more distant. She could hear single shots, then bursts of fire. The shots were on the other side of the camp. The sound of the tanks grew more distant. Still, Mae waited.
Two hours after midnight, Mae’s colleague, Ali Samudi, called Mae on her cellphone, took down directions, then defied the army’s orders and stole into the camp. He raced through the abandoned streets in his battered 1988 Fiat, protected only by his velocity. He was able to retrieve Mae, and the two fled to safety outside the camp. The following morning, Mae Shaheen returned to the Jenn refugee camp with a crew of five journalists who carried tape recorders, cameras, and a long list of questions. Mae’s story was typical. The team of Palestinian journalists had close calls, overcame obstacles, and endured hardships while collecting material for Searching Jenin. They sought to record a segment of the Arab-Israeli conflict, an event that has become a symbol of the uprising known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
The Israeli invasion of Jenin is remembered by Palestinians as a massacre, whereas Israelis recall a fair battle. To Israelis, Jenin is an example of soldiers fighting “terrorists.” The international community can’t make up its mind about Jenin. Some accuse Israel of war crimes, while others advocate Israel’s “right to defend itself.” Television, radio, and print news outlets presented the opportunity for Israeli soldiers and officers to spread their version of the events in Jenin. Yet the residents of the camp – those witnesses to whatever atrocities occurred, the ones who pitched tents on the ruins of their homes – could not amplify their voices to the same level. Searching Jenin documents their perspective. It is the chorus of Jenin’s Palestinian refugees. In this book, their words bypass the mass media filters described by Chomsky, that normally would twist or frame their meaning. Their voices dodge the denials and exaggerations of politicians. Their emotions are immune to political sensitivities that ensnarl the United Nations and other international organizations.” (Searching Jenin…” pages 19-20 (emphasis added)
“My Father Was A Freedom Fighter.”
(Gaza’s Untold Story).
One of the other fantastic books which are written by the same gifted Palestinian writer is entitled, “My Father Was A Freedom Fighter” (Gaza’s Untold Story).” It was published by Pluto Press in 2010.
Praising & Positive Critiques.
After publication, the book received praising and positive critiques. Here are a few of them:
“Deeply moving… This book, more than any I have read, tells me why anyone of conscience must stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for self-determination and a just peace.” Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University and UN Special Rapporteur to Occupied Palestinian Terrirtories.
“A very fine book: both a loving tribute to the author’s father and the struggle and pain of Palestine seen through the insights of two generations. Together they beckon freedom.” John Pilger.
“Ramzy Baroud is a gifted writer.” Salman bu Sitta.
“Ramzy Baroud provides a riveting account of his father’s life and a compelling narrative of his people’s history.” Cindy and Craig Corre, The Rachel Corrie Foundation.
The Foreword.
The Foreword of this excellent book was written by Salman Abu Sitta:
“Not one refugee will return. The old will die. The young will forget.” Thus uttered Ben Gurion in June 1948, when he had completed the major part of his ethnic cleansing plan to depopulate Palestinians from their villages and replace them with Jews from 110 countries. By the time he announced the establishment of the state of Israel on Palestine’s land on the afternoon of May 14, 1948, the Zionist militia had already succeeded in depopulating 212 villages and three major towns of their Palestinian inhabitants. Thus over half (56 percent) of all Palestinian refugees became homeless by that day.
The Palestinians were supposed to be protected by the British Mandate authority, which had been entrusted with carrying the torch of “the sacred trust of civilization” by the League of Nations 28 years earlier. The British Mandate also did not protect from half of about 70 massacres in 1948, which occurred during the Mandate to expedite the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes. The infamous Deir Yassin is but one of these massacres, but there were many others surpassing Deir Yassin in enormity and atrociousness.
When Ben Gurion and company committed these crimes and declared the state of Israel, there was not a single Arab regular soldier on Palestine soil. Thus the myth of self-defense, or the desperate fight of David against Goliath, which was fed to western audiences for decades, should be laid to rest. Arab soldiers came to defend the remaining Palestinians after May 15, 1948, but they were outnumbered by the Israelis, had no unified commando, and no knowledge of the land. They failed to save what was left of Palestine.
When Ben Gurion stood before the representatives of the Jewish immigrants to Palestine in mid-May to announce his state, he, in fact, announced the victory of 65,000 well-trained Haganah soldiers, led by World War II officers, over defenseless Palestinian villagers who had tilled their fields and lived on their land for thousands of years. Beit Daras is one of those villages that fell victim to Ben Gurion’s ethnic cleansing. Like others, it desperately fought for its existence. It bore the brunt of a devastating attack. It suffered the horrors of a massacre. It defied Ben Gurion’s wishful thinking: The old fought with all their means until they died; the young did not forget and persisted.
Here is one of them, Ramzy Baroud, of the second or the third generation of refugees, recalls the odyssey of the people of Beit Daras. Ramzy is a gifted writer; he eloquently unearthed the recent history of Beit Daras by tracing the life of his father and family from their exodus to their continuous struggle for survival in exile, for fighting back their enemy, for trying to earn a decent living outside Palestine, and for their legendary endurance under the siege and bombardment of Gaza until this day.
Gaza is often portrayed correctly as the most crowded place on earth. No one bothers to say why and how. Gaza is the place of refuge for the people of 247 villages, which were entirely depopulated in 1948. Today, Gaza’s population is the same size as the total population of Palestine was, in 1948, but with one difference: the Gaza Strip is only 1 percent of Palestine’s landmass.
This is not a tragedy of World War II, committed in the heat of battle. This is a constant tragedy which lasted for 61 years so far and is splashed on our television screens every day. No one has the luxury or the excuse to hide behind the saying, “I did not know.” Ramzy has laid bare this tragedy, true and simple. Its tragedy strikes you as if it was yesterday. And yesterday is today because the tragedy is still here, looking you in the eye, as a still photograph, not a running movie.
Ramzy collected Palestinians’ stories and testimonies, a great source for the tragedy of al-Nakba, an event ridiculed by the Zionist spin as a product of “oriental imagination” but now gradually accepted by new historians as these stories correlate with declassified Israeli files.
What is the point now, after 61 years of exile of Palestinians saying, “We told you so”? The point is that Ben Gurion’s utterance in 1948 portrays a racist doctrine that still prevails in the Middle East, sowing the region with death and destruction to this day. It is about time that the residents of the English-speaking world open their minds and hearts to the buried story of Palestinians and stand by the Palestinians and support their rights.
Several dozens of books have been written by the sons and daughters of these depopulated villages, most in Galilee, but the great majority of these works are in Arabic though some are translated into English, for example, the acclaimed Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury. Ramzy’s work is one of the few books written in English about the life, depopulation, and struggle for survival (literally) of the people of a Palestinian village in southern Palestine. He portrays their ordeal over six decades with no end in sight for their suffering. Gathered patiently from the recollections of the survivors, it stands out as an unblemished depiction of their plight. No amount of spin could obliterate this or could deny the indefatigable persistence of Palestinians to survive and struggle to return home. In writing this book, Ramzy himself, the exiled son of Beit Daras, is proof of this persistence.”
Salman Abu Sitta, an author, and a historian is the founder and president of Palestine Land Society, London.” (pages xi-xii (emphasis added)
Gert-Jan Segers: a Pro-Jewish Fabulous Fabel-Proclaimer & Promulgator of Jewish Fairy Tales.
And here we are back by Gert-Jan Segers. Despite the fact that he also protects the Israeli government, he must also be familiar with websites just as Middle East Eye, for example. Yet he continues spreading lies, stories that only benefit the Israeli government. We can, therefore, only consider him as a pro-Jewish fabulous fabel-proclaimer and a promulgator of Jewish fairy tales.
Titus 1:11-14.
As Mr. Segers also has a Bible, he too must be familiar with what the Apostle Paul once said to Titus. And here is what Paul said:
“For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” (…) “This witness is true, Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith; not giving heed Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth.” (Titus 1: 10-11, 13-14 – KJV)
So it would be good for Mr. Segers to think about this before he continues to spread Jewish fables. Otherwise, once he stands above before the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, he may have much to explain about why he had defended an ungodly Israeli government in his lifetime…
Tinthor's Blog 