Comments on: Stop Saying “Free Gaza”

By: Salam

Salam — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:54:53 +0000

So true! Another similarly disturbing thing has happened is that recently many Arabs have started referring to the Palestinians living in Gaza as Gazans. I've actually seen this term used in many official statements from Arab governments, NGO's, etc…and also among the Arab peoples. Israel has been unsuccessfully trying to erase the name of Palestine for over 50 years now, but I guess it doesn't need to worry about it anymore cause it seems Arabs are willing to help it do that.

By: Boycott on Campus

Boycott on Campus — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:56:26 +0000

Can we say "Boycott Israel" on campuses now? I hope so. Will Kabob-ers help?

By: Layla

Layla — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:48:18 +0000

Hear, hear. Unity is the way forward.

By: cynic8

cynic8 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:05:22 +0000

The Palestinians and the Arab world have chosen to maintain a war with Israel since 1948. Rather than recognize the country and work out as settlement there is the persistent cry to eliminate 'the Zionist entity', and from some the call to exterminate Jews. There may be an effort to destroy Israel, and it might even succeed, but at what harm to the Arab world?
The Palestinians and the Arab world have chosen to keep the Palestinians in their present situation and use Israel as an excuse to maintain their dictatorships while preventing the people in the 'west bank' & Gaza from education and the development of which they are VERY capable.

By: Uda

Uda — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:59:58 +0000

Fayyad this is great. It's as if the last 60 years of atrocities before Gaza 2008-09 never took place!

By: lyn11

lyn11 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:08:35 +0000

Excellent point.

I probably will keep saying free gaza, tho. It seems to be suffering the worst, even if no less free than the rest of Palestine.

By: Nth Republic

Nth Republic — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:25:18 +0000

Great post, Fayyad. It must always go hand in hand with any Gaza-related action that the assault on Gaza and the blockade are part of a campaign perpetrated against all of Palestine for the better part of a century. It must be explained that the severity of violence against the Palestinians in the physically disconnected occupied territories (excluding the Golan, Sheba'a Farms & al Ghajar) follows a cyclical pattern, jumping from one region to the next, but the entire Palestinian people is being oppressed simultaneously at all times by Israel, through intricate, sophisticated and methodically-designed means.

I too worry what the next generation of activists are learning and what they're not learning, and that's why we try to recruit and take those recruits "under our wing", so to speak, and disseminate literature and quality reading lists, along with having discussions at organizers' meetings, social functions, and over e-mail. One can't control how everyone thinks though. As long as we each do our part, I think we'll facilitate the next generation to educate themselves properly on the truth facing Palestine today as well as a factual account of its history, and train them to be effective and passionate activists.

As far as pronunciations go, well, barely anyone in the U.S. pronounces "Gaza/3'aza" correctly even now, and that hasn't stopped anyone from getting out to demonstrations

By: MohammadKF

MohammadKF — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:02:28 +0000

Excellent, timely post. It really is classic divide and conquer and under the conditions Israel imposes even the most vigilante amongst us can fall victim to suspicion and resentment of the 'other' Palestinian.

By: Arayus

Arayus — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:16:45 +0000

Excellent observation.