To Israels frustrations, the perseverance of the refugees in Jenin and all Palestinian refugee camps remains a testament to the failed 1948 Israeli assessment of the Palestinian people.

There is a clear relationship between the recent Israeli incursion into the Jenin camp and the laws of cause and effect. Understanding the catalyst that led to the establishment of the refugee camp is therefore crucial in comprehending both the Israeli war on the camp this month, and its destruction in 2002. All this can be summarized in a short sentence: Jenin camp is as old as the state of Israel.

In 1948, Israel was founded on the ruins of over 535 Palestinian villages and towns and the ethnic cleansing of approximately 800,000 native Palestinians from their homes. Jenin camp emerged as a home for some of those who were forcefully expelled from their towns and villages.

In 1950, the United Nations established the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to administer 58 refugee camps, including 27 located in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

These refugee camps housed nearly one-third of all registered 1948 Palestine refugees. They provided shelter for the most vulnerable and destitute, the bottom of the bottom class. As I write, Im not presenting an analysis, but I draw from personal life experience, having grown up in one of these camps. I have written extensively on this subject, including books on the life and formation of these camps.

In my first book, Children of Catastrophe, in the script below, I explain how these camps were established:

The development of the camp skipped all the normal historical evolution of townships. Members of the new community came from all sorts of backgrounds and localities. Landowners, farmers, city dwellers, Bedouins, doyens, family chiefs (mukhtars), professionals, rich and poor all found themselves living and sharing a new communal life. A nomadic Bedouin was living next to a city dweller, a landowner was residing next to a farm laborer and mukhtars competed for power and authority. Local neighborhoods immediately became prototypes of old villages as the camp was informally divided by refugees based on the origin of their hometowns in Palestine. Societal class, rank and structure disappeared overnight in the catastrophe of dispossession and Nakba (catastrophe).

Ode to Jenin

Jenin is crying,

the youth are defying

people are dying

Zionism is killing

fascism is rising

Europe is denying

Jenin is resisting

Jenin,

Oh Jenin

My Jenin

Jenin is SUMUD)

Jenin -from the spring of gardens

revolutionaries flower

Jenin

our beloved Jenin

Salute to the Jenin Fighters

They believed us too small

insignificant

Dispossessed Palestinians

refugees in Jenin

But the UNITED PEOPLE defended PALESTINE

Against their sophisticated weapons and the US blind eye

Meanwhile, in their hide-outs, Jenin fighters warn: Whenever you try to sleep

We will be the mosquito in your room

The Stolen Home

The family Ghaith-Sub Laban

from Old Jerusalem

The News just in

DISLOCATED

from their neat and tidy HOME

75 years later

It was an order of COURT the very one Israelis are fighting to preserve

the Ghaith-Sub Labans must Go

leave their neat and loving home

after 75 years

Finally their home is CLEANSED, ETHNICALLY

The post Ode to Jenin and Other Poems appeared first on Palestine Chronicle.

The Palestine Chronicle joined a group of children and teenagers as they held a vigil at the Gaza port, demanding an end to the Israeli siege.

Most of Gazas youthful population were either not born or were not mature enough to remember the first days of the Israeli siege. 

Yet, they fully understand that their harsh reality is the outcome of the 17-year-long blockade, involving not only Israel but Egypt as well.

The Palestine Chronicle joined a group of children and teenagers as they held a vigil at the Gaza port, demanding an end to their seemingly perpetual imprisonment in the tiny, overpopulated, and impoverished enclave. 

One of the placards held by the children read: 800,000 Children in Gaza Have Only Ever Known Life Under Blockade. 

Indeed, the statement expresses a painful reality. 

Gazas population has been estimated to be 2.2 million according to the Gisha Legal Center for Movement. Half of them are children and 70 percent are under 30. 

Though the international community seems to have turned a blind eye to Gazas suffering, the children at the port were hoping to send a message to the rest of the world: End the Siege Now. 

...

To live up to Israels expectations and to ensure its survival, the PA is willing to clash directly with Palestinians who refuse to toe the line.

This is the perfect opportunity for Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, to exit the stage. But he will not.

Abbas brief visit to the devastated Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank on July 12 demonstrated the absurdity and danger of the PA and its 87-year-old leader.

As he walked, Abbas struggled to keep his balance, in what was promoted as a solidarity visit to the camp.

Thousands of frustrated Jenin residents took to the streets, hardly chanting Abbas name. Some looked on with disappointment; others asked where the Presidents forces were when Israel invaded the camp, killing 12, wounding and arresting hundreds more.

The BBC reported on a huge armed deployment to secure Abbas visit, where PA security forces joined a thousand-strong unit of Mr. Abbas elite presidential guard. Their only job was to clear a path for Abbas into the camp.

On the initial and most deadly first day of the Israeli invasion of Jenin, Israeli media, citing military sources, said that 1,000 Israeli soldiers were taking part in the military operation.

Yet, it took more Palestinian soldiers to secure Abbas brief visit to Jenin.

Indeed, where were those well-dressed and equipped PA soldiers when Jenin was fighting and dying alone?  And why does Abbas need to be protected from his own people?

To address these questions, it is important to examine recent contexts, three significant dates in particular:

On July 5, Israel ended its military operation in Jenin.

On July 9, despite protests by some of his security cabinet members, Israeli Pri...

The black, the white, the green, the red,
The flag that stands for all weve shed,
For all our pain, our hope, our pride,
For all our heroes and defenders who have died.

The black, the night,
oppression beyond belief,
the darkness,
the triple scourge
Of oppression, war, and grief,
Resisting with Allahs help,
we stand our ground,
and hope and pray for some relief.

Zionist Israel has turned our homeland into a living hell,
thrown our greatest leaders into a cell,
claiming its horrendous acts are by divine right,

every semblance of morality, humanity has long since left their sight.

The white, the peace, the purity
Of our people heart and soul,
With faith and perseverance, we advance towards freedoms goal.
Our love for one another is ever-strong,
for this is OUR homeland, and we know here is where we truly belong.

The green, the land, the hope, the future,
Of a free and independent state,
Where all our people can live in peace,
And never fear the oppressors hate.

The red, the blood, the sacrifice,
Of those who fought for our emancipation,
Who gave their lives so we could live,
In a homeland of our own, not victims and slaves of an ungodly nation.

This flag is more than just a symbol,
It is a testimony to our sumud, present and past,
in the words of saintly Gandhi,
oppressive dictators will never last.

The deep-rooted love for our homeland

is like a golden sunshine ray,
It offers promise for our future,
and hope for a better day.

We raise high the flag of Palestine,
We will never give up our fight,
For our land, our freedom, our future,
We will never surrender,
to self-determine is our right.

Against the forces of darkness and tyranny,
we are lions and champions of the light.
Ambassadors of freedom, our cause is just and right,
Truth and justice have much power,
soon the world will awaken to their might.
and of the flag and liberation of our homeland
We, Palestinians will never lose sight.

The post The Noble Flag of Palestine A Poem appeared first on Palestine Chronicle....