<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Some remarks by Mazin Qumsiyeh…<br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">"Mazin Qumsiyeh" <<a href="mailto:mazin@qumsiyeh.org">mazin@qumsiyeh.org</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">January 16, 2011 1:46:48 PM CST<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Mort Brussel <<a href="mailto:brussel@illinois.edu">brussel@illinois.edu</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Cc: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Human Rights Newsletter <<a href="mailto:humanrights@lists.qumsiyeh.org">humanrights@lists.qumsiyeh.org</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><b>[HumanRights] Tunisia and reshaping the Arab world</b><br></span></div><br><div>Here in Palestine, we face a relentless assault not only on us and our lands<br>but on truth, on decency, on nature, on dignity, and, dare I say, on God.<br>Israeli authorities are working overtime to transform the Holy City of<br>Jerusalem from a multi-ethnic and multi-religious city to a distorted vision<br>of what Zionists think Judaism is about (supremacy, ethnic purity, tribalism<br>etc). They will be debating in the next few days a project for an additional<br>1400 "housing units" near Gilo colony. The land targeted belongs to the<br>village of Al-Walaja and the Town of Beit Jala. The Negev village of<br>Al-Araqib was also just demolished for the 9th time*. More home and business<br>demolitions were carried out in Jerusalem and the Jordan valley. Taking<br>lands from Christians and Muslims, destroying over 2 million trees and<br>countless homes and businesses are not just war crimes but crimes against<br>humanity. We must continue to challenge these destructive policies and<br>demand the international community bring those responsible to justice.<br>Please write to media, politicians, and all others (the internet allows you<br>to get hundred of emails very quickly for decision makers).**<br><br>I think the empire's hold on the Arab World has begun to unravel and I think<br>we see in Tunisia the first spark of a revolution that will reshape the Arab<br>world for the better and spell the end of repression. In 1948, the insertion<br>of Israel in the Middle of the Arab world was designed to dominate the area,<br>keep the people disjointed, disunited and ruled by (Western-appointed)<br>dictators. In 1953, the US and Britain engineered the coup that removed the<br>democratically elected government of Mousaddeq and placed the brutal Shah in<br>power in Iran. These moves worked for many years because people in the Arab<br>world let them happen and offered limited resistance. Things have been<br>changing. In retrospect, the year 1973 was pivotal as for the first time<br>two Arab countries decided to fight to take back their stolen lands.<br>Unfortunately, the US chose to save its monstrous creation from having to<br>return all the stolen lands (and Sadat was willing to walk a separate line).<br>Then came the nonviolent people's revolution in Iran which got rid of the<br>Shah in 1979. Since then Israel and its benefactor has attempted in vain to<br>crush any Arab resistance by might. Fom their invasion and occupation of<br>Lebanon to invasion and occupation of Iraq, these evil forces attempted to<br>keep the lid on Arab democracy and keep their hegemony. Arab dictators were<br>useful tools in implementing these destructive policies. But many of us<br>have long argued that these shenanigans will and must come to an end. <br><br>As people around the world evolved beyond dictatorship and racism, we in the<br>Arab world will too. After all, why should people in Latin America (some<br>that used to be called banana republics) be able to say NO to the<br>neo-liberal and neo-colonial systems while we in the Arab world could not?<br>Why should Iran and Turkey be able to say NO to violations of International<br>law and NO to hegemony while we in the rich Arab world stay silent? The<br>directions may be coming from Tunisia. I have visited Tunisia twice and<br>have many colleagues and friends that hail from Tunisia's beautiful towns<br>and villages. My single largest scientific collaborator is a Tunisian<br>scientist living in Paris. I have commented on the similarity that<br>Palestine and Tunisia has in geography, topography, climate, and village<br>life. Tunisians used popular resistance methods I discussed in my recent<br>book on Palestine to get rid of a corrupt leader who had hung on to power<br>for over 23 years. But there are other Arab leaders who have been in power<br>even longer. It is time for real change, a change not to replace one face<br>with another but to begin to form truly democratic institutions throughout<br>the Arab world. Our demands include democracy, transparency (including<br>totally free and critical press), plurality, and justice. We have enough<br>natural and human resources to build new vibrant societies. All we have to<br>do is muster the will to free our minds. Those of us who have done so and<br>shed their inhibitions should also begin to discuss and ORGANIZE for the day<br>after (after Zionism and after imperialism). We have to begin to examine<br>how we may repair the damage caused by the corrupt systems and build a<br>better future.<br><br>*<br><a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9407&Itemid=">http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9407&Itemid=</a><br>56 <br>** for 50 actions you can do, visit<br>http://www.palestinejn.org/resources/resources-for-activism- <br>--------------------------<br>Tunisia's Revolution Was Twitterized by Firas Al-Atraqchi<br>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/firas-alatraqchi/tunisias-revolution-was-t_b_8<br>09131.html <br><br>Eitan Bronstein's insightful letter about why he set up Zochrot, an Israeli<br>group that tries to bring attention to the ethnically cleansed Palestinian<br>villages in the "Jewish state"<br>http://zochrot.org/index.php?id=866 <br><br>Boycott wins accumulate: Now Vanessa Paradis has cancelled her concert in<br>Israel<br>Merci Vanessa ! Et merci à toutes celles et tous ceux, dans tous les pays,<br>qui se sont mobilisés pour lui faire entendre la voix de la justice et de la<br>paix !<br>Video of action: http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article5793 <br>more at http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article5792 <br><br>Pebble People by Cindy Sheehan<br>"Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system."<br>Dorothy Day <br>http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2011/01/pebble-people-by-cindy-shee<br>han.html <br><br>Gabrielle Giffords, Tom Hurndall and Palestinian Children: Shot in the Head<br>by Alison Weir http://counterpunch.org/weir01142011.html <br><br>Jerusalem situation<br>http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=457 <br><br>Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD<br>A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home<br>http://www.qumsiyeh.org <br>http://www.pcr.ps <br><br>-------------- next part --------------<br>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>URL: <http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/pipermail/humanrights/attachments/20110116/7e6309b1/attachment.htm><br>_______________________________________________<br>HumanRights newsletter<br>http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/mailman/listinfo/humanrights<br>This message was sent to brussel@illinois.edu. 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