Obama after Cairo

Obama after Cairo

September 28

By Ayman Quader

Palestine, September 28, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)“It is the time to change” a statement that was spontaneously delivered when I followed Obama’s speech in Cairo University the last June. It was a speech full of encouraging words especially to the Palestinian people towards regaining part of their deprived rights. I strongly argued with my friends that the upcoming future will be partly bright to solve the Palestine-Israel conflict as Obama had raised the slogan Change We Need in his campaign. When it comes closer for the Palestinians, they were cautiously watching TVs during his speech in Cairo. We had amazingly been moved with the gentle and strong speech of Obama in Cairo. The supporters of Obama in his election campaign were massively raising Change We need flash cards sending massages to the whole world that justice and freedom will finally prevail. As for me, I directly uploaded Obama’s word and the audio and started listening to his speech once, twice..

Time has changed people even President Obama. My mind gets confused as to how people would dramatically change. Nothing has been implemented from Obama’s speech. Therefore we determined that it was just a speech with no action. We were considerably manipulated with Obama’s speech in Cairo thinking that the new American administration will be completely different from the previous one and actual actions will noticeably be taken.

In Gaza, everything was targeted, homes, schools and human beings. More than a thousand Gazans were savagely killed and thousands more were seriously wounded. Young children still feel unsafe and are suffering from severe psychological problems. The scenes of death means of Israelis will never leave from our minds.

Mohammed Abbas, the present of Palestine and Palestinian Authority and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were invested by Obama to a summit with an obscure goal. Obama distanced himself from the injustice and the change he aspires to achieve in the middle east. Palestinians are being violated daily with a world that looks on in silence. Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem has also violated by Israelis and this is really black and dangerous indications for the future of Al-Aqsa.

People of Gaza haave been obfuscated from the promised change of President Obama’s position in the recent meeting in Washington.

All we need is our freedom and justice that must and will prevail one day.

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Ayman T. Quader
Blogger Based on the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip, Palestine
Mob: 00972599448628
E-mail: ayman.qauder@gmail.com
ayman.quader@yahoo.com
Skype: peaceforgaza
Facebook: ayman.quader
Web: www.peaceforgaza.blogspot.com
www.paltelegraph.com
http:picasaweb.google.com/ayman.qauder
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Gaza to Obama: "Mr. President, our justice still denied, Our wounds are still open”

Gaza, September 24, 2009, (Pal Telegraph)- Dear President Obama: Our wounds in Gaza are still open, our justice still denied. Israel's 23 day offensive (28 December 2008- 19 January 2009) has left our children afraid to return to school, and feeling unsafe in their beds.

The war, and the continued closure of the Gaza Strip, has undermined the capacity of mothers and fathers to act as protectors and providers. As a community, we will struggle for decades to live with the consequences.

Along with our children we feel that justice has been too long abandoned. For many reasons we Palestinians have felt that the world has ignored us. The international attention following the war on Gaza gave us hope. The investigation led by Justice Goldstone was a cause for optimism. We felt that this respected judge and prosecutor - who has served at the highest level and consistently demonstrated his independence in upholding the rule of law - was one of the few people who had the credentials and experience to take on this legally complex and politically charged mission. We came to believe that the world actually cared. The statement of your ambassador to the UN, Ms. Susan Rice, sent a different message: that the world, or at least the United States, does not care.

Ms. Rice suggested that the focus should be on the future and not the past and that the task at hand must be to cement progress towards the resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. This separation of justice and peace is misguided; the two are intertwined. If there is one thing that history teaches us, it is that when the powerful are allowed to escape accountability, they will continue to violate the law, and innocent people will pay the price.

In Cairo you said that "America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own." You also spoke of the desire for the rule of law and the equal administration of justice, stating that these "are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere". These were welcome words, but they demand action. Accountability and criminal responsibility are fundamental components of justice. All those responsible must face trial; victims' rights must be upheld; suffering cannot be ignored.

President Obama, as you once said quoting Dr. Martin Luther King: ‘the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice, but it doesn't bend on its own unless each and every one of us puts our hands on the arc.'

Support the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission.

Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj

President, Gaza Community Mental Health Programme

Participating in a Youth Conference

Participating in a Youth Conference

Gaza, September 20, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)-The "Youth…. the Ability to Change" Conference has been held in Gaza City 17/9/2009. It mainly shed light on the ability of young people to create changes even in very harsh conditions.

On September 17, 2009 I participated in a conference called "Youth…. the Ability to Change", which was organized by the Catholic Relief Services – CRS - in GazaCity.

The conference has very clearly stressed the role of young people in making changes in any society. Most of the participants also were from young people who spoke about their own experience to the audience. Mr. Jung Geng, director of operations for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, spoke impressively about the crucial role that the Palestinian youth is playing in these rough conditions. He added that young people are the means of any change in any society as they are the most dynamic and vigorous group in the society. He expressed his belief that the youth of Gaza would be able to defend its legal condition, to get justice and to break the unlawful siege imposed on 1.5 million people. “The Palestinian people are being supported internationally - they are no alone", Mr. June ended his speech.

"No one can deny the role of young people in any society and they are the tools of development and of creating a change" - by this sentence I started my own speech. I then talked about three main initiatives that have been organized by group of young activists. Those people who believe in their just cause have the ability to make a difference. These three initiatives have appeared as a result of the ongoing drastic siege in order to shed light on the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The three initiatives I presented are:

~ Many Personal Blogs

~ The Gaza Concert - www.gazaconcert.com

~ The Palestine Telegraph - www.paltelegraph.com

I first talked about my own experience about my blog and how I have developed it day by day. The story of my first blog "Black Rain on Gaza" apparently impressed the audience strongly. My goal in this Blog is to bring the reality of what is going on the ground in Gaza to people who are eager to listen. Young people, women, old men, children… - everyone is suffering day by day. People around the world should know the day-to-day reality of our people here in Gaza. Therefore, the personal stories I regularly write show these sufferings and shed light on the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

Then I mentioned the well-known Gaza Concert that took place on November 27, 2008 in Gaza City. This concert was organized and supervised by group of young people who aspired to show the World the real face of the Gaza Strip. This concert is considered as a significant event of non-violent resistance.

Finally I talked about the first online newspaper, The Palestine Telegraph. The first English newspaper that tries to show the international community the reality of the daily suffering all over Palestine.

Branches of Olive Trees

Ayman T. Quader

9/9/2009

Gaza City, Sept. 9, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) It has been 9 months since the devastating War on the Gaza Strip, which left thousands of people either killed or wounded.

Today I was invited to take a Ramadan breakfast in my friend Jumaa’s house. He lives in Al Maghzi Refugee Camp where people still are suffering miserably from the impacts of the War on their houses and streets. Basically, most of the residents of the Gaza Strip are already refugees and during the War they were once again forced to evacuate their houses and flee. I asked my friend to take me around in the camps small pass-ways, as I wanted to be closer to the people actually living there. Indeed, this made me feel strongly how much the people in the Refugee Camp are still in real pain. In the middle of the Al Maghzi Refugee Camp there is still a completely destroyed building – impossible to ignore by the people living in the Camp. I found little children playing on the rubbles of this building which really made me sad. But THEY didn’t mind and seemed to be really happy.

We reached my friend's house after the round through the camps passages. My friend showed me several pictures he took during the War, showing what the people had to experience during the War. I saw four of the pictures he took: - a picture of a wounded little girl, a picture of smoke breaking out from a house, one of people sheltered in one of the UNRWA school and a forth picture… that I’ll describe separately:

In this picture I saw little kids carrying branches of olive trees. Those little kinds had to flee from their homes to one of the UNRWA school in the Al Maghzi Refugee Camp. I wished I could be there at that time to ask them why are they were carrying these branches?

It is well-known that olive branches are a symbol of peace. It seemed as if those kinds were trying to convey a message from the hardship of their condition at that time.

Kids of Gaza are still aspiring peace and stability - even in times of WAR!!!

it's appeared on the Pal telegraph

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Ayman T. Quader
Blogger Based on the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip, Palestine
Mob: 00972599448628
E-mail: ayman.qauder@gmail.com
ayman.quader@yahoo.com
Skype: peaceforgaza
Facebook: ayman.quader
Web: www.peaceforgaza.blogspot.com
www.paltelegraph.com
http:picasaweb.google.com/ayman.qauder

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Gaza Fishermen - Daily Suffering with No Notice

Gaza Fishermen - Daily Suffering with No Notice

Ayman Quader

2 Sep, 2009

Gaza City, Sept. 2, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Everyday in the news, I hear about the suffering of the Gaza fishermen - one was killed, others wounded, and the Israelis are firing on still others. And I wanted to shed a light on their pain.

I went to the main Gaza port. While I was there, I figured out how sad the sea and the fishermen are. Boats are stuck and fishermen are looking at the sea with no hope.

The Palestinian fishermen have been consistently harassed by the regular Israeli attacks on them, as they abuse the fishermen for pursuing their livelihood. Furthermore, they are prevented to work for far distances inside the sea. The allowed distance for them is just around 4.5 Km. Unfortunately, once they reach that distance, they find themselves under Israeli fire.

Around 3000 fishermen are now despondently jobless and in a real tragedy. The tragedy began with the complete blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip. The fishermen are prohibited from going to a deeper and richer area of fishing, and they have been dramatically affected with these restrictions from the Israeli navy forces. Indeed, they now have very low incomes with which to feed their families.

Ismael Kalilo is a 65-year old fisherman in Gaza City, who has spent 50 years of his life in the sea, and now lives in the Beach Camp. "I am totally satisfied to be a fisherman in Gaza, but completely exhausted by the conditions imposed on us."

The aged fisherman is also a father of 8. I asked him how he takes care of his dependents, and how he feeds them: "No one can bear the situation that the fishermen are living with. He should go to the sea and see how much they suffer. We were peacefully fishing before the time of the siege on Gaza, as we just depended on our livelihood. We have become unable to secure even the basic needs of our life.

I asked him about his own experience regarding the Israeli navy forces. He took deep breath, then pointed at his son to tell us the story. Ahmed is 24 years old, and is also a fisherman.

"I was with my boat about a year ago at Sudania coast, north of the Gaza Strip," he said. "With no alert and at 10 pm, I found that the Israeli ship started firing missiles toward my boat, exactly at my net. They ordered me to get back without my net. I tried to save my big net, which costs around $2000, but it was in vain. Then I found myself obliged after staying in the sea from 10am to 7am to get back home, and they took the net - including what I had fished. That even had increased our tragedy, as they took the net which we all depend on for fishing."

"We are passing through a rough time, and we are suffering," said Ismeal, as he took me to see the bullets still in the boats, the fishermen unable to get them repaired. "The siege has suffocated us for almost 3 years."

Ismeal finished his interview with me, calling upon all of those people who claimed humanity, to stand beside the Palestinian people, their besieged people in Gaza, and to take responsibility for ending this daily suffering.

Sourse: Palestine Telegraph

http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/2098-gaza-fishermen-daily-suffering-with-no-notice

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Ayman T. Quader
Blogger Based on the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip, Palestine
Mob: 00972599448628
E-mail: ayman.qauder@gmail.com
ayman.quader@yahoo.com
Skype: peaceforgaza
Facebook: ayman.quader
Web: www.peaceforgaza.blogspot.com
www.paltelegraph.com
http:picasaweb.google.com/ayman.qauder
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