Palestinian prisoners take reins from faltering leaders; Hana Shalabi

The Palestinian Authority is losing its relevance as hunger strikers galvanise support across party lines.

It began with Khader Adnan's sudden and bold declaration: "My dignity is more important than my life."
And with that he refused food for the next 66 days. With each day he persisted, more and more people around the world were riveted to this man's brave confrontation of Israel's draconian policy of administrative detention. But perhaps more significantly, Palestinians from all political parties - as well as no political party - united and rallied together in support of this man and against Israel's unfair treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
Now, Hana al-Shalabi approaches the completion of her third week on hunger strike. Like Adnan, Shalabi, 29, is protesting administrative detention, torture and humiliation at the hands of Israeli soldiers.

These individuals represent not just the 300 Palestinians currently in administrative detention, or the over 5,000 Palestinians still in Israeli prisons. They exemplify and speak for all Palestinians in a way that no politician or political party has been able to do for a long time.
The authorities of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been simultaneously vying for power while nominally trying to "reconcile" the occupied land's divisions. Meanwhile, Adnan and Shalabi have galvanised Palestinian support across party lines.
"She really makes me want to join the revolution again," said one young man, a former fighter in the Al-Aqsa Brigade, who is now working for the Palestinian Authority's security forces.
Shalabi began her strike as soon as she was detained by Israeli forces on February 16. She was already well-acquainted with the cruelty of administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold Palestinians indefinitely without charge or evidence. Shalabi had recently spent over two years under that status and was released last October in the prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel#

Over the past six months, PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas government have had their moments of glory. President Abbas generated short-lived exhilaration when he took his bid for statehood to the United Nations last September and Hamas was highly praised when it secured the release of over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli corporal-turned-sergeant Gilad Shalit.
But these political manoeuvres are intended and only serve to defend politicians' positions and spheres of power in the midst of an internecine conflict over control, rather than mobilise a national resistance movement.
In the meantime, Israel has quietly escalated its colonisation and tightened its control over occupied Palestinian territories. In February alone, 380 Palestinians were arrested, 158 individuals were displaced and 825 olive trees were uprooted by Israeli forces. Those numbers do not even speak to the significant uptick in vandalism and attacks by settlers and the deaths and injuries suffered by Gazans from continued aerial bombardments.

Khader Adnan and Hana al Shalabi have reinvigorated resistance and raised the long-flagging morale of people on the streets. This is a dramatic testament to the adage that change can only come from below - so maybe it's time we stop looking to the top, to those who seem to think they have all power. There as narrow - minded as the average zionist. This world is changing, the people are taking a stand, although we've been doing this for years. We've gained a voice, and this voice is growing, fast.
Its only a matter of time.

Thank you for reading

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Saving Khader Adnan's Life

The world watches as tragedy unfolds beneath its gaze. Khader Adnan is nearly entering his 70th day as a hunger striker in an Israeli prison, being held under an administrative detention order without trial, charges, or any indication of the evidence against him.
The case of Khader Adnan is a revealing microcosm of the unbearable cruelty of prolonged occupation. It draws a contrast in the West between the dignity of an Israeli prisoner and the steadfast refusal to heed the abuse of thousands of Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails through court sentence or administrative order.

And who is Khader Adnan? We do not know very much about him except that he is a member of the Islamic Jihad Party. There are no accusations against him that implicate him in violence against civilians. His fellow prisoner from an earlier period of confinement in Ashkelon Prison, Abu Maria, recalls his normalcy and humanity while sharing a cell, emphasising his interest in informing other Palestinians: "Prison was like a university in those times and he was one of the professors." Commenting on his hunger strike that has brought him extreme pain, Abu Maria says he is convinced that Khader Asnan wants to live, but will not live in humiliation: "He is showing his commitment and resistance in the only way he can right now, with his body."

Adameer, the respected Palestinian NGO concerned with prisoners, "holds Israel accountable for the life of Khader Adnan, whose health has entered an alarmingly critical stage that will now have irreversible consequences and could lead to his fatal collapse at any moment". Physicians who have observed his current condition conclude that, at most, he could live a few more days, saying that such a hunger strike cannot be sustained beyond 70 days in any event. Any attempt at forced feeding to keep a prisoner from dying is widely viewed as an additional abuse, a form of torture.

Have we not reached a stage in our appreciation of human rights that we should outlaw such state barbarism? Let us hope that the awful experience of Khader Adnan does not end with his death, and let us hope further that it sparks a worldwide protest against both administrative detention and prisoner abuse. The Palestinian people have suffered more than enough already.

Khader Adnan represents not only how demoralized this world is, but represents the Palestinian struggle, an illegal occupation that the world SUDDENLY turns blind to. He represents the language of freedom and how humanity struggles to breake the chains that are wrapped around us.

It is obvious that Khader Adnan is in critical danger, but unfortuntaly only a minority know, the role that media have played is appalling. But its certainly not surprising, when have you have ever seen western media potraying Israeli for WHAT IT REALLY IS? So we, as muslims, we, as humanity, acted together and spreaded the harshness of reality through social networks such as twitter, facebook etc. From us organizing protests throughout the world to have Khader Adnan trending number 1 worldwide, if anything, the suffering of Khader Adnan is bringing out the BEST OF HUMANITY.
But as the days go by, our freedom will be restricted, SOPA & PIPA will act and things will change. And they won't change for the better.

Khader Adnan is only an example of what humanity is today, how we struggle for just an ounce of freedom, how we struggle for happiness, and I fear it will only get worse. Regardless, the Muslims are growing some sort of unity,something that I can't describe. From all walks of the earth, its something that we muslims haven't felt for a long time, Zionists & western intervention have taken serious measures to prevent this but they fear that its not in their control. Since the split of the Ottoman empire western intervention has so far succeeded. But they have forgotten that we people have our own minds, and we are NOT controlled like out pupper leaders.

You these chains on our hands? THEY WILL BE BROKEN
Emancipating our self and breaking free ? WELL WE HAVE SPOKEN
You see the blood that bleeds? IT BLEEDS FOR FREEDOM.
You see the tears that fall? THEY SPEAK OF OUR DEMONS


Khader Adnan will be free, unfortuately only clocks have mouths

And only time will tell.

Thank you for reading

Follow me on twitter; @OhSweetArabia

This post was written by me on 19th of February 2012

Khader Adnan was released from his cell and ended his 66 days of hunger strike on 21st of February 2012,

For God looks after those who believe in him.

Egypt; The PortSaid Massacre

What happened in Port Said is not alien to the world of football. Sheffield, Johannesburg, Guatemala, Kathmandu, Brussels and Moscow all have horror stories to tell about football and death. In 1974, 49 people were trampled to death in Cairo Stadium - more than today, if one considers Egypt had at the time less than half of the current population of 80 million.

Why would 70 - 80 people die over a match off football? Regardless, the SCAF (Egyptain Military) had frankly fooled us all. They've had a history with the Egyptian football team, and in this case, it was a bad one. I received reports that Security were only ordered to protect the referees, and that they allowed people to die infront of them.
Has this what we humans have succumb to?
Its pathetic. Its disgusting. It shows how demoralized our world is.

Ironically,  there is a "trophy" and there is a game, except it is not "football". It is the only game in town brought about the winds of the Arab Spring and the revolutionary youth of Tahrir Square: dignity, bread and freedom - the game of democracy, as Western transitologists would call it.
The "trophy" of power - may be as a zero-sum game - is what is coveted. The Muslim Brotherhood have not won this trophy. But they have come closest through a majority of seats through free elections to claiming the trophy of power.
One thing in Egypt, that is, its prowess in the process of what is going to be an arduously complex and protracted transition is both its blessing and its curse: its multi-layered and pluralist society.

Right now, this is normal in the midst of a revolutionary moment - especially one that is not engendered through intellectual or ideological fervour. As if the Arab revolutions are seeking the "thinking" and "knowing" substance so far still missing

In Egypt, the centrestage that was Tahrir Square is now the "launching pad" of all kinds of sites of "struggle" - regardless of their legitimacy or lack thereof. Contests and counter-contests abound.

There is always a chicken-egg dynamic: what comes first?
 Elections, constitution or president?
What to do with SCAF?
The elections to be boycotted or not?
The election results to be respected or rejected?
Are the Muslim Brotherhood friend/foe of the revolution or of SCAF?

The PortSaid massacre has led to protests day in and day out but
There is nothing imaginative in pointing the finger at SCAF as benefiting from the chaos: it instigates it to hang on to power. Nothing is straightforward. However, SCAF is not to be blameless in the Port Said violence. Standing as an incompetent "protector" or "caretaker" of the revolution hurts more than helps the embattled SCAF. The revolution has confirmed one thing: the army is not fit to govern - neither in Egypt nor in Syria or Yemen.
Bending the rules of the political game is vital when asserting people's sovereignty. All nations with great revolutions had to undergo this. But to bend all politics as if it were a ball - before reaching the stage of defining new rules for the political game - should not jeopardise the life of the baby (revolution) in the process of seeking to throw out the bathing water.

I personally, recieved several reports claiming that the SCAF planned this nightmare, and that they allowed people to hit each other. I was also told they were only instructed to protect the referees and leave the rest to die. I, was not the only one to recieve these absurd, but true, reports. Its shocking.

It just shows how dark this world really is. Its not filled with fairytales, like one would like to imagine. Its only going to get worse from here. I ask those who read this, to prepare, prepare for the mass killings, prepare for the calamities that will hit us. Prepare, just prepare. The day is near, I can feel it in my heart that beats in the warmth of the night.

Thank you for reading.

Follow me on twitter; @OhSweetArabia - For constant updates regarding the current wave of Arab Revoutions, especially Syria.

Syria; Its Only The Beginning

As the crisis enters a new, more violent phase, we ask if there is still room for a solution?

With all the signs indicating that Syria is indeed sliding towards civil war, what is the international community doing? Why does Russia remain opposed to regime change? And can there still be a political solution?

The Arab League's 165-person mission to Syria came to an end on Thursday, amid much condemnation and continuing violence. More than 400 protesters have been killed while the observers were in the country

Unfortunately the conditions in Syria will only worsen, Bashar Al - Assad has no sympathy for his people and the Western World primarily America, is enjoying every bit of it. I used to think that Iran was a role model to the Islamic World, but to know that the Iranian President is also sending troops to help Bashar Al - Assad? Its sickening. The world is only going down from here, and these Arab Revolutions will last for a VERY long time.

"No Arab household will be safe" A major sign that the day of Judgement is near in Islam. If one just open his eyes and realises what is really happening in the world, let alone the Arab World. Then there world, would change.

Syria will go through Civil War. It is the only way. The situation that struck Libya, where Libyan fighters fought until they took over Tripoli mirrored a similar scene which took place in Syria on Sunday 29th of January. The Free Syrian army were on the outskirts of Damascus but unfortunately Russian tanks were well equipped to back off any invasion. I believe the calamity that is hitting Syria will destroy the Arab World. However it is oblivious to many. China and Russia as well as Iran are holding Bashar Al - Assads hands, and they won't let go unless we make them.

There are millions of questions that still need to be answered

Will there be more Eastern or Western Inventions in Syria?
Will the Syrian revolution destroy the Arab World?
Will Al - Qaeda use Syria as a safe haven after the revolution has bitterly destroyed the place?
How many more will die?
Is it time to abolish the Arab League?
What is really firing the deaths, Assad's army? American intervention? Thugs and Gangs?
What is Qatar's real intentions? Do they want to help the Syrians? Didn't recordings and documents leak regarding the Qatar president wanting to takeover Saudi Arabia?
What is the solution to the Arab Revolutions?

The PEOPLE are the only PEOPLE we can trust and we need to abolish Arab dictatorship.

The worst case scenario is that after the revolution, Syria will be in pieces. And low and behold, Al - Qaeda will take over, unfortunately this is very likely as they've finished with Iraq and there best choice is Syria.

Regardless of what is going on in the Middle East, has one taken into consideration of the spirit of the people? How they have this, determination that will virtually obstruct anything that gets in its way. Its fascinating.
From Tunisia to Bahrain, the only way to overcome what has landed upon us, its unity. I've mentioned this before and i'll mention it again, Unity is the only way forward. There are 23 Arab countries (Sudan has split), so whats stopping us? Building an Arab Republic, with no blood from America or Russia or any other country for that matter.  For years someone has tried to invade the Middle East. From the British to the French.
And well I for one have had ENOUGH. I'm tired of Arabs suffering. I'm tired of the Palestinian occupation. I'm tired of the blood, the deaths, the innocence of women that has been lost due to rape and sexual abuse.
The Arab World is corrupt, and we need to act, FAST.
Mark my words, I won't allow this to continue, I may be outnumbered, but to make a difference in the world is what I strive for, and believe me, i'll do it.

Thank you for reading

Follow me on twitter; @OhSweetArabia

January 25 & Tahrir Square; Egypt, Going strong

Tahrir Square, during those 18 days it took to topple Mubarak, turned into an existential 'republican' of its own

It was a day in history when Cairo reclaimed its name as the "victorious" city. But what was launched on that momentous day at Tahrir Square was more than a revolution for liberty and dignity. It was an act of designing an immaterial republic, a state of mind and psyche.
It was a day of judgment. Egyptians in spectacular unison set out to dismantle a dysfunctional and decayed republic and for 18 days, creatively founded the "republic of Tahrir Square", changing the course of an entire region.

Agency was displayed in multiple colours, prayers, words, shapes, cries, songs, dances and slogans. Perhaps, nothing equals the beauty of such creativity than Egyptians taking over the public square to make it their own and taking charge of time. That is when 31 years of dictatorial urban planning and of regimented timing ceased to have an effect.

Tunisia once again connects with Egypt. Just as the Fatimids left Mahdia to go and flourish and prosper in Egypt, founding Cairo, so did the revolution sparked by Bouazizi. No where in the Arab Middle East was Tunisia's revolution received more warmly and passionately than in Egypt. The embrace of the flags said it all, and the slogan read: "You first, we next"

Rebellion was integral to tahrir to the moment when the world stopped to watch Egypt reinvent itself. Rebelling is good. Every myth, every ethic and every policy in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world was always geared towards oppressing even the thought of rebellion much less playing it out so openly, defiantly and collectively in the hub of the Pharaoh's city, close to his mugamma and in full view of his uniformed and un-uniformed guardians. The 'ghalabah' (down-trodden) complex so entrenched in Egypt was smashed with every song, dance, amongst other endless carnivalesque techniques for overthrowing tyranny. The Egyptians did this on their terms, through re-ordered time and space

But lest we forget, Egypt is still falling. The behaviour of the SCAF (Egyptian Army, or so they call themselves that) is appaling. Regardless, the Egyptains never gave up, the Arab support from the other 22 countries  waved Egyptian flags. In Spain, a country rich of Arab culture protested in support of Egypts revolution. Egypt is not alone, but I fear that the Arab world is, to an extent.

Will the Muslim Brotherhood cause a religious conflict in Egypt?
Lack of Speech?
Will the SCAF let go of their power?
Will another revolutions spark from this?

There are still many questions that need to be answered, but unfortunately, we have to wait. Time is not on our sides.

Intelligent protest: That is the answer to what kind of protest Egyptians staged in the square. Egyptians dismissed the state when they shifted the focus of protest, attention and creative protest to a central square. It escaped the attention of security planners. More or less, the goal posts were changed, and with it the terrain on which Egyptians did draw the lines of battlefield with Mubarak and co. That was partly how they triumphed.

Republic will live on - always lurking to bring the Egyptians back to a square of no particular dimensions to resist, if need be. The other republic materially being today designed and populated with parliamentarians, officialdom and state offices matters. But it matters even more if the republic that was Tahrir Square on January 25 for 18 days remains a beacon of inspiration and hope

There may be differences since the Arab Revolutions started in December 2010, but they are still on going, some countries are evident, while others are not. Tunisia , Libya & Egypts revolutions have not stopped nor will they for a long time. The freedom of Arabs is what we long for. And that is what we will get

Thank you for reading

Follow me on twitter; @OhSweetArabia

The Arab Revolutions - Are they Predictable?

Many people around the world were somewhat shocked when the Arabs started to revolt, the Arabs them self realized that together, they weren't scared of the US dictators that sleep all over the Arab World. But weren't these revolutions predictable? From the words of the Qura'an to the Arabs themselves, it all predicts that the Arab people will stand without fear, and that they'll break the chains that the American (& other) dictators have put upon them. Muhammed (PBUH) stated that a time will come "when no Arab household will be safe", he also said that "Syria will be in great danger" isn't thats what happening now. A sign? The last day? Repent? The Arab future? Too many questions and no answers. For we only have time sitting on our shoulders, and each step we take, the minute hand begins to move.

When I noticed the trail of Arab countries revolting I wasn't surprised, and I believe i'm not the only one. Everyone needs to play there role, and I also believe these Arab revolutions will only be the beginning, the final war is near. Needless to say, the ongoing Palestine - Israeli conflict will a mass to a huge war, coinciding with the Arab revolutions bringing in France, Britain & USA. And the fight will begin.  Its all predictable. Yet many are blind.

Libya hasn't won, Egypt hasn't won. Simple because they've taken over a dictator doesn't nessecarily mean that they've won. Protests and rallies are still on going and their freedom is yet to arrive in their hands. The only answer to taken over the SCAF, to takeover any leftovers that are causing michief and trouble. Is Arab Unity. The Arab revolutions are bringing about a Arab Republic, something that dictators in the Middle East lack A LOT. The ILLEGAL israeli occupation on Palestine will only break if Arabs unite and take back the land for Palestine. Its all too predictable.
Isa (Jesus) PBUH will descend from the skies to a mountain in Damascus, Syria. He will only come when the "arab world is filled with blood"
I warn you all, we haven't got long, although I doubt it that i'm the only that believes so. The hyprocrisy and indenial that the Zionists have painted on Arabs is shameful, and unfortunately as blind as the world is, they'll believe anything.
Personally I believe that no "man" started the revolutions in Tunisia. I believe it was an "angel" who walked the streets shouting "down with Ben Ali" persuading others to join. I could be wrong, but this certainly did lead to several other countries going into revolt. And It will certainly break the chains that are wrapped around our tongues.

Facing our fears, battling those who disgrace us, how long will these revolutions go on for? It started in 2010 and there still going strong well into 2012, if anything there getting worse, more people dying, several people homeless, many injured. The Arab lands are in a "warzone". Yet the world only watches as the people fight for their rights. As they fight for their freedom. As they fight for their country. As they fight for each other. Together hand in hand we will stay strong. From Tunisia to Bahrain, from Bahrain to Palestine, to Egypt, to Yemen, to Syria and the other Arab countries. Inshallah we will all prevail, and we'll dance, and we'll sing when all the Arab countries are free from the innocent blood that falls from the clouds every night. The martyrs that have risked their LIVES for the safety of their brothers and sisters, for their country. How much can we take? Will we give up? NEVER. We will NEVER GIVE UP.

I'm only trying to get my voice heard, my thoughts heard, regardless of people calling me a liar and so, I will not give up. Giving a voice to the voiceless is what I do, and my dream is to make sure the word "poverty" does not exist in the dictionary. Inshallah, my dreams will come true.

Thank you for reading

Follow me on twitter; @OhSweetArabia

Why we MUST stop SOPA and PIPA; The BLACKOUT

SOPA and PIPA are designed to stop people from illegally downloading copyrighted content or engaging in other violations of US intellectual property rights, including access to cheaper prescription drugs from abroad. Websites on which people share massive amounts of copyrighted material, such as the prominent website The Pirate Bay, are largely beyond the reach of US law today. Supporters of SOPA wish to change that.

In an unprecedented display of Internet force, thousands of websites went dark or censored themselves on Wednesday to protest twin antipiracy measures pending in Congress.
The blackout represented a culmination of months of intensifying outcry over the bills, echoed and amplified by social media, blogs and tech publications, that drew more and more popular sites into the official day of protest, including Google, Wikipedia, Craigslist, Wired, Reddit, Boing Boing, Reporters Without Borders, Pressthink, Greenpeace and McSweeney's.
Their actions and the frenzy of media coverage in the buildup raised mainstream awareness of what, until recent days, had been a wonky set of proposals only lightly covered outside tech circles. Congressional phone lines were reportedly flooded Wednesday in what could begin the final unraveling of the already troubled measures.

Isn't it quite weird that the American congress has accused Iran and China for censoring their internet? The American soul is just sugarcoated with hyprocrisy and indenial. What are they trying to do? For those who don't know what SOPA or PIPA is, they're trying to limit our sources. Restrict us. To stop us. To control us.
From the current wave of Arab Revolutions to the removal of tents from protesters in London, the sinister governments are finding anyway possible to limit what we think and what we do. They want us to become meerless puppets, and by implementing SOPA & PIPA on us is just one of their million ways to try and scold our tongues.

Say Goodbye to Innovation

These acts are stopping developers from coming up with the next big thing in the online market that could change how we use the internet. Let’s say that these acts were around back when the internet was started, how many of the most popular sites would still have come into fruition. There would be no Facebook, YouTube, MediaFire, SoundCloud, Twitter, DropBox, or any other site that can be targeted as a place where online piracy could take place. Is it even possible to think about what the internet would be like without sites like this?


Legal Action Over A Child Singing A Song

It is quite oblivious that none of the people on sites like YouTube have been given permission from record labels execs to sing their favourite song, and then proceed to post it on a video sharing site. However will that be a problem for the record execs?

The site the child will have posted the video on will be under pressure to resolve this issue, or face their site being put on the blacklist. This child, and his/ her family, could face legal action with either the sire or the record label that the song that was sung had copyrighted.

The list is endless, sooner or later SOPA & PIPA will take action and they will restrict us from the world within the internet. Isn't this a ban on free speech?
Free speech, the two words that the Americans want to seize. But they won't seize it without a fight.

Thank you for reading,

Follow me on twitter; @OhSweetArabia