DECEMBER 2-8 2012
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
Special Report
20 Inside the Israeli Lobby A former member of AIPAC, the strongest Israeli lobby in the US, gives us an inside view on its influence on US politics
26 #thehashtagwar The Israel-Hamas war wasn’t just fought with bombs and rockets, but also hashtags and YouTube videos
30 Mainstreaming Bias While traditional news media outlets shy away from unbiased reporting on the Israel-Palestinian issue, new voices are emerging and being heard
34 Boycott, Divest, Sanction The BDS campaign hits Israel just where it hurts — the chequebook
34
36 Rallying the Refuseniks Contrary to what many of us might think, many Israeli Jews and Jewish Americans are fiercely critical of Israel’s actions
36
Portfolio
38 A Journey in Jerusalem Anaam Raza takes us on a walk through Jerusalem
Regulars 6 People & Parties: Out and about with Pakistan’s beautiful people 40 Reviews: Comic journalism 42 End Of The Line: The friend zone
38
4
Magazine Editor: Zarrar Khuhro, Senior Sub-Editor: Farahnaz Zahidi, Sub-Editors: Mifrah Haq, Ameer Hamza and Dilaira Mondegarian. Creative Team: Amna Iqbal, Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Maha Haider, Faizan Dawood, Samra Aamir, Sanober Ahmed. Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Executive Editor: Muhammad Ziauddin. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi. For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Sundus and Aleena
Crescent Bahuman launches the flagship store of Crescent in Lahore
Zara
Fia and Nael
Amna
Asad and Mishal Sara
6 DECEMBER 2-8 2012
Sana Adil
PHOTOS COURTESY J&S EVENTS
Khuban and Umar
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Misbah
8
Pashmina and Shahzad Raza DECEMBER 2-8 2012
Yasmeen and Nadeem
Rabia
Faraz and Sundas Nazish and Ayesha
PHOTOS COURTESY J&S EVENTS
Salman and Zainab
Shoaib and Shazia
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
PEOPLE & PARTIES
AKS jewellery launches in Lahore
Amina and Haider
PHOTOS COURTESY VERVE PR
Fawad and Uzma
Talha, Resham and Irshad Ahmed
8 Talha, Resham and Irshad Ahmed.jpg Rida and Anam
Xille and Fia
Aliha
Aiza and Usman Ikram, Madiha and Ahmer
10 DECEMBER 2-8 2012
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
PEOPLE & PARTIES Sonya Batla exhibits her diwali collection at the Designers in Dubai
Sana
Farooq
Sonya Batla and Tooba
Maheen Kashif
Saima, Natasha and Sophia
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
Zulekha
Ayesha, Najaf and Tanya
PHOTOS COURTESY NUCLEUS EVENTS
12
Razia
PHOTOS COURTESY SAVVY PR AND EVENTS
Passion Salon and Fish Foot Spa launches in Islamabad
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
PEOPLE & PARTIES Coca Cola hosts the premiere of Skyfall in Islamabad
Xenith Digital launches in Karachi Zainab Ansari and Uroos Ahemd
Nicky and Natasha
Rabia Zulfiqar and Sanam Naqvi
Mr and Mrs Iqbal
14 DECEMBER 2-8 2012
PHOTOS COURTESY NUCLEUS EVENTS
Najaf and Farooq
Mehryn Hassan and Shafia Agha
PHOTOS COURTESY XENITH PR
Sammer and Paiman
Zoya
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Amber and Tariq
Nida and Nauman
Adnan, Mariam and Maha
Verve hosts its annual Halloween party in Lahore
Madiha, Ahmer and Imtisal
Ali Shah and Areesha
31 Mehwish Ali 26 Ali Nazia andShah Shahnawaz.JPG Malik.jpg Usman.jpg and Areesha.JPG
16
Ammara and Zain Ashraf DECEMBER 2-8 2012
Athar, Ali Xeeshan and Jahan Mehdi and Neha
PHOTOS COURTESY VERVE PR
Amna Kardar and Asma
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
#thehashtagwar BY ZAB MUSTEFA
As a Scottish-Pakistani journalist who has lived in Palestine, I have suffered my fair share of prejudice and stereotyping, ranging from being called a Paki-terrorist to a haggis-eating Scot who prays for the demise of England. However, nothing prepared me for the recent Twitter war I got caught up in, simply for using the hashtag #GazaUnderAttack. On day one of Operation Pillar of Defense, live updates were
not only coming in from the BBC or CNN, but also from so-called citizen journalists — individuals tweeting from the ground. As
Israeli F-16s fired rockets into the densely populated Gaza Strip, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) decided to pre-empt worldwide
condemnation over its Gaza offensive by aggres-
TraderJamoose @Zebmustefa u need a drink oh I forgot Muslims don’t drink,exept the blood of other nations.pls RT.
pakizabmustefa @IDFSpokesperson have someone take care of this user zabmustefa
sively pushing out its version of events.
The IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) employed young
Israeli keyboard warriors, who posted round-
the-clock updates on Facebook and Twitter. Not to be outdone, Hamas (@AlQassamBrigade) fired
back with their own tweets publicising its rocket
and mortar attacks, which it called “Operation
Shale Stones”, resulting in the world’s first social media war.
“From today the IDF is biggest army on twitter
ScottSellsFL @zabmustefa There is no ceasefire in #Gaza. #Arabs just want to kill. #IsraelUnderAttack #jihad #terror #sharia #hamas #homous
WorldPeace2Day #IsrealKills Gaza children waving white flags while the shooters were eating patato chips and chocolate bars
@IDFSpokesperson,” came a tweet from 26-yearold Sacha Dratwa — a snowboarding Belgian-
Israeli who runs the IDF’s social media desk. Hamas shot back with, “@SachaDratwa @IDFSpokesperson Really, but sorry you have been defeated in Tel Aviv few hours ago? How come you are the biggest army on Twit?”
By employing social media and media shar-
ing websites like, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook,
Instagram and Pinterest, Israel broadcast their version of the events directly to the public, as opposed to speaking solely through the media.
Israel’s attacks had sparked international
condemnation and people had taken to Facebook and Twitter to
voice their views and vent their anger. Similarly, those outraged
by Hamas rocket attacks retaliated with a hashtag war. Soon it turned into a popularity contest between #PrayForGaza and
#PrayForIsrael. Fellow “tweople” as they are known, were giv-
26
ing live updates on both sides, hours before stories even hit the DECEMBER 2-8 2012
mainstream news outlets. I barely read or watched the news dur-
will use you as human shields,” tweeted the IDF.
Palestine for information, due to the fact that I believed that the
ple in Gaza were Hamas terrorists.
conflict. Take the BBC for example, which reported: “Three Is-
real terrorists you dirty Paki liar,” was one response.
ians have died in Israeli air strikes,” it was clear that impartiality
when they kill more in Gaza,” said another
ing Operation Pillar of Defense and heavily relied on tweople in mainstream media was biased in its reporting of Israel-Palestine
raelis have been killed by rocket-fire from Gaza, where 13 Palestindidn’t exist.
As the cyber-war reached a fever-pitch, it started spilling out
in to the sidelines and Pro-Israeli trolls jumped in and began systematically harassing and abusing those siding with Gaza.
“In the name of humanity, how can you justify killing an
11-month-old baby boy. #GazaUnder-
Responding to @IDFSpokesperson, I asked if all 1.7 million peo“Arabs use kids as suicide bombers to kill Israelis. They are the “Soon we will kill all your khanzeer (pig) children. I will cheer “u need a drink [sic] oh I forgot Muslims don’t drink,exept the
blood of other nations.pls RT.”
The trolls started to report and “flag” my tweets about Gaza,
which led to an automatic suspension of my account. Ironically
I wasn’t the one using hate speech and so I was back up and running within an hour.
Attack,” I tweeted referring to a BBC
Then came the far-right English
journalist’s young son who was killed
Defense League (EDL) trolls, spew-
was shocking.
me how I belonged to an inbred race
by Israeli air strikes. The response I got
ing obscenities about Islam, telling
“Arabs are the biggest killers, they
and calling for the death of all Mus-
should be cleansed from the world,”
lims.
tweeted one troll. “You Paki Arabs de-
“Nuke Gaza! The world needs less
serve to die! #Israelunderattack.” Another troll even de-
cided to pull out statistics. “Theres
1billion
Muzlim
[sic] who only one 6 Noble Prizes
compared
to
146
Jews. Tells you that Muzlim are stupid peaple.”
Rather than get angry,
I decided to point out that his statistics really did not
Muslims! #EDL,” tweeted one EDL
Other clips tried to counter claims that civilians were being targeted by the IDF, one animated clip even depicted Hamas fighters firing rockets from a school which clearly displayed a UN logo.
help his argument. I also
troll.
I asked if I should
find him a local
Nazi group to join.
Mocking EDL trolls was
entertaining
as they eventually
wallowed in their
own stupidity, but I began to worry
as the number of
commented on his terrible grammar, which led to more abuse.
trolls spewing hate speech started increasing. The final straw
ian die, then ok I’m a nazi #IsraelForever.”
Israel troll made a new fake account, @pakizabmustefa with a
“@zabmustefa if calling me a nazi means hoping all palestin-
Alongside news and updates, the IDF also posted YouTube vid-
eos, graphic images and infographics and encouraged their fol-
lowers to like and share these with their own followers. Within minutes of the strike that killed Ahmed al-Jaabari, the Hamas militant wing leader, the IDF posted a video of his car exploding on YouTube. Other clips tried to counter claims that civilians
were being targeted by the IDF, one animated clip even depicted Hamas fighters firing rockets from a school which clearly dis-
came on the seventh day of Israel’s attacks. A previously blocked profile picture of a headless pig, wrapped in a kuffiyeh (Arab
scarf), and vowed that he would get Mossad to hunt me down. Reporting a “tweet crime” to the London Metropolitan Police was
a bizarre experience. To start with, both police officers didn’t have any idea about Twitter, so I had to explain tagging, profiles
and how it works. After filing a report, I was informed that their internal “cyber abuse” department would be taking it from there. As Israel and Hamas finally agreed on a ceasefire, the hashtag
played a UN logo.
battle also began to die down along with the trolling. In the eight
human shields and storing weapons in civilian houses, schools
was called a Paki-Arab on Twitter. The fighting may have ended
All this was to support IDF accusations that Hamas was using
and media buildings. “Warning to reporters in Gaza: Stay away from Hamas operatives & facilities. Hamas, a terrorist group,
days of Operation Pillar of Cloud, I lost count of how many times I for now, but it’s clear that any future war will not just be waged with rockets and fighter planes, but also hashtags and twitpics.
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
27
SPECIAL REPORT
Mainstreaming Bias While traditional media may shy away from unbiased reporting on the Israel-Palestinian issue, new voices are emerging and being heard
BY NIMRA KHAN
On the 17th of November, media mogul Rupert Murdoch tweeted: “Why Is Jewish owned press so consistently anti- Israel in every crisis?” Murdoch, who is known for his overt proclivity towards Israel, publically berated western
media for what he considered its anti-Israel bias, also tweeting that the “Middle East ready to
boil over any day. Israel position precarious. Meanwhile watch CNN and AP bias to point of embarrassment.”
For most of us though, it was clear that a bias certainly did exist, but that it was anything
but anti-Israel. To the contrary, most observers feel the bias is consistently Pro-Israel and antiPalestinian.
As the Gaza conflict dominated airtime and print headlines alike, innumerable reports were
aired and columns written. But in almost all of these, objectivity seemed to be missing. Facts, data and numbers came through, but not real human stories. At least not from the Palestin-
ian side
“The media, whether it’s print, broadcast or social, is the one single tool that is employed to
voice the pain of all the people suffering. And it is nothing short of cruelty on the parts of journalists who fail to uphold their honour and responsibility for shedding the light of truth on these events,” said Shaker Mahmud, an Egyptian journalist who was recently stuck in Gaza.
Saner voices than Murdoch’s, including that of Noam
Chomsky, have condemned the “reprehensible” Gaza cov-
erage. Many internationally renowned media outlets have
been observed to be reporting without context, without
perspective and with a bias that has overtly favoured the heavily armed and highly advanced nuclear state of Israel against the population of the besieged Gaza Strip. “I think
the media, perhaps due to US influence, is always biased to-
ward Israel. I think that perhaps Arabs have been painted as ‘terrorists’ so anything they do is ‘terrorism’ and anything
Israelis do is ‘defense’, said Asza Valdimars, a journalist
from Iceland, who was recently reporting in Tel Aviv.
The day after Israel carried out the killing of Hamas military
leader Ahmed al-Jabari, the BBC published an article on its website headlined, “Gaza rocket arsenal problem for Israel.” The
write-up talked about the types of rockets possessed by Hamas in detail, and discussed the threat these pose to Israel. But the Israeli arsenal was not discussed, nor was the fact that it is largely funded (to the tune of $3 billion a year) by the United States.
While the mainstream media was too busy counting the num-
ber of rockets fired into Tel Aviv and discussing the possible dam-
ages that may arise ‘if’ they were to hit, they failed to look into the most basic issue of the chain of events — why did it start in the first place? Or if they did, they almost invariably parroted the Israeli line.
None of the world news leaders reported on the fact that Gaza
has been under an Israeli blockade since June 2007, which re-
stricts the import of materials needed to rebuild Gaza’s shattered
infrastructure. One result of the blockade is that, according to the British NGO Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), 58.6 per cent of schoolchildren, 68.1 per cent of children nine to 12 months old and 36.8 per cent of pregnant mothers are plagued by anemia.
“Of course, had they done so, it would have gone against their
hard work of building up the anti-Palestinian repertoire,” said Mr Mahmud.
Instead, TV viewers were treated to uninterrupted interviews
of Israeli lobbyists by mainstream media aimed at tilting popu-
lar opinion towards Israel. As soon as the conflict began, the BBC began featuring Israeli heavyweights like Danny Ayalon, Israel’s
deputy foreign minister and Ron Prosor, Israeli ambassador to the UN. The Palestinian counter-narrative was missing.
Of course, the BBC has a history with such tilts. In 2009, the
BBC had declined a request from the Disasters Emergency Com-
mittee (DEC) to screen an aid appeal aimed at raising money to aid the relief effort in the aftermath of hostilities in the Gaza
Strip. Former cabinet minister Tony Benn had criticised the de-
cision, while giving an interview on BBC News 24, in which he
said that the Israeli government was preventing the appeal from being broadcast. But Mark Thompson, the Director-General of
the BBC, had denied that the decision was due to Israeli pres-
SPECIAL REPORT
sure.
the Palestinians, which could be career suicide. But by not be-
Humphrys interviewed Daniel Taub, who is Israel’s ambassador
truth and to journalism.” When a house in Gaza is attacked and
On the Today programme on 15 November this year, BBC’s John
to the UK. Humphrys did not question Taub when he said, “We have to recognise, seven years ago, [Israel] pulled out of every
inch of Gaza. We removed 9,000 Israeli civilians along with their homes, their schools, their kindergartens, in order to try and have a peaceful situation with Gaza … Tragically, that opportu-
nity was not taken up. Hamas took over and since then has been waging an intensive war.”
Had the speaker not been Israeli, one would have expected
Humphrys to exercise the basic journalistic requirement of questioning this narrative by bringing up the siege of the Gaza strip that has been in effect since that date.
But the silver-lining of objective journalism has sprung up
from an unexpected source: alternate media. Independent on-
kills ten people, the Israeli officials label it as a target killing of a
Hamas militant. This has appeared to be a major game changer
as far as the mainstream western media is concerned and the fact
that one Hamas militant might have been successfully killed is highlighted manifold. “Does anyone stop and ask: even if there
was a Hamas official inside the house, is killing ten innocent civilians to take out one official who is obviously under Israeli surveillance justified?” questions Tadros.
According to Valdimars, “alternate media is providing a bet-
ter balance than the mainstream media because they have more
‘freedom’. It is less inclined to cater to the person or people that own them and more able to report news without a motive.”
However, while there might be a plethora of Palestinian blogs
line news publications like The Electronic Intifada (sourced for
run by activists and citizen journalism, alongside the mush-
stream media.
ing in their impact as the mainstream western media.
this write-up as well) have helped counter the bias of main“Amid all the recklessly skewed media propaganda, it [alterna-
rooming alternate media sources, none of them are as far reachThe lack of widespread outrage by the public is a direct con-
tive media] appears to be the ying to the highly distorted yang,”
sequence of the systematic way in which the facts of the Israel-
Democracy Now, a progressive and independent daily news pro-
these voices in the wilderness may not have the reach of a global
said Mr Mahmud.
gramme, which focuses on bringing to the fore people and perspectives rarely heard in mainstream media, has provided a more
balanced perspective. For instance, James Colbert, policy director for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and Yousef Munayyer, Executive Director of The Palestine Center were interviewed as guests on Democracy Now, on how to resolve the crisis. Both parties were given an equal opportunity to represent their sides thus not resulting in one-sided propaganda.
Many alternate media sources recast the timeline of the Gaza
attack in a way that did not pin the Palestinians as the fire-starters. Alternet’s article, ‘4 Most Common Myths About Israel and
Gaza- Debunked’, along with probing into the aforementioned, brought many sensitive issues to light in the hopes of separating facts from myths. For instance, amongst other facets, the article
explains the difference between killing civilians and militants, while many of the western media continued to brush Palestinian casualties under the carpet while focusing on the ‘success story’ of the ‘targeted killings’ of militants.
In an article in the Huffington Post by Middle East-based corre-
spondent Sherine Tadros, it is aptly pointed out that, “There is a general problem with media when it comes to the Arab-Israeli
conflict. The need to sanitise events so as not to be controversial
and upset the wrong people. They fear that humanising the con-
32
ing bold and telling it how it is ultimately is a disservice to the
flict will make them look sympathetic or worse empathetic to DECEMBER 2-8 2012
Palestinian conflict are either withheld or distorted. And while news network, they have slowly but surely begun to be heard, and to make a difference.
SPECIAL REPORT
7
290000 000008 BY ANAAM RAZA
Boycott, Divest, Sanction When holding rallies and protests just wasn’t enough, a group of Palestinian activists came up with a way of hitting Israel where it really hurts — the chequebook
Apartheid is defined by the UN as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” While this definition was created specifically in the context of South Africa, many feel that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is the modern incarnation of that odious regime.
an supermarket group to end trade with companies that
It’s of no small significance that South Africa’s rul-
panies who trade illegal settlement goods, sends a clear
ing party, the African National Congress (ANC), declared their support for the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) campaign targeting Israel last month. To them, the hallmarks of Israeli occupation: the check-
points, the arbitrary imprisonments, the separation Wall, the Israeli-exclusive roads and the destruction of
property mirrored what they had themselves suffered during minority white rule for so many decades.
to use other suppliers from Israel that do not source from
settlements), its decision nevertheless impacts contracts worth some £350,000.
Praising the initiative, Sarah Colborne, director of the
Palestine Solidarity Campaign says: “The Co-op Group, in
extending the implementation of its Human Rights and
Trade Policy of not sourcing produce from Israeli commessage to the Israeli government that it will not profit
from its persistent defiance of international humanitar-
ian law and the Geneva Conventions. We hope that this move will impress the rest of the retail food sector to do
likewise — in trading ethically and listening to your consumers/members, and acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.”
In addition to this, the National Union of Students
(NUS), Britain’s largest confederation of students, have
to ‘Boycott’ both Israeli and international products that
lobby universities to cancel contracts with Eden Springs,
profit from the occupation; to practice ‘Divestment’ from
corporations complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights; and to levy ‘sanctions’ to demonstrate disapproval for Israel’s actions until Palestinian rights are recognised
unanimously agreed to work with local student unions to
an Israeli mineral water company which extracts water from Golan Heights, a Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
Ahmad el Enany, secretary general of Youth of the
in accordance with international law.
Egyptian Social Democratic Party who was attending a
found fertile ground and strong support in the United
pare Israel’s illegal occupation with the apartheid era.
It comes as no surprise that the BDS movement has
Kingdom, given that Britain is home to some of the most active international Palestinian support groups.
Earlier this year, the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer,
the Co-operative Group, became the first major Europe-
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
stops short of calling it an outright boycott (It continues
Launched by Palestinian activists in 2005, BDS is an in-
ternational movement with a three-pronged approach:
34
export produce from illegal Israeli settlements. While it
National Youth Conference in Ramallah says, “We comThe refusal to buy South African produce in supermarkets
were acts of conscience which sent a powerful message of solidarity as well as impressing on the South African re-
gime that the world would not finance their power. For
the same reason British people of conscience will not buy Israeli
produce until Palestinians are free to resume life as a sovereign people with their own state.”
Although there has been a 16% drop in Israel’s exports to the
EU, it is still Israel’s biggest trading partner, making up 33% of its total global exports.
A recent report, in which twenty two charities including Chris-
tian Aid have called on the EU to ban products made by Jewish communities in the West Bank, also urged clearer labeling rules to help consumers identify the origin of produce as is already done in Denmark
and Britain. But the NGOs said a more ef-
are illegal too,” says Casper van der Heijden, professor of Political Science at University of Amsterdam.
But the battle is not going to be easy. “Amsterdam was the sec-
ond place after Germany to have mass killings of Jews and there is still collective guilt both on the part of the government and the people,” says Van der Heijen. You have to remember that the
Jewish community as a whole has been marginalised through-
out centuries and now they have learnt to fight back. I personally just don’t see the point of blanket boycott as it doesn’t really gain anything. The boycott should be targeted.”
“It’s my personal view that once people
fective solution would be to impose a ban
start to say that we’re not going to buy any
one EU member state, Ireland, has so far
we have a problem on our hands because
on all settler products, a move that only asked for.
Israeli settler produce has already re-
sulted in divided opinions between the US and the United Nations. On Oct 25, the UN’s special rap-
products in any way related to Israel, then
it’s like knitting — you end up getting more than you bargained for. Now, the world’s largest semi-conductor and mi-
croprocessor producer Intel is based there. How do you avoid
porteur Richard Falk called
any contact with
for a boycott of companies
that? I also think
linked to Israeli settlements,
that having a list
but a US representative at
saying ‘these are
the United Nations called the
statement
sible.”
But brave and objective
voices are not to be silenced,
like the voice of Sonja D Zimmerman, a member of the
Nederlands
Israeli
“irrespon-
just
work.
products’
does
not
Because
one can’t go shop-
ping thinking, I won’t buy this or I won’t buy that,” says Zimmerman.
A spokesperson for the Fatah Youth Interna-
Palestina
tional Group says that “Palestinians and civil
stronger stance or the United Nations would say
of boycott for years in the face of governments’
Committee. “If the governments would take a ‘enough is enough,’ then we as citizens wouldn’t
have to go through all this effort. But right now it’s the other way round as we have to push our
society in Britain have campaigned for this kind
refusal to act in compliance with international human rights norms.”
Of course, the Israelis aren’t taking this lying
government to start doing something sensible.
down, and the Israeli Knesset passed the ‘Law to
round but we are trying to galvanise our govern-
Boycott’ last year. This law allows the targeted
It’s a bit funny and feels a bit like a merry-go-
ment, supermarkets and the EU into action,” says Zimmerman.
Getting support for the BDS movement in Hol-
land may prove difficult, for reasons of history. “The Dutch people are not ready to accept the fact that Israeli settlements are illegal, and that
therefore the products coming from that place
Prevent Harm to the State of Israel by Means of companies and producers to sue anyone advocating a boycott. Widely criticised, even within Israel, this law could conceivably even target
opinion writers published by the Israeli media
itself. Of course, what impact this will have on the people behind the BDS movement is unclear, to say the least.
35 DECEMBER 2-8 2012
SPECIAL REPORT
Rallying the Refuseniks Contrary to what many of us might think, many Israeli Jews and Jewish Americans are fiercely critical of Israel’s actions BY HEBA AL-ADAWY
Although Israel may have a won a physical victory in the recent assault on the Gaza Strip, its grasp over a moral victory has gradually been slipping. With each Israeli aggression, a steadily increasing number of young Israelis, called ‘refuseniks’, and Jewish-Americans are becoming disenchanted and opposed to Israel’s territorial enterprise.
36
It very quickly became clear that Israel was not interested in de-escalating violence or using dialogue to resolve conflicts. Instead, the West Bank was a testing zone for new weapons and military strategies,” says American-Jew Ramer DECEMBER 2-8 2012
Four years ago, when Operation Cast Lead
was unleashed on Gaza, I marched along-
In the aftermath of Operation Pillar of
Defense, 28-year-old Noam Bahat, an Israeli Jew based in Tel Aviv, refused to be drafted
in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Under
the universal military service mandated by Israel, every Israeli of the age of 18 is
required to draft into the army. Bahat was
among the first in a small suburb of Nirit (a Jewish settlement close to West Bank) to refuse conscription on the grounds that he
believed Palestine had been unjustly occupied.
“I became more aware of the horrendous
side my colleagues in two feet of snow in
things taking place in the occupied territo-
anguish at the casualties, there was a sense
the nature of the educational part of the
Massachusetts, US. Notwithstanding our of collective exhilaration as we chanted,
“Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry. Palestine will never die,” as if our voices could finally pull
the reins of history and shatter the silence
on the daily oppression carried out in “the world’s largest ‘open-air’ prison” (as Noam Chomsky calls it in his November 9, 2012 op-
ries,” he says, “and I also became aware of army, that it means to be part of the pro-
paganda of the occupation. Then I became
aware that there’s nothing in the army I can do that I believe in, that I agree with, that I can tolerate. That’s when I decided to refuse.”
For the IDF, which heavily relies upon a
ed in Truthout). At the forefront of the march
civilianised military and reserve troops in
ian from Ramallah and an Israeli from Tel
script into the army is not taken lightly.
were two college friends, a young PalestinAviv, both of whom had become the best of
friends even as their compatriots battled it out miles away. What made this demon-
stration unique, however, was that it was largely organised and widely attended by members of the American-Jewish community. This is what truly made it a testament to our triumph over hate.
times of war, a refusal by a civilian to conBahat’s refusal to obey the draft order led to
nearly two years in prison, following which he joined the Refuser Solidarity Network,
lectured widely in American universities,
and helped his Israeli colleagues in the growing ‘refusenik movement’.
Although the Israeli right backed the as-
sault on Gaza as a just war, drawing paral-
or using dialogue to resolve conflicts. Instead, the West Bank was a testing zone for new weapons and military strategies.”
In the past years, Ramer has worked
with Palestinian children, teaching them the use of photography to document various social issues — from poverty and lack
of water to the environmental hazards of
tear gas, trash and bullets used by Israeli soldiers. In one of her recent campaigns in Nabi Saleh, Ramer teamed up with a
Palestinian artist, Khalid Jarrar, to stamp passports, including her American and Israeli ones, with the New State of Palestine visa.
“It enables me to make fun of the cur-
rent border control system and to create
contradictions that the official system lels with the Hebrew tradition of the “Pil-
eighteen and have both refused, while in
Egyptians to protect the Israelis, a grow-
[as well],” Bahat says proudly.
lar of Cloud” where God rained fire on the ing number of young Israelis refuse to
their class two other friends have refused
Meanwhile, many American-Jews, who
buy this historical parallel and have con-
are undertaking the ‘Birthright’ journey
Israeli suffering in the south to justify an
tion with Israel, are finding themselves
demned the conservatives for exploiting offensive against the Palestinians.
Many in Israel are speculating that
when last week, Netanyahu threatened
to Israel in order to forge a greater connecunexpectedly on the other side of the border — as greater advocates of the Palestin-
doesn’t have a protocol for… yet,” she says. Ramer finds her motivation in spiritual Judaism and the Jewish concept of Tikkun
Olam (Repairing the World). “What I do is not extraordinary,” she says. “Only in the context of being a Jew, and being Israeli, does it become extraordinary — which is
a shame. I guess that shame is also what motivates me further.”
Israel may be inflicting heavy casual-
ians.
ties on the Palestinians, but the dream of
75,000 reserve troops and failed to follow
with a local Palestinian organisation that
to the anguish of Israeli right-wingers, it
ing popularity of the refuseniks.
come successful advocates, had obtained
ground invasion on Gaza by calling upon
through, it was in fact due to the increas“There may have been an indicator to
the government that if it invades, its pop-
ularity will drop, which was ultimately the main reason that this [ground] invasion was avoided,” says Bahat.
Over the years, though, the ultra-con-
servative
Netanyahu
government
has
grown increasingly intolerant of domestic
Alison Ramer, 26, who currently works
empowers community members to beIsraeli citizenship after a Birthright trip
soon she became a border crosser, living in Palestinian villages of Nabi Saleh (Ramallah), Beit Ummar (Hebron), Beit Jalla (Bethlehem) and al-Ram (Jerusalem).
Ramer recalls her experience follow-
is now termed as ‘the gray refusal’, many
the fresh water springs.
June, when an Israeli settlement occupied
“The unarmed weekly demonstrations
movements from an early age and prepare
that the Palestinians held were met by
ing fictitious reasons to avoid service in
lence from the Israeli Army,” she says. “It
well in advance of their conscription, forgthe military.
“My twin siblings have just turned
minds of these young Jews.
empowered by the Zionist narrative; but
ing the Popular Struggle in Nabi Saleh in
young Israelis now participate in political
seems to have taken root in the hearts and
to Israel in 2007. She recalls having felt
opposition, and the refuseniks have had to change their modus operandi. In what
Palestine continues to live on. And much
such unequivocal and unnecessary viovery quickly became clear that Israel was
37
not interested in de-escalating violence DECEMBER 2-8 2012
PORTFOLIO
A journey in
Jerusalem “The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven,”— Benjamin Disraeli
Orthodox Jews praying at the Western Wall, the holiest
of Jewish sites. It is sacred
because it is a remnant of the Herodian retaining wall that
once enclosed and supported the Second Temple. It is also
called the “Wailing Wall” by
European observers because for centuries Jews have
gathered here to lament the
loss of their temple.
ABOVE:
An Israeli Defense Forces soldier
guarding an Israeli settlement in
Hebron, the second holiest city in Judaism’s history where Prophet
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ibraheem, Ishaaq and Yaqub) are
38
buried and where the full force of
occupation can be felt.
DECEMBER 2-8 2012
ABOVE: The Separation wall, which the Israelis have been building for 10 years now, is labelled the New Wailing Wall after the holiest Jewish site — a rem-
nant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple’s courtyard.
LEFT: List of towns and villages that refugees in Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem fled from.
Faithful Christians from
round the world touch their
belongings to the Stone of the Anointing where it is claimed Jesus’s body was
placed after being removed
from the crucifix and
prepared for burial in the
Church of the Holy Sepul-
chre in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem, which is also
the most important pilgrimage site for Christians.
ABOVE: T-shirts sometimes say it all.
LEFT: The Dome of the Rock is one of the most famous and one of the oldest
Islamic sites in Jerusalem
built by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik.
RIGHT:
The oldest Jewish cemetery where
it is believed that resurrection will begin when the
Messiah comes.
LEFT: Palestin-
ians gather to light
candles at the mausoleum of their late
leader Yasser Arafat
in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
39
PHOTOS AND TEXT BY ANAAM RAZA DECEMBER 2-8 2012
REVIEW
occupation in black and white BY AMEER HAMZA AHMAD
Last weekend I read a really fascinating comic book. It was quite a departure from the comics I usually read since there were no superheroes nor were there any teenagers piloting huge mechanical robots. Palestine is dark, disturbing, thought-provoking and extremely difficult to read. Because all of it was 100 per cent true. All his life, Joe Sacco had been taught to believe that the Palestinians were terrorists, but when he realised that the power dynamic in the Middle East was not what he had thought it was, it upset him so much that he decided that he would try to give the Palestinians a voice. In 1991, he travelled to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip armed with a notebook and a camera. He conducted more than 100 face-to-face interviews, and lived amongst the Palestinians in their towns and camps. On his return to the US he compiled his experiences and views into a mini-series of nine comics titled Palestine; it has since been republished in a single volume. As I have said earlier, this was not an easy read. Sacco pulls no punches and graphically depicts what he sees and hears. You meet Palestinians who have been ejected from their homes, beaten, deprived, tortured and dehumanised. In a chapter titled, Moderate Pressure — Part 2, Sacco finds himself interviewing Ghassan, a man who had been arrested by the Israeli police “for reasons of national security” and thrown into a jail where he was blindfolded, physically tortured, and verbally abused for weeks. Eventually, no evidence was brought against him and he was released. Ghassan’s horrific experiences are graphically illustrated over 10 pages and Sacco states: “Make no mistake, everywhere you go, not just in Marvel Comics, there’s parallel universes... Here? On the surface streets: traffic, couples in love, falafel-to-go, tourists in jogging suits licking stamps for postcards... And over the wall behind closed doors: other thingspeople strapped to chairs, sleep deprivation, the smell of piss... other things happening for ‘reasons of national security.’” The conflict between Israel and Palestine is not easy to grasp. We only get a glimpse of it when fighting breaks out in Gaza or if there is another round of peace talks. The conflict lacks sustained coverage and it’s not because there’s nothing to report. Sacco sums it up quite simply: “You gotta understand the... media. They want human interest. Klinghoffer gets killed and we get the full profile, the bereaving widow, where he lived and what he put on his corn flakes… you see
40 DECEMBER 2-8 2012
the power of that?” While the book does include some humour, it is very dark. Most of it is directed at Sacco himself who routinely breaks the fourth-wall and addresses the reader with self-deprecating commentary. “My comics blockbuster depends on conflict; peace won’t pay the rent,” he tells us. In the end, Sacco leaves you with one of the most thought provoking questions of all: “… what can happen to someone who thinks he has all of the power — and what becomes of someone when he believes himself to have none?” Palestine will move you and break your heart but I’d thoroughly recommend it to everyone. It’s first-rate journalism disguised as a graphic novel.T
http://samishah.com/
BY SAMI SHAH
END OF THE LINE
Are you capable of drawing a straight line? Do you have a comic or doodle that you think will have us rolling on the floor with laughter? If you’ve answered yes to all those questions then send in your creations to magazine@tribune.com.pk
42 DECEMBER 2-8 2012