On This Day

2 March

THA’IR KAYID HAMAD ATTACKS OCCUPATION SOLDIERS AND SETTLERS
On this day in 2002, Tha’ir Kayid Hamad made final preparations for a lone attack on an Israeli military checkpoint that killed seven occupation soldiers and three illegal settlers, and wounded seven near Ofra settlement. Ofra is built on privately owned Palestinian land. Tha’ir shouted in Hebrew to an Israeli woman and child to get out of the area. The local hero was captured two years later. Assaulted by soldiers in Nafha prison, Tha’ir was put in solitary in 2015 after making a call for resistance to Israeli attacks.

 

ثائر كايد حمد يهاجم جنود الاحتلال 
والمستوطنين

2 مارس

في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2002 ،قام ثائر كايد حمد بالاستعدادات النهائية لهجوم منفرد على حاجز عسكري إسرائيلي أسفر عن مقتل سبعة من جنود الاحتلال وثلاثة مستوطنين غير شرعيين ، وإصابة سبعة بالقرب من مستوطنة عوفرا. عوفرا مبنية على أرض فلسطينية مملوكة ملكية خاصة. صاح ثائر بالعبرية لامرأة وطفل اسرائيلي للخروج من المنطقة. تم القبض على البطل المحلي بعد عامين. بعد تعرض ثائر لاعتداء من قبل جنود في سجن نفحة ، تم وضعه في الحبس الانفرادي في عام 2015 بعد أن أطلق دعوة لمقاومة الهجمات الإسرائيلية.

 

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah movement, claimed responsibility. The Israeli army of occupation was maintaining a checkpoint at Uyoun al-Haramiya (the Wells of Haramiya), near the illegal Israeli settlement of Ofra. Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti praised the attack. "Blessed be the fighting hands of the heroes, who dealt these blows to the army of occupation."

Discussing the Palestinian attack on occupation soldiers, I asked a Palestinian friend how many Palestinians regard the sniper as heroic. “Oh – everyone. Except maybe Abu Mazen.”

Palestinians are proud of Tha'ir Kayed Hamad and the manner in which he risked his own life to shout a warning and spare an Israeli woman and child during his lone attack on a large group of occupation soldiers and settlers. This contrasts with Israeli soldiers brutal treatment of Palestinian women and children. (See entry for 28 Feb)

Amnesty calls on Israel to "end their systematic use of torture" of detainees

Teacher under investigation for comments on Palestinian right of resistance
A pro-Israel group claims Nadia Shoufani called for 'violence against Israelis' when she said Palestinians had the right to resist occupation when she addressed a downtown Toronto rally on 2 July, marking al-Quds Day, an annual event held around the world to support Palestinian rights and to protest Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

“Silence in situations of oppression and injustices is a crime against humanity,” Shoufani said in her speech at the rally, in which she condemned the Israeli occupation and Israel’s policies of home demolitions, land confiscation and arrests of Palestinians. Shoufani also quoted Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, an important figure in the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who was assassinated by Israeli Mossad agents in a car bombing in Beirut in 1972. “We say no, no, no to the occupation. We are here to tell the world that Palestinians are not alone,” Shoufani said.

On its website, pro-Israel group Bnai Brith Canada accused Shoufani of “glorifying terrorists” in her speech. “We are greatly concerned that an individual who espouses open support for terror and praises terrorist groups is teaching Canadian youth,” the group’s CEO, Michael Mostyn, said in a statement. The group also accused her of “calling for violence against Israelis” by saying that Palestinians had a right to resist the Israeli occupation and its policies.

but...

Teacher Nadia Shoufani wins year-long struggle against Israel lobby effort to get her sacked
Independent Jewish Voices, one of the groups that had supported Shoufani, congratulated her for prevailing against a “highly coordinated and malicious smear campaign against her [that] was designed to ruin her career.”

 

 

6-minute video: Palestinians have the right to resist