Tuesday, January 13, 2009

No International Law for Gaza

I really curious about the issue in Gaza lately, it makes me read a lot of articles on many blogs as well as articles on Online newspaper.

A new report on Al Jazeera shows what some of the world already knew. It shows that, since 1967, the Israeli Government and the Israeli Military have been conspiring and working together to steal land from the Palestinians and build permanent settlements there.

By permanent settlements I don’t mean a few buildings. I means whole towns with residences, synagogues (should that be sinagogues?), police stations, schools, roads, etc.

Of course, according to International Law, this practice is illegal but it seems that even the laws of Israel have been corrupted to allow this settlement activity to continue without proper permits and in spite of many U.N. Resolutions demanding that such activity be stopped.

The report said, it appears that 120 ‘authorized’ settlements have been constructed since the 1967 war on Palestinian land with another 100 ‘unauthorized’ settlements placed here and there wherever Jewish people decided might be a nice place to live.

Now can you imagine how you would feel if suddenly an army of occupation invaded your town and just threw you and the rest of the people out of their homes and into the street without compensation, then demolished the town and set about building a nice little Jewish town there, a Jews-only enclave?

Or they constructed a settlement close by in a pick spot then they set about taking the farmland that you relied upon to make a living, and created Jew-Only roads that cut you off from friends and relatives and, in some areas, constructed giant concrete walls that meant your kids couldn’t get to their schools. How would you feel?

Since 1967, the Palestinians have suffered this monstrous crime. Day by day they have watched their land disappearing, their legal rights being trampled on. But most monstrous of all, as it was happening the rest of the world did nothing, absolutely nothing.

Well a few countries did make some tut-tutting noises but to all intents and purposes, the world did nothing and by doing nothing it gave the Israelis a sense of legitimacy, a sense that, well, we Israelis can do anything we like and, besides, we’re here now and that’s the end of the matter.

A Palestinian group, Yesh Din, which has collated this settlement building information, is urging dispossessed people to take legal action against the Israeli government. Yeah, sue the very Government that has been deliberately acting in contravention of International Law and laws governing Human Rights and its own laws for sixty years! Great idea.
How much longer is the so-called civilized world going to allow Israel, a rogue nation that is fully supported in all its evil, unlawful deeds by the U.S.A., to trample all over the Palestinians?

Monday, January 12, 2009

Facts about Gaza

Facts relating to the situation in Gaza:

  1. Number of Palestinians killed so far: 870;  number of Palestinians injured so far: 3661 [Source:Al Jazeera] and needless to say that these numbers are on the rise as I'm writing.
  2. Among the killed are women, elderly people and A LOT OF CHILDREN.
  3. Humanitarian supplies: food and medical aid are not allowed to reach Gaza. And those who dare even try are stopped, or should I say FORCED to stop.  We're talking about Israel defending itself people, that includes not only air and ground assaults, but also starving innocent civilians to death and taking away their right to try save each other.
  4. While thousands of people around the world are protesting to condemn the brutal barbaric attacks on Gaza, Arab government are -as usual- still looking for ways to somehow solve this crisis without pissing off Israel or upsetting its friends… but we choose to blame foreign governments that are backing Israel! [People protesting, Arabic]

I'm actually out of words right now so I'll just quote a friend who wrote in his blog: "our homeland is bleeding .. and we are only watching .. shoes should not only be thrown at Bush I guess".

Monday, January 5, 2009

Seinfeld

Pernah menyaksikan TV Show Seinfeld ?? salah satu TV show paling popular tahun 90-an.
Serial ini mungkin terkenal karena menyajikan 'Show about Nothing'. Karena yang diceritakan adalah tentang perihal keseharian kehidupan manusia, Menjadi menghibur karena dipadukan karakter lucu dan perilaku empat (4) orang (Jerry, Elaine, George dan Kramer). Walau memang harus sebagian besar guyonan-nya tidak jauh dari urusan S*X.. itulah Amerika.

Yang menarik buatku adalah kombinasi 4 orang dengan karakter yang berbeda. Kramer yang penuh dengan aksi, emosional tapi hangat, George yang selalu pesimis tapi tidak pernah mau mengalah/merugi/melepaskan kesempatan, Elaine sebagai satu-satunya wanita dan pernah punya hubungan erat dengan Jerry, dan Jerry yang berperan sebagai 'tuan rumah' dalam serial ini. Jerry adalah komedian yang sukses, Elaine punya pekerjaan tetap, George pengangguran(?), sementara Kramer selalu berbisnis ... gelap?

Wujudkah dalam kehidupan sehari-hari jenis persahabatan yang demikian erat di antara 4 sosok yang saling bertolak belakang ini? Kenapa mereka bisa menjalin persahabatan? Apa yang mengikat mereka? Apakah karena semuanya jomblo? Atau selalu jadi loser dalam hidup ini? Atau karena memang persahabatan sejati bisa menembus segala perbedaan dan kekurangan?

Memang keempat orang ini adalah tokoh khayalan. Tapi siapa tahu dalam kehidupan nyata ada persahabatan seperti ini. Persahabatan yang tulus ikhlas, yang sanggup menjadi pengikat di antara mereka ...

Kalau ada, kita pantas belajar dari mereka. Kita masih sering 'melihat' orang dari berbagai sudut, entah dari pakaian, fisik, latar belakang pendidikan, kehidupan sehari-hari, jabatan, hobi, dan seterusnya dan seterusnya. Kita cenderung sulit untuk melepaskan diri dari berbagai ukuran itu dan terbiasa untuk menjadikan salah satunya (atau bahkan lebih) sebagai kriteria ....

Berangkat dari harapan mempunyai sahaabat-sahabat ala Seinfeld ini, seorang sahabat menulis bait-bait puisi berikut:

Dan ia tak mengenal usia
Tak memandang harta

Ia masuk ditiap lingkup kehidupan
Membaurkan segala perbedaan
Yang padan dengan seninya tersendiri

Ialah cadas indah persahabatan.

Ada nggak ya persahabatan seperti di Seinfeld di kehidupan sehari-hari?