This week we again have the privilege of hearing Susan Abulhawa's remarkable keynote address at the recent conference sponsored by Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Susan is a renowned Palestinian writer and activist and founder of the organization Playgrounds for Palestine. As a speaker and promoter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, she is appearing at many venues.
As her introducer explains, Susan first had a successful career in biomedical science, after which she became an acclaimed poet and book author, regarded as "up there with Charles Dickens." Her novel, "Mornings in Jenin," has been translated into 28 languages. Same for "The Blue Between Sky and Water." The list goes on.
As you'll hear today, Susan has examined some of boasts floated by Israel's vast PR machine, for example the claim that Israel pioneered water desalinization, the claim that Israel "made the desert bloom," or the claim that Israel is environmentally responsible. All nonsense. Susan points out that historic Palestine's rainfall is equal to that in London, England, but Israel has squandered that rainfall while grabbing most of the share that rightly belongs to current Palestinians.
Perhaps the most upsetting of Israel's boasts is its preeminence as an arms exporter, selling arms that are "battle-tested" on Palestinians. Unlike the others, that boast is true, and perhaps understated. After some digging, Susan was able to calculate the arms exports per capita of a variety of countries including the USA. In fact, Israel is #1 by a huge margin!
Prior to Susan's keynote, we begin with a voice out of Gaza, the beloved and distinguished voice of Haidar Eid. Haidar Eid is Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Postmodern Literature at Gaza's al-Aqsa University. Here is a quote: âToday I participated in the Great March of Return with tens of thousands of Gazans. We marched on the fence of the Gaza concentration camp marking Land Day and the one-year anniversary of the March. We had the mother of all marches, sending a loud message to apartheid Israel, that we have not forgotten any of our rights. In the process we lost three young men and 316 protesters were injured, according to Gazaâs ministry of health. ..."
(Slightly edited rebroadcast of the 4-7-2019 edition.)
Begun in 2004, This Week In Palestine (a weekly 8am feature of Truth and Justice Radio (TJR) is an award-winning 45-minute (or more) segment of news from Palestine and discussion of issues relevant to the Palestinians' struggle for freedom from Israel's brutal military occupation and colonization of their homeland. It speaks from the point of view of Palestinians and those who care about them. TJR is aired Sundays 6-10am ET on WZBC 90.3FM, Newton, MA, also streamed live and archived for two weeks at wzbc.org; TJR's modest website, truthandjusticeradio.org, has a link to This Week In Palestine archives back thru 1-6-2008; editions are also accessible at radio4all.net. TJR sometimes airs Palestine coverage IN ADDITION to that provided by This Week In Palestine. We hope you'll write to us at tjradio@fastmail.com if you rebroadcast our work, or have questions or comments. Stay tuned!
This Week in Palestine 8-4-2019
Susan Abulhawa on Israel's arms sales per capita, and Haidar Eid on the Great March of Return
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