Redemption Song-These songs of freedom

18th August 2007 Saturday Evening "Leilot Yaffo - Jaffa Nights"
Artist: Bob Marley
Album: Uprising
Title: Redemption Song

Old pirates, yes, they rob i;
Sold i to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took i
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the 'and of the almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
'cause all i ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfil de book.

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
'cause all i ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.
---
/guitar break/
---
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! have no fear for atomic energy,
'cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfil de book.
Won't you help to sing
Dese songs of freedom? -
'cause all i ever had:
Redemption songs -
All i ever had:
Redemption songs:
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.

Thanks to Yudit more News in Jaffa

Wednesday, August 15
Another Jaffa family facing eviction and demolition

The house itself was constructed sometime during de 19th century, in the style typical for that period: vaulted ceilings, 90 cm thick walls built from local limestone. Small windows high up in the walls, almost a fortress.
The H. family have lived here for ever, the great great grandfather was born in this house. The elderly grandmother, a widow who is still alive, was born here as well, long before 1948. All of the extended family have always lived here and they have ample proof.

Some years ago, one of the ceilings caved in, while grandmother Zeinab was in her room. Wounded, she was brought to the hospital and after a few days returned home. Her son and daughters repaired the roof and replaced it with brand new roof tiles. While at it, they also painted the old walls in a fresh bright pearly white.
That's when the first strange letters started arriving: the municipality claimed they had illegally added a room.
The family answered that they had merely replaced the roof which had caved in. The roof was new, but the room wasn't. The municipality sent over a guy to check, who was so impressed by the new paint, that he decided most of the house (compound really) had been newly constructed. The family showing him the high vaulted ceilings and thick walls constructed from huge limestone blocks in obvious original Ottoman style, weren't able to convince him.

Then something even weirder happened, the Amidar public housing company sent them a court notice to inform them they had to leave their home, as it wasn't theirs.

Now the H. family can easily prove they lived in the house way before 1948. Grandma was born their and registered. As was common in those days, poor people didn't have testaments, they simply lived in the same house, generation after generation and all of the community simply knew the compound as the "H compound".

But Amidar have strong lawyers, and the H family are poor and not all of the older generation are literate. So they are faced with a demolition order for part of the home and an eviction order for all of the compound.
The H family are one of the families from Jaffa, from Al Ajami faced with demolition and eviction orders. Needless to say, they are an Arab family. The naqbe goes on and on.
The H family are trying to fight back.

Jaffa, summer 2007

Posted by yudit at 3:51 PM

4th July 2007, The Good and Bad News.

Naama 4th July 1974 -2007 33 Years Old The Winemaker of Dalton Winery. I am Naama Moalem's Uncle.
31 years to Entebbe: USA 231 years old. Naama was two years Old and USA 200 in 1976.
from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entebbe_raid
The Entebbe raid in Uganda: 4th July 2007.
On the July 1 deadline[3], the government of Israel offered to negotiate with the hijackers in order to extend the deadline to July 4. On July 3, the Israeli cabinet approved a rescue mission[4], Operation Entebbe, under the command of Brigadier General Dan Shomron. After days of collecting intelligence and planning by Netanyahu's deputy Moshe "Muki" Betser, four Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules transport aircraft flew secretly to Entebbe Airport, by cover of night, without aid of ground control. They were followed by an air force jet with medical facilities, which landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya.

The assault on Entebbe Airport, where the hostages were held, was made up of a team of 29 IDF troops [5] and members of the elite Sayeret Matkal special forces commando unit.

Israeli Colonel Yoni Netanyahu, ground commander during Operation Entebbe

The Israeli forces landed at Entebbe an hour before midnight, with their cargo bay doors already open. A black Mercedes with accompanying Land Rovers was taken along to give the impression that the Israeli troops driving from the landed aircraft to the terminal building were an escort for Idi Amin or another high-ranking official. The Mercedes car was borrowed from an Israeli civilian and apparently spray-painted black for the raid, on the understanding that it would be returned to the owner in its original color.

The Mercedes and its escort vehicles were quickly driven by the Israeli assault team members to the airport terminal in the same fashion as Amin. However, along the way, two Ugandan sentries, who were aware that Idi Amin had recently purchased a white Mercedes to replace his black one, ordered this procession of vehicles to stop. Both of these sentries were immediately shot dead by the Israeli commandos. Fearing premature alerting of associates to the hijackers, the Israeli assault team were quickly sent into action.

The hostages were in the main hall of the airport building, directly adjacent to the runway. The Israelis sprang from their vehicles and burst into the terminal yelling, "Get down! Get down!" in both Hebrew and English. A 19-year-old French Jew named Jean-Jacques Maimoni (who chose to identify himself as an Israeli Jew to the hijackers even though he had a French passport), stood up, however. He was killed by the Israeli commandos, who mistook him for a hijacker. Another hostage, Pasko Cohen, a 52-year-old manager of an Israeli medical insurance fund, was also fatally wounded by gunfire, either from the hijackers or accidentally by the Israeli commandos. A third hostage, 56-year-old Ida Borochovitch, a Russian Jew who had immigrated to Israel, was also killed in the crossfire between the hijackers and the Israeli commandos. [6] At one point, an Israeli commando called out in Hebrew, "Where are the rest of them?" He was apparently referring to the hijackers. The hostages pointed to a connecting door of the airport's main hall, into which the Israeli commandos threw several hand grenades. They then entered the room and shot dead the three remaining hijackers, thus completing their assault.

Meanwhile, the other three C-130 Hercules had landed and unloaded armoured personnel carriers, which were to be used for defense during the anticipated hour of refueling, for the destruction of grounded Ugandan jet fighters so as to prevent them from pursuing the Israelis after their departure of Entebbe Airport, and for intelligence-gathering.

After the raid, the Israeli assault team returned to their aircraft and began loading the hostages on board. Ugandan soldiers shot at them in the process. Without suffering any fatalities of their own, the Israeli commandos returned fire, finished the loading, and then departed Entebbe Airport.

The entire assault lasted less than 30 minutes and all six of the hijackers were killed. Yonatan Netanyahu was the only Israeli commando who died during the operation. He was killed near the airport entrance, apparently by a Ugandan sniper who fired at the Israeli commandos from the nearby control tower. At least five other Israeli commandos were wounded. Out of the 103 hostages, three were killed and approximately 10 were wounded. A total of 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed during the raid, and about 11 Ugandan Army Air Force MiG-17 grounded fighter planes at Entebbe Airport were destroyed. The rescued hostages were flown out to Israel via Nairobi shortly after the fighting.

Dora Bloch[7], a 75-year-old hostage who was recovering from a much-earlier choking episode, died at Mulago hospital in Kampala after the Israelis struck. In April 1987, Henry Kyemba, who was Uganda's Attorney General and Minister of Justice at the time, told the Uganda Human Rights Commission that Dora Bloch had been dragged from her hospital bed and murdered by two army officers on Idi Amin's orders. Bloch's remains were recovered near a sugar plantation 32 km (20 miles) east of Kampala in 1979[8] after the Uganda-Tanzania War led to the end of Amin's rule.

The Bad News:
House Demolished 6am in Ajami near where I live, Found out about it Thursday.
Thanks to Yudit: http://yuditilany.blogspot.com
Zeinab and Omar Adasi woke up to the sound of a huge bulldozer today. Some 500 policemen, many of them from special units ('yasam"), surrounded their small 3-room home at 6 o'clock this morning.
The bulldozer started working before they were able to take all their things from the house which had been their home for the last 26 years. Zeinab was still in bed and barely got out of the house before its walls caved in into what only half a minute before had been her bedroom.
Zeinab and Omar have four children. the youngest of them (a 12 year old boy) is severely handicapped.
Omar used to be a construction worker, but today he lives of social security payments, due to an illness he suffers from. Zeinab spends most of her time taking care of their youngest handicapped son, who needs much attention.
All around the small family home close to the harbour new luxury buildings are being erected for the very wealthy. For 26 years Omar and Zeinab lived in the house which Zeinab's father had bought for them from its previous owner.Over time Omar added a small room, as his family became larger. They also developed a small garden next to their house. The garden land, so Omar admits, didn't belong to him.
A few months ago they were served with a demolition order. Apparently Zeinab's father had not bought all of the house or sold a room of it. The demolition order however, was taken out on all of the home.
Zeinab and Omar don't know how to read Hebrew very well and they tried to do what they could, to no avail.
This mornng they tried to convince the police to give them an hour, in order to run to the court and take out a prevention order. Their request was refused. The house was destroyed in a few hours and except for the mountain of rubble, it almost seems it never was there.

The older son was upset and screamed at the police, tried to stop them, and as a result was arrested Later today he was released.
The story is typical of what is happening in Ajami.
Many families live in what now it prime development land, close to the sea, with a lovely view. It's easy to remove poor people from their homes, especially when their reading skills aren't too developed. When they don't know their way around the bureaucracy.

The family members have nowhere to go. The handicapped child was place in foster care, the mother went to an uncle and the other three children each to another relative.
And Omar? Omar walks around in circles, crazed, in what once was his home.
I think there were tears in his eyes.

Jaffa, summer 2007

"The Opsimist" Emil Habibi, Soon Road in his name.

I have Emil Habibi's Book the "Opsimist", he wrote it in the seventies describing Israeli Arab who can not be Optimist or Pessimist, so he is a OPSIMIST, this was shown on stage too.
Ten Years after his death a Road in Jaffa will be named in his memory.

Pardes Daka Sunday 27 May 2007

חברות וחברים שוב שלום-
מחר, יום ראשון – 27.5, עתיד להתבצע פינוי ומיד לאחריו הריסה של בית משפחת ד'קה בשכונת פרדס ד'קה, יפו. המשפחה מתכננת להתבצר בביתה על מנת למנוע את הפינוי וההריסה, ואנו עימם.



נפגש בשעה 08:30 בצומת הרחובות יפת והבעל שם טוב.

(פעילים שהגיעו לבית ביום חמישי האחרון וכבר מכירים את הדרך מוזמנים להגיע גם ישירות לשם!)



כפי שנמסר גם בעבר, נראה כי מוצו כל הדרכים המשפטיות לביטול/דחיית ההריסה, כך שפעולה ישירה משותפת לסיכול הביצוע היא הדרך היחידה העומדת בפנינו כרגע- אנא בואו בהמוניכם!


Activists of the Jaffa struggle again Salam,

The evacuation and demolition of Daka's family house that were postponed last Thursday are set for Tomorrow, Sunday – 27/5.



We will meet tomorrow at 8:30am at the cross of "Yeffet" and "Haba'al Shem- Tov" streets.

(Activists that were there last Thursday and know the way are welcome to arrive directly to the Daka's Family house!)



There seems to be no legal way to prevent the warrant from being executed, and therefore, we will join the family in trying to stop it from happening.
English Follows

פעילות ופעילי מאבק יפו שלומות,



למיטב הבנתנו (ממידע שנמסר למשפחה ע"י המשטרה) בעקבות ההתארגנות המוצלחת של משפחת ד'קה והפעילים אתמול, להתנגדות לפינוי וההריסה שתוכננו, הוחלט ע"י המשטרה לדחות את "המבצע".

הפינוי וההריסה נקבעו ליום ראשון הקרוב (ה- 27.5). פרטים מדויקים על מקום ושעת מפגש ימסרו בהקדם האפשרי.



פרטי המקרה הידועים לנו עד כה:

משפחת ד'קה מתגוררת על גבול שכונות ע'גמי וג'בלייה בשכונה המכונה– פרדס ד'קה. בידי המשפחה 22 דונם אדמה הרשומים בטאבו עוד מלפני 48', ובית המשפחה המיועד להריסה בנוי על אדמה המצויה כולה בבעלות המשפחה. עם זאת, ביתם הוכרז בחלקו כ"בנייה בלתי- חוקית", על ידי המנהל, שכן השטח כולו מוקפא זה שנים ולא ניתן להוציא היתרי בנייה. המבנה הנוכחי המיועד להריסה בשל "בניה לא חוקית" הינו הקומה השנייה בביתו של טאלב ד'קה, בה מתגורר בנו מוסא, ומשפחתו. הבן ומשפחתו מוגדרים כ"פולשים" על ידי המנהל. צו ההריסה שהוצא לביתו של הבן, צפוי ללא ספק לפגוע גם בקומה הראשונה, ולמעשה, במבנה כולו, בו מתגוררות ארבע משפחות.



ההליך המשפטי נגד בניית הקומה השנייה, ביתו של מוסא ומשפחתו, נמשך כבר כ-7 שנים. ההליך הסתיים בחודשים האחרונים, בצו פינוי והריסה סופי שנקבע לאתמול (חמישי, 24.5). ניסיונות המשפחה עד הרגע האחרון לפנות לבית המשפט ולעיריית תל-אביב על- מנת למנוע או לדחות את ההריסה, כשלו כולם.



כפי שדווח לאחרונה בעיתונות, פלאטו שרון נמצא במגעים מתקדמים לרכישת שטחי אדמה נרחבים באזור זה, להקמת שכונת מגדלי דירות למגורים במקום. משפחת ד'קה המורחבת, כמו גם משפחה נוספת המתגוררת במקום, חתמו על זיכרון דברים עם עורכי דינו של פלאטו שרון, ממ"י, חלמיש ועיריית ת"א. בהסכם נכתב כי האזור כולו יפונה מדייריו הנוכחיים בהסכמה, במסגרת מכירת הקרקע לפלאטו שרון, על בסיס פיצויים וקניית הקרקע כפי שיוסכם בין הצדדים. לפיכך מבקשת המשפחה להתחשב בפינוי- העתיד להתקיים בעוד כשנה וחצי- ולהקפיא את הצווים הנוכחיים לפינוי והריסה. טענה זו הועלתה בפני שופט בימ"ש מחוזי ושופט בג"צ, אך בשני המקרים נדחתה ולא הושג צו הדחייה.

הועדה העממית של יפו קיבלה אמש מן המשפחה עותק של הסכם זה, ותלמד אותו לפרטיו ועל כל משמעויותיו בהקדם. אין ספק שלהסכם השלכות מרחיקות לכת על אופי ועתיד האזור, ועל המאבק העממי ביפו.



Activists of the Jaffa struggle Salam,



To the best of our knowledge (according to information given to us by the police) and following the successful organization of the Thakka family and the activists yesterday to resist the planned evacuation and demolition, the police have decided to postpone the "operation".



The evacuation and demolition are set for this coming Sunday (May 27 th). Specific details about place and time of meeting will be given as soon as possible.



Here is the information we have gathered so far on the case



The Thakka family lives on the border of Ajami and Jabalia neighborhoods, in a place called "Orchard Thakka". The family owns 22 dunam of land, registered in the "tabo" before 48', and the family's house, designated for demolition, is built completely on their private land. Even so, their house is partially declared as "illegal construction" by the "Minhal", since the whole area has been "frozen" for years, and as such, doesn't allow issuing construction licenses for further building. The part of the house that is designated for demolition is the second floor, where the family's son, Mussa, and his family are currently living. Mussa and his family are defined by the "Minhal" as "intruders" or "trespassers". The demolition warrant issued for the second floor will undoubtedly harm the entire house, occupied by four families.

The Legal proceedings against the building of the second floor has been ongoing for 7 years, and ended recently with an evacuation and demolition warrant, dated yesterday (May 24 th). The family's efforts, made until the very last minute, to prevent or postpone the execution of the warrant, all failed.



As reported recently in the newspapers, Plato Sharon is currently in advanced contact status to acquire wide scale land in the area, in order to build apartment buildings there. The extended Thakka family, as well as another family living in the area, had signed a letter of agreement with Plato Sharon's lawyers, the Minhal, Halamish Company, and Tel Aviv municipality. The agreement stated that the area will be evacuated of its tenants with their consent, on the basis of a compensation settlement made between the sides. Therefore, the family is asking to consider the coming evacuation, set to start within a year and a half, and to freeze the warrants that were issued for the house demolition. That claim was presented to a judge in county court, as well as the Supreme Court, and was declined by both. The Popular Committee of Jaffa had received the agreement's draft yesterday, and will study its various ramifications thoroughly as soon as possible. There is no doubt that this agreement could have far reaching implications on the character and future of the whole area, as well as the popular struggle in Jaffa.

Jaffa Demo I took part 27th April 2007

Protestors rally in Jaffa against move to evict local Arab families
By Yigal Hai, Haaretz Correspondent

Hundreds of Jaffa residents on Friday participated in a march to protest measures that the Israel Lands Authority and the Amidar housing company have taken in the past year to evict Arab families from Jaffa.

The Israel Lands Authority and Amidar claim the families invaded the properties and built on them illegally.

The march was organized by The Popular Committee to Defend the Land and the Right to Residency, which was established by the Arab residents of Jaffa several weeks ago.

According to the committee's leaders, the Authority and Amidar in the past year issued 500 eviction notices to Arab families from the Al Ajami and Givat Aliya neighborhoods, and some of the notices have evolved into eviction lawsuits.

The organizers of the march questioned why the Authority and Amidar have taken a sudden interest in the matter in the past year, when the families have been living in their homes for several decades. They say the families have held a status of protected tenants who pay rent.

The residents' representatives say the authority and Amidar are attempting to Judaize Jaffa while also making a profit from selling the properties, which are near the seafront, to an affluent Jewish population.

The protesters in the march shouted various slogans such as "Jews and Arabs against house demolitions" and "The transfer won?t happen."

According to the "This is a tsunami of evictions and demolitions," said Al Ajami neighborhood chairman, Camel Agbaria. "The struggle for a roof over one's head should be the ultimate struggle. Instead of firing bullets, they fire dollar bills here."

March participants included Meretz MKs Yossi Beilin and Ran Cohen and Hadash MKs Dov Khenin and Hanna Swaid.


Throughoutt the past week, the Popular Committee handed out flyers to Jaffa residents, calling on them to join the protest. The flyer, entitled "The residents of Jaffa are at risk of being evicted and expelled again," presented a picture from 1948 of an Arab family reluctantly leaving its Jaffa home along side a picture from 2005 of a tractor demolishing the home of an Arab family in Jaffa.

"500 families are at risk of being expelled," the flyer read. "Thousands of people remain with no roofs over their heads for the benefit of the wealthy and rich entrepreneurs."

The Housing Authority and Amidar reject the accusations. A statement issued by the Housing Authority said, "The documents in question are warning letters issued by the Amidar company, which manages the Authorities properties and deals with invaders." Only several dozens of letters have been issued."

"If anyone has any complaints, they are welcome to visit the Amidar offices and prove they have a legal claim to the property," the statement read. "The claims that this is a transfer are demagoguery. No person will be evicted without a court order."

According to the head of the Amidar directorate, Doron Cohen, Amidar rejects "with scorn the demagogic attempt by the 'Popular Committee' to use the events of the War of Independence to protect those who break the law. Amidar works to protect the State's property rights regardless of the tenants' character, religion or nationality."

chanasys.blogspot.com

http://chanasys.blogspot.com/ Is my First Blogspot.
9th September 2006
I slept in Jaffa and did not go to the Demo for Inquiry.