Long tiiiime passing.
Where have all the bloblets gone?
Long time agoooo.
What up. As some of you (whoever the You’s out there may be) may have noticed, I’ve been blobbing (and facebooking) much less furiously than I had over the last few months (20 posts in October, 25 in December and 15 in November, which is especially solid considering that I was, well, in jail for a good portion of that month (thanks Jess!)). I wanted to check in and let ya’ll know that: (a) All’s really good by me (b) but I ain’t going nowhere until the occupation gets done and justice runs like a mighty stream and we beat our rifles in to sphygmomanometers (c) and the occupation ain’t done and justice does not yet run like a mighty stream and our rifles are still taking blood and not blood pressure. I’ve just been taking a brief blob break (bbb). Here are a few things that’ve gone down/that I’ve been up to on said bbb:
(1) The Shamasneh Family in Sheikh Jarrah: As I wrote in the Huffington Post last week, the Shamasneh family, a particularly and heartbreakingly adorable family of 10 (although it would not matter if they were all jerks, it makes it all the more devastating that they are incredibly sweet) faces the threat of eviction from their home in Sheikh Jarrah at the hands of the Dynamic Duo of State ‘n Settlers with off court support from the lovely Supreme Court (if this all sounds esoteric/incomprehensible, read the above-linked article, which is written less flippantly and more better). In a positive but impermanent development, the family was given a brief reprieve of two months at the last minute when the Jerusalem District Court ordered the eviction delayed until March 1st, 2013, for technical reasons. The struggle is not done, but at least there is room to breath in a sliver of hope and then continue to struggle. I’ll keep posting important developments as I see them here and elsewhere.
(2) Refusenik Natan Blanc Sentenced to his Fourth Term in IDF Military Prison #6: Natan Blanc was sentenced today to his fourth term in IDF Military Prison #6 (after a 10-day term, a 20-day term and a 14-day term, this current sentence is another 14-days). From conversations with Natan and his family, he seems to be holding up well and keeping his head held high. There was a demonstration outside of Prison #6 during his second term, and will most likely be another one in mid-January. I will also keep posting about that as information comes to me. Send support to Natan in the linked/following ways.
(3) The Road to Destruction in Beit Safafa: Today, along with a few other activists, I saw for the first time another one of the government’s plans to strengthen Jewish settlement in all of Jerusalem and the West Bank, this time in the form of a massive highway to be built straight through the occupied Palestinian Jerusalem village of Beit Safafa. The road will go directly through the middle of the village, will be built on private land, and will be yet another vein of connection between the Southern West Bank settlements like Gush Etzion (further showing that even the ”parve”/lite-settlements like Efrat cause immense ongoing damage to Palestinians, Palestine and the potential for peace for all of us) and Jerusalem, going, of course, through Occupied East Jerusalem on its way. The residents of Beit Safafa are going through certain legal measures to challenge the road, but things look grim, as work is already well underway. As said above, I’ll update as I know more.
(4) Writing in Other Venues and Forms: I am continuing to write daily and intensively, while exploring different forms and venues. I’ll say more about that when it becomes more clear.
That’s all for now. Much love, and onwards.
The Leftern Wall 