As Soon as the Green Party Took Control of Brighton & Hove Council They Provoked a Strike with Housing Repair Workers

It is an Iron Rule of Politics that when Green Parties Get A Taste of Power They Move to the Right

Whatever their fluffy radical words when in opposition about Green New Deals, workers’ rights and a fairer society, once they get into power Green Parties move inexorably to the Right. This is not a British phenomenon but a universal political law.

Of course this is often of great disappointment to naïve green activists who believe that their party is actually a different, more honest type of party from the mainstream.

Smug and Self-satisfied Brighton Council leader Phelim McCafferty provoked dispute with housing repair team by refusing them entry to the sick pay scheme

In July the Green Party took control of Brighton & Hove Council. The reason for that was that ‘Sir’ Keir Starmer’s purge of the Labour Party for ‘anti-Semitism’ included three Labour Councillors, two of whom promptly resigned causing Labour to lose control. Anti-Semitism’ you understand is somewhat like COVID-19, it never goes away and whenever mention is made of Israel then it flares up again out of nowhere.

No sooner had they got their hands on the levers of power and their newly inflated salaries had hit their bank accounts than the new Green Administration under Phelim McCafferty provoked a strike from the housing repair workers.

Under the previous Labour administration the housing repair service was brought back under public control, a very welcome step. Previously they had worked for the Mears Group. The Council sought to harmonise wages and conditions and the proposal from the new Administration was that the workers would have to take a pay cut of £4,000 a year or else they wouldn’t receive sick pay.

Picket outside Hove Town Hall

The GMB is quoted as saying that:

‘“Green council leader Phélim Mac Cafferty today has supported his officers in Brighton and Hove to cut the salary of housing repair services staff by £4,000 a year and not to give them sick pay and stop all negotiations with the GMB.”

What is happening today is almost a replica of what happened in 2013 when the Greens last controlled the Council. Then, under Jason Kitcat, the Green Administration also proposed savage pay cuts.  At that time it was for the refuse workers.  This time it is the housing repair workers. Also members of the GMB. Clearly the Greens don’t much like manual workers!

But in 2013 the situation was somewhat different.  There was a rebellion amongst the Green councilors. Not this time.  It would seem that they have all moved to the right, without exception.  Not one voice from the Green councillors has been raised against McCafferty’s impersonation of Mr Gradgrind.

This was Brighton last time there was a Green council

‘almost half the local Green councillors, including the deputy leader Phelim McCafferty.’ supported the strike according to Davy Jones,  the then parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown, in 2013. Today the Council is led by Phelim McCafferty. Phelim came from the left not the right of the Green Party. He used to work for the TUC’s Institute of Employment Rights and I can remember having a drink with him when he would complain about his more conservative colleagues.

Phelim was also a member of Palestine Solidarity Campaign and regularly joined our picket at the clocktower during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in 2008/9. He’s not only stabbed the Council workforce in the back, he stabbed us too!

Despite the Green conference effectively rejecting the IHRA Caroline Lucas and the rest of the Green leadership have acted as if it was Green Party policy

Phelim has long been on the road to respectability.  In 2018, he junked a decade and more of support for the Palestinians. He refused to meet the local PSC group and at Council he and the whole of the Green Group voted with the Tories and Labour to support the IHRA definition, which had been drawn up in Israel with the express purpose of conflating anti-Zionism and support for the Palestinians with anti-Semitism.

But it’s not just the Greens on Brighton & Hove Council. This isn’t an odd exception. Caroline Lucas, the only Green MP in the House of Commons has been on her own road to purgatory. She started off as a left wing candidate supporting strikers but this time around she has kept silent. In 2013 she spoke to a large strike meeting giving them support.  Today there hasn’t been a whisper out of Caroline.

Caroline Lucas was part of the Green Party mafia that attempted to railroad the party conference in 2018 into supporting the IHRA and since then have acted as if the IHRA was policy anyway. The Green Party had previously suspended a friend of mine Debbie Fink for ‘anti-Semitism’, despite her being Jewish. In fact I’ve lost count of the number of times she’s been suspended! 

The fightback against the IHRA was led by Shahrar Ali, who is now standing for election as leader of the Green Party.  Surprise surprise, shortly after the conference Shahrar, who was at one time a Deputy Leader of the GP, was investigated for ‘anti-Semitism’. You see ‘anti-Semitism’ is a very contagious disease and like COVID-19 there is no vaccine at present other than to move as rapidly as possible to the right.

The complaint against Shahrar came via the far-Right Israeli funded Campaign Against Antisemitism.  The treachery of those who used the CAA to suspend a party colleague is beyond belief but such is the state of the Green Party at present  116 Green Party members signed a petition against this trampling over democracy in the Green Party.

But it’s not just the British Green Party. In Ireland the Green Party have done exactly the same as Brighton’s Greens.  In 2008 they supported Fine Fail’s austerity government and in the 2011 elections they were wiped out. Ireland suffered greatly during the financial crash and the Green Party coalition made sure that the Irish working class and the poor suffered. I had some experience of this when I was briefly hospitalized in Ireland and saw the extent of the cuts.

In the February 2020 elections in Ireland the most popular party was Sinn Fein, a radical left wing anti-imperialist party. The two conservative parties, Fine Gael and Fine Fail, who as recently as 2007 obtained 69 percent of the vote, managed just 43 percent between them. As Eoghan Gilmartin Tommy Greene wrote

Less than 10 years after the vicious austerity programme it helped Fianna Fáil implement between 2007 and 2011 had brought the party to the point of decimation, Eamon Ryan has signed up his grouping once again to an agenda of severe fiscal restraints and tax breaks for corporations, in exchange for a series of modest environmental proposals and three government ministries. This brand of ‘eco-austerity’ is sure to deepen neoliberalism’s grip on policy, while doing little in real terms to combat climate change.

Shahrer Ali speaking against the IHRA Israeli definition of 'antisemitism'

In Germany it was a Green-SPD Coalition Government which in 2001 under Joshka Fischer voted to become the first post-war German government to send troops overseas to fight in a war in Afghanistan.

Everywhere they get a taste of power the Greens are eager to demonstrate that they are loyal supporters of capitalism and don’t want to change the very system that has caused climate catastrophe. Instead they want to ‘green’ capitalism unable to perceive that capitalism is inherently destructive of the planet’s eco system for the very simple reason that it is a system based on profit not need.  Capitalism forsakes such trivialities as planning in favour of a market free for all.  The Green Party lacks all class politics and probably thinks imperialism is a brand of soap. It is a party of the radical petit-bourgeoisie, which in an economic crisis rapidly shifts to the Right.

The behaviour of Phelim McCafferty and the Brighton Greens is therefore not exceptional in any way. They end up careerists just the same as any bourgeois politicians because they don’t have any firm principles.  Despite all of their talk about a basic income the Greens will happily jettison the more radical parts of their programme for a slice of power.

In the UK the Green leaders are happy to support the IHRA, devised to undermine support for the Palestinians with accusations of ‘anti-Semitism’ even against the wishes of their own rank and file. For Caroline Lucas support for the IHRA was the price of working with Jo Swinson, the reactionary leader of the Lib Dems whose defeat in the General Election in December was one of the bright spots of an otherwise gloomy night. Brexit seemed to be the only issue of importance to the Green Party.

As the Labour Party moves to the Right under Starmer it is a fool’s choice to believe that the Green Party offers a radical still less socialist alternative.  Anyone harbouring such illusions will find themselves jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Tony Greenstein

SHORTS: As I Predicted , the Zionist Attempt to Blacklist Expelled Members Backfires as McDonnell and Pidcock Defy the Board of Deputies McCarthyism Policy - Starmer Simply Ignored Them

Imad Barghouti, a Professor of Space Physics at Al Quds – a University under Occupation - is Imprisoned Without Trial for Expressing His Opinions on Facebook – Please Sign the Petition

Fourth Black Lives Matter Demonstration in Brighton  is Smallest Yet

1.         Zionist McCarthyism and McDonnell

A week ago I blogged that John McDonnell and Laura Pidcock had defied Zionist instructions to ‘Sir’ Keir Starmer that Labour members must not appear on the same platform as expelled members of the Labour Party.

Well the Zionists huffed and puffed. McDonnell, who scabbed on Chris Williamson whilst acting as Lansman’s cheerleader for the fake ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign, protested that it was ‘ridiculous’ for him to know that Jackie Walker and me were in attendance.

The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, an organisation funded and controlled by Israel’s Dirty Tricks Ministry of Strategic Affairs, huffed and puffed that it was McDonnell’s response that was ridiculous.  Jackie was a member of the Labour Representation Committee’s Executive. 

For once I have to agree with the CAA. How could McDonnell not know? I was as visible to him as he was to me, and since I had already spoken at the Conference shortly before him, how could he not know I was in attendance?

Of course the principled position to have taken would have been to say that this is not Israel and he is not going to accept any Apartheid banned list from a bunch of Zionists.

The problem is that McDonnell has no principles. This is a man who sat silently whilst Jewish anti-racists were expelled for ‘anti-Semitism’ and then spoke out against the expulsion of Alistair Campbell, the war criminal who was Blair’s spin doctor when he went to war with Iraq.

Laura Pidcock, another scab, has said nothing at all which just about sums her up – pretty vacant! Well vacant anyway.

Of course what McDonnell and Pidcock and before them, Diane Abbot and Bell Ribairo-Addy, could have done was to protest at the very idea of banning anti-Zionists and anti-racists. Unfortunately the Campaign Group of MPs has said nothing about Starmer taking his orders from the Board of Deputies and the Israeli Embassy.  Once you have embarked on a strategy of appeasement there are no limits to how far you will go to please the Right.

The Jewish News reported that the Board of Deputies called for the party to launch an investigation, though into what I am not sure.  The evidence is clear.  John and Laura were happy to share virtual company with Jackie and me! Just accept it.

I am also posting the appeal from Professor Barghouti, a space scientist at Al Quds University. He has been administratively detained by the Israeli army for having posted hostile comments on the Occupation on Facebook. Where are the voices of outrage from Israeli academics at this outrage?  This is why we should Boycott Israeli Universities.

Administrative Detention, which was introduced to Palestine by the British colonial authorities is better known in Ireland as internment without trial. It is by definition the action of a military/police state.

There is no pretence that Professor Barghouti is a ‘terrorist’. His only offence is that he has spoken against Israel’s occupation. Quite amazingly a Military Court ordered his release yet he has still been kept in custody demonstrating that justice in the Military Court  system is a complete fiction. Israel’s military courts have a 99.74% conviction rate.

The Zionist Times of Israel alleges that Professor Barghouti has spoken at Hamas rallies at Al Quds University.  So what?  Hamas is a legitimate Palestinian organisation which when elections were last held was the most popular Palestinian group. When genocidal Zionist groups like Yamina stand in Israeli elections without difficulty why is it that a conservative Islamic group is considered beyond the pale?

Of course Starmer, who has pledged to defend Israel right or wrong and the racist Vice Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, Peter Kyle MP, have said nothing at all. Like the 3 Wise Monkeys they see, say and hear nothing. Criticism of Israel is now an expulsion offence.

The following letter is being circulated by Scientists for Palestine. You can sign a petition demanding Prof. Barghouthi’s release here.

Dear colleagues,

I’m writing this letter as I await the Israeli military occupation court to review the Israeli military commander’s decision to put me under administrative detention for four months. This order overruled a court decision to release me on bail, while I await yet another trial for exercising my internationally protected right of expressing my opinion on my social media. And my next appearance before the military judge/court will be a closed session, showing that even Israeli authorities are ashamed of these proceedings. 

For those of you who don’t know about administrative detention, it has been a central practice of the Israeli occupation since the early days of the British mandate, over seventy years ago; administrative detention allows for a military commander to order your arrest based on secret reports and without trial. The administrative detention can last up to six months, but can be renewed indefinitely¹. This practice systematically abuses Palestinian human rights and is designed to subjugate the Palestinian people and deny their freedom. 

In the Israeli military courts it doesn’t matter that I’m a professor of space physics, nor it matters that I’m 50 years old, father of five and grandfather of one lovely boy, nor that no Israeli professor would ever be convicted for expressing her/his public opinion on Facebook! The only thing that matters in front of their courts is that I’m a Palestinian and I’m thus labeled, dehumanized, and stripped of my basic human rights. And with no fear by the Israeli military apparatus of real persecution for what they are doing to me.

Dear colleagues, I ask you to take a few minutes of your time to act in support of Palestinians and against the illegal procedure of administrative detention with a post demanding the abolition of this practice, or a discussion with your students and colleagues on the fact that in today’s 21st century world, Palestinians professors are being held without trial. 

I know justice will never be served as long as Palestinians remain under occupation, but I take courage and inspiration from the words of Desmond Tutu, “in a situation of injustice, if you remain neutral then you have chosen the side of the oppressor”.

With respect, 

Prof. Imad Ahmad Barghouthi 
Department of Physics, AQU
Occupied Palestine
Currently in the Ofer Israeli prison camp

Notes

1. There are cases of Palestinians who spent over 5 years in continuous administrative detention, and some who have experienced over 20 years of on and off administrative detention in Israeli military occupation prisons.


Samidoun, the Palestinian Prisoner Network reported that:

On Thursday, 16 July, Palestinian astrophysicist Imad Barghouthi was once again seized by Israeli occupation forces when he was stopped at a checkpoint in occupied Anata. The repeated arrests and targeting of Barghouthi, a scientist with a strong international reputation, has sparked outrage by international academics and researchers. He is expected to be brought before an Israeli military court on Thursday, 23 July. Samidoun demands the immediate release of Imad Barghouthi and all detained Palestinian scientists, academics, researchers and students!

A professor of physics at Al-Quds University, Barghouthi is a former NASA employee (who earned his Ph.D. at Utah State University) who has been targeted for multiple occasions for imprisonment. Palestinian students, researchers and academics continue to face harsh repression from the Israeli occupation, including researchers like Ubai Aboudi and the hundreds of Palestinian students currently jailed by Israel.

In many cases, detained academics and researchers are jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention orders, which are indefinitely renewable – Palestinians spend years at a time jailed without ever being charged or tried. If they are instead brought before an Israeli military court, they face a 99.74% conviction rate, “evidence” obtained through torturous interrogations and bogus charges for things like posting on Facebook or attending public events organized by student organizations.

The detention of Imad Barghouthi and his fellow Palestinian scholars and students reflects the ongoing and fundamental denials of of Palestinian rights to education and academic freedom, underlining the necessity of the international academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Such institutions are deeply complicit in the structures of occupation that deny Palestinian human rights at all levels.

We urge supporters of justice in Palestine and the right to science everywhere to stand with Imad Barghouthi and join the call for his freedom.

**

We are recirculating the following statement, released today by Scientists for Palestine, about the case of Imad Barghouthi, as well as further resources on the case.

Freedom for Imad Barghouthi

A violation of the right to science anywhere is an attack to scientists everywhere.

On Thursday, July 16th 2020, renowned Palestinian scientist Imad Barghouthi was detained by Israeli military forces during a routine stop at a military checkpoint outside of Anata. A military court hearing is scheduled for Thursday July 23rd to discuss the case of professor Barghouthi, an astrophysicist at the university of Al-Quds in East Jerusalem. No charges have been brought against him and his lawyer fears that he will be put under administrative detention, an illegal measure commonly used by the Israeli military forces to put Palestinians in arbitrary detention without any charges or trials.

This is not the first time that the Israeli military forces have arrested professor Barghouti, one of Palestine’s most prominent scientists. In 2014 he was placed under administrative detention for two months, and in 2016 he was again detained for six months. In both cases his arrest triggered a significant indignation of the international Scientific community.

Scientists for Palestine condemns the continuous and arbitrary harassment of Professor Barghouthi in the strongest possible terms and calls on all members of the International Scientific community to demand the immediate release of our colleague. The right to science is protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 27), as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (article 15). The violation of the right to science anywhere is an attack to scientists everywhere.

Black Lives Matter Demonstration in Brighton is the Smallest Yet But Still Determined

I don’t know what has happened in other areas of the country but Brighton has had monthly Black Lives Matter demonstrations since the murder of George Floyd in June. The first demonstration was the largest ever seen in Brighton, over 20,000. Successive demonstrations have been smaller, about 10,000 and 3,000.  Today’s was again down – about 1,000.

No more demonstrations will be held in the winter because of the danger of COVID-19. However the decline in numbers suggests that the steam is running out of the campaign, despite the energy of the demonstrators.

The demands included White Supremacy is the Enemy, Silence is Compliance, Refugees are Welcome, Sussex Police are also Racist and calls for Justice for Jay Abatan, a Brighton resident who was murdered in 1999 and whose murder Brighton Police didn’t bother to investigate.  Indeed Brighton Police were socialising with his killers on the night when he was attacked with his brother. Basic things like taking photographs of the crime scene and securing it weren’t undertaken.

I marched with a Palestinian flag. Once again Brighton & Hove PSC  had a banner welcome at the Clocktower. It is unfortunate though that BLM, at least in Brighton, did not seem to have any awareness of the links between imperialism and racism as slogans about the oppression of Black people in other countries was conspicuous by its absence.

I took a number of photos and a couple of videos which I’ve stitched together.

Tony Greenstein

In Memory of the 2,000+ victims of Sabra & Chatilla who died when the Zionists set the Fascist Phalange on unarmed and defenceless women and children

The Night that Arik Sharon and the Zionists set the fascist wolves onto Palestinian women and children

Perhaps the most haunting memory I have concerns the visit I made to Lebanon in the summer of 1979 at the invitation of the PLO. We were refused visas by the London Embassy of Lebanon and instead had to travel via Syria across the land border. I was on a delegation from the British Anti-Zionist Organisation.

At that time Lebanon was still in the throes of a civil war. In June 1976, with the United States and Israel having given the green light, Syria invaded Lebanon in order to ensure that the Phalangists and their Maronite allies weren’t defeated by the combined forces of the left in the Lebanese National Movement, which the PLO supported, somewhat reluctantly at first.

The remains of Tel al-Zataar  refugee camp which was destroyed, along with its inhabitants in 1982 after the Phalange besieged it, with the support of Syrias Baathist government

There are still some fools who have illusions in the Syrian Ba’ath Government.  But when the Palestinians and their allies were on the brink of power in Lebanon Syria, with the full blessing of Saudi Arabia and the Arab League, invaded Lebanon to prevent their triumph.

In 1979 there was a vacuum in Lebanon. No group held power. The leftists, Druze, Palestinian, Shi’ite and Murabitoun, the Sunni Nasserist militias held power in West Beirut. The Phalange and Christians occupied East Beirut.

Ariel Sharon, Defence Minister and mass murderer who was personally responsible for the massacre at Sabra and Shatilla.  He was also best friend of Shimon Peres, leader of the Israeli Labour Party

The remains of Tel al-Zataar  refugee camp which was destroyed, along with its inhabitants in 1982 after the Phalange besieged it, with the support of Syrias Baathist government

A member of our delegation and myself decided to visit what remained of the refugee camp Tel al-Zatar in East Beirut. It had been subject to a 3 month siege from June till August when it fell to the fascist forces aided by Syria. Up to 50,000 lived in the refugee camp and an estimated 4,000 Palestinians were massacred by Syria’s ‘Christian’ allies.  To this day thousands of the dead remain unaccounted for.

Our delegation to the PLO in 1979

In order to see what remained of the camp it was necessary to cross the border, a veritable no-man’s land with the Lebanese Army dug in, between West and East Beirut and we had to get 2 taxis as no taxi would cross into hostile territory.  On our way back we were detained by the Lebanese army because we had no visas in our passports.

Beirut synagogue at Wadi Abu Jamil which I visited in 1979 - during Lebanon's civil war it came under siege from Israel's Phalangist friends - it was relieved by troops of the PFLP

We explained to them that we had come to Lebanon at the invitation of the Syrian occupying power, which was technically true! After about an hour or so we were released since the Lebanese army was de facto under the control of the Syrian military.

The remains of Tel al-Zataar  refugee camp which was destroyed, along with its inhabitants in 1982 after the Phalange besieged it, with the support of Syrias Baathist government

Whilst in Beirut we were given tours of the camps including sewing and woodwork workshops. There are a couple of photographs here.  It is a sad and sobering thought that most of those we met would have been butchered just 3 years later because of the utter stupidity of the PLO and Arafat in leaving the camps undefended and taking the word of the Zionists and their American backers to protect the camps. It was criminal irresponsibility not to ensure that if they had to leave, that sufficient arms weren’t left behind to ensure that the camps would remain protected.

children playing in the streets and alleways of the refugee camps - 3 years after this photo was taken most if not all of them would have been slaughtered by Israel's Phalangist allies

On 6^th June Israel invaded Lebanon. The pretext was the attempted assassination of the Israeli Ambassador in London, Shlomo Argov.  In fact the assassination attempt had nothing to do with the PLO and was the work of the Abu Nidal group, which had been expelled by the PLO and which was the creature of Iraq’s Ba’athist government. In any event it was a pretext and Argov himself later condemned the invasion.

The remains of Tel al-Zataar  refugee camp which was destroyed, along with its inhabitants in 1982 after the Phalange besieged it, with the support of Syrias Baathist government

Israel's invasion of Lebanon began June 6, 1982. Following the assassination of the Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel on September 14^th, whom Israel had imposed on Lebanon and who Syria is widely suspected to have assassinated in a car bomb, Israeli troops entered and occupied West Beirut, contrary to all its previous promises.

The remains of Tel al-Zataar  refugee camp which was destroyed, along with its inhabitants in 1982 after the Phalange besieged it, with the support of Syrias Baathist government

A deal was reached between the PLO and Americans whereby the PLO troops left for Tunisia by ship and the US promised to defend and protect the Palestinian refugee camps. Once again the PLO believed American promises although of course their position by then was extremely weak.

The remains of Tel al-Zataar  refugee camp which was destroyed, along with its inhabitants in 1982 after the Phalange besieged it, with the support of Syrias Baathist government

On September 16, 1982, the Phalangists, fascists who were known to harbour a deep hatred for the Palestinians, entered the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut. The excuse for allowing the Phalange to enter the camps was that the PLO had left hundreds of ‘terrorists’ behind. The Phalange massacred an estimated 2,000 civilians.

The Israelis fired flares throughout the night to light up the killing fields - thus allowing the militiamen to find their way through the narrow alleys of the camps. The massacre went on for two days. When the massacre had Israel supplied the bulldozers to dig mass graves. Refugees who had escaped to the perimeter of the camp were turned back by the Zionist soldiers.

Israel in the form of its Prime Minister, Menachem Begin tried to excuse their behaviour by blaming it on the ‘Christians’ but it was like putting a rattlesnake in a baby’s cradle. It was inevitable that the Phalange would perpetrate a massacre. 

The remains of Tel al-Zataar  refugee camp which was destroyed, along with its inhabitants in 1982 after the Phalange besieged it, with the support of Syrias Baathist government

Israeli troops surrounded the camps to prevent the refugees from escaping. In Israel a 300,000 demonstration was held to protest the massacre and the government set up the Kahane Commission. In 1983 Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Defense Minister, was held to bear "personal responsibility" for the slaughter. However this was a whitewash.  The decision to invade Lebanon and then Beirut was a collective decision of the Israeli cabinet, not least its Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Many people thought that Sharon’s career was over but I predicted, and unfortunately I was right, in an article in Tribune, that Sharon would sooner or later come back as Prime Minister. I was right and this most bloodthirsty of monsters came back in time to trigger of the Al Aqsa Intifada.

It is worth reminding ourselves that all the Israeli Zionist parties, from Likud to the ‘leftist’ Mapam and what became Meretz, supported the invasion of Lebanon. Only Israeli anti-Zionists were opposed from the start though, as the Lebanese resistance took its toll, more and more people began to oppose what happened. 

Dov Yermiyah, dissident Israeli Colonel who was dismissed for his criticisms of the Zionists' barbarity

Perhaps the most famous opponent of the war was Dov Yermiya, a reserve Lieutenant Colonel who openly condemned Israel’s bombing of Ain al Hilweh refugee camp.  He said it reminded him of World War II. Because of his open criticisms of the war he was dismissed and he later wrote a War Diary of describing what he had seen. Dov died aged 101 and shortly before his death he announced that he had rejected Zionism. He said of Israel that ‘we have become a nation of savage thugs.’

For further information see Sabra and Shatila:  New Revelations on America’s complicity in what happened.

Below is a personal testimony as to what happened by Dr Alfout Mahmoud.

Two Palestinian women walk past the dead bodies

Continuous Terror

by Dr. Olfat Mahmoud

It was 10 am on Wednesday, September 16, 1982 and I was on duty at Accra Hospital, one of the Palestinian hospitals for Palestinian refugees in Beirut, Lebanon. The Israeli occupation of Lebanon was ongoing and the camps were surrounded by Israeli troops. Throughout the night we had heard stories of terrible things happening in Sabra and Shatila camp just adjacent to us but did not believe them.

“Suddenly we were interrupted by the sound of intense gunfire at the hospital entrance. The foreign nurses urged us all to leave immediately as they were not in danger and could care for the patients. The Lebanese militia were attacking from the position the Israelis had just vacated. Several other nurses and I were on the ground floor. We ran to a window at the back of the hospital, with seconds to spare we clambered out and ran into the garden of a villa behind the hospital. The front gate of the villa was locked; the only way out was over the fence. Once over this, we ran for our lives towards the bridge and then scattered.

We heard that Lebanese militiamen had also killed nurses at Gaza Hospital located inside Sabra and Shatila camp. The foreign nurses and doctors there testified on the Saturday morning, as militiamen were marching them down the camp's main street, they saw hundreds of mainly women and children under guard sitting by a large and recently dug pit. Soon after this, they heard repeated shooting for 10 minutes or more, accompanied by screams and cries.

For two days and nights after the massacre, I slept as if in a coma. I had nightmares filled with the people who'd been slaughtered, all the people I'd known and loved and who were no longer there. When I finally woke up, I found a black cloud of grief and despair had settled around me. Nothing could shift it. It was shot through with flashes of terror that at any moment soldiers would come crashing through the door to kill me and my family. I couldn't bear to listen to the news, and I would cry easily. I just wanted to run away from everything, but my limbs felt too heavy to move. My body was like lead. And my throat was constricted constantly.” *

This is part of my memory of the massacre that took place in the Sabra and Shatila camp in Beirut, Lebanon 38 years ago. Over 2,000 women children and old men were massacred. I can never forget this and nor can all those who witnessed it and were survivors like me.

The tragedy of Sabra and Shatila was and still is a powerful reminder of the occupation of Palestinian land. It is a powerful reminder of the failure of international efforts to find a peaceful settlement to Israeli illegal occupation and to the Palestinian refugees’ endless cycle of displacement. This massacre is only one of the terrible massacres that have affected Palestinians but for me it was and is still an unforgettable traumatic event. Many survivors continue to live in Sabra and Shatila, struggling to make a living and haunted by their memories of the slaughter. To this day, justice has not been served for the war crimes that took place there despite efforts to take this massacre to the International War Crimes Tribunal. It serves as a powerful and tragic reminder of the vulnerability of Palestinians and Palestinian refugees.

On August 4, 2020, the Beirut port suffered from a terrifying and devastating blast that killed over 200 people, made homeless around 300,000 and caused extensive damage to the city. I have been through wars and the massacre but as I heard the shattering of glass, and the movement of the house, I was truly terrified and initially thought that the house was collapsing around me. Just few weeks after that, a new fire erupted in the port. All what happened and is still happening, brought back the painful memories of Sabra and Shatila massacre.

When Sabra and Shatila massacre happened and the killing and slaughter ended, its effects lived on. People were terrified and children would scream whenever they saw the army passing by. Now, after these recent tragic events in Beirut the consequences remain. The sound of breaking glass causes my heart and others to stop with fear. When the fire erupted in the port last week, we all started to open the windows and doors hoping to minimize damage from an expected blast. Many left their houses in terror. Even though we were still under the pressure of widespread cases of COVID-19 and the streets were crowded.

As years pass people in Lebanon, including us Palestinian refugees, continue to witness tragedies that bring back terrifying and tragic memories. I always ask myself, why are innocent people dying because of greed, negligence, corruption, brutality, and lack of humanity? In the face of this ongoing and overwhelming despair my solace comes through my humanitarian work to fight for justice and dignity for Palestinian refugees. I call on people everywhere to fight for justice in whatever way what they can. I have also found strength in prayer and my religious beliefs and so I pray daily for peace and justice for my people and for the other 80 million of refugees and displaced people in the world.

*This is an excerpt from Tears for Tarshiha by Olfat Mahmoud