Free Khalid!

Ashkur-allah! Thank you for everyone who prayed for Khalid. We heard the good news this morning that he is safe, albeit in a mukhaberat (secret police) cell. He was picked up from university on tuesday as he arrived there to collect his final exam results. We don't know why he's been taken exactly, perhaps for what he writes against the occupation on his blog. Whatever the reason, I am sure it is unjustified and if he is not release swiftly then his friends and family will launch a campaign for his freedom.

Missing in Baghdad

Please could you urgently pray for a freind, K, who vanished in Baghdad yestarday. We were due to meet today and he was going to bring a supply of chocolate he had bought for me in Jordan. His family have searched hospitals and morques, thankfully without result. The most likely explanation is that he has been detained by one of the many branches of the US army, Iraqi Police, Iraq National Guard, Iraqi Special Forces etc. We are in the process of checking with all of these to see if they are holding him, something which may take some time as they generally have poor and uncoordinated records of detainees. Please pray for his safety wherever he is, and that he can be returned to his family soon.

Clarke is wrong about the bombers' motive

Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the BBC: "There is no evidence [it] had anything to do with the Iraq war." But he went on to assert, without giving any evidence himself and in very Bushian language: "the people who make these kind of attacks are about destroying the very essence of our society: our democracy, our media, our multicultural society and so on. That's not about Iraq or any other particular foreign policy issue, it's about a fundamentalist attack on the way we live our lives."

If indeed this was the work of an Al-Qaeda style group (which seems likely, though far from proven) then, as I argued yesterday, their motive is not to destroy "our democracy, our media, our multicultural society... the way we live our lives." A few bombs clearly have no power to destroy any of these things (except perhaps the multicultural society if we succumb to a racist backlash). Although Bin Laden and his associates do indeed have a critique of the decadence of Western society, the explanations for their terrorist attacks have always been expressed in terms of very clear foreign policy objectives (The end of occupations in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, the removal of foreign troops from the Middle East, the ceasation of support for dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia etc.).

The only hope we have of preventing future attacks is not a further shift to the right in immigration policy and an increasing erosion of our civil liberties through surveillance, detention and ID-cards, but rather cleaning up our foreign policy. Fortunately the foreign policy objectives of Al-Qaeda, unlike its actions, are by and large just. Even if Al-Qaeda didn't exist we should be working towards the things, because they are actually a reflection of the Christian values of justice, peace and freedom which are (or should be) the true "essence of our society".

P.S. The help line for information about missing friends & family is 0870 156 6344. BBC news coverage here. Mil Rai of Justice not Vengence is doing a sterling job providing a daily analysis of the UK media coverage of the aftermath and challenging any tendancies to Islamophobia. You'll also find good analysis on Juan Cole's blog, and listen out for anything by Michael Scheuer who is speaking a lot of sense on this. Also keep an eye on Arab Media Watch and CAABU.

The answer to terrorism is justice

I stood hypnotised by BBC World, part of my brain knew people in the room were trying to talk to me but I couldn't resolve their words while I struggled to comprehend what was happening. I was sitting in Baghdad, on a remarkably calm day (with a coolish breeze and little background small arms fire) watching scenes of devastation back home in London. I tried to call my sister but the mobiles network was down (it turns out she was in Kings Cross when the bomb there went off, but in a different underground tunnel, and didn't even hear it). Bombs and broken communication are part of the daily routine here, and you take them in your stride but when its happening at home, which you thought was safe, it's a different kettle of fish. An Iraqi friend called me to express his deep concern for my family, almost forgetting to mention that there was a gun battle raging outside his home in Mansour neighbourhood.

9-11 gave Americans an opportunity, sadly wasted and perverted, to ask themselves the question "why do 'they' hate us". Instead of admitting to the uncomfortable reality that Al-Qaeda's grievances, about which it has been very open, relate to American aggression against Muslims and support for oppressive Middle Eastern kings and dictators, all we got was this unsubstantiated rushish from Bush about "they hate our freedom" and then a serious of wars which have made things much worse. No less an expert than Michael Scheuer, who headed the CIA Counter-Terrorism Centre’s Bin Laden task force (1996–1999), wrote: "Bin Laden has been precise in telling America the reasons he is waging war on us. None of the reasons have anything to do with our freedom, liberty and democracy, but have everything to do with US policies and actions in the Muslim world." If America had admitted that, although the actions of Al-Qaeda are deplorable, theigrievanceses are justified, and seriously addressed them, then there would be thousands of more people alive in Baghdad, Kabul, Madrid and London. There would be no motivation for terror and no need for an unending unwinnable War on Terror.

So now it is our turn in Britain. As we mourn our dead and seek to bring the culprits to justice, let's not respond with racism, aggression and an incorrect analysis (see my friend Mil Rai's excellent critique of the British media's initial coverage of the bombings). Let's review our policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. Let us make some historic steps towards tackling poverty and injustice and promoting genuine freedom - from dictators who are allies as much as from those we consider enemies, from the economic imperialism of the IMF as much from territorialal imperialism. As Noam Chomsky explains: "The answer to terrorism is justice, not more terrorism. London and Washington must also stop practicing the terrorism of the powerful - invasion, occupation, and indirect terrorism via oppressive states." Jesus, who both Bush & Blair claim to respect, put it even more strongly "Love your enemies as yourself."

Much of Blair's rhetoric in the run up to the summititt was supportive of the aims of the Make Poverty History coalition, but already it is looking like this summit, of countries with a combined GDP of nearly $25 trillion, is not living up to expectations. We make not be able to persuade Bush to act rightly, but we can at least get our own house in order.

As a final note, to caution us against kneejerk Islamophobia, the National Association of British Arabs, which condemns the attacks, points out "the bombing at Edgware Road was in the heart of London's Arab community, as the bombing in Aldgate East was in the heart of a Muslim community."

Marla film

So it seems that Paramount is planning a film about my friend Marla Ruzicka's life. I find the idea that millions will see her story at the cinema quite surreal (and reliving the horrible day of her death will be really painful). But then Marla's life was surreal in the extreme, and perhaps this could be a great memoral for her, particularly if it stimulates real international action for the ordinary people who are victims of conflict in Iraq and worldwide. Her family support the project which is encouraging.

Israeli settlers seek asylum with PA

"If the state of Israel doesn't want us, we don't want it," 28-year-old Drori Stuan told Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. His family has lived in the Kadim settlement in the northern West Bank since 1983. It is one of four small settlements in the West Bank that the Israeli government is planning to evacuate later this year. Drori's family has applied for political asylum in the Palestinian Authority: "We are people who intend to carry on living in Samaria under Palestinian rule and not under Israeli rule." He continued: "Palestinian sovereignty does not scare us. We believe that everything will be OK and we will live in security like other Jews around the world."

I think this is an incredible positive development, though I doubt the PA will be able to grant the request, given that its authority is heavily limited by Israel. The desire of religious Jews to live in areas of historical significance is understandable - providing they do not do so at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian population, as is currently the case. If the Stuan family is truely prepared to live as Palestian citizens, rather than as agressive and exploitative colonialists, then this is the attitude which could finally bring a lasting peace.

The only long term solution, in my opinion, is a single pluralistic state, perhaps called something like"The Holy Land of Palestine & Israel", in which all citizens have equal rights and a fair distribution of wealth. There is a precedent in the 1 million Israeli Arabs, decendents of the Palestinians who remained within Israel during the Naqba (the 1948 war), who in theory have the same rights as Jewish Israelis. The barrier to the establishment of this state has always been Isarelis democraphic fear of living in a country with a majority Palestinian population, as well as the economic benefits they gain from exploitation of Palestinian land and water. But it looks like some settlers are finally realising that their ability to live in the Land depends on a good relationship with Palestinians, and that it is okay even to live under the authority of a majority Palestinian governmetn.

Please pray that the Stuan family could indeed become citizens of the PA and thereby demonstrate to other settlers and Israelis that there is nothing to fear from Palestinians when they are treated with justice and respect. May this lead to a lasting peace in which Palestinians are granted full citizenship rights in a new united state.

Addicted to Iraq

Apologies to friends/readers for not posting for a while. I've had a hectic month, a week in Basra for a trade union conference against privatisation, a week back in Palestine supporting people being terrorised by settlers and the apartheid wall, a few days back in the UK (sadly for a funeral)... and now, of course, I'm on my way back to Iraq!

I'm afraid I'm hooked on this bleeding, welcoming, disastrous, cultured, impoverished, wealthy, hopeless, hopeful country. I'm sure my family would prefer it if I took up a safer and more socially acceptable addiction like crack cocaine, but I'm afraid I'm already suffering from withdrawal having been away for only 3 weeks.

I can't say too much about what I'm doing this time, as I need to keep a low profile and don't want to endanger the people I'm working with. But I'd appreciate all your prayers that I can find ways to usefully support and empower Iraqis doing positive things and contribute in small ways to promoting genuine self-determination, ending the occupation and restoring a healthy economy.

I helped organised a 2 week Fast for Economic Justice in Iraq, which is happening right now in Geneva in the run up to the final meeting of the UNCC, the body which awards war reparations against Iraq. It was opened on Thursday by Hans von Sponek, the courageous former UN Humanitarian Coordinator who resigned in 2000 to protest the sanctions regime.

Free Burma and Kim's mum!

Today Burma's democratically elected leader, Nobel prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, turns 60, after 15 years under almost permanent house arrest. Her party won a landslide 82% victory in the 1990 elections, but the military dictatorship refused to recognise it and instead increased the repression of their rule.

My international focus has been largely orientated towards the Middle East, but many of my close friends at university were very actively involved in the Free Burma campaign. I was busy with other campaigns and never learnt in depth about the situation in Burma, but the photos of Aung San that many friends had on their walls are fixed in my mind. Typically she is photographed with arms crossed and often a flower in her hair. Firm and defiant of injustice and at the same time gentle and open. Of all the iconic portraits of heros and revolutionaries I find Aung San's the most human and the most inspiring.

When in 1999 Aung San's English husband Michael Aris died in Oxford, I realised that I had actually been at school a decade before with their younger son Kim. We were contemporaries at the Dragon School, a boarding school designed originally for the children of Oxford dons. My memory is pretty awful so I only have a few snapshots of him in my head. For whatever reason we both kept pet gerbils in the school's biology classroom, and I can remember discussing with him the intricacies of constructing elaborate runs for our rodents. I certainly had no idea that his mum was under house arrest at the time in a country I'd probably never heard of. Probably the anonymity was a good thing designed to give him a degree of normality at school, but I seem to remember he was treated quite badly at school, and I wish I had shown him friendship. Today he is receiving the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh on behalf of his mother. I don't know how long it is since he saw her last, probably 3-4 years. I haven't seen him now for almost 14 years, but he's in my prayers.

Please pray and campaign for freedom for Aung San and freedom for the people she has come to represent. As she says: "Please use your liberty to promote ours".

Happy blogday to me!

So this blog is 2 years old as of 7.08pm today. I turned 27 (ich, that's ancient!) last week. A lot has happened in the last two years: I've been to Iraq four times (and met many groovy Iraqi bloggers) and also to Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, France, America and India campaigning on Jubilee Iraq; I've made two trips out to central africa to research HIV/AIDS; changed jobs three times; fallen in love with a wonderful American girl; and made 130 blog entries, just over one a week. Here's my not very exciting first entry.

Smell the jasmine

"Marhaba. Smell the jasmine and taste the olives. Jawwal welcomes you to Palestine," said the automatic text message as my phone roamed onto the Palestinian network, and the welcome has already been echoed by dozens of impoverished, abused and occupied people who have piled me with tea, food and kind words in the 24hrs I've been here. I had a marathon trip on Monday, driving from Basra to Kuwait, flying to Amman, flying to Tel Aviv and (after 3 hours of interrogation) driving to Jerusalem. Yesterday morning I came down to Khalil (Hebron) where I'll be staying for a few days.

I've just returned from a morning visiting families in Wadi al-Ruz, a beautiful fertile valley which is now surrounded on all sides by illegal Israeli settlements (Kiryat Arba, Harsina - here is the settlers' website, a scary read) and army and police posts. Palestinian cars have been bared for four years from the one remaining road into the village (and a chunk of the road has been fenced off and annexed to Kiryat Arba), meaning that the people have a half hour walk to get to the nearest shops. It gets more serious when there are medical emergencies. We visited one family which suffers daily abuses and rock throwing from the settlers across the street and the military checkpoint next to their house. The 75yr old grandfather had fallen while praying at the mosque and broken his arm and leg. He was unable to go to hospital because he can't walk and no doctors will come to him because they are afraid of the soldiers. His wife has diabetes and had just been to hospital after an attack. We met her sitting by the roadside in the blazing sun, exhausted and shaking having only walked about 20% of the distance to her home. I stopped a passing police car which luckily turned out to be driven by a Palestinian mechanic who had fixed it and was returning it to the station, and he agreed to give her a lift home. [PHOTO: The road to Wadi al-Ruz. The red-roofed buildings and everything to the right, including all the construction sites, are the settlement of Kiryat Arba. Many of the houses are empty but they are building at a frantic rate to grab more land. The concrete blocks on the road are U-shaped sniper posts, while the camo-netting of the first military checkpoint is visible. The Palestinian village is still half a mile walk away.]

We carried along on foot but were summoned in for tea and breakfast when we past the old lady's house. Her 2yr old granddaughter was terrified of me, but after about 15mins of her father reassuring her "mish Yahud" (he's not a Jew) she finally came over and greeted my shyly. How horrible that her entire life experience (the children get stoned by settlers if they step outside their front door) has taught her to quiver in fear at the sight of Jews.

Another family we drank tea with, further down the valley, told how their 15yr old daughter had stopped going to school after being searched and repeatedly groped by the soldiers at the checkpoint she has to pass every day walking to school. Their 8 yr old son had huge cauliflower ears (bent so they are perpendicular to the face, as some Rugby players develop from scrums). Two days ago the soldiers grabbed him by the ears and picked him up so his full weight was hanging from them. The same family regular gets raided at night by the military post overlooking their house, 5 days ago soldiers were banging at their door at 3am and firing off gunshots.

These stories are just a tiny sample from the lives of Palestinians in Hebron, the only city in which settlers have stolen houses in the centre of town (normally they just ring around the outside, as at Bethlehem, turning the town into a big prison), as a result life is particularly hard for the local people as they are terrorised not just by the settlers but the police and soldiers as well (who steal yet more land for their bases). Nevertheless I still get greeted in the street with a "shalom" by Palestinians who assume I'm Israeli, and receive a kings welcome when they discover I am here in solidarity with them. The hospitality of the Palestinian people is the jasmine which I can smell everywhere I go.