Interview by Khalid Amayreh

Nayef Rajoub, 52, is one of the most popular Islamic leaders in Occupied Palestine. His courageous promotion of Palestinian rights, including the right of return for Palestinian refugees, has attracted the unwanted attention of the Israeli security services. He has served a total of eight years in Israeli jails, mostly on trumped-up charges such as "incitement against the Israeli state". Indeed, Mr. Rajoub was released from an Israeli jail only a few weeks ago, having served nearly 50 months for the "crime" of taking part in the 2006 Palestinian elections. In Al-Khalil (Hebron), Rajoub won more votes than any other candidate. The elections were given the go-ahead by both Israel and the US in the hope that Fatah would win. However, when Hamas won a landslide victory, the US and most other western countries, as well as America's puppet regimes in the Middle East, were hostile towards the new Palestinian government, resulting in the imposition of a financial siege (followed by a total siege on Gaza) intended to make the occupied territories ungovernable by the new Islamist rulers.

Hanan Chehata: Tell me a little about your political career; when did it begin and why the Balad Party?

Haneen Zoubi: I graduated in philosophy and media studies and have been interested in politics since I was very young. Gender issues were the first to draw my attention. I became a member of the Balad Party in 1997, one year after it was formally established. Balad was my first choice; it is, in my view, the only party to promote and address questions of equality and identity within the abnormal context of citizenship in Israel. Our party takes the issue of citizenship very seriously. We challenge and reject the existing notions of Zionist citizenship while promoting an alternative vision of democratic citizenship instead of ideological citizenship, which inevitably will discriminate against the Palestinian citizenry. The Balad Party calls for equal national rights and for the indigenous people – Arabs   to promote this identity, and the duty of the state to guarantee these rights. This will not happen within the framework of a "Jewish state", but within a state "for all of its citizens", which Balad aspires to.

HC: You are the first Arab woman to be elected to the Knesset (Israel’s parliament). That is some achievement. What does that accomplishment mean to you?

Dr. Hanan Chehata interviews Omar Farooq spokesperson of the IHH

June 9th 2010

Since the Israeli massacre of humanitarian aid civilians aboard the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish Charity the IHH (pronounced Ee Ha Ha) has been thrust into the headlines in a way they never could have predicted and for a reason they never would have wanted. The IHH (their full name in English is the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief) was one of the main groups in a coalition of five that organised the Freedom Flotilla. The Flotilla set out collectively carrying around 10,000 tons of relief for the besieged (1.5 million) people of Gaza. The flotilla was illegally intercepted in international waters by Israeli commandos who killed nine civilians, (all Turkish) severely wounded many more and kidnapped the hundreds of remaining internationals.

Following that event, in which Israeli clearly showed itself to be the aggressor, they have now embarked on a propaganda campaign to divert public attention away from their actions and onto the charities and NGOs that were part of the Flotilla. The IHH in particular has been accused of being an extremist Islamic organisation, a supporter of Hamas and a funder of terrorism.

In order to explore the other side of the story MEMO went to the IHH headquarters in Istanbul this week to ask them for their perspective on events. A very different picture was presented. It turns out that the IHH is a charity, not obsessed with the liberation of Palestine, as the pro-Israeli media would have us believe, but a very broad and inclusive humanitarian organisation. The IHH work in over 120 countries worldwide including Chad, Somalia, Cameroon, Vietnam, the USA, Haiti and Georgia to name but a few. They are involved in a vast number of campaigns including orphan assistance programmes, the digging of water wells in Africa, cataract operations, food assistance, housing and clothing allowances provisions. Their work in Gaza is only one very small part of what they do.
 
I sat down with IHH spokesperson Omar Farooq to find out more.

Dr. Hanan Chehata interviews Greta Berlin Co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement

9th June 2010

"One of the things that Israel does NOT seem to get clear is that every time they do this we will come back with more. Every time that they decide that maybe if they are going to kill people we will give up, we will come back with more. They severely wounded two of the captains, the Turkish captain on board the Mavi Marmara and the Greek captain on board the Spendoni.

This was done deliberately, this was done to send a message to the captains that they should not be working with us but we've already had three captains write to us in the last week and say "if you need more captains, please give me a call. Please let me know". People are not intimidated into doing what Israel wants them to do, so of course we're going to come back. We are going to come back until Israel lifts that blockade and until Israel abides by the international law that says it doesn't have any right to do this and if governments aren't going to do it then civil society will."