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najia-cooks · 1 month

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[ID: Two plates of cookies, one oval and topped with powdered sugar, and the others shaped in rings; one cookie is broken in half to show a date filling; two glasses of coffee on a silver tray are in the background. End ID]

معمول فلسطيني / Ma’moul falastini (Palestinian semolina cookies)

Ma’moul (also transliterated “ma’amoul,” “maamoul” and “mamoul”) are sweet pastries made with semolina flour and stuffed with a date, walnut, or pistachio filling. The cookies are made tender and crumbly with the addition of fat in the form of olive oil, butter, or clarified butter (سمن, “samn”); delicate aromatics are added by some combination of fennel, aniseed, mahlab (محلب: ground cherry pits), mastic gum (مستكه, “mistīka”), and cinnamon.

“مَعْمُول” means “made,” “done,” “worked by hand,” or “excellently made” (it is the passive participle of the verb “عَمِلَ” “‘amila,” "to do, make, perform"). Presumably this is because each cookie is individually filled, sealed, and shaped by hand. Though patterned molds known as طوابع (“ṭawābi’,” “stamps”; singular طابع, “ṭābi’”) are sometimes used, the decorations on the surface of the cookies may also be applied by hand with the aid of a pair of small, specialized tongs (ملقط, “milqaṭ”).

Because of their laborious nature, ma’moul are usually made for feast days: they are served and shared for Eid, Easter, and Purim, a welcome reward after the Ramadan or Lenten fasts. For this reason, ma’moul are sometimes called “كَعْك العيد” (“ka’k al-’īd,” “holiday cakes”). Plates of the cookies, whether homemade or store-bought, are passed out and traded between neighbors in a practice that is part community-maintenance, part continuity of tradition, and part friendly competition. This indispensable symbol of celebration will be prepared by the women of a family even if a holiday falls around the time of a death, disaster, or war: Palestinian food writer Laila El-Haddad explains that "For years, we endured our situation by immersing ourselves in cooking, in our routines and the things we could control."

Other names for these cakes exist as well. Date ma’moul–the most common variety in Palestine–may be called كَعْك بعَجْوَة (“ka'k b'ajwa”), “cakes with date paste.” And one particular Palestinian variety of ma’moul, studded with sesame and nigella seeds and formed into a ring, are known as كَعْك أَسَاوِر‎ (“ka'k 'asāwir”), “bracelet cakes.” The thinner dough leads to a cookie that is crisp and brown on the outside, but gives way to a soft, chewy, sweet filling.

[ID: An extreme close-up on one ka'k al-aswar, broken open to show the date filling; ma'moul and a silver teapot are very out-of-focus in the background. End ID]

History

Various sources claim that ma’moul originated in Egypt, with their ancestor, كحك (kaḥk), appearing in illustrations on Pharaonic-era tombs and temples. The more specific of these claims usually refer to “temples in ancient Thebes and Memphis,” or more particularly to the vizier Rekhmire’s tomb in Thebes, as evidencing the creation of a pastry that is related to modern kahk. One writer attests that this tomb depicts “the servants mix[ing] pure honey with butter on the fire,” then “adding the flour by mixing until obtaining a dough easy to transform into forms” before the shaped cookies were “stuffed with raisins or dried dates and honey.” Another does not mention Rekhmire, but asserts that “18th-dynasty tombs” show “how honey is mixed with butter on fire, after which flour is added, turning the substance into an easily-molded dough. These pieces are then put on slate sheets and put in the oven; others are fried in oil and butter.”

Most of these details seem to be unfounded. Hilary Wilson, summarizing the state of current research on Rekhmire’s tomb, writes that the depicted pastries were delivered as an offering to the Treasury of the Temple of Amun; that they certainly contained ground tiger nuts; that they presumably contained wheat or durum flour, since ground tiger nuts alone would not produce the moldable dough illustrated; that the liquid added to this mixture to form the dough cannot be determined, since the inscription is damaged; that the cakes produced “are clearly triangular and, when cooked are flat enough to be stacked” (any appearance that they are pyramidal or conical being a quirk of ancient Egyptian drawing); that they were shallow-fried, not cooked in an oven; and that honey and dates are depicted at the far left of the scene, but their relationship to the pastries is unclear. There is no evidence of the honey being included in the dough, or the cookies being stuffed with dates; instead, Wilson speculates that “It appears that the cooks are preparing a syrup or puree of dates and honey. It is tempting to think that the cakes or pastries were served [...] with a generous portion of syrup poured over them.” Whether there is any direct lineage between these flat, fried pastries and the stuffed, molded, and baked kahk must also be a matter of speculation. [1]

Another origin claim points to ancient Mesopotamia. James David Audlin speculates that ma’moul are "possibly" the cousins of hamantaschen, both being descended from the molded "kamānu cakes that bore the image of [YHWH’s] goddess wife Inanna [also known as Ishtar or Astarte]" that were made in modern-day Syria. Other claims for Mesopotamia cite qullupu as the inspiration: these cakes are described in the contemporary record as wheat pastries filled with dates or raisins and baked. (Food historian Nawal Nasrallah writes that these cookies, which were offered to Ishtar for the new year festival in spring, may also be an origin point for modern Iraqi كليچة, "kleicha.")

The word "määmoul" had entered the English language as a type of Syrian farina cake by 1896.

In Palestine

From its earliest instantiations, Zionist settlement in Palestine was focused on building farming infrastructure from which Palestinians could be excluded: settlers, incentivized by foreign capital, aimed at creating a separate economy based around farms, agricultural schools, communal settlements, and research institutions that did not employ Arabs (though Arab labor and goods were never entirely cut out in practice).

Zionist agricultural institutes in Palestine had targeted the date as a desirable crop to be self-sufficient in, and a potentially profitable fruit for export, by the 1930s. Ben-Zion Israeli (בנציון ישראלי), Zionist settler and founder of the Kinneret training farm, spoke at a 1939 meeting of the Organization of Fruit Growers (ארגון מגדלי פירות) in the Nahalel (נהלל) agricultural settlement to discuss the future of date palms in the “land of Israel.” He discussed the different climate requirements of Egyptian, Iraqi, and Tunisian cultivars—and which among them seemed “destined” (נועדים) for the Jordan Valley and coastal plains—and laid out his plan to collect saplings from surrounding countries for planting despite their prohibitions against such exports.

In the typical mode of Zionist agriculture discourse, this speech dealt in concepts of cultivation as a means of coming into a predestined ownership over the land; eating food suited for the climate as a means of belonging in the land; and a return to Biblical history as a triumphant reclamation of the land from its supposed neglect and/or over-cultivation by Palestinian Arabs over the past 2,000 years. Israeli opened:

נסתכל לעברה של הארץ, אשר אנו רוצים להחיותה ולחדשה. היא השתבחה ב"שבעה מינים" ואלה עשוה אינטנסיבית וצפופת אוכלוסין. לא רק חיטה ושעורה, כי אם גם עצים הנותנים יבול גדול בעל ערך מזוני רב. בין העצים -- הזית [...] הג��ן, התאנה והתמר. לשלושה מהם, לזית, לתאנה ולתמר חטאה התישבותנו שאין היא נאחזת בהם אחיזה ציםכר של ממש ואינה מפתחת אותם דים.

We will look to the past of the land [of Israel], which we want to revive and renew. It excelled in "seven species," and these flourished and became densely populated. Not only wheat and barley, but also trees that give a large and nutritious crop. Among the trees: the olive, [...] the vine, the fig and the date. For three of them, the olive, the fig and the date, it is the sin of our settlement that it does not hold on to them with a strong grip and does not develop them.

He continued to discuss the benefits of adopting the date—not then part of the diet of Jewish settlers—to “health and economy” (בריאות וכלכלה). Not only should the “land of Israel” become self-sufficient (no longer importing dates from Egypt and Iraq), but dates should be grown for export to Europe.

A beginning had already been made in the importation of about 8,000 date palm saplings over the past two decades, of which ¾ (according to Israeli) had been brought by Kibbutz Kinneret, and the remaining ¼ by the settlement department of the Zionist Commission for Palestine (ועד הצירים), by the Mandate government's agriculture department, and by people from Degania Bet kibbutz ('דגניה ב). The majority of these imports did not survive. More recently, 1000 smuggled saplings had been planted in Rachel’s Park (גן רחל), in a nearby government plot, and in various places in the Jordan Valley. Farms and agricultural institutions would need to collaborate in finding farmers to plant dates more widely in the Beit-Sha’an Valley (בקעת בית שאן), and work to make dates take their proper place in the settlements’ economies.

These initial cuttings and their descendents survive in large plantations across “Israel” and the occupied Palestinian territories. Taher Herzallah and Tarek Khaill write that “Palm groves were planted from the Red Sea in the south along the Dead Sea, and as far as the Sea of Galilee up north, which has given the Israeli date industry its nickname ‘the industry of the three seas’” Since Israel occupied the Palestinian West Bank in 1967, it has also established date plantations in its illegal settlements in that portion of the Jordan Valley.” Today, these settlements produce between 40 and 60% of all Israeli dates.

In 2022, Israel exported 67,042 tons of dates worth $330.1 million USD; these numbers have been on a steady rise from 4,909 tons worth $1.2m. in 1993. Palestinian farmers and their children, disappropriated from their land and desperate for income, are brought in to date plantations to work for long hours in hazardous conditions for low pay. Workers are lifted into the date palms by cranes where they work, with no means of descending, until the crane comes to lower them down again at the end of the day. Injuries from falls, pesticides, heat stroke, and date-sorting machinery are common.

Meanwhile, settlers work to curtail and control Palestinian production of dates. The Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza is used as a pool of cheap labor and a captive market to purchase Israeli imports, absorb excesses in Israeli goods, stabilize Israeli wages, and make up for market deficits. Thus Palestinian date farmers may be targeted with repressive measures such as water contamination and diversion, destruction of wells, crop destruction, land theft, military orders forbidding the planting of trees, settler attacks, closing of checkpoints and forbidding of exports, and the denial of necessary equipment or the means to make it, in part to ensure that their goods do not compete with those of Israeli farmers in domestic or foreign markets. Leah Temper writes that these repressive measures are part of a pattern whereby Israel tries to “stop [Palestinian] growth in high value crops such as strawberries, avocados and dates, which are considered to be ‘Israeli Specialties’.”

At other times, Palestinian farmers may be ordered to grow certain crops (such as strawberries and dates), and forbidden to grow anything else, when Israeli officials fear falling short of market demand for a certain good. These crops will be exported by Israeli firms, ensuring that the majority of profits do not accrue to Palestinians, and that Palestinians will not have the ability to negotiate or fulfill export contracts themselves. Nevertheless, Palestinian farmers continue to defy these oppressive conditions and produce dates for local consumption and for export. Zuhair al-Manasreh founded date company Nakheel Palestine in 2011, which continues production despite being surrounded by Israeli settlements.

Boycotts of Israeli dates have arisen in response to the conditions imposed on Palestinian farmers and workers. Herzallah and Khaill cite USDA data on the effectiveness of boycott, pressure, and flyering campaigns initiated by groups including American Muslims for Palestine:

Israel’s exports of dates to the US have dropped significantly since 2015. Whereas 10.7 million kilogrammes (23.6 million pounds) of Israeli dates entered the US market in 2015-2016, only 3.1 million kilogrammes (seven million pounds) entered the US market in 2017-2018. The boycott is working and it is having a detrimental effect on the Israeli date industry.

Date products may not be BDS-compliant even if they are not labeled as a product of Israel. Stores may repackage dates under their own label, and exporters may avoid declaring their dates to be a product of Israel, or even falsely label them as a product of Palestine, to avoid boycotts. Purchase California dates, or dates from a known Palestinian exporter such as Zaytoun or Yaffa (not “Jaffa”) dates.

[ID: Close-up of the top of ma'moul, decorated with geometric patterns and covered in powdered sugar, in strong light and shadow. End ID]

Elsewhere

Other efforts to foreground the provenance and political-economic context of dates in a culinary setting have been made by Iraqi Jew Michael Rakowitz, whose store sold ma’moul and date syrup and informed patrons about individual people behind the hazardous transport of date imports from Iraq. Rakowitz says that his project “utilizes food as a point of entry and creates a different platform by which people can enter into conversation.”

[1] Plates from the tomb can be seen in N. de G. Davies, The tomb of Rekh-mi-Rē at Thebes, Vol. II, plates XLVII ff.

Purchase Palestinian dates

Donate to evacuate families from Gaza

Flyer campaign for eSims

Ingredients:

Makes 16 large ma'moul and 32 ka'k al-aswar; or 32 ma'moul; or 64 ka'k al-aswar.

For the dough:

360g (2 1/4 cup) fine semolina flour (سميد ناعم / طحين فرخة)

140g (1 cup + 2 Tbsp) white flour (طحين ابيض)

200g (14 Tbsp) margarine or vegetarian ghee (سمن), or olive oil

2 Tbsp (15g) powdered sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp (10g) dugga ka'k (دقة كعك)

1/2 tsp (2g) instant yeast

About 2/3 cup (190mL) water, divided (use milk if you prefer)

1 tsp toasted sesame seeds (سمسم)

1 tsp toasted nigella seeds (قزحه / حبة البركة)

Using olive oil and water for the fat and liquid in the dough is more of a rural approach to this recipe; ghee and milk (or milk powder) make for a richer cookie.

To make the bracelets easy to shape, I call for the inclusion of 1 part white flour for every 2 parts semolina (by volume). If you are only making molded cookies and like the texture of semolina flour, you can use all semolina flour; or vary the ratio as you like. Semolina flour will require more added liquid than white flour does.

For the filling:

500g pitted Madjoul dates (تمر المجهول), preferably Palestinian; or date paste

2 Tbsp oil or softened margarine

3/4 tsp dugga ka'k (دقة كعك)

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

5 green cardamom pods, toasted, skins removed and ground; or 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Small chunk nutmeg, toasted and ground, or 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

10 whole cloves, toasted and ground, or 1/4 tsp ground cloves

The filling may be spiced any way you wish. Some recipes call for solely dugga ka'k (or fennel and aniseed, its main components); some for a mixture of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and/or cloves; and some for both. This recipe gives an even balance between the pungency of fennel and aniseed and the sweet spiciness of cinnamon and cloves.

Palestinian date brands include Ziyad, Zaytoun, Hasan, and Jawadir. Palestinian dates can also be purchased from Equal Exchange. You can find them online or at a local halal market. Note that an origin listed as "West Bank" does not indicate that a date company is not Israeli, as it may be based in a settlement. Avoid King Solomon, Jordan River, Mehadrin, MTex, Edom, Carmel Agrexco, Arava, and anything marked “exported by Hadiklaim”. Also avoid supermarket brands, as the origin of the dates may not be clearly marked or may be falsified to avoid boycots.

Instructions:

For the dough:

1. Melt margarine in a microwave or saucepan. Measure flours into a large mixing bowl and pour in margarine; mix thoroughly to combine. Rub flours between your hands for a few minutes to coat the grains in margarine. The texture should resemble that of coarse sad. Refrigerate the mixture overnight, or for up to 3 days.

2. Add dry ingredients to dough. If making both molded ma'moul and ka'k al-aswar, split the dough in half and add sesame and nigella seeds to one bowl.

3. Add water to each dough until you get a smooth dough that does not crack apart when formed into a ball and pressed. Press until combined and smooth, but do not over-knead—we don't want a bready texture. Set aside to rest while you make the filling.

For the filling:

1. Pit dates and check the interiors for mold. Grind all ingredients to a paste in a food processor. You may need to add a teaspoon of water, depending on the consistency of your dates.

To shape the cookies:

Divide the filling in half. One half will be used for the ma'moul, and the other half for the bracelets.

For the ma'moul:

1. With wet hands, pinch off date filling into small chunks about the size of a walnut (13-16g each, depending on the size of your mold)—or roll filling into a long log and divide into 16-20 even pieces with a dough scraper. Roll each piece of filling into a ball between your palms.

2. Divide the dough (the half without seeds) into the same number of balls as you have balls of filling, either using a kitchen scale or rolling into a log and cutting.

3. Form the dough into a cup shape. Place a ball of filling in the center, and fold the edges over to seal. Press the dough into a floured ma'moul mold to shape, then firmly tap the tip of the mold on your work surface to release; or, use a pair of spiked tweezers or a fork to add decorative designs by hand.

4. Repeat until all the the dough and filling has been used, covering the dough you're not working with to keep it from drying out. Place each cookie on a prepared baking sheet.

For the ka'k al-aswar:

1. With wet hands, divide the date filling into about 32 pieces (of about 8g each); they should each roll into a small log about the size of your pinkie finger.

2. Divide the dough (the half with the seeds) into as many pieces as you have date logs.

3. Take a ball of dough and flatten it into a thin rectangle a tiny bit longer than your date log, and about 3 times as wide. Place the date log in the center, then pull the top and bottom edges over the log and press to seal. Seal the ends.

4. Roll the dough log out again to produce a thin, long rope a little bit thinner at the very ends than at the center. Press one side of the rope over the other to form a circle and press to seal.

5. Repeat until all the the dough and filling has been used, covering the dough you're not working with to keep it from drying out. Place each cookie on a prepared baking sheet.

To bake:

1. Bake ma'moul at 350 °F (175 °C) in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes, until very lightly golden brown. They will continue to firm up as they cool.

2. Increase oven heat to 400 °F (205 °C) and bake ka'k al-aswar in the top third of the oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Sprinkle cookies with powdered sugar, if desired. Store in an airtight container and serve with tea or coffee, or give to friends and neighbors.

#Palestinian #cookies #baking #Eid #long post /

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intersectionalpraxis · 3 months

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This is the latest update for the lawsuit that happened recently in the US. Although Biden, Blinken, and Austin did not attend the trial to bear witness to the Palestinian people who took the stand to talk about the genocide going on in Gaza and the US's complicity to this -the court still declined the case, one judge stated: "it is plausible that Israel’s conduct amounts to genocide,” and he implored the White House “to examine the results of their unflagging support of the military siege against the Palestinians in Gaza.”

I also wanted to include this from the article I attached above:

"U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White said he didn’t have jurisdiction over the matter, but he still offered harsh criticism of the administration and said Israel’s actions may amount to genocide." [and] "after listening to hours of testimony Friday, White called the issue before him “the most difficult judicial decision that I’ve ever made,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle." "Plaintiff Laila El-Haddad, a journalist in Maryland, said she had lost nearly 90 members of her extended family to Israeli attacks, the newspaper reported." "Dr. Omar Al-Najjar, also a plaintiff, said he works at a hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah where more than 2,000 new patients a day require treatment for severe injuries or illnesses, but there is little to no medicine, the newspaper reported."

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battyaboutbooksreviews · 7 months

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✨ National Arab American Heritage Month (NAAHM) is celebrated in April. The first Arab American Heritage Day was celebrated on October 25, 1992. NAAHM celebrates the heritage and culture of Arab Americans and Arabic-speaking Americans. It also recognizes the contributions of Arab Americans to the United States, including:

🌙 The history of Arab migration to America 🌙 The diversity within the Arab American community 🌙 Important customs and traditions 🌙 The fight for civil rights and social justice

✨ NAAHM also serves as a time to: 🌙 Combat Anti-Arab bigotry 🌙 Challenge stereotypes and prejudices

✨ In 2023, the president declared April National Arab American Heritage Month. However, I felt it necessary to recognize Arab American Heritage Day this year, too. I'm Palestinian 🇵🇸, but growing up, I never saw that word printed on a page, never saw it recognized as a nationality in novels or newspapers. We're here. We exist. We will not be erased, ignored, or silenced.

✨ In celebration of these voices, here are a few books by Arab and 🇵🇸Palestinian authors to consider adding to your TBR.

🌙 A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum 🌙 Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa 🌙 The Woman From Tantoura by Radwa Ashour 🌙 You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat 🌙 Crescent by Diana Abu Jaber 🌙 Salt Houses by Hala Alyan 🌙 Minor Detail by Adania Shibli 🌙 As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh 🌙 Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi 🌙 Silence is a Sense by Layla AlAmmar 🌙 The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah 🌙 Exhausted on the Cross by Najwan Darwish 🌙 Palestine Is Throwing a Party and the Whole World Is Invited by Kareem Rabie 🌙 My First and Only Love by Sahar Khalifeh 🌙 Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd 🌙 Among the Almond Trees by Hussein Barghouthi 🌙 Palestine: A Socialist Introduction (edited) by Sumaya Awad and Brian Bean 🌙 The Book of Ramallah (edited) by Maya Abu Al-Hayat 🌙 Stories Under Occupation: And Other Plays from Palestine (edited) by Samer al-Saber and Gary M. English 🌙 Ever Since I Did Not Die by Ramy al-Asheq 🌙 Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine by Mohammad Sabaaneh 🌙 Post-Millennial Palestine: Literature, Memory, Resistance (edited) by Ahmad Qabaha and Rachel Gregory Fox 🌙 The Dance of the Deep-Blue Scorpion by Akram Musallam 🌙 Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr 🌙 The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey by Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt 🌙 Evil Eye by Etaf Rum 🌙 A Child in Palestine by Naji al-Ali 🌙 Murals by Mahmoud Darwish 🌙 Farah Rocks by Susan Muaddi Darraj 🌙 Halal Hot Dogs by Suzannah Aziz, illustrated by Parwinder Singh 🌙 Baba, What Does My Name Mean? A Journey to Palestine by Rifk Ebeid, illustrated by Lamaa Jawhari 🌙 The Olive Tree Said to Me by N. Salem 🌙 Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah 🌙 Don't Read The Comments by Eric Smith 🌙 Jasmine Falling by Shereen Malherbe 🌙 Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa 🌙 The Lady of Tel Aviv by Raba’i al-Madhoun 🌙 Looking for Palestine: Growing Up Confused in an Arab-American Family by Najla Said

#palestine #free palestine #arab american heritage month #muslim writers #arab writers #palestinians #books #book recs #book recommendation #book list #reading #book blog #batty about books #battyaboutbooks

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the-garbanzo-annex-jr · 4 months

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by Dion J. Pierre

According to documents shared with The Algemeiner, since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, extreme anti-Zionism, as well as platforming of individuals who have promoted antisemitic conspiracies and tropes, has exploded at UIUC. Two months after the attack, the Women & Gender in Global Perspectives Program added two virulently anti-Zionist panelists, Susan Abulhawa and Laila El-Haddad, to what was scheduled to be a one-on-one conversation featuring a pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian speaker.

Abulhawa has accused Israel of committing “a dozen kristallnachts [sic],” referring to the infamous pogrom carried out against Jews in Nazi Germany in November 1938. Abulhawa’s viewpoints are so controversial that a sponsor of an Australian festival she was scheduled to participate in pulled its support. After Oct. 7 she also rationalized Hamas’ massacre on her Facebook page.

El-Haddad is a member of a pro-Palestinian think tank that has regularly shared articles celebrating Hamas’ violence and promoting false allegations of Israeli apartheid and genocide.

Later, the event was canceled after Abulhawa allegedly refused to share a stage with a Zionist. In its place, the school’s Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) held a panel in which UIUC Students for Justice in Palestine member Sara Hijab said, “I hope you realize the evil Zionism is and that it has no place anywhere in the world.” Labor and Employment Relations professor Augustus Wood added, “The armed resistance should not be referred to in crude inhumane terms such as terrorists,” apparently referring to Hamas.

US college campuses have experienced an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents — including demonstrations calling for Israel’s destruction and the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students— since Oct. 7. Between that day and Dec. 18, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 470 antisemitic incidents on college campuses , and during that same period, antisemitic incidents across the US skyrocketed by 323 percent compared to the prior year.

Last month, the ADL called out American colleges and universities in an open letter, reminding them of their obligation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment and intimidation.

“Shockingly, many students engaging in this activity — including harassment, intimidation, and other clear violations of student codes of conduct — have not faced consequences,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote. “Universities have by and large been derelict in their duty to protect Jewish communities on campus, in many cases raising serious concern under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Simply put, to date, there have been too few consequences — that must change.”

#hamas #gaza #susan abulhawa #university of illinois urbana champain

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houseofpurplestars · 2 months

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"As I read Nael’s texts, the memories came flooding back. Of Um Hani cooking in her bright, breezy kitchen wearing the traditional white hijab and light blue jalabiya. Of the birthmark on her face and her soft olive skin. Of her husky voice and the gentle laugh that masked the fierce and determined woman underneath."

#free palestine #free gaza #i stand with palestine #palestine #gaza #solidarity

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ridenwithbiden · 7 months

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Hundreds of targets have been hit in Gaza by Israel following the Saturday incursion from Hamas terrorists, the group that controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza. More than 200 targets were struck in Gaza by Israeli forces in just one day, according to authorities.

In Gaza, at least 900 people have died -- among them 260 children and 230 women -- and another 4,500 have been wounded since Saturday, according to the latest numbers from Palestinian officials.

In Israel, at least 900 people have been killed and 2,600 others injured.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip say they are living in fear as Israel retaliates for the actions of the militant terrorist group, with nowhere for them go.

There are no bomb shelters for Palestinians to hide from airstrikes.

An Israeli airstrike hit nearby the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza on Tuesday for the second time in two days, according to the the interior ministry in Gaza said.

"Gaza is a closed zone. There's nowhere people can evacuate to -- there's no shelters," said Laila El-Haddad, 45, a Palestinian-American living in Maryland whose family is currently in Gaza.

She continued, "The borders are all controlled and shut and the one border bordering Egypt was bombed earlier today. You know, unless they plan to swim out -- but there's a naval blockade -- they really have nowhere to go."

For many, crossing into Israel amid the attacks is not an option.

"Even during normal times, we're not allowed to leave," said Jason Shawa, 55, a Palestinian currently living in Gaza with his wife and two daughters. "Very, very, very few people in Gaza that have permission to leave."

Hundreds of apartments and homes have been destroyed in the Gaza Strip, including refugee camps, leaving more than 123,000 people displaced, according to the United Nations.

More than 73,000 people are sheltering in schools, while hospitals struggle to cope with the numbers of injured.

Shawa lives just miles from the city center where much of the shelling by Israeli forces is occurring. He has taken five other families into his home, which he said is safer than most because his house has a basement to shelter from the airstrikes.

"No one feels safe," said Shawa. "It happens everywhere, anytime. No warnings contrary to what we hear from Israel. My wife and I -- our major concerns are our two daughters ... They're very scared. Very, very scared."

Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that all food, fuel, electricity, and other necessities will be blocked from entering the Gaza Strip.

"Every single thing we eat, or drink or consume in terms of medicines, food or drink is strictly controlled by the Israeli military," said Shawa. "We have no control over that. So, as a result of their stringent control of Gaza, life has become literally unbearable. In Gaza, conditions are beyond horrible, and we have shortages in everything."

The land, sea and air blockade placed by Israel and Egypt restricts who and what is allowed in and out of the Gaza Strip under Hamas' rule, according to the United Nations.

The longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been ongoing, spurred by centuries-old disputes over land ownership in the region.

El-Haddad's childhood home in the city-center neighborhood of Remal was leveled Monday by Israeli-force bombings.

Much of her family still lives in Gaza and she was communicating with them to get first-hand accounts of the conflict in Gaza’s densely populated city center.

"Gaza is truly a pressure cooker and people are pushed into a corner," said El-Haddad. "No human being will be able to tolerate such conditions."

She continued, "When you understand the conditions that Palestinians are enduring, one might be left to ask not why this has happened, but why something like this has not happened sooner? And that is not to justify -- the loss of human life in any way, shape, or form is tragic. That is the question people should be asking: How can any human tolerate such conditions?"

#FreePALESTINE #2StateSolution

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suujatan · 6 months

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Nov. 4th DC March

Right now, I am currently stuck sick at home , and I decided to scroll through news coverage of the protest earlier today. I don't watch TV, I'm mostly going through online written articles and media-posted videos. These are just the first few publications to pop up in my search results.

The Independent, article by John Bowden - decent summary, either an objectively written article or just one that agrees with my subconscious biases. Bowden states how the march is predominantly driven by the shocking and heartbreaking devastation occurring in Gaza, plus criticism for our nations backing of Israel's military.

Mention is given in this article (as well as the various fallowing ones) to Macklemore attending. Mention is also given to anonymous sources stating that the Biden Administration's staff has apparantly been receiving hundreds of calls from various progressive and centre-leaning democrats who do not support how we've been giving aid to Israel's activities in Gaza, described as "a backlash from the left that they did not predict."

The Independent is a British newspaper. According to Wikipedia, its majority shareholders are Evgeny Levedev (41%) Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel (30%) and Justin Byam Shaw (26%)

Huffpost via Yahoo!News, article by Sara Boboltz - short and more-or-less to the point. Only briefly goes into the driving issues behind the protest. I dislike that the fifth paragraph describes the Hamas terrorist attack as a "brutal slaughter" that included "children and older adults," which comes before another paragraph that only states "Palestinian authorities say more than 9,000 people have died in the well-funded Israeli military campaign" with somewhat more passive language.

Huffpost, formerly the Huffington Post, is a progressive news site currently owned by Buzzfeed

USA Today, article by Minnah Arshad and Dan Morrison - decently long article that summarizes the general timeline of the protest. Direct quotes from various people who attended are include within the article. Coinciding demonstrations in New York, London, and Paris also receive mention. The demonstration is describing as going pretty civilly, with only one known arrest made in relation to the protest (specifically of a guy spray painting pro-Palestinian grafitti, aka "vandalism").

Speaker Nihad Awad of CAIR is quoted to frame the growing divide between the Democratic party and young and Arab American voters critical of Biden's support of Israel. Attendee. A statement from Laila El Haddad, who has recently lost family members to Israeli airstrikes, emphasizes how she and many people are here to say "Enough is enough" to the ongoing devastation.

Also included is a statement from Meredith Weisel of the Anti-Defamation League, who remarks that there was "zero acknowledgement of Israeli suffering" at the rally, and that most of the people on stage were apparently "justifying" the Hama's attack on October 7th. I personally dislike this quote, given the Anti-Defamation League's frequent support of Zionism, but I recognize the logic in including a statement from them on this matter. Also, whether intentionally or not, its plausible that antisemitic elements leaked into the otherwise righteous stance (between Isreal equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, and actual antisemitic hate groups probably using Palestine as an excuse to be nasty, there's probably a great deal of misinformation getting spread about).

USA Today is an American daily newspaper and broadcasting company, generally described as left-leaning in persuasion.

WTOP News, article by Tadiwos Abedje and Dick Uliano - pretty brief, took about a minute to read. Props for the headline, I like the impact of the quote used. Article includes a couple quotes and paraphrasing lining out the main message's of those protesting: call for ceasefire, end US aid to Israel, and to end the Apartheid state under which Gaza and the West Bank have persisted these last few decades.

At the bottom of the article is a link to another one about the protesters who interrupted Blinken's testimony on Gaza yesterday, 56 of whom were subsequently arrested.

WTOP-FM is an all news radio station in Washington DC owned by the Hubbard Broadcasting Inc.

The Hill, article by Brad Dress and Filip Timotija - writing is fair enough, as far as US media goes. Describes how the thousands of protesters from all over the country rallied around speakers and demonstrated before the White House. Attendees are directly quoted on their motivations for being there, such as the killing of children in Gaza, the settler colonialism being committed by Israel, and the US backing of Israeli war crimes. Incidentally, one of the people mentioned in the article as against US aid to Israel, is also stated as strongly condemning Hamas and "any form of terrorism", only humanitarian causes.

Includes quotes from attendees mentioning how this is greater than just Jews vs Muslims, and how condemning the killing of civilians should not be a complicated issue. One of the people quoted is also stated to be involved in supporting other oppressed groups throughout the world.

The Hill is a newspaper and digital media company based in Washington DC, currently owned by the Nexstar Media Group

New York Post via MSN, article by Olivia Land and Alyssa Guzman - definitely not my favorite article. Doesn't contradict any of the articles already covered, but it definitely focuses in on the "righteous anger" of those attending, the chants accusing Biden of supporting genocide, and contextualizing of "Long Live the Intifada" being connected with past Palestinian uprisings over the decades that "left thousands dead."

The summary of black activist Marte White's statements about the rights of peoples to resist their oppressors is written to imply he is a Hamas sympathizer, describing his speech as "particularly fiery rhetoric" followed by a moment of silence for Palestinian martyrs.

Also, here's the last four paragraphs of the article:

Despite the frequent anti-Semitic tone from the speakers, one woman, Ahlam, from Maryland2Palestine, insisted that “righteous anger is not hate, it’s love.” “We should be angry when it’s our money going to fund these entities,” she said of the US and corporations’ support of Israel’s efforts to defeat Hamas. Ahlam called for a continued boycott of companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s that have expressed solidarity with Israel. “We will not get our names written on Starbucks cups while Palestinian children are writing their names on their arms so that their bodies may be identified after an airstrike!” she cried.

I dislike how the subtext implies her to be well-meaning but naive, and that the rally itself is perhaps predominantly rooted in antisemitism rather than humanitarianism.

The New York Post is a conservative tabloid owned by the Murdoch Corporation.

Oh yeah, there was also a Fox News clip or something about anti-Israel grafitti calling for a violent overthrow or something, but I didn't bother checking it out because fuck them, I've already read one rag from under the Murdoch umbrella, I don't need another.

#free palestine #free gaza #human rights #news #breaking news #I wish I wasn't sick #then I could have gone #granted #the train tickets to DC were already sold out #but still...

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tieflingkisser · 2 months

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A Cuisine Under Siege

I couldn’t rescue my aunt in Gaza, but I can keep her recipes alive.

Though I’ve lived abroad most of my life, Gaza is where I call home. It's where my parents were born and raised and where I spent summers as a child. Whenever we’d return, we’d be welcomed back by our large extended family. First among them was my aunt An’am Dalloul, whom we called Khalto Um Hani: “mother of Hani,” her eldest child and my cousin. She’d always arrive bearing a bowl of sumagiyya, Gaza City’s signature meat stew with chard, sumac, and chickpeas—and my father's favorite meal. Um Hani, along with my cousins Hoda, Wafaa, and Hani, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in their residential Gaza City neighborhood in November 2023. In an instant, the household perished, my cousin Nael later told me. Only a skeleton of the building was left. He recounted the horrific scene over WhatsApp—how he gathered their remains in his arms and buried them in a mass grave under heavy Israeli bombardment, how he failed to retrieve the corpse of one of his sisters, and how his brother bled to death before paramedics could reach him. Nael, like 90 percent of Gazans at the time of writing, is displaced, fleeing with his children from one city to the next in search of shelter, food, and some semblance of safety. He has been surviving on canned beans for more than three months. Nael’s news shook me to my core. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn't eat. I was overwhelmed with a profound sense of helplessness and despair. Was it only a matter of time before the rest of my family in Gaza would perish? As I read Nael’s texts, the memories came flooding back. Of Um Hani cooking in her bright, breezy kitchen wearing the traditional white hijab and light blue jalabiya. Of the birthmark on her face and her soft olive skin. Of her husky voice and the gentle laugh that masked the fierce and determined woman underneath. Um Hani was an anchor to me, a link to the paternal grandmother I never met and to a city I often felt estranged from. She was a repository of memories, a key to the fragmented world to which I belonged as a Palestinian. She taught me to make the near-forgotten dishes my grandmother loved, the ones my father grew up eating such as adas wi batata (lentils and potatoes cooked in a clay pot with lemon and fried garlic) and samak il-armala (“widow’s fish,” or fried eggplants with chiles and ribbons of fresh basil). But as fate would have it, she never got the chance to show me how to make sumagiyya—her specialty, brimming with lamb and spiced with dill seeds and cumin.

[...]

I live in the United States now, and I’ve cooked sumagiyya more times than I can count—even if it never tastes quite like Um Hani’s. One occasion stands out. It was May 2021, and Gaza City was being pummeled in what was the fourth major assault by Israel on Gaza in 14 years. The attack coincided with Eid, and as I watched on my screen in Clarksville, Maryland horrific images of air raids and grief-stricken mothers, I suddenly felt the urge to make a pot of sumagiyya.Serving it to my family and friends that night, despite the unfolding tragedy, was unexpectedly liberating and affirming. Last month, I again found myself in tears chopping onions and chard for sumagiyya, but this time I was making it to honor Um Hani’s memory. Like in 2021, I couldn’t look away from the news: The park where I used to take my son for evening strolls, the beach promenade where I drank sage tea with my mother, the university where I gave guest lectures—they were all unrecognizable piles of overturned dirt and warped wire.

[...]

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what I would go back to, and what I would find, if I returned to Gaza. Most of the landmarks have been destroyed. Gone too are many of the people I cherished. But with Ramadan fast approaching, and with no end in sight to the bombardment, it feels like I am the torchbearer now, the family’s keeper of treasured recipes. Like Um Hani, I will cook and I will teach, connecting the next generation of Palestinians to our homeland.

#free palestine #palestine #recipes #food

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