The law of the land

Laila, 17/08/07. I've been following the situation closely back home. The past few months have really gotten me down-maybe its journalist fatigue.

I get tired having to explain the "situation back home" every time someone finds out I'm from Gaza and have recently been there. This might sound odd for someone with such a public internet persona. But with many people I've come in contact with, I have to start from scratch... forget about ID cards and border crossings and a non-functional, non-sovereign authority split between two still-occupied territories divided by borders and air and water they don't control.

I suppose part of it is realizing my existence is at stake somehow in all of this. I have to renew my Palestinian "passport" soon (I and have that in quotations because the "passport" is, as stated in the first page, issued pursuant to the sham that is Oslo), but I can't go back to Gaza. I have no where to go to, no where to return to. At least not now. Permanence is transient. Transience is permanent.

I've taken to doing some senseless things lately. Trying to clear my mind, regain some perspective. I watched a little bit of "Escape from Alcatrez" the other day. Funny, but it looked like paradise compared to Gaza now. I also just finished reading Ben White's "Brief Encounters with Che Guevera", a collection of short stories, many of them about Haiti and US involvement there. Naturally, I thought of our situation. I thought-can it get any more f****** up than t his? No really, I'm serious, can it?

I'm not sure what it will take anymore for people to realize the absurdity of it all. I mean, sanctioning an occupied people for God's sake? Demanding an end to "violence" by those occupied people all while the US shells out another $30 billion in military aid to the world's third strongest army?

And I'm not talking about the US only here. I'm talking about our very own Arab governments who, from day one, bowed in submission to US commands to freeze financial transactions to Hamas. Yes, the world, including the Arab world, has been complicit in the destruction of a society.

And now we have Abbas the degenerate thinking he's actually running the show in the West Bank; suddenly the money starts coming in, some prisoners scheduled for release anyway are released, leaving thousands of others languishing; and Abbas and his cronies are the new "moderates"; was it worth it? A few weeks ago a friend working with a respected human rights organization asked Saeb Erekat whether there had been any talks or negotiations with Israel regarding re-opening Rafah Crossing. Plain and simple, he answered no. If only he'd exert so much effort in all his negotiations.\

Amazing how just a few years ago Sharon flew to Washington to convince Bush Abbas was not a partner for peace.

And now there are calls for early elections that will exclude parties who "don't obey the law". And what law might that be, exactly?