From Haaretz:
Khirbet al-Tawil sits on the sides of a hill that descends into the Jordan Valley, between the Palestinian town of Aqraba and the Jewish settlement of Gitit. The village is accessed by a muddy road, which took us a long time to find. On the rocky terrain in between the fields, there were several buildings – either houses or shacks – next to animal pens and coops. When we entered the mosque, accompanied by two researchers from the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and a researcher from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the residents were absorbed in lively conversation. It was noon, and they turned first to pray, kneeling on the wet rugs, their faces toward Mecca.
The stone ruins of the ancient, magnificent houses in Khirbet al-Tawil attest that Palestinians lived here for centuries.
I’m not a rap fan. Having just listened to about 8 minutes of Hip Hop M1X with Charlie Sloth, I can say this with some certainty. The rapper I listened to is “Margate’s finest, Mic Righteous” – and I can’t imagine I’d be writing a blog post about him except that something weird happened during his rap: one word was obliterated with the sound of breaking glass (and the shot used did not show Mic’s mouth, so the BBC are wise to lip-reading).
The word obliterated was “Palestine”: Mic Righteous, explaining to his fans that despite his recent success he’s no sellout, says “I can scream Free Palestine for my pride/still pray for peace” or as the BBC preferred “I can scream Free *SMASH GLASS* for my pride/still pray for peace.”
Continue reading →