Palestine Affairs

NOVANEWS Maha Mehanna writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 13 January 2009 As the war in Gaza, where I live, enters its third week, the death toll of civilians continues to rise. There is nowhere safe in Gaza. The Israeli warplanes have bombed -- and continue to do so -- homes, ministerial buildings, municipal buildings, mosques, schools, universities and charities throughout the densely-populated Gaza Strip. Every day in Gaza is more painful and heartbreaking than the past. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized from the never-ending bombardments. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic beyond words and it is very hard to make sense of the current situation or make future predictions. The Israeli attacks on Gaza are escalating, and the Israeli military navy is...

NOVANEWS THIS IS THE story of my father’s Palestinian Diaspora that he experienced at the age of 12. My father, Yousif Mehanna, was the eldest of one brother and four sisters. He recalls that one day in 1948 he returned home from the village school only to find a fence around the village. The fence was supposedly built by the Israeli army after the massacre of Deir Yassin. In order to pass through the fence to get to his house, my father had to be claimed by his mother from the other side. Everyone in the village was scared that a massacre similar to the one that took place at Deir Yassin would happen in Al- Masmiyya Al-Kabira, as well as in neighboring villages. The Israeli army itself, and other radio stations, added to these fears by broadcasting news of massacres in other villages. Peo...