Lainna Lane

Lainna Eljabi | Research Officer ConcordiaU Edmonton |TMU @MLC_Research alumna | writing, photography, food, travel,language, culture, design|

[Mona Abuamara منى أبو عمارة StandWith🇵🇸 @MonaAbuamara]

I must admit I was completely unaware that I was participating in a “secret meeting.” Had I known, I certainly would not have publicly posted about my visit to Winnipeg, the more than twenty meetings I held over four days, or thanked the people I met, including Mrs. Isha Khan.
How careless of me.

But then again, creating an anti-Palestinian controversy where none exists seems to be a familiar practice of the National Post.

The irony of this entire story is that the supposedly "leaked" emails reveal absolutely nothing. They are not controversial, or even remotely surprising. They show exactly what one would expect. An ambassador proud to honour the extraordinary of her community. Meeting with members of the Palestinian Canadian community and the Canadian institutions to witness the progress of their efforts (spanning years before the “leaked secret meeting” even took place) and how close they are to seeing their history represented in the country they call theirs.

That is not foreign interference nor is it a political agenda. This is community engagement. It is precisely what cultural institutions, elected officials, diplomats, and community leaders do every day.

In other words, there is no story in the emails. The story had to be manufactured around them.

I agree that the museum's role is to serve Canadians and uphold the highest standards of historical integrity, inclusion, and public education. What is difficult to understand, however, is why Palestinian Canadians are suddenly portrayed as outsiders to that mission.

Nakba is not a foreign story to Canada. Tens of thousands of Palestinian Canadians carry this history as part of their family experience. They are Canadian citizens, taxpayers, educators, artists, professionals, and community leaders. Their history is part of the diverse fabric of Canadian society, just as the histories of countless other communities represented in Canadian institutions are part of Canada's collective story.

When Indigenous Canadians speak about residential schools, when Holocaust survivors share their experiences, when Rwandan Canadians speak of the Genocide of the Tutsis, or when other communities preserve memories of displacement, persecution, and injustice, no one suggests that these are examples of foreign interference. They are recognized as Canadians contributing their histories and experiences to the national conversation.

Palestinian Canadians deserve the same respect.
What appears to trouble some critics is not the involvement of an ambassador, nor the existence of community consultations. It is the fact that Palestinians are asserting their right to tell their own story.
That right should not be controversial in Canada or anywhere. It should be protected.

Human rights are not controversial. Historical facts are not controversial. Nakba is "controversial" only for those who seek to erase, deny, or marginalize the Palestinian narrative.

What these recurring attacks seek to accomplish is not the protection of neutrality, transparency, or historical integrity. Rather, they appear aimed at creating enough controversy and political pressure to undermine or derail the opening of an exhibition altogether and deny Palestinian Canadians the same space afforded to others. The right to tell their story in their own words, to commemorate their collective experience, and to participate in public discussions about their own history. The timing of these accusations makes that objective difficult to ignore.

The real question now is not why Palestinians speak about the Nakba. The real question is why some are so determined to prevent them from doing so.

If acknowledging the suffering, forcible displacement, and dispossession of Palestinians is considered political, then perhaps the problem is not the story being told, but the discomfort it creates for those who would prefer that story remain untold.

Enough normalizing the dehumanization of an entire nation!

أعترف بأنني لم أكن على علم إطلاقاً بأنني أشارك في «اجتماع سري». ولو كنت أعلم ذلك، لما قمت بالتأكيد بنشر تفاصيل زيارتي إلى وينيبيغ على الملأ، ولا الحديث عن أكثر من عشرين اجتماعاً عقدتها خلال أربعة أيام، ولا توجيه الشكر للأشخاص الذين التقيتهم، بمن فيهم السيدة عائشة خان.
يا له من إهمال مني.

لكن، مرة أخرى، يبدو أن اختلاق جدل معادٍ للفلسطينيين حيث لا يوجد أي جدل بات ممارسة مألوفة لدى صحيفة ناشيونال بوست.

المفارقة في هذه القصة أن رسائل البريد الإلكتروني التي قيل إنها «مسرّبة» لا تكشف أي شيء على الإطلاق. فهي ليست مثيرة للجدل، ولا تحمل أي مفاجأة من أي نوع. إنها تُظهر ببساطة ما يمكن لأي شخص أن يتوقعه: سفيرة فخورة بمجتمعها الاستثنائي، وتلتقي بأبناء الجالية الفلسطينية الكندية وبمؤسسات كندية للاطلاع على التقدم الذي حققوه عبر سنوات طويلة من العمل (وقبل وقت طويل من انعقاد «الاجتماع السري المسرّب»)، لبحث مدى اقترابهم من تحقيق حلم تمثيل تاريخهم في البلد الذي يعتبرونه وطنهم.

هذا ليس تدخلاً أجنبياً، ولا أجندة سياسية. هذا هو الانخراط المجتمعي. وهذا بالضبط ما تقوم به المؤسسات الثقافية والمسؤولون المنتخبون والدبلوماسيون ورؤساء الجاليات المحلية كل يوم.

وبعبارة أخرى، لا توجد قصة في تلك الرسائل الإلكترونية. لذلك كان لا بد من اختراع قصة حولها.

وأنا أتفق تماماً مع أن دور المتحف هو خدمة الكنديين والحفاظ على أعلى معايير النزاهة التاريخية والشمولية والتثقيف العام. لكن ما يصعب فهمه هو لماذا يُصوَّر الفلسطينيون الكنديون فجأة وكأنهم غرباء عن هذه الرسالة.

فالنكبة ليست قصة أجنبية بالنسبة إلى كندا. عشرات الآلاف من الفلسطينيين الكنديين يحملون هذه الذاكرة كجزء من تاريخ عائلاتهم وتجربتهم الشخصية. إنهم مواطنون كنديون، ودافعو ضرائب، وأكاديميون، وفنانون، ومهنيون، وقادة مجتمعيون. وتاريخهم جزء من النسيج المتنوع للمجتمع الكندي، تماماً كما أن تاريخ وتجارب العديد من المجتمعات الأخرى الممثلة في المؤسسات الكندية تشكل جزءاً من القصة الكندية الجامعة.

فعندما يتحدث السكان الأصليون في كندا عن المدارس الداخلية القسرية، أو يروي الناجون من الهولوكوست تجاربهم، أو يتحدث الكنديون من أصول رواندية عن الإبادة الجماعية ضد التوتسي، أو تحافظ مجتمعات أخرى على ذاكرة التهجير والاضطهاد والظلم، لا يدّعي أحد أن ذلك يشكل تدخلاً أجنبياً. بل يُنظر إليه باعتباره مساهمة كنديين يشاركون تجاربهم وتاريخهم في النقاش الوطني.
والفلسطينيون الكنديون يستحقون الاحترام نفسه.

ما يبدو أنه يزعج بعض المنتقدين ليس مشاركة سفيرة، ولا وجود مشاورات مجتمعية. ما يزعجهم هو أن الفلسطينيين يصرّون على حقهم في رواية قصتهم بأنفسهم.

وهذا حق لا ينبغي أن يكون موضع جدل في كندا أو في أي مكان آخر. بل يجب أن يكون حقاً مصاناً ومحميّاً.

حقوق الإنسان ليست موضع جدل. والحقائق التاريخية ليست موضع جدل. أما النكبة فلا تصبح «مثيرة للجدل» إلا بالنسبة لأولئك الذين يسعون إلى محو الرواية الفلسطينية أو إنكارها أو تهميشها.
إن ما تسعى إليه هذه الهجمات المتكررة ليس حماية الحياد أو الشفافية أو النزاهة التاريخية. بل يبدو أنها تهدف إلى خلق ما يكفي من الجدل والضغط السياسي لتقويض أو تعطيل افتتاح المعرض من الأساس، وحرمان الفلسطينيين الكنديين من المساحة نفسها التي تُمنح لغيرهم؛ أي الحق في سرد قصتهم بكلماتهم الخاصة، وإحياء ذكرى تجربتهم الجماعية، والمشاركة في النقاشات العامة حول تاريخهم. والتوقيت الذي تُثار فيه هذه الاتهامات يجعل من الصعب تجاهل هذا الهدف.

إن السؤال الحقيقي اليوم ل��س: لماذا يتحدث الفلسطينيون عن النكبة؟ بل لماذا يصرّ البعض إلى هذا الحد على منعهم من الحديث عنها؟

فإذا كان الاعتراف بمعاناة الفلسطينيين وتهجيرهم وتجريدهم من ارضهم وممتلكاتهم يُعدّ موقفاً سياسياً، فربما لا تكمن المشكلة في القصة التي تُروى، بل في الانزعاج الذي تسببه لأولئك الذين يفضلون أن تبقى هذه القصة غير مروية.

كفى تطبيعا لنزع الإنسانية عن شعبٍ بأكمله.

[Andrey X @the_andrey_x]

Palestinian children were prevented from going to school by razor wire and Israeli soldiers — so they sat down and studied right in front of them

[Quds News Network @QudsNen]

Lebanese poet Khatoun Salma and her husband were killed yesterday after Israeli aircraft bombed a residential building in the Talat al-Khayyat area of Beirut.

[Lainna Lane @LainnaLane]

@NerdeenKiswani For the first time in my life I found “israeli” salad at a diner in Costa Rica.

[romaissa @RomaissaTahar]

The Israeli airstrike killed Zeinab, Zahraa, and Malika on their way to EID dinner. RIP

[Jvnior @Jvnior]

IDF police beat up a Palestinian father and his child for standing “too close” to a jewish area.

This is exactly what apartheid looks like.

[Gabbar @Gabbar0099]

Worst crime in the human history 💔

Israeli soldiers torture a one-year-old child in Gaza, including burning his leg with a cigarette and inserting a nail into his leg, according to a TRT report, to pressure his father to make confessions.

These are the pants of the child, Jawad Abu Nasser, who was totured in Gaza by Israeli soldiers, a small piece of fabric that stands as powerful evidence of the crime.

They bear traces of his blood, reflecting the abuse he endured. A visible hole can also be seen, indicating the insertion of a sharp object, resembling a metal rod, into his foot, with a clear exit point through both the foot and the fabric.

The evidence does not end there; there are also marks that appear to be burns, likely caused by cigarettes being extinguished on them.

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

This is the moment Israeli forces hand over a small Palestinian child to the Red Cross

The Israelis had reportedly tortured him by extinguishing cigarettes (!) on his tiny body in front of his father in order to extract confessions

Israel is doing this with American tax money

[Earth Hippy 🌎🕊️💚 @hippyygoat]

ISRAELI ARMY RELEASING A BABY…..
"He is stable after we burnt his legs with cigarettes and put a couple of nails through it”

MAINSTREAM MEDIA 🙊🙉🙈
POLITICIANS 🙈🙊🙉

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

🇵🇸🚨Settlers torch 15 Palestinian villages across West Bank in seemingly coordinated retaliation

Dozens of Israeli settlers carried out coordinated raids across many Palestinian villages, setting homes and vehicles on fire and assaulting residents, according to The Times of Israel.

➤ Attacks were recorded in Jalud, Fandaqumiya, Silat ad-Dhahr, and Qaryut, with footage showing buildings on fire as residents rushed to evacuate

➤ At least 9 Palestinians have been confirmed injured in a preliminary toll, including 3 in Jalud and 6 in the Jenin area, after being beaten by settlers. Many more are feared to have been come under attack.

➤ No arrests have been reported, consistent with a pattern of impunity in settler violence cases

➤ The raids come amid near-daily attacks in recent weeks and rising fears of retaliation after a settler was killed in a separate incident under investigation

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

❗️BREAKING❗️Israel will continue to ethnically cleanse Palestine by whatever means - bombs, hunger, terror - whatever the cost and whatever the crimes, until it is forced to stop.
#EndGenocide #EndOccupation #EndApartheid

[Power to the People ☭🕊 @ProudSocialist]

Please follow and support @cbonneauimages.

She is an on the ground reporter documenting Israel’s occupation & ethnic cleansing of South Lebanon.

Israel has displaced 1 million people and murdered 1,000 civilians in Lebanon. This is Gaza all over again.

Israel must be stopped.

[Aaron Maté @aaronjmate]

Why is the @NBA sponsoring a pro-genocide hate group?

[courtneybonneauimages @cbonneauimages]

American tax dollars being spent on ethnic cleansing. Tyre, Lebanon

[courtneybonneauimages @cbonneauimages]

Americans, your tax dollars are being used to target unarmed journalists.

[sarah @sahouraxo]

This is the heart of Beirut today.

A city that has stood for 5,000 years.

Israel is obliterating it — flattening civilian apartment block after apartment block.

Not military targets.

Civilian homes. Civilian infrastructure. Civilian life.

[Haytham Kaafarani @hayfarani]

I am a US citizen & Surgeon who took care of the Boston Maraton Bombing victims in 2013. I paid for 7 years to own a small apartment in downtown #Beirut for my 3 kids to enjoy summers there. Today, #Israel reduced my dream home to rubble, with american weapons, paid by my taxes.

[Jeremy Appel @JeremyAppel1025]

What the hell was Edmonton’s police chief doing in Israel last month?

https://t.co/rREMsatvhn

[sarah @sahouraxo]

BREAKING

Spain’s PM Sánchez:

“They say that Spain is alone.”

“They’re the same people who said that when we recognized the State of Palestine, and then others followed.”

“We are not alone. We are the first.”

“Those defending the indefensible will be the ones left alone.” 🇪🇸