Paula Manduca: Rest in Peace Rest in Power

Below is the latest email exchange with geneticist and activist Prof. Paola Manduca. This great friend, co-author, and the most caring of people I know just passed away. Sad news on Eid Al-Fitr and we will miss her (she also hosted a talk for me in Genoa). She established the New Weapons Research group and led it for many years with a focus on use of weapons in Palestine and impact on health.

Here is an article she published on Gaza women health (one of many).

MQ (14 Oct 2024): On sisters and personal reflection: ...Dr. Soma is gone as a sister. Hiam and Layan are disfigured as sisters but still alive for now. Each death and each injury and each difficulty produces a scar and Palestine has millions of scars. For each of us who care, these scars are personal and they do not heal.... more here.

PM: Thanks Mazin for this last letter. It made me cry, as too often. But we keep at work, bend cry and keep it on, debating and including differences but in the same field of common and stubborn humanity Who else can achieve eventual peace and dignity for all?

MQ: I am more optimistic than ever despite the horrors. Please take time to listen to the interview with Scott Ritter.

PM: I too half of the time hope we reached the tip of disgrace , but then I hear EU that is not even able to sanction settlers ..and hear from friends in Gaza under duresses of all kind

ok ok will be a blast to break the situation, or as Gaza says a flood swiping off the land?

how soon is before is too late for the palestinians to recover?

With love

Mazin

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Rest in Peace & Rest in Power dear friend Paula

For the rest of us: connect stronger with fellow human beings. Care. Below my latest email in case you missed it.

For the past two years, I have been working on a book of lessons from my decades of activism (almost finished) and in doing so I reviewed emails I have sent to my list of subscribers in the past three decades (weekly emails like this). Any observer of the state of global politics will realize we have reached unprecedented levels of depravity (but also positive activism in response). Genocide, ecocide, scholasticide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and silencing free speech became "normalized" due to controls and power of Zionist lobbyists/loyalists. Media, politicians, and corporations are either bought or blackmailed to bow to the golden calf of Zionism. Nothing less than the fate of the planet is at risk.

Here I take this opportunity to wish our Muslim brothers and sisters a meaningful Eid Al Fitr... May the next Eid come with Palestine Free... no genocide .. and us getting closer to a sustainable life for ALL human beings on this planet.

Nostalgia for the Little Boy of Al-Eid by Rajai Masri.

Now to empire news and anti-empire actions. The depth of depravity news examples:

• Israeli forces executed and buried 9 medics and destroyed their ambulances;
• Palestinian Women 'Raped by Israeli Soldiers.' Silence From Western Media;
• There are more child amputees in Gaza than anywhere else in the world;(Highest concentration of Child amputees in the world);
• What next for Gaza food systems;
• What to do with Debris in Gaza (report with interview of me);
• and the apartheid regime targets Beirut;
• 208 journalists killed in 1.5 years in this holocaust (more than killed in WWI and WWII!
• Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth has uncovered some details about the conversation between former Israeli army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and PM Netanyahu during the first 48 hours of the Gaza war in October 2023. According to the newspaper, Halevi reported to Netanyahu that the army had hit 1,500 targets in Gaza. Netanyahu angrily replied, "Why only 1,500? Why not 5,000?" Halevi responded that only 1,500 targets were approved. Netanyahu responded: 'I don't care about the targets. Destroy the homes, bomb everything in Gaza'."
• This validates the view of Avi Shlaim about this gnocide/holocaust being a "last gasp" of violence of a dying empire;
• Palestinians starve as Israel continues full ban on humanitarian aid;
• This is "the Dehumanization and Infantilization of Palestinians" (w/ Mohammed el-Kurd);
• Yet. the US regime expands its attempt to silence college free speech (they must and will fail);

One of my readers pointed me to Eduardo Galeano's 1971 book "The open veins of Latin America" that describes the imperial pillage and destruction of that continent. (read it here). Reading it I was reminded of my own writing about Israel's nefarious role in South America which I wrote about in the introduction to the translation of one my books:

• (Spanish)
• (English)

And a reasonable analysis of Arab politics regarding Gaza.

Yet, ACTIONS are the best therapy in response:

• Caitlin Johnstone: I envy the Palestinians (narrated);
• Protest Tesla campaign growing;
• Volunteer to help deal with scholasticide;
• This week was Israel apartheid week (May we work harder this coming year to ensure no need for apartheid weeks!);
• Urgent message to US University presidents: defend academic freedom;
• Upcoming actions in your city.

And ofcourse we welcome you in Palestine and to stay connected with our institute, volunteer and help. Our facebook page

So stay humane and act to keep the hope and Palestine alive.

Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability Bethlehem University Occupied Palestine
facebook pages Personal Institute
French