Very pleased to have been a guest on the program “Conversations”, hosted by courageous and principled journalist Tareq Haddad.
He writes:
“Former Newsweek journalist Tareq Haddad speaks to Eva Bartlett, an award-winning independent journalist and activist. They discuss Eva’s early history, including her early days in Gaza and the West Bank, and how she transitioned into journalism in addition to addressing the large backlash and smears she faced.”
Please consider supporting his podcast:
https://www.paypal.me/tareqhaddad
Also, support his share of the podcast on Twitter.
CONVERSATION-RELATED LINKS:
–Stealing Palestinian Land in Susiya [August 2007 post from Susiya, occupied Palestine]
–Susiya Grandfather Under Attack by Illegal Colonists [September 2007]
–Introducing Susiya: a beautiful landscape marred by illegal colonists [September 2007]
–Nablus After the Israeli Military Invasion [July 2007]
–Breaking Fast Under “Curfew” (Lockdown) [October 2007]
–Collective Punishment in Balata and Nablus [November 2007]
–Azzoun: village under israeli assault and lockdown [December 2007]
–My 2007 posts from occupied Palestine
–Personal Reflections from occupied Palestine
–Overview of what I witnessed in the West Bank, occupied Palestine
–Free Gaza Movement [which sent 5 boat trips to Gaza in 2008]
*GAZA MASSACRE (2008/9):
–December 2008 posts (scroll down)
–January 2009 posts (scroll though)
–February 2009 follow-up posts
–Israel’s widespread use of White Phosphorous:
–Documenting Israel’s use of White Phosphorous and widespread destruction
–some of the Israeli war crimes:
–widespread attacks on Gaza leave nearly 300 dead, hundreds seriously injured (start of the war on Gaza)
–Israel bombed the news building I was in
–Israel’s ceasefire violations:
*GAZA MASSACRE 2012:
–After the Zionist bombing stopped (again)
*OTHER GAZA LINKS:
–Observations from Occupied Palestine: Gaza [many links within this article]
*SYRIA RELATED LINKS:
-on the Guardian White-washing the White Helmets: How the Mainstream Media Whitewashed Al-Qaeda and the White Helmets in Syria
*on (some of) the BBC lies/war propaganda on Syria:
–Fabrication in BBC Panorama ‘Saving Syria’s Children’
–From my “Absurdities of Syrian war propaganda“:
“In April 2014, after an elementary school was mortared by terrorists east of Damascus, killing one child, the BBC later reported, “the government is also accused of launching them into neighborhoods under its control.” On a recent social media post, I noted this deceitful journalism, and the BBC could have easily learned about the trajectory of mortars and from where the mortar in question could only have come: the “moderates” east of Damascus.”
*Other examples of Western media lies on Syria:
–US to grant $35 million to promote its fake news bubble in Syria & control local media
–MintPress Meets The Father Of Iconic Aleppo Boy, Who Says Media Lied About His Son
–From my “Exploitation of children in propaganda war against Syria continues“:
“In November 2014, a clip dubbed ‘Syrian hero boy’ went viral, viewed over 5 million times already by mid-November. The clip showed what appeared to be a little boy saving his sister from sniper gunfire, and was assumed to have been in Syria.
The Telegraph’s Josie Ensor didn’t wait for any sort of verification of the video which she cited as having been uploaded on November 10, the next day writing: “…it is thought the incident took place in Yabroud – a town near the Lebanese border which was the last stronghold of the moderate Free Syrian Army. Experts tell the paper they have no reason to doubt its authenticity. The UN has previously accused the Syrian regime of ‘crimes against humanity’ – including the use of snipers against small children.”
On November 14, the BBC brought on ‘Middle East specialist’ Amira Galal to give her expert opinion on the clip. She asserted: “We can definitely say that it is Syria, and we can definitely say that it’s probably on the regime frontlines. We see in the footage that there is a barrel, it’s painted on it the Syrian army flag.”
Once again, the so-called ‘experts’ got it wrong. The barrel which Galal referred to had a poor imitation of the flag of Syria painted on it, the flag’s color sequence out of order. The clip she was so certain had been filmed in government areas of Syria was actually produced in Malta by Norwegian filmmakers.”
*on Syrian elections 2014:
–what I saw/heard at Syrian embassy in Beirut: Syrians Flock to Vote in Lebanon
-From my: “US-Backed Terrorism in Syria: A First-Hand Account of the Use of Mortars Against Civilians“:
“…in the three-month period of April, May and June 2014, terrorist-insurgents fired 994 mortars on Damascus and environs, 426 of which were fired in June (see list of locations hit and number of mortars below). On June 3, Election Day in Syria, the terrorist-insurgents fired 151 shells on Damascus, killing 5 and maiming 33 Syrians…”
“…Abu Nabeel explained that the insurgents mined the area before leaving. “They left booby-trapped explosives in the houses, all over, even behind paintings on the wall.”
In the courtyard of the Jesuit church sat a lone plastic chair adorned with flowers and a photo of Father Frans van der Lugt, the Jesuit priest assassinated on April 7, 2014.
Nazim Kanawati, who knew and respected the Jesuit, arrived moments after the 75-year-old priest had been shot in the back of the head.” We were surrounded and under siege. This was the only place we could go to. Everyone loved it here,” he said.
“Father Frans was a peace-maker and played an important role in arranging the evacuation of civilians from the Old City during the siege. He was trusted by both sides, and didn’t distinguish between Christians and Muslims. He was concerned with humanity.”
…Although he chose to stay in the Old City, Father Frans was critical of the insurgents. In January 2012, he had written: “From the start I saw armed demonstrators marching along in the protests, who began to shoot at the police first. Very often the violence of the security forces has been a reaction to the brutal violence of the armed rebels.”
“People in Homs were already armed and prepared before the protests began,” said Kanawati. “If they hadn’t been planning for the protests from the beginning, the people wouldn’t have had the quantity of arms that they had.”
…No one expected the priest himself to be killed, Kanawati attested. “Someone who was probably in his twenties came here, his face covered, came and ordered Father Frans to go with him. Father Frans refused. So the man told him to sit on this chair, and shot him in the head.”Abu Nabeel added another piece of information regarding van der Lugt’s murder.
“Three or four days before Father Frans was killed, the Syrian army had targeted a vehicle filled with explosives, which the insurgents were planning to send into the city. Many of the insurgent leaders killed were less extreme that the foreign insurgents, and had been protecting the church. After their deaths, the other insurgents went to the church and demanded Father Frans hand over the valuables residents in the area had left with him for safe-keeping. He refused, so they killed him.”
Mohammed, a Syrian from the Qussoor district of Homs, is now one of the reported 6.5 million internally-displaced Syrians.
“I’m a refugee in Latakia now. I work in Homs, two days a week, and then return to Latakia to stay at my friend’s home. I left my house at the very end of 2011, before the area was taken over by al-Nusra and al-Farooq brigades.”
He spoke of the sectarian nature of the insurgents and protests from the very beginning in 2011.
“I was renting a home in a different neighbourhood of Homs, while renovating my own house. Just beyond my balcony there were protests that did not call for ‘freedom’ or even overthrowing the ‘regime’.They chanted sectarian mottos, they said they would fill al-Zahara – an Alawi neighbourhood – with blood. And also al-Nezha – where there are many Alawis and Christians.”
“My aunt lives in another neighbourhood nearby. She’s Allawi and her husband is Sunni. Because she is Allawi, the ‘rebels’ wanted to kill her two sons. I chose Bashar al-Assad, so they said, ‘we will kill you, because you chose him.’”
The windows and door handle to the home of Aymen and Zeinat al-Akhras were missing, but the house itself was intact. Zeinat, a pharmacist, and Aymen, a chemical engineer, survived the presence of the armed men and the resulting siege on the Old City.
Every space in their small sitting was filled with the books and boxes fleeing family and neighbours, entrusted to the Akhras siblings who chose to weather the storm.
…“I dropped to 34 kilos. Aymen told me to weigh myself. I got on the scale and said, ‘What’s 34 kilos?’. A ten-year-old weighs more than that! And Aymen was 43 kilos. For a man, 43 kilos,” she said laughing.
…“Thirty-eight times they came to steal our food. The first couple of times, they knocked on the door, after that they just entered with guns. The last things they took were our dried peas, our cracked wheat, our olives, finally our za’atar (wild thyme). We started to eat grass and whatever greens we could find in February, 2014, and that’s all we had till Homs was liberated,” Zeinat said.“The last time they came all we had were some spices. I was putting the spices on the grass and weeds that we were eating at that point, to give them some flavour. They even took the spices. They didn’t leave us anything…”
–On hospitals being bombed in Syria, and those not
*On Douma/Ghouta Chemical Hoax, and Reality of Life Under Terrorist Rule:
In Gaza 
[…] via Palestine, Syria, White Helmets and Bana al-Abed – Tareq Haddad speaks to Eva Bartlett […]
Thank you so much Eva – even those of us who are aware and concerned just don’t have a grasp on the full scope and depth of facts. Thank you for bringing them to us time and time again. It’s hard to keep up.
Thanks for introducing us to **Conversations with Tareq Haddad** and for the booklet **“The White Helmets: Fact-Checking” by Maksim Grigoriev and S Maizel**. I now have that pdf downloaded along with the **”Countering-Terrorist-Propaganda”**.
For example – https://counter-hegemonic-studies.net/white-helmets-grigoriev/
I really look forward to your book(s). Keep safe.
Reblogged this on Piazza della Carina.
Thanks Julius! I appreciate your feedback. Yes, Tareq is a great person to follow, I’m glad he’s doing the Conversations, and appreciate his respectful style. I will make the book (s) a priority this year, finally! Thank you 🙂
[…] Eva Bartlett […]
[…] *Gaza-related links in this POST […]
Reblogged this on Vic Jasin.