Activists offer Palestinians Id al-Fitr greetings

Call4Palestine invites supporters to dedicate one minute of their time to offer phone greetings for the holiday.

By NIDA TUMA
Fasting on Ramadan (photo credit: Ilene Prusher )
Fasting on Ramadan
(photo credit: Ilene Prusher )
A campaign to demonstrate support for Palestinians is gathering steam on social media websites, aiming to bring new spirit and a message of hope to Palestinians celebrating Id al-Fitr.
The Telephone Falasteen, or Call4Palestine, invites supporters to dedicate one minute of their time to offer phone greetings for the holiday.
The campaign, initiated by the Beyond Compromise online publication on August 15, advises callers to say only one sentence, “Happy Id, next year in a free Palestine, from the river to the sea!” Callers shared their stories on social media websites.
“This is the least we can do,” many wrote on the campaign’s
.
Maram Humaid said that she was very happy to receive a call from a Lebanese man.
“We have the same blood,” she posted on the page.
Another supporter said his deafness prevented him from calling, but he had asked his cousin to do so on his behalf.
The Palestinian youth who run Beyond Compromise state they want to take back the Palestinian cause, because as they state on their website, “we believe [it] has been hijacked by Western power elites, the collaborative Palestinian leadership and Arab regimes in order to suit their own agendas.”
The website explains that anyone can participate in the campaign by dialing the Palestinian international code and the initial threedigit mobile network numbers, then trying a random combination of six numbers.
The campaign suggests that activists use the same method to call Israeli numbers to remind them that justice “is not too far along,” but warns callers not to start a conversation with them. “The aim is to remind them. Say the line and end the call calmly.”
Nevertheless, a Palestinian posted that he told the Israelis he called, “In the next Id we will kick you out of Palestine.”
This attempt by international pro-Palestinian supporters comes after the Interior Ministry refused to grant access to to activists taking part in a fly-in protest that was a part of the Welcome to Palestine campaign last April.
Meanwhile, an Arab woman named Sara tweeted that she called various Palestinians, including some whose numbers she received from Twitter activists. “People should be reminded that they’re living on stolen lands no matter how many years pass,” she said.
“Make it a habit,” Aziza al- Tamam tweeted, “Devote five minutes of your week and talk to those who need hope.”