Raising a Palestinian flag in Acre

In a brave move by Ihsan Orabi from Tamra, the Israeli flag hung on Napoleon statue on a hill in Acre has been removed and replaced with a Palestinian flag. Ihsan Orabi has also sprayed “price tag” on the statue, as well as his name. Orabi expressed to Panet.co.il reporter that he wasn’t afraid from the consequences of his move. Later that night, Orabi submitted himself in to the local police office as he was talking to Panet reporter.

The Napoleon statue on the Napoleon Hill near Acre is to mark the historic position where Napoleon and his French armies stood and later retreated during the failed Siege of Acre year 1799, which was part of Napoleonic Campaign in the Middle East. Napoleon aimed to take over the strategic Ottoman city/port of Acre, which would have paved the way for Napoleon’s conquest over Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The British navy at that time has assisted the Ottoman Turks and attacked the French fleets and sea supply lines, Napoleon raised the siege and retreated to Egypt after he failed to penetrate through the solid walls of Acre.

The statue of Napoleon didn’t hold a French flag, an Ottoman flag, a British flag, but held an Israeli flag which makes absolutely no sense except to promote sketchy Zionist historic narratives. This move by Ihsan Orabi symbolizes great courage and determination, the struggle for justice in Palestine is still alive and strong. Activists on twitter have related Ihsan Orabi to Ahmad Al-Shahat, the Egyptian (nicknamed flagman) who climbed the 22-story Israeli embassy building in Cairo and installed an Egyptian flag instead.

Comments

napoleon had a brief flirtation w/zionism

Permalink ed replied on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 00:10

i couldn't post a url, check out a haaretz article, "Herzl hinted at Napoleon's `Zionist past'" "Napoleon's idea to establish a national home for the Jews in the Land of Israel, Gichon says, stemmed primarily from political considerations. 'It came to him on the backdrop of the crumbling of the Ottoman Empire and the competition for its spoils with England,' Gichon says. 'Napoleon believed the Jews would repay his favors by serving French interests in the region.'" but Napoleon abandoned the idea partly because of losses to the british in the area & deciding it would be more useful to have French Jews support him in France.

The Jews refused

Permalink Jalal Abukhater replied on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 01:05

You are right. Napoleon was probably the first who suggested making Palestine a Jewish Homeland, way before the Zionist movement began.

At that time, Napoleon’s idea wasn’t popular and most Jews refused and preferred to stay at their original homelands. It wasn’t until the Zionist movement began that blatant propaganda started to urge Jews (using fear tactics) to take over Palestine as their Jewish homeland even if that meant ethnically cleansing the indigenous.