Israeli War Criminals – to the International Criminal Court, NOW!

Make Zionism History!

The anniversary of the Gaza Carnage by Israel’s murderers is in TWO days! We shall not forget!

Palestinian state proposal, by Latuff

The first Anniversary of the Gaza Massacres – Gaza Freedom March

You must all be aware of the large peace march from Egypt towards Gaza, with thousands of people arriving today and tomorrow, trying to join a large aid convoy organised by Viva Palestina and including over 230 large trucks with food supplies. The Egyptians have now banned all meetings, marches, and any crossings into Gaza. It also seems from emails we are now getting, that they plan mass arrests of the incoming activists, and not just preventing their entry into Gaza. The UK and international media have been totally silent about this. If you can spread this – do what you can, write to your national media outlets, and try to spread the news on this awful and dispiriting behaviour by the Egyptian authorities! I am copying below some email from our one of our BRICUP members, who is in Cairo, and will continue to publish anything which he or anyone else is sending out of Cairo/Sinai/Gaza about this latest atrocity against the people of Gaza.

Where further information on the march can be found:

Gaza Freedom March

Codepink

Viva Palestina

PSC

and the most up to date news are on the convoy link:

Convoy link

Emails from Gaza/Cairo

25th December, 15:03

I am in Cairo

All Gaza marches and so on have been banned. Viva Palestina cannot get across from Aquba and are being denied entry. Code Pink and all the other delegations are not allowed to meet in public in groups of more than 6 otherwise we can be arrested. Most of the delegates do not start arriving until tomorrow. But we cannot use travel facilities. We cannot meet and it is getting very difficult. Hedi Epstein is threatening to begin a hunger strike tomorrow. We need appeals \going to the Egyptians, the Arab League in London and any organisation that might make statements and give help. Do what you can signed

25th December, 14:54

I am in Cairo

Things are very difficult. Code Pink and other groups have been banned from meeting in public places in groups of more than six. Viva Palestinia have been denied entry at Aquba. Heidi Epstein is threatening to go on hunger strike tomorrow … We are not all owed to travel … My fear is that there is going to now be lots of arrests and a lot of horrid violence against us … Can you get representation to the media. To the Egyptian authorities and Arab League? We need a lot of publicity at your end because it is only now that the delegates on the march are statring to arrive. Do what you can …. signed You may also wish to write to the UK Foreign Secretary, Mr. David Miliband, as I have just done: Dear David Miliband MP I am sorry to have to disturb you on Xmas Day. I have just received a large number of emails from various contacts in Cairo, all reporting that the Egyptian government has stopped the large Viva Palestina food supply convoy to Gaza, as well as forbade the large number of people arriving for the Gaza Freedom March, to use transport, on the first anniversary of the Gaza Carnage a year ago. I am aware that you have proven time and again that your position towards the crisis is far from objective, and have supported Israel unconditionally, including your recent call for special new measures in the UK which will make it impossible to prosecute Israelis for war crimes committed in Gaza. Do you do not have enough respect for the UK legal system to operate under the law in the matter of war crimes? Could this be because the government your are a member of is finding itself facing accusations of war crimes in Iraq? I wonder if your unconditional support for Israel also excludes any action in support of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, or the supporting the right of UK and other citizens to do what they legally can and assist the Gaza citizens, who have been illegally blockaded by Israel for almost three years now, with little action from yourself and HM Government against this breach of international Law, not to mention basic human rights. Would you now prove that you are not a racist, and join our urgent call for the illegal and immoral Israeli blockade to end NOW?. Would you join the call for the Egyptian government to allow the food convoy of Viva Palestina into Gaza? Or will you indeed continue to ignore the human and political rights of the Palestinians? Prof. Haim Bresheeth University of east London His email at Westminster is: milibandd@parliament.uk You may wish to be nicer to him than I was, but I cannot see what this might achieve, or why it is justified…

Gaza Freedom Marchers face Egyptian u-turn: Examiner.com

An unconfirmed report is that at at 8:30pm tonight, December 24, 2009, the Egyptian Foreign Minister said on Egyptian TV Channel 2, that neither the Gaza Freedom March nor persons accompanying the Viva Palestina convoy would be allowed to enter Gaza. The Foreign Minister’s comments confirmed statements made to Ann Wright and Tighe Barry of the Gaza Freedom March steering committee during their meeting this afternoon with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director of the Office of Palestinian Affairs Hisham Seif-Eldin and officer Ahmed Azzam. Barry and Wright went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the December 20 disapproval of the entry into Gaza by the Gaza Freedom March. Mr. Sief-Eldin said that Egyptian embassies in Europe and North America had received a large number emails and phone calls since the announcement of the disapproval. He was visibly upset by what he described as the “tone” of some of the emails received and forwarded to him by Egyptian embassies in Europe and North America and said that emails contained threats to Egyptian interests by tourist boycotts and personal attacks and derogatory language toward staff members. He said the position of the security and intelligence services of Egypt in disapproving transiting the Rafah border crossing had “hardened.” Sief-Eldin said that the permit we had requested to hold an orientation meeting on December 27 at 7pm at the Holy Family complex was cancelled and that the permit for a press conference at the Pyramisa Hotel on December 27 would not be approved. “At the meeting we presented a written request to hold a conference on Gaza for delegates only on December 28 and 29 either at the American University Cairo or at hotel. Mr. Azzad said the Foreign Ministry would forward the request to the security agency but did not believe it would be acted on in a timely manner.” The conference would be considered a “political” conference and would have to be approved by the Office of the Prime Minister. Sief-Eldin in the strongest terms said security services would not permit gatherings with signs or banners. He said that no group would be permitted to travel to al Arish or Rafah. He said we should tell the 1360 delegates to “not come to Egypt” unless they were going to do only tourist things. He said that in a change from yesterday, the Viva Palestina convoy has not heeded the Government of Egypt’s decision on where the convoy should enter Egypt and none of their delegates will be allow to enter Gaza, but the vehicles will enter eventually through a checkpoint in Israel. We asked again why the Government of Egypt did not make its refusal decision early in the five months process that the Gaza Freedom March has been coordinating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a decision that would have notified delegates not to spend thousands of dollars on airfare to get to Egypt. Seif-Eldin responded that the government makes its decision on its own time schedule, not on the time schedule of others. He ended by saying that in Egypt, things are not done in the same manner as in the United States or Europe. The security services will not permit demonstrations or protests and will deal with them quickly. (See MoreCODEPINK:Gaza Freedom March http://www.facebook.com/l/971af;www.gazafreedommarch.org) Ottawa Canadian coordinators for the historic Gaza Freedom March were joined by Members of Parliament Libby Davies and Irene Mathyssen for a press conference to kick off a month of events in Canada and around the world, demanding that Israel lift its illegal siege of the Gaza strip.

Palestinian officials confiscate merchandise produced in settlements: Ha’aretz

By Amira Hass Palestinian officials are confiscating merchandise produced in West Bank settlements as part of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s plan to remove all goods made in the settlements from Palestinian markets by the end of next year. Although the government banned goods from settlements some time ago, it only launched a concerted effort to enforce the ban a few months ago. Sources in the National Economy Ministry said that NIS 651,982 worth of goods were confiscated and disposed of in the second week of December alone. The goods included Ahava cosmetics and toiletries, plastic products, long-life milk made in the Golan, Mei Eden mineral water and pastries from the Atarot industrial park. The campaign kicked off five weeks ago with the confiscation of merchandise on four trucks that had left the Barkan industrial zone near Ariel carrying metal products and raw material for diapers. A committee consisting of officials from several ministries was set up to supervise the process. Economy Ministry officials and customs agents are seizing merchandise directly from the distributors rather than trawling shops and marketplaces for forbidden goods. The ministry first warned merchants via regional chambers of commerce that dealing in goods from the settlements was prohibited and such merchandise would be seized. A ministry official said he realized, after a recent meeting with a British minister, that “we can’t demand that others do what we’re not doing ourselves.” Products from the settlements are widespread in the West Bank, making it difficult for the authorities to remove them, officials said. For example, the offices of many Palestinian ministries have doors made by Mul-T-Lock in its plant near Barkan. But according to the Israeli web site whoprofits.org, Mul-T-Lock’s owner, the Swedish corporation Assa Abloy, has promised to relocate the plant inside the Green Line. In violation of both the Oslo accords and Israel’s “economic peace” policy, Israel makes it almost impossible to market Palestinian merchandise, a ministry official said – not only in Israel, but even in the Palestinian Authority. And trade between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is all but nonexistent. However, said National Economy Minister Hassan Abu Libdeh, the PA is not taking steps against Israeli-made goods, only against products made in the settlements – “which are in violation of international law, steal our land and natural resources and damage our industry and produce.”

Palestinians celebrate Arab film at Gaza festival: The Electronic Intifada

Rami Almeghari, 23 December 2009 Last Thursday marked the end of a one-week film festival in Gaza City. The Palestinian Film Forum, an independent Palestinian community organization, sponsored the event with 33 films produced in six Arab Gulf states. Ranging from documentaries to educational and short films, this is the first film festival in Gaza since Israel placed the territory under a tight blockade more than 30 months ago. Held at Gaza City’s al-Meshal Cultural Center, the films were attended by scores of Palestinians from across the tiny coastal territory. Rajab Abu Seriya, a Gaza-based filmmaker and chairman of the forum, explained that the purpose of the festival was for Gaza to participate in the celebration of Jerusalem as capital of Arab culture for 2009. He added that it was also to introduce “the people of Gaza to other forms of cinema.” Abu Seriya explained that the greatest difficulty was bringing the films into Gaza. “We spent about one month and a half trying to bring [the films] here. Finally we asked an independent Palestinian dignitary to bring them from Cairo.” He added that officials with the Hamas party currently in control of Gaza did not object to the festival and it was coordinated with the Ministry of Information. Both the festival and the films shown were well received by Gazans in attendance at the festival. “I am a resident of Rafah, 18 miles away from Gaza City, however I wanted to attend the festival. This is a unique event, especially here in the Gaza Strip, where I have been raised without observing cinema or theater,” said Ismail Matter, a 20-year-old university student. Sahar Yaghi, a media and Arabic language student, echoed these sentiments. “I think the shows are very interesting. Unfortunately, we don’t have cinemas in Gaza so it has been a very good opportunity for me and others to attend such shows.” Gaza’s cinemas have been closed since the first Palestinian intifada in 1987. They remained shuttered after the Oslo accords were signed in 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization and were never reopened by the Palestinian Authority. Instead, many of the cinemas were either abandoned or have been turned into public libraries. Director Ashraf al-Hawari, who has been working on documentary films for several Arab TV stations for 16 years and attended the festival, explained that there is no independent cinema production in Gaza and most of the related work in the territory is usually for local TV channels. “Gaza-based film production is going in the right direction. For the past three years, there has been development in terms of documentary films, but there needs to be some sort of progress technically. Also, young filmmakers are in need of a specialized body that supervises such productions. I remain pessimistic toward better filmmaking in Gaza unless an official body takes care of the arts,” al-Hawari added. Atemad Abu Tahoun, another local filmmaker, added, “I have been working in the field of filmmaking since 2007, and I have found that there are a growing number of women filmmakers. Yet Gaza has only a few actresses and if we want to have successful filmmaking, there should be more actresses.” The festival also served to demonstrate the possibilities for Palestinian filmmaking based on the example of the Arab Gulf films. Fayeq Jarrada, a Gaza director who works with the Media Group production company, explained that “Gulf-based cinema production reflects real progress. Despite the fact that Gulf-based cinema is recent, it is quickly developing technically and artistically. Directors from the Gulf states are young people who have studied cinema in well-known international schools.” Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer based in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza march puts spotlight on ongoing siege: The Electronic Intifada

Andrea Borde, 23 December 2009 UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – More than 50,000 people are expected to take to the streets of Gaza on 31 December for a mass march designed to send a message to the United States, a key supporter of Israel’s army, that the situation in Gaza violates international human rights laws. The idea behind the “Gaza Freedom March” comes from CODEPINK, a women’s peace group committed to drawing attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, among other campaigns Organizers say the main catalyst for the mobilization was the Goldstone Report, commissioned by the United Nations and written by renowned South African jurist Richard Goldstone. The 575-page report, released in September, detailed gross human rights violations and war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas in Gaza during the 27 December, 2008 to 18 January, 2009 conflict. However, it was particularly critical of Israel, calling the military campaign “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate, and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.” It also described Israel’s longstanding economic blockade of Gaza a form of “collective punishment” against the population and cited a number of attacks on civilian targets during the operation for which there was “no justifiable military objective.” “I think we have to recognize that the importance of the Gaza Freedom March as a way of drawing attention to the blockade is crucial,” said Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, at a news conference to announce the march last week “But what really changed here is the world’s understanding of what’s really happening in the occupied territories in the West Bank, and Gaza, and in East Jerusalem,” he said. The three-mile march from Gaza to the Erez Crossing in Israel intends to bring together 51,350 people from 43 nations, of whom 50,000 are Palestinians. Each participant has signed a code of conduct committing to non-violence during the march. Ratner said he plans to attend with his family, who he said want to show solidarity as Jewish Americans with the people of Gaza. “I want to break the blockade, I want to see the damage done by the weapons from my tax dollars, and I want it understood: Israel does not kill in my name. I want to follow words with action, and that’s why me and my family are going to Gaza,” he said. Currently, the US gives about three billion dollars per year in military aid to Israel, he added. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and also a Jewish American, has visited Washington numerous times to lobby for a reduction in aid. She hopes the march will influence the way the international community had responded to the attacks on Palestinian civilians. “I think it’s a recognition that Israel can no longer hide under the idea that it somehow is exceptional, that it can create and engage in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, and do so with impunity. It can’t continue to impose collective punishment on the people of Gaza. It can’t deliberately attack civilians,” said Benjamin. “The fact that so many people around the world are coming really gives heart and inspiration to the people in Gaza that shows that they have not been forgotten,” she said. Benjamin said that the participants come from diverse backgrounds, including civil society activists, students, university professors, members of trade unions, business people, people from refugee communities, women’s organizations and journalists, among many others. “We [even] have people in their seventies and eighties. Quite a large portion of the people are of Jewish decent. One is an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor,” said Benjamin. Benjamin equated the situation in Gaza to historical struggles for human rights throughout the past century. “We are doing this in the spirit of Martin Luther King, of Mohandas Gandhi, of Nelson Mandela, of non-violent resistance worldwide,” she said. Abdeen Jabara, a member of the Steering Committee for the Gaza Freedom March, also compared the struggles of African Americans for civil rights during the 1950s to Palestinians today, emphasizing the importance of non-violent, peaceful resistance. “For centuries, black people in America suffered from segregation, but it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America’s founding,” said Jabar. “We fervently hope that this effort in some small way could break the siege, [and] will register in [Washington,] DC, and the other capitals of the world.” The Goldstone report has been affirmed by both the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. However, Israel dismissed it as biased, and US Ambassador to the UN Alejandro Wolff also rejected the report as “deeply flawed” and “unbalanced.” The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly last month to condemn the report, as well. According to statistics compiled in 2008 by the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), there are 1,059,584 refugees in living in impoverished conditions in Gaza. The blockade has created a situation where often even basic supplies of medicine and food cannot pass through Israeli checkpoints. The hope of CODEPINK is that the Gaza Freedom March will create vibrations throughout the world, and especially in the US, to stop these gross human rights violations from occurring and to end its aid to Israel once and for all. “Israel has no place to hide,” said Jabara. All rights reserved, IPS — Inter Press Service (2009). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.

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