Israel opens fire on Gaza fishermen

A Palestinian fisherman rides a boat near the port of Gaza City on 22 March 2013. (Photo: AFP – Mohammed Abed)

 

Published Saturday, March 23, 2013

 

Israeli forces opened fire on fishermen off Gaza’s coast Saturday, two days after the Jewish state announced that it limited Palestinian sea travel in a move widely regarded as collective punishment.
Israel’s army announced Thursday that the fishing zone for Palestinians in Gaza would be reduced from six to three miles following a rocket attack launched earlier this week by a marginal Salafi group.

Fishermen in Gaza told Ma’an News Agency that Israel’s navy opened fire at them on Saturday to prevent them from going out further than three miles.

Mahfouth Kabariti, head of a federation for fishermen and water sports, confirmed that the Israeli navy had set up new signs defining the permitted fishing zone.

The zone had been extended to six miles as part of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended Israel’s eight-day assault on Gaza in November that killed 177 Palestinians and six Israelis.

Hamas complained to Egypt on Friday after Israel suspended part of a Cairo-brokered truce agreement. An Egyptian official confirmed that the Hamas complaint had been received, saying Israel had complained separately about the rocket attack.

The official said Cairo would contact both sides to “restore their commitment to the truce.”
Aknaf Bayt al-Maqdis, a hardline Salafi faction with a small presence in Gaza and the neighboring Egyptian Sinai claimed responsibility for the salvo on Sderot.

(Ma’an)

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Stark Christmas Message from the Holy Land

“Act and intervene, or nothing will change”
 
 by Stuart Littlewood
 Peace is possible if justice is possible

My first Christmas greeting this year came all the way from Bethlehem itself, just yards from where the Big Story is supposed to have begun 2012 years ago. My friend Jiries is a survivor of the murderous 40-day siege of the Church of the Nativity by Israeli troops in 2002.

Meanwhile in Gaza…. a family gathers around a bonfire for warmth in the ruins of their home, bombed to rubble in the latest Israeli offensive against the Palestinian people (grateful thanks to Fadi F Hamada)

These days, for me, Christmas has become a time to remember some of the extraordinary people I’ve met in the Holy Land…

And none is more extraordinary than the veteran Catholic priest in Gaza, Fr Manuel Musallam, who hosted a visit by a small group I was with in 2007. The Gaza Strip had been under tight blockade for 18 months following Hamas’s 2006 election victory and the mood was strained to say the least.

In the church’s school assembly hall I was surprised to meet so many Muslim students. On one wall hung a huge portrait of the Pope and on the adjacent wall an equally large portrait of Arafat.

Fr Manuel whisked us off to a meeting at the House of Fatah and from there we drove to see the Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh and some of his colleagues, who received us with utmost courtesy and friendship and gave straight answers to straight questions. Haniyeh and Fr Manuel declared their unity to the TV cameras afterwards, emphasising that they were Palestinians first and Muslim or Christian second, in the struggle against a common foe.

When I got home to the UK Gaza’s health minister sent me, as he had promised to do, lists of desperately needed medical supplies and hospital equipment spares that had been blocked at the border by Israel. I forwarded these to my own Government direct and via my MP, but as far as I could discover they simply ignored them.

“Our love for God is in intensive care”

The following year – and who can forget it? – the Israelis launched their horrific 3-week
blitzkrieg called Operation Cast Lead at Christmas-time and New Year 2008/9.

Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh and Fr Manuel Musallam, November 2007.

At the height of the killing spree, Fr Manuel sent this message from the smoking ruins to anyone who would listen:
“Our people in Gaza… eat but remain hungry, they cry, but no one wipes their tears. There is no water, no electricity, no food, only terror and blockade… Our children are living in a state of trauma and fear. They are sick from it and for other reasons such as malnutrition, poverty and the cold… The hospitals did not have basic first aid before the war and now thousands of wounded and sick are pouring in and they are performing operations in the corridors. The situation is frightening and sad.

He added:
“May Christ’s compassion revive our love for God even though it is currently in ‘intensive care’.”
A few days later he wrote:
“Hundreds of people have been killed and many more injured in the Israeli invasion. Our people have endured the bombing of their homes, their crops have been destroyed, they have lost everything and many are now homeless. We have endured phosphorus bombs which have caused horrific burns, mainly to civilians. Like the early Christians our people are living through a time of great persecution, a persecution which we must record for future generations as a statement of their faith, hope and love.”

When he retired in 2009 in failing health I remarked in an article: “I doubt if God has finished with him just yet. There’s a mountain of work to be done and good men are hard to find.”
And so it was to be. In the run-up to Christmas 2010 Fr Manuel was one of a trio of churchmen from the Holy Land touring Ireland to raise awareness of the plight of the dwindling Christian community under Israeli military occupation. He, Archbishop Theodosius Hanna (Greek Orthodox Church) and Constantine Dabbagh (Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches) showed they were more than a match for western politicians who fancied they knew all about the Middle East. “We need only one thing, to be protected by the world against the crimes of Israel,” was their central message.

Outside the Irish Parliament. Left to Right: Alan Lonergan (SADAKA), Constantine Dabbagh, Fr Manuel Musallam, John Ging (Head of UNRWA in the Gaza Strip), Archbishop Theodosius Hanna.

And they made this stark plea: “Act and intervene, or nothing will change.”
Fr Manuel told Irish Government ministers and their foreign affairs committee: “I was in Gaza during the war [Operation Cast Lead] and suffered with my people for 22 days. I saw with my own eyes a phosphoric bomb in the school yard. I saw people injured by these phosphoric bombs, although these bombs are forbidden. These crimes against us were ignored by all the people of the world…

“What happened in Gaza was not a war. A war is a clash between soldiers, aircraft and weapons. We were victims, just victims. They destroyed Gaza. I was there and saw with my own eyes what happened. We in Gaza were treated like animals… We are not terrorists. We have not occupied Israel.

“We do not want to die to liberate Palestine. We want to live to build Palestine…. We are asking the world to give the Palestinian people their rights. The question is whether peace is possible. Despite all the difficulties, the crimes and the war, we as Palestinians say peace is possible if justice is possible.

“All we ask of Israel is to respect us and not treat us like animals. We also ask parliamentarians and governments across the world not to give us food aid. We do not need cookies from Israel. We do not even need to trade with Israel. All we need is to be protected. We are suffering a war that we have endured for more than 60 years.”

“Be assured that Hamas will protect Christians in Gaza”

Christianity in the region had been destroyed not by Muslims but by Israel, said Fr Manuel. “Israel destroyed the church of Palestine and the church of Jerusalem beginning in 1948. It, not Muslims, has sent Christians in the region into a diaspora.”

He told his listeners how he had seen the Israeli army target the Christian school in Gaza. “Five Hamas ministers visited the school after it was attacked and promised they would repair the damage… Hamas paid more than $122,000 to repair all the damage caused. Afterwards I met the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh. When he embraced me he said this, and we believed it. He said: ‘Go to your family, but be assured that Hamas will employ weapons against Muslims to protect Christians in Gaza.’ This is the reality. Christians in Palestine are not suffering persecution, because we are not considered to be a religious community, but rather the people of Palestine. We have the same rights and the same obligations.”

He finished by describing how things really are. “We have spoken to Israel for more than 18 years and the result has been zero. We have signed agreements here and there at various times and then when there is a change in the Government of Israel we have to start again from the beginning. We ask for our life and to be given back our Jerusalem, to be given our state and for enough water to drink.

“We want to be given more opportunity to reach Jerusalem. I have not seen Jerusalem since 1990… We want to see an end to this occupation, and please do not ask us to protect those who are occupying our territory.”

Fr Manuel should have been a political leader. To improve the human condition, it seems to me, churchmen must also be politically minded and not afraid to ‘mix it’ with the out-and-out scoundrels who infest our political institutions and cloak themselves in a national flag.
The priest’s words are all the more poignant this Christmas after yet another bloody and cowardly assault on defenceless Gazans and the continued inaction, even connivance, of some (supposedly Christian) Western powers.

My Christmas message to Palestinians in the Holy Land therefore is, pray for a miracle.
And my Christmas message to politicians in the world outside the Holy Land is this: as Fr Manuel says, peace is possible if justice is possible, so get off your fat backsides and ACT to deliver JUSTICE.

Make peace possible.

Or go pack your bags, find other employment, for you offend all decent people.
 River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Ceasefire Means ‘Nothing’ to Gaza Fishers

December 17, 2012 by evabartlett
 

Mohammed Baker (70) has been fishing for half a century. He remembers the days when Palestinian fishers could go out to sea without fear of being attacked, arrested or killed.

 

first published at IPS -by Eva Bartlett

 

Shortly after Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire agreement on Nov. 21, the Israeli navy abducted 30 Palestinian fishers from Gaza’s waters, destroyed and sank a Palestinian fishing vessel, and confiscated nine fishing boats in the space of four days.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that fourteen fishers from a single family, stationed just three nautical miles from the coast of the Gaza Strip, were all arrested on Dec 1.

Some fishers were only two miles off Gaza’s coast when they were attacked with machine gun fire and arrested by the Israeli Navy. Ranging from the ages of 14 to 52, the majority in their late teens and early twenties, these fishers hail from some of Gaza’s poorest families.

According to Mifleh Abu Riyala, a representative of the General Syndicate of Marine Fishers, the ceasefire has made no difference to Palestinian fishers.

Palestinians are allowed, under the current Israel-Hamas ceasefire, “to fish six miles out”, he told IPS, “but the Israeli gunboats still attack us, whether we are six or three miles out.”

The Oslo accords granted Palestinian fishers the right to fish twenty nautical miles out at sea, a right the Israeli navy has unilaterally vetoed, downsizing the fishing “limits” since the 1990s to a mere three miles, until this past November’s ceasefire allowed a slight increase, to six nautical miles.

 

“But there are no fish at six miles, the sea floor is still sandy. It is only after seven miles out that the sea floor becomes rocky and the fish are plentiful,” Abu Riyala stressed.

“It is our sea, in order to live we must be able to access it.”

Mohammed Baker (70) has been fishing for half a century. He remembers the days when Gaza’s sea was open to Palestinian fishers, and when there was no fear of being attacked, arrested or killed by the Israeli navy.

Two of his sons, Amar (34) and Omar (21), were among the 14 fishers attacked by Israeli gunboats on Dec 1. The Israeli navy has still not returned their “hassaka” (a small fishing boat).

Like many of Gaza City’s fishers, the Bakers live in the Beach Camp, one of the Strip’s most overcrowded refugee camps.

 

Amar, married with six children, was still being held by Israeli authorities on Dec. 5 when his father, Mohammed, recounted the events of that fateful day to IPS.

“Israeli gunboats and smaller zodiacs surrounded my sons’ hassaka and made them strip naked, jump into the sea, and swim to one of the Israeli boats,” Mohammed told IPS.

 

“They put a bag on Amar’s head and took him to Ashdod. Amar has asthma, I’m very worried about his health.” Mohammed has still not been able to speak with his son.

Four days after Amar’s abduction, Mohammed went to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), whose work includes visiting and monitoring Palestinian prisoners’ conditions in Israeli jails and detention centres.

 

“They told me Amar is forbidden from talking with anyone. He is under interrogation,” Mohammed said.

Amar now stands accused of “being part of the Palestinian resistance”, a charge based on his previous job of making coffee and tea for Hamas officers.

“My son was a ‘kitchen boy’. People who work for the government are still civilians,” Mohammed stressed, echoing the tenets of international humanitarian law.

 

Stripped of their only boat and a member of their family, the Bakers face even more dire circumstances than ever.

“There is no ceasefire for fishers. We’re ordinary people, we work to earn just 30 or 40 shekels (seven to 10 dollars) per day to feed our families,” Mohammed lamented.

Jamal Baker’s son Khadr was abused and abducted by the Israeli navy.

Khadr Baker (20) was lucky that he was not killed during an encounter with the Israeli navy on Nov. 28, during which his boat was gunned down as punishment for fishing just over three miles from the Beach Camp coast.

His father, Jamal Baker (50), spoke to IPS about Khadr’s arrest, explaining that Israeli gunboats appeared without warning and began firing at close range on Khadr’s small motorboat.

“The Israelis ordered the four fishers on Khadr’s hassaka to strip and jump into the sea, which is extremely cold this time of year,” Jamal told IPS.

“They made Khadr tread water for half an hour, and kept machine gunning around him,” said Jamal. The hassaka eventually caught fire and exploded, sinking soon after.

“The Israelis took Khadr on their boat, handcuffed him naked, and beat and interrogated him for three hours, accusing him of working with the Palestinian resistance,” the boy’s father told IPS.

Without their boat, the family of ten has no income. “I sold my nets so that we can eat,” Jamal said simply.

PCHR reported other attacks on fishers that day: in one case, the navy attacked and abducted five fishers from the al-Hessi family, damaging – and eventually confiscating – the large fishing trawler they were on. The boat has not yet been returned.

 

In February 2009, Rafiq Abu Riyala, then 23, was shot in his back – by an Israeli soldier standing less than 20 metres away – with a dum-dum bullet, which explodes on impact.

The hassaka fisher was only two miles off Gaza’s coast when attacked. One of two breadwinners in his family, Rafiq Abu Riyala cannot now fish in cold weather. “The shrapnel bits in my back make it too painful when it is cold out,” he told IPS.

Mahar Abu Amia (40) has sixteen people to provide for. “My wife fishes also,” he told IPS. “But we have no chance: we reach six miles and they shoot, we go only three miles and they shoot. What is this ceasefire? It means nothing for us.”

see also:

Israeli naval abductions and shooting at Palestinian fishermen: it’s routine

Israeli Navy Terrorism: Destroying Boats and Lives

Israeli naval abductions and shooting at Palestinian fishermen

one year later, young fisherman still trying to heal

musings from a fishing boat

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

A Letter to Baroness Warsi

 The Jewish Chronicle reported that Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has complained to the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights about Richard Falk’s posting of an “unacceptable” cartoon on his blog.

Richard Falks, a Jewish Professor of Law at Princeton believes that transformation of the Palestine/Israel situation will come about through the campaigns and actions of civil society, including boycotts.

The lady clearly needs some help in understanding the cartoon and why it is acceptable and appropriate.

 

Dear Baroness Warsi,

                                What is it that you don’t get about Richard Falk’s posting of a cartoon and of his call for a boycott of Jewish Settlement companies?

Please can I help?

The crucial point in the cartoon – please try to remember this – is that the dog, clad in Israeli nationalist garb and Jewish religious garb, enclosed in a USA

protective garment, is peeing on the Statue of Justice. Deprivation of Justice is inseparable from deprivation of Liberty. 

• Israel has for decades, with USA aid, continued an illegal  military occupation of Palestine. (An offence against Justice and the Liberty of Palestinians). 
• The State of Israel evicts Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem and demolishes their houses, whilst building thousands of houses for Jews only on Palestinian land .(The Judaisation of Jerusalem, as well as the demolition of houses, is unjust, illegal, an offence against Palestinian Liberty) 
• The State of Israel illegally imprisons and frequently tortures 7,000 Palestinian children a year. (Unjust to those youngsters and their families and an offence against Palestinian Liberty).
• The State of Israel has imposed sanctions against and imprisoned 1.5 million Gazans behind a Wall (I forgot to mention, that they first stole their land and destroyed Gaza’s 44 villages. Today the descendants of the refugees are deliberately kept without clean drinking water, sufficient food, medication, educational materials and so on. Maybe here, we might ask the honourable lady if she would consider this an injustice if it happened to her and her family? another injustice and offence against Palestinian Liberty perhaps?)
• The State of Israel controls Palestinian Air, Sea and Land space with it’s “state of the art” military techno-power, reinforced with it’s arsenal of nuclear weapons in case they are ever needed. (an offence against Justice and Liberty to which the Gazans make known their objection with paltry Qassam rockets.)
• The State of Israel implements targetted assassinations against elected Palestinian political leaders, spiritual leaders and civilians. (an OAJL*)
• The State of Israel prevents Palestinians travelling for purposes of Work, Education,Religious observance and Social activity (an OAJL)

  * OAJL  this is an abreviation for Offence Against Justice and Liberty

 Richard Falk, a kindly and just man, gets a little upset about his fellow human-beings, especially small children, suffering privation, unwarranted misery and death. (Hence the dog chewing up the bones of humans). As a good Jew, he knows from personal experience that much of Israeli and World Jewry, among many others, supports the above malign system and that some are even financially benefitting from it. He gets upset at the injustice of Jews and their friends  building houses, colleges, universities and companies on stolen land, selling and buying goods manufactured illegally on another people’s land. This tender-hearted Jew has therefore asked decent people around the world not to buy goods derived from stolen Palestinian land. He feels that to do so is to support a malign and illegal system and to show disrespect for the rule of Law. He knows that Peace can never grow on such rotten soil. 

I do hope the above explanation helps.

Anne Candlin

West Lancashire

Thank You, Qatar!

Palestinians hold the Qatari flag near the Rafah border crossing with Egypt prior to the arrival of Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to the Gaza Strip on 23 October 2012. (Photo: Said Khatib)

 

By: Rami Khrais

 

Published Wednesday, October 24, 2012

 

The Gaza Strip, besieged for five years, seems to have entered a new era since yesterday’s visit from the Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. It is the first time Gaza has received a visit from a high-ranking Arab official since Hamas’ takeover in 2007. The visit reflected the profound transformations in the Middle East after the ascent of the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Tunisia and Egypt.

The emir visited Gaza to participate in the inauguration of several projects funded by Qatar, including the reconstruction of the main highways, a hospital specializing in artificial limbs, hundreds of residential units, as well as agricultural projects. The announcement of this funding followed the Qatari donation of 30 million liters of fuel to Gaza’s power plant.
Although there are organizations operating in Gaza supporting several humanitarian projects, such as the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the new Qatari project and the royal visit still seems quite different.

Taking into account Qatar’s welcoming of Hamas officials after their departure from Syria, as well as its distinctive relations with the Muslim Brotherhood’s chapters across the region, the Qatari project seems to be as much a political as a humanitarian gesture. In other words, the emir’s visit can be seen as political recognition of the situation in Gaza, which resulted from the conflict over the legitimacy between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

PA President Mahmoud Abbas received a call in which Emir Hamad notified him of his plan to visit Gaza. Sources said that the emir tried to convince Abbas to accompany him on his visit, but he refused. Abbas, according to the Palestinian news agency, welcomed the Qatari efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip. In actuality, the PA has long opposed any plans for reconstructing Gaza after the Israeli war in 2008-2009, unless those plans were under its auspices. Obviously, the Qatari attempts in this context might present a penetration through the barriers imposed by the PA on the process of reconstruction.

Historically, Palestinian political movements have had long-term relations with the Gulf countries. The first Fatah cells spread across Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Later, Gulfi financial support played a pivotal role in establishing the inflated bureaucratic edifice of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and funded a wide spectrum of salaries, incentives, and grants.

Some argued that Gulf money to the PLO aimed at blunting its radical positions and taming it in political terms in order to make it a subordinate body compatible with the more moderate political positions of Gulf countries. The position adopted by the PLO during the Gulf crisis in 1990, when it declared its sympathy with Iraq, was enough for the Gulf countries to cut off the subsidies. The PLO’s financial crisis resulting from that decision might have been one of the stimuli behind its initiative to take a seat in the peace process with Israel in the early 1990s.

Today, as Hamas has become part of a growing political power in the region called the Muslim Brotherhood, it seems fair to assume that Gulf money is back to its old game. The experience after the “Arab Spring” revolutions has shown that Qatar’s solid connections with Islamists across the region bolster its image as a moderate party who, in gaining power, wouldn’t adopt radical positions against Israel or the US. Qatar’s attempts in this regard seek to contain the region’s political and social shifts by merely renewing the same authoritarian regimes with new faces. Qatar’s initiative in Gaza should be understood in this context.

However, in terms of the political economy, the reconstruction of Gaza may have consequences. As seen with Lebanon’s Taif agreement, political compromise is the path to preventing conflict that could arise during post-war reconstruction. A similar scenario could arise in Gaza.

Let’s remember that Gaza is still an occupied territory and Hamas continues to define itself as a resistance movement. However, Hamas also bears the burden of being the authority in Gaza in a way that has obviously affected its ability to resist in recent years. Practically, Hamas’ heavy engagement in the “Authority Project,” which could have a new dimension now with the process of reconstruction, may result in strengthening the conflict between the political priorities and the reconstruction necessities. The quest for economic prosperity predominantly entails compromising in politics. While Hamas in Gaza is today raising the banner “Thank You, Qatar,” it should ask itself about the political consequences tomorrow.

Rami Khrais is a graduate in Economics and commentator on Middle Eastern politics. You can find him on Twitter @RamiNKhrais.

The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect Al-Akhbar’s editorial policy.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Our Solidarity: Unity, and the Art of Keeping It Together

Friday, October 19, 2012 at 8:15AM Gilad Atzmon

By Tariq Shadid

What better way to defeat an enemy than to cause a situation which has its ranks divided, and seeing its energy unleashed by one faction upon another, followed by tit-for-tat retributions, in an unending cycle of mutual destruction?

Watch those who support one common cause going at each other’s throats, and you will find yourself faced with a very difficult dilemma. What if you feel that both sides should settle their differences and return to mutual cooperation and respect? Whatever you say, will always be perceived as wrong and insufficient by either side. Neither side will settle for anything but a complete denunciation of the other, and both will only be satisfied if you express unambiguous support for their camp.

Welcome to the dynamics of ‘internal strife’, one of the most difficult aspects of human interaction. Once the seed of strife has been sown, it proves extremely difficult to eradicate, and this is exactly why the creation of such a situation is always a cherished dream of those who oppose that common cause.

There is an important reason why I am stubbornly refraining from naming any names or groups. I am not even going to explicitly state which situation I am referring to, although those who are active for the Palestinian cause and are in the possession of a Twitter account stand a very good chance of understanding which conflicts I am talking about.

This piece has a different ambition than to support or oppose any of the sides who are in furious disagreement with one another. Although I am not expecting it to be successful, this piece is an attempt to refrain from adding any fuel to the fire, and to avoid expressing myself in a way that pushes me into either camp, against my will.

I am talking about general principles of unity and perhaps even reconciliation, not about analyzing the chain of events that has led to the situation that has arisen from it. Internal strife is a potential threat to any existing group of people who work towards a common end, and without any exception is detrimental to the effectiveness of the movement as a whole. What I am writing here should be applicable to any situation where tons of energy are being spent by groups and individuals who at least partly share one common goal, on words and actions that stand in the way of attaining it.
The dynamic that ensues from hard-hitting internal strife develops into a spiral of mutual vilification that can impossibly end in any satisfactory outcome for those involved in this internal struggle. It doesn’t depend on who is ‘right’ and who is ‘wrong’, despite the fact that both sides are usually deeply convinced that their entire string of actions from the very beginning was entirely justified, logical, and unavoidable.

What the warring sides usually fail to see, is that once the mud-wrestling is in full swing, neither side can avoid being stained by it. This is only one of the reasons why such internal struggles never fail to yield a favorable outcome for those who are outside of the movement, and wish to see its failure. You can always count on them to be ready to throw some more gasoline on the blaze, and indulge in the pleasures of watching a movement being damaged in ways that they could never have attained on their own accord, but were always dreaming of.

Some would argue that conflicts like these sometimes are necessary, a form of ‘self-cleansing’, or a stage in the development of a movement in which it redefines itself, and corrects its flaws and weaknesses. Unfortunately, those who think so are misguided, unless they believe that the entire movement must be destroyed and rebuilt from its very foundations at random moments in time. But whoever watches the pinball machine in action without too high a level of personal involvement, can clearly see how the ricochet movement of the bullet continues to deal blast after blast, widening its range, and damaging sectors that will take a lot of energy to repair and rebuild. It also clearly shows that there can only be one winner: the injustice that both warring factions aim to oppose. It gloats, it giggles, it rejoices and it cheers at every blow that is dealt in either direction.

We are all in opposition to Zionism. This is the essence of our unity. We can only succeed at opposing it if we give it our full energy. It is not an easy enemy to beat, in the same way that other forms of racism are stubborn, persistent and powerful forces that permeate deeply into the fabric of society. We simply cannot afford to allow that common struggle to be weakened by internal strife and spite. The mere fact that Zionism benefits from infighting within anti-Zionist ranks should be reason enough to bury the hatchet and focus upon what we are really here for. We wish to see a free Palestine, so let that be our focus.

Indeed, I am telling both sides: enough quarreling about whose fault it is that this is all happening. Enough quarreling about who has the moral high ground. Back to the struggle, isn’t that what you set out to do in the first place? You are apparently forgetting that before this agonizing infighting, we all stood united against the occupation, against the Nakba, against the murders on the Mavi Marmara, against settler terrorism, and against the siege and the bombing of Gaza, to mention only a few of the many things we all agreed on.

If you are convinced that the ‘other side’ within these anti-Zionist ranks is ‘evil’, then let me tell you one thing: you can never convince them that they are. You can never defeat them, or wish them out of existence. You can never sway the entirety of public opinion to your side and make them oppose those others as much as you do. ‘They’ are there, and they will not simply disappear.

And, guess what: neither will Zionism. It will not simply disappear. It requires genuine efforts and hard work to oppose and expose its racist tenets, and to act against its interests. One of its main interests is – yes, you probably guessed it again – our division. Let us counter that with unity, or at least with an end to internal fighting. I know its too much to ask to want both sides to shake hands and say that it’s all in the past. If you can’t make peace with each other, then at least call it a truce, perhaps even by ignoring one another. Let’s show the Zionists that the pro-Palestinian movement as a whole is capable of keeping things together.

I have some genuine worries about publishing this blog. Perhaps I should ask you to forget what you just read, and not to share it on Twitter or Facebook. Perhaps you are being perceived by one of the sides in conflict as a supporter of one of those two sides. If that is the case and you share it, this blog probably will be considered a defense for that side. In reality, it is a defense for neither side, but a criticism of both. I know how unpopular that must probably make me, but I have always stuck with expressing my opinion, and the fact that I am publishing this blog makes it clear that I am willing to face the consequences.
 
If it ends up being read, I am already prepared for a wave of opposition and hatred against me. I wouldn’t have published it if I wasn’t prepared to face that. But let me tell you this: I will ignore it. Zionism is my target, and I will never lift a finger against those who stand in opposition to it, whether they consider themselves to be my allies or not. Shout, scream, blacklist and vilify as you wish, I am not interested. I am only interested in opposing Zionism and all other forms of racism. If you oppose these too, don’t waste your energy shouting at me – nor at one another – but join me in the struggle against these dehumanizing ideologies.

– Tariq Shadid is a surgeon living in the Arab Gulf who has been contributing articles to the Palestine Chronicle for many years. Some of these essays have been bundled in the book ‘Understanding Palestine’, which is available on Amazon.com. He also is the founder of the website ‘Musical Intifada’ featuring his songs about the Palestinian cause, on www.docjazz.com.

Source: http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19644

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

The Madness Continues: Ann Wright Disinvited to Sail

The Madness Continues: Ann Wright Disinvited to Sail

Introduction by Gilad Atzmon: The adorable solidarity activist Ann Wright, former US Army Colonel and retired official of the U.S. State Department, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War and support of Palestinian rights, is now also subject to Palestinian solidarity internal war.

On her way to meet up with the Swedish Estelle, the next boat to challenge the Israeli blockade, Colonel Wright was called by a board member of the Estelle who ask her to abort the journey. She was disinvited. The explanation was embarrassingly lame – Ann Wright is a member of the new Free Gaza Movement’s Board. She supports Greta Berlin.

It didn’t take me more than a few minutes to find out that the leader of the current attempt to sail to Gaza is Israeli Jewish activist named Dror Feiler. Feiler is the chairman of the Jews-Only Swedish organization Jews For Israeli Palestinian Peace (JIPF) and the European Jews for Just Peace (EJJP).

Once again it is the Jewish activist who decides who should be on board in the Palestinian Solidarity movement. I can’t make up my mind whether this is funny or tragic. It is certainly very bad news.
 
I guess that if you reaaly want to grasp what is going on here, you will have to read The Wandering Who? A Study Of Jewish Identity Politics, Jewish political interest and Jewish hegemony within the Palestinian Solidarity Movement…

Read Ann Wright’s statement:
http://www.freegaza.org/

Ann Wright Disinvited to Sail

Statement by Ann Wright on the “Dis-Invitation” of her by the Swedish Boat to Gaza “Estelle” steering committee to be on the boat

Two days ago, on October 13, three hours before I was to board a flight to Europe to meet up with the Swedish boat to Gaza, the “Estelle,” the next boat to challenge the Israeli blockade, I was called by a board member of the Estelle who said that because of the furor around Greta Berlin’s posting and because I am a member of the new, 2 week old board of the Free Gaza Movement, I was no longer invited to be a passenger on the “Estelle.”

The board representative acknowledged that the reason for their invitation to me to be on the “Estelle” was that I am a retired US Army Colonel and former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war, that I am a vocal critic of Israeli and United States policies on Palestinians and that I have been to Gaza 4 times in the past 3 years, assisted 7 groups to go to Gaza in 2009, helped organize the December, 2009 Gaza Freedom March, was a passenger on the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, helped organize the 2011 US Boat to Gaza and am an organizer for one of the latest initiatives, Gaza’s Ark.

But, because I am a member of the new board of the Free Gaza movement, and despite the fact I, and Greta and all members of the new board have made public statements posted on the Free Gaza Movement’s website that neither Greta, nor members of the current or previous board are anti-Semitic, bigoted or racist, the fact that I am on the new Free Gaza board was the reason the board of the “Estelle” was withdrawing the invitation for me to sail on the Estelle due to allegations of anti-Semitism of the Swedish Boat to Gaza by pro-Israelis groups in Sweden.

I am saddened by the decision of the board to withdraw its invitation and I believe it is wrong. All of our projects that have challenged Israeli policies toward Palestinians have been called anti-Semitic by pro-Israeli groups. This is not a new tactic used to scare pro-Palestinian groups.

Phil Weiss and Adam Horowitz in an article posted on Mondoweiss http://mondoweiss.net/2012/10/no-room-for-racism-in-a-movement-working-for-equality-and-freedom.html said – “there is no room for racism in a movement working for equality, justice and freedom for all in Israel/Palestine”—and they are right, but at the same time, there is no room for throwing long-time international activists for Palestine “off the boat,” so to speak.

Greta Berlin is not an anti-Semite, a bigot or a racist, and neither am I.

I wish the passengers and crew on the “Estelle” a safe voyage in challenging the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and call for all who support Palestinians to keep their eyes on the prize—justice, dignity and freedom for Palestinians who are suffering under unjust Israeli policies and actions.
Peace to all and among us all,
Ann Wright

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Hamas chief hails "big sister" Egypt after meeting the "leader of the Arab nation"

A reading between the lines

Lame ducks meeting

Khaled Meshaal with the new “leader of the Arab nation”

After meeting Egypt’s Lame duck, Khalid Meshaal (the former leader of Damuscus-based Palestinian resistance alliance), hailed the “Big sister” Egypt, and its “President” the “new Leader of Arab Nation”, expressed his satifaction because the ‘talks lasted almost two hours, twice as long as Mursi’s meeting a day earlier with ramallah traitor, the leader of Fatah, Hamas’s rival.

Moreover the ex-resistance leader was happy with what he heard from the Hilary-appointed “Arab hero” and his vision to handle the the blockage of Gaza, (espectially after hezbollah stopped smuggling Syrian food and Arms, after the ‘Arab nation’s spring” and the great Escape of MB’s lead by Hezbollah from Mubarak’s Natron prison)

Sami Sehab

The “Arab’s Leader” explained, how he, off course with full consideration of sister Hillary’s vision, he will find a way to ensure “How Gaza, which borders Egypt, gets the gas and petroleum it needs despite a crippling Israeli blockade of the territory.” with one condition: Hamas should never ever use the Syrian Made rocket to disturb the peacful live of one milion and half settlers living in southern Israel. Meshaal said the Arab’s “Leadership” and intelligence services would continue to shepherd a reconciliation process between Hamas and Fatah, The intelligence services would follow the steps of late Omar Sulimanthe former cheif Spy, in staying exactly at the mid point in between Fateh and Hamas. 

Hamas chief hails “big sister” Egypt after Mursi meet

Published Thursday, July 19, 2012

The leader of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip, met new Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi on Thursday and hailed Mursi’s election as the start of a “new era” for Egypt and the Palestinians.

It was Khaled Meshaal’s first visit to Egypt since Mursi won the country’s first free leadership vote.
The founding of Hamas was inspired by Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood – Egypt’s oldest and most established Islamist movement – but the Palestinian group now operates independently because of its location and the conflict with Israel.

Hamas, which won the elections in Gaza in 2006, refuses to recognize Israel and calls for the liberation of Palestinian land.

Meshaal and Mursi discussed ways to ensure that Gaza, which borders Egypt, gets the gas and petroleum it needs despite a crippling Israeli blockade of the territory.

“We have entered a new era in Palestine’s relationship with Egypt, the big sister and the leader of the Arab nation,” Meshaal said after the meeting. “We were happy with what we heard from President Mohamed Mursi and his vision to handle all these issues.”

The talks lasted almost two hours, twice as long as Mursi’s meeting a day earlier with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority and leader of Fatah, Hamas’s rival.

Hamas was isolated by Egypt under Mursi’s ousted predecessor dictator Hosni Mubarak, as well as by other Gulf and Arab states and the West.

It was embraced by Iran, Hezbollah and Syria – an alliance built on hostility to Israel – forming an axis of opposition to the Zionist state.
Mursi is under pressure from many in his movement to help ease the Gaza blockade, which Mubarak was complicit in by closing the country’s border with Gaza.

Egypt’s army-backed government decided in February to let more fuel into Gaza and increase electricity supplies.

But Hamas has yet to see any sign of a policy shift since the election of Mursi, who is keen not to upset Egypt’s ally, the United States, and weaken his hand in a struggle with the powerful military.

Meshaal said Egypt’s presidency and intelligence services would continue to shepherd a reconciliation process between Hamas and Fatah that began last year.

“Egypt has a key role in this,” he said, adding that Hamas “remains strategically committed to the reconciliation.”
(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Hypocrisy of Humanitarian Aid to Syria

By Dr. Elias Akleh

In her address at the U.N. Security Council Monday 3/12 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated: “The US believes firmly in the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member states, but we do not believe that sovereignty demands that this council stand silent when governments massacre their own people, threatening regional peace and security in the process. And we reject any equivalence between premeditated murders by a government’s military machine and the actions of civilians under siege driven to self-defense”. For a while I thought that Mrs. Clinton’s heart had a touch of compassion for the 5 years long besieged and starved Palestinians in Gaza, who have been the target of unprovoked assassinations, murder and extensive aerial bombardments in a graduated extermination scheme by the Israeli military machine. Last such unprovoked attack took place weekend of 3/10-11 in 37 aerial sorties during four days that murdered 27 Palestinians many of them school children while on their way to school. The real reason of this Israeli attack was to draw out Palestinian rockets in order to test the Israeli “Iron Dome” defense system in a real life situation.

Egypt stops fuel smuggling to Gaza, power plant shuts down

Unfortunately Clinton was defending instead the Western/Qatari/Saudi armed foreigners, al-Qaeda, and Syrian rebels, who had been terrorizing and massacring Syrian civilians in many Syrian border cities. As for the Palestinian self-defense Clinton had this hippocratic contradictory response: “Let me also condemn in the strongest terms the rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel, which continued over the weekend.” Clinton’s fake humanitarian sentiments towards the Palestinians were also expressed in her threats to stop the American financial aid to Egypt if it exports fuel to Gaza to operate its power station. Gaza has been in total darkness for weeks due to shortage of fuel. It seems that in Clinton’s twisted logic Palestinians have no right for self-defense and Syrian government has no right to fight terrorists.

US State Department spokeswoman, Vicoria Nuland, , had also stressed the American disregard to Palestinian’s right of self-defense and the continuous unconditional prejudiced support to Israeli terror when she condemned “in the strongest terms” the rocket fire from Gaza towards southern Israel.

The 60 years long suffering of Palestinians under the Zionist occupation, the Israeli theft of their land, the daily destruction of their homes, the imprisonment of their children, the never ending destruction of their economy and uprooting and burning of their farm trees and slaughter of their farm animals by religiously extremist occupiers (so-called settlers), the assassination of their leaders and political dissidents, the extreme violations of their human rights and freedom, and the ethnic cleansing of their families had never moved any humanitarian feeling in the heart of any American senators while the defeat of the Syrian armed terrorists and their flight to Syrian border towns during just one year had moved many senators to demand military intervention in Syria to protect those “poor” Syrian citizens. The most enthusiast among these senators is the Zionist-bribed, “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” warmongering, power-drunk senile Republican John McCain.

We should also mention here the “soft hearted” US ambassador to Lebanon, Maura Connelly, who called on Tuesday March 6^th for the protection of all whom she called disarmed Syrians including members of the terrorist Free Syrian Army during her meeting with Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. Connelly wanted Lebanon to create a “safe buffer zone” on its border with Syria to host “Syrian refugees” where this zone would become a military base to train terrorists and a launching pad for terrorist attacks within Syria. The Pentagon, also, has prepared basic plans to attack Syria including limited airstrikes, the establishment of a no-fly zone and a humanitarian corridor to deliver $10 million worth of relief (and military) supplies, as revealed by Army General Martin Dempsey. An internal email dated December 7^th 2011 from an official at Stratfor Global Intelligence Agency exposed that the US had sent American special operation forces to Syria to train and to arm Syrian armed militia to topple Syrian Assad’s regime in an act of war.

Gaza 11-3-2012

This humanitarian Pentagon would not even ponder neither the idea of establishing a no-fly zone nor spending $1 worth of relief supplies delivery to the Palestinians besieged and starved in Gaza for the last seven years in the dark without electricity and under the unprovoked routine Israeli air strikes, rather it gives Israel more sophisticated weapons to murder more Palestinian children. If we forget about the besieged Palestinians because the US supports Israel unconditionally, then we would ask for support to Bahraini and Yemini popular uprising to obtain social freedom and adopt democratic rule.

The US would be better off helping its own people before helping other countries. The American tax payers are suffering from high rate of unemployment, homelessness, budget cuts on all social services including medicare and education, increase of crime rate, and millions of families living under the poverty line. The number of beggars; young and old, standing on major freeway exits in a metropolitan city of Los Angeles is on the increase. Where is Clinton’s humanitarian help for her own citizens?

The US is not the only hypocritical party when it comes to Syria. European countries, especially France, are also guilty. France wants its old colony back; Syria was under the French mandate (occupation) since WWI until independence in April 1946. Along with the US France had tried hard, but failed due to Russian and Chinese veto, to secure a UN resolution calling for military intervention in Syria. French military special operation forces, some of which have been captured by Syrian security forces when they reclaimed Baba-Amr in Homs, had been sent to Syria to train and arm militias. This is an act of war.

Humanitarian France, the birth place of the French Revolution defending human rights and freedom, had justified sending fighter planes to Libya causing the death of thousands of Libyans in order to free them from Qaddafi, and is now calling for arming Syrian rebels to affect another civil war and destruction, had stood dumb silent for sixty long years watching the Palestinians butchered by Israel. French humanitarian mouth is also shut tight about Yemini and Bahraini peaceful demonstrations faced with savage attacks by their governments.

The most hypocritical of them all are the Arab States especially the Gulf absolute dictatorships of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who, instead of helping their Arab brothers reach a peaceful resolution, have become the western tools to divide, destroy, and ignite civil wars within other Arab States. Qatar is an absolute monarchy ruled by Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who seized power from his father in a coup d’état in 1995. He persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and killed most of his father’s loyalists and revoked citizenships from almost five thousand dissidents. Qatar has no constitution, no democracy, no freedom, and no human rights. Qatar served as a launching pad for American invasion of Iraq and has been turned into an American military base since 1992. The Emir and his foreign minister, Hamad bin-Jassim, had turned into Arab enemy combatants through their cooperation with Israel. Their pictures with Israeli war criminals are all over the internet. They also planned to run gas and oil pipe lines from Qatar to Israeli port of Haifa and had invited Israeli companies to invest in Qatar. When Israel attacked Lebanon in 2006 and Gaza in 2008/9 the Emir and his foreign minister stood cheering the Israeli army and predicting the end of Hezbollah and Hamas. Their antagonism to Arab causes was also apparent when Qatar sent military trainers, advisers and weapons to help Libyan rebels destroy Libya, while similar armed military troops were also sent to Yemen and Bahrain, but paradoxically, to oppress the peaceful civilian demonstrators demanding freedom and democracy.

Bin Jassim was heard vowing vehemently to topple Syrian Assad’s regime, and Qatari money, weapons, and military officers have not been spared for this purpose. Qatari weapons have been sent to Syrian rebels through Jordan, and Bin Jassim, in a meeting with Lebanese, Saudi, Turkish, American and French intelligence officers, had pledged to pay a million dollar to every terrorist group who would perpetrate a terror attack in Syria’s main cities. Car bombings in Damascus and Halab killing scores of Syrian citizens seem to come as a result of such a pledge. Through Qatar’s leadership of the Arab League Bin Jassim had pushed hard to adopt resolutions against Syria, to call on UNSC to pressure Syria, to organize Friends of Syria Conference, and to call for arming Syrian militias.

Similar to Qatar Saudi Arabia is an absolute dictatorship. There is no constitution, no freedom, no democracy and no human rights. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had criticized Saudi Arabia for grave human rights violation in death penalty by beheading for many crimes and especially when it comes to women’s rights. Saudi women have no rights at all. They must be completely veiled, not allowed to walk in the streets alone without an escort and not even drive a car. Although considered the richest Arab state due to oil revenue it is estimated that 20% of citizens are below the poverty line while 30% are jobless when foreigners occupy Saudi jobs. Saudi Arabia was virtually occupied by American forces and became the launching pad for war against Iraq in 1990 and again in 2003. Saudi foreign policy has been covertly pro-American and pro-Zionist and did not serve the interest of its citizens or the interest of the rest of Arab world. This was clearly exposed lately during the American invasion of Iraq, by sending troops and weapons to Libya to get rid of Qaddafi, by sending troops to Yemen and to Bahrain to aggressively oppress the popular demonstrators and finally by arming Syrian militias. While claiming to protect Syrian human rights Saudi troops are savagely crushing their own citizens demonstrating in the eastern and northern towns, especially university female students and professors, demanding political reform, freedom and democracy. Demonstrations and strikes are spreading largely to Saudi pilots and to government employees fighting corruption and demanding equality. The Saudi Spring seems on the verge of exploding.

After playing the lead role in criticizing Assad’s regime Turkey’s rhetoric was quickly subdued after the capture of Turkish officers in Baba Amr and the economic loss Turkey had suffered due to economic boycott by Syria. Turkish oppositional parties had criticized Prime Minister, Erdogan’s, policy towards Syria, and had opposed his decision to establish a safe buffer zone on the Syrian border to harbor Syrian rebels.

Turkey has its own Kurdish problem and has been militarily suppressing Kurdish liberation movements. Armed clashes between Turkish troops and Kurdish groups are on the rise. During this month, March, five Turkish soldiers and seven armed Kurds were killed on 22^nd during clashes in Istanbul and Diyarbakir while Kurds were celebrating Nowruz Day. In the 24^th of the month the Turkish Interior Ministry announced the killing of fifteen Kurdish militia men in skirmishes in south eastern part of the country. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an organization fighting an armed struggle against Turkey to establish autonomous Kurdistan, vowed to hit Turkish targets if Turkey interfered in Syria’s affairs by establishing a buffer zone. Before meddling in its neighbors’ affairs by harboring, training and arming Syrian rebels Turkey should instead handle its own Kurdish problem first.

Syrian citizens have the right to demonstrate peacefully demanding change in their government. Unfortunately the so-called Syrian opposition was not peaceful and was not political. It did not offer any political program and refused to negotiate with the ruling regime. It also rejected the new constitution that guaranteed democratic reform. They have turned armed terrorists whose goal is to topple the regime by force rather than reform it. Opposition is always political and never calls for armed struggle otherwise it becomes a coup. Some western and Arabic countries hijacked the demonstrations, and turned them militarized in an attempt to topple Assad’s regime.

Foreign fighters; Lebanese, Libyans, Iraqis, Qataris, Saudis, Turkish, French, and American, were sent to Syria to train and arm rebels, who call themselves “Free Syrian Army” This armed militias are divided among themselves in different groups under different leaderships with different goals. They have occupied neighborhoods by force, destroyed oil pipelines, bombed bridges, car-bombed government buildings, ambushed Syrian security forces, and massacred pro-Assad citizens, at times whole families. They have disrupted basic services critical to citizens’ survival including access to food supplies, medical care, water, electricity, transportation and education. These are grave human rights violations and extensive war crimes as was reported by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Countries that support and arm these terrorist are guilty of terror attacks as well. There is no sovereign state in the world that would accept foreign calls to arm oppositional militias, whose goal is to topple the government through terrorist attacks, and Syria has every right to fight these armed terrorists.

Syrian Assad’s regime has responded positively to his people’s demands, accepted Arab League’s resolutions, received international monitors, offered political negotiations through Russian mediation, offered a new constitution in a referendum to the people, and announced new parliamentary election on May 7^th. Yet arms are still flowing into the country. The goal here is not spreading democracy for the new Syrian constitution guarantees democratic rule with multiple political parties, it is not getting rid of Assad’s rule for according to the new constitution once he serves his terms he would be replaced by an elected president, rather it is the destruction of anti-Zionist, anti-American, pro-Palestinian and pro-Iranian Syrian foreign policy and replacing it with a friendly Israeli and American regime in the backyard of Iran.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Open Letter from Gaza: Three Years after the Massacre, Justice or Nothing!

Open Letter from Gaza:

Tuesday, 27^th December, 2011

Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine

We, Palestinians of Gaza, 3 years on from the 22-day long massacre in Israel’s operation ‘Cast Lead’, are calling on international civil society to make 2012 the year when solidarity with us in Palestine captures the spark of the revolutions around the Arab world and never looks back. On this anniversary we demand an international liberation movement that eventually leads to just that, liberation for us Palestinians from 63 years of brutal military occupation and ethnic cleansing that pours shame on any organisation or government claiming to endorse universal human rights.

We will never forget the hurt of 3 years ago, the criminal onslaught that we lived through, the blood of over 1400 murdered men, women and hundreds of children running through the streets of Gaza, between the rubble, soaking our beds and etched on our minds. We will never forget. For they are still dead, and thousands more are still maimed. ^[1]

 We will never forget the last 63 years during which our land, homes, olive groves, lemon trees and cherished way of life was taken away from us, while Israeli soldiers held our fathers’ faces in the sands, imprisoned them, or shot them in front of us. We will not forget the sickening cowardice of the international community that has allowed and enabled this ethnic cleansing of our people, subjecting us to Israel’s racist Zionist vision that defines us, the indigenous people of Palestine, as the undesired ‘ethnic group’ for the region.

The US continues to ‘reward’ Israel with 6 billion dollars of tax-payers money while the EU increases its trade and diplomatic relations. For the Israeli apartheid regime this translates as the green light to unleash the 4^th most powerful military on us to ‘do its worst’ against our civilian population, of which over half in Gaza are children and over 2 thirds are UN registered refugees.

In recent years, civil society and solidarity movements throughout the world have grown in their support for us, especially in 2011. As the world wakes up, the prospect of life without Israeli occupation and its system of race-based subjugation becomes more than a dream. We demand simply, human rights that anyone else would expect. This year, the first taste of liberation in the Western controlled Arab world arrived in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Many of those who took to the streets moved beyond their fear of being killed or tortured, facing up to the despotic, Western-backed regimes in the name of freedom for their families, communities and compatriots.

We will never forget them too, as we have lived much of our lives beyond this fear, our resilience against Israeli apartheid growing as the solidarity movements around the world grow. No longer under the boot of Western governments we urge the Arab street to do what the Israeli Apartheid Regime fears the most, to unite and build against them, the state that has violated more United Nations resolutions than any other. The siege breaking attempts into Gaza must continue, the second Free Gaza Flotilla exposed again the brutal and merciless edge of Israel’s hermetic siege.

In Europe and America the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS)^[2] movement is reaching the mainstream. Huge victories have included campaigns against waste and transport infrastructure firm Veolia who build transport routes on Israeli occupied lands^[3].Inspired and supported by Nobel Prize winner and anti apartheid hero Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the University of Johannesburg ended its collaboration with Ben Gurion University in Israel.^[4] Other University campuses are pursuing boycott campaigns and major European Trade Unions have broken ties with Israeli Trade Unions. And a growing number of conscientious artists and singers are refusing to perform in Israel.

All over Israeli internet sites and in government policy are attempts to deter the growing BDS movement^,[5] an international strategy that succeeded against a similarly well-armed, Western affiliated apartheid regime in South Africa.

The effect worldwide of the Gaza massacres 3 years ago was a catalyst for a huge rise in worldwide solidarity and action in support of Palestine, just as the South African Sharpeville massacre was for South African blacks in 1960^.

Our call this year will accept no compromise. We call upon all Palestine solidarity groups and all international civil society organizations to demand:

· An end to the siege that has been imposed on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a result of their exercise of democratic choice.

· The protection of civilian lives and property, as stipulated in International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law such as The Fourth Geneva Convention.

· The immediate release of all political prisoners.

· That Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip be immediately provided with financial and material support to cope with the immense hardship that they are experiencing

· An end to occupation, Apartheid and other war crimes with immediate reparations and compensation for all destruction carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza.

For us, the sacrifices for resisting have often meant imprisonment, torture, collective punishment and death. Outside, the risks are lower, but with great possibility. We call on you to Boycott Divest and Sanction, join the many International Trade Unions, Universities, Supermarkets and artists and writers who refuse to entertain Apartheid Israel. Speak out for Palestine, for Gaza, and crucially ACT. There has never been a time when mobilizations are gaining such support. 1994 was the year of South Africa when Apartheid was thrown into the dustbin of history; with your support we can make 2012 the year of free Palestine!

THE TIME IS NOW!

List of signatories:

General Union for Public Services Workers

General Union for Health Services Workers

University Teachers’ Association

Palestinian Congregation for Lawyers

General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers

General Union for Agricultural Workers

Union of Women’s Work Committees

Union of Synergies—Women Unit

The One Democratic State Group

Arab Cultural Forum

Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel

Association of Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Info

Palestine Sailing Federation

Palestinian Association for Fishing and Maritime

Palestinian Women Committees

Progressive Students’ Union

Medical Relief Society

The General Society for Rehabilitation

General Union of Palestinian Women

Afaq Jadeeda Cultural Centre for Women and Children

Deir Al-Balah Cultural Centre for Women and Children

Maghazi Cultural Centre for Children

Al-Sahel Centre for Women and Youth

Ghassan Kanfani Kindergartens

Rachel Corrie Centre, Rafah

Rafah Olympia City Sisters

Al Awda Centre, Rafah

Al Awda Hospital, Jabaliya Camp

Ajyal Association, Gaza

General Union of Palestinian Syndicates

Al Karmel Centre, Nuseirat

Local Initiative, Beit Hanoun

Union of Health Work Committees

Red Crescent Society Gaza Strip

Beit Lahiya Cultural Centre

Al Awda Centre, Rafah

References

[1] http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?Category Id=1&DocId=917

[2] http://www.bdsmovement.net/call

[3] http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/veolia-takes-severe-blow-as-it-fails-to-win-485-million-pound-contract-in-west-london-8559

[4]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/8404451/South-African-university-severs-ties-with-Israel.html

[5] http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/07/13/israel-anti-boycott-bill-stifles-expression

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  The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!