Diary about peace and freedom

Amnesty says Israel curbing water to Palestinians | World | Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Human rights group Amnesty International said in a report on Tuesday that Israeli restrictions prevented Palestinians from receiving enough water in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The report said Israel's daily water consumption per capita was four times higher than that in the Palestinian territories.

"Water is a basic need and a right, but for many Palestinians obtaining even poor-quality, subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barely afford," said Amnesty's Donatella Rovera.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Amnesty's statement that Israel was depriving the Palestinians of water as "preposterous."

Israel says it has met its obligations under the 1993 Oslo agreement while Palestinians have failed to meet their own requirements to recycle water and were not distributing water efficiently.

"Israel supplied Palestinians 20.8 million cubic litres above and beyond what it is obliged to do under the water agreement," said Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev.

Israel, itself facing unprecedented water shortages and rising tariffs, controls much of the West Bank's supplies, pumping from an aquifer that bridges Israel and the territory.

Israel sells some water back to the Palestinians under quotas agreed in the Oslo accords that rights groups say have not been increased in line with population growth.

The report said Gaza's coastal aquifer, its sole fresh water resource, had been polluted by infiltration of seawater and raw sewage and degraded by over-extraction. Continued...

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World Agenda: Palestinians suffer under Israeli water torture - Times Online

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BBC NEWS | Middle East | UN seeks close Gaza scrutiny

A UN investigation has recommended a process that could land Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The probe, headed by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone, concludes that Israel "committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" during its Gaza offensive in December last year.

It asks the UN Security Council to call on Israel to conduct "appropriate investigations," to monitor them, and to refer the matter to the ICC if they're deemed not to meet international standards.

The report found that the firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups also amounted to war crimes, and called for a similar process of accountability for the Gaza authorities.

But the 34-page summary devoted much less space to the Palestinian violations, and particularly slammed what it called Israel's disproportionate use of force.

UN chief 'reluctant'

Despite the strong conclusions, there is scepticism here about how far these recommendations will go - indeed whether the matter will even get on to the UN Security Council's agenda.

The first step is for the UN's Human Rights Council which commissioned Mr Goldstone's fact-finding mission to request UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to bring the matter to the attention of the UN Security Council.

When asked whether he would do so, Mr Ban avoided answering the question directly, instead expressing support for Mr Goldstone's report.

"I have directed our staff to fully review the contents of this, upholding the principles of accountability," he told the BBC.

"I regard that in addressing all these issues, wherever and whenever there are violations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, these issues should be addressed with a full accountability."

Mr Ban had earlier commissioned his own investigation into Israeli damage of UN institutions in Gaza.

He reported a summary of its conclusions to the UN Security Council, but it was never made public in its entirety and was not taken up by the council for further action.

One long-time UN observer suggested the UN chief may be reluctant to deal with what could turn into a diplomatic firestorm.

"I think he feels that he burned himself with his own Gaza report, and this one is much more comprehensive and even more politically sensitive, so I think he will not be eager to do it," the observer said.

If the issue does get onto the council agenda, it seems unlikely to result in the concrete action requested.

'Dishonest' report

Certainly Israel will do all it can to make sure of that.

The military operation was a result of disrespect for the fundamental principle of 'distinction' in international humanitarian law Key extracts from UN statement

"We have to look into it, speak with the secretary general and then have a plan of action. We are not going to let it go," the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, told the BBC.

She noted that Israel had been taken by surprise by the timing and location of the announcement.

Israel has strongly rejected the report as "political, unbalanced and dishonest".

It refused to co-operate in the fact-finding mission, saying the mandate prejudged the outcome.

And it defended its own investigations carried out by the military and government ministries.

These were dismissed by Mr Goldstone as "pusillanimous" because, he said, they relied almost exclusively on testimony from Israeli soldiers and included virtually no evidence from Palestinian victims.

"I don't think we will change [because of the report]," said Ms Shalev.

"I know our Supreme Court and the ethics of the Israeli Defence Forces, and every complaint is being looked into. Hundreds are being looked into. Palestinians can bring petitions to the Supreme Court.

"I hope that our friends will support us. We don't have many, but reliable ones like the United States and the Europeans. And they will know we are looking into incidents and don't need help from the outside," Ms Shalev said.

Accountability plea

The expectation here is that Washington, Israel's most reliable friend, would veto any UN Security Council resolution on the matter, as it has done in the past with UN resolutions to which Israel objects.

Perhaps the most that can be expected is a hearing. "There's always a briefing when you want to let off steam," said the UN observer.

But others say the significance of Mr Goldstone's report was precisely his call for accountability, and a timetable to achieve it.

Indeed, the judge stressed: "I think we should all rejoice in living in a world today where there is accountability for war crimes. There wasn't until very recently - it's a very new situation, and it's very important that there should be… no impunity for international crimes that are committed".

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BBC NEWS | Middle East | UN backs Gaza 'war crimes' report

The UN Human Rights Council has backed a report into the Israeli offensive in Gaza that accuses both Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes.

The report by Richard Goldstone calls for credible investigations by Israel and Hamas, and suggests international war crimes prosecutions if they do not.

Twenty-five countries voted for the resolution, while six were against.

Both Israel and the US opposed official endorsement of the report, saying it would set back Middle East peace hopes.

GOLDSTONE REPORT VOTE For: Argentina, Brazil, China, Russia and 21 others Against: US, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine Abstentions: Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia and Uruguay No vote: UK, France and 3 others

The Palestinian Authority initially backed deferring a vote, but changed its position after domestic criticism.

Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed in the 22-day conflict that ended in January, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166.

Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.

'Culture of impunity'

Before the vote in Geneva - in which 11 countries abstained and five others, including the UK and France, chose not to vote - the Palestinian Authority's representative argued that the matter was simply about respect for the rule of law.

The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, meanwhile insisted that now was the time to end the "culture of impunity" which continues to prevail in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

The report accuses Israel of using "disproportionate force" in Gaza UN seeks close Gaza scrutiny Key extracts from UN statement Full UN report on Gaza war

In contrast, the Israeli government had lobbied intensively against the resolution, saying the Goldstone report was biased against Israel and removed the right of nations to defend themselves against terrorists.

It also complained that the vote was not simply on the Goldstone report, but on a Palestinian-backed resolution that criticised Israel and ignored Hamas. The resolution also made references to recent Israeli actions East Jerusalem that were not in the document.

The US deputy representative in Geneva agreed, saying that the resolution's approach and "sweeping conclusions of law" made the prospect of a meaningful Middle East peace process more difficult.

Asked why it did not vote, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the BBC that the British and French governments had been "in the middle of detailed discussions with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel about three key issues - the establishment of an independent inquiry, humanitarian aid to Gaza and the restart of the peace process".

"The vote was called in the middle of those discussions and we thought it right to continue with our work on the three fundamental issues so that could really contribute to a reversal of what is a dangerous spiral of trust and mistrust in the Middle East," he said.

'One-sided resolution'

The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says momentum behind the Goldstone report will grow and the UN may take it up in New York.

ANALYSIS Jeremy Bowen BBC Middle East editor The row about the report is an antidote to any over-optimistic hope for peace. In many ways, it is a more honest expression of reality, of the deep divisions that exist, than the uncomfortable handshake between Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian Authority president that US President Barack Obama manufactured in New York last month. Mr Obama, who came to office hoping to renew and reinvigorate a peace process, has had another reminder of how difficult a job he has taken on. Israel says it will not take risks for peace, if it cannot defend itself. And the Israelis have once again been condemned in an international forum. There was some confusion among Israel's European allies. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown had a "robust" discussion with his Israeli counterpart last night, apparently talking about a British abstention in Geneva. The UK did not vote in the end, although initially the Foreign Office said it had abstained. Then Downing Street said it was a non-vote rather than a formal abstention. Perhaps Israeli pressure worked, partly. Perhaps Mr Brown decided to send a signal to the Israelis, but on second thoughts, not too much of one.

The 575-page report by the South African judge concluded that Israel had "committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" by using disproportionate force, deliberately targeting civilians, using Palestinians as human shields and destroying civilian infrastructure during its offensive in Gaza.

It also found there was also evidence that Palestinian militant groups including Hamas, which controls Gaza, had committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated rocket and mortars attacks on southern Israel.

The report demanded that unless the parties to the Gaza war investigated the allegations of war crimes within six months, the cases should be referred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

In the short term, the Human Rights Council resolution will provide some political relief for the Palestinian Authority (PA) President, Mahmoud Abbas, our correspondent says.

Mr Abbas had been the butt of intense criticism among the Palestinian public and from his Islamist rivals in Hamas, for initially trying to delay a vote on the Goldstone report, he adds.

In Ramallah, a spokesman for Mr Abbas welcomed the endorsement of the report and said international action should not end there.

"What is important now is to translate words into deeds in order to protect our people in the future from any new aggression," Nabil Abu Rudainah said.

A Hamas spokesman told the BBC it also supported further UN action, but said nothing about the charges against the group.

"We thank whoever voted for it, and we hope that this vote will be the beginning of the process to bring the Israeli war criminals to justice," Taher al-Nono said.

The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the "one-sided resolution", which it said ignored "the murderous attacks perpetrated by Hamas and other terrorist organisations against Israeli civilians" and the "unprecedented precautions taken by Israeli forces in order to avoid harming civilians".

"This resolution provides encouragement for terrorist organisations worldwide and undermines global peace. Israel will continue to exercise its right to self-defence, and take action to protect the lives of its citizens," the statement added.

If the report comes before the UN Security Council, the US is expected to veto any call for ICC action against Israel.

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BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel 'cuts Palestinian water'

Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says.

In a report, the human rights group says Israeli water restrictions discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

It says that in Gaza, Israel's blockade has brought the water and sewage system to "crisis point".

Israel says the report is flawed and the Palestinians get more water than was agreed under the 1990s peace deal.

'Basic need'

In the 112-page report, Amnesty says that on average Palestinian daily water consumption reaches 70 litres a day, compared with 300 litres for the Israelis.

Israel must end its discriminatory policies, immediately lift all the restrictions it imposes on Palestinians' access to water Donatella Rovera Amnesty International

It says that some Palestinians barely get 20 litres a day - the minimum recommended even in humanitarian emergencies.

Amnesty says that Israel denies West Bank Palestinians to dig wells, and has even destroyed cisterns and impounded water tankers.

At the same time, the report claims, Israeli settlers are enjoying swimming pools and green gardens.

In Gaza, Israel refuses access to many of the building materials needed to renovate the ailing water system, the document says.

It adds that Israel uses more than 80% of the water from the Mountain Aquifer - the main source of underground water in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

"Water is a basic need and a right, but for many Palestinians obtaining even poor-quality, subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barely afford," Amnesty's Donatella Rovera said.

"Israel must end its discriminatory policies, immediately lift all the restrictions it imposes on Palestinians' access to water."

Ms Rovera also urged Israel to "take responsibility for addressing the problems it created by allowing Palestinians a fair share of the shared water resources".

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the report was factually inaccurate, accusing the Palestinians of mismanaging water resources.

He also rejected the claim that Israel was preventing Palestinians from drilling for water.

The spokesman said Israel had approved 82 such projects but the Palestinians had only implemented 26 of them.

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Today is the Anniversary of the Maiden Voyage of THE DIGNITY
October 22, 2009
Greta Berlin

A year ago, our boat, the DIGNITY, made her first voyage to Gaza. She
was a beautiful white and silver yacht, donated by people who believed
in the Free Gaza movement after our first successful voyage in August.
On board were dignitaries such as Mairead Maquire, the 1976 Nobel
Peace Prize winner from Ireland and Mustafa Barghouti, President of
the Palestinian National Initiative and a member of the Palestinian
Legislative Council (MP).

It was to be our second trip to Gaza, one postponed for a month,
because we didn’t have the proper vessel to go in the fall until the
week before we were leaving. The DIGNITY shined in the autumn sun as
we got ready to go at dusk that day.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/sets/72157608508618185/ Four
physicians were also on board to access the medical situation in Gaza.

We had made a decision after the first voyage to ask Al Jazeera to
come with us on every trip, and they were there with cameras, a
reporter and a camerman. They have been on board reporting through
storms, sea sickness, and dangers from Israel for every trip since.

As usual, we were frantically working on passenger lists, supplies and
media work until the very last minute. Osama Q. and I (we were the
designated land team) watched piles of boxes loaded on board, taking
up most of the cabin space below. Although we took medicine and
medical equipment with us, we knew they were only token supplies. Our
mission was about breaking Israel’s siege of the sea. Our mission was
about telling the world that Palestinians didn’t need hand-outs, they
needed their civil and human rights. We have always been a human
rights organization, not a humanitarian organization, but we took what
we could.

As the vessel steamed out past the breakwall in Larnaca, then took a
right turn and headed to sea, I cried. Twenty-seven passengers and
crew were going at last. We had promised the people of Gaza that we
would return, and we were keeping our promise. Israel, as they did the
first time, continued to threaten us, but decided at the last minute
they would ignore this voyage as they did the first one, hoping we
might be satisfied and go away. They didn’t realize a year ago, that
we would not stop coming to Gaza.

Three more voyages were successful, taking parliamentarians,
physicians, activists and Palestinians to Gaza. Former Representative
Cynthia McKinney named her American initiative “The DIGNITY” in honor
of our boat. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/sets/72157608814881165/

When the Israeli navy deliberately and viciously attacked the DIGNITY
on December 30, 2008, ramming her three times in her side, the boat
was so sturdy and the captain so expert, she didn’t sink with all lost
at sea. She struggled into port in Lebanon but was never the same.
Like a wounded racehorse that ultimately dies of its injuries, she
sank in a storm off the coast of Cyprus in May 2009.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/sets/72157612017624425/
http://www.youtube.com/gazafriends#p/f/47/BcWTHkyrZ4g

So today, on the anniversary of her maiden voyage, the Free Gaza
movement wants to assure those of you who have supported us for over
three years, that we will return to Gaza We will not stop returning
until the 1.5 million people there have the right to their own sea
lanes without interference from Israel.

Stay tuned for our next voyage. We are coming back.

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Free Gaza Ireland launches a series of cultural events with Palestine, starting with a tour by Lowkey, political poet/rapper performing in Cork, Galway & Dublin this week, not to be missed!










Lowkey, one of Britain’s brightest and most effective lyricists is playing in the College Bar, NUIG, this Thursday the 15th at 9pm. An artist whose star is getting bigger with every new release, Lowkey is the new Chuck D, he is the voice of a politicised generation. He is not just another rich musician making money out of singing about the woes of poverty; all of Lowkey’s lyrics are inspired by first-hand experience of the issues he raps about.

He travelled to Palestine to take part in a Hip Hop Festival and went to Gaza earlier this year with the Viva Palestina Convoy. Despite gaining much critical acclaim over the last few years, Lowkey bypassed the potential wealth and fame his ascent from the open-mics could have brought. Instead, he chose to channel a lot of his creative energies into engagement with the Palestinian cause. Since Tears To Laughter - his no-budget song which raised money for victims of the Israeli assault on Gaza - reached 18 in the prestigious iTunes hip-hop chart, he has become a highly appreciated performer at fundraisers.

His latest single, just released is a collaboration with Immortal Technique "Voices of the Voiceless' went to no 11 in iTunes charts last week. Immortal Technique, is regarded by the vast majority of real Hip-Hop enthusiasts as the greatest underground artist of modern times. Determined to be as vocal as possible, the super-group Mongrel has propelled Lowkey into the indie orbit with artists from bands such as Babyshambles, Arctic Monkeys and Reverend And The Maker.

Come and see the authenticity for yourself, and receive an alternative education accompanied by some of the slickest beats of our time.

The University’s Palestine Solidarity Society is hosting the night in Galway to launch of a series of cultural events to raise support for the Free Gaza Movement's next international flotilla of boats. More than simple charity, the Palestinian people need our solidarity and political action. They need us to challenge the policies that leave them in need of humanitarian aid.

Joseph Loughnane
Auditor of Palestine Solidarity Society,
Galway NUI.

Lowkey is available for interviews,
contact Niamh 085 7747257

FREE GAZA IRELAND TO SEND “IRISH BOAT” TO GAZA

The crisis in Gaza is unacceptable. For nearly four years, Israel has subjected the Gaza Strip to an increasingly cruel blockade, leading to severe increases in unemployment, poverty, and childhood malnutrition. Israel's 22-day assault on Gaza last December & January killed over 1400 civilians and destroyed thousands of homes, schools, mosques and hospitals. It’s been almost a year since these attacks and thousands of Gaza’s Palestinians are still living in rubble. Maintaining the Gaza siege and denying Palestinians the right to rebuild their lives is unconscionable.

Free Gaza Ireland is working closely with the international Free Gaza Movement to acquire an “Irish boat” to sail to Gaza as part of an international flotilla challenging Israel’s brutal siege. Since August 2008, international volunteers in the Free Gaza Movement have been sailing to Gaza, suceeding 5 times to break the siege. Ours remain the only ships to reach Gaza since 1967. More than simple charity, the Palestinian people need our solidarity and political action. They need us to challenge the policies that leave them in need of humanitarian aid.

Caoimhe Butterly, renowned Irish human rights campaigner and Gaza Project Co-coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement stated that: “Our delegations have been deeply shocked by the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Israel’s ongoing occupation and the severity of the siege on Gaza is designed to isolate people as well as devastate the infrastructure of Gaza. Free Gaza's mission is a reminder of not only the efficacy of using non-violent direct action to confront injustice, but also of the deafening silence of the international community.”


With Ireland’s help, the Free Gaza Movement hopes to sail to Gaza before winter sets in with ships carrying badly needed humanitarian and reconstruction supplies. On board will be Irish TD's, journalists, human rights activists & Irish musicans who will perform in Gaza with local artists as part of a series of cultural events linking up with Ireland. We urge everyone to join us in concretely asserting the right of the Palestinian people to have access to the outside world. We will not stay silent as the Palestinian people are deliberately starved and humiliated. Like all peoples in the world – Palestinians have a right to life with dignity.

www.freegaza.org


Niamh Moloughney
Irish Free Gaza Coordinator
niamh@freegaza.org
091 472279/085 7747257

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Take Action: Support the Recommendations of the Goldstone Report on Gaza
CORRECTION: We regret that the email we sent out earlier today contained a broken link to contact Ambassador Susan Rice. To email her, please visit: http://usun-ny.us/Issues/contactus.html

September 22, 2009

Last week, the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, a former member of the South African Constitutional Court and former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, released a 575-page report documenting violations of human rights and international law, war crimes, and possible crimes against humanity committed before, during, and after Israel's December 2008-January 2009 assault on the occupied Gaza Strip.

The reactions of Israel and its supporters were swift and furious. Israel 's President said the report "makes a mockery of history." AIPAC condemned the report as "deeply flawed"
Resources:

Read the Goldstone Report (575 pages)

Read the US Campaign's one-page FAQ about the Goldstone Report

Read US Campaign Advisory Board member Nadia Hijab's article "Sinking the Goldstone Report" and watch US Campaign Steering Committee member Phyllis Bennis on Grit TV discussing the report on the US Campaign's blog
and "biased." And Rep. Gary Ackerman, one of Capitol Hill's most vociferous defenders of Israeli occupation and apartheid, accused the authors of the report of living in a "self-righteous fantasyland."


Members of the UN Mission.
Why are Israel and its supporters so upset by the Goldstone Report? Because it fairly and even-handedly examined the actions of all parties to the conflict and made recommendations to hold all human rights violators accountable through enforcement mechanisms, including compensation and potential prosecution at the International Criminal Court.

As you can imagine, the Obama Administration is under immense pressure to bury this report at the level of the UN Human Rights Council where it will be discussed on September 29 so that it is not referred to international bodies with enforcement powers such as UN Security Council, General Assembly, or International Criminal Court, as the report recommended.

Unfortunately it appears that the Obama Administration is caving into this pressure. Speaking at the UN last week, Ambassador Susan Rice, Permanent U.S. Representative to United Nations, characterized the report as "unbalanced, one sided and basically unacceptable." Assistant Secretary of State Phillip Crowley urged that the "report should not be used as a mechanism to add impediments to getting back to the peace process," as if holding human rights abusers accountable and establishing peace are mutually exclusive affairs.

It's a shame that the United States appears to be shielding Israel , yet again, for any accountability for its illegal actions in international forums. It's even more of a shame coming so soon after the United States, for the first time, assumed a seat on the UN Human Rights Council and, in the words of Dr. Esther Brinner, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, stated: "Make no mistake; the United States will not look the other way in the face of serious human rights abuses. The truth must be told, the facts brought to light and the consequences faced."

The Obama Administration faces a serious test of its commitment to the universality of human rights on September 29 when it will vote on whether to accept the Goldstone Report recommendations.

You can help influence the vote by taking action below.

TAKE ACTION

For individuals

Contact Ambassador Susan Rice, Permanent U.S. Representative to United Nations, before September 29 and urge the United States to vote for the recommendations of the Goldstone Report at the UN Human Rights Council.

Phone: 212-415-4062
Fax: 212-415-4053
Email: Click here

For talking points, please download our FAQ's about the Goldstone Report by clicking here or see our open letter below.

For organizations

Join with the US Campaign, Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights, Code Pink: Women for Peace, International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza, Jewish Voice for Peace, and many other organizations in signing on to our open letter to Ambassador Rice urging the United States to vote for the recommendations of the Goldstone Report at the UN Human Rights Council.

The US Campaign will accept signatures on the letter from organizations only please until COB, Thursday, September 24, and will deliver the letter the next day.

To read and sign the letter, please click here.

Ambassador Susan Rice
Permanent U.S. Representative to United Nations
United States Mission to the United Nations
140 East 45th Street
New York, NY 10017

September 25, 2009

Dear Ambassador Rice,

The following organizations are writing to you to express their strong support for the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict contained in the Goldstone Report and strongly urge the United States to endorse these recommendations when they are voted on in the UN Human Rights Council on September 29.

Earlier this month, the United States assumed a seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the first time. Upon assuming this seat, Dr. Esther Brinner, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, stated that "We can not pick and choose which of these [human] rights we embrace nor select who among us are entitled to them. We are all endowed at birth with the right to live in dignity, to follow our consciences and speak our minds without fear, to choose those who govern us, to hold our leaders accountable, and to enjoy equal justice under the law. These rights extend to all, and the United States can not accept that any among us would be condemned to live without them."

We strongly agree with this statement and believe that the United States should put these words into action by voting to endorse the recommendations of the Goldstone Report.

The UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict did an exemplary job under adverse circumstances of investigating human rights abuses, violations of international law, war crimes, and possible crimes against humanity by all parties before, during, and after Israel 's assault on the occupied Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009.

The mission was scrupulously even-handed in investigating these violations. As it stated in its methodology, "To implement its mandate, the Mission determined that it was required to consider any actions by all parties that might have constituted violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law. The mandate also required it to review related actions in the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel ."

Now that this mission has delivered its report and documented human rights violations by Israel, Palestinian armed groups, and the Palestinian Authority, it is imperative for the United States to support its recommendations. To do otherwise would undermine our country's commitment to the universality of human rights and contradict Dr. Brinner's promise to the UN Human Rights Council: "Make no mistake; the United States will not look the other way in the face of serious human rights abuses. The truth must be told, the facts brought to light and the consequences faced."

The UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict has told the truth and brought the facts to light. On September 29, it is time for the United States to make sure that the consequences are faced for these violations of human rights. We strongly urge the United States to vote in favor of the recommendations in the Goldstone Report.

Signed by,

1. US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
2. Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights
3. Code Pink: Women for Peace
4. International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza
5. Jewish Voice for Peace
Have your organization endorse this letter by clicking here. Again the deadline for signing this letter is COB, Thursday, September 24.

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The Neighbourhood Gate: The Syrian and the Palestinian - Eye On Palestine Forum...Where English is Fun

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Palestinian-led movement to boycott Israel is gaining support | International Solidarity Movement

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PNN - Palestine News Network - After prayers near confiscated land, march against Wall commemorates Sabra and Shatila

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PNN - Palestine News Network - European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza takes legal action to force EU to uphold human rights law

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Britain’s unions commit to a mass boycott movement of Israeli goods | International Solidarity Movement

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ei: Palestinian village calls for Swedish divestment from occupation

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Treading the Borders Between Life and Death
By Ewa Jasiewicz for Left Turn Magazine www.leftturn.org

September 2009

It happened at 2:30am, Wednesday, December 31 2008. Israeli helicopter gunships and warplanes had been bombing the length of the Gaza Strip. In Eastern Jabaliya, white phosphorous had been exploding over Ezbit Abid Rubbu, Al Gerem, and Jabal al Rais. Jabal Al Rais, the President’s Mountain, renamed “The Mountain of Fire” because of the resistance in the area against incoming Israeli forces, was where Dr Ihab al Madhoun, 34, and Mohammad Al Hassira, 21, had driven to rescue suspected casualties. Both medics were inside their ambulance when it was struck by Israeli missile fire. Hassira, a medical volunteer, died instantly.

Madhoun, suffering shrapnel injuries to the head and neck lived until midday the following day. Visiting him in the Kamal Odwan Hospital in Jabaliya, I saw the experienced doctor lying bandaged up, semiconscious, with blood and brain fluid seeping from the back of his skull, writhing in pain. Hasira and just hours later, Madhoun, would join 14 other medics who lost their lives, most in the line of duty during Israel’s 22-day attack.

During Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 – January 2009, Israeli forces killed 16 emergency medical staff and injured 57, including at least four who needed leg and arm amputations. Thirteen of the medics killed worked for the Civil Defence Service (CDSS)—a mixture of fire fighters and frontline emergency medical personnel. Eleven fire fighters were also injured, their red engines bearing bullet holes directly targeting drivers.

On the first day of Israel’s attack, Israeli warplanes destroyed half of all of the CDS’s 16 offices in the Gaza Strip. In the central governorate of Diere Balah every single CDS building was reduced to rubble within five minutes of the first attack, and tens of staff members killed. Bodies continued to be pulled out of the rubble for days after the initial bombardment.

In one day, 235 police officers, including CDS staff, were killed—an attack human rights lawyer Daniel Machover of UK legal firm Hickman and Rose claims should be recognized as a war crime. “It was a premeditated, pre-planned attack on civilian institutions, including the coming out parade of a police academy. These were not military targets, and as such, there is strong evidence to suggest the bombing of these was a war crime.”

The CDS had four of its eleven ambulances wrecked. With 600 trained rescuers, the service needs ten more to be working at full capacity. During Cast Lead the CDS was working at ten percent capacity, lacking basic equipment such as protective vests and powerful torches. “Despite 50 percent of our equipment being destroyed in the first day of the attacks, we answered 1300 cases and worked 24 hours a day,” explained Mohammad Al Atar, Chief of the CDS in Gaza.

The CDS has trained 50 women through the Ministry of Youth and Women’s Affairs to take on some of the toughest work in Gaza. Al Atar says, “A mother cannot protect her children—a child could be shot in her arms. The Palestinian woman needs training in Civil Defence to protect her family—this is a national duty.” Despite this, CDS staff has been denied uniforms for the past two years by the Israeli authorities, relying on their own thrown-together luminous orange vests and jumpers.

Not protected

The IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) implied that the CDS rescuers were not protected under international law because they are “combat medics.” However, even medics tending to combatants are still protected. “Their medics were part of the Hamas medical staff and were similar to combat medics that we have in the IDF in the sense that they are soldiers,” the head of the CLA Col. Moshe Levi told The Jerusalem Post in February. Reporting for Israeli daily Ha’artez in April, Israeli journalist Amira Hass wrote of evidence of Israeli soldiers being given rules of engagement that told them to “Fire also upon rescue.”

Traumatic experiences for Palestinian medics are part of their work. Mohammad al Hissi, 34, a Gazan paramedic was part of a team struck by an Israeli artillery shell in Sudaneya in March 2002. His colleague and chief medic Sa'ed Shalai was killed, joining four other senior medics killed in the West Bank and Gaza in less than a week. Hissi, pierced all over his body with shrapnel, was brought into the emergency room with virtually no pulse. “It’s a miracle I survived,” he told me, driving his Red Crescent ambulance through the now liberated if besieged streets of Khan Younis. Colleagues called him a living martyr for months afterwards. “But I couldn’t work for about year after the attack. I just couldn’t bring myself to go out into the field again. I took on desk work, taking calls. Then when I healed, I got brave again and returned.”

Gazan medics crave relief, decompression, a break from their horrific experiences. One of Gaza’s longest serving Red Crescent medics, Ali Khalil, aged 47, was part of the team which brought the body of infant Shahed Abu Halima from the ravaged northern district of Atatara during a brief respite in Israel’s attack. Medics had been denied entry to the area for days. Despite coordination with the Red Cross, ambulances had been repeatedly fired upon, forcing medics to turn back empty-handed.

Ali found Shahed lying on the main sandy road to Atatara. “At first I thought it was a doll,” he said. She was red, bloated and her legs were missing—she had been half eaten by dogs. “I see her in my sleep,” says Ali. “I have nightmares about it. We need a rest; we need help. I think some counseling would help all of us.”

Attacks on medics are not limited to invasions. Ali’s ambulance was shot at in April whilst trying to collect two injured Islamic Jihad fighters at the border area of Ezbit Abid Rubbu in Eastern Jabaliya. The two were unable to move but were still alive when Ali tried to reach them. Unfortunately he was forced to turn back, and when he finally returned a few hours later the casualties were dead, their bodies pumped full of bullets by Israeli snipers.

“Coordination”

“I have only one coordination”, says Mahmoud Abu Speitan, Director of the Amul Hospital Red Crescent Training Institute and veteran paramedic from Khan Younis. “Ashahadu Lā ilaha illal-Lāh, Muhammadun rasūlula-Lāh,” (I testify that there is no god but God and Mohammad is his messenger)—a blessing commonly declared by Muslims when expecting to die. “This is what I say when I get inside my ambulance.”

“Coordination”—Tanseek in Arabic—refers to permission from the Israeli Occupation, organized through the International Committee for the Red Cross, to enter areas to collect the dead and injured. During Israel’s attacks in December and January “coordination” was only granted in some cases after four days—as was the case of the Samouni family, which saw over 30 people from the same family killed when homes they were sheltering in were shelled by the Israeli army.

Medics from the Tel Al Howa station close to Al Quds Hospital—which was later bombed by an F16, shelled by tanks and gutted with white phosphorous—had to walk for over a kilometer dragging a donkey cart on foot because Israeli forces banned them from taking either an ambulance or a donkey. The medics said they could not forget the white parched mouths of the child survivors they found clinging to the bodies of their parents. They dragged the injured, limp and jostling around, on the back of the carts as Israeli soldiers looked on.

Articles 14-24 of the Fourth Geneva Convention afford special protection to medical and humanitarian staff. The Convention guarantees respect for the freedom of movement of medical personnel, and ensures they be granted all necessary material facilities to perform their duties, including removal of victims, and attending to and transferring injured and sick civilians. Care of and access to the sick and injured are also enshrined in Article 17, which states that “the parties to the conflict shall endeavor to conclude local agreements for the removal from besieged or encircled areas, of wounded, sick, infirm, and aged persons, and for the passage of ministers of all religions, medical personnel and medical equipment on their way to such areas.”

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), perhaps hundreds of those killed could have survived if emergency services had been able to access them promptly—the access denied to them can be defined as a deliberate violation of the Geneva Conventions and therefore a war crime.

Throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, basic, essential medical supplies and equipment including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) were in short supply. After nearly two years of a hermetic siege, even basics like gauze, electric blood pressure monitors, spare parts, and petrol were scarce. Ministry of Health (MOH) teams in the north lacked walkie-talkies, relying instead on coordination through other services, and trusting their hearing to follow the sounds of falling bombs. The MOH ambulances in Jabaliya ran out of petrol in the final days of the attack. Concerned residents joined together to bring canisters of fuel to their operating base at Kamal Odwan Hospital and an entire convoy from the north swung into the headquarters of the United Nations in Gaza City to literally beg the UN to let them fill up.

Protective vests were limited to around four per station, meaning team members had to take turns wearing them. Perhaps, if the much admired paramedic Arafa Abdel Deim had had the luck to wear his on a run to rescue five shelled casualties, he would have survived the direct flechette shell that hit his ambulance. He died of massive blood loss. The vests the medics use—primarily in the hands of the Red Crescent, the Palestinian arm of the International Red Cross—are inadequate for the quick lifting of casualties. Made of two heavy plates of steel, they weigh down on the person like a Knight’s armor.

Ambulance crews with the CDS lacked high voltage searchlights—essential equipment for night-work. Every second spent searching fruitlessly means a second closer to a potential re-hit by Israeli forces or a second closer to a casualty turning into a fatality. Medics ended up using tiny cube-lights, shining a thin hazy beam stretching just a few feet in front of them.

Unity and solidarity

In April of this year, medics from the CDS, MOH, Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, Red Crescent, and Military Services met together to establish an organizing committee for an “International Campaign of Solidarity with Palestinian Emergency Workers.” The group of over 50 gathered together to speak in a common voice, despite Israel’s attempts to divide them into categories of “legitimate” and “illegitimate” or “combat medics.”

The aims of the nascent campaign are to mobilize the international community to react to Israeli violations of international law; to stop attacks on emergency staff; to build advocacy for the observance of international law; and to organize the twinning of ambulance stations in Gaza with others around the world. The campaign also aims to secure badly needed equipment, engage in staff exchanges, and build a louder, more public and unified voice for Palestinian rescuers internationally.

According to the MOH, 100 rescuers have been killed in the past nine years—an average of one per month. To date, there has been no political cost or accountability for Israel’s targeting of Palestinian rescuers. We need to turn the spotlight on the occupation’s targeting of medical professionals—the front line in civilian resistance to Israel’s policy of massacre, collective punishment and community devastation. Making it too politically costly for Israel to keep killing rescuers is imperative to saving lives.

Solidarity campaigning for Palestinian human rights has been active since the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel on stolen and ethnically cleansed Palestinian land. A 60-year history of dispossession, massacres, home demolition, extra-judicial killing of leaders, imprisonment, land grabs, and invasions keeps repeating itself. Generations of Palestinian emergency staff have been responding to these invasions and attacks by putting out the fires that Israeli bombs have ignited, picking up the pieces of broken bodies that often break families and communities, and saving the lives that Israel wants to kill—civilian or combatant. Referred to in the Palestinian community as “unknown soldiers,” these courageous men and women are frontline witnesses to the effects that white phosphorous, flechette shells, missiles, sniper fire and bulldozers have on the human body. As such, their witness to Israeli attacks is up close and personal and hard to refute.

Medical services fulfill a strategic aim of keeping Palestinian communities together, and defending their survival on their land. They have rescued 40,000 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces since the eruption of the second intifada alone. Supporting them is key to resisting Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing and massacre. “When we put on our uniforms, we are life-savers, it doesn’t matter who we support, which Palestinian side, we have to save lives, even those of Israeli soldiers—that’s our job, it’s the promise we make,” explains Abu Issam, a senior Paramedic with Jabaliya’s Red Crescent Society.

Following Israel’s massacres in January 2009, the number of applicants for rescuer and ambulance driver training in Gaza soared. Many Gazans were traumatized by hearing friends and family members calling local radio and television stations begging for ambulances to collect their bleeding loved ones. The rage over those who could have lived if Israel had not attacked those trying to save them has turned into a practical resistance of young men and women being prepared to sacrifice their own lives in the service of preserving the lives of others. We need to support this resistance and defend these rescuers as a clear form of “solidarity triage” in the midst of the intensifying attacks on Palestinian communities and their land.

For more info on the nascent Gaza campaign see www.defendtherescuers.wordpress.com

Ewa Jasiewicz is a solidarity activist, union organizer and journalist. She volunteered with emergency services in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. She is currently a Gaza-based Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement <www.FreeGaza.org>

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ei: Israel destroys Gaza boats and lives

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Good morning

I am so sad and disapointted!
I read the news about Israel expanding their settlements once again, no matter how much other countrys judge this plan!

How can they expect any peace to come like this? How they complain about the rockets, but they leave no choice, but to resist?
Oh my, their stupidity overwhelms me again and again!

But peace is not their goal, their goal is to get the "promised land" by any means. Any means means killing, stealing, lying, intriguing, making false headlines, making false documents, making false "truth".

That's only thing Israel is good at, that devious nation.

Argh, I should not write about them first thing in the morning, it makes me extremely sad and frustrated :(

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Alghawi Family and the Unreadable Connection to the Land
By/ Mohamed Suliman





"I feel like I am guilty because I am not able to do anything for my children. I lost everything." stated Maisoun Algawi, sitting at the street in front of their newly-seized house. "Ramadan is supposed to be a month of happiness as well as stability where families gather at the iftar; where a family can spend their time together. I promised my children to buy them food, toys, and new clothes, but now, I have to take them to my neighbor's house. Over there, they can shower and I can wash their clothes." She added desperately.

Alghawi family, a seven-member-family, continued to show their unequalled steadfastness to the, I assume, fragile-looking settlers of their home as ever. Since their home has been seized on August 2nd, Alghawi family took refugee to no where but the street – the nearest spot overlooked by their home, where they believe they will be most relieved, most intimate than no where else. However, they relish the bittersweet feeling each time they come across the view of their home surrounded far and wide by the Israeli soldiers while some robot-looking bodies wander up and down their colorless home.

Naser Algawi, the householder, is 38 years old. He was born in this house. His father Abdul Fatah, 82 years old, has been living in the house since 1956 when it was built by the UN and Jordanian government as part of a temporary housing complex for refugees of the 1948 war. He and his family are determined not to give in at any cost though his wife uttered some words of depression: 'Now my house is seized, I have changed my views of the future," she said shaking her two-year daughter's bed.

As part from the jeopardizing policy, the Israelis continue seizing the Palestinian's houses in 'East Jerusalem' along with ridiculous claims: these houses are theirs, demolishing other houses, and building new apartments trying to root their rootless and baseless existence on this land. Alghawi family was one of latest families that were afflicted by these base measures, yet what makes their story outstanding is the way they choose to challenge the occupation and its measures. There is no point in describing the way this family has taken up confronting the occupation since their clinging to the spiritual connection with their home is far beyond any description.

For the 28th day in a row, Abdul fatah Alghawi and his family are still proving that not by seizing homes, the occupier can gain the love of a land. Neither by demolishing its homes nor building others; he can obliterate its original identity. Not by hoisting Israeli flags above our homes, it will be theirs. And not in the least by distancing Alghawi family 150 meters away from their home, they will give up yelling: 'This land is mine; this home is mine'. As the Palestinian poet, Tamim Albarghouthi said: ' In Jerusalem, there is everybody, but nobody is in Jerusalem other than YOU'.

Ultimately, The Palestinians will continue to love their land, praise it, poetize it as their beloved, and their land will love them so longs as they can smell its sand, flavor its orange, hear its plashing waves, and draw it on panels, draw it in their hearts.
__________________

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Gaza – Ma'an – Israeli jets bombed a northern Gaza Strip building on Sunday morning.

No casualties were immediately reported.

The overnight airstrike "was in response to a Qassam rocket fired from Gaza into Israeli territory on Saturday morning," the country's military said in a statement to Ma'an.

Israel claimed the building had housed the entrance to an underground tunnel. "The tunnel was intended to be used for an infiltration into Israeli territory in order to execute a terrorist attack against Israeli citizens or IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers."

The statement went on to say that the building allegedly housing the entrance to the tunnel was located at about a kilometer and a half away from the border fence in the north.

The latest attack came amidst increasing violence in the besieged coastal strip.

A homemade projectile fired from northern Gaza struck an open field in the western Negev on Saturday. Hebrew news sources reported that it landed in the Sdot Negev Regional Council area in southern Israel, causing no injuries or damage.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was thought to be in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike early Tuesday morning that killed three Palestinians and injured nine others.

The Israeli military said that attack came in response to mortar fire from Gaza.

According to Israeli sources, Palestinians fired two or three mortar shells from northern Gaza at the Zikim military base, south of the city of Ashkelon, on Monday night. One Israeli soldier was reportedly injured in the head when he dove for cover.

The An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), said that they fired four mortar shells at Israeli forces operating in an area called Al-Amour, near the Sufa border crossing on Monday.

Israeli soldiers shot two Palestinians in northern Gaza, killing one, on Monday evening. The shooting took place in the Al-Atatra area north of Beit Lahiya. Israeli military sources told reporters two "suspicious" persons had approached the border with Israel and ignored warning shots.

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BERLIN - The Obama administration has agreed to Israel's request to remove East Jerusalem from negotiations on the impending settlement freeze.

According to both Israeli officials and Western diplomats, U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell has recognized the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot announce a settlement freeze in East Jerusalem. The officials said the U.S. will not endorse new construction there, but would not demand Jerusalem publicly announce a freeze.

Netanyahu presented a proposal on Wednesday for resolving the ongoing Israeli-American dispute over construction in the settlements. In a meeting with Mitchell, Netanyahu suggested a temporary freeze, reportedly for nine months, on construction in the West Bank, a government source said.
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Netanyahu also said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' reported willingness to meet with him was "a positive first step."

The Americans are slated to respond to Netanyahu's proposal at a meeting in Washington next week between Mitchell and two Israeli officials: Netanyahu's envoy, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Mike Herzog.

Mitchell himself will return to Jerusalem in the second week of September with the goal of finalizing an agreement.

The new Israeli proposal will exclude some 2,500 housing units on which construction has already started.

Additionally, in special cases where it is necessary to keep "normal life," Netanyahu wants to be able to erect public buildings in the settlements - mainly kindergartens and schools.

Finally, Israel wants the freeze to have a clear "exit plan." In Israel's view, the freeze is a confidence-building measure that must be matched by reciprocal steps from the PA and Arab states. If these fail to materialize, Israel wants an American guarantee that it will not oppose renewed building.

Following their meeting, Mitchell and Netanyahu issued a brief joint statement saying that "good progress" had been made, and the talks would continue.

However, the statement also included that the two "agreed on the importance of restarting meaningful negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and working toward a comprehensive peace, and that all sides need to take concrete steps toward peace."

At his press conference, Netanyahu reiterated that good progress had been made at the meeting, but said some issues remained unresolved. The goal, he said, is "to strike a balance" that would meet the settlers' basic needs while also enabling peace talks to resume.

Responding to Palestinian reports that Abbas had expressed willingness to meet with him at next month's UN General Assembly session in New York, Netanyahu said that if Abbas "is behind this declaration, that would be progress. This is a positive thing, a positive first step."

Until now, Abbas has refused to meet with him unless he first imposes a total freeze on settlement construction.

Netanyahu said he is willing to discuss all the well-known final-status issues, such as Jerusalem, borders and the refugees, but also intends to raise issues of his own - primarily the demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state and that any agreement explicitly declare the conflict over and bar any further claims.

"We also have core issues, and the issue of recognition is core, in my view," he said. "If we insist on the recognition, there will be a peace agreement."

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday for talks on efforts to reach a peace agreement in the Middle East.

The premier met with German head of state Horst Koehler on Wednesday, after talks with Mitchell in London.

On Netanyahu's agenda are garnering European support for a tougher stance against Iran and reaching a deal on settlement construction in the West Bank, the cessation of which is a key Palestinian precondition for going back to the negotiating table.

Netanyahu is due to meet German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the morning before being greeted by Merkel in the chancellery in the afternoon.

Merkel preceded the visit by calling for a greater readiness for compromise on Netanyahu's part, in an interview with German television.

Merkel told the N24 broadcaster on Wednesday that "we shouldn't let the window of opportunity pass," and renewed calls for the so-called two-state solution to be implemented.

"The time is absolutely right. Let us do everything to use it," Merkel said.

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We Know Something the State Department Doesn't



August 27th, 2009

As the Obama Administration presses forward on its so far fruitless efforts to get Israel to freeze its illegal settlement building in the occupied Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem and end its criminal siege of the occupied Palestinian Gaza Strip, it seems at a loss on how to proceed or how to exert any effective pressure on Israel to achieve these goals.

Take, for example, this exchange last week between a reporter and State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly on the issue of Israel's discriminatory treatment of U.S. citizens of Palestinian heritage:

QUESTION: A follow-up on the PA-only stamp issued by Israel to U.S. citizens going into Israel, just to follow up on that. I saw that you guys released --

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- something. You said that you're engaged with the Government of Israel. Just more clarification. Have you complained to them about this specifically? Have you asked them to stop issuing it to your U.S. citizens, and do you consider it a violation of the Oslo Accords?

MR. KELLY: Oh, well, the latter - the latter issue that's, I think, something that I probably would want somebody else to pronounce on if it's a violation of the Oslo because I'm not familiar enough with the Oslo Accords to be able to make a judgment one way or the other.

As our note said last night, we have made it quite known to the Israeli Government, and this is, I think, really on the diplomatic level, that we expect all American citizens to be treated the same regardless of their national origin. And this kind of - these kinds of restrictions we consider unacceptable. And I'd refer you to the Israeli Government for - in terms of their --

QUESTION: So you don't know if they're going to stop doing it or not, or if you specifically asked them to stop issuing these specific stamps?

MR. KELLY: We have told them that we think this is - that we cannot accept this kind of practice.

QUESTION: Do you know at what level - do you know if - how many Americans have complained to the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem? How --

MR. KELLY: No.

QUESTION: -- serious you consider this?

MR. KELLY: No. I'm not aware of the kind of numbers of - the number of people who have complained. Libby.

QUESTION: Different topic.

QUESTION: Wait, wait. Can I - can we go back? First of all, what does that mean we cannot accept this kind of practice? You also can't accept, you know, continued building of settlements, and they seem to be doing that.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: So what exactly does that mean?

MR. KELLY: Well, it means that this kind of practice is something that the U.S. Government believes should not be done. This is not --

QUESTION: Yeah, but you say we can't --

MR. KELLY: -- something that we can accept.

QUESTION: But it's not - you have to accept it, if that's what they're doing.

MR. KELLY: Well --

QUESTION: What are you going to do if they don't stop?

MR. KELLY: We will continue to protest.

QUESTION: But that won't make any difference --

QUESTION: That - I mean, it's not a question of whether you can accept it or not. They're doing it.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: So?
MR. KELLY: It is what it is. We don't like the practice.

May we be so bold as to offer you some advice, Mr. Kelly? If the United States doesn't like Israel's practices, then we should exert pressure on Israel to change its behavior. And the quickest and most effective way to do so is by ending U.S. military aid, which is misused by Israel in violation of U.S. law to kill and injure Palestinian civilians and sustain Israel's illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. Unfortunately what seems so obvious to us hasn't yet registered with the Obama Administration, which is why we need to organize to educate and build political support to put this policy option on the radar screen of our elected representatives.

Join nearly 1,300 people from 49 states (c'mon North Dakota, we know you're out there!) who have received an organizing packet from us filled with fact sheets, petitions, postcards, and stickers-everything you need to go out and organize in your community to build support for ending U.S. military aid to Israel. Sign up today to receive your organizing packet by clicking here.

We can't do this important organizing work without resources. Each organizing packet costs us about $10 in printing and shipping costs. If you value the crucial organizing work we're doing to challenge U.S. military aid to Israel, then please make a generous tax-deductible contribution to us today by clicking here.
Click here or on the map to the left to check out our interactive Google Earth map showing the locations of our nearly 1,300 organizers working to challenge U.S. military aid to Israel.

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Welcome back my Dearest friend, nice to see you again! Nice to read your thoughts too!

Soma say it's somehow calm now in Gaza, I see that in West Bank the old game is still going on.. No peace there, not even on this sacred month..

I read about the news a while ago, that Israeli soldiers are taking organs from dead Palestinians.. That would not surprise me.. That news was all the way in Sweden, in their news paper..

Tell me my friend, how is West Bank now? Still road blocks all over? Still raiding villages? Capturing people? Killing?

It's so nice to see you around again, I truly missed you alot!!

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It's been a couple of days since I got back home, to Palestine. It's strange how with all this traveling I almost forgot what "practically" it is like to be here, at the same time I can still remember every smell, every corner, every person and every land. The first month of my life out of Palestine I used to wake up every night at exactly 2:00 am because this is the usual time when Israeli soldiers enter our village, today and after almost a year away from home I woke up at 2:06 am but this time for a real event and not because of a biological clock. Four Israeli jeeps have entered our village. I woke up on the sound of the gun shots, at the beginning they were all the sounds of Israeli arms, then the shouts of some kids throwing stones and whistling rose up. When you hear that here, you hold your hands together close to your face and you pray with closed eyes and a smile hardly painted, it's the sound of resistance!

Usually and in about less than 30 minutes from now, some kids walk in the streets with drums to wake up people for sohour as it is ramadan, I don’t think they will be able to do that today, but even if they couldn’t do it everyone is already awake. All of the kids who were throwing stones are back to their homes now, I saw how they walk in the streets talking to each other about what happened and when we asked them "eash fe?" (what is going on?) they only said; "don’t worry, everything is going to be ok"… and that was enough for me. The ambulance passed by them in a very quiet way trying not to be a target in case the Israelis came back.

At this moment the recitation of Quran [surat Al-Emraan] continues from the minarets of all four mosques around us , with a loud sound that over comes all this, comforting us and reminding us of the hope that never dies. This is our Ramadan, this is our Palestine … and i'm back home, loving every step I take on this land and looking forward for the next!

و رجعنا يا فلسطين!

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Its Ramadan now. Gaza has been quiet after the Israelis left from there. Its nice. My friends there are studying and their life is somehow normal as what they know it.
Still many things are wrong. Like all the supplies for repairing their homes, medical supplies and daily things, but atleast they have peace now from killing! I hope it lasts :)

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August 23, 2009

A year ago, 44 of us saw the coastline of Gaza in the distance, after 30 hours of traveling across the Mediterranean Sea. We were jubilant. We had made it to Gaza. We had actually made it to Gaza. We had really, really made it to Gaza.

We had MADE IT TO GAZA.

From a distance, the shore looked like stalagmites had sprouted across the landscape. Every piece of sand, every section of pier, every chunk of rock was occupied by people. Thousands of Palestinians greeted us, blowing whistles and cheering and high-fiving each other. At first, just one small boat came out to greet us. Then every kind of vessel swarmed around our two small fishing boats, boys jumped in the water retrieving the balloons we had inflated, stuffing them inside their shirts and tying them onto their small boats. The balloons said FREE PALESTINE with a dove and an olive branch on them. They were in the colors of the Palestinian flag... white, red, green and black. Once we saw the shoreline, many of us had started to blow the balloons up, dropping them onto the deck of the boats, a small pool of bouncing color ready to be set free

On the sides of both boats were banners in English and Arabic... WE ARE COMING and END THE OCCUPATION

We motored into port, the flags of 17 countries flying from the halyards, the Palestinian flag the highest of them all.Fishermen climbed onto our boats trying to shake our hands and hug us. At one point, we worried that the boats would tip and toss us all into the port, but, just as our Greek partners had said, these boats were sturdy, even if they were not pretty.

Our seasickness disappeared. Our worry that we would be stopped by the Israeli Navy was gone. Most of us had not slept, and we no longer cared. Some of us women tried to comb our hair and put on lipstick, then realized no one minded that we looked haggard and messy. We had arrived.

The Palestinians of Gaza were overjoyed to see us. They had been waiting three weeks for us. They had waited 41 years for internationals to visit. And they had waited 60 years for Palestinians to return to Gaza without going through checkpoints, immigration and humiliation by Israeli and Egyptian authorities.

Much has been written over the past year about our dedication and determination to get to this small enclave, shut off from the rest of the world by Israel's draconian blockade. None of that was on our minds or in our hearts that day. For all of us, Palestinian and International, August 23, 2008 will be a day that none of us will ever forget. If we get discouraged, we pull out that memory. When our boats were rammed by the Israeli navy, we remember that day. When our boat was hijacked and our passengers kidnapped and thrown into prison by the Israelis, we are more determined to continue our missions.

We will return. We will come back. We will never forget.

Greta Berlin
Co-Founder, The Free Gaza Movement
www.freegaza.org

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These seven photos from the BBC clearly show why the Free Gaza movement will continue to send boats. The Palestinians of Gaza do not want handouts from the world. They want their freedom and they want the right to rebuild their shattered economy, shattered because Israel bombed them into the 18th century with the help of American money and support.

This "Silence of Shame" from the Americans, all of us, constitutes a willingness to participate in Israeli war crimes. It is up to us to contact our representatives, the President of the U.S., and our media to express our outrage over the slow-motion genocide of 1.5 million civilians in Gaza, enabled because we pay for it.

The world is beginning to see what Israel does. Supporting our voyages means that Palestinians in Gaza will have a route to the outside world that is not controlled by Israel or by their proxy, Egypt. It means they don't have to pay Israel or Egypt for supplies coming in, and they can export strawberries and flowers the way they once did, before Israel cruelly took everything away from them.

Sixty-one years of being refugees; forty-one years of depending on the international community... when will we say NO MORE to Israel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8154275.stm

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