BOYCOTT ISRAEL

• SUPPORT THE CALL FROM PALESTINIAN CIVIL SOCIETY FOR AN ECONOMIC, CULTURAL AND ACADEMIC BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL

• JOIN THE GROWING MOVEMENT IN THE UK CALLING FOR BOYCOTT

SPEAKER: MICK NAPIER (CHAIR, SCOTTISH PSC)

Thurs 5th Feb

7pm

Cavendish Lecture Theatre, Lancaster University

*********************************************************

Gaza: Understanding Recent Events

An opportunity to deepen our understanding and awareness of :

• The election of Hamas and Hamas in Gaza

• Israel's blockade of Gaza

• The immediate lead-up to the recent conflict

• Israel's conduct in Gaza in terms of international law
  
  

Speaker: Dr Victoria Mason, Richardson Institute for Peace Studies, Dept of Politics and International Relations, Lancaster University

MONDAY 9TH FEB

6PM

CAVENDISH LECTURE THEATRE

(Lancaster University)

From: red kimba <redkimba@...>
Subject: Israeli Citizens call for the Boycott of Israeli goods and institutions
To:
Date: Monday, 19 January, 2009, 1:58 AM

Dear friends,
please find below a call by conscientious Israelis who have called for a boycott of Israeli goods and institutions.   I have also included a copy of the call signed by 540 Israeli citizens mentioned by the signatories of the Letter to the Guardian.

Please consider how you, as well as your community group, school, university, church group, union or work place can join or assist the BDS campaign.

in solidarity,
Kim
www.livefromoccupiedpalestine.blogspot.com
www.directaction.org.au

 

• 
  

Letters

Words and deeds in the Middle East

• The Guardian, Saturday 17 January 2009

The leaders of the western world are wringing their hands in despair at the sight of the horrors inflicted on Gaza (Gaza crisis, 16 January). The UN general secretary, the French president and others are holding intensive discussions with some of the leaders of the Middle East in an attempt to put an end to the carnage in Gaza. Word, words, words.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian civilians get killed, thousands are bleeding to death, tens of thousands are uprooted and wandering in vain in search of some shelter to protect them. The Israeli army bombs hospitals and Unrwa relief centres, and, defying international convention, it uses white phosphorus bombs against civilians. "What else can we do?" these leaders keep asking. Well, here is what you can do: move from words to deeds. Only immediate, decisive and strict sanctions against the state of Israel and its limitless aggression will make it realise that there's a limit.

We, as Israeli citizens, raise our voices to call on EU leaders: use sanctions against Israel's brutal policies and join the active protests of Bolivia and Venezuela. We appeal to the citizens of Europe: please attend to the Palestinian Human Rights Organisation's call, supported by more than 540 Israeli citizens (www.freegaza.org/en/home/): boycott Israeli goods and Israeli institutions; follow resolutions such as those made by the cities of Athens, Birmingham and Cambridge (US). This is the only road left. Help us all, please!

Signatories (provided by authors -- onlay partial list appeared in the Guardian)

Gish Amit

Adv. Abeer Baker

Iris Bar

Yoram Bar Haim

Prof. Daphna Carmeli (Haifa University)

Prof. Yoram Carmeli (Haifa University)

Keren Dotan

Ronit Dovrat

Dr. Judith Druks (City University, London)

Rona Even

Dr. Ovadia Ezra (Tel Aviv University)

Prof. Rachel Giora (Tel Aviv University)

Neta Golan

Tamar Goldschmidt

Adar Grayevsky

Dalia Hager

Haim Hanegbi

Rosamine Hayeem

Ala Hlehel

Aya Kaniuk

Lana Khaskia

Prof. Vered Kraus (Haifa University)

Yael Lerer

Dr. Aim Deuel Luski (Tel Aviv University)

Eilat Maoz

Moshe Machover

Prof. Charles Manekin (University of Maryland)

Dr. Ruchama Marton

Dr. Anat Matar (Tel Aviv University)

Rela Mazali

Prof. Yitzhak Y. Melamed (John Hopkins University)

Dorothy Naor

Dr. David Nir

Annie Ohayon

Noam Paiola

Michal Peer

Sigal Perelman

Amit Perelson

Jonathan Pollak

Prof. Yehuda Shenhav (Tel Aviv University)

Dr. Kobi Snitz (Technion ā€“ Israel Institute of Technology)

Ruth Tenne

Adv. Lea Tsemel

Michael Varshavsky

Oded Wolkstein

Sergio Yahni

****
Sunday, 18 January 2009 20:10 Last Updated on Sunday, 18 January 2009 22:57
http://www.freegaza.org/en/home/658-a-call-from-within-signed-by-israeli-citizens

A Call from Within - signed by Israeli citizens

Written by 540 Israeli citizens

In support of the Palestinian Human Rights Community Call for International Action

As if the occupation was not enough, the brutal ongoing repression of the Palestinian population, the construction of settlements and the siege of Gaza - now comes the bombardment of the civilian population: men, women, old folks and children. Hundreds of dead, hundreds of injured, overwhelmed hospitals, and the central medicine depot of Gaza bombed. The ship Dignity of the Free Gaza movement which brought emergency medical supplies and a number of physicians was also attacked. Israel has returned to openly committing war crimes, worse than what we have seen in a long time.

Israeli media do not expose their viewers to the horrors and to the voices of severe criticism of these crimes. The story told is uniform. Israeli dissidents are denounced as traitors. Public opinion including that of the Zionist left supports the Israeli policy uncritically and without reservation.

Israel's destructive criminal policy will not cease without a massive intervention by the international community. However, except for some rather weak official condemnation, the international community is reluctant to intervene,. The United States openly supports the Israeli violence and Europe, although voicing some condemnation, is unwilling to seriously consider withdrawing the "gift" it handed Israel by upgrading its relations with the European Union.

In the past the world knew how to fight criminal policies. The boycott on South Africa was effective, but Israel is handled with kid gloves: its trade relations are flourishing, academic and cultural cooperation continue and intensify with diplomatic support.

This international backing must stop. That is the only way to stop the insatiable Israeli violence.

We are calling on the world to stop Israeli violence and not allow the continuation of the brutal occupation. We call on the world to Condemn and not become an accomplice in Israel's crimes.

In light of the above, we call on the world to implement the call by Palestinian human rights organizations which urges:

ā€¢ "The UN Security Council to call an emergency session and adopt concrete measures, including the imposition of sanctions, in order to ensure Israel's fulfillment of its obligations under international humanitarian law.
ā€¢ The High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfil their obligation under common Article 1 to ensure respect for the provisions of the Conventions, taking appropriate measures to compel Israel to abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular placing pivotal importance on the respect and protection of civilians from the effects of the hostilities.
ā€¢ The High Contracting Parties to fulfil their legal obligation under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to prosecute those responsible for grave breaches of the Convention.
ā€¢ EU institutions and member states to make effective use of the European Union Guidelines on promoting compliance with international humanitarian law (2005/C 327/04) to ensure Israel complies with international humanitarian law under paragraph 16 (b), (c) and (d) of these guidelines, including the adoption of immediate restrictive measures and sanctions, as well as cessation of all upgrade dialogue with Israel. "

Signed by 540 Israeli citizens (first list):

Avital Aboody, Sami Abu Shehadeh, Moshe Adler, Haim Adri, Gali Agnon, Bilha Aharoni, Hagit Aharoni, Saida Ahmed, Danny Aisner, Orna Akad, Aviv Aldema, Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, Joseph Algazy, Omer Allon, Dan Almagor, Orly Almi, Tali Almi, Tamar Almog, Udi Aloni, Yuli Aloni-Primor, Colman Altman, Janina Altman, Ahmad Amara, Eitan Amiel, Nitza Aminov, Gish Amit, Yossi Amitay, Naama Arbel, Tal Arbel, Rana Asali, Maisoon Assadi, Keren Assaf, Zohar Atai, Najla Atamnah, Rutie Atsmon, Michal Aviad, Hanna Aviram, Jasmin Avissar, Amira Bahat, Noam Bahat, Daniela Bak, Abeer Baker, Saleh Bakri, Rim Banna, Oshra Bar, Yoav Barak, Daphna Baram, Michal Bareket, Hila Bargiel, Ronny Bar-Gil, Yoram Bar-Haim, Ronnie Barkan, Osnat Bar-Or, Racheli Bar-or, Yossi Bartal, Raji Bathish, Dalit Baum, Shlomit Bauman, Esther Ben Chur, Hagit Ben Yaacov, Tal Ben Zvi, Yael Ben-Zvi, Avner Ben-Amos, Ronnen Ben-Arie, Ur Ben-Ari-Tishler, Ofra Ben-Artzi, Yotam Ben-David, Smadar Ben-Natan, Shmuel Ben Yitzchak, Avi Berg, Daniel Berger, Tamar Berger, Anat Biletzki, Itai Biran, Rotem Biran, Shany Birenboim, Rozeen Bisharat, Yafit Gamilah Biso, Liran Bitton, Simone Bitton, Yahaacov Bitton, Rani Bleier, Yempa Boleslavsky, Hagit Borer, Ido Bornstein, Irith Bouman, Haim Bresheeth, Aya Breuer, Shlomit Breuer, Dror Burstein, Smadar Bustan, Shai Carmeli-Pollak, Smadar Carmon, Zohar Chamberlain-Regev, Sami Shalom Chetrit, Chassia Chomsky-Porat, Arie Chupak, Isadora Cohen, Kfir Cohen, Matan Cohen, Nahoum Cohen, Raya Cohen, Ron Cohen, Stan Cohen, Yifat Cohen, Alex Cohn, Scandar Copti, Adi Dagan, Yael Dagan, Yasmeen Daher, Silan Dallal, Tamari Dallal, Leena Dallasheh, Eyal Danon, Uri Davis, Hilla Dayan, Relli De Vries, Maoz Degani, Ruti Divon, Diana Dolev, Yfat Doron, Ettie Dotan, Keren Dotan, Ronit Dovrat, Daniel Dukarevich, Arnon Dunetz, Maya Dunietz, Udi Edelman, Shai Efrati, Neta Efrony, Rani Einav, Asa Eitan, Danae Elon, Ruth El-Raz, Noam Enbar, Amalia Escriva, Anat Even, Gilad Evron, Ovadia Ezra, Basma Fahoum, Avner Faingulernt, Ghazi-Walid Falah, Naama Farjoun, Yvonne Fattal, Dror Feiler, Pnina Feiler, Micky Fischer, Sara Fischman, Nadav Franckovich, Ofer Frant, Ilil Friedman, Maya Galai, Dafna Ganani, Gefen Ganani, Yael Gazit, Yoram Gelman, Yakov Gilad, Amit Gilboa, Michal Ginach, Rachel Giora, Michal Givoni, Ednna Glukman, Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, Bilha Golan, Neta Golan, Shayi Golan, Tsilli Goldenberg, Vardit Goldner, Tamar Goldschmidt, Lymor Goldstein, Dina Goor, Shelley Goral, Joel Gordon, Ester Gould, Inbal Gozes, Inbal Gozes-Sharvit, Erella Grassiani, Adar Grayevsky, Gill Green, David Greenberg, Ela Greenberg, Dani Grimblat, Lev Grinberg, Yosef Grodzinsky, Hilik Gurfinkel, Galia Gur-Zeev, Anat Guthmann, Amos Gvirtz, Maya Gzn-Zvi, Yoav Haas, Iman Habibi, Connie Hackbarth, Uri Hadar, Mirjam Hadar Meerschwam, Rayya Haddad, Osnat Hadid, Dalia Hager, Tami Hager, Hava Halevi, Yasmine Halevi, Jeff Halper, Yuval Halperin, Rula Hamdan-Atamneh, Rania Hamed, Rola Hamed, Anat Hammermann Schuldiner, Doron Hammermann-Schuldiner, Ben Handler, Tal Haran, Elad Harel, Nir Harel, Shuli Hartman, Lihi Hasson, Amir Havkin, Shira Havkin, Amani Hawari, Areen Hawari, Iris Hefets, Ada Heilbronn, Ayelet Heller, Sara Helman, Ben Hendler, Aref Herbawi, Tamara Herman, Avi Hershkovitz, Yael Hersonski, Galit Hess, Hannan Hever, Ala Hlehel, Gil Hochberg, Tikva Honig-Parnass, Tikva Honig-Parnass, Inbar Horesh, Veronique Inbar, Rachel Leah Jones, Noga Kadaman, Ari Kahana, Dafna Kaminer, Aya Kaniuk, Ruti Kantor, Liad Kantorowicz, Dalia Karpel, Rabia Kassim, Amira Katz, Shai Katz, Uri Katz, Giora Katzin, Dror Kaufman, Adam Keller, Yehudit Keshet, Lana Khaskia, Efraim Kidron, Alisa Klein, Sylvia Klingberg, Yana Knopova, Ofra Koffman, Yael Korin, Alina Korn, Rinat Kotler, Meira Kowalsky, Noa Kram, Miki Kratsman, Rotem Kuehnberg, Assia Ladizhinskaya, Michal Lahav, Roni Lahav, Idan Landau, Yitzhak Laor, Orna Lavi, Ruti Lavi, Shaheen Lavie-Rouse, Yigal Laviv, Tamar Lehahn, Ronen Leibman, Miki Lentin, Ronit Lentin, Yael Lerer, Chava Lerman, Noa Lerner, Yair Lev, Yudith Levin, Abigail Levine, Eyal Levinson, Dana Levy, Inbal Lily-Koliner, Moran Livnat, Omri Livne, Amir Locker-Biletzki, Yael Locker-Biletzki, Yossi Loss, Yael Lotan, Guy Lougashi, Irit Lourie, Orly Lubin, Joseph Lubovsky, Aim Deuelle Luski, Naomi Lyth, Moshe Machover, Aryeh Magal, Liz Magnes, Noa Man, Ya'acov Manor, Arabiya Mansour, Roi Maor, Adi Maoz, Eilat Maoz, Yossi Marchaim, Alon Marcus, Esti Marpet, Ruchama Marton, Nur Masalha, Anat Matar, Doron Matar, Haggai Matar, Oren Matar, Samy Matar, Rela Mazali, Naama Meishar, Rachel Meketon, Yitzhak Y. Melamed, Remy Mendelzweig, Racheli Merhav, Yael Meron, Juliano Merr-Khamis, Esti Micenmacher, Maya Michaeli, Avraham Milgrom, Jeremy Milgrom, Elisheva Milikowski, Erez Miller, Katya Miller, Limor Mintz-Manor, Ariel Mioduser, Dror Mishani, Eedo Mizrahi, Avi Mograbi, Liron Mor, Magi Mor, Susan Mordechay, Susanne Moses, Haidi Motola, Ahuva Mu'alem, Ben Tzion Munitz, Norma Musih, Dorit Naaman, Michal Naaman, Gil Naamati, Haneen Naamnih, Naama Nagar, Dorothy Naor, Regev Nathansohn, Shelly Nativ, Salman Natour, Judd Ne'eman, Dana Negev, Smadar Nehab, Shlomit Lola Nehama, Ofer Neiman, David Nir, Eyal Nir, Tali Nir, Alex Nissen, Tal Nitzan, Joshua Nouriel, Yasmine Novak, Nira Nuriely, David Ofek, Tal Omer, Adi Ophir, Anat Or, Yael Oren Kahn, Norah Orlow, Gal Oron, Akiva Orr, Dorit Ortal, Noam Paiola, Il'il Paz-el, Michal Peer, Miko Peled, Nirit Peled, Nurit Peled-elhanan, Leiser Peles, Orna Pelleg, Tamar Pelleg-Sryck, Sigal Perelman, Amit Perelson, Nadav Pertzelan, Erez Pery, Tom Pessah, Dani Peter, Shira Pinhas, Yossi Pollak, Gil Porat, Dror Post, Eyal Pundik, Yisrael Puterman, Ilya Ram, Nery Ramati, Amit Ramon, Avi Raz, Ayala Raz, Hili Razinsky, Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, David Reeb, Hadas Refaeli, Shlomo Regev, Dimi Reider, Noa Reshef, Amit Ron, Roee Rosen, Illit Rosenblum, Maya Rosenfeld, Danny Rosin, Yehoshua Rosin, Ilana Rossoff, Ilani Rotem, Natalie Rothman, Areej Sabbagh, Ahmad Sa'di, Sidki Sadik, Walid Sadik, Hannah Safran, Hiba Salah, Sana Salame-Daqa, Galit Saporta, Sima Sason, Sagi Schaefer, Tali Schaefer, Oded Schechter, Agur Schiff, Nava Schreiber, Idit Schwartz, Michal Schwartz, Noa Schwartz, Eran Segal, Keren Segal, Irit Segoli, Irit Sela, Dan Seltzer, Yael Serry, Shaul Setter, Meir Shabat, Aharon Shabtai, Michal Shabtay, Itamar Shachar, Erella Shadmi, Ilan Shalif, Hanna Shammas, Ayala Shani, Uri Shani, Arik Shapira, Bat-Sheva Shapira, Yonatan Shapira, Omer Sharir, Yael Shavit, Noa Shay, Fadi Shbita, Adi Shechter, Oz Shelach, Adi Shelesnyak, Mati Shemoelof, Ehud Shem-Tov, Yehouda Shenhav, Nufar Shimony, Khen Shish, Hagith Shlonsky, Tom Shoval, Sivan Shtang, Tal Shuval, Ivy Sichel, Ayman Sikseck, Shelly Silver, Inbal Sinai, Eyal Sivan, Ora Slonim, Kobi Snitz, Maja Solomon, Gideon Spiro, Neta Stahl, Talila Stan, Michal Stoler, Ali Suliman, Dored Suliman, Marcelo Svirsky, Yousef Sweid, Ula Tabari, Yael Tal, Lana Tatour, Doron Tavory, Ruth Tenne, Idan Toledano, Eran Torbiner, Osnat Trabelsi, Lily Traubmann, Naama Tsal, Lea Tsemel, Ruth Tsoffar, Ehud Uziel, Ivan Vanney, Sahar Vardi, Roman Vater, Ruth Victor, Yaeli Vishnizki-Levi, Roey Vollman, Roy Wagner, Michael Warschawski, Michal Warshavsky, Ruthy Weil, Sharon Weill, Shirly Weill, Elian Weizman, Eyal Weizman, Einat Weizman Diamond, Elana Wesley, Etty Wieseltier, Yossi Wolfson, Oded Wolkstein, Ayelet Yaari, Smadar Yaaron, Roni Yaddor, Sarah Yafai, Galia Yahav, Sergio Yahni, Niza Yanay, Amnon Yaron, Tamar Yaron, Mahmoud Yazbak, Oren Yiftachel, Sarit Yitzhak, Sharon Zack, Uri Zackhem, Jamal Zahalka, Sawsan Zaher, Adva Zakai, Edna Zaretsky, Beate Zilversmidt, Amal Zoabi, Haneen Zoubi, Himmat Zu'bi, Mati Zuckerman

Contact: gazabfw@...

--
There will be a day for the oppressor when he will be crushed like garlic - Palestinian proverb.

Some came and took our land, forced us to leave, forced us to live in camps. I think this is terrorism. Using means to resist this terrorism and stop its effects - this is called struggle." ā€” Leila Khaled

Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere... and remember also that there is a cause to which many people have committed themselves, difficulties and terrible obstacles notwithstanding. Why? Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest for equality and human rights - Edward Said

From: Rory <youllneverwalkalone@...>
Subject: Picket Llyods TSB for supporting Israeli war crimes
To: city-watch@..., lancarc@...
Date: Thursday, 8 January, 2009, 2:36 PM

Picket Llyods TSB this Saturday for their complicity in Israeli war crimes.

On Saturday 10th 9am there will be a picket of our local branch of Llyods TSB 
on Market Street in Lancaster. The branch is open at 9am and closes at 1pm. 
Please come by and show your solidarity even for a little while. At 11.30am 
in the Market Square there is a vigil in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Interpal is a UK charity aiding the besieged
 people of Palestine. Llyods TSB 
closed its account with Interpal in December 2008 and refuses to say why. 

According to the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, ā€œby hitting 
Interpalā€™s banking facilities, Lloyds TSB aims to support Israel by shutting 
off the trickle of aid that Interpal has managed to get into occupied 
Palestine over the years of Israelā€™s brutal siege.ā€ Llyods TSB is helping
the 
Israeli murder machine by cutting off aid to those in desperate need. 

In a world where transnational capital is the only policy maker, the way to 
effect change is to hit them where it hurts. We need explain to their 
costumers what Llyods TSB are doing and support them in taking their business 
elsewhere.  

Lloyds TSB Chairman, Sir Victor Blank, is a governor of Tel Aviv University, 
Chair of the Union of Jewish Students/Hillel, a member of the Advisory Board 
of the United Jewish Israel
 Appeal and is involved in Labour Friends of 
Israel. One Lloyds TSB director, Sir David Manning, is an ex-ambassador to 
both Israel and the USA and was Foreign Policy Adviser to Tony Blair during 
the planning for the invasion of Iraq. 

For back story and more information on current the campaign follow these 
links, 
ā€˜Buy more stuff to save the planetā€™ website blog article
www.ethicalconsumer.org/Default.aspx?tabid=62&EntryID=262

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign   
www.scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2739&Itemid=200128

For more details or to help with preparation ring Rory 07912 679 761

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From: red kimba <redkimba@...>
Subject: report from Gaza - Gaza today: 'This is only the beginning'
To:
Date: Sunday, 28 December, 2008, 2:44 AM

Dear friends,
please find below a report by Ewa Jasiewicz from the Free Gaza Movement on the bombing of Gaza and the devastation caused.

The current causalty toll is now 230 dead and more than 700 injured (about half critically) and still rising.

Israel has declared Gaza a "special military zone".  According to the Palestinian news agency, Maan News: "The classification is one degree below a declaration of total war against an enemy state".

The Israeli media are also reporting that this is the largest number of Palestinians killed in a Israeli military offensive since 1967.

Emergency rallies are being organised across the world to denounce Israel's barbaric massacre of hundreds of Palestinian civilians.

Please join the rallies in your towns and cities, or if there is none scheduled as yet, please consider organising one and stand in solidarity with the Palestnian people of Gaza. 

Now more than ever we need to raise our voices and say no to Israel military agression and stand up for human rights and justice for the Palestinian people.

in solidarity, Kim
www.livefromoccupiedpalestine.blogspot.com
www.directaction.org.au

*******


Gaza today: 'This is only the beginning'
By Ewa Jasiewicz

As I write this, Israeli jets are bombing the areas of Zeitoun and Rimal
in central Gaza City. The family I am staying with has moved into the
internal corridor of their home to shelter from the bombing. The windows
nearly blew out just five minutes ago as a massive explosion rocked the
house. Apache's are hovering above us, whilst F16s sear overhead.

UN radio reports say one blast was a target close to the main gate of Al
Shifa hospital ā€“ Gaza and Palestine's largest medical facility. Another
was a plastics factory. More bombs continue to pound the Strip.

Sirens are wailing on the streets outside. Regular power cuts that plunge
the city into blackness every night and tonight is no exception. Only
perhaps tonight it is the darkest night people have seen here in their
lifetimes.

Over 220 people have been killed and over 400 injured through attacks that
shocked the strip in the space 15 minutes. Hospitals are overloaded and
unable to cope. These attacks come on top of existing conditions of
humanitarian crisis: a lack of medicines, bread, flour, gas, electricity,
fuel and freedom of movement.

Doctors at Shifaa had to scramble together 10 make shift operating
theatres to deal with the wounded. The hospital's maternity ward had to
transform their operating room into an emergency theatre. Shifaa only had
12 beds in their intensive care unit, they had to make space for 27 today.

There is a shortage of medicine ā€“ over 105 key items are not in stock, and
blood and spare generator parts are desperately needed.

Shifaa's main generator is the life support machine of the entire
hospital. It's the apparatus keeping the ventilators and monitors and
lights turned on that keep people inside alive. And it doesn't have the
spare parts it needs, despite the International Committee for the Red
Cross urging Israel to allow it to transport them through Erez checkpoint.

Shifaa's Head of Casualty, Dr Maowiye Abu Hassanyeh explained, 'We had
over 300 injured in over 30 minutes. There were people on the floor of the
operating theatre, in the reception area, in the corridors; we were
sending patients to other hospitals. Not even the most advanced hospital
in the world could cope with this number of casualties in such a short
space of time.'

And as IOF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenaz said this
morning, 'This is only the beginning.'

But this isn't the beginning, this is an ongoing policy of collective
punishment and killing with impunity practised by Israel for decades. It
has seen its most intensified level today. But the weight of dread,
revenge and isolation hangs thick over Gaza today. People are all asking:
If this is only the beginning, what will the end look like?

11.30am
Myself and Alberto Acre, a Spanish journalist, had been on the border
village of Sirej near Khan Younis in the south of the strip. We had driven
there at 8am with the mobile clinic of the Union of Palestinian Relief
Committees. The clinic regularly visits exposed, frequently raided
villages far from medical facilities.  We had been interviewing residents
about conditions on the border. Stories of olive groves and orange groves,
family farmland, bulldozed to make way for a clear line of sight for
Israeli occupation force watch towers and border guards. Israeli attacks
were frequent. Indiscriminate fire and shelling spraying homes and land on
the front line of the south eastern border. One elderly farmer showed us
the grave-size ditch he had dug to climb into when Israeli soldiers would
shoot into his fields.

Alberto was interviewing a family that had survived an Israeli missile
attack on their home last month. It had been a response to rocket fire
from resistance fighters nearby. Four fighters were killed in a field by
the border. Israel had rained rockets and M16 fire back. The family,
caught in the crossfire, have never returned to their home.

I was waiting for Alberto to return when ground shaking thuds tilted us
off our feet. This was the sound of surface to air fired missiles and F16
bombs slamming into the police stations, and army bases of the Hamas
authority here. In Gaza City , in Diere Balah, Rafah, Khan Younis, Beit
Hanoon.

We zoomed out of the village in our ambulance, and onto the main road to
Gaza City , before jumping out to film the smouldering remains of a police
station in Diere Balah, near Khan Younis. Its' name - meaning 'place of
dates' - sounds like the easy semi-slang way of saying 'take care', Diere
Bala, Diere Balak ā€“ take care.

Eyewitnesses said two Israeli missiles had destroyed the station. One had
soared through a children's playground and a busy fruit and vegetable
market before impacting on its target.

Civilians Dead
There was blood on a broken plastic yellow slide, and a crippled, dead
donkey with an upturned vegetable cart beside it. Aubergines and
splattered blood covered the ground. A man began to explain in broken
English what had happened. 'It was full here, full, three people dead,
many many injured'. An elderly man with a white kuffiyeh around his head
threw his hands down to his blood drenched trousers. 'Look! Look at this!
Shame on all governments, shame on Israel, look how they kills us, they
are killing us and what does the world do? Where is the world, where are
they, we are being killed here, hell upon them!' He was a market trader,
present during the attack.

He began to pick up splattered tomatoes he had lost from his cart, picking
them up jerkily, and putting them into plastic bags, quickly. Behind a
small tile and brick building, a man was sitting against the wall, his
legs were bloodied. He couldn't get up and was sitting, visibly in pain
and shock, trying to adjust himself, to orientate himself.

The police station itself was a wreck, a mess of criss-crossed piles of
concrete ā€“ broken floors upon floors. Smashed cars and a split palm tree
split the road.

We walked on, hurriedly, with everyone else, eyes skyward at four apache
helicopters ā€“ their trigger mechanisms supplied by the UK 's
Brighton-Based EDM Technologies. They were dropping smoky bright flares ā€“
a defence against any attempt at Palestinian missile retaliation.

Turning down the road leading to the Diere Balah Civil Defence Force
headquarters we suddenly saw a rush of people streaming across the road.
'They've been bombing twice, they've been bombing twice' shouted people.

We ran too, but towards the crowds and away from what could possibly be
target number two, 'a ministry building' our friend shouted to us. The
apaches rumbled above.

Arriving at the police station we saw the remains of a life at work
smashed short. A prayer matt clotted with dust, a policeman's hat, the
ubiquitous bright flower patterned mattresses, burst open. A crater around
20 feet in diameter was filled with pulverised walls and floors and a
motorbike, tossed on its' side, toy-like in its' depths.

Policemen were frantically trying to get a fellow worker out from under
the rubble. Everyone was trying to call him on his Jawwal. 'Stop it
everyone, just one, one of you ring' shouted a man who looked like a
captain. A fire licked the underside of an ex-room now crushed to just 3
feet high. Hands alongside hands rapidly grasped and threw back rocks,
blocks and debris to reach the man.

We made our way to the Al Aqsa Hospital. Trucks and cars loaded with the
men of entire families ā€“ uncles, nephews, brothers ā€“ piled high and
speeding to the hospital to check on loved ones, horns blaring without
interruption.

Hospitals on the brink
Entering Al Aqsa was overwhelming, pure pandemonium, charged with grief,
horror, distress, and shock. Limp blood covered and burnt bodies streamed
by us on rickety stretchers. Before the morgue was a scrum, tens of
shouting relatives crammed up to its open double doors. 'They could not
even identify who was who, whether it is their brother or cousin or who,
because they are so burned' explained our friend. Many were transferred,
in ambulances and the back of trucks and cars to Al Shifa Hospital.

The injured couldn't speak. Causality after casualty sat propped against
the outside walls outside, being comforted by relatives, wounds
temporarily dressed. Inside was perpetual motion and the more drastically
injured. Relatives jostled with doctors to bring in their injured in
scuffed blankets. Drips, blood streaming faces, scorched hair and shrapnel
cuts to hands, chests, legs, arms and heads dominated the reception area,
wards and operating theatres.

We saw a bearded man, on a stretcher on the floor of an intensive care
unit, shaking and shaking, involuntarily, legs rigid and thrusting
downwards. A spasm coherent with a spinal chord injury. Would he ever walk
again or talk again? In another unit, a baby girl, no older than six
months, had shrapnel wounds to her face. A relative lifted a blanket to
show us her fragile bandaged leg. Her eyes were saucer-wide and she was
making stilted, repetitive, squeaking sounds.

A first estimate at Al Aqsa hospital was 40 dead and 120 injured. The
hospital was dealing with casualties from the bombed market, playground,
Civil Defence Force station, civil police station and also the traffic
police station. All leveled. A working day blasted flat with terrifying
force.

At least two shaheed (martyrs) were carried out on stretchers out of the
hospital. Lifted up by crowds of grief-stricken men to the graveyard to
cries of 'La Illaha Illa Allah,' there is not god but Allah.

Who cares?
And according to many people here, there is nothing and nobody looking out
for them apart from God. Back in Shifa Hospital tonight, we meet the
brother of a security guard who had had the doorway he had been sitting in
and the building ā€“ Abu Mazen's old HQ - fall down upon his head. He said
to us, 'We don't have anyone but God. We feel alone. Where is the world?
Where is the action to stop these attacks?'

Majid Salim, stood beside his comatosed mother, Fatima. Earlier today she
had been sitting at her desk at work ā€“ at the Hadije Arafat Charity, near
Meshtal, the Headquarters of the Security forces in Gaza City. Israel's
attack had left her with multiple internal and head injuries, tube down
her throat and a ventilator keeping her alive. Majid gestured to her, 'We
didn't attack Israel, my mother didn't fire rockets at Israel. This is the
biggest terrorism, to have our mother bombarded at work'.

The groups of men lining the corridors of the over-stretched Shifaa
hospital are by turns stunned, agitated, patient and lost. We speak to one
group. Their brother had both arms broken and has serious facial and head
injuries. 'We couldn't recognise his face, it was so black from the
weapons used' one explains. Another man turns to me and says. 'I am a
teacher. I teach human rights ā€“ this is a course we have, 'human rights'.
He pauses. 'How can I teach, my son, my children, about the meaning of
human rights under these conditions, under this siege?'

It's true, UNRWA and local government schools have developed a Human
Rights syllabus, teaching children about international law, the Geneva
Conventions, the International Declaration on Human Rights, The Hague
Regulations. To try to develop a culture of human rights here, to help
generate more self confidence and security and more of a sense of dignity
for the children. But the contradiction between what should be adhered to
as a common code of conducted signed up to by most states, and the
realities on the ground is stark. International law is not being applied
or enforced with respect to Israeli policies towards the Gaza Strip, or on
'48 Palestine, the West Bank, or the millions of refugees living in camps
in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

How can a new consciousness and practice of human rights ever graduate
from rhetoric to reality when everything points to the contrary ā€“ both
here and in Israel ? The United Nations have been spurned and shut out by
Israel , with Richard Falk the UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights
held prisoner at Ben Gurion Airport before being unceremoniously deported
this month ā€“ deliberately blinded to the abuses being carried out against
Gaza by Israel . An international community which speaks empty phrases on
Israeli attacks 'we urge restraintā€¦minimise civilian casualties'.

The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated regions on the planet.
In Jabbaliya camp alone, Gaza 's largest, 125,000 people are crowded into
a space 2km square. Bombardment by F16s and Apaches at 11.30 in the
morning, as children leave their schools for home reveals a contempt for
civilian safety as does the 18 months of a siege that bans all imports and
exports, and has resulted in the deaths of over 270 people as a result of
a lack of access to essential medicines.

A light
There is a saying here in Gaza ā€“ we spoke about it, jokily last night. 'At
the end of the tunnelā€¦there is another tunnel'. Not so funny when you
consider that Gaza is being kept alive through the smuggling of food, fuel
and medicine through an exploitative industry of over 1000 tunnels running
from Egypt to Rafah in the South. On average 1-2 people die every week in
the tunnels. Some embark on a humiliating crawl to get their education,
see their families, to find work, on their hands and knees. Others are
reportedly big enough to drive through.

Last night I added a new ending to the saying. 'At the end of the tunnel,
there is another tunnel and then a power cut'. Today, there's nothing to
make a joke about. As bombs continue to blast buildings around us, jarring
the children in this house from their fitful sleep, the saying could take
on another twist. After today's killing of over 200, is it that at the end
of the tunnel, there is another tunnel, and then a grave?', or a wall of
international governmental complicity and silence?

There is a light through, beyond the sparks of resistance and solidarity
in the West Bank, '48 and the broader Middle East. This is a light of
conscience turned into activism by people all over the world. We can turn
a spotlight onto Israel's crimes against humanity and the enduring
injustice here in Palestine, through coming out onto the streets and
pressurizing our governments; demanding an end to Israeli apartheid and
occupation, broadening our call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, and
for a genuine Just Peace.

Through institutional, governmental and popular means, this can be a light
at the end of the Gazan tunnel.
-----

Ewa Jasiewicz is an experienced journalist, community and union organizer,
and solidarity worker. She is currently Gaza Project Co-coordinator for
the Free Gaza Movement.

http://www.FreeGaza.org

--
There will be a day for the oppressor when he will be crushed like garlic - Palestinian proverb.

Some came and took our land, forced us to leave, forced us to live in camps. I think this is terrorism. Using means to resist this terrorism and stop its effects - this is called struggle." ā€” Leila Khaled

Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere... and remember also that there is a cause to which many people have committed themselves, difficulties and terrible obstacles notwithstanding. Why? Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest for equality and human rights - Edward Said

From: red kimba <redkimba@...>
Subject: SS Dignity to enter Gaza waters: Israel threatening to stop boat
To:
Date: Wednesday, 29 October, 2008, 3:55 AM

Dear comrades, friends and supporters,

as many you know a group of dedicated activists and human rights workers recently broke the siege of Gaza by boat. 

A third boat, the SS Dignity, is currently en-route to Gaza with 27 passengers including Nobel Peace winner, Mairead Maquire, Palestinian legislator, Mustafa Barghouti and several doctors who are planning to work in Gaza to assist with the humanitarian crisis which has resulted from Israel's ongoing occupation and siege of the small coastal region.

Israel is threatening to stop the boat and not let them through (Please see report below the releases and info from Free Gaza Movement).

According to a recent email from Greta Berlin, the FGM media coordinator,  the SS Dignity should reach the spot where they are expecting the Israeli military to try and stop th boats within the next hour.

This is a crucial time for the SS Dignity and as much media and support internationally is needed (please consider if you can organise solidarity actions, write letters to your papers, local political representatives, Israeli embassies in your country etc).

The Free Gaza Movement is also in need of financial support.  For more information visit their website at www.freegaza.org

In solidarity, Kim

www.livefromoccupiedpalestine.blogspot.com

***

October 28, 2008

Contact: Greta Berlin, Cyprus: +357 99 08 17 67
Angela Godfrey Goldstein, Jerusalem: +972 547 366 393
Huwaida Arraf (on Dignity): +357 96723 999 /+357 96780 329


---
This morning, the Free Gaza Movement was informed through the media that the Israeli Navy is threatening to forcibly stop the Dignity from entering Gaza tomorrow morning. Israel has not bothered to inform us of a legitimate reason for preventing us from delivering medical supplies, doctors, lawyers, and prominent human rights advocates to the Gaza Strip. Indeed, Israel has not bothered to communicate with us at all.

We are returning to Gaza for exactly the same reasons we came in August: to deliver medical supplies, meet with civil society organizations, volunteer in hospitals, and visit Palestinians who have requested our presence.

According to Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza spokesperson and law lecturer at al-Quds University in Jerusalem: "The Dignity is carrying 27 unarmed civilians, as well as a ton of urgently needed medical supplies. We will be sailing from Cypriot territorial waters to international waters, directly into Gaza territorial waters. We do not pose a 'security threat' to Israel, we
will not be going anywhere near Israeli waters, and therefore, Israel does not have any legal right to violently disrupt our mission."

The Free Gaza Movement would like to make it clear that we do not wish nor do we seek any confrontation with Israel. We have already invited Israeli Director General of the Foreign Ministry, Aharon Abramovitz, and Defence Minister Ehud Barak to join us on our voyage as long as they remain non-violent. In August, we invited Tzipi Livni to accompany us.

We would like to extend this invitation to any member of the Israel Knesset:
"If you are legitimately concerned about our mission, or if you wish to educate yourself on the devastating effects of Israel's policies of collective punishment against the families of the Gaza Strip, join us in breaking this brutal siege, sail with us to Gaza, and learn first hand
what Israeli violence has done to the civilian population of Gaza."

Mairead Maguire, the winner of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize and one of the passengers aboard the Dignity, stated: "The people of Gaza are part of our human family. The Israeli government cannot cut off Gaza forever. We will come again and again until we reach our family. We go to visit our family, and the Israeli government has no right to stop us."

The 27 unarmed civilians sailing aboard the Dignity represent 13 different countries. We are doctors, lawyers, teachers, and human rights advocates. We are Christians, Muslims, Jews, and agnostics. It would be ignorant and outrageous for Israel to use violence against us, and we are reminded at this moment of a message from the Qur'an:

"And the servants of God most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, 'Peace!'"
Qur'an 25:63

 

 

If any of you reading these updates can put pressure on your governments, here are the names of the crew and passengers and their countries.

Denis Healey, Captain, UK
George Klontzas, First Mate, Greece
Derek Graham, Crew, Ireland
Nikoals Bolos, Crew, Ireland

Ali Al Jabar, Al Jazeera, Qatar
Ghazi Abourashad, Holland
Dr. Mohammed Alshubashi, Germany
Huwaida Arraf, attorney, US
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Palestine
Audrey Bomse attorney, US
Renee Bowyer, Australia
Caoimhe Butterly, Ireland
Rod Cox, UK
Guisippe Fallisi, Italy
Marco Giusti, Italy
Dr. Ibrahim Hamami, UK
Ramzi Kysia, US
Alan Lonergan, Ireland
Mairead Maguire, Ireland
Lubna Masarwa, Israel
Vilma Mazza, Italy
Theresa McDermott, UK
Amir Siddiq, Al Jazeera, Sudan
Gideon Spiro, Israel
Dr. Jock McDougall, UK

****
Haaretz http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1032271.html

Last update - 03:16 29/10/2008

Israel vows to prevent second protest boat from reaching Gaza shore

By Barak Ravid

Tags: Gaza Strip, protest boat

Israel has decided to prevent an additional group of left-wing activists from reaching Gaza by sea. About 20 passengers, most of them members of the Free Gaza organization, are expected to set sail for the Strip on Wednesday from Cyprus. MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) will most likely be aboard along with 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan. Two months ago, members of the organization sailed from Cyprus to Gaza under the slogan "breaking the blockade." The Prime Minister's Office and Foreign Ministry viewed the move as a provocative propaganda stunt, intended to provoke a confrontation with the IDF. A day before the boat was to arrive at the shores of Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak held a consultation and decided to allow the boat to reach land - and thereby block the activists' plans to create an international incident. Nevertheless, in discussions held over the past few weeks between the PMO, Foreign Ministry and the IDF, it was decided that this time the boat would not be allowed to reach Gaza. "The first time we wanted to prevent a provocation, but if it is to become a routine, then we will have to make it clear we will not allow it," said a senior official in Jerusalem. Egypt also prevented the sailing of a similar ship a few weeks ago from Alexandria to Gaza. The Israel Navy will stop the activists' vessel once it reaches Israel's territorial waters, it was decided. If the ship turns around, then the IDF will not use any force. However, if the activists decide to sail on toward Gaza, the IDF will take control of the ship, by force if necessary, and tow it to Ashdod port. The activists will be arrested for illegal entry and will be deported to Cyprus or to their home countries. The left-wing activists were scheduled to set sail yesterday, but they were delayed by bad weather. If the weather improves, they will leave today. The ship's passengers are to including a number of journalists, including from international networks such as Al Jazeera.

--
There will be a day for the oppressor when he will be crushed like garlic - Palestinian proverb.

Some came and took our land, forced us to leave, forced us to live in camps. I think this is terrorism. Using means to resist this terrorism and stop its effects - this is called struggle." ā€” Leila Khaled

Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere... and remember also that there is a cause to which many people have committed themselves, difficulties and terrible obstacles notwithstanding. Why? Because it is a just cause, a noble ideal, a moral quest for equality and human rights - Edward Said

From: Alys Jenkins <alysjenkins@...>
Subject: [psclancaster] Feb- week of action for Gaza- ideas/interest wanted!
To: "Fayez Almari" <fayez86_a@...>, "davey" <thunderelf@...>, "psclancaster" <psclancaster@...>
Date: Thursday, October 23, 2008, 2:50 AM

Hi everyone
got a call from Waleed yesterday to see if Lancaster people would be up for joining a week of action/awareness raising in Feb, in solidarity with people of Gaza.

Ideas I had, which would be fairly easy to organise are to ask Musheir from Sheffield to give a talk about his recent trip on free gaza boat, and to see if it was poss through Atef to try & do a live video/voice link with people in Gaza

Waleed is wanting a response asap indicating if we are interested in doing something. Can people let me know what they think????

cheers, alys x

--- On Wed, 22/10/08, waleed kamal <wwkamal@hotmail. com> wrote:

> From: waleed kamal <wwkamal@hotmail. com>
> Subject: End the Gaza Seige
> To: "Alys Jenkins" <alysjenkins@ yahoo.co. uk>
> Date: Wednesday, 22 October, 2008, 8:35 PM
> Alys,, Below is a summary of what we have discussed earlier
> on the phone: The European Campaign to End the Siege on
> Gaza are aiming to carry out a national week for breaking
> the siege on Gaza. I was asked to check the availability of
> all groups (local and students) to sense if we have enough
> participation. Once we get responses, we can call all the
> groups for a meeting in order to discuss what is it we can
> do during that week. We are expected to do it in february
> for it gives us enough time to plan, and it is the best
> month for students as they all finish their exams. Groups
> are free to choose how many days would they like to do
> depending on their capabilities. If you can discuss it with
> people and let me know how many groups do you think are
> willing to participate, let me know and we will contact them
> to arrange for a meeting all together to discuss the
> contents. I would appreciate if you get back to me within a
> week. Kind regards, Waleed
> ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
> Discover Bird's Eye View now with Multimap from Live
> Search
> http://clk.atdmt. com/UKM/go/ 111354026/ direct/01/

From: Alys Jenkins <alysjenkins@...>
Subject: [psclancaster] planning for Hedy's talk
To: "psclancaster" <psclancaster@...>
Date: Friday, September 5, 2008, 8:02 AM

Hi
this is just a quick fill in form last night's meeting, most of which we spoke about arrangements for Hedy coming.

Both Annie & I will be away by the time she comes, so am trying to make sure things get divided out & not too much falls to Patrick.

We are hoping to have a meeting in the afternoon she is here (11th Oct), inviting varoius people who potentailly have some influence (councillors, trade union activists, church leaders, activists etc), from 3-4.30pm, offering the chance for dialogue. This still needs to be confirmed, but if it goes ahead then :
- Sue- we wondered if you would be up for chairing/facilitati ng meeting (hopefully 10-15 people)
- Valerie- we wondered if you would be up for doing teas & coffees (there is kitchen at cathedral social centre)

Publicity: Cathedral will do press relaese & a poster. But we plan to do an additional poster to reach people who are probably not going to see theirs. Need people to volunteer to put posters up.

Hosting:
Patrick will pick Hedy up from Manchester & should be in Lancaster by 12 noon. Valerie- is it ok for her to come directly to your house then, so she can relax and have lunch with you (& maybe a walk in the park). Patrick has agreed to do driving her around for day. Then she'll go to afternoon meeting, then need to figure out dinner arrangeemnts. Given her age I think we need to make sure she has enough time to chill & relax, so I'm thinking its probably better to have her back to your house Valerie for dinner, rather then going out. What do people think? Can anyone offer to do any of the cooking, so it doesn't all come to Valerie?

be great if people could respond to this on the list
ta
x