Andra Jackson, The Age, 25 August 2008
Two peace ships organised by a Melbourne man, Michael Shaik, have broken through Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The ships, the SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty, set out from Cyprus on Friday with dozens of human rights activists from around the world, carrying children's hearing aids to the Palestinian territory.
Two years of planning went into running the blockade after Mr Shaik came up with the idea of challenging Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement and access to basic services.
Israel, with US backing and Egyptian help, has controlled entry and exit from Gaza since its withdrawal in 2005, but virtually sealed off its 1.5 million people last summer after the militant Islamists Hamas put down a Fatah coup attempt.
Those on the Greek-flagged ships included Eliza Ernshire, 32, of Newcastle, NSW, Israeli human rights activist Jeff Halper and journalist Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former British prime minister and current Middle East envoy Tony Blair.
"We will surely try to bring the boats back again," activist Huwaida Arraf said. "The goal is to open a route between Cyprus and Gaza. People here are just ecstatic to see that someone cares."
At one stage on the 30-hour trip the navigation and communications systems on both ships failed. Some activists accused Israel of jamming the systems, which Israel denied.
But despite the Israeli authorities warning it would treat them as pirates, the ships were allowed to enter Gaza's harbour.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Aviv Shiron said: "They wanted provocation at sea, but they won't get it. We know who the passengers are and what they are bringing with them and so we have no problem letting them through."
A 2000-strong crowd turned out to greet the ships as they sailed into Gaza Port on Saturday night.
Speaking to London's Times , Ms Booth challenged Mr Blair to "show some guts" and visit Gaza to witness the suffering of its inhabitants.
Mr Shaik, 39, a former Defence Department employee and now a full-time advocate for the Melbourne-based lobby group Australians for Palestine, yesterday hailed the ships' arrival as "a great victory for human rights and international law".
"Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip is one of the great crimes of the 21st century, which the governments of the West and the Arab League are abetting by their silence," he said.
Thousands of activists from around the world have so far raised $70,000 towards the purchase of the ships, which would be retained to take goods to and from Gaza, Mr Shaik said.
With LOS ANGELES TIMES
Showing posts with label gaza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gaza. Show all posts
Monday, 25 August 2008
Inside Story - The Gaza blockade
Inside story - The Gaza blockade
Part 1
Part 2
Activists arrive in the Gaza strip to stress the plight of the people in that area. Is this the beginning of a process to end the siege?
Part 1
Part 2
Activists arrive in the Gaza strip to stress the plight of the people in that area. Is this the beginning of a process to end the siege?
Jeff Halper: 'Ordinary people can do something'
The view from the boat
Ofri Ilani, Ha'aretz, August 25, 2008
Haaretz spoke last night by phone with Jeff Halper, an Israeli professor who was among the activists who sailed to Gaza.
"We proved that ordinary people can do something and succeed," he said. "Even Tony Blair can't go to Gaza, but ordinary people with drive can. The welcome was amazing. There were tens of thousands of people. People came out in boats and on windsurfers to meet us. Children swam out to sea and flashed the victory sign. I feel like we're fresh air entering a prison where a million and half people are living.
"I tell myself: We're in the modern world, the 21st century, and yet such excitement - over what? Over something we take for granted, that two boats arrived. Here it's a national holiday. Their isolation is so complete," he said.
Halper said that Gazans were eager to speak Hebrew with him, and to reminisce about the years they spent working in Israel. "Our impression that Gaza is Hamas, that there is only hatred there, is mistaken," he said, adding that he learned that "we are more of an obstacle to peace than the Palestinians."
Ofri Ilani, Ha'aretz, August 25, 2008
Haaretz spoke last night by phone with Jeff Halper, an Israeli professor who was among the activists who sailed to Gaza.
"We proved that ordinary people can do something and succeed," he said. "Even Tony Blair can't go to Gaza, but ordinary people with drive can. The welcome was amazing. There were tens of thousands of people. People came out in boats and on windsurfers to meet us. Children swam out to sea and flashed the victory sign. I feel like we're fresh air entering a prison where a million and half people are living.
"I tell myself: We're in the modern world, the 21st century, and yet such excitement - over what? Over something we take for granted, that two boats arrived. Here it's a national holiday. Their isolation is so complete," he said.
Halper said that Gazans were eager to speak Hebrew with him, and to reminisce about the years they spent working in Israel. "Our impression that Gaza is Hamas, that there is only hatred there, is mistaken," he said, adding that he learned that "we are more of an obstacle to peace than the Palestinians."
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Reuters cameraman talks to Al Jazeera
April 17, 2008
Fadl Shanaa, who was killed by an Israeli missile on April 16, spoke to Al Jazeera in February.
He was interviewed as part of a series called 'Shoot the Messenger' that focuses on the increased dangers that journalists are facing in covering the story. He had survived an Israeli air raid in 2006.
Palestinians killed in Israeli raids into Gaza
April 16, 2008
More than 20 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip as Israel unleashed military strikes and troops moved into the centre of the territory.
A journalist was also killed in the attacks.
It makes 16 April one of the deadliest days in Gaza for weeks.
But army leaders say the operations were routine and aimed against fighters suspected of launching rockets into southern Israel.
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Jerusalem.
Monday, 31 March 2008
Gaza one of the top ten most dangerous places in the world
Stories for Monday, 31 March 2008
Produced by Kate Pinnock, THE WIRE
Listen HERE
The Gaza strip and the West Bank are ranked in the top ten of the worlds most unstable and dangerous areas, according to Jane's Information Group. The group does a check on every country recognized as an individual state or territory by the United Nations.
As Kevin Rudd seeks to make Australia a middle power, creative force in international politics, what are they doing about Gaza? This was the critical issue at the weekly forum "Politics in the Pub" held in Sydney's Surrey Hills last Friday night. Featured in story: Ross Burns Australia's former ambassador to Israel and Dr. Izzat Abdulhadi, the Australian representative for the Palestinian Authority.
Produced by Kate Pinnock, THE WIRE
Listen HERE
The Gaza strip and the West Bank are ranked in the top ten of the worlds most unstable and dangerous areas, according to Jane's Information Group. The group does a check on every country recognized as an individual state or territory by the United Nations.
As Kevin Rudd seeks to make Australia a middle power, creative force in international politics, what are they doing about Gaza? This was the critical issue at the weekly forum "Politics in the Pub" held in Sydney's Surrey Hills last Friday night. Featured in story: Ross Burns Australia's former ambassador to Israel and Dr. Izzat Abdulhadi, the Australian representative for the Palestinian Authority.
Sunday, 23 March 2008
VIDEO: Al-Jazeera News - March 23, 2008
Talks between Hamas and Fatah and other news on Western Easter from Al-Jazeera English, recorded at 16:00 hrs on March 23, 2008.
Gaza's lost childhood
March 23, 2008
Gaza's children are loosing their childhood, according to at least one study that has outline a grim picture of what it is like growing up in there. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from Gaza.
Gaza's children are loosing their childhood, according to at least one study that has outline a grim picture of what it is like growing up in there. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from Gaza.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Stop the War demo - London, 15 March 2008
Stop the War Demonstration - London, March 15th 2008
Troops out of Iraq
Don't attack Iran
Free Gaza / End Israeli Occupation
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Rachel Corrie play debuts in Israel
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian, March 15, 2008
· Work based on writings of US activist killed in Gaza
· Mixed audiences to see Palestinian interpretation
A play about the US activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed at the age of 23 by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, will be performed for the first time in Israel tomorrow, on the fifth anniversary of her death.
The single-actor play My Name is Rachel Corrie will be performed in Arabic in Haifa, northern Israel, before touring the country and the occupied West Bank.
The play is based on Corrie's diaries and emails edited by the actor Alan Rickman and the Guardian journalist Katharine Viner. It has been translated into Arabic and adapted by the director Riad Masarwi and the actor Lana Zreik, who most recently appeared in the film Lemon Tree, which won the audience award at last month's Berlin Film Festival.
Born in Olympia, Washington, Corrie left a liberal, comfortable life in the US to act as a human shield in the Gaza Strip at a time of intense conflict between the Israeli military and the Palestinians. She wrote about the extraordinary situation she found herself in and the challenges she embraced. She told a reporter: "I feel like I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive."
On the day she died, Corrie, dressed in a fluorescent orange vest, was trying to stop the demolition of the home of a Palestinian in Rafah. She was crushed under a military bulldozer and died shortly afterwards. A month later, the military said an investigation found that Israeli troops were not to blame and accused her and the activist group she was with, the International Solidarity Movement, of "illegal, irresponsible and dangerous" behaviour.
Last September, a US federal appeals court ruled that her parents, Craig and Cindy, and four Palestinian families who lost relatives in similar incidents could not sue Caterpillar, the firm that supplied bulldozers to the Israeli military.
Masarwi and Zreik, who are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, spent more than two months translating My Name is Rachel Corrie into Arabic before they began working on the production.
"We tried to focus more on the human point of view that Rachel tried to talk about," said Zreik. "She could have been in Bosnia or Rwanda or any other place but it was fate that brought her here.
"This will be unique because it is a different Rachel Corrie, it is a Palestinian interpretation. I think her family and the creators, and the public themselves, will feel the difference. It won't be like a production in London or New York because we are so connected to the events here."
The play will be performed before mixed audiences of Palestinians and Jewish Israelis and may at a future stage have Hebrew subtitles.
Masarwi, who sought out the rights to bring the play to that audience, said the greatest challenge was drawing drama and action from the words of her diaries.
"What made Rachel, an American girl, come to Gaza and die here? Why? That is the question," he said. "And at the same time the audience must ask themselves what are they doing now? Not only what are they doing for the Palestinians but what are they doing in their lives?"
· Work based on writings of US activist killed in Gaza
· Mixed audiences to see Palestinian interpretation
A play about the US activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed at the age of 23 by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, will be performed for the first time in Israel tomorrow, on the fifth anniversary of her death.
The single-actor play My Name is Rachel Corrie will be performed in Arabic in Haifa, northern Israel, before touring the country and the occupied West Bank.
The play is based on Corrie's diaries and emails edited by the actor Alan Rickman and the Guardian journalist Katharine Viner. It has been translated into Arabic and adapted by the director Riad Masarwi and the actor Lana Zreik, who most recently appeared in the film Lemon Tree, which won the audience award at last month's Berlin Film Festival.
Born in Olympia, Washington, Corrie left a liberal, comfortable life in the US to act as a human shield in the Gaza Strip at a time of intense conflict between the Israeli military and the Palestinians. She wrote about the extraordinary situation she found herself in and the challenges she embraced. She told a reporter: "I feel like I'm witnessing the systematic destruction of a people's ability to survive."
On the day she died, Corrie, dressed in a fluorescent orange vest, was trying to stop the demolition of the home of a Palestinian in Rafah. She was crushed under a military bulldozer and died shortly afterwards. A month later, the military said an investigation found that Israeli troops were not to blame and accused her and the activist group she was with, the International Solidarity Movement, of "illegal, irresponsible and dangerous" behaviour.
Last September, a US federal appeals court ruled that her parents, Craig and Cindy, and four Palestinian families who lost relatives in similar incidents could not sue Caterpillar, the firm that supplied bulldozers to the Israeli military.
Masarwi and Zreik, who are Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, spent more than two months translating My Name is Rachel Corrie into Arabic before they began working on the production.
"We tried to focus more on the human point of view that Rachel tried to talk about," said Zreik. "She could have been in Bosnia or Rwanda or any other place but it was fate that brought her here.
"This will be unique because it is a different Rachel Corrie, it is a Palestinian interpretation. I think her family and the creators, and the public themselves, will feel the difference. It won't be like a production in London or New York because we are so connected to the events here."
The play will be performed before mixed audiences of Palestinians and Jewish Israelis and may at a future stage have Hebrew subtitles.
Masarwi, who sought out the rights to bring the play to that audience, said the greatest challenge was drawing drama and action from the words of her diaries.
"What made Rachel, an American girl, come to Gaza and die here? Why? That is the question," he said. "And at the same time the audience must ask themselves what are they doing now? Not only what are they doing for the Palestinians but what are they doing in their lives?"
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Gaza man assassinated and run over, baby shot in the head
Report, Al Mezan, 6 March 2008
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) escalated their aggression against the population of the Gaza Strip. Following its withdrawal from north Gaza on 4 March 2008, the IOF continued air strikes yesterday. IOF penetrated the Wadi al-Salqa village in the central Gaza Strip, assassinated one man, and killed an infant less than one month old. The number of the people killed by the IOF since 28 February 2008 has reached 120, including 72 civilians. Among the civilians were six women and thirty children.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, at approximately 7:45pm on Tuesday 4 March 2008, five IOF military vehicles and four tanks penetrated one kilometer into eastern Wadi al-Salqa village. They surrounded the home of 40-year-old Yousef Sulaiman al-Smiri, which is located by the Kisufim Road north of the village. Incidentally, 35-year-old Khalid Abu 'Aser, his wife, 30-year-old Nadia, and their 20-day-old baby, Amira, were visiting al-Smiri's family.
After the IOF besieged al-Smiri's house, the IOF opened fire at it intensively under helicopter cover. It ordered the family, through loud speakers, to leave the house. The family and their guests left the house, except for Yousef al-Smiri who fled.
According to affidavits given to Al Mezan by witnesses, the family and the guests left the house as they were instructed by the IOF. The house's outside lights were on and the IOF kept its light on them the entire time. However, the soldiers continued shooting and, consequently, the mother Nadia Abu Aser was hit by a live bullet to her left arm. Her infant daughter, Amira, was injured by a live bullet to her head. Also, the shooting injured four other residents of the house.
After the IOF withdrew from the area at approximately 10:10pm that day, the injured were transferred to Shuhda'a al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Balah town, where the death of the infant was announced. The mother was reported to have sustained moderate injury.
There is reason to believe that Yousef al-Smiri was murdered after being stopped. After he fled his house, his body was found at approximately 10:00am the next day (5 March). Believing that he escaped from the IOF, the neighbors found al-Simiri's lifeless body lying in an open area about 150 meters from his house. When the body was examined at the hospital, a live bullet was found in his chest, and his head was crushed.
The IOF arrested al-Smiri's son, 17-year-old Mu'aath, and Khalid Faraj Abu Asser. The two were released on the morning of 5 March.
An initial examination of al-Smiri's body showed that IOF killed him after he was injured and he was lying on the ground. His head was crushed as a military vehicle ran over it after he was shot. This is not the first reported incident where the IOF run over persons already injured and do not pose a threat. On 18 November 2001, the IOF committed a similar act against two naval force members: Medhat Abu Dalal and Muhammad Ibrahim.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns the IOF's continuing killings in the Gaza Strip. These acts constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law. The Center is gravely disturbed by the fact that IOF continued to fire at civilians after ordering them to leave their house, which resulted in the deliberate killing of an infant and injuring of five other civilians.
Al Mezan demands that a serious investigation be conducted into the killings of al-Smiri and the infant without delay. The results of this investigation must be made public and those who perpetrated these crimes must be brought to justice.
Al Mezan is also highly concerned by IOF's frequent perpetration of war crimes against the civilian population of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially in the Gaza Strip, and under international silence. These conducts continue as Israeli official statements are inciting a "holocaust" (genocide) and the Israeli government is seriously considering wiping out residential areas. Al Mezan renews its appeal to the international community to uphold its moral and legal obligations to act urgently and effectively to stop the IOF's aggression and provide international protection for the civilian population.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) escalated their aggression against the population of the Gaza Strip. Following its withdrawal from north Gaza on 4 March 2008, the IOF continued air strikes yesterday. IOF penetrated the Wadi al-Salqa village in the central Gaza Strip, assassinated one man, and killed an infant less than one month old. The number of the people killed by the IOF since 28 February 2008 has reached 120, including 72 civilians. Among the civilians were six women and thirty children.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, at approximately 7:45pm on Tuesday 4 March 2008, five IOF military vehicles and four tanks penetrated one kilometer into eastern Wadi al-Salqa village. They surrounded the home of 40-year-old Yousef Sulaiman al-Smiri, which is located by the Kisufim Road north of the village. Incidentally, 35-year-old Khalid Abu 'Aser, his wife, 30-year-old Nadia, and their 20-day-old baby, Amira, were visiting al-Smiri's family.
After the IOF besieged al-Smiri's house, the IOF opened fire at it intensively under helicopter cover. It ordered the family, through loud speakers, to leave the house. The family and their guests left the house, except for Yousef al-Smiri who fled.
According to affidavits given to Al Mezan by witnesses, the family and the guests left the house as they were instructed by the IOF. The house's outside lights were on and the IOF kept its light on them the entire time. However, the soldiers continued shooting and, consequently, the mother Nadia Abu Aser was hit by a live bullet to her left arm. Her infant daughter, Amira, was injured by a live bullet to her head. Also, the shooting injured four other residents of the house.
After the IOF withdrew from the area at approximately 10:10pm that day, the injured were transferred to Shuhda'a al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Balah town, where the death of the infant was announced. The mother was reported to have sustained moderate injury.
There is reason to believe that Yousef al-Smiri was murdered after being stopped. After he fled his house, his body was found at approximately 10:00am the next day (5 March). Believing that he escaped from the IOF, the neighbors found al-Simiri's lifeless body lying in an open area about 150 meters from his house. When the body was examined at the hospital, a live bullet was found in his chest, and his head was crushed.
The IOF arrested al-Smiri's son, 17-year-old Mu'aath, and Khalid Faraj Abu Asser. The two were released on the morning of 5 March.
An initial examination of al-Smiri's body showed that IOF killed him after he was injured and he was lying on the ground. His head was crushed as a military vehicle ran over it after he was shot. This is not the first reported incident where the IOF run over persons already injured and do not pose a threat. On 18 November 2001, the IOF committed a similar act against two naval force members: Medhat Abu Dalal and Muhammad Ibrahim.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns the IOF's continuing killings in the Gaza Strip. These acts constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law. The Center is gravely disturbed by the fact that IOF continued to fire at civilians after ordering them to leave their house, which resulted in the deliberate killing of an infant and injuring of five other civilians.
Al Mezan demands that a serious investigation be conducted into the killings of al-Smiri and the infant without delay. The results of this investigation must be made public and those who perpetrated these crimes must be brought to justice.
Al Mezan is also highly concerned by IOF's frequent perpetration of war crimes against the civilian population of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially in the Gaza Strip, and under international silence. These conducts continue as Israeli official statements are inciting a "holocaust" (genocide) and the Israeli government is seriously considering wiping out residential areas. Al Mezan renews its appeal to the international community to uphold its moral and legal obligations to act urgently and effectively to stop the IOF's aggression and provide international protection for the civilian population.
Emergency Gaza demonstration - London, Parliament - 05/03/08
EMERGENCY ACTION:
End Israel 's killing of Palestinians now!
Lift the siege on Gaza !
Wednesday 5 March 1-2pm Parliament Square - Emergency protest.
Called by PSC, BMI, PFB, supported by Stop the War, Association of the Palestinian Community UK and Friends of Al Aqsa.
http://www.palestinecampaign.org/
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Al Jazeera News - March 4, 2008
Alleged American plot to overthrow the Palestinian government and other news from Al-Jazeera English, recorded at 16:00 hrs UTC on March 4, 2008
===========
The Gaza Bombshell, David Rose, Vanity Fair
After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.
The People of Gaza Resist and Refuse Israel's Operation "Hot Winter"
Ahmad Jaradat, Alternative Information Center (AIC) : Tuesday, 04 March 2008
The Israeli military announced its redeployment and withdrew from the places in Gaza that it invaded over the last few days. The military noted that the first stage of its big military operation, dubbed “Hot Winter” was finished and that the next stages will be conducted within the framework of the same operation.
In the last five days, at least 117 Palestinians were killed and 300 injured, dozens of them seriously. Sixty percent of the dead and injured were civilians, most of them children, old men and women. Many of the civilians were killed inside their own homes as Israeli warplanes and tanks shelled neighborhoods, particularly in Jabalya and other populated areas of Gaza. Many families lost more than one member, while some lost almost everyone.
Human rights organizations found new demands for human rights about which to speak. In a press conference, human rights activist Jaber Wishah from Gaza Center for Human Rights loudly proclaimed that “we are calling for the right to bury the dead and remove the bodies from under the destroyed houses.” For five days, everything that moves has been a target of the Israeli shells: ambulances, aid officers, animals in the streets and fields and even the birds, especially the peace doves which were killed in the air and over the rooftops. Through our contacts with people in Gaza and our friends there, we know that for five days, 100,000 residents of the Jabalya Camp were unable to sleep or even rest. If such an event occurred in other places, in Europe, for example, how many organizations, experts and specialists in sociology, psychology and education would be deployed, and how much money would be devoted to examining the effects on children?
Yes, the first stage has ended, but the story is not finished. It will be continued according to the Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister. Military actions and attacks will go ahead even following the redeployment.
In the last two years, Israel has dubbed the big operations in the Gaza Strip with names that contradict nature. The first operation was called Rainy Summer, the second Angry Autumn. Now it is Hot Winter. However, Gaza stands each time and refuses this change. Of course the price is extremely high, expensive and difficult to grasp. The lives of children and civilians were the price. Childhood was killed in one the most beautiful lands, the land of oranges, palms, roses and water. This important land which is the link point among great historical civilizations. It is the gateway between Africa and Asia. This land must take on the role of sending out peace to the world.
Yet the Israeli occupation wants to change this role, to deepen enmity and hatred, starting from Gaza and using the bodies of children in the streets of the most crowded place in the world.
It is not strange for an occupation power that acts against peace and justice to label its military operations with names contradicting nature. There is a relation between the occupation and those names that go against both the line of history and nature of things. This gives real hope that justice and peace will be victorious and lasting. That the occupation will be defeated.
The matter here is not one of technical power, but of justice. America was defeated in Vietnam, France in Algeria and the classical colonialism of the United Kingdom in Iraq not because of technical reasons, but because those powers fought against the justice and freedom of people.
It is ridiculous to change the nature of things. Summer is hot, winter is cold and sure, spring is green. Justice and peace will be victorious and occupation will be ended.
Oh Gaza, how much you suffered because of these military operations and how much are you going to suffer on the way to justice, victory and defeat of the occupation? It wasn’t merely a nightmare for the al-Attaya family which they can wake up from, that a rocket shelled their house. It actually happened and left people wondering why? Why the children of Gaza, who were sleeping in peace, had to say good bye to the world that they just entered, parting to the melody of rocket shells.
How many tears and bodies of children does the world need to see so that it can feel you, Gaza?
The Israeli military announced its redeployment and withdrew from the places in Gaza that it invaded over the last few days. The military noted that the first stage of its big military operation, dubbed “Hot Winter” was finished and that the next stages will be conducted within the framework of the same operation.
In the last five days, at least 117 Palestinians were killed and 300 injured, dozens of them seriously. Sixty percent of the dead and injured were civilians, most of them children, old men and women. Many of the civilians were killed inside their own homes as Israeli warplanes and tanks shelled neighborhoods, particularly in Jabalya and other populated areas of Gaza. Many families lost more than one member, while some lost almost everyone.
Human rights organizations found new demands for human rights about which to speak. In a press conference, human rights activist Jaber Wishah from Gaza Center for Human Rights loudly proclaimed that “we are calling for the right to bury the dead and remove the bodies from under the destroyed houses.” For five days, everything that moves has been a target of the Israeli shells: ambulances, aid officers, animals in the streets and fields and even the birds, especially the peace doves which were killed in the air and over the rooftops. Through our contacts with people in Gaza and our friends there, we know that for five days, 100,000 residents of the Jabalya Camp were unable to sleep or even rest. If such an event occurred in other places, in Europe, for example, how many organizations, experts and specialists in sociology, psychology and education would be deployed, and how much money would be devoted to examining the effects on children?
Yes, the first stage has ended, but the story is not finished. It will be continued according to the Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister. Military actions and attacks will go ahead even following the redeployment.
In the last two years, Israel has dubbed the big operations in the Gaza Strip with names that contradict nature. The first operation was called Rainy Summer, the second Angry Autumn. Now it is Hot Winter. However, Gaza stands each time and refuses this change. Of course the price is extremely high, expensive and difficult to grasp. The lives of children and civilians were the price. Childhood was killed in one the most beautiful lands, the land of oranges, palms, roses and water. This important land which is the link point among great historical civilizations. It is the gateway between Africa and Asia. This land must take on the role of sending out peace to the world.
Yet the Israeli occupation wants to change this role, to deepen enmity and hatred, starting from Gaza and using the bodies of children in the streets of the most crowded place in the world.
It is not strange for an occupation power that acts against peace and justice to label its military operations with names contradicting nature. There is a relation between the occupation and those names that go against both the line of history and nature of things. This gives real hope that justice and peace will be victorious and lasting. That the occupation will be defeated.
The matter here is not one of technical power, but of justice. America was defeated in Vietnam, France in Algeria and the classical colonialism of the United Kingdom in Iraq not because of technical reasons, but because those powers fought against the justice and freedom of people.
It is ridiculous to change the nature of things. Summer is hot, winter is cold and sure, spring is green. Justice and peace will be victorious and occupation will be ended.
Oh Gaza, how much you suffered because of these military operations and how much are you going to suffer on the way to justice, victory and defeat of the occupation? It wasn’t merely a nightmare for the al-Attaya family which they can wake up from, that a rocket shelled their house. It actually happened and left people wondering why? Why the children of Gaza, who were sleeping in peace, had to say good bye to the world that they just entered, parting to the melody of rocket shells.
How many tears and bodies of children does the world need to see so that it can feel you, Gaza?
Latest Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report | 27 FEB - 3 MARCH 2008
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Gaza_Situation_Report_2008_02_30_Final2.pdf
KEY OBSERVATIONS
· Israeli air strikes on Gaza and rocket attacks on Israeli towns from Palestinian militants in Gaza continued during the reporting period.
· Between 27 February and 2 March, 107 Palestinians were killed by the IDF and 250 were injured. During the same period two Israeli soldiers and one Israeli civilian were killed and 25 injured, mainly by Qassam rockets and Grad missiles fired by Palestinian militants towards Israel.1 (See chart below)
· The IDF operation exacerbated an already deteriorating humanitarian situation emanating from the near total blockade on Gaza since June 2007. Essential services, including water and sanitation, are close to breakdown. Because of the combined lack of electricity, fuel, spare parts and inability to upgrade networks, the Gaza Coastal Municipality Water Utility is forced to continue dumping daily 20 million litres of raw sewage and 40 million litres of partially treated water into the sea.
· The IDF operation has worsened conditions for an already stretched medical system.
For More information please contact Khulood Badawi 054-448-4632 badawi@un.org
United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Mac House
P.O.Box 38712
Jerusalem
Tel:++ 972-2-5829962/5853
Fax:++972-2-5825841
email:ochaopt@un.org
www.ochaopt.org
==========
We have modified yesterday's Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report, 27 Feb – 3 March 2008 by inserting a few additional important pieces of information. These additions are listed underneath as well as the link to the revised version of the report:
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Gaza_Situation_Report_2008_02_30_Final4.pdf
- Medical services: Hospitals are still operational but are extremely vulnerable due to shortages of fuel.
- Ambulances: During the ground operations ambulances and medical teams faced difficulties evacuating the wounded. The ambulance services in the Gaza Strip are severely restricted due to fuel shortage; by the end of February 23 out of 56 MOH ambulances and 7 out of 40 PRCS ambulances were forced to stop due to lack of fuel.
- Food: UN food supplies are insufficient to cover Gaza's nutritional needs and a sustained access for commercial supplies is essential.
For more information please contact Khulood Badawi 054 44 84 632 badawi@un.org
Best regards
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Mac House P.O.Box 38712
Jerusalem Tel:++ 972-2-5829962/5853
Fax:++972-2-5825841
email:ochaopt@un.org
www.ochaopt.org
KEY OBSERVATIONS
· Israeli air strikes on Gaza and rocket attacks on Israeli towns from Palestinian militants in Gaza continued during the reporting period.
· Between 27 February and 2 March, 107 Palestinians were killed by the IDF and 250 were injured. During the same period two Israeli soldiers and one Israeli civilian were killed and 25 injured, mainly by Qassam rockets and Grad missiles fired by Palestinian militants towards Israel.1 (See chart below)
· The IDF operation exacerbated an already deteriorating humanitarian situation emanating from the near total blockade on Gaza since June 2007. Essential services, including water and sanitation, are close to breakdown. Because of the combined lack of electricity, fuel, spare parts and inability to upgrade networks, the Gaza Coastal Municipality Water Utility is forced to continue dumping daily 20 million litres of raw sewage and 40 million litres of partially treated water into the sea.
· The IDF operation has worsened conditions for an already stretched medical system.
For More information please contact Khulood Badawi 054-448-4632 badawi@un.org
United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Mac House
P.O.Box 38712
Jerusalem
Tel:++ 972-2-5829962/5853
Fax:++972-2-5825841
email:ochaopt@un.org
www.ochaopt.org
==========
We have modified yesterday's Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report, 27 Feb – 3 March 2008 by inserting a few additional important pieces of information. These additions are listed underneath as well as the link to the revised version of the report:
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Gaza_Situation_Report_2008_02_30_Final4.pdf
- Medical services: Hospitals are still operational but are extremely vulnerable due to shortages of fuel.
- Ambulances: During the ground operations ambulances and medical teams faced difficulties evacuating the wounded. The ambulance services in the Gaza Strip are severely restricted due to fuel shortage; by the end of February 23 out of 56 MOH ambulances and 7 out of 40 PRCS ambulances were forced to stop due to lack of fuel.
- Food: UN food supplies are insufficient to cover Gaza's nutritional needs and a sustained access for commercial supplies is essential.
For more information please contact Khulood Badawi 054 44 84 632 badawi@un.org
Best regards
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Mac House P.O.Box 38712
Jerusalem Tel:++ 972-2-5829962/5853
Fax:++972-2-5825841
email:ochaopt@un.org
www.ochaopt.org
Monday, 3 March 2008
News and Analysis from EI: More than 100 Palestinians killed in Gaza
WEEKDAY PRESS PICKS FROM THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA AND ELECTRONIC IRAQ
http://electronicintifada.net/
http://electroniclebanon.net/
http://electroniciraq.net/
and hopefully not
http://electroniciran.net/
_______________________________
EI's ongoing coverage of the Gaza siege:
http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/685.shtml
--------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Opinion/Editorial:
THE TIME FOR WORLDWIDE BOYCOTT IS NOW
By Omar Barghouti, The Electronic Intifada, 2 March 2008
On Friday, 29 February 2008, Israel's deputy defense
minister Matan Vilnai threatened Palestinians in Gaza with
a "holocaust." This date will go down in history as the
beginning of a new phase in the colonial conflict between
Israel and the Palestinians, whereby a senior Israeli
leader, a "leftist" for that matter, has publicly revealed
the genocidal plans Israel is considering to implement
against Palestinians under its military occupation, if
they do not cease to resist its dictates. Omar Barghouti
comments for EI.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9358.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Opinion/Editorial:
ISRAEL KEEPING TRUE TO ITS RACIST WORDS
By Rami Almeghari, The Electronic Intifada, 2 March 2008
Dehumanizing the Palestinians has been necessary for
Israel to justify its actions ever since, and even before,
the state was declared on destroyed historic Palestine in
1948 and then in 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank
and Gaza. Taken together, they indicate the historic
effort to destroy Palestinian national aspirations and
this is what Israel is trying to do in Gaza, which Nobel
prize winner and late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
once wished would be swallowed by the sea. EI
correspondent Rami Almeghari comments from Gaza.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9361.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Human Rights:
GAZA DEATHS SURPASS 100; HUNDREDS INJURED
Report, PCHR, 2 March 2008
During the last 24 hours, another 39 Palestinians were
killed throughout the Gaza Strip. Twenty-two of them were
unarmed civilians, including nine children. Six of the
victims were from one family, including three women and
three men who were killed in an air strike in Gaza City.
The death toll since 27 February currently stands at 101
victims, including 49 unarmed civilians.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9360.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Diaries: Live from Palestine:
THE GAZA GENOCIDE
By Laila El-Haddad, Live from Palestine, 2 March 2008
We celebrated Yousuf's fourth birthday today. We ate cake.
And we counted the bodies. We sang happy birthday. And my
mother sobbed. We watched the fighter jets roar
voraciously on our television screen, pounding street
after street, then heard a train screech outside, and
shuddered. Yousuf tore open his presents, and asked my
mother to make a paper zanana, a drone, for him with
origami; we were torn open from the inside, engulfed by a
feeling of impotence and helplessness, fear and anger and
grief, despondence and confusion. Laila El-Haddad writes
on the "long-term" Gaza genocide.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9359.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Human Rights:
ISRAEL KILLS SOME MORE CHILDREN
By Mohammed Omer, The Electronic Intifada, 1 March 2008
GAZA CITY, 1 March (IPS) - Tamer was nine, and no child
soldier. He did not live in the area from where homemade
rockets are launched into Israeli territory. The day he
was killed, he was at least two kilometers from the place
Israeli troops had entered Gaza, and met with return fire
by Palestinian resistance. His tragedy was that the family
home was near Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza
Strip, close to the area the Israelis have set up as their
Kussfim base.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9356.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Development:
EGYPT BEGINS PUMPING GAS TO ISRAEL DESPITE GAZA SIEGE
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 29 February 2008
CAIRO, 29 February (IPS) - On Monday, Egypt began pumping
natural gas to Israel in accordance with an energy accord
between Cairo and Tel Aviv. While the Egyptian government
defends the move as being in the country's best interest,
opposition figures decry the notion of economic
cooperation with Israel, especially in light of the
latter's ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9350.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
SUPPORT OUR PROJECT: Our work needs funding. We accept
donations via credit card and cheque. U.S. donations are
tax deductible. More information can be found at:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2162.shtml
--
ABOUT US: The Electronic Intifada (EI) is a
not-for-profit, independent publication committed to
comprehensive public education on the question of
Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the
economic, political, legal, and human dimensions of
Israel's 39-year occupation of Palestinian territories.
EI, found at http://electronicintifada.net/ provides a
needed supplement to mainstream commercial media
representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
More information about our work can be found at
http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/aboutEI.shtml
To find out about other EI/eIraq lists available, see:
http://electronicintifada.net/cgi-bin/kebab/mail.cgi
SUPPORT OUR PROJECT: Our work needs funding. We accept
donations via credit card and cheque. U.S. donations are
tax deductible. More information can be found at:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2162.shtml
http://electronicintifada.net/
http://electroniclebanon.net/
http://electroniciraq.net/
and hopefully not
http://electroniciran.net/
_______________________________
EI's ongoing coverage of the Gaza siege:
http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/685.shtml
--------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Opinion/Editorial:
THE TIME FOR WORLDWIDE BOYCOTT IS NOW
By Omar Barghouti, The Electronic Intifada, 2 March 2008
On Friday, 29 February 2008, Israel's deputy defense
minister Matan Vilnai threatened Palestinians in Gaza with
a "holocaust." This date will go down in history as the
beginning of a new phase in the colonial conflict between
Israel and the Palestinians, whereby a senior Israeli
leader, a "leftist" for that matter, has publicly revealed
the genocidal plans Israel is considering to implement
against Palestinians under its military occupation, if
they do not cease to resist its dictates. Omar Barghouti
comments for EI.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9358.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Opinion/Editorial:
ISRAEL KEEPING TRUE TO ITS RACIST WORDS
By Rami Almeghari, The Electronic Intifada, 2 March 2008
Dehumanizing the Palestinians has been necessary for
Israel to justify its actions ever since, and even before,
the state was declared on destroyed historic Palestine in
1948 and then in 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank
and Gaza. Taken together, they indicate the historic
effort to destroy Palestinian national aspirations and
this is what Israel is trying to do in Gaza, which Nobel
prize winner and late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
once wished would be swallowed by the sea. EI
correspondent Rami Almeghari comments from Gaza.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9361.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Human Rights:
GAZA DEATHS SURPASS 100; HUNDREDS INJURED
Report, PCHR, 2 March 2008
During the last 24 hours, another 39 Palestinians were
killed throughout the Gaza Strip. Twenty-two of them were
unarmed civilians, including nine children. Six of the
victims were from one family, including three women and
three men who were killed in an air strike in Gaza City.
The death toll since 27 February currently stands at 101
victims, including 49 unarmed civilians.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9360.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Diaries: Live from Palestine:
THE GAZA GENOCIDE
By Laila El-Haddad, Live from Palestine, 2 March 2008
We celebrated Yousuf's fourth birthday today. We ate cake.
And we counted the bodies. We sang happy birthday. And my
mother sobbed. We watched the fighter jets roar
voraciously on our television screen, pounding street
after street, then heard a train screech outside, and
shuddered. Yousuf tore open his presents, and asked my
mother to make a paper zanana, a drone, for him with
origami; we were torn open from the inside, engulfed by a
feeling of impotence and helplessness, fear and anger and
grief, despondence and confusion. Laila El-Haddad writes
on the "long-term" Gaza genocide.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9359.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Human Rights:
ISRAEL KILLS SOME MORE CHILDREN
By Mohammed Omer, The Electronic Intifada, 1 March 2008
GAZA CITY, 1 March (IPS) - Tamer was nine, and no child
soldier. He did not live in the area from where homemade
rockets are launched into Israeli territory. The day he
was killed, he was at least two kilometers from the place
Israeli troops had entered Gaza, and met with return fire
by Palestinian resistance. His tragedy was that the family
home was near Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza
Strip, close to the area the Israelis have set up as their
Kussfim base.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9356.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine : Development:
EGYPT BEGINS PUMPING GAS TO ISRAEL DESPITE GAZA SIEGE
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, The Electronic Intifada, 29 February 2008
CAIRO, 29 February (IPS) - On Monday, Egypt began pumping
natural gas to Israel in accordance with an energy accord
between Cairo and Tel Aviv. While the Egyptian government
defends the move as being in the country's best interest,
opposition figures decry the notion of economic
cooperation with Israel, especially in light of the
latter's ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9350.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------
SUPPORT OUR PROJECT: Our work needs funding. We accept
donations via credit card and cheque. U.S. donations are
tax deductible. More information can be found at:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2162.shtml
--
ABOUT US: The Electronic Intifada (EI) is a
not-for-profit, independent publication committed to
comprehensive public education on the question of
Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the
economic, political, legal, and human dimensions of
Israel's 39-year occupation of Palestinian territories.
EI, found at http://electronicintifada.net/ provides a
needed supplement to mainstream commercial media
representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
More information about our work can be found at
http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/aboutEI.shtml
To find out about other EI/eIraq lists available, see:
http://electronicintifada.net/cgi-bin/kebab/mail.cgi
SUPPORT OUR PROJECT: Our work needs funding. We accept
donations via credit card and cheque. U.S. donations are
tax deductible. More information can be found at:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2162.shtml
VIDEO: Israeli attacks continue in Gaza
Al Jazeera English : March 03, 2008
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says further military action is likely against Palestinians firing rockets from Gaza. This, just hours after the Israeli military confirmed its operation in the strip had wound down.
The apparent pause in the assault comes as the European Union and the United States send senior politicians to the region to try to put what is left of the Annapolis peace process back on track.
Al Jazeera English's Ayman Moyheldin has the latest from Jerusalem.
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says further military action is likely against Palestinians firing rockets from Gaza. This, just hours after the Israeli military confirmed its operation in the strip had wound down.
The apparent pause in the assault comes as the European Union and the United States send senior politicians to the region to try to put what is left of the Annapolis peace process back on track.
Al Jazeera English's Ayman Moyheldin has the latest from Jerusalem.
VIDEO: Anger explodes in West Bank over Israeli raids
March 02, 2008
Nour Odeh now looks at the protest against Israel's use of force and growing demands for Palestinian unity.
Nour Odeh now looks at the protest against Israel's use of force and growing demands for Palestinian unity.
VIDEO: Inside Story - Attack on Gaza
Inside Story, Al Jazeera English : March 02, 2008
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has suspended peace talks with Israel, demanding that it ends its offensive on Gaza.
Israel's five-day offensive on the Gaza Strip has so far killed more than 100 Palestinians, many of them civilians.
Israel claims it is acting in self-defence in response to cross-border rocket attacks by Hamas.
But Israel has been strongly criticized by the European Union and United Nations, who have condemned its use of "excessive" and "disproportionate" force.
Inside Story, with presenter Sami Zeidan, examines the possible outcomes.
Part 1
Part 2
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has suspended peace talks with Israel, demanding that it ends its offensive on Gaza.
Israel's five-day offensive on the Gaza Strip has so far killed more than 100 Palestinians, many of them civilians.
Israel claims it is acting in self-defence in response to cross-border rocket attacks by Hamas.
But Israel has been strongly criticized by the European Union and United Nations, who have condemned its use of "excessive" and "disproportionate" force.
Inside Story, with presenter Sami Zeidan, examines the possible outcomes.
Part 1
Part 2
Friday, 29 February 2008
A joint UN Agencies Gaza Strip Humanitarian Fact Sheet, January 2008
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/GazaFactSheet_Feb08.pdf
Key Observations:
· In January, 80 Palestinians were killed in direct conflict. 82 Palestinians and 9 Israelis were injured
· 1.1 million Gazans receive food assistance from WFP and UNRWA- however, only 84,000 receive 100 per cent of their daily calorific needs. The rest rely on the commercial market to supplement their diet. Fresh and frozen meat, frozen fish and vegetables are not regularly available in shops.
· Ministry of Health (MoH) facilities: 80 of the 416 essential drugs (19.2%) and 186 of the 596 essential medical supplies (31.2%) were at zero availability in January due to the lack of financial resources. These drugs include first-line pediatric antibiotics and oncology drugs needed by 135 patients.
· 829 patients have been denied access to specialized treatment in Egyptian hospitals due to the closure of Rafah border crossing since 9 June
· Four sewage pumping stations in Gaza City and the north of Gaza flooded when pumps failed because of lack of fuel and/or spare parts.
· Similar problems prevented the treatment of sewage which was released into the sea at the rate of 40 million liters per day starting 18 January
For more information please contact Khulood Badawi 054 44 84 632 badawi@un.org
United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Mac House
P.O.Box 38712
Jerusalem
Tel:++ 972-2-5829962/5853
Fax:++972-2-5825841
email:ochaopt@un.org
www.ochaopt.org
Key Observations:
· In January, 80 Palestinians were killed in direct conflict. 82 Palestinians and 9 Israelis were injured
· 1.1 million Gazans receive food assistance from WFP and UNRWA- however, only 84,000 receive 100 per cent of their daily calorific needs. The rest rely on the commercial market to supplement their diet. Fresh and frozen meat, frozen fish and vegetables are not regularly available in shops.
· Ministry of Health (MoH) facilities: 80 of the 416 essential drugs (19.2%) and 186 of the 596 essential medical supplies (31.2%) were at zero availability in January due to the lack of financial resources. These drugs include first-line pediatric antibiotics and oncology drugs needed by 135 patients.
· 829 patients have been denied access to specialized treatment in Egyptian hospitals due to the closure of Rafah border crossing since 9 June
· Four sewage pumping stations in Gaza City and the north of Gaza flooded when pumps failed because of lack of fuel and/or spare parts.
· Similar problems prevented the treatment of sewage which was released into the sea at the rate of 40 million liters per day starting 18 January
For more information please contact Khulood Badawi 054 44 84 632 badawi@un.org
United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Mac House
P.O.Box 38712
Jerusalem
Tel:++ 972-2-5829962/5853
Fax:++972-2-5825841
email:ochaopt@un.org
www.ochaopt.org
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