Sonja Karkar, Women for Palestine, 28 February 2008
Well, so much for our new government taking an even-handed position on Israel/Palestine. Before our politicians even warmed their seats in the new parliamentary sittings, the Australian Prime Minister announced that he will lead a parliamentary motion to honour Israel on 12 March acknowledging Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. The Opposition Leader will second the motion. Then, celebrations will take place at a reception in the Mural Hall of Parliament House.
If Palestinians and their supporters had any hopes of a sympathetic hearing from the new Rudd government on the multiple human rights abuses being perpetrated by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, those hopes are now well and truly dashed.
This year marks 60 years of Palestinian dispossession and displacement and a savage, relentless occupation that is smothering the lifeblood of the Palestinians while Israel celebrates its ill-gotten gains. Palestinians are starving in Gaza. Palestinians are being sold out in the West Bank. Palestinians are dying. Their very existence is under threat. It is as simple and as awful as that.
Every Australian ought to be asking why our Prime Minister and the parliament feel so humiliatingly obligated to Israel that they must go to these lengths to show their friendship with a foreign country that consistently violates international law, United Nations resolutions and human rights conventions? If supporting the Palestinian cause is too much to ask, then refusing to single Israel out for any kind of recognition would at least be sensitive to the Palestinians living here. The Palestinians were never asked if they would agree to the foreign imperial division of their country. Most had their family homes and lands taken from them by Zionist forces ruthlessly pushing for a Greater Israel not intended by the 1947 United Nations Partition of Palestine. All suffer indescribable pain knowing that many of their people live a hellish existence under Israel’s occupation. It is on this human wreckage of Palestinian lives that Israel celebrates its independence, honoured so gratuitously by our government.
Such demonstrations of affection are not new. Our former Prime Minister John Howard had already fostered this extraordinary bond when he declared Australia as Israel’s closest friend. Many of his ministers followed suit and none was more accommodating than former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer when he said that he wore Israel as “a badge of honour” even as Israel’s war planes decimated the Lebanese landscape in 2006
True to form, Israel has rewarded its friends with facile honours. John Howard received two in one year. He was awarded the Jerusalem Prize from the World Zionist Organisation and he had a forest named after him in the Negev by the Jewish National Fund, which specialises in acquiring property for “the purpose of settling Jews on such lands.” These lands are the subject of legal proceedings brought by the now displaced indigenous Bedouins of the Negev who are being “moved out” for the exclusive benefit of Jews worldwide who want to live in Israel. Although these Bedouins live in what is now called Israel, 45 of their villages are not recognised by the Israeli government and have never received even the most basic amenities.
All this falls hard on the heels of the new Prime Minister’s moving apology to our own indigenous people and raises many questions about the sincerity of that momentous gesture. The similarity between the grievous losses suffered by both peoples – the Aborigines and the Palestinians – is not fanciful. Both peoples have been the hapless victims of the great white colonial enterprise and in both cases, it would have succeeded brilliantly, if these people would have just disappeared. But it is not so easy to kill off people and their dreams.
There are some 11 million Palestinians worldwide whose collective memory is seared with the narrative of their people who fled in terror during Israel’s 1948 purge of Palestine. About two-thirds of the Palestinian population never saw their homes again. Many still have the keys to their front doors, the deeds to their properties and lands, the photos of happier moments, and the endless familiar memories of smells and sounds unfaded by time. Around 7.2 million refugees are languishing today in refugee camps waiting to return home and to receive compensation for the calculated decimation of their society – one that had successfully developed culturally and economically over centuries, despite four hundred years under Ottoman rule.
Palestine was not a land without people as Israel’s mythmakers have tried to promote, particularly through the emotive Hollywood film “Exodus”. Palestine was, in fact, populated by successful citizen merchants and officials who added an economically vibrant dimension to the essentially peasant population who were actively engaged in working the land. Not only did Palestinians own land, but even where there was no legal title, the land was considered as belonging to the Palestinians through their history of land use and uninterrupted possession.
All the recent posturings by Israel’s supporters, to show Israel as a first world country in the forefront of science and technology and the cutting edge of the arts in order to gain legitimacy with Western countries, might resonate with our politicians, but it does not with people who know Israel’s atrocious human rights record. More and more people are beginning to wake up as intrepid journalists report a far from rosy picture in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Yet, these are still lone voices in our Australian media and not enough to reach the wider population. For decades, Israel has won the battle for the hearts and minds of people, despite the official reports of every human rights organisation – from Amnesty International to Israel’s B’Tselem – documenting in graphic detail Israel’s litany of human rights abuses. Most are gathering dust, but they provide more than enough evidence to challenge the appropriateness of aligning ourselves with Israel. And there are stirrings in our churches, universities, the legal fraternity, social justice groups and in the consciences of people generally, to reach out to the Palestinians.
In response, Israel has established the Peres Centre for Peace in Australia which is endeavouring to project an image of Israel as peacemaker. Rather than the usual rounds of dialogue and conflict resolution, it is being done on a populist level through sporting activities and culture. The Centre has already persuaded the Australian Football League (AFL) to include a friendly team of Israelis and Palestinians in their 18-team line up for this year’s AFL International Cup. In this way, Israel hopes to normalise its image with the Australian public, and through a handful of players, show its willingness to work towards peace - something it has been unwilling to do at the negotiating table.
However, Israeli tanks and soldiers are still shelling Gaza, and Israel is further tightening its siege on this tiny sliver of land with a population almost at bursting point The recent smashing of the wall with hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians swarming into Egypt to look for food and other basic necessities gave the world a glimpse into the misery of their lives. And, in the West Bank, Israel is increasing – not decreasing as it promised to do in the most recent peace negotiations - the number of checkpoints that totally suffocate the ordinary daily movement of another burgeoning population.
The surest sign though of Israel’s real intentions, is its blatant disregard of international law and all requests to stop its illegal settlement project that is literally turning thousands of Palestinians on to the streets – homeless and stateless and forced to rely on the world’s pitiful humanitarian aid that can never bring them economic or political independence.
As conditions deteriorate for the Palestinians, and the words “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing” begin to enter mainstream consciousness after being given voice by former US President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Tutu, Israel is employing new public relations strategies to secure its legitimacy in the global community. In Australia, where sport dominates so much of our cultural life and social interaction, using sport as a vehicle for peace is a powerful image. This latest venture by The Peres Centre - named after one of the more notorious Zionist architects of Palestinian ethnic cleansing – is already bedazzling the AFL administrators with the idea of people crossing all boundaries “for the simple love of the game” - a notion that would never be entertained by a government at war with an enemy state and one that has been rejected when political pressure through sports’ boycotts is deemed necessary to stop countries behaving oppressively. Nowhere else was this so effective than in South Africa’s anti-Apartheid struggle.
There is no excuse for our leaders in politics and business to buy into this scam when they know that some 4 million Palestinians are being denied justice and basic human rights under Israel’s illegal military occupation, with no sign of reprieve. If it were not for the West’s craven politicians indecently rushing to join Israel’s circus, Israel would long ago have had to find a solution to give justice and dignity back to the Palestinians.
Regrettably, our leaders will continue to pursue their self-serving policies until ordinary, decent people force them to accept that our common humanity is worth more than the lucrative deals that bring such enormous profits to the multinational corporations, and from which many governments benefit. It is by no means impossible. Just as people brought down the Apartheid regime in South Africa, the people can bring down the ethnically divisive Zionist regime in Israel as well. This is why the word “apartheid” so rattles Israel’s supporters.
But, we have a long way to go, especially when governments insist on continuing their love affairs with Israel. In the meantime, al-Nakba – the Palestinian catastrophe of dispossession and displacement – is being accelerated. This crime against humanity is what needs to be acknowledged in our Parliament and not a motion honouring Israel. The Australian “fair go” that our Prime Minister so fondly embraces, has never sounded so hollow or sunk so low.
Showing posts with label sport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sport. Show all posts
Friday, 29 February 2008
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
VIDEO: Palestine World Cup qualifying
October 24, 2007
Sportsworld's Rahul Pathak reports on the Palestine and Singapore football teams and their long road to the 2010 Fifa World Cup finals.
This week in Soccer : 10/29/2007
Stephen Fontenot, San Antonio Express-News
Palestine misses qualifier due to Gaza travel ban
The Palestinian soccer team missed its World Cup qualifying game in Singapore because of Israeli travel restrictions. Eighteen of the squad's players and officials live in the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip has been under tight control since the Islamic militant Hamas took power by force in June. Last month, Israel declared Gaza "hostile territory" and said it would permit only humanitarian hardship cases to leave.
Jamal Abu Hasheesh, spokesman for the Palestinian soccer federation, said the 18 team members didn't receive Israeli permits to leave Gaza for the game.
The federation asked FIFA to reschedule the game. FIFA officials were not immediately available for comment.
=============================
Politics affects soccer : Can soccer influence politics?
Robert Evans, Inside Bay Area, March 13th, 2007
And now in little over a week from today, in London, we are going to have a public confrontation over the little matter of whether Israel should be allowed to continue playing in major
competitions. If you are a long-time follower of international soccer and the organization—FIFA—that controls it, you may know of historical precedents that would lead you to say either that they should be banned, or that they should not. Take your pick.
Sepp Blatter, the master politician at the head of FIFA, has gone on record for keeping soccer and politics separate. Last December in Asia he told a group of reporters: "We are not going to enter into any political declarations. There have been so many rants from heads of states, even in Europe, and we in football, if we entered in such discussions, then it would be against our statutes. We are not in politics."
How he kept a straight face while saying that I do not know, since in the last few years several member-nations of FIFA have been suspended for interference of their government into the sport, and others have been threatened. Iran, Kenya, Yugoslavia, Greece and Palestine have been suspended briefly until their respective governments backed off. Blatter believes that
FIFA, not government, must control the sport. But has that always been true?
In that particular case FIFA refused to act politically, eliminated the Soviet Union and allowed Chile to qualify for the cup in Germany. Earlier, however, in 1961, the organization had acted politically, banning South Africa because of its apartheid policies that did not allow a team to field white and non-white players together. That ban stayed in place for almost thirty years, until in the early nineties, apartheid itself was dismantled, and the modern South Africa
emerged.
What of this dispute over Israel? In 2002, Arab countries called for a ban for a list of reasons that included Israel's incursion into areas of Palestinian self-rule; racial and ethnic discrimination against Palestinians; and obstructions raised to block the progress of Palestinian sports. Just last November, Israel refused to allow members of the Palestine team to travel from Gaza to play a match in Singapore.
The current protest by The Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign and supported by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has not received much attention in U.S. newspapers, but gets a lot of attention in the press in Europe, Israel and Palestine, as did other sporting boycotts. And the subject of Israel's full compliance with international law, including the permanent lifting of all barriers to freedom of movement for Palestinian goods, people and capital, has been raised for governmental debate in London, supported by 57 members of the British parliament.
The intent is to put pressure upon Israel, which is seeking to improve its relationship with the European Union, whose members are aware of the illegalities in current Israeli policies of building the wall of separation across Palestinian land. The protest on March 24, the day of a match between England and Israel as a qualifier for Euro 2008, is in front of the headquarters of the Football Association in London at 1 p.m. In the recent past, similar protests were organized for tennis and cricket, in the latter case resulting on the cancellation of a planned match between Scotland and Israel.
On the world stage, soccer is a vastly more important sport than either tennis or cricket, and the idea that political action could affect scheduling of matches, or a country's right to participate in international competition, would have serious repercussions within FIFA. Which way will Sepp Blatter go?
Sportsworld's Rahul Pathak reports on the Palestine and Singapore football teams and their long road to the 2010 Fifa World Cup finals.
This week in Soccer : 10/29/2007
Stephen Fontenot, San Antonio Express-News
Palestine misses qualifier due to Gaza travel ban
The Palestinian soccer team missed its World Cup qualifying game in Singapore because of Israeli travel restrictions. Eighteen of the squad's players and officials live in the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip has been under tight control since the Islamic militant Hamas took power by force in June. Last month, Israel declared Gaza "hostile territory" and said it would permit only humanitarian hardship cases to leave.
Jamal Abu Hasheesh, spokesman for the Palestinian soccer federation, said the 18 team members didn't receive Israeli permits to leave Gaza for the game.
The federation asked FIFA to reschedule the game. FIFA officials were not immediately available for comment.
=============================
Politics affects soccer : Can soccer influence politics?
Robert Evans, Inside Bay Area, March 13th, 2007
And now in little over a week from today, in London, we are going to have a public confrontation over the little matter of whether Israel should be allowed to continue playing in major
competitions. If you are a long-time follower of international soccer and the organization—FIFA—that controls it, you may know of historical precedents that would lead you to say either that they should be banned, or that they should not. Take your pick.
Sepp Blatter, the master politician at the head of FIFA, has gone on record for keeping soccer and politics separate. Last December in Asia he told a group of reporters: "We are not going to enter into any political declarations. There have been so many rants from heads of states, even in Europe, and we in football, if we entered in such discussions, then it would be against our statutes. We are not in politics."
How he kept a straight face while saying that I do not know, since in the last few years several member-nations of FIFA have been suspended for interference of their government into the sport, and others have been threatened. Iran, Kenya, Yugoslavia, Greece and Palestine have been suspended briefly until their respective governments backed off. Blatter believes that
FIFA, not government, must control the sport. But has that always been true?
In that particular case FIFA refused to act politically, eliminated the Soviet Union and allowed Chile to qualify for the cup in Germany. Earlier, however, in 1961, the organization had acted politically, banning South Africa because of its apartheid policies that did not allow a team to field white and non-white players together. That ban stayed in place for almost thirty years, until in the early nineties, apartheid itself was dismantled, and the modern South Africa
emerged.
What of this dispute over Israel? In 2002, Arab countries called for a ban for a list of reasons that included Israel's incursion into areas of Palestinian self-rule; racial and ethnic discrimination against Palestinians; and obstructions raised to block the progress of Palestinian sports. Just last November, Israel refused to allow members of the Palestine team to travel from Gaza to play a match in Singapore.
The current protest by The Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign and supported by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has not received much attention in U.S. newspapers, but gets a lot of attention in the press in Europe, Israel and Palestine, as did other sporting boycotts. And the subject of Israel's full compliance with international law, including the permanent lifting of all barriers to freedom of movement for Palestinian goods, people and capital, has been raised for governmental debate in London, supported by 57 members of the British parliament.
The intent is to put pressure upon Israel, which is seeking to improve its relationship with the European Union, whose members are aware of the illegalities in current Israeli policies of building the wall of separation across Palestinian land. The protest on March 24, the day of a match between England and Israel as a qualifier for Euro 2008, is in front of the headquarters of the Football Association in London at 1 p.m. In the recent past, similar protests were organized for tennis and cricket, in the latter case resulting on the cancellation of a planned match between Scotland and Israel.
On the world stage, soccer is a vastly more important sport than either tennis or cricket, and the idea that political action could affect scheduling of matches, or a country's right to participate in international competition, would have serious repercussions within FIFA. Which way will Sepp Blatter go?
Court hearing against Swiss anti-apartheid activists turns into further show of solidarity
Media Release:
Tuesday 30 October 2007
Today the four activists that ran onto the football playground with banners ("Free Palestine -- Boycott Apartheid") during the football qualifying match of Switzerland against Israel stood accused in the court of law of Basel, Switzerland.
In front of the building around 30 supporters gathered to demonstrate their solidarity by showing banners. Half of the group of supporters was not let inside the courtroom although the court hearing was declared public.
As the judge started to read the facts of the case at the beginning of the court hearing, the spectators spontaneously started to applaud. The accused did not express themselves about their personal affairs nor about the case, they instead read a declaration towards the public about the illegitimacy of the court hearing and about the action in the stadium with their backs facing the judge.
During the proclamation of the sentence people started to demonstrate in the courtroom with banners stating "Free Palestine -- Boycott Apartheid" and "Our Solidarity cannot be outlawed -- Free Palestine".
The charge of necessitation had to be dropped, the charge of breach of domestic peace led to a monetary fine on parole.
Worldwide Activism, Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
November 1st, 2007
A group of activists who interrupted an Israel-Switzerland World Cup qualifier with a protest against Israeli apartheid today used their court appearance in Basle to publicly denounce the occupation again.
On September 3, 2005 the four activists ran onto the field with banners demanding "Free Palestine – Boycott Apartheid". The protest was witnessed by thousands of football fans in the stadium and many more watching the game on television. (For more click here.)
At today's court hearing, around 30 supporters gathered in front of the court carrying banners to demonstrate their solidarity with the activists. Half of the supporters were not allowed into the courtroom although the hearing had been declared public.
Inside the court, as the judge began reading the facts of the case,spectators in the gallery spontaneously started to applaud. The defendants declined to present a case for their defense, insteadturning their backs to the judge and reading a declaration to the public gallery about the illegitimacy of the court hearing and about the action in the stadium.
One of the defendants told the court: "We will not accept the policies of apartheid on the part of the state of Israel, nor do we want to look on the Swiss Government directly or indirectly giving these policies its support. We will continue to fight together with the Palestinians until Palestine is free and the world has become a place without exploitation and oppression!"
The activists were charges with breach of domestic peace and fined, while a second charge of necessitation was dropped.
As the sentence was read out, activists in the courtroom unfurled courtroom banners declaring "Free Palestine -- Boycott Apartheid" and "Our Solidarity cannot be outlawed -- Free Palestine".
The activists' full statement is given below.
Declaration for the court-hearing in Basel of the 30th of October, 2007
Today we stand accused in a court of law because we took sides in a political conflict.
On Saturday September 3rd 2005 we used the occasion of the football qualifying match of Switzerland against Israel in the St. Jakob stadium of Basel for a protest action. In the 53rd minute we ran onto the playground with two banners demanding “Free Palestine – Boycott Apartheid”. We did this to call attention on the situation in Palestine. We wished to show solidarity with the Palestinian people who have been oppressed, banished, tortured and killed by the police and the Israeli army for a very long time – all as part of Israeli Government policies. The year 2007 is the mournful anniversary of four decades of occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Highs.
With our action, we wanted to demonstrate clearly our solidarity with the civilian people of Palestine and the progressive forces struggling against oppression in the Middle East. Furthermore we called for a boycott of Israeli products. We are still absolutely committed to this stance.
We are now faced with a situation, in which a Swiss court of justice can decide on sanctions against us, because we expressed our opinion in an action with banners on a football field. This situation emerges out of a relation of power which is not in our favor at this present time. This is why we do not acknowledge this court of law. As a result this court of law does not have the legitimation to judge our declaration. We do not need nor acknowledge anyone who wants to interfere in our lives and in our political activities in such a way. The numerous statements of solidarity following our action encourage us in our attitude and we want to thank everyone for their solidarity and support in our political struggles; especially those who are on our side in a situation like today.
To this very day the people in the Palestinian territories are forced to live under horrible conditions. The Israeli State has fragmented and mostly enclosed the Palestinian territories by building fences and walls. The lives of the Palestinians are becoming more and more like life in prison. Limited freedom of movement, controls on roadblocks, fear and the constant threat of death are part of everyday life for the people of Palestine. In this era of imperialist warfare in the Middle East there seems to be no self-determined solution on the horizon for the Palestinians. Far from it: the people will continue to suffer under this perpetual state of war.
At this very moment the Palestinians are being attacked in new ways unlike the military war of aggression against Lebanon in July of 2006, which meant to increase the pressure on the civilian population: since Sunday the Israeli government is limiting the petrol supply into the Gaza Strip and has reserved the right to cut power supplies temporarily for the future. Through such measures the war of oppression and intimidation has also become a war of economic attrition aimed at hitting hard the one and a half million people living in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Israel and its confederates increasingly appear to prepare to wreak havoc on even more people: witness the continual threats issued against Syria and Iran.
The world population continues watching these crimes and carefully avoids getting involved. Not only this: Switzerland is one of the countries actively supporting Israel by supplying arms as well as importing Israeli products, mostly fruits and vegetables, as we can see in Swiss supermarkets.
We continue to believe that every war must be resisted by all means and that the people in the affected territories have to be granted the right of self determination.
We will not accept the policies of apartheid on the part of the state of Israel, nor do we want to look on the Swiss Government directly or indirectly giving these policies its support. We will continue to fight together with the Palestinians until Palestine is free and the world has become a place without exploitation and oppression!
Boycott Israel!
Tear down the apartheid wall!
Free Palestine!
For a society without exploitation and oppression!
Tuesday 30 October 2007
Today the four activists that ran onto the football playground with banners ("Free Palestine -- Boycott Apartheid") during the football qualifying match of Switzerland against Israel stood accused in the court of law of Basel, Switzerland.
In front of the building around 30 supporters gathered to demonstrate their solidarity by showing banners. Half of the group of supporters was not let inside the courtroom although the court hearing was declared public.
As the judge started to read the facts of the case at the beginning of the court hearing, the spectators spontaneously started to applaud. The accused did not express themselves about their personal affairs nor about the case, they instead read a declaration towards the public about the illegitimacy of the court hearing and about the action in the stadium with their backs facing the judge.
During the proclamation of the sentence people started to demonstrate in the courtroom with banners stating "Free Palestine -- Boycott Apartheid" and "Our Solidarity cannot be outlawed -- Free Palestine".
The charge of necessitation had to be dropped, the charge of breach of domestic peace led to a monetary fine on parole.
Worldwide Activism, Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
November 1st, 2007
A group of activists who interrupted an Israel-Switzerland World Cup qualifier with a protest against Israeli apartheid today used their court appearance in Basle to publicly denounce the occupation again.
On September 3, 2005 the four activists ran onto the field with banners demanding "Free Palestine – Boycott Apartheid". The protest was witnessed by thousands of football fans in the stadium and many more watching the game on television. (For more click here.)
At today's court hearing, around 30 supporters gathered in front of the court carrying banners to demonstrate their solidarity with the activists. Half of the supporters were not allowed into the courtroom although the hearing had been declared public.
Inside the court, as the judge began reading the facts of the case,spectators in the gallery spontaneously started to applaud. The defendants declined to present a case for their defense, insteadturning their backs to the judge and reading a declaration to the public gallery about the illegitimacy of the court hearing and about the action in the stadium.
One of the defendants told the court: "We will not accept the policies of apartheid on the part of the state of Israel, nor do we want to look on the Swiss Government directly or indirectly giving these policies its support. We will continue to fight together with the Palestinians until Palestine is free and the world has become a place without exploitation and oppression!"
The activists were charges with breach of domestic peace and fined, while a second charge of necessitation was dropped.
As the sentence was read out, activists in the courtroom unfurled courtroom banners declaring "Free Palestine -- Boycott Apartheid" and "Our Solidarity cannot be outlawed -- Free Palestine".
The activists' full statement is given below.
Declaration for the court-hearing in Basel of the 30th of October, 2007
Today we stand accused in a court of law because we took sides in a political conflict.
On Saturday September 3rd 2005 we used the occasion of the football qualifying match of Switzerland against Israel in the St. Jakob stadium of Basel for a protest action. In the 53rd minute we ran onto the playground with two banners demanding “Free Palestine – Boycott Apartheid”. We did this to call attention on the situation in Palestine. We wished to show solidarity with the Palestinian people who have been oppressed, banished, tortured and killed by the police and the Israeli army for a very long time – all as part of Israeli Government policies. The year 2007 is the mournful anniversary of four decades of occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Highs.
With our action, we wanted to demonstrate clearly our solidarity with the civilian people of Palestine and the progressive forces struggling against oppression in the Middle East. Furthermore we called for a boycott of Israeli products. We are still absolutely committed to this stance.
We are now faced with a situation, in which a Swiss court of justice can decide on sanctions against us, because we expressed our opinion in an action with banners on a football field. This situation emerges out of a relation of power which is not in our favor at this present time. This is why we do not acknowledge this court of law. As a result this court of law does not have the legitimation to judge our declaration. We do not need nor acknowledge anyone who wants to interfere in our lives and in our political activities in such a way. The numerous statements of solidarity following our action encourage us in our attitude and we want to thank everyone for their solidarity and support in our political struggles; especially those who are on our side in a situation like today.
To this very day the people in the Palestinian territories are forced to live under horrible conditions. The Israeli State has fragmented and mostly enclosed the Palestinian territories by building fences and walls. The lives of the Palestinians are becoming more and more like life in prison. Limited freedom of movement, controls on roadblocks, fear and the constant threat of death are part of everyday life for the people of Palestine. In this era of imperialist warfare in the Middle East there seems to be no self-determined solution on the horizon for the Palestinians. Far from it: the people will continue to suffer under this perpetual state of war.
At this very moment the Palestinians are being attacked in new ways unlike the military war of aggression against Lebanon in July of 2006, which meant to increase the pressure on the civilian population: since Sunday the Israeli government is limiting the petrol supply into the Gaza Strip and has reserved the right to cut power supplies temporarily for the future. Through such measures the war of oppression and intimidation has also become a war of economic attrition aimed at hitting hard the one and a half million people living in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Israel and its confederates increasingly appear to prepare to wreak havoc on even more people: witness the continual threats issued against Syria and Iran.
The world population continues watching these crimes and carefully avoids getting involved. Not only this: Switzerland is one of the countries actively supporting Israel by supplying arms as well as importing Israeli products, mostly fruits and vegetables, as we can see in Swiss supermarkets.
We continue to believe that every war must be resisted by all means and that the people in the affected territories have to be granted the right of self determination.
We will not accept the policies of apartheid on the part of the state of Israel, nor do we want to look on the Swiss Government directly or indirectly giving these policies its support. We will continue to fight together with the Palestinians until Palestine is free and the world has become a place without exploitation and oppression!
Boycott Israel!
Tear down the apartheid wall!
Free Palestine!
For a society without exploitation and oppression!
Sunday, 29 July 2007
The Bethlehem Women's Soccer Team
Laura Conti, The Alternative Information Center (AIC), 18 July 2007
The national female team, which was founded about two years ago with the participation of girls from Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Gaza, is indeed the only team that has to practice in four different places due to the limited mobility afforded by the Wall and Israeli occupation. In fact, the team only have the ability to work together during their matches abroad.
When we go to Jordan for tournaments,” said Samar Araj, the athletic director of the team, “we need all the day. First we pass through Wadi’nar, from the Palestinian frontier, then from the Israeli controls, where they stop us for hours, questioning the girls and the coach, and checking if anybody is involved in politics. After that we pass to the Jordan side where they question us again. This is our problem,” remarks Honey, “We can’t meet or practice together.”
Monday, 28 May 2007
Off Side in Israel
May 23, 2007
SBS's Dateline reporter Sophie McNeil reports on the discrimination faced by the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Transcript and video here.
SBS's Dateline reporter Sophie McNeil reports on the discrimination faced by the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Transcript and video here.
Monday, 2 April 2007
No country, no pool, but Palestinians take the plunge
No country, no pool, but Palestinians take the plunge
Greg Baum - The Age - March 23, 2007
THERE is no swimming pool at the University of Jenin, so Zakia Nassar must go home to Bethlehem to train. The journey should take two hours,she said yesterday, but because of delays at checkpoints it sometimes takes eight.
Nassar, 19, a dental student, gets home for two days at a time. She said she could train at most for an hour on each of those days. "For a swimmer, it's nothing. It's like a shower."
The pool is 18 metres long. The only other pool in the West Bank and Gaza strip is 25 metres. "A 50-metre pool is like the sea for me," shesaid. "When am I going to get to the other end?"
On Wednesday, Nassar and her Palestinian teammates trained in the Richmond municipal pool.
"Unbelievable," said chef de mission Ibrahimal-Tawil. "This is our dream, to have something like that in Palestine. We need to move Richmond to Palestine."
There is a bit of a history in those parts of improbable feats involving water. One bloke walked on it, another parted it.
In that intrepid spirit, a Palestinian team is gathering in Melbourne to do its darnedest in the world championships. Four — all teenagers —have arrived (unsurprisingly, all specialise in 50-metre events). Another is on his way from the US, where he is on a scholarship.
But two others were detained at the only border crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt, said liaison officer Moammar Mashni. They missed connecting flights and will not make it. The crossing, he said, was opened or shut at the whim of Israel.
Mashni, a son of one of the original Palestinian emigrants to Australia, works full time as an advocate for the Palestinian cause. Welcoming The Age, he bade us to sit anywhere we liked. "A good thing about not having a country," he said, "is not having formalities!"
Mashni made no apology for introducing a political note, saying it was unavoidable in matters Middle Eastern. He sought not to raise hackles, but awareness.
Tawil said sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority since the election of Hamas last year had hamstrung the country. "We're here to swim for Palestine, but we cannot forget what is happening back home,"he said.
The swimmers made it clear they were here to swim, but also to make asplash. "I'm proud to be here and represent my country," said Nassar."It's the best thing anyone can do."
One of the swimmers is Fadi Awisat. His brother, Raad, momentarily became a cause celebre while training for the Athens Olympics in 2004 when CNN reported that he had been given a choice: join the Israeli swimming team or pay for facilities that were previously freely available at the YMCA pool in Jerusalem.
Two other reports dismissed the first as propaganda. Tawil said yesterday it had been a classic case of misunderstanding. Drowning or waving; who can say in the Middle East?
Najer Toutanji, the head coach, said he was not surprised to be asked how a Palestinian developed an interest in swimming. "We've barely got enough drinking water, let alone enough to get people interested in swimming," he said.
Nassar said that when she and her brother Sami — who is also here —were taken to a pool in London as children, they simply stood in the water. Their father, a basketballer and footballer, but never a swimmer, resolved to teach them to swim. "He didn't want us to be like him," she said.
Now, she lives for swimming. "Whenever I swim, I forget everything,"she said, "especially if I'm sad or mad."
In Melbourne, she hopes to right a wrong: when she previously met Michael Phelps, her hero, she said she was so overcome she forgot to smile!
The Palestinians travelled via Dubai, where an affluent expat organised a pool for a week, and bought suits for officials. "Our medal is just to be here," said Tawil.
Quietly, the foursome demurred, saying they were excited rather than intimidated by the chance to swim against the world's best. "We are here to be competitors, not participants," Nassar said.
Greg Baum - The Age - March 23, 2007
THERE is no swimming pool at the University of Jenin, so Zakia Nassar must go home to Bethlehem to train. The journey should take two hours,she said yesterday, but because of delays at checkpoints it sometimes takes eight.
Nassar, 19, a dental student, gets home for two days at a time. She said she could train at most for an hour on each of those days. "For a swimmer, it's nothing. It's like a shower."
The pool is 18 metres long. The only other pool in the West Bank and Gaza strip is 25 metres. "A 50-metre pool is like the sea for me," shesaid. "When am I going to get to the other end?"
On Wednesday, Nassar and her Palestinian teammates trained in the Richmond municipal pool.
"Unbelievable," said chef de mission Ibrahimal-Tawil. "This is our dream, to have something like that in Palestine. We need to move Richmond to Palestine."
There is a bit of a history in those parts of improbable feats involving water. One bloke walked on it, another parted it.
In that intrepid spirit, a Palestinian team is gathering in Melbourne to do its darnedest in the world championships. Four — all teenagers —have arrived (unsurprisingly, all specialise in 50-metre events). Another is on his way from the US, where he is on a scholarship.
But two others were detained at the only border crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt, said liaison officer Moammar Mashni. They missed connecting flights and will not make it. The crossing, he said, was opened or shut at the whim of Israel.
Mashni, a son of one of the original Palestinian emigrants to Australia, works full time as an advocate for the Palestinian cause. Welcoming The Age, he bade us to sit anywhere we liked. "A good thing about not having a country," he said, "is not having formalities!"
Mashni made no apology for introducing a political note, saying it was unavoidable in matters Middle Eastern. He sought not to raise hackles, but awareness.
Tawil said sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority since the election of Hamas last year had hamstrung the country. "We're here to swim for Palestine, but we cannot forget what is happening back home,"he said.
The swimmers made it clear they were here to swim, but also to make asplash. "I'm proud to be here and represent my country," said Nassar."It's the best thing anyone can do."
One of the swimmers is Fadi Awisat. His brother, Raad, momentarily became a cause celebre while training for the Athens Olympics in 2004 when CNN reported that he had been given a choice: join the Israeli swimming team or pay for facilities that were previously freely available at the YMCA pool in Jerusalem.
Two other reports dismissed the first as propaganda. Tawil said yesterday it had been a classic case of misunderstanding. Drowning or waving; who can say in the Middle East?
Najer Toutanji, the head coach, said he was not surprised to be asked how a Palestinian developed an interest in swimming. "We've barely got enough drinking water, let alone enough to get people interested in swimming," he said.
Nassar said that when she and her brother Sami — who is also here —were taken to a pool in London as children, they simply stood in the water. Their father, a basketballer and footballer, but never a swimmer, resolved to teach them to swim. "He didn't want us to be like him," she said.
Now, she lives for swimming. "Whenever I swim, I forget everything,"she said, "especially if I'm sad or mad."
In Melbourne, she hopes to right a wrong: when she previously met Michael Phelps, her hero, she said she was so overcome she forgot to smile!
The Palestinians travelled via Dubai, where an affluent expat organised a pool for a week, and bought suits for officials. "Our medal is just to be here," said Tawil.
Quietly, the foursome demurred, saying they were excited rather than intimidated by the chance to swim against the world's best. "We are here to be competitors, not participants," Nassar said.
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