8 November 2011, Rav Shalom http://rabbibrant.com (USA)
by Rabbi Brant Rosen
On November 15, Palestinian activists will attempt to board segregated Israeli settler public transport headed to occupied East Jerusalem in an act of civil disobedience inspired by the Freedom Riders of the US Civil Rights Movement.
Fifty years after the US Freedom Riders staged mixed-race bus rides through the roads of the segregated American South, Palestinian Freedom Riders will be asserting their right for liberty and dignity by disrupting the military regime of the Occupation through peaceful civil disobedience. Organizers say this ride to demand liberty, equality, and access to Jerusalem is the first of many to come.
Ta'anit Tzedek - Jewish Fast for Gaza will stand in solidarity with the West Bank Freedom Riders with a very special conference call on the day of the demonstration. Please join us Tuesday, November 15 at 12 pm Eastern Time to join our conversation with Ellen Broms, one of the original Freedom Riders for civil rights in the American South and currently an activist for a just peace in Israel/Palestine.
During our call, Ms. Broms will talk about her own experiences as an activist/demonstrator for civil rights in the 1960's and why her activism has led her to take a stand on behalf of Palestinian human and civil rights.
Ellen Broms is a retired state worker who resides in Sacramento, CA. Her involvement in the civil rights movement began when, as a student at Los Angeles City College, she demonstrated at Woolworth lunch counters in support of similar sit-ins by students in the South.
In June 1961, Ms. Brom attended a freedom rally at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the keynote speech. After hearing a freedom rider speak, she was inspired to participate in the rides herself. On August 11, Ms. Brom was arrested with other freedom riders after they sat down and demonstrated in a Houston coffee shop.
In her words:
The police arrived, having been summoned by the owner and we were charged with unlawful assembly and taken to the Houston city jail. We were fingerprinted, mugged, and classified at the city jail and then transferred to the Harris County Jail. Ironically, I was booked as a "Negro" because of my dark hair and complexion. We declined to state "race" and they classified me as "High Yellow". Marjorie, a very fair skinned, green eyed female rider of African American descent was classified and booked as white. I was placed in the "tank" for black wo men and Marjorie went to the white women's tank. If we did nothing else during that ride, we did succeed in briefly integrating the jail.
After spending eight days in jail, Ms. Brom was released. The riders were found guilty of "unlawful assembly" by an all-white jury and fined $100 each. Their case was eventually appealed to a higher court and overturned.
Ellen Broms has since been honored by Congress, the state of Texas and the city of Houston for risking incarceration and violence as a Freedom Rider. She continues to work as an activist for peace and justice, particularly in the area of a just peace in Israel/Palestine. She is actively involved in the Sacramento branch of Jewish Voice for Peace and is campaigning on behalf of the West Bank Freedom Riders.
To participate in the call:
Dial Access Number: 1.800.920.7487
Enter Participant Code: 92247763#
There will be opportunities for questions and answers during the call.
Please click here for more information about how you can get involved in support of the West Bank Freedom Riders. Please share this information with others you think may be interested in participating.
We looking forward to your joining the call!
Mostrando postagens com marcador freedom. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador freedom. Mostrar todas as postagens
sexta-feira, 11 de novembro de 2011
“YOU ARE FED UP?”
12 november 2011, Gush Shalom גוש שלום http://zope.gush-shalom.org (Israel)
Uri Avnery אורי אבנרי
“YOU CAN lie to all of the people some of the time, and to some of the people all of the time, but you cannot lie to all of the people all of the time.”
This slightly altered quotation from Abraham Lincoln has yet to be absorbed by Binyamin Netanyahu. He thinks it doesn't apply to him. Actually, that is the core of his entire political career.
This week, he was given a very instructive lesson. After being treated to dozens of cordial encounters between Netanyahu and Nicholas Sarkozy, Israeli TV viewers got a glimpse of reality. It came in the form of an exchange of views between the presidents of the US and of France.
Sarkozy: “I cannot stand him (Netanyahu). He is a liar!”
Obama: "YOU are fed up with him? I have to deal with him every day!"
That came after it was leaked that Angela Merkel, the German prime minister, told her cabinet that “every word that leaves Netanyahu’s mouth is a lie.”
Which makes it more or less unanimous.
BEFORE PROCEEDING, I must say something about the media angle of this affair.
The dialogue was broadcast live to a group of senior French media people, because somebody forgot to turn the microphone off. A piece of luck of the kind that journalists dream about.
Yet not one of the journalists in the hall published a word about it. They kept it to themselves and only told it to their colleagues, who told it to their friends, one of whom told it to a blogger, who published it.
Why? Because the senior journalists who were present are friends and confidants of the people in power. That’s how they get their scoops. The price is suppressing any news that might hurt or embarrass their sponsors. This means in practice that they become lackeys of the people in power – betraying their elementary democratic duty as servants of the public.
I know this from experience. As an editor of a news magazine, I saw it as my duty (and pleasure) to break these conspiracies of silence. Actually, many of our best scoops were given to us by colleagues from other publications who could not use them themselves for the same reason.
Luckily, with the internet now everywhere, it has become almost impossible to suppress news. Blessed be the online Gods.
A FEW weeks after Yitzhak Rabin was elected Prime Minister (for the second time) in 1992, I met Yasser Arafat in Tunis.
He was, of course, curious about the personality of the newly elected Israeli leader. Knowing that I was meeting him from time to time, he asked what I thought of him.
“He is an honest man,” I replied, and then added: “as much as a politician can be.”
Arafat burst out laughing, and so did everybody in the room, including Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Ever since Sir Henry Wotton said, some four centuries ago, that “an ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country,” it is generally assumed that diplomats and politicians may be lying, and not only abroad. Some do so only when necessary, some do it often, some, like Netanyahu, do it as a rule.
In spite of the general assumption of mendacity, it is not good for a leader to be branded as a habitual liar. When leaders meet personally, in private and face to face, they are supposed to tell each other the truth, even if not necessarily the whole truth. Some personal trust is of great advantage. If a leader loses it, he loses a precious asset.
Winston Churchill said of one of his predecessors, Stanley Baldwin, that (quoting from memory) “the Right Honorable Gentleman sometimes stumbles upon the truth, but he always hurries on as if nothing has happened.” One of our ministers said about Ariel Sharon that he sometimes tells the truth by mistake. People asked how you could tell when Richard Nixon was lying: “Easy: his lips are moving”.
Rabin was basically an honest man. He hated lying and avoided it as much as he could. Basically he remained a military man and never became a real politician.
LAST WEDNESDAY was the 16th anniversary of his assassination, according to the Hebrew calendar.
The event was marked in Israeli schools by speeches and special lessons. What these citizens of tomorrow learned was that it is very bad to murder a prime minister. And that, more or less, was that.
Not a word about why he was killed. Certainly nothing about the community the assassin belonged to, or what campaign of hatred and incitement led to the murder.
The Ministry of Education is now firmly in the hands of a Likud minister, and one of the most extreme. But the trend is not confined to the education system.
In Israel it is practically impossible to obtain a picture of Rabin shaking the hand of Arafat. Rabin and King Hussein? As many post cards as you might wish. But Rabin’s peace with Jordan was an unimportant matter, like the US peace with Canada. The Oslo agreement, however, was a historic watershed.
Only people branded as “extreme leftists” – one of the worst insults these days – dare to raise the obvious questions about the assassination: Who? Why?
There is tacit agreement that the only person responsible was the actual assassin: Yigal Amir, the son of Yemenite Jews, a former settler and a student of a religious university.
Would he have acted without the blessing of one or more rabbis? Most certainly not.
Amir was led to do what he did by months of intense incitement. An unprecedented campaign of hatred dominated the public sphere. Posters showed Rabin in the uniform of an SS officer. Religious groups publicly condemned him to death in medieval ceremonies. Demonstrators in front of his private home shouted: “With blood and fire / we shall remove Rabin!”
In the most (in)famous demonstration, in the center of Jerusalem, a coffin marked “Rabin” was paraded around, while Netanyahu looked on from a balcony, in the company of other rightist leaders.
And most tellingly: not a single important right-wing or religious voice was raised against this murderous campaign.
By general tacit agreement, nothing of all this was mentioned this week. Why? Because it would not be nice. It would “split the nation”. Honorable citizens do not do this kind of thing.
Rabin himself cannot be acquitted of all blame. After the incredibly courageous act of recognizing the PLO (and thereby the Palestinian people) and shaking hands with Arafat, he did not rush forward to create an irreversible historic fact of peace, but hesitated, dithered, held back and allowed the forces of war and racism to regroup and counter-attack.
When the Kiryat Arba settler Baruch Goldstein carried out his massacre in the “Cave of Machpela”, Rabin had a golden opportunity to clear out the nest of fascist settlers in Hebron. He shrank back from taking on the settlers. The settlers did not shrink back from killing him.
WHAT HAPPENED next? This week a very revealing document was leaked.
It appears that on the day of the assassination, Netanyahu spoke with the American ambassador (and Zionist Jew) Martin Indyk. Netanyahu, remembering his part in the incitement, was obviously in panic. He confided to the ambassador that if elections were to take place immediately, the entire Israeli right-wing would be wiped out.
But Shimon Peres, the new Prime Minister, did not call immediate elections, though several people (including myself) publicly urged him to do so. Netanyahu’s assessment was quite correct – the country was outraged, the right-wing was generally blamed for the assassination, and if elections had taken place, the Right would have been marginalized for many many years. The entire history of Israel would have taken a different turn.
Why did Peres refuse to do so? Because he hated Rabin. He did not want to be elected as the “executor of Rabin’s testament”, but on his own merits.
Unfortunately, the public did not have the same high opinion of these “merits”.
During the next few months, Peres committed every conceivable (and inconceivable) mistake: he approved the killing of a major Hamas militant which led to a flood of deadly suicide bombings all over the country. He attacked Lebanon, which led to the Kafr Kana massacre, and had to withdraw ignominiously. And then he called premature elections after all. In his election campaign, Rabin was not even mentioned. Thus Peres managed to be (narrowly) defeated by Netanyahu.
I once wrote that Peres suffered his most grievous insult just a few minutes before the assassination. Amir was waiting at the foot of the stairs from the tribune, his pistol ready. Peres came down the steps, and the assassin let him pass, like a fisherman contemptuously throwing a small specimen back into the sea. He was waiting for Rabin.
The rest is history.
Uri Avnery אורי אבנרי
“YOU CAN lie to all of the people some of the time, and to some of the people all of the time, but you cannot lie to all of the people all of the time.”
This slightly altered quotation from Abraham Lincoln has yet to be absorbed by Binyamin Netanyahu. He thinks it doesn't apply to him. Actually, that is the core of his entire political career.
This week, he was given a very instructive lesson. After being treated to dozens of cordial encounters between Netanyahu and Nicholas Sarkozy, Israeli TV viewers got a glimpse of reality. It came in the form of an exchange of views between the presidents of the US and of France.
Sarkozy: “I cannot stand him (Netanyahu). He is a liar!”
Obama: "YOU are fed up with him? I have to deal with him every day!"
That came after it was leaked that Angela Merkel, the German prime minister, told her cabinet that “every word that leaves Netanyahu’s mouth is a lie.”
Which makes it more or less unanimous.
BEFORE PROCEEDING, I must say something about the media angle of this affair.
The dialogue was broadcast live to a group of senior French media people, because somebody forgot to turn the microphone off. A piece of luck of the kind that journalists dream about.
Yet not one of the journalists in the hall published a word about it. They kept it to themselves and only told it to their colleagues, who told it to their friends, one of whom told it to a blogger, who published it.
Why? Because the senior journalists who were present are friends and confidants of the people in power. That’s how they get their scoops. The price is suppressing any news that might hurt or embarrass their sponsors. This means in practice that they become lackeys of the people in power – betraying their elementary democratic duty as servants of the public.
I know this from experience. As an editor of a news magazine, I saw it as my duty (and pleasure) to break these conspiracies of silence. Actually, many of our best scoops were given to us by colleagues from other publications who could not use them themselves for the same reason.
Luckily, with the internet now everywhere, it has become almost impossible to suppress news. Blessed be the online Gods.
A FEW weeks after Yitzhak Rabin was elected Prime Minister (for the second time) in 1992, I met Yasser Arafat in Tunis.
He was, of course, curious about the personality of the newly elected Israeli leader. Knowing that I was meeting him from time to time, he asked what I thought of him.
“He is an honest man,” I replied, and then added: “as much as a politician can be.”
Arafat burst out laughing, and so did everybody in the room, including Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Ever since Sir Henry Wotton said, some four centuries ago, that “an ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country,” it is generally assumed that diplomats and politicians may be lying, and not only abroad. Some do so only when necessary, some do it often, some, like Netanyahu, do it as a rule.
In spite of the general assumption of mendacity, it is not good for a leader to be branded as a habitual liar. When leaders meet personally, in private and face to face, they are supposed to tell each other the truth, even if not necessarily the whole truth. Some personal trust is of great advantage. If a leader loses it, he loses a precious asset.
Winston Churchill said of one of his predecessors, Stanley Baldwin, that (quoting from memory) “the Right Honorable Gentleman sometimes stumbles upon the truth, but he always hurries on as if nothing has happened.” One of our ministers said about Ariel Sharon that he sometimes tells the truth by mistake. People asked how you could tell when Richard Nixon was lying: “Easy: his lips are moving”.
Rabin was basically an honest man. He hated lying and avoided it as much as he could. Basically he remained a military man and never became a real politician.
LAST WEDNESDAY was the 16th anniversary of his assassination, according to the Hebrew calendar.
The event was marked in Israeli schools by speeches and special lessons. What these citizens of tomorrow learned was that it is very bad to murder a prime minister. And that, more or less, was that.
Not a word about why he was killed. Certainly nothing about the community the assassin belonged to, or what campaign of hatred and incitement led to the murder.
The Ministry of Education is now firmly in the hands of a Likud minister, and one of the most extreme. But the trend is not confined to the education system.
In Israel it is practically impossible to obtain a picture of Rabin shaking the hand of Arafat. Rabin and King Hussein? As many post cards as you might wish. But Rabin’s peace with Jordan was an unimportant matter, like the US peace with Canada. The Oslo agreement, however, was a historic watershed.
Only people branded as “extreme leftists” – one of the worst insults these days – dare to raise the obvious questions about the assassination: Who? Why?
There is tacit agreement that the only person responsible was the actual assassin: Yigal Amir, the son of Yemenite Jews, a former settler and a student of a religious university.
Would he have acted without the blessing of one or more rabbis? Most certainly not.
Amir was led to do what he did by months of intense incitement. An unprecedented campaign of hatred dominated the public sphere. Posters showed Rabin in the uniform of an SS officer. Religious groups publicly condemned him to death in medieval ceremonies. Demonstrators in front of his private home shouted: “With blood and fire / we shall remove Rabin!”
In the most (in)famous demonstration, in the center of Jerusalem, a coffin marked “Rabin” was paraded around, while Netanyahu looked on from a balcony, in the company of other rightist leaders.
And most tellingly: not a single important right-wing or religious voice was raised against this murderous campaign.
By general tacit agreement, nothing of all this was mentioned this week. Why? Because it would not be nice. It would “split the nation”. Honorable citizens do not do this kind of thing.
Rabin himself cannot be acquitted of all blame. After the incredibly courageous act of recognizing the PLO (and thereby the Palestinian people) and shaking hands with Arafat, he did not rush forward to create an irreversible historic fact of peace, but hesitated, dithered, held back and allowed the forces of war and racism to regroup and counter-attack.
When the Kiryat Arba settler Baruch Goldstein carried out his massacre in the “Cave of Machpela”, Rabin had a golden opportunity to clear out the nest of fascist settlers in Hebron. He shrank back from taking on the settlers. The settlers did not shrink back from killing him.
WHAT HAPPENED next? This week a very revealing document was leaked.
It appears that on the day of the assassination, Netanyahu spoke with the American ambassador (and Zionist Jew) Martin Indyk. Netanyahu, remembering his part in the incitement, was obviously in panic. He confided to the ambassador that if elections were to take place immediately, the entire Israeli right-wing would be wiped out.
But Shimon Peres, the new Prime Minister, did not call immediate elections, though several people (including myself) publicly urged him to do so. Netanyahu’s assessment was quite correct – the country was outraged, the right-wing was generally blamed for the assassination, and if elections had taken place, the Right would have been marginalized for many many years. The entire history of Israel would have taken a different turn.
Why did Peres refuse to do so? Because he hated Rabin. He did not want to be elected as the “executor of Rabin’s testament”, but on his own merits.
Unfortunately, the public did not have the same high opinion of these “merits”.
During the next few months, Peres committed every conceivable (and inconceivable) mistake: he approved the killing of a major Hamas militant which led to a flood of deadly suicide bombings all over the country. He attacked Lebanon, which led to the Kafr Kana massacre, and had to withdraw ignominiously. And then he called premature elections after all. In his election campaign, Rabin was not even mentioned. Thus Peres managed to be (narrowly) defeated by Netanyahu.
I once wrote that Peres suffered his most grievous insult just a few minutes before the assassination. Amir was waiting at the foot of the stairs from the tribune, his pistol ready. Peres came down the steps, and the assassin let him pass, like a fisherman contemptuously throwing a small specimen back into the sea. He was waiting for Rabin.
The rest is history.
domingo, 7 de agosto de 2011
J14: ‘The People Demand Social Justice!’ 400,000 Rally in Tel Aviv
6 August 2011, Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם http://www.richardsilverstein.com (USA)
Israelis march 400,000 strong in J14 protest rally yesterday in Tel Aviv (AP)
Some of my Israeli friends are literally weeping from the joy, exhilaration, and sheer decency of last night’s J14 protest through the streets of Tel Aviv. The rally drew almost 400,000 people, well over twice as many as last week’s. Sol Salbe, who was there, said it was the largest demonstration he’d ever attended.
Demonstrators chanted, under the influence of the Tahrir revolution, “The people wants social justice.” They marched for a higher quality of life and standard of living. They rallied against the deterioration of housing, educational, and job opportunities, the decline in quality of health care. They demonstrated against a slavishly capitalistic, laissez-faire government which cares only for corporate profits and a draconian anti-Arab foreign policy.
Thanks to Sol Salbe for translating this portion of a Haaretz article (Hebrew) quoting the protest movement’s founder, Daphni Leef’s address to the crowd [Sol's and my interjections are in brackets]:
Daphne Lief who addressed the crowd at the end of the rally said: “We are not in love with protest as protest, but we are in love with the kind of future that we need to have here. We’re in love with the spirit of freedom. The Knesset may have gone on recess but the spirit of freedom will reach its destiny there. Lief finished with the [movement slogan]| “The people demand social justice.”
[As a sign of broadening of the movement, a Rabbi addressed the rally. Hitherto the only mass rallies addressed by rabbis have been right-wing ones.]
“Blessed be the Holy One that we have arrived at this time,” said Rabbi Benny Lau. “We’re two days before Tisha B’Av and usually do not recite this blessing [because of an approaching fast day]. But when you see hundreds of thousands who have come out from their homes, and are joined by tens upon tens of thousands across the country, we realise that something has happened in this country. I came to offer a big thank you.”
[An even more remarkable development has been the appearance of a Palestinian citizen of Israel on the platform]
Writer and journalist Ouda Basharat who also spoke at the Tel Aviv rally said ”That‘s the way revolutions happen: they sneak upon you and spread out like a flood. Long live the youth revolution. The miracle of July arose in the sauna of heat and humidity. The movement, long dead and buried, has come back to life. It is time to make this the struggle of all the oppressed, Jews and Arabs. Arabs and Jews refuse to be enemies.”
Now that’s a revolution I can get behind! Could this be the beginning of the end of the Netanyahu government? And if it is, can there be something better in store? Dare we hope?
Yediot Achronot published on its front page David Grossman’s meditation on the meaning of the new movement, A Window to a New Future (Hebrew). And don’t trust the bulls(&t peddled by Ethan Bronner in his NYT article yesterday in which he claimed that Grossman all of a sudden has regained favor inside Israel after being out of style for some time. Grossman may not always be right given his classical liberal views and he’s certainly worth wrestling with, but he never goes out of style.
Some of my Israeli friends are literally weeping from the joy, exhilaration, and sheer decency of last night’s J14 protest through the streets of Tel Aviv. The rally drew almost 400,000 people, well over twice as many as last week’s. Sol Salbe, who was there, said it was the largest demonstration he’d ever attended.
Demonstrators chanted, under the influence of the Tahrir revolution, “The people wants social justice.” They marched for a higher quality of life and standard of living. They rallied against the deterioration of housing, educational, and job opportunities, the decline in quality of health care. They demonstrated against a slavishly capitalistic, laissez-faire government which cares only for corporate profits and a draconian anti-Arab foreign policy.
Thanks to Sol Salbe for translating this portion of a Haaretz article (Hebrew) quoting the protest movement’s founder, Daphni Leef’s address to the crowd [Sol's and my interjections are in brackets]:
Daphne Lief who addressed the crowd at the end of the rally said: “We are not in love with protest as protest, but we are in love with the kind of future that we need to have here. We’re in love with the spirit of freedom. The Knesset may have gone on recess but the spirit of freedom will reach its destiny there. Lief finished with the [movement slogan]| “The people demand social justice.”
[As a sign of broadening of the movement, a Rabbi addressed the rally. Hitherto the only mass rallies addressed by rabbis have been right-wing ones.]
“Blessed be the Holy One that we have arrived at this time,” said Rabbi Benny Lau. “We’re two days before Tisha B’Av and usually do not recite this blessing [because of an approaching fast day]. But when you see hundreds of thousands who have come out from their homes, and are joined by tens upon tens of thousands across the country, we realise that something has happened in this country. I came to offer a big thank you.”
[An even more remarkable development has been the appearance of a Palestinian citizen of Israel on the platform]
Writer and journalist Ouda Basharat who also spoke at the Tel Aviv rally said ”That‘s the way revolutions happen: they sneak upon you and spread out like a flood. Long live the youth revolution. The miracle of July arose in the sauna of heat and humidity. The movement, long dead and buried, has come back to life. It is time to make this the struggle of all the oppressed, Jews and Arabs. Arabs and Jews refuse to be enemies.”
Now that’s a revolution I can get behind! Could this be the beginning of the end of the Netanyahu government? And if it is, can there be something better in store? Dare we hope?
Yediot Achronot published on its front page David Grossman’s meditation on the meaning of the new movement, A Window to a New Future (Hebrew). And don’t trust the bulls(&t peddled by Ethan Bronner in his NYT article yesterday in which he claimed that Grossman all of a sudden has regained favor inside Israel after being out of style for some time. Grossman may not always be right given his classical liberal views and he’s certainly worth wrestling with, but he never goes out of style.
South African student bodies declare, ‘We recognise apartheid when we see it’
6 August 2011, Mondoweiss http://mondoweiss.net (USA)
An Israeli mission to South African campuses is expected to arrive on August 11. Palestinian students have written to South African colleagues asking them to challenge and boycott the Israeli delegation. Three South African student bodies-- the South African Union of Students, the South African Student Congress, and the Young Communist League of South Africa issued the following statement at a joint press conference yesterday at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The groups included South Africa's oldest and most representative student bodies.
JOINT STUDENT STATEMENT
There is no doubt, Israel is an Apartheid state; There is only one word, boycott!
We, students and youth of a post Apartheid South Africa, who bear the scars of a racist history and who continue to fight for complete liberation, have a duty and responsibility to stand in solidarity with those facing oppression worldwide. Israeli apartheid is one such form of oppression.
Israeli media boast that a mission of 150 Israeli propagandists will be sent to universities in 5 countries to fix Israel's "serious image problems". The Israeli mission will begin on South African campuses on the 11th of August, with a delegation that includes at least two aides from the Israeli parliament. A delegation member was clear about the intention of their trip: "We have to create some doubt in their [South African students’] minds."
Don’t patronize us! We lived apartheid, we suffered apartheid, we know what apartheid is, we recognise apartheid when we see it. And when we see Israel, we see a regime that practices apartheid. Israel’s image needs no changing; its policies do! We urge Israeli students to instead join the growing and inspiring internal resistance to their regime, particularly the boycott from within movement, rather than waste time and money on these propaganda trips to deceive us Black students, South Africans have no need for these Muldergate-like trips.
A "major focus” of the Israeli trip will be the University of Johannesburg (UJ). On 1st April 2011 UJ's Senate, with the full backing of UJ's Student Representative Council, terminated its institutional relationship with Israel's Ben-Gurion University. Indeed, UJ set an academic boycott of Israel precedent that all other South African and international universities can follow.
Following UJ’s decision, and in response to a letter sent to us by Palestinian students, we urge all SRCs, student groups and other youth structures to strategize and implement a boycott of Israel and its campaigns. We declare that all SA campuses must be Apartheid-Israel free zones.
As with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, international solidarity is key in overcoming Israeli Apartheid. In Nelson Mandela’s words: 'It behoves all South Africans, erstwhile beneficiaries of generous international support, to stand up and be counted among those contributing actively to the cause of freedom and justice….we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.'
FOR THE RECORD
A. On Education
1. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories has had disastrous effects on access to education for Palestinians. Palestinian students face poverty, harassment and humiliation as a result of Israeli policy and actions.
2. Israel mounted direct attacks on Palestinian education, including the complete closures of two Palestinian universities in 2003 and the targeting and bombing of more than 60 primary and secondary schools during the Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2009.
3. Israel’s assault on the education of Palestinians is illegal under international law. The right to education is a fundamental human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments.
4. The Israeli blockade of Gaza has had a detrimental impact on students. Gaza’s electricity supply is controlled by Israel and shut-down for several hours most days, making it difficult for students to study. Moreover, the blockade means insufficient quantities of educational equipment, such as paper, desks and books, reach students.
B. On Israeli Apartheid
5. Several of our senior leaders have compared Israel to Apartheid South Africa, including Comrades Kgalema Mothlantle, Blade Nzimande, Zwelinzima Vavi, Rob Davies, Jeremy Cronin, Ahmed Kathrada, Winnie Mandela, Ronnie Kasrils, Denis Goldberg, the late Kader Asmal and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
6. Both the former and current United Nations Special Rapporteurs for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have requested that Israel be investigated for the crime of apartheid.
7. In an official report commissioned by the South African government in 2009, the Human Sciences Research Council confirmed that Israel, by its policies and practices, is guilty of the crime of apartheid.
8. In November 2010, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation called upon the Israeli government “to cease their activities that are reminiscent of apartheid forced removals…”
C. On Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
8. Palestinian civil society, including student groups, have called for a policy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel until it abides by international law.
9. This call has the endorsement of the largest and most representative coalition of civil and political society in Palestine. The call also has the support of a growing number of progressive Israeli groups.
10. In 2010, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Professor Richard Falk, said: “It is politically and morally appropriate, as well as legally correct, to accord maximum support to the BDS campaign.”
11. COSATU, South Africa’s largest trade union federation was one of the first unions to endorse the BDS call. Subsequently, numerous other international trade unions have also adopted a pro-BDS position.
12. Several international groups have began to advance the BDS call in the cultural, consumer, sports, economic and academic spheres. Earlier this year the largest student union in Europe, the ULU, passed a motion in support of BDS."
ISSUED AT WITS UNIVERSITY ON THURSDAY THE 4th OF AUGUST 2011 BY
South African Union of Students, South African Student Congress and the Young Communist League of South Africa
* SASCO is South Africa's oldest and largest student organization.
** The SA Union of Students (SAUS) comprises all South African university Student Representative Councils and is the most representative student union in the country.
*** The Young Communist League of South Africa (YCL) has local branches at all South African universities
BDS SOUTH AFRICA
An Israeli mission to South African campuses is expected to arrive on August 11. Palestinian students have written to South African colleagues asking them to challenge and boycott the Israeli delegation. Three South African student bodies-- the South African Union of Students, the South African Student Congress, and the Young Communist League of South Africa issued the following statement at a joint press conference yesterday at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The groups included South Africa's oldest and most representative student bodies.
JOINT STUDENT STATEMENT
There is no doubt, Israel is an Apartheid state; There is only one word, boycott!
We, students and youth of a post Apartheid South Africa, who bear the scars of a racist history and who continue to fight for complete liberation, have a duty and responsibility to stand in solidarity with those facing oppression worldwide. Israeli apartheid is one such form of oppression.
Israeli media boast that a mission of 150 Israeli propagandists will be sent to universities in 5 countries to fix Israel's "serious image problems". The Israeli mission will begin on South African campuses on the 11th of August, with a delegation that includes at least two aides from the Israeli parliament. A delegation member was clear about the intention of their trip: "We have to create some doubt in their [South African students’] minds."
Don’t patronize us! We lived apartheid, we suffered apartheid, we know what apartheid is, we recognise apartheid when we see it. And when we see Israel, we see a regime that practices apartheid. Israel’s image needs no changing; its policies do! We urge Israeli students to instead join the growing and inspiring internal resistance to their regime, particularly the boycott from within movement, rather than waste time and money on these propaganda trips to deceive us Black students, South Africans have no need for these Muldergate-like trips.
A "major focus” of the Israeli trip will be the University of Johannesburg (UJ). On 1st April 2011 UJ's Senate, with the full backing of UJ's Student Representative Council, terminated its institutional relationship with Israel's Ben-Gurion University. Indeed, UJ set an academic boycott of Israel precedent that all other South African and international universities can follow.
Following UJ’s decision, and in response to a letter sent to us by Palestinian students, we urge all SRCs, student groups and other youth structures to strategize and implement a boycott of Israel and its campaigns. We declare that all SA campuses must be Apartheid-Israel free zones.
As with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, international solidarity is key in overcoming Israeli Apartheid. In Nelson Mandela’s words: 'It behoves all South Africans, erstwhile beneficiaries of generous international support, to stand up and be counted among those contributing actively to the cause of freedom and justice….we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.'
FOR THE RECORD
A. On Education
1. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories has had disastrous effects on access to education for Palestinians. Palestinian students face poverty, harassment and humiliation as a result of Israeli policy and actions.
2. Israel mounted direct attacks on Palestinian education, including the complete closures of two Palestinian universities in 2003 and the targeting and bombing of more than 60 primary and secondary schools during the Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2009.
3. Israel’s assault on the education of Palestinians is illegal under international law. The right to education is a fundamental human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments.
4. The Israeli blockade of Gaza has had a detrimental impact on students. Gaza’s electricity supply is controlled by Israel and shut-down for several hours most days, making it difficult for students to study. Moreover, the blockade means insufficient quantities of educational equipment, such as paper, desks and books, reach students.
B. On Israeli Apartheid
5. Several of our senior leaders have compared Israel to Apartheid South Africa, including Comrades Kgalema Mothlantle, Blade Nzimande, Zwelinzima Vavi, Rob Davies, Jeremy Cronin, Ahmed Kathrada, Winnie Mandela, Ronnie Kasrils, Denis Goldberg, the late Kader Asmal and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
6. Both the former and current United Nations Special Rapporteurs for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have requested that Israel be investigated for the crime of apartheid.
7. In an official report commissioned by the South African government in 2009, the Human Sciences Research Council confirmed that Israel, by its policies and practices, is guilty of the crime of apartheid.
8. In November 2010, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation called upon the Israeli government “to cease their activities that are reminiscent of apartheid forced removals…”
C. On Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
8. Palestinian civil society, including student groups, have called for a policy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel until it abides by international law.
9. This call has the endorsement of the largest and most representative coalition of civil and political society in Palestine. The call also has the support of a growing number of progressive Israeli groups.
10. In 2010, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Professor Richard Falk, said: “It is politically and morally appropriate, as well as legally correct, to accord maximum support to the BDS campaign.”
11. COSATU, South Africa’s largest trade union federation was one of the first unions to endorse the BDS call. Subsequently, numerous other international trade unions have also adopted a pro-BDS position.
12. Several international groups have began to advance the BDS call in the cultural, consumer, sports, economic and academic spheres. Earlier this year the largest student union in Europe, the ULU, passed a motion in support of BDS."
ISSUED AT WITS UNIVERSITY ON THURSDAY THE 4th OF AUGUST 2011 BY
South African Union of Students, South African Student Congress and the Young Communist League of South Africa
* SASCO is South Africa's oldest and largest student organization.
** The SA Union of Students (SAUS) comprises all South African university Student Representative Councils and is the most representative student union in the country.
*** The Young Communist League of South Africa (YCL) has local branches at all South African universities
BDS SOUTH AFRICA
quarta-feira, 27 de julho de 2011
Jenin’s Freedom Theater raided by the Israeli army
27 July 2011,+972 http://972mag.com (Israel)
Joseph Dana*
(The Freedom Theatre, Jenin refugee camp (photo: Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
Overnight, roughly 50 Israeli Special Forces troops raided the Jenin Freedom Theatre in the Jenin Refugee Camp in the Northern West Bank according to members of the theater. The Freedom Theater is often associated with slain Palestinian-Jewish actor Juliano Mer Khamis and his vision of cultural resistance to Israeli occupation. Mer Khamis was shot by unknown gunman outside of the theatre last spring. According to the press release of the Freedom Theater regarding the raid,
Ahmad Nasser Matahen, a night guard and technician student at the theatre woke up by heavy blocks of stone being hurled at the entrance of the theatre. As he opened the door he found masked and heavily armed Israeli Special Forces around the theatre. Ahmed says that the army threw heavy blocks of stone at the theatre, “they told me to open the door to the theatre. They told me to raise my hands and forced me to take my pants down. I thought my time had come, that they would kill me. My brother that was with me was handcuffed.
The location manager of The Freedom Theatre, Adnan Naghnaghiye was arrested and taken away to an unknown location together with Bilal Saadi, a member of the board of The Freedom Theatre. When the general manager of the theatre Jacob Gough from UK and the co-founder of the theatre Jonatan Stanczak from Sweden arrived to the scene they were forced to squat next to a family with four small children surrounded by about 50 heavily armed Israeli soldiers.
Jonatan Stanczak, in recounting the attack this morning, told the press that, “Whenever we tried to tell them that they are attacking a cultural venue and arresting members of the theatre we were told to shut up and they threatened to kick us, I tried to contact the civil administration of the army to clarify the matter but the person in charge hung up on me.”
The Israeli army has yet to release a comment confirming what happened this morning in Jenin. Emily Smith, an American photographer working with the Freedom Theater, told +972 that the Israeli civil administration and army have refused attempts by members of the Freedom Theater to get information about the whereabouts of the arrested and reasons for the raid.
UPDATE 11:30am: Ma’an News Agency is reporting that the Israeli military confirmed this morning that two people were arrested in Jenin but deny that the theater was raided by soldiers.
UPDATE 7:00PM: The IDF spokesman is maintaining that the army did not raid or enter the theater this morning despite the accounts by members of the Freedom Theater. The spokesman has not been clear about where exactly the Palestinians were arrested, only saying they there were taken in “near the Jenin theater.” Photos have emerged of the damaged Freedom Theater showing stones which members of the theater claim were used by soldiers to attack the building.
The Jenin Freedom Theater after alleged Israeli army attack. (photo: Emily Smith)
According to Jonatan Stanczak, Israeli soldiers did not physically enter the theater but they attacked it with stones and sealed off the area around the theater while demanding that all inside come out. In the process of the operation, soldiers surrounded all entrances and arrested two people, both were inside the theater when soldiers arrived, Stanczak told +972 from Jenin this evening. “We have researched the definition of a raid, and while troops did not enter inside the theater, we believe what they did should be defined as a raid,” Stanczak noted.
*Joseph Dana is a writer based in Tel Aviv and Ramallah. A dual American-Israeli citizen, Dana formerly studied Jewish history at the Hebrew University and the Central European University in Budapest before devoting himself to full time writing about Israel and Palestine.
His work has appeared in The Nation, Le Monde Diplomatique, The National, Tablet Magazine, Al Jazeera English, The Jewish Daily Forward, Haaretz and The Mail & Guardian. Dana is a regular media commentator with appearances on Al Jazeera English, BBC Arabic and National Public Radio.
During January and February of 2011, Dana was the temporary media coordinator of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee while the permanent media coordinator, Jonathan Pollak, served a jail sentence for protesting the 2008 Gaza war.
Joseph Dana*
(The Freedom Theatre, Jenin refugee camp (photo: Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
Overnight, roughly 50 Israeli Special Forces troops raided the Jenin Freedom Theatre in the Jenin Refugee Camp in the Northern West Bank according to members of the theater. The Freedom Theater is often associated with slain Palestinian-Jewish actor Juliano Mer Khamis and his vision of cultural resistance to Israeli occupation. Mer Khamis was shot by unknown gunman outside of the theatre last spring. According to the press release of the Freedom Theater regarding the raid,
Ahmad Nasser Matahen, a night guard and technician student at the theatre woke up by heavy blocks of stone being hurled at the entrance of the theatre. As he opened the door he found masked and heavily armed Israeli Special Forces around the theatre. Ahmed says that the army threw heavy blocks of stone at the theatre, “they told me to open the door to the theatre. They told me to raise my hands and forced me to take my pants down. I thought my time had come, that they would kill me. My brother that was with me was handcuffed.
The location manager of The Freedom Theatre, Adnan Naghnaghiye was arrested and taken away to an unknown location together with Bilal Saadi, a member of the board of The Freedom Theatre. When the general manager of the theatre Jacob Gough from UK and the co-founder of the theatre Jonatan Stanczak from Sweden arrived to the scene they were forced to squat next to a family with four small children surrounded by about 50 heavily armed Israeli soldiers.
Jonatan Stanczak, in recounting the attack this morning, told the press that, “Whenever we tried to tell them that they are attacking a cultural venue and arresting members of the theatre we were told to shut up and they threatened to kick us, I tried to contact the civil administration of the army to clarify the matter but the person in charge hung up on me.”
The Israeli army has yet to release a comment confirming what happened this morning in Jenin. Emily Smith, an American photographer working with the Freedom Theater, told +972 that the Israeli civil administration and army have refused attempts by members of the Freedom Theater to get information about the whereabouts of the arrested and reasons for the raid.
UPDATE 11:30am: Ma’an News Agency is reporting that the Israeli military confirmed this morning that two people were arrested in Jenin but deny that the theater was raided by soldiers.
UPDATE 7:00PM: The IDF spokesman is maintaining that the army did not raid or enter the theater this morning despite the accounts by members of the Freedom Theater. The spokesman has not been clear about where exactly the Palestinians were arrested, only saying they there were taken in “near the Jenin theater.” Photos have emerged of the damaged Freedom Theater showing stones which members of the theater claim were used by soldiers to attack the building.
According to Jonatan Stanczak, Israeli soldiers did not physically enter the theater but they attacked it with stones and sealed off the area around the theater while demanding that all inside come out. In the process of the operation, soldiers surrounded all entrances and arrested two people, both were inside the theater when soldiers arrived, Stanczak told +972 from Jenin this evening. “We have researched the definition of a raid, and while troops did not enter inside the theater, we believe what they did should be defined as a raid,” Stanczak noted.
*Joseph Dana is a writer based in Tel Aviv and Ramallah. A dual American-Israeli citizen, Dana formerly studied Jewish history at the Hebrew University and the Central European University in Budapest before devoting himself to full time writing about Israel and Palestine.
His work has appeared in The Nation, Le Monde Diplomatique, The National, Tablet Magazine, Al Jazeera English, The Jewish Daily Forward, Haaretz and The Mail & Guardian. Dana is a regular media commentator with appearances on Al Jazeera English, BBC Arabic and National Public Radio.
During January and February of 2011, Dana was the temporary media coordinator of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee while the permanent media coordinator, Jonathan Pollak, served a jail sentence for protesting the 2008 Gaza war.
quinta-feira, 21 de julho de 2011
TUTTI RIENTRATI I PASSEGGERI DELLA DIGNITE’. LA PROTESTA DELLE ONG DI GAZA
21 luglio 2011, Freedom Flotilla http://www.freedomflotilla.i (Italia)
Tutti i passeggeri della Dignité espulsi da Israele sono rientrati in Francia e negli altri Paesi di provenienza. Nel video, la protesta delle ONG di Gaza contro l’atto di pirateria israeliano e l’assedio alla Striscia.
Tutti i passeggeri della Dignité espulsi da Israele sono rientrati in Francia e negli altri Paesi di provenienza. Nel video, la protesta delle ONG di Gaza contro l’atto di pirateria israeliano e l’assedio alla Striscia.
quarta-feira, 20 de julho de 2011
ISRAELI SOCIETY MOUNTS RESISTENCE TO LEGISLATIVE ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY
20 JulY 2011, + 972 http://972mag.com (Israel)
Dahlia Scheindlin*
When we look back on this period in Israeli history, I don’t want to wonder: “why didn’t Israelis fight for their democracy? Why did they stand by and let themselves be taken over by sham leaders representing repressions that belonged to the dark days of the last century? What was the birth of our state worth if it failed to guarantee us a democracy? I learned the Israeli national anthem as a child, and when I was very young, I used to choke up at the part that says “l’hiyot am hofshi b’artzenu” (to be a free people in our country).
I’m not alone. I wish there were more people flooding the streets in protest, following the passage of the boycott law last week, but I am encouraged by important voices of protest that continue to appear daily ever since last week. Here’s just a sampling:
1. One of Israel’s most talented authors, Etgar Keret, wrote a powerfully worded column in the largest mass-circulating daily Yedioth Ahronot, in the weekend edition. Keret shows how obvious and easy it is to do what 47 MKs and about half of the Israeli public were unable to do – separate feelings about the act of boycotts from the principle of democracy.
I never liked boycotts…when a friend called me about a year ago asking me to sign a petition calling for a boycott against Ariel, it was easy for me to say no…[but] When elected officials enact violent legislation which violates the individual’s basic rights, it is nothing less than a civic duty to break it. Had my country enacted a law prohibiting men from kissing in public, I would look on the street for the first man who does not reek of cigarettes or garlic and give him a passionate kiss. When our country chooses to prosecute and persecute people because they are trying to influence in democratic ways the future of the country where they live, then I must use this forum to call for a boycott of the settlements. ” [Thanks to Adam Keller for part of the translation - note, various other writers and intellectuals have written similar calls.]
2. The Israel Democracy Institute, which used to take moderate, upset-no-one positions in the past and preferred to hold a seminar on a controversial issues rather than make a statement, came out with a desperate call in an ad in Ha’aretz. In four years of working there, from 2006-2010, I don’t remember anything so emotional and unequivocal as this coming from the IDI. The large headline read: “Ben Gurion and Jabotinsky are turning over in their graves”
The founding fathers and the people of all movements and all streams – from Jabotinsky to Berl Katznelson, from Ben Gurion to Begin – entrusted us with a cherished endowment, one that commands us to protect it fearlessly: Israeli democracy. Those who signed the Declaration of Independence gave it its authority through their declaration that the state of Israel rests on the foundations of liberty, justice and peace…will provide equality of social and political rights for all citizens without distinction between religion, race, gender…To this day, we have not completed the promulgation of a Constitution that defines human and civil rights in Israel in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. Worse, short-sighted legislation is eating away at the glorious Israeli democracy…Would the current Knesset members who vote for these laws sign the Declaration of Independence today? Don’t they see that their vote does not square with the values of the Declaration?…An unprecedented stack of bills have piled up on the floor of the Knesset, and from them blow the winds of anti-democracy…they subvert the foundation of Israeli democracy and endanger its existence.
3. A petition has been published in Haaretz, under the title “Boycott Law – No more!” The first 120 signatories appear in the paper and most of them are academics, lawyers, architects, engineers, social workers, social activists, writers, designers, psychologists and organizational consultants, environmentalists and Israel Prize winning physicists and private investigators. Within the text, it says “36 professors of law determined that “the law is unconstitutional, it is a mortal blow to freedom of political expression and the right to protest in Israel, sufficient to damage human dignity [a human right protected under Israel's Basic Law of Human Dignity and Freedom, one of several such laws that stand in for a constitution - drs]
4. A demonstration is being organized on Saturday night – in proper 2011 fashion, invitations are being disseminated on a Facebook page with the title: “Democracy takes to the streets: The government against the people – the people against the government.” At this moment, 1,359 say they’ll be attending – and it’s only Wednesday.
I want, I believe, I hope and I pray that thousands of people, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands – 7.75 million – will unite in support of our freedoms – all of them, for all of us.
--------------
*Dahlia Scheindlin is a leading international public opinion analyst and strategic consultant based in Tel Aviv, specializing in progressive causes, political campaigns in many countries, including new/transitional democracies and peace/ conflict research. In Israel, she works for a wide range of local and international organizations dealing with Israeli-Palestinian conflict issues, peacemaking, democracy, religious identity and internal social issues in Israeli society. Dahlia is currently writing her doctoral dissertation in comparative politics at Tel Aviv University. The focus of her research is unrecognized (de facto) states. In the fall of 2010 she will begin teaching at Ben Gurion University. Dahlia writes a monthly column for the Jerusalem Report magazine and is a regular media commentator and guest lecturer.
Dahlia Scheindlin*
When we look back on this period in Israeli history, I don’t want to wonder: “why didn’t Israelis fight for their democracy? Why did they stand by and let themselves be taken over by sham leaders representing repressions that belonged to the dark days of the last century? What was the birth of our state worth if it failed to guarantee us a democracy? I learned the Israeli national anthem as a child, and when I was very young, I used to choke up at the part that says “l’hiyot am hofshi b’artzenu” (to be a free people in our country).
I’m not alone. I wish there were more people flooding the streets in protest, following the passage of the boycott law last week, but I am encouraged by important voices of protest that continue to appear daily ever since last week. Here’s just a sampling:
1. One of Israel’s most talented authors, Etgar Keret, wrote a powerfully worded column in the largest mass-circulating daily Yedioth Ahronot, in the weekend edition. Keret shows how obvious and easy it is to do what 47 MKs and about half of the Israeli public were unable to do – separate feelings about the act of boycotts from the principle of democracy.
I never liked boycotts…when a friend called me about a year ago asking me to sign a petition calling for a boycott against Ariel, it was easy for me to say no…[but] When elected officials enact violent legislation which violates the individual’s basic rights, it is nothing less than a civic duty to break it. Had my country enacted a law prohibiting men from kissing in public, I would look on the street for the first man who does not reek of cigarettes or garlic and give him a passionate kiss. When our country chooses to prosecute and persecute people because they are trying to influence in democratic ways the future of the country where they live, then I must use this forum to call for a boycott of the settlements. ” [Thanks to Adam Keller for part of the translation - note, various other writers and intellectuals have written similar calls.]
2. The Israel Democracy Institute, which used to take moderate, upset-no-one positions in the past and preferred to hold a seminar on a controversial issues rather than make a statement, came out with a desperate call in an ad in Ha’aretz. In four years of working there, from 2006-2010, I don’t remember anything so emotional and unequivocal as this coming from the IDI. The large headline read: “Ben Gurion and Jabotinsky are turning over in their graves”
The founding fathers and the people of all movements and all streams – from Jabotinsky to Berl Katznelson, from Ben Gurion to Begin – entrusted us with a cherished endowment, one that commands us to protect it fearlessly: Israeli democracy. Those who signed the Declaration of Independence gave it its authority through their declaration that the state of Israel rests on the foundations of liberty, justice and peace…will provide equality of social and political rights for all citizens without distinction between religion, race, gender…To this day, we have not completed the promulgation of a Constitution that defines human and civil rights in Israel in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. Worse, short-sighted legislation is eating away at the glorious Israeli democracy…Would the current Knesset members who vote for these laws sign the Declaration of Independence today? Don’t they see that their vote does not square with the values of the Declaration?…An unprecedented stack of bills have piled up on the floor of the Knesset, and from them blow the winds of anti-democracy…they subvert the foundation of Israeli democracy and endanger its existence.
3. A petition has been published in Haaretz, under the title “Boycott Law – No more!” The first 120 signatories appear in the paper and most of them are academics, lawyers, architects, engineers, social workers, social activists, writers, designers, psychologists and organizational consultants, environmentalists and Israel Prize winning physicists and private investigators. Within the text, it says “36 professors of law determined that “the law is unconstitutional, it is a mortal blow to freedom of political expression and the right to protest in Israel, sufficient to damage human dignity [a human right protected under Israel's Basic Law of Human Dignity and Freedom, one of several such laws that stand in for a constitution - drs]
4. A demonstration is being organized on Saturday night – in proper 2011 fashion, invitations are being disseminated on a Facebook page with the title: “Democracy takes to the streets: The government against the people – the people against the government.” At this moment, 1,359 say they’ll be attending – and it’s only Wednesday.
I want, I believe, I hope and I pray that thousands of people, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands – 7.75 million – will unite in support of our freedoms – all of them, for all of us.
--------------
*Dahlia Scheindlin is a leading international public opinion analyst and strategic consultant based in Tel Aviv, specializing in progressive causes, political campaigns in many countries, including new/transitional democracies and peace/ conflict research. In Israel, she works for a wide range of local and international organizations dealing with Israeli-Palestinian conflict issues, peacemaking, democracy, religious identity and internal social issues in Israeli society. Dahlia is currently writing her doctoral dissertation in comparative politics at Tel Aviv University. The focus of her research is unrecognized (de facto) states. In the fall of 2010 she will begin teaching at Ben Gurion University. Dahlia writes a monthly column for the Jerusalem Report magazine and is a regular media commentator and guest lecturer.
terça-feira, 19 de julho de 2011
ISRAELIS CANNOT MAKE THE GAZA REALITY DISAPPEAR
I admit I overestimated the strength of Greece’s democracy. Or let me put it this way: I didn’t see how thin the varnish of what we call Israeli democracy really is.
17 July 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Henning Mankell*
I will try to summarize this year's Gaza flotilla. Everyone knows that the goal this time was to return with more unarmed ships and a more representative selection of people and organizations. Last but not least, we would return with more MPs. We succeeded in organizing this.
But suddenly this peaceful protest against the illegal Israeli blockade turned into a Greek tragedy, as if a modern-day Euripides had conceived it. Obviously we had predicted that the Israeli army might use a tactic that prevented the flotilla from leaving foreign ports. We assumed that Israel, as always, would claim that it could do whatever it wanted. And it can, as long as it is protected and financed by the United States.
But the U.S. is not the power it used to be; one day that protection will cease - shall we say in five years? In this context it might be wise to mention that, as I write this, NASA's huge funding will be reduced to a minimum. And the reason for the dismantling of this prestigious project is the deteriorating U.S. economy. What other reason is there?
But we weren't prepared that Greece would so easily sell its national soul to Israel, disguised as threats and harassment. I criticize myself for not foreseeing this. Greece's economic crisis weakens the nation. But it came as a surprise that Greece, when faced with Israel's threats (supported by the United States ), would roll over so completely. Moreover, I fully admit that I overestimated the strength of Greece's democracy. Or let me put it this way: I didn't see how thin the varnish of what we call Israeli democracy really is. Israel's actions remind me more of a military dictatorship's methods.
I'll come back to why Greece has been brought to its knees, and why a relatively small solidarity movement like our flotilla manages to create turmoil in international politics and frightens Israel into challenging its neighbors and the EU.
First, this needs to be said: Because Greece prevented our ships from leaving its ports and our ships were sabotaged by unidentified hostile divers, no flotilla will sail for Gaza right now. But some ships might act on their own. Since this would break our common cause, I deeply disagree with it. Most likely, however, the Greek coast guard will stop the ships, because the Israelis don't want bad publicity like last year, when Israeli commandos fired at will from helicopters. Hence, it's better to make Greece responsible. Israel and those opposing our cause will regard this as a failure for our side, and Prime Minister George Papandreou will get a pat on the back from his Israeli friends (but the protests in Greece will increase).
But this is not a failure. We will return with broader support and a bigger flotilla, and I promise that the Israeli regime won't have a quiet moment until this illegal blockade is broken. Our action has had more impact this year - unlike last year when the media didn't pay attention until the commandos started killing people.
Even though our ships didn't move an inch, this is yet another failure for Israel. The regime's desperate fear increases the opposition against human rights violations in Gaza. According to basic international law, it's illegal to collectively punish people as is done in Gaza.
In the same way I always claim that Gilad Shalit should have been released long ago and that Hamas' rocket attacks against Israel must stop, I claim that we must look at this situation from this perspective: What comes first, oppression or rebellion? Not even Israel's intellectuals can wave their magic wand and make reality disappear - the reality that the Palestinians are treated as second-class citizens in their own country. The Gaza blockade is not mainly about concrete, diapers or medicine. It's about the human dignity that Israel deprives its own citizens of. Thus, it provokes desperate actions.
But for me the biggest mystery is that the Israeli regime doesn't realize that it's digging holes for itself, and that the situation in the end will be unbearable. Why are they blindfolding themselves?
Why is Israel moving the blockade - or ironically one could call it "outsourcing" the blockade - to Europe this year? What's the difference from last year? Naturally, it's about the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. The Israelis find this development most worrying. But they also understand that they can profit from the concerns in governing circles in Europe and the United States. Last year, significantly more international institutions openly supported our flotilla. But now when the MENA region is unstable, it's very convenient to forget about the Palestinians again and ensure that Israel can maintain some sort of order in the region.
Who cares about some ill-treated Palestinians when the stability of the oil-producing countries is an issue?
Once MENA's situation becomes clearer, the support for our cause will increase. And my guess is that it will be bigger than ever.
That's how cynical our world is. But I don't think Israel should make too much of a triumph of this. In Europe - and in Greece not least - the indignation over Israel's brutal meddling in Greece's internal affairs is growing.
Through its actions the blindfolded Israeli regime is becoming a global outcast. Why don't they consider what's best for them? With what arguments do they defend the Gaza blockade if the next election ends in Hamas' defeat? How do they justify the building of new and bigger illegal settlements and the violations they constitute?
Therefore, it should be regarded as something positive when Yedioth Ahronoth's Roni Shaked says "it would be better to get rid of the blockade than to chase protesters." That is, if my sources are right about that quote.
Undoubtedly, it would have been a good first step on the road that needs to be taken; that Israelis and Palestinians together, on equal terms, create a common future.
How it should look is not for me to say. Nor did I ever intend to.
*The writer, a best-selling Swedish author, is part of the Gaza flotilla movement.
17 July 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Henning Mankell*
I will try to summarize this year's Gaza flotilla. Everyone knows that the goal this time was to return with more unarmed ships and a more representative selection of people and organizations. Last but not least, we would return with more MPs. We succeeded in organizing this.
But suddenly this peaceful protest against the illegal Israeli blockade turned into a Greek tragedy, as if a modern-day Euripides had conceived it. Obviously we had predicted that the Israeli army might use a tactic that prevented the flotilla from leaving foreign ports. We assumed that Israel, as always, would claim that it could do whatever it wanted. And it can, as long as it is protected and financed by the United States.
But the U.S. is not the power it used to be; one day that protection will cease - shall we say in five years? In this context it might be wise to mention that, as I write this, NASA's huge funding will be reduced to a minimum. And the reason for the dismantling of this prestigious project is the deteriorating U.S. economy. What other reason is there?
But we weren't prepared that Greece would so easily sell its national soul to Israel, disguised as threats and harassment. I criticize myself for not foreseeing this. Greece's economic crisis weakens the nation. But it came as a surprise that Greece, when faced with Israel's threats (supported by the United States ), would roll over so completely. Moreover, I fully admit that I overestimated the strength of Greece's democracy. Or let me put it this way: I didn't see how thin the varnish of what we call Israeli democracy really is. Israel's actions remind me more of a military dictatorship's methods.
I'll come back to why Greece has been brought to its knees, and why a relatively small solidarity movement like our flotilla manages to create turmoil in international politics and frightens Israel into challenging its neighbors and the EU.
First, this needs to be said: Because Greece prevented our ships from leaving its ports and our ships were sabotaged by unidentified hostile divers, no flotilla will sail for Gaza right now. But some ships might act on their own. Since this would break our common cause, I deeply disagree with it. Most likely, however, the Greek coast guard will stop the ships, because the Israelis don't want bad publicity like last year, when Israeli commandos fired at will from helicopters. Hence, it's better to make Greece responsible. Israel and those opposing our cause will regard this as a failure for our side, and Prime Minister George Papandreou will get a pat on the back from his Israeli friends (but the protests in Greece will increase).
But this is not a failure. We will return with broader support and a bigger flotilla, and I promise that the Israeli regime won't have a quiet moment until this illegal blockade is broken. Our action has had more impact this year - unlike last year when the media didn't pay attention until the commandos started killing people.
Even though our ships didn't move an inch, this is yet another failure for Israel. The regime's desperate fear increases the opposition against human rights violations in Gaza. According to basic international law, it's illegal to collectively punish people as is done in Gaza.
In the same way I always claim that Gilad Shalit should have been released long ago and that Hamas' rocket attacks against Israel must stop, I claim that we must look at this situation from this perspective: What comes first, oppression or rebellion? Not even Israel's intellectuals can wave their magic wand and make reality disappear - the reality that the Palestinians are treated as second-class citizens in their own country. The Gaza blockade is not mainly about concrete, diapers or medicine. It's about the human dignity that Israel deprives its own citizens of. Thus, it provokes desperate actions.
But for me the biggest mystery is that the Israeli regime doesn't realize that it's digging holes for itself, and that the situation in the end will be unbearable. Why are they blindfolding themselves?
Why is Israel moving the blockade - or ironically one could call it "outsourcing" the blockade - to Europe this year? What's the difference from last year? Naturally, it's about the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. The Israelis find this development most worrying. But they also understand that they can profit from the concerns in governing circles in Europe and the United States. Last year, significantly more international institutions openly supported our flotilla. But now when the MENA region is unstable, it's very convenient to forget about the Palestinians again and ensure that Israel can maintain some sort of order in the region.
Who cares about some ill-treated Palestinians when the stability of the oil-producing countries is an issue?
Once MENA's situation becomes clearer, the support for our cause will increase. And my guess is that it will be bigger than ever.
That's how cynical our world is. But I don't think Israel should make too much of a triumph of this. In Europe - and in Greece not least - the indignation over Israel's brutal meddling in Greece's internal affairs is growing.
Through its actions the blindfolded Israeli regime is becoming a global outcast. Why don't they consider what's best for them? With what arguments do they defend the Gaza blockade if the next election ends in Hamas' defeat? How do they justify the building of new and bigger illegal settlements and the violations they constitute?
Therefore, it should be regarded as something positive when Yedioth Ahronoth's Roni Shaked says "it would be better to get rid of the blockade than to chase protesters." That is, if my sources are right about that quote.
Undoubtedly, it would have been a good first step on the road that needs to be taken; that Israelis and Palestinians together, on equal terms, create a common future.
How it should look is not for me to say. Nor did I ever intend to.
*The writer, a best-selling Swedish author, is part of the Gaza flotilla movement.
Israeli Navy Takes Dignite/Al Karama in International Waters
19 July 2011, U.S. Boat to Gaza http://www.ustogaza.org (USA)
Earlier today, the Israeli navy took control of the one boat from Freedom Flotilla II that had made it into international waters on their way to Gaza. The French-flagged boat - Dignite/Al Karama - carried 16 people from France, Canada, Greece, Sweden and Tunisia. They were stopped about 40 miles away from Gaza and after several hours the Israelis took control of the boat, bringing it to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
There are no reports of any injuries and we have heard the passengers were being arrested. We do not yet know how long they will be detained or what will happen to the boat.
We urge you to contact the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC to call for the immediate release of these people. And - most importantly - we must call on the Israeli government to end the siege and blockade of Gaza, and to treat the people of Palestine in compliance with international law!
Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC
telephone: 202-364-5500
fax: 202-364-5423
A list of the Israeli consulate offices around the U.S. will be posted our website later today. Please call any of those numbers as well.
Below is a copy of a press release the U.S. Boat to Gaza is releasing. Please feel free to share this with media outlets and others.
-----------------------
For Immediate Release: July 19, 2011
Contact:
for information about the Dignite, Huwaida Arraf 202-294-8813
to reach passengers from the U.S. Boat to Gaza, Felice Gelman 917-912-2597
Dignite Represents The Audacity of Hope
and the rest of Freedom Flotilla II
July 19, 2011: At 3:30 am (EDT) today, several Israeli naval ships stopped the French-flagged ship Dignite/Al Karama while on the last leg of its voyage to Gaza. The small boat with 16 people was approximately 40 miles away from Gaza, very much in international waters. By 6 am the Israeli military had taken control of the boat and was bringing it to the Israel port of Ashdod, where the people on the boat would be arrested. At this time there have been no reports of any injuries. All communication with the passengers on the Dignite has been cut off.
The Dignite is one member of the larger Freedom Flotilla II that had planned to sail together to Gaza in late June. All the other ships, including the U.S. flagged boat The Audacity of Hope, were delayed by the Greek government's refusal to permit them to sail -- an egregious act of complicity with Israel's policy toward Gaza that the International Committee of the Red Cross has determined to be "collective punishment." Two of the flotilla's boats suffered serious physical damage from acts of sabotage while others were caught in a web of Greek bureaucratic entanglements, including phony civilian complaints challenging the sea-worthiness of some of the boats.
The Dignite began its voyage from a French port. The French government refused to interfere with this nonviolent civilian human rights initiative, permitting the ship to sail into international Mediterranean waters without problems. The Dignite and its passengers - from France, Canada, Greece, Sweden, and Tunisa - proudly sailed toward Gaza as representatives of the larger flotilla. They represented the steadfastness and determination of the flotilla movement to sail until the blockade is broken. The Israeli government's belief that Freedom Flotilla II can be stopped misunderstands the nature of this non-violent movement and its, purpose, which is to end the siege of Gaza.
Despite most of the Freedom Flotilla II being unable to leave Greek ports, the flotilla was able to highlight the vicious nature of Israel's policy towards Gaza. Israeli leaders showed their willingness to use intimidation, lies, economic blackmail, threats of violence, and sabotage to stop boats that Israeli military officials admitted would not be carrying weapons. This clearly demonstrates that Israel's blockade of Gaza is not based on "security", but is meant to punish the 1.7 million people living in Gaza, deny their freedom and cut them off from the rest of the world.
The Israeli government's continued violation of international law and the human rights of Palestinians is possible only as a result of the international community's failure to take tangible measures to uphold United Nations resolutions and Palestinian human rights. As the American passengers on The Audacity of Hope directly experienced in Greece, some major powers - including the U.S. government and the European Union - are willing to ignore international law and human rights to appease the Israeli government. International civil society has no recourse other than to take nonviolent direct action.
The Dignite carried a message of solidarity and human empathy from the people of the world to the people of Gaza, and all of Palestine, that Israel's violence can never silence. The journey of this small boat is further evidence that the will of global civil society cannot be intimidated. As long as the illegal blockade of Gaza remains in place, ships will sail to confront it; as long as Israel continues its occupation, and violent repression of Palestinians and our governments are silent about it, the global solidarity movement will mobilize to nonviolently and directly challenge it.
We call on the Israeli government to end the siege and blockade of Gaza and to treat the people of Palestine in compliance with international law.
Earlier today, the Israeli navy took control of the one boat from Freedom Flotilla II that had made it into international waters on their way to Gaza. The French-flagged boat - Dignite/Al Karama - carried 16 people from France, Canada, Greece, Sweden and Tunisia. They were stopped about 40 miles away from Gaza and after several hours the Israelis took control of the boat, bringing it to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
There are no reports of any injuries and we have heard the passengers were being arrested. We do not yet know how long they will be detained or what will happen to the boat.
We urge you to contact the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC to call for the immediate release of these people. And - most importantly - we must call on the Israeli government to end the siege and blockade of Gaza, and to treat the people of Palestine in compliance with international law!
Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC
telephone: 202-364-5500
fax: 202-364-5423
A list of the Israeli consulate offices around the U.S. will be posted our website later today. Please call any of those numbers as well.
Below is a copy of a press release the U.S. Boat to Gaza is releasing. Please feel free to share this with media outlets and others.
-----------------------
For Immediate Release: July 19, 2011
Contact:
for information about the Dignite, Huwaida Arraf 202-294-8813
to reach passengers from the U.S. Boat to Gaza, Felice Gelman 917-912-2597
Dignite Represents The Audacity of Hope
and the rest of Freedom Flotilla II
July 19, 2011: At 3:30 am (EDT) today, several Israeli naval ships stopped the French-flagged ship Dignite/Al Karama while on the last leg of its voyage to Gaza. The small boat with 16 people was approximately 40 miles away from Gaza, very much in international waters. By 6 am the Israeli military had taken control of the boat and was bringing it to the Israel port of Ashdod, where the people on the boat would be arrested. At this time there have been no reports of any injuries. All communication with the passengers on the Dignite has been cut off.
The Dignite is one member of the larger Freedom Flotilla II that had planned to sail together to Gaza in late June. All the other ships, including the U.S. flagged boat The Audacity of Hope, were delayed by the Greek government's refusal to permit them to sail -- an egregious act of complicity with Israel's policy toward Gaza that the International Committee of the Red Cross has determined to be "collective punishment." Two of the flotilla's boats suffered serious physical damage from acts of sabotage while others were caught in a web of Greek bureaucratic entanglements, including phony civilian complaints challenging the sea-worthiness of some of the boats.
The Dignite began its voyage from a French port. The French government refused to interfere with this nonviolent civilian human rights initiative, permitting the ship to sail into international Mediterranean waters without problems. The Dignite and its passengers - from France, Canada, Greece, Sweden, and Tunisa - proudly sailed toward Gaza as representatives of the larger flotilla. They represented the steadfastness and determination of the flotilla movement to sail until the blockade is broken. The Israeli government's belief that Freedom Flotilla II can be stopped misunderstands the nature of this non-violent movement and its, purpose, which is to end the siege of Gaza.
Despite most of the Freedom Flotilla II being unable to leave Greek ports, the flotilla was able to highlight the vicious nature of Israel's policy towards Gaza. Israeli leaders showed their willingness to use intimidation, lies, economic blackmail, threats of violence, and sabotage to stop boats that Israeli military officials admitted would not be carrying weapons. This clearly demonstrates that Israel's blockade of Gaza is not based on "security", but is meant to punish the 1.7 million people living in Gaza, deny their freedom and cut them off from the rest of the world.
The Israeli government's continued violation of international law and the human rights of Palestinians is possible only as a result of the international community's failure to take tangible measures to uphold United Nations resolutions and Palestinian human rights. As the American passengers on The Audacity of Hope directly experienced in Greece, some major powers - including the U.S. government and the European Union - are willing to ignore international law and human rights to appease the Israeli government. International civil society has no recourse other than to take nonviolent direct action.
The Dignite carried a message of solidarity and human empathy from the people of the world to the people of Gaza, and all of Palestine, that Israel's violence can never silence. The journey of this small boat is further evidence that the will of global civil society cannot be intimidated. As long as the illegal blockade of Gaza remains in place, ships will sail to confront it; as long as Israel continues its occupation, and violent repression of Palestinians and our governments are silent about it, the global solidarity movement will mobilize to nonviolently and directly challenge it.
We call on the Israeli government to end the siege and blockade of Gaza and to treat the people of Palestine in compliance with international law.
segunda-feira, 18 de julho de 2011
Two boats head for Gaza
French boat Dignité of the Freedom Flotilla II leaves Greece
Press release, Freedom flotilla EU, Free Gaza, Witness Gaza
16 july 2011,
The French boat “Dignité/Karama” (Dignity) left the Greek island Kastellorizo around 8:30PM local time on Saturday July 16, 2011, heading south. The ten passengers onboard view themselves as representatives of the whole Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human. The rest of the Flotilla’s ships have been detained in different Greek ports, through bureaucratic obstruction, sabotage, sudden restrictions and withdrawals of flags.
The Dignité, sailing under a French flag, left Corsica on June 25th, and has, over the past weeks, been in Greek waters. It has now left– so far without being followed by the Greek coast guard or Navy.
Among the delegates on board is Jacqueline Le Corre, member of the French Communist Party, Jean Claude Lefort, former French Member of the European Parliament, as well as representatives of the Canadian, French, Greek and Swedish initiatives within Freedom Flotilla II. Onboard the Dignité are also renowned Israeli journalist Amira Hass, reporting for Haaretz, and a team from Al-Jazeera TV. (Full list of passengers below).
Kastellorizo, in the far east of the Greek archipelago, is only miles from Turkish mainland. A substantial part of Kastellorizo’s population fled during the Second World War to Gaza, where they stayed for years. The present mayor of the island, Paul Panigiris, was born in Gaza, and feels strongly, as do many other people from Kastellorizo, for a population that once hosted them and is now under siege.
The action of Dignité is not a mini-version of Freedom Flotilla 2, but a first wave that will be followed by others. It is a message to the Israeli government, to the international community and to the besieged people of Gaza: The Free Gaza Movement and the coalition of Freedom Flotilla II are not giving up, until the inhumane and illegitimate blockade of Gaza is lifted.
Gaza, we are coming!
Passengers on the Dignité:
Stéphan Corriveau, Coordinator of Canadian boat to Gaza
Dror Feiler, spokesperson of Ship to Gaza-Sweden, President of European Jews for a Just Peace, artist, musician, composer
Jérôme Gleizes, France, Europe Ecologie Les Verts
Jacqueline Le Corre, France, Médecin-Collectif 14 de soutien au peuple palestinien, member of Parti communiste francais
Jean Claude Lefort, former MEP, French Communist Party –PCF
Claude Léostic, spokesperson of Un bateau français pour Gaza
Yamin Makri, France, Collectif 69 de soutien au peuple palestinien
Omeyya Naoufel Seddik, Tunisian, Fédération des Tunisiens pour une citoyenneté des deux rives (FTCR), and Ligue tunisienne des Droits de l’Homme (LTDH), Phd in Political Science
Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, spokesperson of Un bateau français pour Gaza, Researcher, Political Sciecnce, Middle East
Studies, Institut francais du proche Orient
Vangelis Pissias, spokesperson of Ship to Gaza-Greece, Professor at Technical University of Athens
Amira Hass, Israeli journalist – Haaretz
Ayyache Derradji, Journalist from Al Jazeera
Stéphane Guida, Cameraman from Al Jazeera
Zacharia Stylianakis, Captain
Hilaire Folacci, Mariner
Yannick Voisin, Mariner
Jo Leguen, Navigator
Press release, Freedom flotilla EU, Free Gaza, Witness Gaza
16 july 2011,
The French boat “Dignité/Karama” (Dignity) left the Greek island Kastellorizo around 8:30PM local time on Saturday July 16, 2011, heading south. The ten passengers onboard view themselves as representatives of the whole Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human. The rest of the Flotilla’s ships have been detained in different Greek ports, through bureaucratic obstruction, sabotage, sudden restrictions and withdrawals of flags.
The Dignité, sailing under a French flag, left Corsica on June 25th, and has, over the past weeks, been in Greek waters. It has now left– so far without being followed by the Greek coast guard or Navy.
Among the delegates on board is Jacqueline Le Corre, member of the French Communist Party, Jean Claude Lefort, former French Member of the European Parliament, as well as representatives of the Canadian, French, Greek and Swedish initiatives within Freedom Flotilla II. Onboard the Dignité are also renowned Israeli journalist Amira Hass, reporting for Haaretz, and a team from Al-Jazeera TV. (Full list of passengers below).
Kastellorizo, in the far east of the Greek archipelago, is only miles from Turkish mainland. A substantial part of Kastellorizo’s population fled during the Second World War to Gaza, where they stayed for years. The present mayor of the island, Paul Panigiris, was born in Gaza, and feels strongly, as do many other people from Kastellorizo, for a population that once hosted them and is now under siege.
The action of Dignité is not a mini-version of Freedom Flotilla 2, but a first wave that will be followed by others. It is a message to the Israeli government, to the international community and to the besieged people of Gaza: The Free Gaza Movement and the coalition of Freedom Flotilla II are not giving up, until the inhumane and illegitimate blockade of Gaza is lifted.
Gaza, we are coming!
Passengers on the Dignité:
Stéphan Corriveau, Coordinator of Canadian boat to Gaza
Dror Feiler, spokesperson of Ship to Gaza-Sweden, President of European Jews for a Just Peace, artist, musician, composer
Jérôme Gleizes, France, Europe Ecologie Les Verts
Jacqueline Le Corre, France, Médecin-Collectif 14 de soutien au peuple palestinien, member of Parti communiste francais
Jean Claude Lefort, former MEP, French Communist Party –PCF
Claude Léostic, spokesperson of Un bateau français pour Gaza
Yamin Makri, France, Collectif 69 de soutien au peuple palestinien
Omeyya Naoufel Seddik, Tunisian, Fédération des Tunisiens pour une citoyenneté des deux rives (FTCR), and Ligue tunisienne des Droits de l’Homme (LTDH), Phd in Political Science
Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, spokesperson of Un bateau français pour Gaza, Researcher, Political Sciecnce, Middle East
Studies, Institut francais du proche Orient
Vangelis Pissias, spokesperson of Ship to Gaza-Greece, Professor at Technical University of Athens
Amira Hass, Israeli journalist – Haaretz
Ayyache Derradji, Journalist from Al Jazeera
Stéphane Guida, Cameraman from Al Jazeera
Zacharia Stylianakis, Captain
Hilaire Folacci, Mariner
Yannick Voisin, Mariner
Jo Leguen, Navigator
sábado, 16 de julho de 2011
Tel Aviv 'tent city' demonstrations continue to draw hundreds
Protests against high rent prices spread to other Israel cities as National Student Union announces launch of demonstrations throughout country.
16 July 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Ilan Lior and Lior Dattel
Protests against high rent prices spread to other Israel cities as National Student Union announces launch of demonstrations inadditional cities in upcoming week.
“Tentcity” protests continued in Tel Aviv Saturday, drawing hundreds to participate in a nationwide effort to combat high rent prices and an ongoing housing shortage.
The protests and have spread to other Israeli cities,such as Be’er Sheva and Kiryat Shmona and the National Student Union announced Saturday they would be launching protests in other cities throughout the country during the upcoming week.
The protest began on Thursday when hundreds of Tel Aviv residents set up rows of tents on the northern end of Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard. The makeshift "city" has attracted young adults,families, random passers-by, and politicians, who have all come to support the protesters' efforts.
The organizers of the Tel Aviv protests have called on government authorities to work toward lowering rent prices, however they have not offered any concrete solutions to the housing shortage.
On Saturday, several politicians arrived at the Rothschild Boulevard demonstration to show solidarity with the protesters, however some were not welcome at the temporary city.
Both Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Deputy Mayor Asaf Zamir were heckled and left before they could finish their speeches, while Likud MK Miri Regev was kicked off the premises for being part of the government coalition.
Several notable left-wing MKs, including Isaac Herzog (Labor), Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), and Dov Khenin (Hadash) were welcomed with open arms by the protesters.
Herzog, who previously served as Minister of Welfare and Social Services, spoke to the crowd, expressing his disappointment with a government that is too busy “passing laws limiting freedom of speech” instead of taking care of its youth.
More on this topic
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem residents to camp out in protest of high rent
16 July 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Ilan Lior and Lior Dattel
Protests against high rent prices spread to other Israel cities as National Student Union announces launch of demonstrations inadditional cities in upcoming week.
“Tentcity” protests continued in Tel Aviv Saturday, drawing hundreds to participate in a nationwide effort to combat high rent prices and an ongoing housing shortage.
The protests and have spread to other Israeli cities,such as Be’er Sheva and Kiryat Shmona and the National Student Union announced Saturday they would be launching protests in other cities throughout the country during the upcoming week.
The protest began on Thursday when hundreds of Tel Aviv residents set up rows of tents on the northern end of Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard. The makeshift "city" has attracted young adults,families, random passers-by, and politicians, who have all come to support the protesters' efforts.
The organizers of the Tel Aviv protests have called on government authorities to work toward lowering rent prices, however they have not offered any concrete solutions to the housing shortage.
On Saturday, several politicians arrived at the Rothschild Boulevard demonstration to show solidarity with the protesters, however some were not welcome at the temporary city.
Both Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Deputy Mayor Asaf Zamir were heckled and left before they could finish their speeches, while Likud MK Miri Regev was kicked off the premises for being part of the government coalition.
Several notable left-wing MKs, including Isaac Herzog (Labor), Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), and Dov Khenin (Hadash) were welcomed with open arms by the protesters.
Herzog, who previously served as Minister of Welfare and Social Services, spoke to the crowd, expressing his disappointment with a government that is too busy “passing laws limiting freedom of speech” instead of taking care of its youth.
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem residents to camp out in protest of high rent
segunda-feira, 11 de julho de 2011
THE BOYCOTT LAW SUBVERTS ISRAELI DEMOCRACY
Knesset members who vote for the anti-Boycott Law must understand they are supporting the gagging of protest in an effort to liquidate democracy.
11 July 2011, Haaretz הארץ EDITORIAL (Israel)
Today, the Knesset was slated to approve the final reading of the Boycott Prohibition Law, which imposes severe punishments on anyone who calls, directly or indirectly, for boycotting Israel. Inter alia, the law says any person or organization that calls for boycotting Israel, including by calling for a boycott of the settlements, would be deemed guilty of a civil offense. Organizations that call for boycotts would not be entitled to receive tax-deductible donations or obtain funding from the state.
This contemptible law blatantly violates Israel's Basic Laws. It is couched in vague language: It defines "a boycott of the State of Israel" very broadly, while the definition of causing a boycott is fluid. Under the law, it would suffice for a call to boycott Israel to have "a reasonable possibility" of leading to an actual boycott for the lawbreaker (under the Torts Ordinance, New Version ) to be defined as having committed a civil offense. The lawbreaker would then be deprived of significant economic benefits and would also have to pay high compensation to those purportedly harmed by the boycott.
This vagueness is intentional, designed to conceal the goal of spreading a wide protective net over the settlements, whose products, activities and in fact very existence - which is controversial to begin with - are the main reason for the boycott initiatives, both domestic and foreign. The legislators are thereby trying to silence one of the most legitimate forms of democratic protest, and to restrict the freedom of expression and association of those who oppose the occupation and the settlers' violence and want to protest against the government's flawed order of priorities.
The law's sponsors are also creating a mendacious equivalence between the State of Israel and Israeli society as a whole, on one hand, and the settlements on the other. They are thereby granting the settlers sweeping legitimization.
This is a politically opportunistic and anti-democratic act, the latest in a series of outrageously discriminatory and exclusionary laws enacted over the past year, and it accelerates the process of transforming Israel's legal code into a disturbingly dictatorial document. It casts the threatening shadow of criminal offense over every boycott, petition or even newspaper op-ed. Very soon, all political debate will be silenced.
Knesset members who vote for this law must understand that they are supporting the gagging of protest as part of an ongoing effort to liquidate democracy. Such moves may be painted as protecting Israel, but in reality, they exacerbate its international isolation.
11 July 2011, Haaretz הארץ EDITORIAL (Israel)
Today, the Knesset was slated to approve the final reading of the Boycott Prohibition Law, which imposes severe punishments on anyone who calls, directly or indirectly, for boycotting Israel. Inter alia, the law says any person or organization that calls for boycotting Israel, including by calling for a boycott of the settlements, would be deemed guilty of a civil offense. Organizations that call for boycotts would not be entitled to receive tax-deductible donations or obtain funding from the state.
This contemptible law blatantly violates Israel's Basic Laws. It is couched in vague language: It defines "a boycott of the State of Israel" very broadly, while the definition of causing a boycott is fluid. Under the law, it would suffice for a call to boycott Israel to have "a reasonable possibility" of leading to an actual boycott for the lawbreaker (under the Torts Ordinance, New Version ) to be defined as having committed a civil offense. The lawbreaker would then be deprived of significant economic benefits and would also have to pay high compensation to those purportedly harmed by the boycott.
This vagueness is intentional, designed to conceal the goal of spreading a wide protective net over the settlements, whose products, activities and in fact very existence - which is controversial to begin with - are the main reason for the boycott initiatives, both domestic and foreign. The legislators are thereby trying to silence one of the most legitimate forms of democratic protest, and to restrict the freedom of expression and association of those who oppose the occupation and the settlers' violence and want to protest against the government's flawed order of priorities.
The law's sponsors are also creating a mendacious equivalence between the State of Israel and Israeli society as a whole, on one hand, and the settlements on the other. They are thereby granting the settlers sweeping legitimization.
This is a politically opportunistic and anti-democratic act, the latest in a series of outrageously discriminatory and exclusionary laws enacted over the past year, and it accelerates the process of transforming Israel's legal code into a disturbingly dictatorial document. It casts the threatening shadow of criminal offense over every boycott, petition or even newspaper op-ed. Very soon, all political debate will be silenced.
Knesset members who vote for this law must understand that they are supporting the gagging of protest as part of an ongoing effort to liquidate democracy. Such moves may be painted as protecting Israel, but in reality, they exacerbate its international isolation.
GIOVEDI’ 14 LUGLIO ASSEMBLEA A ROMA
10 luglio 2011, Freedom Flotilla Italia http://www.freedomflotilla.it – Stay Human
L’EUROPA COMPLICE DELL’ASSEDIO DELLA PALESTINA
Il governo socialista greco, obbedendo agli ordini del governo di Israele, ha impedito alle navi della Freedom Flotilla di salpare verso la Striscia di Gaza assediata, ricorrendo ad una legislazione di guerra e violando tutte le normative europee. Altrettanto, i governi europei hanno consentito alle compagnie aeree di bloccare a terra centinaia di cittadini che volevano raggiungere la Palestina occupata, anche qui obbedendo agli ordini del governo di Israele.
L’Europa si sta rendendo sempre più complice del lento genocidio del popolo palestinese e sta svendendo la propria dignità e la propria civiltà. Israele dimostra di non essere solo un pericolo per i Palestinesi e per il Medio Oriente, ma una minaccia per i nostri diritti e per la nostra democrazia.
GIOVEDI’ 14 LUGLIO, ALLE 18.00,
IN VIA GALILEI N. 57
ASSEMBLEA PUBBLICA CON IL COORDINAMENTO DELLA FREEDOM FLOTILLA ITALIA, INTERVIENE VAURO SENESI.
Freedom Flotilla Italia – Stay Human
----------------------
PER FARE PRESSIONE SUL GOVERNO GRECO
10 luglio 2011, Freedom Flotilla Italia http://www.freedomflotilla.it – Stay Human
Invitiamo tutti coloro che vogliono far pressione attivamente sul governo greco affinchè ritiri il decreto del ministro della difesa che impedisce alle navi della Freedom Flotilla 2 – Stay Human, ancorate nei porti greci, di salpare per Gaza.
Invitiamo tutte e tutti a scrivere all’ambasciata di Grecia in Italia:
gremroma@tin.it
tel. 06-8537551
fax 06-8415927
USA: tutti i recapiti qui:
http://www.greekembassy.org/embassy/content/en/Article.aspx?office=1&folder=29&article=138
PROPONIAMO UN TESTO BASE PER EMAIL E FAX ALL’AMBASCIATA
A S.E. l’Ambasciatore di Grecia in Italia
Molte navi della Freedom Flotilla 2, fra cui l’italiana “Stefano Chiarini”, sono ormeggiate in porti greci, pronte a partire per portare solidarietà ed aiuti umanitari nella Striscia di Gaza assediata. Le autorità del Suo Paese stanno impedendo la partenza delle navi, le quali sono già state oggetto di sabotaggi, presumibilmente da parte di agenti israeliani che operano illegalmente nel Vostro Paese. La nave americana “Audacity of Hope” è stata bloccata poco dopo la partenza dalla Marina del Suo paese, sono state puntate armi contro i passeggeri, gli si è intimato di tornare in porto e il capitano è stato arrestato. Le chiediamo di farsi nostro portavoce presso il Suo governo affinché consenta e faciliti la partenza delle navi della Freedom Flotilla 2, non ostacolando un’iniziativa umanitaria e non violenta, sostenuta da milioni di persone in tutto il mondo. Le chiediamo inoltre di farsi nostro portavoce presso il Suo governo affinché il capitano della “Audacity of Hope” sia immediatamente rilasciato.
Dichiariamo di aver aperto una campagna di boicottaggio al commercio e soprattutto al turismo greco. La campagna proseguirà fino alla partenza dalle coste greche di tutte le navi della Freedom Flotilla 2.
Distinti saluti,
Nome, cognome, professione/incarico e città)
A S.E. Ambassador of Greece in Italy
Many ships of the Freedom Flotilla 2, including the Italian “Stefano Chiarini”, are stucked in Greek ports, ready to go to bring solidarity and humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. The authorities of your country are preventing the departure of the ships, which have already been subject of sabotage, presumably by Israeli agents operating illegally in your country. The American ship “Audacity of Hope” was stopped by the greek Navy, weapons have been betting against the passengers, was ordered to return to port and the captain was arrested. We ask you to be our spokesman at your government to allow and facilitate the departure of ships of the Freedom Flotilla 2, not hindering humanitarian and non-violent initiative, backed by millions of people around the world. We also request you to be our spokesman at your government to the captain of the “Audacity of Hope” is immediately released.
We declare that we have opened a campaign to boycott greek trade and greek tourism. The campaign will continue until the departure of the Greek coasts of all ships of the Freedom Flotilla 2.
TESTO LIBERO DA INVIARE ALLE COMUNITA’ GRECHE
Questi sono gli indirizzi ed i contatti delle comunità greche in Italia:
Comunità ellenica di Bologna
via Tosarelli 191
40050 Bologna,
Tel e fax 051782212 www.ellines.it
Comunità ellenica di Milano e Lombardia
via Daverio 7
20122 Milano
Tel e fax 0255190450
comunitaellenicadimilano@tin.it
www.comunitaellenicadimilano.it
Comunità ellenica di Pavia
Piazza Vittoria 20D
Tel 038233561
fax 038233596
Comunità greco-orientale di Trieste
Riva III novembre, 7
34100Trieste
Tel040635614
fax040634830
email:comgrots@tin.it
www.comgrecotrieste.it
Comunità ellenica di Emilia Romagna
c/o Centro culturale “Casa s.Anna”
via Tosarelli 191 40055
Villanova di Castenaso-Bologna
Tel e fax 051782212
email:info@ellines.it
www.ellines.it
Comunità ellenica di Parma
Via Dammenti,1 Poggio S.Ilario
43100 Parma
Tel e fax 0521830241
Comunità ellenica di Genova e Liguria
Via Casaregis 50 int.1/A
16129 Genova
Tel 335487861
email:etolia@tiscali.it
www.comunitaellenicadigenova.it
Comunità ellenica della Toscana centrale
Via B.Latini,19R
50126 Firenze
Tel 055574948/0574571878
fax 0574583472
Comunità ellenica della Toscana tirrenica
Via Tommaso Rook 120
56122 Pisa
Tel e fax 050564167
Comunità ellenica di Roma e del Lazio
Via Cimarra,26C
00184 Roma
Tel e fax 064883112
email: info@comunitaellenicaroma.it
http://www.comunitaellenicaroma.it/
Comunità ellenica di Napoli e Campania
Viale Augusto,62 80125 Napoli
Tel e fax 0804322183
Comunità ellenica di Bari
Via Arco San Giovanni,1
70122 Bari
Tel 0804322183 fax 0804322155
Cumunità Ellenica di Brindisi, Lecce e Taranto
ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΑ ΜΠΡΙΝΤΙΖΙ, ΛΕΤΣΕ ΚΑΙ ΤΑΡΑΝΤΑ
COMUNITA’ ELLENICA DI BRINDISI, LECCE E TARANTO
Έδρα/Sede: Viale Regina Margherita, 43 – Lungomare, Brindisi
Ταχ. Διευθ./Indirizzo Postale: C.P. 218, 72100 Brindisi
Info: +39.349.8065536/E-mail: cebrindisi.le.ta@gmail.com
Presidenza: ioannis.davilis@email.it / Tel. +39.380.7553866
Comunità ellenica di Foggia e Capitanata
Via Raffaello,25
71045 Orta Nova(Fg)
Tel 0885787349
fax 0885791224
Comunità dei Greci Ortodossi in Venezia
Castello, 3412
30122 Venezia
tel. 041 5201146
fax 041 244 3048
www.ellines-ve.it
Comunità ellenica di Palermo
Corso Vittorio Emanuele,48
90133 Palermo
Tel 091425225
fax 0918574873
L’EUROPA COMPLICE DELL’ASSEDIO DELLA PALESTINA
Il governo socialista greco, obbedendo agli ordini del governo di Israele, ha impedito alle navi della Freedom Flotilla di salpare verso la Striscia di Gaza assediata, ricorrendo ad una legislazione di guerra e violando tutte le normative europee. Altrettanto, i governi europei hanno consentito alle compagnie aeree di bloccare a terra centinaia di cittadini che volevano raggiungere la Palestina occupata, anche qui obbedendo agli ordini del governo di Israele.
L’Europa si sta rendendo sempre più complice del lento genocidio del popolo palestinese e sta svendendo la propria dignità e la propria civiltà. Israele dimostra di non essere solo un pericolo per i Palestinesi e per il Medio Oriente, ma una minaccia per i nostri diritti e per la nostra democrazia.
GIOVEDI’ 14 LUGLIO, ALLE 18.00,
IN VIA GALILEI N. 57
ASSEMBLEA PUBBLICA CON IL COORDINAMENTO DELLA FREEDOM FLOTILLA ITALIA, INTERVIENE VAURO SENESI.
Freedom Flotilla Italia – Stay Human
----------------------
PER FARE PRESSIONE SUL GOVERNO GRECO
10 luglio 2011, Freedom Flotilla Italia http://www.freedomflotilla.it – Stay Human
Invitiamo tutti coloro che vogliono far pressione attivamente sul governo greco affinchè ritiri il decreto del ministro della difesa che impedisce alle navi della Freedom Flotilla 2 – Stay Human, ancorate nei porti greci, di salpare per Gaza.
Invitiamo tutte e tutti a scrivere all’ambasciata di Grecia in Italia:
gremroma@tin.it
tel. 06-8537551
fax 06-8415927
USA: tutti i recapiti qui:
http://www.greekembassy.org/embassy/content/en/Article.aspx?office=1&folder=29&article=138
PROPONIAMO UN TESTO BASE PER EMAIL E FAX ALL’AMBASCIATA
A S.E. l’Ambasciatore di Grecia in Italia
Molte navi della Freedom Flotilla 2, fra cui l’italiana “Stefano Chiarini”, sono ormeggiate in porti greci, pronte a partire per portare solidarietà ed aiuti umanitari nella Striscia di Gaza assediata. Le autorità del Suo Paese stanno impedendo la partenza delle navi, le quali sono già state oggetto di sabotaggi, presumibilmente da parte di agenti israeliani che operano illegalmente nel Vostro Paese. La nave americana “Audacity of Hope” è stata bloccata poco dopo la partenza dalla Marina del Suo paese, sono state puntate armi contro i passeggeri, gli si è intimato di tornare in porto e il capitano è stato arrestato. Le chiediamo di farsi nostro portavoce presso il Suo governo affinché consenta e faciliti la partenza delle navi della Freedom Flotilla 2, non ostacolando un’iniziativa umanitaria e non violenta, sostenuta da milioni di persone in tutto il mondo. Le chiediamo inoltre di farsi nostro portavoce presso il Suo governo affinché il capitano della “Audacity of Hope” sia immediatamente rilasciato.
Dichiariamo di aver aperto una campagna di boicottaggio al commercio e soprattutto al turismo greco. La campagna proseguirà fino alla partenza dalle coste greche di tutte le navi della Freedom Flotilla 2.
Distinti saluti,
Nome, cognome, professione/incarico e città)
A S.E. Ambassador of Greece in Italy
Many ships of the Freedom Flotilla 2, including the Italian “Stefano Chiarini”, are stucked in Greek ports, ready to go to bring solidarity and humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. The authorities of your country are preventing the departure of the ships, which have already been subject of sabotage, presumably by Israeli agents operating illegally in your country. The American ship “Audacity of Hope” was stopped by the greek Navy, weapons have been betting against the passengers, was ordered to return to port and the captain was arrested. We ask you to be our spokesman at your government to allow and facilitate the departure of ships of the Freedom Flotilla 2, not hindering humanitarian and non-violent initiative, backed by millions of people around the world. We also request you to be our spokesman at your government to the captain of the “Audacity of Hope” is immediately released.
We declare that we have opened a campaign to boycott greek trade and greek tourism. The campaign will continue until the departure of the Greek coasts of all ships of the Freedom Flotilla 2.
TESTO LIBERO DA INVIARE ALLE COMUNITA’ GRECHE
Questi sono gli indirizzi ed i contatti delle comunità greche in Italia:
Comunità ellenica di Bologna
via Tosarelli 191
40050 Bologna,
Tel e fax 051782212 www.ellines.it
Comunità ellenica di Milano e Lombardia
via Daverio 7
20122 Milano
Tel e fax 0255190450
comunitaellenicadimilano@tin.it
www.comunitaellenicadimilano.it
Comunità ellenica di Pavia
Piazza Vittoria 20D
Tel 038233561
fax 038233596
Comunità greco-orientale di Trieste
Riva III novembre, 7
34100Trieste
Tel040635614
fax040634830
email:comgrots@tin.it
www.comgrecotrieste.it
Comunità ellenica di Emilia Romagna
c/o Centro culturale “Casa s.Anna”
via Tosarelli 191 40055
Villanova di Castenaso-Bologna
Tel e fax 051782212
email:info@ellines.it
www.ellines.it
Comunità ellenica di Parma
Via Dammenti,1 Poggio S.Ilario
43100 Parma
Tel e fax 0521830241
Comunità ellenica di Genova e Liguria
Via Casaregis 50 int.1/A
16129 Genova
Tel 335487861
email:etolia@tiscali.it
www.comunitaellenicadigenova.it
Comunità ellenica della Toscana centrale
Via B.Latini,19R
50126 Firenze
Tel 055574948/0574571878
fax 0574583472
Comunità ellenica della Toscana tirrenica
Via Tommaso Rook 120
56122 Pisa
Tel e fax 050564167
Comunità ellenica di Roma e del Lazio
Via Cimarra,26C
00184 Roma
Tel e fax 064883112
email: info@comunitaellenicaroma.it
http://www.comunitaellenicaroma.it/
Comunità ellenica di Napoli e Campania
Viale Augusto,62 80125 Napoli
Tel e fax 0804322183
Comunità ellenica di Bari
Via Arco San Giovanni,1
70122 Bari
Tel 0804322183 fax 0804322155
Cumunità Ellenica di Brindisi, Lecce e Taranto
ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΑ ΜΠΡΙΝΤΙΖΙ, ΛΕΤΣΕ ΚΑΙ ΤΑΡΑΝΤΑ
COMUNITA’ ELLENICA DI BRINDISI, LECCE E TARANTO
Έδρα/Sede: Viale Regina Margherita, 43 – Lungomare, Brindisi
Ταχ. Διευθ./Indirizzo Postale: C.P. 218, 72100 Brindisi
Info: +39.349.8065536/E-mail: cebrindisi.le.ta@gmail.com
Presidenza: ioannis.davilis@email.it / Tel. +39.380.7553866
Comunità ellenica di Foggia e Capitanata
Via Raffaello,25
71045 Orta Nova(Fg)
Tel 0885787349
fax 0885791224
Comunità dei Greci Ortodossi in Venezia
Castello, 3412
30122 Venezia
tel. 041 5201146
fax 041 244 3048
www.ellines-ve.it
Comunità ellenica di Palermo
Corso Vittorio Emanuele,48
90133 Palermo
Tel 091425225
fax 0918574873
sexta-feira, 8 de julho de 2011
GUSH SHALOM גוש שלום MESSAGE
8 july 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
Gush Shalom גוש שלום http://zope.gush-shalom.org (Israel)
Gush Shalom גוש שלום http://zope.gush-shalom.org (Israel)
quinta-feira, 7 de julho de 2011
BIENVENU EN PALESTINE! FREE GAZA !
8 july 2011, Shalom 1492
Bienvenu en Palestine http://bienvenuepalestine.com
Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
IN DEALING WITH FLOTILLA, ISRAEL IS ANYTHING BUT SMART
Outsourcing, aggressive and vocal diplomacy and ridiculous lies thwarted the flotilla, but they have not taken Gaza off the international agenda.
7 july 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Amira Hass
CRETE - Like an anti-Semitic caricature, Israel has extended its long tentacles around the globe in an effort to stop 10 decades-old ships from sailing to Gaza. Many Israelis interpreted this as a great victory.
The story could be read as follows: The Greek government wanted to save people whom it surely views as eccentrics and professional trouble-makers, even if naive, from a traumatic and perhaps even fatal experience. The Greek foreign minister rejected claims that Israeli pressure led his government to ban the flotilla's departure. He explained that Greece wanted to prevent a "humanitarian disaster" in the event of a clash between the Israel Defense Forces and the protesters.
Indeed, a Greek police officer - one of those who tried (in vain ) to discover from passengers on the Tahrir who was piloting their ship - did not beat around the bush. We wanted to save you from the Israeli army, he told one of them. The Jew of the blood libel, of whom one must be wary, has been replaced by an Israeli navy commando.
In anti-Semitic caricatures, the cunning Jew is doomed to lose and his control over the world is fated to come to an end. But Israel's government is revising the caricature and sketching a glorious victory. A war of attrition, in the form of mysterious breakdowns and unprecedented red tape by the Greek authorities, thwarted the flotilla's original plan to anchor off the Gaza coast. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly thanked the Greek government, he knew full well what he was thanking it for.
We must now await future media leaks to know what exactly Greece received in exchange, other than closer military ties. Perhaps money, to complete the caricature?
This is a convenient time to be using pressure tactics. Greece's socialist government is in a fragile situation, as the European Union and the International Monetary Fund are forcing the country to adopt an austerity plan that most of its people oppose. True, the fact that Greece has become a subcontractor of the Israeli army did not bring the masses into the streets, but there is no doubt about it: The sympathy of the Greek soldiers who arrested the Tahrir's passengers and of the bureaucrats who delayed them was with the flotilla and with Gaza, not with their government's orders. That's all we need: another country whose government gets along well with Israel in complete opposition to popular sentiment.
The flotilla's organizers added a term from the world of business and globalization to their description of Israel's domination of the Palestinians. Israel, they said, was outsourcing the industry of the blockade on Gaza. In exchange for reward, a foreign government - Greece - took on an active role and adopted a deliberate policy of keeping the Gaza Strip one huge prison.
Logic dictates that a government whose policy validates anti-Semitic stereotypes ought to worry Israelis and Jews worldwide. But the Israeli government is doing what its voters want and believe in. For there is one stereotype that has not been recycled here: that of the wise Jew.
Outsourcing, aggressive and vocal diplomacy and ridiculous lies thwarted the flotilla, but they have not taken Gaza off the international agenda. If Israel - which knew full well that there was not one gram of explosives aboard the ships - had let them sail to Gaza, the flotilla would not have preoccupied the international media as it did.
Blocking the flotilla did not discourage the organizers, who are graduates of the anti-apartheid and anti-white supremacy struggles. Rather, it provided ample proof of how white Israel is. As a result, blocking the flotilla only increased their motivation to keep placing the Palestinians' demand for freedom at the forefront of the international agenda.
7 july 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Amira Hass
CRETE - Like an anti-Semitic caricature, Israel has extended its long tentacles around the globe in an effort to stop 10 decades-old ships from sailing to Gaza. Many Israelis interpreted this as a great victory.
The story could be read as follows: The Greek government wanted to save people whom it surely views as eccentrics and professional trouble-makers, even if naive, from a traumatic and perhaps even fatal experience. The Greek foreign minister rejected claims that Israeli pressure led his government to ban the flotilla's departure. He explained that Greece wanted to prevent a "humanitarian disaster" in the event of a clash between the Israel Defense Forces and the protesters.
Indeed, a Greek police officer - one of those who tried (in vain ) to discover from passengers on the Tahrir who was piloting their ship - did not beat around the bush. We wanted to save you from the Israeli army, he told one of them. The Jew of the blood libel, of whom one must be wary, has been replaced by an Israeli navy commando.
In anti-Semitic caricatures, the cunning Jew is doomed to lose and his control over the world is fated to come to an end. But Israel's government is revising the caricature and sketching a glorious victory. A war of attrition, in the form of mysterious breakdowns and unprecedented red tape by the Greek authorities, thwarted the flotilla's original plan to anchor off the Gaza coast. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly thanked the Greek government, he knew full well what he was thanking it for.
We must now await future media leaks to know what exactly Greece received in exchange, other than closer military ties. Perhaps money, to complete the caricature?
This is a convenient time to be using pressure tactics. Greece's socialist government is in a fragile situation, as the European Union and the International Monetary Fund are forcing the country to adopt an austerity plan that most of its people oppose. True, the fact that Greece has become a subcontractor of the Israeli army did not bring the masses into the streets, but there is no doubt about it: The sympathy of the Greek soldiers who arrested the Tahrir's passengers and of the bureaucrats who delayed them was with the flotilla and with Gaza, not with their government's orders. That's all we need: another country whose government gets along well with Israel in complete opposition to popular sentiment.
The flotilla's organizers added a term from the world of business and globalization to their description of Israel's domination of the Palestinians. Israel, they said, was outsourcing the industry of the blockade on Gaza. In exchange for reward, a foreign government - Greece - took on an active role and adopted a deliberate policy of keeping the Gaza Strip one huge prison.
Logic dictates that a government whose policy validates anti-Semitic stereotypes ought to worry Israelis and Jews worldwide. But the Israeli government is doing what its voters want and believe in. For there is one stereotype that has not been recycled here: that of the wise Jew.
Outsourcing, aggressive and vocal diplomacy and ridiculous lies thwarted the flotilla, but they have not taken Gaza off the international agenda. If Israel - which knew full well that there was not one gram of explosives aboard the ships - had let them sail to Gaza, the flotilla would not have preoccupied the international media as it did.
Blocking the flotilla did not discourage the organizers, who are graduates of the anti-apartheid and anti-white supremacy struggles. Rather, it provided ample proof of how white Israel is. As a result, blocking the flotilla only increased their motivation to keep placing the Palestinians' demand for freedom at the forefront of the international agenda.
quinta-feira, 30 de junho de 2011
CONFERENZA STAMPA FREEDOM FLOTILLA ITALIA
30 giugno 2011, Freedem Flotilla Italia http://www.freedomflotilla.it
COMUNICATO STAMPA
Roma, 30/6/2010
Se l’anno scorso la freedom flotilla partiva accompagnata dalle parole dei genitori di Rachel Corrie, quest’anno ad accompagnare le navi in partenza per Gaza è la lettera dei familiari di Vittorio Arrigoni: l’augurio rivolto alla Flotilla è di arrivare sana e salva in porto per testimoniare al popolo di Gaza che la dichiarazione dei diritti universali dell’uomo vale anche in quella terra, dove troppo spesso “l’altro mondo” ha scelto di stare dalla parte dell’oppressore e non da quella dell’oppresso. Con i versi di Withman “O Capitano! Mio Capitano! Il nostro viaggio tremendo è finito…” Egidia Beretta, Ettore e Alessandra Arrigoni augurano buon vento, con Vittorio nel cuore, alla Flotilla Stay Human.
Accuse infondate di terrorismo, atti di sabotaggio a danno delle navi ferme nei porti greci, denunce pretestuose : sono stati questi i temi affrontati durante la conferenza stampa indetta questa mattina a Roma dal Comitato della Freedom Flotilla Italia. L’intervento in diretta di Vauro Senesi, uno dei passeggeri della nave italiana “Stefano Chiarini”, ha messo in luce il braccio di ferro in corso “tra noi e le autorità greche, sotto ricatto per la situazione economica in cui versa la Grecia, per ritardare o tentare d’impedire la nostra partenza”. Il giornalista italiano ha poi aggiunto: “per quanto riguarda la nave italiana manca solo che procedano all’ultima ispezione. Noi siamo pronti”.
Mila Pernice e Germano Monti, del coordinamento della FF2 Italia, hanno ribadito come siano prive di fondamento le dichiarazioni del governo israeliano secondo il quale non vige alcun blocco in quanto le merci verrebbero lasciate passare regolarmente dai valichi egiziani. In effetti il blocco è tuttora attivo, al punto che ne’ i pescatori ne’ i contadini possono svolgere le loro attività senza essere oggetto dei colpi dei cecchini. I due attivisti hanno ricordato che le rive di Gaza, come il mare di Gaza, “sono”territorio di Gaza e che, se Israele ne blocca l’accesso, l’assedio non può in alcun modo considerarsi interrotto. Inoltre Monti ha ricordato che il valico di Rafah, oltre al fatto di essere soggetto agli umori dell’Egitto, consiste in un semplice cancello di circa tre metri, incapace di consentire un normale flusso di camion.
Per l’Associazione dei Giuristi democratici, Fabio Marcelli, richiamandosi alla normativa sul Diritto internazionale umanitario, ha fatto notare come il blocco di Gaza rappresenti la primaria e gravissima violazione del diritto internazionale umanitario e dei diritti umani.
Il coordinamento della FF2 Italia indice per domani, venerdì 1° luglio alle ore 18, un presidio davanti all’ambasciata di Grecia a Roma , in via Mercadante 36 (zona Parioli) e a Milano in piazza San Babila, per far pressione sulle autorità greche affinchè non cedano al ricatto loro imposto da Israele per ostacolare la partenza delle navi.
Ufficio Stampa Freedom Flotilla Italia
CONTATTI:
333.5601759 - 338.1521278
--------------
Alla FF2 dalla Famiglia di Vittorio Arrigoni
Ai partecipanti la Freedom Flotilla
Crediamo che questa seconda flotilla, che avete voluto chiamare “Stay Human”, viaggerà portando con sé la convinzione profonda di Vittorio che tutti gli sforzi debbano essere fatti per testimoniare al popolo di Gaza che la Dichiarazione dei diritti universali dell’uomo vale anche lì, in quella striscia di terra calpestata, mortificata, isolata dall’assedio israeliano.
Crediamo che questa vostra azione solidale, pacifica, concreta, generosa porterà grande gioia ai suoi abitanti, sollievo alle pene quotidiane e soprattutto speranza, fiducia, certezza di non essere totalmente ignorati e abbandonati da “quell’altro mondo” che spesso ha girato la testa e chiuso occhi e orecchie, che spesso, se non quasi sempre, ha scelto non l’oppresso, ma l’oppressore.
Per questo noi speriamo che arriviate infine al porto e che possiate cantare:
O Capitano! mio Capitano! il nostro viaggio tremendo è finito,
La nave ha superato ogni tempesta, l’ambito premio è vinto,
Il porto è vicino, odo le campane, il popolo è esultante.
Vi saremo vicini, ogni giorno e ogni ora.
Che il buon vento vi porti, con Vittorio nel cuore.
Egidia Beretta, Ettore e Alessandra Arrigoni
Bulciago, 30 giugno 2011
COMUNICATO STAMPA
Roma, 30/6/2010
Se l’anno scorso la freedom flotilla partiva accompagnata dalle parole dei genitori di Rachel Corrie, quest’anno ad accompagnare le navi in partenza per Gaza è la lettera dei familiari di Vittorio Arrigoni: l’augurio rivolto alla Flotilla è di arrivare sana e salva in porto per testimoniare al popolo di Gaza che la dichiarazione dei diritti universali dell’uomo vale anche in quella terra, dove troppo spesso “l’altro mondo” ha scelto di stare dalla parte dell’oppressore e non da quella dell’oppresso. Con i versi di Withman “O Capitano! Mio Capitano! Il nostro viaggio tremendo è finito…” Egidia Beretta, Ettore e Alessandra Arrigoni augurano buon vento, con Vittorio nel cuore, alla Flotilla Stay Human.
Accuse infondate di terrorismo, atti di sabotaggio a danno delle navi ferme nei porti greci, denunce pretestuose : sono stati questi i temi affrontati durante la conferenza stampa indetta questa mattina a Roma dal Comitato della Freedom Flotilla Italia. L’intervento in diretta di Vauro Senesi, uno dei passeggeri della nave italiana “Stefano Chiarini”, ha messo in luce il braccio di ferro in corso “tra noi e le autorità greche, sotto ricatto per la situazione economica in cui versa la Grecia, per ritardare o tentare d’impedire la nostra partenza”. Il giornalista italiano ha poi aggiunto: “per quanto riguarda la nave italiana manca solo che procedano all’ultima ispezione. Noi siamo pronti”.
Mila Pernice e Germano Monti, del coordinamento della FF2 Italia, hanno ribadito come siano prive di fondamento le dichiarazioni del governo israeliano secondo il quale non vige alcun blocco in quanto le merci verrebbero lasciate passare regolarmente dai valichi egiziani. In effetti il blocco è tuttora attivo, al punto che ne’ i pescatori ne’ i contadini possono svolgere le loro attività senza essere oggetto dei colpi dei cecchini. I due attivisti hanno ricordato che le rive di Gaza, come il mare di Gaza, “sono”territorio di Gaza e che, se Israele ne blocca l’accesso, l’assedio non può in alcun modo considerarsi interrotto. Inoltre Monti ha ricordato che il valico di Rafah, oltre al fatto di essere soggetto agli umori dell’Egitto, consiste in un semplice cancello di circa tre metri, incapace di consentire un normale flusso di camion.
Per l’Associazione dei Giuristi democratici, Fabio Marcelli, richiamandosi alla normativa sul Diritto internazionale umanitario, ha fatto notare come il blocco di Gaza rappresenti la primaria e gravissima violazione del diritto internazionale umanitario e dei diritti umani.
Il coordinamento della FF2 Italia indice per domani, venerdì 1° luglio alle ore 18, un presidio davanti all’ambasciata di Grecia a Roma , in via Mercadante 36 (zona Parioli) e a Milano in piazza San Babila, per far pressione sulle autorità greche affinchè non cedano al ricatto loro imposto da Israele per ostacolare la partenza delle navi.
Ufficio Stampa Freedom Flotilla Italia
CONTATTI:
333.5601759 - 338.1521278
--------------
Alla FF2 dalla Famiglia di Vittorio Arrigoni
Ai partecipanti la Freedom Flotilla
Crediamo che questa seconda flotilla, che avete voluto chiamare “Stay Human”, viaggerà portando con sé la convinzione profonda di Vittorio che tutti gli sforzi debbano essere fatti per testimoniare al popolo di Gaza che la Dichiarazione dei diritti universali dell’uomo vale anche lì, in quella striscia di terra calpestata, mortificata, isolata dall’assedio israeliano.
Crediamo che questa vostra azione solidale, pacifica, concreta, generosa porterà grande gioia ai suoi abitanti, sollievo alle pene quotidiane e soprattutto speranza, fiducia, certezza di non essere totalmente ignorati e abbandonati da “quell’altro mondo” che spesso ha girato la testa e chiuso occhi e orecchie, che spesso, se non quasi sempre, ha scelto non l’oppresso, ma l’oppressore.
Per questo noi speriamo che arriviate infine al porto e che possiate cantare:
O Capitano! mio Capitano! il nostro viaggio tremendo è finito,
La nave ha superato ogni tempesta, l’ambito premio è vinto,
Il porto è vicino, odo le campane, il popolo è esultante.
Vi saremo vicini, ogni giorno e ogni ora.
Che il buon vento vi porti, con Vittorio nel cuore.
Egidia Beretta, Ettore e Alessandra Arrigoni
Bulciago, 30 giugno 2011
The blockade on Gaza began long before Hamas came to power
The gradual closure of Gaza began in 1991, when Israel canceled the general exit permit that allowed most Palestinians to move freely through Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Since then the closure, which may soon be challenged by the second Freedom Flotilla, has become almost hermetic.
29 June2011, +972blog http://972mag.com (Israel)
By Mya Guarnieri*
Athens, Greece – The second Freedom Flotilla is slated to set sail by the end of the month in an attempt to challenge the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. The act will call attention to the closure that the United Nations and human rights organizations have decried as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the collective punishment of civilians.
According to the Israeli government — and most of the mainstream media — the blockade began in 2007, following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. The aim of this “economic warfare” was to weaken Hamas, a group that the Israeli government had once supported. Israel also sought to stop rocket fire and to free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held in Gaza since 2006.
Four years on, none of these goals have been achieved.
Israel has achieved a minor victory on one front, however. Even critics use 2007 as the start-date of the blockade, unintentionally legitimizing Israel’s cause-and-effect explanation that pegs the closure to political events.
But the blockade did not begin in 2007, following the Hamas takeover of the Strip. Nor did it start in 2006, with Israel’s economic sanctions against Gaza. The hermetic closure of Gaza is the culmination of a process that began twenty years ago.
Punitive closures begin
Sari Bashi is the founder and director of Gisha, an Israeli NGO that advocates for Palestinian freedom of movement. She says that the gradual closure of Gaza began in 1991, when Israel canceled the general exit permit that allowed most Palestinians to move freely through Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Non-Jewish residents of Gaza and the West Bank were required to obtain individual permits.
This was during the First Intifada. While the mere mention of the word invokes the image of suicide bombers in the Western imagination, it’s important to bear in mind that the First Intifada was, by and large, a non-violent uprising comprised of civil disobedience, strikes, and boycotts of Israeli goods.
A wave of violence came, however, in 1993. It was then, Bashi explains, that Israel began closing some crossings temporarily, turning away even those who held exit permits. Because a tremendous majority of Palestinians are not and were not suicide bombers, the restrictions on movement constituted collective punishment for the actions of a few — foreshadowing the nature of the blockade to come.
Over the years, there were other suggestions that a hermetic, punitive closure was on the horizon. The beginning of the Second Intifada, in September of 2000, saw Palestinian students “banned from traveling from Gaza to the West Bank,” Bashi says. In general, travel between the Occupied Palestinian Territories came under increasing restrictions, as well.
Exports took a hit in 2003, with the sporadic closures of the Karni crossing. While the 2005 disengagement supposedly signaled the end of the occupation of Gaza, in reality, it brought ever tightening restrictions on the movement of both people and goods. And, in 2006, the few Gazans who were still working in Israel were banned from entering, cutting them off from their jobs at a time when the Strip’s economy was under even more pressure.
Gaza today: the economy has been driven into the ground. The unemployment rate is almost 50 percent and four out of every five Palestinians in Gaza are dependent on humanitarian aid. Hospitals are running out of supplies. The chronically ill cannot always get exit permits, which can lead to access-related deaths. Students are sometimes prevented from reaching their universities. Families have been shattered. Some psychologists say that the intense pressure created by the blockade – which was compounded during Operation Cast Lead – accounts for spikes in domestic violence, divorce and drug abuse.
It doesn’t end at Gaza’s borders
But the consequences of the blockade do not stop at Gaza’s borders. When movement restrictions began in 1991, some Palestinian day laborers were prevented from reaching their jobs inside Israel. And this is about the time that Israel, already hooked on low-cost labor, began issuing work visas to migrants from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
Fast forward to Israel, 2009 — the same state that is imposing a severe, hermetic closure of Gaza announces that it intends to deport 1,200 Israeli-born children of migrant workers, along with their parents. NGOs decry the expulsion as inhumane and a gross violation of human rights.
The standard Israeli line is that these people must be deported because they’re “illegal.” (Never mind that the Israeli Supreme Court has recently struck down the policy that made the mothers lose their legal status, calling it a violation of Israel’s own labor laws). Politicians who are more honest about the issue admit that the expulsion is about minimizing the “demographic threat” to Israel.
The message of both the blockade and deportation is the same — both serve to illustrate that Jewish-Israeli privilege comes at the expense of the human rights of anyone who is deemed an “other.”
The refugee crisis
Of course, if you were to ask a Gazan when the restrictions on freedom of movement began, some might go back even earlier. They might point to a 1984 order that forbade farmers from planting commercial quantities of fruit trees without permission of the Israeli military government. In a definitive piece on the economic de-development of the Gaza Strip, published in 1987, Dr. Sara Roy pointed out that it took some Palestinian farmers five years or more to obtain these permits.
While the people of Gaza were still able to move in and out of the Strip at the time, their ability to live freely on their own lands was already severely restricted — as was their economy. According to Dr. Roy, the occupation had rendered the Strip hopelessly dependent on Israel and vulnerable to its economic fluctuations and political whims. It had also created a captive market, a convenient dumping ground for Israeli goods.
But, as Dr. Roy points, Gaza’s economic woes didn’t begin with the occupation. They started with the sudden, unexpected influx of Palestinian refugees in 1948. The Gaza Strip was largely agricultural at the time, she explains, and wealth was consolidated into the hands of a few. Simply said, there wasn’t enough for everyone.
While organizers of the flotilla emphasize that they are attempting to challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza, unpacking the blockade itself points to urgent questions that must be resolved: the status of Palestinian refugees; the disastrous and unrelenting effects of over 40 years of occupation; and Israel’s utter lack of respect for the human rights of non-Jews. And that’s the discussion the Israeli government doesn’t want any of us to have.
*Mya Guarnieri is a Tel Aviv-based writer and journalist. She is covering the flotilla for Maan News Agency. Her articles have appeared in Al Jazeera English, The Guardian, Tablet, and many other international outlets. Her short stories have been published in The Kenyon Review Online and Narrative Magazine. She is currently working on a book about migrant workers in Israel.
Follow Mya on Twitter: @myaguarnieri
29 June2011, +972blog http://972mag.com (Israel)
By Mya Guarnieri*
Athens, Greece – The second Freedom Flotilla is slated to set sail by the end of the month in an attempt to challenge the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. The act will call attention to the closure that the United Nations and human rights organizations have decried as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the collective punishment of civilians.
According to the Israeli government — and most of the mainstream media — the blockade began in 2007, following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. The aim of this “economic warfare” was to weaken Hamas, a group that the Israeli government had once supported. Israel also sought to stop rocket fire and to free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held in Gaza since 2006.
Four years on, none of these goals have been achieved.
Israel has achieved a minor victory on one front, however. Even critics use 2007 as the start-date of the blockade, unintentionally legitimizing Israel’s cause-and-effect explanation that pegs the closure to political events.
But the blockade did not begin in 2007, following the Hamas takeover of the Strip. Nor did it start in 2006, with Israel’s economic sanctions against Gaza. The hermetic closure of Gaza is the culmination of a process that began twenty years ago.
Punitive closures begin
Sari Bashi is the founder and director of Gisha, an Israeli NGO that advocates for Palestinian freedom of movement. She says that the gradual closure of Gaza began in 1991, when Israel canceled the general exit permit that allowed most Palestinians to move freely through Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Non-Jewish residents of Gaza and the West Bank were required to obtain individual permits.
This was during the First Intifada. While the mere mention of the word invokes the image of suicide bombers in the Western imagination, it’s important to bear in mind that the First Intifada was, by and large, a non-violent uprising comprised of civil disobedience, strikes, and boycotts of Israeli goods.
A wave of violence came, however, in 1993. It was then, Bashi explains, that Israel began closing some crossings temporarily, turning away even those who held exit permits. Because a tremendous majority of Palestinians are not and were not suicide bombers, the restrictions on movement constituted collective punishment for the actions of a few — foreshadowing the nature of the blockade to come.
Over the years, there were other suggestions that a hermetic, punitive closure was on the horizon. The beginning of the Second Intifada, in September of 2000, saw Palestinian students “banned from traveling from Gaza to the West Bank,” Bashi says. In general, travel between the Occupied Palestinian Territories came under increasing restrictions, as well.
Exports took a hit in 2003, with the sporadic closures of the Karni crossing. While the 2005 disengagement supposedly signaled the end of the occupation of Gaza, in reality, it brought ever tightening restrictions on the movement of both people and goods. And, in 2006, the few Gazans who were still working in Israel were banned from entering, cutting them off from their jobs at a time when the Strip’s economy was under even more pressure.
Gaza today: the economy has been driven into the ground. The unemployment rate is almost 50 percent and four out of every five Palestinians in Gaza are dependent on humanitarian aid. Hospitals are running out of supplies. The chronically ill cannot always get exit permits, which can lead to access-related deaths. Students are sometimes prevented from reaching their universities. Families have been shattered. Some psychologists say that the intense pressure created by the blockade – which was compounded during Operation Cast Lead – accounts for spikes in domestic violence, divorce and drug abuse.
It doesn’t end at Gaza’s borders
But the consequences of the blockade do not stop at Gaza’s borders. When movement restrictions began in 1991, some Palestinian day laborers were prevented from reaching their jobs inside Israel. And this is about the time that Israel, already hooked on low-cost labor, began issuing work visas to migrants from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
Fast forward to Israel, 2009 — the same state that is imposing a severe, hermetic closure of Gaza announces that it intends to deport 1,200 Israeli-born children of migrant workers, along with their parents. NGOs decry the expulsion as inhumane and a gross violation of human rights.
The standard Israeli line is that these people must be deported because they’re “illegal.” (Never mind that the Israeli Supreme Court has recently struck down the policy that made the mothers lose their legal status, calling it a violation of Israel’s own labor laws). Politicians who are more honest about the issue admit that the expulsion is about minimizing the “demographic threat” to Israel.
The message of both the blockade and deportation is the same — both serve to illustrate that Jewish-Israeli privilege comes at the expense of the human rights of anyone who is deemed an “other.”
The refugee crisis
Of course, if you were to ask a Gazan when the restrictions on freedom of movement began, some might go back even earlier. They might point to a 1984 order that forbade farmers from planting commercial quantities of fruit trees without permission of the Israeli military government. In a definitive piece on the economic de-development of the Gaza Strip, published in 1987, Dr. Sara Roy pointed out that it took some Palestinian farmers five years or more to obtain these permits.
While the people of Gaza were still able to move in and out of the Strip at the time, their ability to live freely on their own lands was already severely restricted — as was their economy. According to Dr. Roy, the occupation had rendered the Strip hopelessly dependent on Israel and vulnerable to its economic fluctuations and political whims. It had also created a captive market, a convenient dumping ground for Israeli goods.
But, as Dr. Roy points, Gaza’s economic woes didn’t begin with the occupation. They started with the sudden, unexpected influx of Palestinian refugees in 1948. The Gaza Strip was largely agricultural at the time, she explains, and wealth was consolidated into the hands of a few. Simply said, there wasn’t enough for everyone.
While organizers of the flotilla emphasize that they are attempting to challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza, unpacking the blockade itself points to urgent questions that must be resolved: the status of Palestinian refugees; the disastrous and unrelenting effects of over 40 years of occupation; and Israel’s utter lack of respect for the human rights of non-Jews. And that’s the discussion the Israeli government doesn’t want any of us to have.
*Mya Guarnieri is a Tel Aviv-based writer and journalist. She is covering the flotilla for Maan News Agency. Her articles have appeared in Al Jazeera English, The Guardian, Tablet, and many other international outlets. Her short stories have been published in The Kenyon Review Online and Narrative Magazine. She is currently working on a book about migrant workers in Israel.
Follow Mya on Twitter: @myaguarnieri
quarta-feira, 29 de junho de 2011
Ex-US Politician Joins Gaza Aid Convoy
28 June 2011, Palestine Chronicle http://www.palestinechronicle.com (USA)
A former US political figure will join a Gaza-bound vessel although the State Department has criticized his act.
Samuel Hart, a former US ambassador to Ecuador, is one of the passengers of The Audacity of Hope, the American-flagged ship that is a part of the Freedom Flotilla II, which will depart Greece for the besieged Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
The US State Department warned Americans that the Gaza coast is “dangerous and volatile,” Israel National News reported on Monday.
Hart, who is joining the Free Palestine Movement, said the Israeli blockade “limits food to a little bit better than starvation levels.”
The Israeli Navy has announced that it would confront the Freedom Flotilla II convoy, which will comprise 15 ships, 22 organizations and around 1,500 activists.
In an essay explaining his participation, Hart wrote, “What did the residents of Gaza do to deserve such punishment? The honest answer is that they voted in a fair election in 2006 for Hamas, a political party which also engages in armed resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.”
The former US politician says he has always felt that Israel has been “a little bit of a burr in the saddle of US foreign policy.”
On Monday, the international coalition organizing the Freedom Flotilla II held a press conference in Athens with representatives from all of the boats. The US was represented by Ann Wright, a former State Department official, and Alice Walker, an African-American author.
After the press conference, a street demonstration was held in support of the humanitarian move.
Some 1.5 million people in Gaza are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and the right to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education. (Press TV)
A former US political figure will join a Gaza-bound vessel although the State Department has criticized his act.
Samuel Hart, a former US ambassador to Ecuador, is one of the passengers of The Audacity of Hope, the American-flagged ship that is a part of the Freedom Flotilla II, which will depart Greece for the besieged Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
The US State Department warned Americans that the Gaza coast is “dangerous and volatile,” Israel National News reported on Monday.
Hart, who is joining the Free Palestine Movement, said the Israeli blockade “limits food to a little bit better than starvation levels.”
The Israeli Navy has announced that it would confront the Freedom Flotilla II convoy, which will comprise 15 ships, 22 organizations and around 1,500 activists.
In an essay explaining his participation, Hart wrote, “What did the residents of Gaza do to deserve such punishment? The honest answer is that they voted in a fair election in 2006 for Hamas, a political party which also engages in armed resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.”
The former US politician says he has always felt that Israel has been “a little bit of a burr in the saddle of US foreign policy.”
On Monday, the international coalition organizing the Freedom Flotilla II held a press conference in Athens with representatives from all of the boats. The US was represented by Ann Wright, a former State Department official, and Alice Walker, an African-American author.
After the press conference, a street demonstration was held in support of the humanitarian move.
Some 1.5 million people in Gaza are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and the right to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education. (Press TV)
Breaching Gaza's Siege Update
25 June 2011, MWC Media with Conscience http://mwcnews.net (USA)
By Stephen Lendman
Suffocating besieged Gazans, Israel is committing slow-motion genocide. Global activists are determined to stop it and hold Israeli officials accountable for decades of crimes of war and against humanity - unspeakable atrocities financed by criminal co-conspirators in Washington.
In May 2010, Israeli commandos illegally interdicted six Freedom Flotilla ships in international waters, massacring nine activists aboard the Mavi Marmara mother ship.
Nonetheless, global activists are determined to break Gaza's siege, the first step to ending it altogether and freeing nearly 1.7 million people, isolated in the world's largest open-air prison.
They're coming, Freedom Flotilla II, heading to Gaza with vitally needed humanitarian aid. Planning more high seas barbarism and piracy, Israel will again interdict. In preparation, mobilized reserve combatants held drills, focusing on riot-control measures, including brute force and "surprises" if needed.
On June 19, Israeli Admiral Eliezer Marom said:
"The Navy has prevented and will continue to prevent the arrival of the 'hate flotilla' whose only goals are to clash with (Israeli) soldiers, create a media provocation, and delegitimize the State of Israel."
Besides interdiction, imprisonment awaits participants, Israeli authorities saying blockade violators will be arrested and jailed, treated harshly, then deported. All of it, of course, is lawless, including seizure of humanitarian supplies and personal belongings like Flotilla I was pillaged, the way pirates have done it for centuries.
Israel is a rogue terror state. Activists know the risks. They're coming anyway and will keep coming, no matter what Israel plans.
A June 23 "Freedom Flotilla II - Stay Human" press release headlined, "Sailing to Gaza," saying:
Within days, 10 participating ships will sail. Two carry cargo. Hundreds of activists from 20 countries are aboard the others, including politicians, writers, religious figures, journalists, TV crews from major broadcasters, doctors, lawyers, holocaust survivors, artists, and various other distinguished and ordinary committed activists for justice.
On June 18, Turkey's IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation pulled out, yielding to government pressure at a time Israeli and Ankara officials are holding secret rapprochement talks.
Despite Israeli threats, lies, pressure, blackmail, and governments not supporting their own citizens, preparations are nearly complete to sail.
A June 24 Free Gaza.org press release headlined, "Israel proves that Flotillas work," saying:
Israel's recent authorization of token aid amounts, including construction materials for 1,200 homes and 19 truckloads of medicines, shows pressure works even though not enough. Key is stiffening it until Gazans and all Palestinians are free. It's coming because global millions support it. For now, "Freedom Flotilla 2: Stay Human" sails for Gaza next week. "(O)ur destination is freedom."
Organized by 14 national groups and international coalitions, a US Boat to Gaza is included, named "The Audacity of Hope." Participants call this "an important moment in history." They're defying Israeli US ambassador Michael Oren describing organizers as "radical anti-Israel organizations known also for anti-American activities," and Netanyahu saying the mission is a "provocation." Earlier, he told European ambassadors in Jerusalem, "This flotilla must be stopped." Responding to it, he mounted a PR stunt to pretend Gaza's siege is eased.
Like other global activists, Americans are determined to help, despite Washington's efforts to deter them. On June 14, passengers wrote Obama, saying:
"We are writing to inform you that 50 unarmed Americans will soon be sailing....to Gaza....challeng(ing) Israel's (illegal) blockade (in) friendship (and solidarity) in support of the Palestinian people and their human rights."
Telling Gazans they're not alone, "it will call attention to the morally and legally indefensible collective punishment of a population of civilians....As US citizens, we expect our country and its leaders to help ensure the Flotilla's safe passage (and) demand that the Gaza blockade be lifted. This should begin by notifying the Israeli government in clear and certain terms that it may not physically interfere with" any participating vessel. We "expect no less from our President and your administration."
On June 24, Audacity of Hope participants "expressed profound disappointment" by the State Department's June 22 response, issuing a scandalous "travel advisory," advising Americans against coming by sea or other means. Saying previous attempts were "stopped by Israeli naval vessels and resulted in the injury, death, arrest, and deportation of US citizens," it didn't warn Israel that interdiction won't be tolerated, especially if on board activists are harmed.
Participating in the mission, University of Southern California Professor Hagit Borer said:
"Apparently, the State Department subscribes to the view that Israel's anticipated violence against unarmed protesters is an immutable act of nature. This is a remarkable attitude, coming from a government that provides the Israeli government with billions of dollars in military aid and routinely uses its veto to protect (its) government from censure of its occupation policies by the UN Security Council."
In fact, Washington officials are legally bound to protect US citizens. Nonetheless, they plan nothing to do it, effectively green-lighting Israeli commandos to lawlessly interdict, brutalize, and kill again if if they choose, perhaps with funding, weapons and munitions America supplies for that purpose.
A Final Comment
On June 24, Israel's UN ambassador Ron Prosor said:
"Israel is determined to stop the flotilla. Israel has the right to self-defense. The flotilla has nothing constructive. There is nothing humanitarian in the shipments," calling the mission a "provocation."
In fact, it's bringing vital humanitarian aid Israel lawlessly restricts or blocks entirely for nearly 1.7 million besieged people, ruthlessly persecuted for not being Jewish and electing the wrong government. Abhorrent by any standard, under international law it's illegal but continues because global leaders are complicit for doing nothing to stop it.
In America's Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson endorsed citizen action against destructive government policies. Flotilla participants are acting in the best tradition of his message, challenging Israeli repression for justice.
Breaching Gaza's Siege Update
Israel keeps exerting pressure to block humanitarian efforts to deliver vital to life and other essential aid to besieged Gazans.
Endorsing Israeli lawlessness, the State Department issued a June 22 "Travel Warning - Israel, the West Bank and Gaza," saying in part:
"The Department of State warns US citizens of the risks of traveling to Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and about threats to themselves and to US interests in those locations," adding "avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip."
Access the full statement through the following link:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_5511.html
On June 23, Secretary of State Clinton added:
"We do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza. And we think that it's not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves."
Defend against whom she didn't explain or that Gazan waters belong to Palestine, not Israel. Moreover, delivering humanitarian aid is essential until Gaza's blockade is ended, a crime against humanity Washington funds and supports.
This week, "Freedom Flotilla II - Stay Human" sails to Gaza. Neither Israel nor Clinton will stop it, but they're trying by blocking its departure or planned interdiction surprises if it comes.
The US Boat to Gaza (The Audacity of Hope) is one of 10 participating ships, now blocked by Greek officials, saying the vessel is unseaworthy, a spurious claim with no validity.
A June 26 US Boat to Gaza press release asked "Greek government officials to clarify whether (their leased boat) is being blocked....because of an anonymous request of a private citizen....or whether (Greece) made a political decision....in response to US and Israeli" pressure.
Specifically they want to know if bailout help is contingent on succumbing to blackmail, besides Greece already surrendering its sovereignty to foreign bankers.
On June 27, a US Boat to Gaza press release responded to reports that an Israeli "Lawfare" group (Shurat HaDin) complaint is delaying the boat's departure.
Israel, Washington, AIPAC, and the Shurat HaDin Law Center (SH) are directly involved. In fact, SH's web site claims it's "bankrupting terrorism one lawsuit at a time," adding on June 19:
"I am happy to report that we have achieved some important victories in the struggle to block the anti-Israel Flotilla from 'smuggling contraband' to the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip."
Specifically, it referred to a French insurance company succumbing to intimidation not to cover a French boat from Marseilles, and the Turkish ship pressured by Ankara to cancel its participation.
On June 15, SH announced a Manhattan federal court lawsuit to "confiscate 14 ships outfitted with funds unlawfully raised in the United States by anti-Israeli groups, including the Free Gaza Movement."
SH, the Obama administration, AIPAC and other Israeli Lobby members clearly support state terrorism in violation of international, US and Israeli law. Nonetheless, America's "Audacity of Hope" is confident it will sail, saying:
SH is notorious for filing "frivolous legal complaints against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. We reiterate that the boat we are leasing....was surveyed by a professional surveyor and successfully completed its sea trials."
At noon Athens time June 27, a press conference will announce its readiness to sail, but expect continued pressure to stop it - criminal co-conspirators determined to lawlessly suffocate besieged Gazans.
On June 27, a Haaretz editorial headlined, "Let the flotilla go," saying:
Israel equates "flotilla" with terrorism or "a declaration of war," no matter that cargo includes food, medicines, educational materials and other humanitarian aid raised by private donations.
Nonetheless, Israel "seems to be as frightened of the flotilla as one would think it would be of an attack by an armed naval fleet." As a result, it's "preparing to fight an enemy" comprised of unarmed, nonviolent men and women who care enough to risk their safety to deliver vital aid and symbolically oppose Israeli lawlessness.
Thirteen months after the Mavi Marmara massacre, "Israel is showing that it has learned just one lesson: the military lesson....The country is not willing to give up a display of power, thereby no doubt contributing to inflating the flotilla's importance" and Israel as a rogue terror state. "From Israel, we can at least demand that it let the flotilla get through....without once again endangering the country's position in the world."
On June 27, Israel National News said former US Ecuador ambassador Samuel Hart (a 27-year Foreign Service veteran) will participate in the Flotilla mission.
In a 1992 Foreign Affairs Oral History Project for the Association for Diplomatic Studies interview, Hart said:
"I've always felt that Israel has been a little bit of a burr in the saddle in our foreign policy. Here is a small country with no particular interest to us in any real strategic terms, yet it sort of jerks us around because it has not only a very vocal Jewish population, but also supporters of Israel from non-Jewish groups."
He also once wrote an essay calling Israel "an exhausting place to live (because) the tension, anxiety and intensity wear you out."
Now aged 77, he told a Jacksonville, FL newspaper he joined the Flotilla because he "missed" participating in the 1950s and 1960s civil rights movement to end segregation. "I see great similarities between this and the civil rights movement," he said. "I am pleased to be part of it."
He also asked, "What did the residents of Gaza do to deserve such punishment? The honest answer is they" elected Hamas in 2006 democratically and now suffer lawlessly.
On June 26, New York Times writer Ethan Bronner headlined, "Avoid Gaza Flotilla, Israel Warns Foreign Journalists," saying:
"Israel threatened Sunday to bar for up to a decade any foreign journalist who boards a flotilla seeking to challenge an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza."
Moreover, Israel's Government Press Office director Oren Helman said their equipment will be impounded and they'll be subjected to "additional sanctions." He sent a warning letter to registered foreign correspondents, stopping short of saying they'll be arrested and jailed.
Perhaps all Flotilla participants will be mistreated, imprisoned, their personal possessions confiscated, then summarily deported the way Flotilla I activists were treated after being attacked, beaten and otherwise abused, besides nine on board massacred in cold blood.
On June 26, Israel's Foreign Press Association responded, saying:
Journalists "covering a legitimate news event should be allowed to do their jobs without threat and intimidation. (Helman's letter) sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel's commitment to freedom of the press."
Bronner said an unnamed New York Times journalist would participate, joining other international correspondents.
Further updates will follow, highlighting courageous activism against lawless Israeli brutality, complicit with its Washington paymaster/partner.
By Stephen Lendman
Suffocating besieged Gazans, Israel is committing slow-motion genocide. Global activists are determined to stop it and hold Israeli officials accountable for decades of crimes of war and against humanity - unspeakable atrocities financed by criminal co-conspirators in Washington.
In May 2010, Israeli commandos illegally interdicted six Freedom Flotilla ships in international waters, massacring nine activists aboard the Mavi Marmara mother ship.
Nonetheless, global activists are determined to break Gaza's siege, the first step to ending it altogether and freeing nearly 1.7 million people, isolated in the world's largest open-air prison.
They're coming, Freedom Flotilla II, heading to Gaza with vitally needed humanitarian aid. Planning more high seas barbarism and piracy, Israel will again interdict. In preparation, mobilized reserve combatants held drills, focusing on riot-control measures, including brute force and "surprises" if needed.
On June 19, Israeli Admiral Eliezer Marom said:
"The Navy has prevented and will continue to prevent the arrival of the 'hate flotilla' whose only goals are to clash with (Israeli) soldiers, create a media provocation, and delegitimize the State of Israel."
Besides interdiction, imprisonment awaits participants, Israeli authorities saying blockade violators will be arrested and jailed, treated harshly, then deported. All of it, of course, is lawless, including seizure of humanitarian supplies and personal belongings like Flotilla I was pillaged, the way pirates have done it for centuries.
Israel is a rogue terror state. Activists know the risks. They're coming anyway and will keep coming, no matter what Israel plans.
A June 23 "Freedom Flotilla II - Stay Human" press release headlined, "Sailing to Gaza," saying:
Within days, 10 participating ships will sail. Two carry cargo. Hundreds of activists from 20 countries are aboard the others, including politicians, writers, religious figures, journalists, TV crews from major broadcasters, doctors, lawyers, holocaust survivors, artists, and various other distinguished and ordinary committed activists for justice.
On June 18, Turkey's IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation pulled out, yielding to government pressure at a time Israeli and Ankara officials are holding secret rapprochement talks.
Despite Israeli threats, lies, pressure, blackmail, and governments not supporting their own citizens, preparations are nearly complete to sail.
A June 24 Free Gaza.org press release headlined, "Israel proves that Flotillas work," saying:
Israel's recent authorization of token aid amounts, including construction materials for 1,200 homes and 19 truckloads of medicines, shows pressure works even though not enough. Key is stiffening it until Gazans and all Palestinians are free. It's coming because global millions support it. For now, "Freedom Flotilla 2: Stay Human" sails for Gaza next week. "(O)ur destination is freedom."
Organized by 14 national groups and international coalitions, a US Boat to Gaza is included, named "The Audacity of Hope." Participants call this "an important moment in history." They're defying Israeli US ambassador Michael Oren describing organizers as "radical anti-Israel organizations known also for anti-American activities," and Netanyahu saying the mission is a "provocation." Earlier, he told European ambassadors in Jerusalem, "This flotilla must be stopped." Responding to it, he mounted a PR stunt to pretend Gaza's siege is eased.
Like other global activists, Americans are determined to help, despite Washington's efforts to deter them. On June 14, passengers wrote Obama, saying:
"We are writing to inform you that 50 unarmed Americans will soon be sailing....to Gaza....challeng(ing) Israel's (illegal) blockade (in) friendship (and solidarity) in support of the Palestinian people and their human rights."
Telling Gazans they're not alone, "it will call attention to the morally and legally indefensible collective punishment of a population of civilians....As US citizens, we expect our country and its leaders to help ensure the Flotilla's safe passage (and) demand that the Gaza blockade be lifted. This should begin by notifying the Israeli government in clear and certain terms that it may not physically interfere with" any participating vessel. We "expect no less from our President and your administration."
On June 24, Audacity of Hope participants "expressed profound disappointment" by the State Department's June 22 response, issuing a scandalous "travel advisory," advising Americans against coming by sea or other means. Saying previous attempts were "stopped by Israeli naval vessels and resulted in the injury, death, arrest, and deportation of US citizens," it didn't warn Israel that interdiction won't be tolerated, especially if on board activists are harmed.
Participating in the mission, University of Southern California Professor Hagit Borer said:
"Apparently, the State Department subscribes to the view that Israel's anticipated violence against unarmed protesters is an immutable act of nature. This is a remarkable attitude, coming from a government that provides the Israeli government with billions of dollars in military aid and routinely uses its veto to protect (its) government from censure of its occupation policies by the UN Security Council."
In fact, Washington officials are legally bound to protect US citizens. Nonetheless, they plan nothing to do it, effectively green-lighting Israeli commandos to lawlessly interdict, brutalize, and kill again if if they choose, perhaps with funding, weapons and munitions America supplies for that purpose.
A Final Comment
On June 24, Israel's UN ambassador Ron Prosor said:
"Israel is determined to stop the flotilla. Israel has the right to self-defense. The flotilla has nothing constructive. There is nothing humanitarian in the shipments," calling the mission a "provocation."
In fact, it's bringing vital humanitarian aid Israel lawlessly restricts or blocks entirely for nearly 1.7 million besieged people, ruthlessly persecuted for not being Jewish and electing the wrong government. Abhorrent by any standard, under international law it's illegal but continues because global leaders are complicit for doing nothing to stop it.
In America's Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson endorsed citizen action against destructive government policies. Flotilla participants are acting in the best tradition of his message, challenging Israeli repression for justice.
Breaching Gaza's Siege Update
Israel keeps exerting pressure to block humanitarian efforts to deliver vital to life and other essential aid to besieged Gazans.
Endorsing Israeli lawlessness, the State Department issued a June 22 "Travel Warning - Israel, the West Bank and Gaza," saying in part:
"The Department of State warns US citizens of the risks of traveling to Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, and about threats to themselves and to US interests in those locations," adding "avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip."
Access the full statement through the following link:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_5511.html
On June 23, Secretary of State Clinton added:
"We do not believe that the flotilla is a necessary or useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza. And we think that it's not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves."
Defend against whom she didn't explain or that Gazan waters belong to Palestine, not Israel. Moreover, delivering humanitarian aid is essential until Gaza's blockade is ended, a crime against humanity Washington funds and supports.
This week, "Freedom Flotilla II - Stay Human" sails to Gaza. Neither Israel nor Clinton will stop it, but they're trying by blocking its departure or planned interdiction surprises if it comes.
The US Boat to Gaza (The Audacity of Hope) is one of 10 participating ships, now blocked by Greek officials, saying the vessel is unseaworthy, a spurious claim with no validity.
A June 26 US Boat to Gaza press release asked "Greek government officials to clarify whether (their leased boat) is being blocked....because of an anonymous request of a private citizen....or whether (Greece) made a political decision....in response to US and Israeli" pressure.
Specifically they want to know if bailout help is contingent on succumbing to blackmail, besides Greece already surrendering its sovereignty to foreign bankers.
On June 27, a US Boat to Gaza press release responded to reports that an Israeli "Lawfare" group (Shurat HaDin) complaint is delaying the boat's departure.
Israel, Washington, AIPAC, and the Shurat HaDin Law Center (SH) are directly involved. In fact, SH's web site claims it's "bankrupting terrorism one lawsuit at a time," adding on June 19:
"I am happy to report that we have achieved some important victories in the struggle to block the anti-Israel Flotilla from 'smuggling contraband' to the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip."
Specifically, it referred to a French insurance company succumbing to intimidation not to cover a French boat from Marseilles, and the Turkish ship pressured by Ankara to cancel its participation.
On June 15, SH announced a Manhattan federal court lawsuit to "confiscate 14 ships outfitted with funds unlawfully raised in the United States by anti-Israeli groups, including the Free Gaza Movement."
SH, the Obama administration, AIPAC and other Israeli Lobby members clearly support state terrorism in violation of international, US and Israeli law. Nonetheless, America's "Audacity of Hope" is confident it will sail, saying:
SH is notorious for filing "frivolous legal complaints against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. We reiterate that the boat we are leasing....was surveyed by a professional surveyor and successfully completed its sea trials."
At noon Athens time June 27, a press conference will announce its readiness to sail, but expect continued pressure to stop it - criminal co-conspirators determined to lawlessly suffocate besieged Gazans.
On June 27, a Haaretz editorial headlined, "Let the flotilla go," saying:
Israel equates "flotilla" with terrorism or "a declaration of war," no matter that cargo includes food, medicines, educational materials and other humanitarian aid raised by private donations.
Nonetheless, Israel "seems to be as frightened of the flotilla as one would think it would be of an attack by an armed naval fleet." As a result, it's "preparing to fight an enemy" comprised of unarmed, nonviolent men and women who care enough to risk their safety to deliver vital aid and symbolically oppose Israeli lawlessness.
Thirteen months after the Mavi Marmara massacre, "Israel is showing that it has learned just one lesson: the military lesson....The country is not willing to give up a display of power, thereby no doubt contributing to inflating the flotilla's importance" and Israel as a rogue terror state. "From Israel, we can at least demand that it let the flotilla get through....without once again endangering the country's position in the world."
On June 27, Israel National News said former US Ecuador ambassador Samuel Hart (a 27-year Foreign Service veteran) will participate in the Flotilla mission.
In a 1992 Foreign Affairs Oral History Project for the Association for Diplomatic Studies interview, Hart said:
"I've always felt that Israel has been a little bit of a burr in the saddle in our foreign policy. Here is a small country with no particular interest to us in any real strategic terms, yet it sort of jerks us around because it has not only a very vocal Jewish population, but also supporters of Israel from non-Jewish groups."
He also once wrote an essay calling Israel "an exhausting place to live (because) the tension, anxiety and intensity wear you out."
Now aged 77, he told a Jacksonville, FL newspaper he joined the Flotilla because he "missed" participating in the 1950s and 1960s civil rights movement to end segregation. "I see great similarities between this and the civil rights movement," he said. "I am pleased to be part of it."
He also asked, "What did the residents of Gaza do to deserve such punishment? The honest answer is they" elected Hamas in 2006 democratically and now suffer lawlessly.
On June 26, New York Times writer Ethan Bronner headlined, "Avoid Gaza Flotilla, Israel Warns Foreign Journalists," saying:
"Israel threatened Sunday to bar for up to a decade any foreign journalist who boards a flotilla seeking to challenge an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza."
Moreover, Israel's Government Press Office director Oren Helman said their equipment will be impounded and they'll be subjected to "additional sanctions." He sent a warning letter to registered foreign correspondents, stopping short of saying they'll be arrested and jailed.
Perhaps all Flotilla participants will be mistreated, imprisoned, their personal possessions confiscated, then summarily deported the way Flotilla I activists were treated after being attacked, beaten and otherwise abused, besides nine on board massacred in cold blood.
On June 26, Israel's Foreign Press Association responded, saying:
Journalists "covering a legitimate news event should be allowed to do their jobs without threat and intimidation. (Helman's letter) sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel's commitment to freedom of the press."
Bronner said an unnamed New York Times journalist would participate, joining other international correspondents.
Further updates will follow, highlighting courageous activism against lawless Israeli brutality, complicit with its Washington paymaster/partner.
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