Tuesday, 09 February 2010
 
 
Latest news
Sunday, 07 February 2010

Israeli Navy opens fire on and hijacks fishing boats

Israeli Army opens fire on villagers in support of marauding settlers

Invading Israeli troops injure 2 children – beat up mentally-handicapped villager

Youngsters abducted by Israeli troops this year now total over 50

Night peace disruption and/or home invasions in refugee camp and 7 towns and villages

3 attacks – 20 raids – 4 beatings – 6 injured

7 taken prisoner – 15 detained – 88 restrictions of movement

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Delinquent Zionism

"The message is clear, we are here, and we will stay here. We plant and build. This is an inseparable part of the State of Israel forever."

- Binyamin Netanyahu on West Bank settlements

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Gaza Freedom March: Why I went to Cairo

“As Jews, we have to recognise that we are not going to be the ones who determine the direction of the Palestinian non-violent struggle for freedom. What we can and should do, is find ways of acting in solidarity with that struggle by joining the Palestinian initiated international effort to use boycott, divestment and sanctions [BDS] to force Israel to comply with international law and end the siege of Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine.”

“Once you accept the fact that Israel's behaviour toward Palestinians falls into the category of the crime of apartheid, BDS is the logical and ethical non-violent response.”                                              -Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb

Why we protest

    Police arrested Global Peace and Justice activist, John Minto, and Palestine Human Rights Campaign (PHRC) member, Janfrie Wakim, along with three other people outside the ASB Tennis Centre in Auckland today. The arrests came on the second day of protest against the presence of Israeli tennis player, Shahar Peer, at the ASB Classic tournament. Both groups have been demonstrating in support of the world-wide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) which includes sporting contacts.

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Gaza Freedom Marchers issue the "Cairo Declaration"

(Cairo) Gaza Freedom Marchers have approved a declaration aimed at accelerating the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli Apartheid. Roughly 1400 activists from 43 countries converged in Cairo on their way to Gaza to join with Palestinians marching to break Israel's illegal siege. They were prevented from entering Gaza by the Egyptian authorities. As a result, the Freedom Marchers remained in Cairo. They staged a series of non-violent actions aimed at pressuring the international community to end the siege as one step in the larger struggle to secure justice for Palestinians throughout historic Palestine. This declaration arose from those actions:

End Israeli Apartheid

Cairo Declaration January 1, 2010

We, international delegates meeting in Cairo during the Gaza Freedom March 2009 in collective response to an initiative from the South African delegation, state that -

In view of:

  • Israel's continuing collective punishment of Palestinians through the illegal occupation and siege of Gaza

  • the illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the continued construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall and settlements

  • the new Wall under construction by Egypt and the US which will tighten even further the siege of Gaza

  • the contempt for Palestinian democracy shown by Israel, the US, Canada, the EU and others after the Palestinian elections of 2006

  • the war crimes committed by Israel during the invasion of Gaza one year ago

  • the continuing discrimination and repression faced by Palestinians within Israel and

  • the continuing exile of millions of Palestinian refugees

  • all of which oppressive acts are based ultimately on the Zionist ideology which underpins Israel

  • in the knowledge that our own governments have given Israel direct economic, financial, military and diplomatic support and allowed it to behave with impunity

  • and mindful of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (2007)


We reaffirm our commitment to:


Palestinian Self-Determination


Ending the Occupation


Equal Rights for All within historic Palestine


The full Right of Return for Palestinian refugees


We therefore reaffirm our commitment to the United Palestinian call of July 2005 for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to compel Israel to comply with international law. To that end, we call for and wish to help initiate a global mass, democratic anti-apartheid movement to work in full consultation with Palestinian civil society to implement the Palestinian call for BDS. Mindful of the many strong similarities between apartheid Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa, we propose:


  1. An international speaking tour in the first 6 months of 2010 by Palestinian and South African trade unionists and civil society activists, to be joined by trade unionists and activists committed to this programme within the countries toured, to take mass education on BDS directly to the trade union membership and wider public internationally;


  1. Participation in the Israeli Apartheid Week in March 2010;


  1. A systematic unified approach to the boycott of Israeli products, involving consumers, workers and their unions in the retail, warehousing, and transportation sectors;


  1. Developing the Academic, Cultural and Sports boycott;


  1. Campaigns to encourage divestment of trade union and other pension funds from companies directly implicated in the Occupation and/or the Israeli military industries;


  1. Legal actions targeting the external recruitment of soldiers to serve in the Israeli military, and the prosecution of Israeli government war criminals; co-ordination of Citizen's Arrest Bureaux to identify, campaign and seek to prosecute Israeli war criminals; support for the Goldstone Report and the implementation of its recommendations;


7) Campaigns against charitable status of the Jewish National Fund (JNF).

We appeal to organisations and individuals committed to this declaration to sign it and work with us to make it a reality.


Please e-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it


Signed by:

(* Affiliation for identification purposes only.)

1. Hedy Epstein, Holocaust Survivor/ Women in Black*, USA

2. Nomthandazo Sikiti, Nehawu, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Affiliate International Officer*, South Africa

3. Zico Tamela, Satawu, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Affiliate International Officer*, South Africa

4. Hlokoza Motau, Numsa, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Affiliate International Officer*, South Africa

5. George Mahlangu, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Campaigns Coordinator*, South Africa

6. Crystal Dicks, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Education Secretary*, South Africa

7. Savera Kalideen, SA Palestinian Solidarity Committee*, South Africa

8. Suzanne Hotz, SA Palestinian Solidarity Group*, South Africa

9. Shehnaaz Wadee, SA Palestinian Solidarity Alliance*, South Africa

10. Haroon Wadee, SA Palestinian Solidarity Alliance*, South Africa

11. Sayeed Dhansey, South Africa

12. Faiza Desai, SA Palestinian Solidarity Alliance*, South Africa

13. Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada*, USA

14. Hilary Minch, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Committee*, Ireland

15. Anthony Loewenstein, Australia

16. Sam Perlo-Freeman, United Kingdom

17. Julie Moentk, Pax Christi*, USA

18. Ulf Fogelström, Sweden

19. Ann Polivka, Chico Peace and Justice Center*, USA

20. Mark Johnson, Fellowship of Reconciliation*, USA

21. Elfi Padovan, Munich Peace Committee*/Die Linke*, Germany

22. Elizabeth Barger, Peace Roots Alliance*/Plenty I*, USA

23. Sarah Roche-Mahdi, CodePink*, USA

24. Svetlana Gesheva-Anar, Bulgaria

25. Cristina Ruiz Cortina, Al Quds-Malaga*, Spain

26. Rachel Wyon, Boston Gaza Freedom March*, USA

27. Mary Hughes-Thompson, Women in Black*, USA

28. David Letwin, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)*, USA

29. Jean Athey, Peace Action Montgomery*, USA

30. Gael Murphy, Gaza Freedom March*/CodePink*, USA

31. Thomas McAfee, Journalist/PC*, USA

32. Jean Louis Faure, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)*, France

33. Timothy A King, Christians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East*, USA

34. Gail Chalbi, Palestine/Israel Justice Project of the Minnesota United Methodist Church*, USA

35. Ouahib Chalbi, Palestine/Israel Justice Project of the Minnesota United Methodist Church*, USA

36. Greg Dropkin, Liverpool Friends of Palestine*, England

37. Felice Gelman, Wespac Peace and Justice New York*/Gaza Freedom March*, USA

38. Ron Witton, Australian Academic Union*, Australia

39. Hayley Wallace, Palestine Solidarity Committee*, USA

40. Norma Turner, Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign*, England

41. Paula Abrams-Hourani, Women in Black (Vienna)*/ Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East*, Austria

42. Mateo Bernal, Industrial Workers of the World*, USA

43. Mary Mattieu, Collectif Urgence Palestine*, Switzerland

44. Agneta Zuppinger, Collectif Urgence Palestine*, Switzerland

45. Ashley Annis, People for Peace*, Canada

46. Peige Desgarlois, People for Peace*, Canada

47. Hannah Carter, Canadian Friends of Sabeel*, Canada

48.Laura Ashfield, Canadian Friends of Sabeel*, Canada

49. Iman Ghazal, People for Peace*, Canada

50. Filsam Farah, People for Peace*, Canada

51. Awa Allin, People for Peace*, Canada

52. Cleopatra McGovern, USA

53. Miranda Collet, Spain

54. Alison Phillips, Scotland

55. Nicholas Abramson, Middle East Crisis Response Network*/Jews Say No*, USA

56. Tarak Kauff, Middle East Crisis Response Network*/Veterans for Peace*, USA

57. Jesse Meisler-Abramson, USA

58. Hope Mariposa, USA

59. Ivesa Lübben. Bremer Netzwerk fur Gerechten Frieden in Nahost*, Germany

60. Sheila Finan, Mid-Hudson Council MERC*, USA

61. Joanne Lingle, Christians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CPJME)*, USA

62. Barbara Lubin, Middle East Children’s Alliance*, USA

63. Josie Shields-Stromsness, Middle East Children’s Alliance*, USA

64. Anna Keuchen, Germany

65. Judith Mahoney Pasternak, WRL* and Indypendent*, USA

66. Ellen Davidson, New York City Indymedia*, WRL*, Indypendent*, USA

67. Ina Kelleher, USA

68. Lee Gargagliano, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (Chicago)*, USA

69. Brad Taylor, OUT-FM*, USA

70. Helga Mankovitz, SPHR (Queen’s University)*, Canada

71. Mick Napier, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign*, Scotland

72. Agnes Kueng, Paso Basel*, Switzerland

73. Anne Paxton, Voices of Palestine*, USA

74. Leila El Abtah, The Netherlands

75. Richard Van der Wouden, The Netherlands

76. Rafiq A. Firis, P.K.R.*/Isra*, The Netherlands

77. Sandra Tamari, USA

78. Alice Azzouzi, Way to Jerusalem*, USA

79. J’Ann Schoonmaker Allen, USA

80. Ruth F. Hooke, Episcopalian Peace Fellowship*, USA

81. Jean E. Lee, Holy Land Awareness Action Task Group of United Church of Canada*, Canada

82. Delphine de Boutray, Association Thèâtre Cine*, France

83. Sylvia Schwarz, USA

84. Alexandra Safi, Germany

85. Abdullah Anar, Green Party – Turkey*, Turkey

86. Ted Auerbach, USA

87. Martha Hennessy, Catholic Worker*, USA

88. Louis Ultale, Interfaile Pace e Bene*, USA

89. Leila Zand, Fellowship of Reconciliation*, USA

90. Emma Grigore, CodePink*, USA

91. Sammer Abdelela, New York Community of Muslim Progressives*, USA

92. Sharat G. Lin, San Jose Peace and Justice Center*, USA

93. Katherine E. Sheetz, Free Gaza*, USA

94. Steve Greaves, Free Gaza*, USA

95. Trevor Baumgartner, Free Gaza*, USA

96. Hanan Tabbara, USA

97. Marina Barakatt, CodePink*, USA

98. Keren Bariyov, USA

99. Ursula Sagmeister, Women in Black – Vienna*, Austria

100. Ann Cunningham, Australia

101. Bill Perry, Delaware Valley Veterans for Peace*, USA

102. Terry Perry, Delaware Valley Veterans for Peace*, USA

103. Athena Viscusi, USA

104. Marco Viscusi, USA

105. Paki Wieland, Northampton Committee*, USA

106. Manijeh Saba, New York / New Jersey, USA

107. Ellen Graves, USA

108. Zoë Lawlor, Ireland – Palestine Solidarity Campaign*, Ireland

109. Miguel García Grassot, Al Quds – Málaga*, Spain

110. Ana Mamora Romero, ASPA-Asociacion Andaluza Solidaridad y Paz*, Spain

111. Ehab Lotayef, CJPP Canada*, Canada

112. David Heap, London Anti-War*, Canada

113. Adie Mormech, Free Gaza* / Action Palestine*, England

114. Aimee Shalan, UK

115. Liliane Cordova, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)*, Spain

116. Priscilla Lynch, USA

117. Jenna Bitar, USA

118. Deborah Mardon, USA

119. Becky Thompson, USA

120. Diane Hereford, USA

121. David Heap, People for Peace London*, Canada

122. Donah Abdulla, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights*, Canada

123. Wendy Goldsmith, People for Peace London*, Canada

124. Abdu Mihirig, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-UBC*, Canada

125. Saldibastami, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-UBC*, Canada

126. Abdenahmane Bouaffad, CMF*, France

127. Feroze Mithiborwala, Awami Bharat*, India

128. John Dear, Pax Christi*, USA

129. Ziyaad Lunat, Portugal

130. Michael Letwin, New York City Labour Against the War (NYCLAW) Labour For Palestine

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

  • Palestinian proverb

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

  • Leila Khaled

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

  • Edward Said

 
Goldstone: Why I Investigated Israel's Conduct in Gaza

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Obama's Chicago Zionist connections

Dividing war spoils (Israel's robbery of Palestinian land and property)

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Why the Goldstone report matters

“As Uri Avnery observes, however much Israel may attack the commission report as one-sided and unfair, the only plausible explanation of its refusal to co-operate with fact-finding and taking the opportunity to tell its side of the story was that it had nothing to tell that could hope to overcome the overwhelming evidence of the Israeli failure to carry out its attacks on Gaza last winter in accordance with the international law of war.” - Richard A. Falk

 click here

Settlers clash with rabbis guarding Palestinian olive harvest

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The Goldstone Commission Report

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Treading the Borders Between Life and Death

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

Full article

UN: Israel must lift book blockade of Gaza schools

Jewish Voice for Peace – Petition

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http://australiansforpalestine.com/martin-zionism-for-dummies-8sep09#more-7844

Open letter to President of South Africa

An answer to Uri Avnery

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A History of Nazi-Zionist Collaboration

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A 'TERRIBLE DISEASE OF THE MIND'

 - helps explain the roots of Middle East conflict

MUST READ

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Israel – how much more racist can you get?

The New Zealand Government's decision not to attend the UN anti-racism conference in Geneva has demonstrated to the world that this country has turned its back on the principles upon which the United Nations Organisation and the Fourth Geneva Conventions were founded. Our government's attempt to shield Israel from criticism amounts to a denial of Israel's gross acts of racism and violations of UN resolutions. It is disgraceful that Prime Minister John Key and Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully should have besmirched the name of our country in such an unprincipled way. New Zealand has been seen to abdicate its responsibilities to the world community and the Arab and Muslim worlds have taken note of that fact.

Israeli racism manifests itself in its flag, its national anthem, and an array of laws that are necessary to safeguard Jewish privilege, including the Law of Return (1950), the Law of Absentee Property (1950), the Law of the State's Property (1951), the Law of Citizenship (1952), the Status Law (1952), the Israel Lands Administration Law (1960), the Construction and Building Law (1965) and the 2002 temporary law banning marriage between Israelis and Palestinians of the occupied territories. Israel's belligerent Occupation collectively punishes Palestinians by various means, including blockade resulting in malnutrition, accompanied by regular bombardment, raids and home invasions. This conduct is aimed at forcing the people of the land to surrender their basic human rights and recognise Israel as a racist state.

While Israeli Zionism asserts the right of Jews born anywhere in the world to take up Israeli citizenship and even subsidises its own nationals to live in illegally occupied Palestinian territory, the Israeli State denies the UN-sanctioned right of return for Palestinians ethnically cleansed from their homes. How much more racist can you get?

The Israeli water authority steals West Bank water and supplies most of it, subsidised, to settlers while charging Palestinians five times as much for their restricted supply of water. Israel continues to build illegal (under international law) occupation settlements for Jews and continues to construct Jewish-only roads to connect them to each other and to Israel itself. Even the two-state solution, which would have seen Palestinians confined to a state under Israeli economic domination with Israeli control of borders land, air and sea, has been rejected by the new Netanyahu regime. Israel bulldozed the whole Moroccan Quarter inside the Old City of Jerusalem soon after the 1967 war. It is now planning to lay waste to the Silwan Quarter outside the city wall. Since June 1967 Israel has destroyed 24,000 Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Arab Jerusalem. That's 180,000 Palestinians made homeless for not being Jewish and the Israeli State is defying the international community by annexing East Jerusalem. How much more racist can you get?

The former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, wrote a letter to New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman in March 2001, setting him straight on certain facts regarding Israel. He noted:

“if you follow the polls in Israel for the last 30 or 40 years, you clearly find a vulgar racism that includes a third of the population who openly declare themselves to be racist. This racism is of the nature of 'I hate Arabs' and 'I wish Arabs would be dead'. If you also follow the judicial system in Israel you will see there is discrimination against Palestinians, and if you further consider the 1967 occupied territories you will find there are already two judicial systems in operation that represent two different approaches to human life: one for Palestinian life and the other for Jewish life. Additionally, there are two different approaches to property and to land. Palestinian property is not recognised as private property because it can be confiscated.”

As Mandela observed, “Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property. It has perpetuated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality. It has systematically incarcerated and tortured thousands of Palestinians, contrary to the rules of international law. It has, in particular, waged a war against a civilian population, in particular children.” How much more racist can you get?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has described Israeli Occupation as “worse than apartheid”.

The racist outbursts by prominent Zionists, including Israeli State leaders, are legion and with the presence of people like Avigdor Lieberman, who was recently voted in on his racist platform advocating the 'transfer' (ethnic cleansing) of Palestinian Israeli citizens out of the country, they are likely to increase. Consider past Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir's remark to the UK Sunday Times 15 June 1969: "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist." How much more racist can you get?

The tragedy is that it doesn't have to be like that. Many anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews and Jewish people, both secular and religious, within Israel and around the world, say “not in our name.” Their distaste for Israel's lawless inhumanity is shared by people throughout the world. Instead of protecting Israel from criticism, world leaders should be listening to the voices of reason and supporting their demand that the Zionist state respect and observe international humanitarian law.

History will harshly judge those who were silent and who did nothing to defend the victims of ethnic cleansing and instead went so far as to defend Israel's behaviour.

Leslie Bravery – 22 April 2009

Palestine Human Rights Campaign Aotearoa/New Zealand

THE ZIONIST MIND

Gaza Blockade - April 2009

  • Israel is blocking food items such as lentils, pasta and chickpeas as "non- essential" to life.".

  • Israel stopped two thousand boxes of essential supplies for Palestinian families, donated by the Italian NGO Music for Peace - because they each contained a jar of honey.  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46504

click here

 

The Zionist enterprise

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Murray McCully and even-handedness

click here

Letter to New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister

Moshe Ya’alon has been elected Deputy Prime Minister of Israel

click here for stories

Mark Regev admits Israel broke ceasefire in Gaza - video

Obama dodges Israel nukes question - video

click here for stories  

Open letter to Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, from Palestine Human Rights Campaign - Aotearoa/New Zealand

click here

 
Letter to Mr McCully RE Al Mezan Press release
Monday, 19 January 2009
Dear Mr McCully,

    This January 12, Al Mezan Press Release deserves careful study. It shows in detail the effects of Israel's "Cast Lead" Operation in the Gaza Strip. The evidence presented here refutes the claims by Israeli political and military spokespeople that the IDF is doing its utmost to avoid civilian casualties and is acting within the framework of International Law. In particular Israel's claim that evidence for alleged war crimes is too generalised and lacks specific detail.

    I can verify much of what is contained in the Al Mezan Centre's Press Release from my own daily emailed reports gathered from many other sources. In a phone call to Jennifer Loewenstein (Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Programme at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mezan Centre), the Director of Communications confirmed that the IDF's use of White Phosphorous has gone well beyond what is considered legally acceptable. White phosphorous has been fired intensively against civilian family homes and businesses in the crowded Jabalia refugee camp and in the small village of Khz'a, where victims of this weapon have been treated for severe burns and the effects of inhaling the chemical.

    In view of the evidence presented here and the outrage expressed by UN officials and medical personnel sharing the fate of the people of Gaza, we ask you to speak out in the name of justice and humanity. The eminent British medical journal The Lancet has felt compelled to condemn these Israeli atrocities. We find your silence incomprehensible.

Leslie Bravery
 
Al Mezan Press Release - IOF Continues Targeting Civilians in Gaza
Monday, 19 January 2009

Al Mezan Press Release – January 12, 2009:

IOF Continues Targeting Civilians in Gaza; Death Toll Rises to 876 and More Civilian Premises Destroyed

    The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has escalated its war on the Gaza Strip for the 17th consecutive day, during which it has acted in violation of the rules of international law relevant to conflict and belligerent occupation, motivated by the failure of the international community to stand for the principles and rules itself had set. There is evidence indicating the perpetration of grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War.


IOF's attacks on civilian targets, public infrastructure, and border areas have brought about enormous destruction of private property and infrastructure, as well as unprecedented loss of life. According to Al Mezan's careful monitoring, the IOF has killed at least 876 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the start of its Operation Cast Lead on 27 December 2009. This number includes at least 186 children and 61 women. This number is restricted to those whom Al Mezan has verified and double-checked. The Center estimates that between 200 and 240 children have been killed. Many of those have still been under the rubble of houses under areas under IOF's invasion. Moreover, tens of children who were killed on the first day of the attacks have not yet been verified; therefore, the Center prefers to wait until they are accounted for properly. Six of those who were killed by IOF were ambulance crewmen, who were killed while trying to reach victims of IOF's attacks. The number also includes 3 journalists and dozens of elderly people. Al Mezan estimates that at least 85% of the casualties were civilian non-combatants.


Moreover, at least 3080 people have been injured and/or maimed during the same period. This number includes at least 634 children and 395 women. During the IOF's military operations, it directly targeted 172 houses with guided missiles and shells. However, the number of houses that have been completely destroyed in these attacks is at least 472. Another 3000 to 4000 houses have been partially destroyed. The IOF also destroyed 38 mosques; 13 of which were directly and wantonly targeted. 39 schools were damaged, of which 5 (and one university) were directly targeted. IOF attacks also destroyed 42 public civilian facilities; including CBO offices and quasi-governmental institutions. Furthermore, it destroyed 107 privately owned workshops and small industrial and commercial plants.IOF also destroyed 90 police and security installations and 25 sites that were used for military purposes by armed groups.


The above figures do not account for the attacks that targeted open areas and fields, or the dozens of bodies that remain under the rubble in areas under IOF's invasion; especially in eastern Gaza City, eastern Beit Lahia and Jabalia as well as the eastern borders of Khan Younis, Rafah and middle Gaza district.

 

1. North Gaza District:


At approximately 2pm Saturday, 10 January Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a group of young men in the As-Salatin area, west of Beit Lahia, killing Ahmad Ibrahim Jum'a, 25, and Umar Jum'a, 19.

 

At approximately 2:30pm also Saturday, IOF troops stationed in the town of Beit Hanoun opened fire at the Al-Bora neighborhood, killing an 18-year-old girl, Nariman Abdul-Karim Abu Odeh from a live bullet to her chest.


At approximately 4:20pm Saturday, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a small crowd near Barrawi gas station in Beit Lahia, injuring a 40-year-old pregnant women; Wafa' Al-Masri, and another 24-year-old woman, Ghada Al-Masri. The pregnant woman had to abort her foetus and had her leg amputated. The other woman had both her legs amputated.

At approximately 4:45pm Saturday, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the As-Sultan apartment compound in Jabalia town. The compound's residents started to evacuate it. However, IOF fired artillery shells at the entrance of the compound as people were evacuating, killing three of them, two of whom were children. They were identified as:

 

  • Ali Kamal Al-Nuthor, 12;

  • Amer Kamal Al- Nuthor, 15; and

  • Shadi Fatho Ijneed, 27.

 

Another 11 people were injured, including one child.


At approximately 5:25pm Saturday, IOF troops stationed in Jabalia fired 8 artillery shells towards the eastern parts of the town. Al Mezan's field worker reported that the shells were used for the first time. After hitting the ground, a light bounced from each shell, not very high from the ground. As they landed, they caused fires around it.


About 30 minutes later, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile into a crowd in Beit Lahia. One man was critically injured, as a result. At 6:45pm, an aircraft fired a missile at the house of Nafiz Al-Helu in northern Beit Lahia, killing two of its residents and injuring three, including a woman and a child. Those who were killed were identified as:

 

  • Mohammed Nafiz Al-Helu, 22; and (his sister)

  • Ameena Nafiz Al-Helu, 18.


Two minutes after, aircraft fired a missile at the Beit Lahia Park, destroying it.


At approximately 7:20pm Saturday, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile into a crowd of people who were sitting in front of a house in their neighborhood, killing 3 and injuring 6, including a 2-month-old baby. Those who were killed were:

  • Rami Jamal Salman, 21

  • Abdul-Mu'ti Ratib Sulaiman, 20; and

  • Sami Umar, 35.


At approximately 8:25pm Saturday, Israeli aircraft raided a house owned by the Rayyan family in Jabalia, destroying it and damaging three neighbouring houses. No casualties or injuries were reported in this raid.


At approximately 10:10pm Saturday, Israeli aircraft raided the house of Waheed Ahmad in Jabalia refugee camp. The house was destroyed and three neighbouring houses damaged; however, no casualties or injuries were reported in this raid.

 

At approximately 2am on Sunday, 11 January 2009, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile into a crowd of residents of the Al-Karama apartment compound, killing Ibrahim Ayish Salman, 25. When neighbours tried to help the victim, a second missile was fired at them, killing Ala' Fathi Bashir, 40, and his 18-year-old son, Sohaib. Yet, when neighbours tried to help them, aircraft fired a third missile, killing a 40-year-old woman, Lamia's Hasan Bashir, and another 75-year-old woman, Jamila Hassan Zyadeh. Four other people were injured in this attack.


At approximately 3:35am on Sunday, Israeli troops fired an artillery shell at the Al-Karama area. The shell hit the house of Mohammed Khalaf and killed his cousins, Ibrahim Mohammed Khalaf, 35, and Bilal Yihia Khalaf. 25 minutes later, an Israeli aircraft raided the house of Tawfik Saqir, which is located near the Beit Lahia market. The house was destroyed completely and five neighbouring houses were damaged.

 

At approximately 9:30 am on Sunday, 11 January 2009, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile into a crowd of children who were near the Olo Al-Azm Mosque in the north of Beit Lahia, killing the four of them; three girls and a boy. They were identified as:

 

  • Haitham Yasser Ma'rouf, 12

  • Fatima Mohammed Ma'rouf, 16

  • Khawla Ramadan Ghabin, 16, and (her sister)

  • Samar Ramadan Ghabin, 14

 

On the next day, the body of 14-year-old Abdul-Rahma Ghabin was found, raising the casualties of this attack to 5 children. According to Al Mezan Center's investigations, these children belong to families who had evacuated their homes and took shelter in the Al-Fakhora School, which was shelled by the IOF. They went back home with their parents to pick up some clothing and other necessities and return to the shelter.


At 10am on the same day, medical sources at Shifa Hospital announced the death of 51-year-old Abdul-Hakim As-Sultan, who was injured inside his house in the As-Salatin areas western Beit Lahia.


At approximately 11:45am on Sunday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells at the Al-Jurun neighbourhood in Jabalia. One shell hit the house of Khalid Abid, killing his 25-year-old son Khalid, and injuring his 20-year-old daughter Shahira.


Later, at approximately 1.10pm Sunday, IOF troops fired artillery shells that hit houses in eastern Jabalia, killing Hueesin Nazmi Abu Sultan, 40, inside his house.
At approximately 3:05pm on Sunday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells at the Al-Bora neighbourhood in Beit Hanoun, injuring a child inside her house. She was identified as Dalia Fareed Abu Odeh, 12. Another woman, Iman Sami Nusair, was injured.


At approximately 3:35pm on Sunday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells at eastern Jabalia, killing a 12-year-old boy, Mus'ab Abdul-Muhsin Khadir, and a 15-year-old girl, Amal Najeeb Alloush. Another 5 people were also injured.

( Continues . . . )
Read more...
 
Open Letter to International Academic Institutions
Monday, 19 January 2009
Open Letter to International Academic Institutions from Birzeit University's Right to Education Campaign
 
In light of the ongoing massive Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in which over 1,200 people have been killed - over 1,000 (86%) of whom were civilian men, women and children - and where over 4,000 have been maimed and injured, the Right to Education Campaign at Birzeit University calls upon the international academic community, unions and students to show support and solidarity with the people of Gaza by calling upon their respective governments to impose immediate boycott, divestment and sanctions against the state of Israel until it abides by international human rights and humanitarian laws, dismantles its apartheid regime spanning both the occupied territories and Israel proper, and commits to pursuing a long-lasting, just peace.
 
The state of Israel began its military attack on the Gaza Strip on Saturday the 27th of December and on the same day an air missile hit the Gaza Training Centre in downtown Gaza City killing 8 students and wounding 19. In the early hours of Monday, an F-16 fighter plane bombed the Science Laboratory and Library of the Islamic University in Gaza, just a few hours before some of its 20,000 students were to enter the campus to sit their exams. A few days later, on the 3rd of January a jet leveled the private 'progressive' American school in Gaza, killing its security guard and denying some 200 students their education for the foreseeable future. Later the same day, the Agricultural School in Beit Hanoun was damaged by 4 artillery shells, and 4 more schools were damaged throughout the Strip.
 
As a consequence of the ongoing attacks, the Gazan education system has been unable to function for the last three weeks; 27 of UNRWA's installations - almost all of which are schools - are being used to shelter 45,000 desperate Gazans who have fled their homes in response to ultimatums by the Israeli army: become homeless or die in the rubble of impending bombardments.However on the 6th of January, 3 UNRWA schools were bombed, killing all who were inside, in one case 42 people, and injuring 55. A number of other schools have been hit - just this morning Israeli forces shelled a UN-run school in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, killing a mother and son.As well as taking lives, the attacks on Palestinian schools deprivethousands of children - those who survived - of their educational facilitiesin the near future.
 
As of 17th of January, a total of 67 schools have been destroyed. The targeting of schools, particularly those being used as civilian shelters and whose coordinates are known to the Israelis, reaffirms the genocidal intentions of Israel's war and exposes their 'surgical' efforts as a mere public relations exercise. There is no doubt that Israel targets civilian infrastructure and implants conditions of terror and dysfunction amongst Gaza's 1.5m people, over 50% of whom are under 18 years of age.
The war on Gaza marks a breaking point: the world cannot remain silent while Israel instigates a war (they broke the cease-fire by killing 6 Palestinians on the 4th of November 2008 and 4 more on the 17th of November 2008), annihilates all civilian infrastructure, targets civilian shelters, prevents medical teams from reaching victims, uses internationally banned substances like white phosphorous on civilians, prevents medical aid and equipment from entering the Strip, cuts off fuel, electricity and running water making daily life, especially for the injured, a living hell, and prevents anyone from escaping their carnage. These are not actions of a state which respects international laws and norms. Distinguished international lawyers have denounced the disproportionality of Israel's attacks as a war crime, and its indiscriminate killing as a crime against humanity. ...
 
Useful links and resources: 300 British Academics: boycott, divestment and sanctions now, British Academics, The Guardian UK , 16 January 2009 - http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/news/article703
 
It's the Fourth Geneva Convention, Mr McCully
Wednesday, 07 January 2009

    Murray McCully's refusal to “take sides” over Israel's war crimes in the Gaza Strip is a dereliction of duty and a disgrace to New Zealand. The Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) expects more than mere condemnation of grave breaches of international humanitarian law.

Article 146 states:

    “Each High Contracting Party shall be under the obligation to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed, such grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts. It may also, if it prefers, and in accordance with the provisions of its own legislation, hand such persons over for trial to another High Contracting Party concerned, provided such High Contracting Party has made out a ' prima facie ' case. Each High Contracting Party shall take measures necessary for the suppression of all acts contrary to the provisions of the present Convention other than the grave breaches defined in the following Article.”

    Speaking out in condemnation of Israel's behaviour and in support of UN draft resolutions that require Israel to obey international humanitarian law is the very least the Foreign Minister could do to show New Zealand's abhorrence.

    It is worth noting also the huge chasm that lies between Israel's conduct as a nation state and what is required of it in civilised international agreements. Consider Israel's self-styled 'targeted assassinations'.

Article 146 states that:

    “In all circumstances, the accused persons shall benefit by safeguards of proper trial and defence, which shall not be less favourable than those provided by Article 105 and those following of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949.”

    At 12:30, on January 2, 2009 in an assassination strike against Hamas leading figure, Dr. Nizar Rayyan, Israeli F16s destroyed two houses in the Jabalya refugee camp, killing 16 members of one family, including four women and 11 children. Dozens of civilians were injured and neighbouring houses were damaged.

    Israel does not consider itself bound by any agreement, convention or UN resolution with which it disagrees. Israel's conduct as a rogue state and the West's failure to condemn the cruel injustices it inflicts on a captive people leads to despair and desperation. The Zionist state's lawlessness plays into the hands of extremists, is destabilising, and imperils world peace and stability more than any other single factor.

Leslie Bravery
 
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