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Lebanese urged to help break Gaza siege

Posted on: July 24, 2009

Josie Ensor | The Daily Star

24 July 2009

A Lebanese human rights worker with the Free Gaza Movement made a plea on Thursday for Lebanon to show solidarity over the issue of the Palestinian right of return and play a more active role in breaking the siege. Natalie Abou Shakra, who returned Wednesday from the Gaza Strip after an eight-month humanitarian mission, said it was Lebanon’s duty to help ease the situation in the Palestinian territories.

The plea comes a week after President Michel Sleiman told Russian Mideast envoy Alexander Saltanov that any attempt to achieve peace in the Middle East … Continue reading


Updated on July 24, 2009
Posted under: In the Media
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‘Who will hold us accountable?’

Posted on: July 15, 2009

Natalie Abou Shakra | Electronic Intifada

15 July 2009

I will never forget the image of the elderly woman whose son was dying in a hospital in Egypt. She only wanted to be with him. Crying, her hand touching the glass window of the office of the Egyptian intelligence services, she pleaded, “Please, please. I beg you, show mercy, let me go in.” Another woman sat by the State Security office, looking up at an officer blocking her path. “You promised to let me in,” she said with her soft, tired and drained voice. “Please let me in” she repeated … Continue reading


Updated on July 15, 2009
Posted under: In the Media
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Egyptian authorities punish two activists for Palestinian solidarity work

Posted on: July 5, 2009

4 July 2009

For Immediate Release:

Natalie Abou Shakra, Lebanon/UK, and Jenny Linnell, UK, two International Solidarity Movement activists who came to Gaza as part of the Free Gaza Movement voyages, both British nationals, were prevented from exiting the Gaza Strip via the Rafah Crossing on the 28th of June, 2009 by the Egyptian border authorities. In addition to having special coordination by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) based on the request of the British Embassy in Cairo, Natalie and Jenny were given approval to pass through the Crossing on the 9th of June, prior to an official opening, by … Continue reading


Updated on July 5, 2009
Posted under: Press Releases
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The concept of civil resistance

Posted on: March 31, 2009
destruction in Gaza

Natalie Abou Shakra | Moments of Gaza

31 March 2009

How can I affect what is happening and how can the world respond?

The concept of civil resistance is not new at all. This non-violent, unarmed, citizen oriented strategy of resistance in modern history played a role in the struggles against colonialism, and neo-colonialism especially in British colonies of Africa, in Apartheid South Africa, India, and the Middle East, particularly Palestine.

We live in a very imbalanced world, where language, dress, technology, education, food, media, and other aspects in post-modern life … Continue reading


Updated on March 31, 2009
Posted under: Journals
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Palestinian, you are on your own!

Posted on: March 26, 2009

Natalie Abou Shakra | Gaza 08

He said, “Your wife is beautiful, I want to sleep with her.” During the interrogation, they would hit us extensively. They prevent us from sleeping, urinating, drinking and eating. During my friend’s interrogation, they brought in his wife. They touched her breasts, her sensitive areas in front of him. They wanted him to admit to their accusations. Imprisonment by the occupation forces is the attempting to murder a resistant spirit… all that we have against their state-of-the-art weaponry .

Gilad Shalit “who turned 22 in captivity, will have been a hostage of Hamas for about … Continue reading


Updated on March 26, 2009
Posted under: Reports
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From the ending we shall begin

Posted on: February 10, 2009

Natalie Abou Shakra | Gaza 08

His green eyes divert in the opposite direction as I look into them. He smiles at me shyly, sadly, forlornly. I stand against the magnitude of a man, too great not to be noticed. His tall, dark figure directs me to the car, and his friend drives us to the sea. It is almost noon, and I peak towards his seat. The windows dark, the car white, the sun shining and we stop at the hotel. “We shall come in a minute,” he tells me, “find us a seat.”

The darkness of his skin makes … Continue reading


Updated on February 10, 2009
Posted under: Journals
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One million and a half broken hearts

Posted on: February 7, 2009

Natalie Abou Shakra | Gaza 08

Wednesday February 4, 2009

Tears drop on her hands, hands that he had once kissed passionately, on her engagement ring, that ring he chose for her, on her cheeks that oust the redness of burning coals within her. The funeral is over now; his body is away, but the memory of him is as vivid as his own being yesterday. Dreams of a wedding, now written in the history of numerous deaths, is beyond of what reality can bring.

Her name is Hanaa, what means felicity. But, Hanaa shall know no felicity for many years now, … Continue reading


Updated on February 7, 2009
Posted under: Journals
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