Category: Features - Page 167 - International Solidarity Movement

A call from Gaza in support of the Freedom Flotilla II

12 June 2011 | Gaza

We the Palestinians of the Besieged Gaza Strip, on this day, five years after closures began on Gaza , are saying enough inaction, enough discussion, enough waiting – the full siege on the Gaza Strip must end.

Shortly after 2006 democratic election which were supervised by people and bodies from the international community, nations formerly supporting aid and cultural organizations in Gaza withdrew their support. In mid-2007, our borders, controlled by Israel and Egypt, fully closed, locking Palestinians within and preventing imports and exports from crossing our borders.

From December 27 2008 to January 18 2009, Israel waged an all-out slaughter on Gaza, killing over 1500 Palestinians, the vast majority innocent civilians and among them over 430 children, and destroying thousands of homes, businesses, factories and buildings including universities, schools, hospitals and medical care facilities, and damaging vast tracts of our water and sanitation system.

Two and a half years following the cessation of Israel’s attacks, almost no homes and few buildings have been rebuilt, our sanitation and sewage system is more dire than ever, raw waste continues to be pumped into our sea –for want of proper treatment facilities –polluting our water and the fish along the coast which fishermen are forced to harvest –banned from entering the 20 nautical miles of sea accorded to Palestinians under the Oslo agreement—contaminating our drinking water and food supply.

Our farmers continue to be shot at, maimed and killed by Israeli soldiers along our border, prevented from working, growing and harvesting their land, denying us a rich supply of produce and vitamins. Nutrient deficiencies and malnutrition continue to rise, affecting our children’s growth and their ability to study. Our economy is shut down by lack of functioning factories and electricity. Our students hold little to no prospects of exiting for study abroad, even when placements and scholarships have been secured, due to the Israeli control of the Erez crossing and the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing being closed more often than opened. Our ill suffer for want of necessary medications and medical supplies and equipment.

Since 2005, over 170 Palestinian organizations have called for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions to pressure Israel to comply to international law. Since 2005, Palestinians have weekly met in villages in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, to protest Israel ‘s occupation policies.

Creative civilian efforts such as the Free Gaza boats that broke the siege five times, the Gaza Freedom March, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, and the many land convoys must never stop their siege-breaking, highlighting the inhumanity of keeping 1.5 million Gazans in an open-air prison.

On the 2nd of December, 22 international organizations including Amnesty, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid, and Medical Aid for Palestinians produced the report ‘Dashed Hopes, Continuation of the Gaza Blockade’ calling for international action to force Israel to unconditionally lift the blockade, saying the Palestinians of Gaza under Israeli siege continue to live in the same devastating conditions. Human Rights Watch published a comprehensive report “Separate and Unequal” that denounced Israeli policies as Apartheid, echoing similar sentiments by South African anti-apartheid activists.

The recent announced opening of the Rafah crossing has yet to be fully enacted. Even when open, it will mean little with respect to the imports and exports of goods to and from Gaza and will not improve the plights of fishermen, farmers and Gaza ‘s unemployment and manufactured poverty rates.

We request that the citizens of the world oppose this deadly, medieval blockade. The failure of the United Nations and its numerous organizations to condemn such crimes proves their complicity. Only civil society is able to mobilize to demand the application of international law and put an end to Israel ‘s impunity. The intervention of civil society was effective in the late 1980s against the apartheid regime of South Africa . Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have not only described Israel ’s oppressive and violent control of Palestinians as Apartheid, they have also joined this call for the world’s civil society to intervene again. We call on civil society organizations worldwide to intensify the anti-Israel sanctions campaign to compel Israel to end to its aggression. We call on the nations and citizens of the world participating in the Freedom Flotilla 2 to continue their plans to sail to Gaza where they would be welcomed by Palestinians. The civil society initiatives of the Freedom Flotillas are about taking a stance of justice and solidarity with besieged Palestinians when your governments will not. We call on the Flotilla movement to grow and continue to sail until the siege on Gaza is entirely lifted and Palestinians of Gaza are granted the basic human rights and freedom of movement citizens around the world enjoy.

Signed by:

University Teachers’ Association
Palestinian Nongovernmental Organizations Network
Al-Aqsa University
Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza
General Union of Youth Entities
Arab Cultural Forum
General Union for Health Services Workers
General Union for Public Services Workers
General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers
General Union for Agricultural Workers
Union of Women’s Work Committees
Union of Synergies—Women Unit
Union of Palestinian Women Committees
Women’s Studies Society
Working Woman’s Society
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
One Democratic State Group
Palestinian Youth against Apartheid
Association of Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Info
Palestine Sailing Federation
Palestinian Association for Fishing and Maritime
Palestinian Women Committees
Progressive Students Union
Medical Relief Society
The General Society for Rehabilitation
Afaq Jadeeda Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Deir Al-Balah Cultural Centre for Women and Children
Maghazi Cultural Centre for Children
Al-Sahel Centre for Women and Youth
Ghassan Kanfani Kindergartens
Rachel Corrie Centre, Rafah
Rafah Olympia City Sisters
Al Awda Centre,
Rafah Al Awda Hospital,
Jabaliya Camp Ajyal Association,
GazaGeneral Union of Palestinian Syndicates
Al Karmel Centre,
Nuseirat Local Initiative,
Beit Hanoun Union of Health Work Committees
Red Crescent Society Gaza Strip
Beit Lahiya Cultural Centre
Al Awda Centre, Rafah
Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information Society
women section -union of Palestinian workers syndicate
Middle East Childrens’ Alliance -Gaza
Local Initiative -Beit Hanoun

Palestinian teenager injured near Gaza border

7 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

19-year-old Mohammed Kafarna was hit in the neck by bullet shrapnel during a weekly non-violent demonstration in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip.

According to the doctor treating him, there were three pieces of metal lodged in his neck, thigh and abdomen. Mohammed is in a stable condition, which will be monitored over the next 24 hours while doctors decide whether or not to operate.

Mohammed was attending a weekly demonstration that has been going for three years. Tamer Zaleen, a member of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative which organises the event, was also at the demonstration. “We were about 150 metres from the border, standing on a mound. A warning shot was fired and then another shot, which was much closer. Shrapnel from the second shot hit Mohammed in the neck.”

Eba’a Razeq, a blogger from Gaza, also attended the protest. She explained, “Mohammed shouted, ‘I’ve been injured!’ but we didn’t really get what was happening. Then he started running towards the car. When he arrived, he fainted.”

The demonstration protests against the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone” which prevents any person from accessing Palestinian land within 300 metres of the border with Israel. Those who enter this zone, even if they hold deeds to the land, are likely to face gunfire.

Zaleen explained, “This is the first time anyone has been injured in this peaceful demonstration since it began in 2008, but it will not stop us. This is just farming land! It is our land and we are not afraid.”

22 dead and 360 injured in 5th June Naksa protests

06 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

According to the most recent reports 22 civilians were killed and 360 injured yesterday when Israeli soldiers opened fire at protesters marking Naksa day across the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Syrian border. The 5th June this year marked the 44th anniversary of the Naksa, or “setback” – Israel’s 1967 occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and its accompanying expulsion of 300,000 refugees from their homeland.

In the West Bank the International Solidarity Movement joined with hundreds of Palestinians as well as other internationals and Israelis in demonstrating at Qalandia checkpoint in Ramallah. The protest lasted for approximately seven hours and was met with a violent and disproportionate response by the Israeli military who shot teargas and rubber-coated steel bullets at the protesters throughout. The military who were positioned in front of the checkpoint as well as down the street and on occupied rooftops, began shooting at protesters as soon as they neared the checkpoint forcing them back down the road. No consideration was given to safety as tear gas was fired directly at protesters and at moving traffic resulting in approximately 90 injuries. Elsewhere in the West Bank demonstrations were also held in Hebron and Al Wallaje, however no injuries have been reported from these events. In Gaza hundreds of Palestinian refugees demonstrated outside the Erez Crossing in Beit Hanoun.

On the Syrian border the Israeli army used live ammunition on protesters as they advanced towards the occupied Golan Heights. 22 unarmed protesters were killed and 270 have been reported injured. This follows the widely condemned excessive use of force displayed by Israeli troops last month at the 15th May Nakba demonstrations which left five protesters dead on the Syrian border.

Palestinians in Gaza march for return on Naksa Day

5 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Hundreds of Palestinian refugees rallied outside the Erez Crossing in Beit Hanoun today to demand the right to return to the homes from which they and their families were ethnically cleansed by Zionist militias and Israeli military forces beginning in 1947. They were joined by other Palestinians and foreign supporters, including the International Solidarity Movement – Gaza Strip.

The demonstration, organized by the Preparatory Commission for the Right to Return, marked the 44th anniversary of the Naksa, or “setback,” Israel’s 1967 occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and its accompanying expulsion of 300,000 refugees from their homeland. Many of them had already been forced from their original homes during the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” the displacement of 711,000 Palestinians by Zionist militias in 1947-1948.

The rally was addressed by representatives of a broad range of political parties and civil society organizations.

Another nearby gathering, organized by the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, celebrated Palestinian culture with an exhibition of traditional food, clothing, and lifestyles.

Simultaneous demonstrations by Palestinians elsewhere faced violent repression, including lethal force, from the Israeli military. The Syrian Arab News Agency reported that live gunfire by Israeli forces had killed 23 protesters, including a child, a woman, and a journalist, and injured over 350, outside the occupied Golan Heights. At the Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, Israeli troops targeted hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas, concussion grenades, and rubber-coated bullets, injuring dozens.

The mobilization drew support from allies of the Palestinian struggle across the world, including Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign organizers.

Four killed, 30 injured as Israeli troops attack Naksa protests in Ramallah and Golan Heights

05 June 2011 | Palestine News Network

On Sunday four civilians were killed and 30 injured when Israeli soldiers opened fire at protesters marking Naksa across the West Bank, Gaza, and the Syrian border.

Forty-four years ago, Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights during the six-day war, which later became known to Palestinians as the Naksa, or setback.

Golan Heights:
At the Syrian border, Israeli soldiers fired live-rounds at protesters marking Naksa when they reached the border fence near Majdal Shams. So far Syrian sources said that four civilians were killed and 30 were injured by Israeli gunfire. The protest continues, sources reported.

On Saturday Israeli forces closed Majdal Shams and did not allow Palestinians form Israeli areas to reach the Sryian town to protest the Naksa. During last month’s Nakba commemoration five civilians were killed and at least 30 more were injured when Israeli troops stationed at the Syrian borders opened fire at protesters form the Syrian border village of Majdal Shams.

In total, Israeli military attacks on Nakba protests on May 15th left 16 killed and 400 injured. Israeli troops attacked Nakba protests in several parts of the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in addition to the Lebanese and Syrian borders.

Ramallah:
Also on Sunday Israeli forces invaded the central West Bank city of Ramallah and attacked Naksa protesters as people marched towards Qalandiya checkpoint which separates the city from Jerusalem. Witnesses said that troops invaded the entrance of Ramallah city and fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at unarmed protesters. So far five civilians were reported injured by soldiers’ rubber-coated steel bullets

Bethlehem:
At the village of al-Walajeh, located between the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, international and Israeli protesters joined the villagers and marched marking the 44th anniversary of the Naksa.

The Israeli army has locked-down the village since last night. Today, troops stopped buses transporting supporters into the village. At around 11 a.m. protesters marched, demanding an end to the Israeli occupation.

Al-Walajeh village was among the 500 Palestinian villages that was destroyed in 1948 when Israel was created – what Palestinians call the Nakba. People moved towards Bethlehem and built a new village at what was left from their lands that were occupied by Israel in 1967.

Hebron:
Also in southern West Bank on Sunday, people gathered in Hebron city and marked the 44th anniversary of the 1967 war or what is called by Palestinians as Naksa. Clashes were reported between Israeli troops and settlers in one side and Palestinian youth on the other. No injuries were reported.

Gaza:
A number of Naksa commemoration protests were organized in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The ralies ended after speeches were delivered by political leaders in Gaza City. Sources said that Palestinian police stopped local youth from reaching the borders with Israel.

Israeli Sources:
Haaretz reported that protesters threw rocks at Israeli police in the East Jerusalem village of Isawiyeh. Thirteen protesters were arrested and one police officer injured during the clashes, which involved an Israeli helicopter team, said the report.

Police were dispersing crowds of protesters with tear gas and other “demonstration dispersal weaponry” at Qalandiyah checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, said the report.

At the Israel-Syria border, where Syrian TV has reported four protesters killed and 30 injured, Haaretz reported that an Israeli Army spokesperson did not confirm any casualties. The spokesperson told Haaretz that Israeli soldiers had fired warning shots and then shot at protesters legs.

Other Israeli Army officials questioned the truth of Syrian reports that protesters had been killed, saying that any shots fired had been fired accurately, “guided by senior officers on the ground,” reported Haaretz.