ISM confirms the death of Vittorio Arrigoni

April 15: Updated with news reports below.

The International Solidarity Movement is shocked and deeply saddened by the killing of our friend and colleague Vittorio Arrigoni. Vik was an inspiring activist and generous soul. Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts.

We will post more information here as it becomes available.

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Palestinians call for release of Italian activist kidnapped in Gaza

International Solidarity Movement & Free Gaza Movement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vittorio Arrigoni

(April 14, 2011) – Today, our friend and colleague, Vittorio Arrigoni, a journalist and human rights defender working in the Gaza Strip, was kidnapped in Gaza.

Vittorio has been active in the Palestine cause for almost 10 years. For the past two and a half years, he has been in Gaza with the International Solidarity Movement, monitoring human rights violations by Israel, supporting the Palestinian popular resistance against the Israeli occupation and disseminating information about the situation in Gaza to his home country of Italy. He was aboard the siege-breaking voyage in 2008 with the Free Gaza Movement and was incarcerated in Israeli prisons several times. He was in Gaza throughout Israel’s brutal assault (Operation Cast Lead), assisting medics and reporting to the world what Israel was doing to the Palestinian people. He has been arrested numerous times by Israeli forces for his participation in Palestinian non-violent resistance in the West Bank and Gaza. His last arrest and deportation from the area was a result of the Israeli confiscation of Palestinian fishing vessels in Gazan territorial waters.

Vittorio frequently writes on the issue of Palestine for the Italian newspaper, IL Manifesto and Peacereporter. Additionally, he maintains a popular blog and Facebook page.

Khalil Shaheen, a friend of Vittorio and Head of the Economic and Social Rights Department at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said, “This is outside of our traditions. We are calling for the immediate release of my best friend. Vittorio Arrigoni is a hero of Palestine. He was available everywhere to support all the poor people, the victims. I’m calling on the local authorities here in Gaza, and all security departments, to do their best to guarantee his safety and immediate release.”

Vittorio was granted honorary citizenship for his work on promoting the cause of the Palestinian people. Members of Gazan civil society are demanding his release; tomorrow at 4:00pm there will be a mass demonstration in Jundi Square.

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Freedom Flotilla: We Will Not Be Intimidated

13 April, 2011 | Freedom Flotilla

Athens – The Freedom Flotilla 2 Steering Committee met in Athens 9 and 10 April to continue preparations for the upcoming flotilla. Since the last meeting in Amsterdam, Israel has launched an international campaign of incitement against the Flotilla and its coalition members who are participating from around the world.

The Greek Ship to Gaza hosted this international meeting and emphasized that the Greek government has failed until now to pressure Israel to release the two Greek boats hijacked from international waters and held in Israel since 31st May 2010. The Greek Ship to Gaza has complied with all of the roadblocks put into place by Israel in order to bring back its ships, but our efforts have been to no avail. The Greek government should have pressured Israel to release immediately the ships, as Israel did for the Turkish ships in August, 2010.

Now, on the eve of the second Freedom Flotilla 2 voyage, the Israeli government is threatening to attack us again. As occurred last year before the first Freedom Flotilla, Israeli leaders are busy developing an atmosphere of hostility that should leave no doubt as to their intentions if and when they illegally attack this civilian flotilla.

Therefore, we are calling on all our governments, the international community and the United Nations not to succumb to Israel’s intimidation. Governments need to fulfill their ‘responsibility to protect’ their own citizens. The threats against the Flotilla are not just at sea, but also in our home countries, as Israeli agencies are targeting individual groups and personalities. Flotilla partners insist that their governments take preemptive action to assure that Israel will not use force to interfere with this peaceful international effort to secure Palestinian human rights, human dignity and humanitarian assistance.

On May 10, Freedom Flotilla 2 partners will go to the European Parliament for meetings with MEPs as well as the United Nations and other international bodies, and to present Freedom Flotilla 2 and its goals. In addition to the partner organizations, there will also be participants from more than 50 countries on board the ships. This past week the European Jews for a Just Peace announced that they will join the Flotilla as a delegation and in sending humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

We are putting Israel on notice…
We are Coming
We are Unarmed
We are Civilian
You have no right to threaten us
We expect to reach Gaza without any Interference.

Rachel Corrie trial: stopping bulldozer work not an option despite risk to protesters

11 April 2011 | Rachel Corrie Foundation

Deputy Battalion Commander says avoiding precedent influenced decision not to stop.

Two Israeli military officers who commanded troops near Rafah, Gaza on the day Rachel Corrie was killed, took the stand behind a screen in a Haifa court Wednesday, April 6, as government witnesses in the ongoing civil lawsuit Corrie vs. the State of Israel. Their testimony further underscored the failure of the Israeli military to recognize the rights, and protect the lives and property of civilians in the Rafah, Gaza region in 2003; including that of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) protesters.

Deputy Battalion Commander Sh.R, a Major responsible for overseeing 450-500 soldiers in Gaza, said he was located about 1 ½ kilometers from the scene at the army’s Liaison Unit with Foreign Forces (Yaklaz), and that although the bulldozer work was under the direct ground supervision of Captain S.R., he was in a position to influence the work and was ultimately responsible for the decisions made that day. This was significant because in the preceding hearing, Captain S.R., a Bedouin officer who testified earlier in the week, told the court he requested to halt his work because of the presence of the protesters, and potential danger to them, but received orders to continue.

Sh.R. defined the “Philidelphi Route” not just as the narrow, Israeli controlled, military road running parallel to the Gaza/Egypt border, but rather as the entire width of land between the Egypt border and the first row of Palestinian houses inside Gazan territory. He also insisted that Palestinians in these houses were those digging tunnels, snipers attacking the military, or smuggling weapons, and that clearing and destroying homes was done only after it was “beyond a reasonable doubt” that homes were empty. His description, although emblematic of the Israeli military’s position regarding the area in 2003, completely ignores the fact, and credible documentation by U.N. humanitarian agencies and human rights groups, that the land was once filled with densely populated civilian homes, the first row of which receded rapidly as the Israeli military bulldozed row upon row of houses, widening the border’s buffer zone and claiming the newly razed Palestinian territory for its own. Comparative satellite photos from a 2004 Human Rights Watch publication titled Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip document this “wholesale destruction” of Palestinian homes along Gaza’s southern border.

In e-mails to her mother, Rachel described her experience living with the Nasrallah family, whose home she was protesting in front of when she was killed: “the two front rooms of their house are unusable because gunshots have been fired through the walls, so the whole family—three kids and two parents—sleep in the parents’ bedroom. I sleep on the floor next to the youngest daughter, Iman, and we all share blankets. … Friday is the holiday, and when I woke up they were watching Gummy Bears dubbed into Arabic. So, I ate breakfast with them and sat there for a while and just enjoyed being in this big puddle of blankets with this family watching what for me seemed like Saturday morning cartoons.”

Although the house was not demolished that day, the family was forced to flee seven months later when the Israeli military cut sewer and power lines and badly damaged a structural wall. The home was fully demolished in spring 2004. It was home to five young children, four of whom were present behind their garden wall as the bulldozer unit approached and Rachel was killed.

Additional testimony of the Deputy Battalion Commander Included:

* He stated that there was a weekly work plan as well as a written “mission file” for the unit that identified the unit’s mission directive, participating forces, and instructions given to the force; including any safety instructions. However, this material was never released to Corrie family attorneys as part of discovery of the Military Police investigative file – a startling omission that calls into question the thoroughness of the government’s investigation into Rachel’s killing.

* Sh.R. identified that there was a female “scout” who recorded both video and audio files from the event, but claimed that not all the audio was recorded. Sh.R. also confirmed that cell phones, were also used, but unrecorded, to communicate orders back and forth between Captain S.R. and the Deputy Battalion Commander.

* Sh.R. stated he knew unarmed protestors were in the area, but in his opinion, stopping the work was not an option. He said the protesters were not a threat to the force, but added that if every foreigner came to raise banners, terrorists would also come and he would lose his ability to control the region. He admitted that avoiding a precedent was a consideration in the decision to continue working. He stated that in his opinion, the protesters should have been barred from entering Gaza.

* Although, he described in testimony that regulations state you don’t shoot unless there is intent and means to hurt you, a written summary of events recorded in the daily operations log on March 16, 2003, stated, “those foreigners should be handled and their entrance into the Gaza Strip should be forbidden. Additionally, the work must continue in the area in question. The firing orders state that every adult person should be shot to kill.” Within seven weeks of Rachel’s killing, award winning journalist James Miller and activist Tom Hurndall, both British citizens, were shot and killed along the same two mile stretch of the Rafah, Gaza border.

* When asked if he recalled being involved in an incident of “interference” with the military police investigation, Sh.R responded, “yes” and described how his Division Commander phoned him and ordered the investigation stopped due to a dispute over authorization. Sh.R. testified that he approached the lead investigator, interrupting the questioning of the bulldozer driver already in progress, and that personal words were exchanged. He acknowledged that he instructed the investigator to stop, based on orders of the High Command. When questioned about the ethics of interfering in a military police investigation, Sh.R. stated emphatically that he was given an order and he carried it out.

Following Sh.R’s testimony, Platoon Commander, A.D. took the stand. Unlike Sh.R, who was away from the scene, witness A.D. was present and second in command within the APC. He struggled to remember specific details about the events and said that he did not see the events before, during, or after they occurred. He also did not recall any lessons learned from the incident.

Highlights of Platoon Commander A.D.’s testimony included:

* He confirmed the unit would have been given a written “task file” before setting out on the work, although he could not remember anything about the specific file that day.

* The APC had a periscope from which they could see a longer distance from the vehicle.

* Commander R.S. spoke frequently on the cell phone and, in order to use it, he had to remove his helmet. This contradicts earlier military testimonies that claimed helmets worn would never be removed and, thus, soldiers would not have heard the protesters shouting through the megaphone nearby.

* He could not recall the specific safety instructions for the D9 bulldozer, but said the unit would continue working as carefully as possible. He believed work was allowed if protesters were within 15 meters of the vehicle, but not if they were within 5 meters.

* He knew that the protesters were civilians and “Americans.”

* He said there was a first aid kit within the APC, and he believed it was likely that the radio communications person in the vehicle was also a trained medic. However, he confirmed that the medical kit was not thrown to the protesters after Rachel was hit. Testimony made clear that no serious attempt was made by the military to provide medical assistance to Rachel at the scene prior to Palestinian medics evacuating her.

Wednesday’s proceedings were attended by a representative from the American Embassy and representatives from the legal and human rights organizations; Adalah, Advocates Sans Frontièrs, Al Haq, Al Mezan, Amnesty International, Arab Association for Human Rights, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Team, and Yesh Din.

The next, and likely last, hearing is scheduled for Sunday, May 22nd from 9:00-16:00. Scheduled to testify are Colonel Pinhas (Pinky) Zuaretz and former IDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Ruth Yaron. Hearings are held before Judge Oded Gershon, 6th floor, Haifa District Court, 12 Palyam St., Haifa, Israel.

Please visit http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/trial for updates, changes to the court schedule, and related information.

For press related inquiries, please contact:
Email: press@rachelcorriefoundation.org

A new Israeli massacre in Gaza

09 April 2011 | One Democratic State Group, Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel, University Teachers’ Association in Palestine, Association of Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information

Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine.

The latest round of Israeli massacres committed against the people of Gaza has resulted in the brutal killings since Thursday afternoon of sixteen, including a mother and daughter, 4 children and an elderly man. Over the last 5 days, Gaza City has been bombed by Apache helicopters and F16 and E15 fighter planes. These terrible massacres come only one day after a statement issued by the disgraced Ehud Batak, the Israeli Minster of War, in which he calls upon his generals to intensify the attack against Gaza .

The slow motion genocide itself has killed more than 600 patients so far. We condemn in the strongest possible terms these heinous crimes and reiterate our call upon all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately in any possible way to put pressure on their governments to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it.

Gaza has been enduring Israeli policies of extermination and vandalism since June 2006. We equally condemn the international conspiracy of silence and impotence in the face of these continuous Israeli crimes. Not a single action against Israel has been taken by the UN. The failure of the United Nations and its numerous organizations to condemn such crimes indicates complicity. We therefore reiterate our urgent appeal, not to the United Nations and the sanctimonious international community, but rather to all civil society organizations and solidarity groups to intensify the anti-Israel sanctions campaign to compel Israel to end to its aggression against Gaza. We also reiterate our call on all Arab revolutions to compel their governments to sever their diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel. This was the demand of thousands of Egyptian men and women who demonstrated opposite the Israeli embassy in Cairo yesterday.

We ask, how many more dead corpses of Palestinian children and women does the international community need to see in order to act? What more do Arab governments need to see to translate their words of support into action? What would convince the UN and its Security Council that Palestinians are also human beings?

One Democratic State Group
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
University Teachers’ Association in Palestine
Association of Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information