Pressure Israel to not attack FGM boats en route to Gaza

Please contact your representatives to demand that they pressure the Israeli government to not shoot at or stop the Free Gaza Movement boats on Friday, 25 June 2009.

Additionally, call Israeli officials in the government to demand that the Free Gaza boats are not stopped or shot at when they are entering from international waters to Gazan territorial waters.

Mark Regev in the Prime Minister’s office:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it. mark.rege

Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod. media

Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy:
+ 972 5 781 86248

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To find the telephone number of your Representative and Senators in the United States:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/mcapdir.html

Call the Israeli Embassy in Washington at Tel: 202-364-5500

FGM: We are coming to Gaza

June 24, 2009

To: The Israeli Ministry of Defense, Fax: 972-3-697-6717
To: The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fax: 972-2-5303367

From: The Free Gaza Movement

This letter serves as a formal notification to you, as the Occupying Power and belligerent force in the Gaza Strip, that on Thursday, June 25, 2009 we are navigating the motor vessel Spirit of Humanity, and the motor vessel Free Gaza from the Port of Larnaca to the port of Gaza City. Our vessels will be flying the Greek flags, and, as such, fall under the jurisdiction Greece.

We will be sailing from Cypriot waters into international waters, then directly into the territorial waters of the Gaza Strip without entering or nearing Israeli territorial waters.

We will be carrying medical supplies in sealed boxes, as well as crayons, coloring books and toys for children, cleared by customs at the Larnaca International Airport and the Port of Larnaca. We will also be carrying 300 bags of cement delivered directly from the supplier to the Port of Larnaca. There will be passengers and crew on board from 14 different countries. Our boats and cargo will have received security clearance from the Port Authorities in Cyprus before we depart.

As it will be confirmed that neither we, the cargo, any of the boats’ contents, nor the boats themselves constitute any threat to the security of Israel or its armed forces, we do not expect any interference with our voyage by Israel’s authorities.

On Tuesday, December 30, an Israeli Navy vessel violently, and without warning, attacked our motor vessel Dignity, disabling the vessel and endangering the lives of the 16 civilians on board. This notice serves as clear notification to you of our approach. Any attack on the motor vessels, Spirit of Humanity and/or Free Gaza will be premeditated and any harm inflicted on the people on board will be considered the result of a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians.

A copy of this notification has been sent to the embassies of the civilians who will be on board.

For More Information, Please Contact: Greta Berlin, or Ramzi Kysia, www.FreeGaza.org

An open letter to President Obama from Christian Peacemaker Teams

For Immediate Release:

An Open Letter to President Obama from Christian Peacemaker Teams: Call on Israel to Stop Its Violence against Palestinians

Dear President Obama,

On Tuesday June 15th, you said of the protests in Iran, “When I see peaceful dissent being suppressed, whenever that takes place, it is of concern to me and it is of concern to the American people.” For the last 13 years, Christian Peacemaker Teams have witnessed the brutal suppression of peaceful dissent here in Palestine. In the city of Hebron and the village of At-Tuwani, CPT supports vibrant Palestinian nonviolent resistance to Israel’s military occupation. Every day, Palestinians hold nonviolent demonstrations and defy curfews and closed military zones. They rebuild demolished homes and work their land despite the threat of arrest and attack. Though their struggle is largely ignored by the media, we find inspiration in the way Palestinians are working for justice and peace.

We are deeply troubled by the way Israeli authorities respond to this nonviolent resistance. On April 22, 2006, Israeli police beat and arrested the mayor of At-Tuwani village and his brother for doing no more than holding a peaceful demonstration against the illegal Israeli wall. CPT has documented the Israeli army demolishing the homes of nonviolent resistance leaders, harassing them at checkpoints, and targeting them for arrest.

Too often, Israeli forces respond to nonviolent resistance with lethal force. In the past nine months, Israeli soldiers have killed four residents of the village of Ni’lin during demonstrations against the Israeli wall. Ahmed Mousa, age 10, was shot in the forehead with live ammunition on July 29, 2008. Yousef Amira, 17, was shot twice with rubber-coated steel bullets in next day. On December 28th 2008, 22-year-old Arafat Rateb Khawaje was shot in the back with live ammunition. The same day, Mohammed Khawaje, 20, was shot in the head with live ammunition. On March 22nd 2009, American demonstrator Tristan Anderson was shot in the face with a tear gas canister. He still lies in the hospital in critical condition. Each of these incidents raises a simple question: why do Israeli soldiers respond to unarmed protestors with deadly force?

When Israel arrests, attacks and kills Palestinians who practice nonviolent resistance, it is saying to the Palestinian people, “No matter your methods of struggle, no matter the justice of your cause, we will not share power with you.” In this context, it is a grave mistake to call, as you did in your Cairo speech, for Palestinians to abandon violence without calling on Israel to do the same. To speak as though there is no Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement is worse than naïve; it gives Israel permission to continue to ignore their cries for justice and freedom.

In his recent speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined his conditions for peace with Palestine. He described a future Palestinian state that would not be a state at all. Its borders and airspace would be controlled by others. It would be demilitarized while Israel remained free to continue building a nuclear arsenal. This is not a plan for peace. It is a demand that Palestine submit to Israeli domination.

As Prime Minister Netanyahu makes these demands, his government continues to suppress Palestinian nonviolent resistance. Unarmed demonstrators in Ni’lin are still met with tear gas and live bullets. In Hebron and At-Tuwani, children on their way to school are still attacked by Israeli settlers and settlements continue to grow. We ask you, President Obama, to demand that Israel stop its campaign of violence against the Palestinian people. We echo the Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement’s calls for justice and human dignity. Only justice will lead to peace.

In Hope,

Christian Peacemaker Teams-Palestine

East Jerusalem residents prepare for demolitions

24 June 2009

The people of Silwan, East Jerusalem, were on red alert on the morning of June 23rd, as rumours spread the neighbourhood that the army was set to arrive to demolish houses. This was based on warnings from the Palestinian Authority, a journalists tip, and the fact that many special police forces were visibly analysing the road crossings the night before. ISM volunteers joined residents of Silwan in the early hours of Tuesday morning in expectation of the bulldozers arriving.

Ultimately, they never came, but the Palestinian residents of Silwan continue to live in fear of their homes being destroyed. In the Bustan neighbourhood of the area 88 houses are planned to be demolished to make way for a new planned Archaeological Park. Renewed demolition orders were given to families recently but resistance to Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing remains fierce amongst Palestinian locals who have lived in their houses for generations.

Meanwhile, in the Isiwiye area of East Jerusalem, there were reports of the army entering the town and closing off part of the area. Activists arrived and were greeted with the sight of around 25 soldiers (from the border guard) who had cut off access to 2 Palestinian houses and the hill behind it. The police were mounted on horses whilst soldiers has large dogs with them and attempted to use them to scare people from the site. When the activists attempted circumventing the soldiers to see what construction/destructive work was occurring, they were blocked by the police and refused permission to climb the hill. When press arrived in an attempt to discover what the commotion was about, they were grudgingly given permission to climb the hill and photograph the construction site.

According to journalists at the site a ramp-like structure was being built which could serve to cut the outlying houses off from the empty hill behind it. This would allow the adjacent hill to be used for future settlement construction which local residents fear is happening.

Israeli construction in East Jerusalem is illegal under international law, specifically the 4th Geneva convention that obligated the occupying authorities, Israel, to maintain the geographic and demographic characteristic of occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli troops kidnap 4 West Bank civilians

Press TV

23 June 2009

Zionist troops have invaded Bil’in village in the central West Bank and kidnapped two teenagers and two adults.

Palestinian locals said the kidnappings took place at two different times.

The first incident took place late Monday night when two men – Hissen Mansour and Kifah Mansour – who were returning from their farmlands to the village located behind the apartheid wall, were detained.

Although an Israeli court has given the farmers the right to reach their lands behind the wall and ordered the Israeli military to demolish the wall, the Zionist army still arrests farmers and refuses to dismantle the wall, local sources said Tuesday.

In the second incident, Zionists troops stormed Bil’in village Tuesday morning, searched a number of homes, and then kidnapped two boys – Khalil Yassen and Kamel al-Kahteeb – both aged 15.

Family members of the four kidnapped civilians say the whereabouts of their detained relatives are still unknown.

Bil’in has been the scene of weekly non-violent protests against the Zionist regime’s apartheid wall for over four years.