Hundreds call for Erez to open, siege on Gaza to end

Upwards of 300 Palestinians, with a number of international supporters, rallied at the road to the Erez crossing in northern Gaza on Wednesday morning, calling for the crossing to be opened and an end to the 3 year long siege, in place since shortly after Hamas was elected in early 2006 and escalated dramatically following June 2007, when Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip.

Women were a strong presence in the demonstration, as were elderly, and children. A number of ill and disabled Palestinians highlighted the importance of the crossings being opened. Nearly 340 Palestinians have died as a result of denied medical care, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Amidst the crowd of demonstrators, 5 year old Mohammed Nasser el Ghneim, a child with multiple ailments needing medical care outside. “He doesn’t see well, cannot hear, cannot speak, doesn’t walk yet, and has heart problems,” said his mother, imploring for outside help for her son.

On the other side of Erez crossing, for the past few days, members of the Coalition of Women for Peace and of Code Pink have held near-daily rallies, along with Israeli activists, calling for the opening of Erez and the passage of humanitarian aid, as well as materials to build playgrounds for the children of bombed-out Gaza.

On Monday these activists were joined by an American activist-doctor, nicknamed ‘Patch Adams’, who has long been active in medical care for Palestinians. The activists brought with them many of the everyday items Israel has banned from entering Gaza: tea, coffee, chocolate, clothes and shoes, books, hair conditioner, wood, plates and glasses, furniture, light bulbs, toys, iron, cement, paper, candles and matches, sheets, blankets, musical instruments, semolina, tahina, jam, and nuts were on the list.

Demonstrations at Erez are occurring more often, in tandem with demonstrations at the southern Rafah crossing, controlled by Egypt. At the same time, increasing numbers of delegations, aid workers, doctors, investigative teams, and journalists are, with much difficulty (and for many without success) entering via Rafah to see the post-war on Gaza devastation and the consequences of the on-going siege.

The last major delegation to enter was a 66 member Codepink delegation, whose activists met with different war survivors, civil society organizations, political figures, and who erected 3 playgrounds in Gaza. The Hope convoy days before Codepink brought truckloads of medications, as well as 25 ambulances and hospital equipment.

A UN Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission, led by the Justice Richard Goldstone, also passed via Rafah after having been denied permits from Israeli authorities. The 4 member team visited sites of destruction and of possible war crimes committed during Israel’s 3 week bombardment of Gaza.

Organized by the Palestinian International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza and the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), Wednesday’s demonstration was joined by various Palestinian civil society groups, including a women’s rights NGO, the General Union of Disabled Palestinians, the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC), 3 different agricultural groups: the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), the Palestinian Farmers Union (PFU), Arab Center for Agricultural Development (ACAD).

As the demonstration wrapped up, news came that the delegation of 41 European parliamentarians and mayors of European cities, representing 15 countries, headed by Luisa Morgantini, vice-president of the European Parliament, had crossed into Gaza.

As the gates of Rafah closed behind them, numerous Palestinians waiting to enter Gaza were left behind, the siege still in place for non-dignitaries.

Veolia likely to abandon rail project

Abbas Al Lawati | Gulf News

9 June 2009

Dubai: One of the two transport companies facing a lawsuit in France for their involvement in a controversial Israeli rail project in occupied East Jerusalem has reportedly planned to withdraw from the project.

French company Veolia Transport is considering the sale of its five per cent stake in the Citypass consortium which is tasked with building the occupied Jerusalem rail link, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The other French company involved in the project is Alstom Transport.

The paper cited observers attributing the move to pressure on the company in Europe and the loss of potential revenue due to its involvement in the occupied Palestinian Territories.

When completed, the Jerusalem Light Rail is expected to link occupied Jerusalem to Jewish colonies in the occupied West Bank that are considered illegal under international law.

A spokesperson from Veolia said the company could not confirm or deny the reports in Haaretz.

Ambassador Hind Khoury, former Palestinian minister of Jerusalem affairs and representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in Paris, whose office was involved in taking Veolia and Alstom to court with advocacy group Association France-Palestine Solidarité, welcomed the move but said it was premature to call it a victory.

“This is certainly a positive development and a success, but we can’t declare victory while the infrastructure of this tramway sits on occupied Palestinian land,” she said.

Hind attributed the reported withdrawal to “a change in the international political climate” led by a new US administration “that respects international law”.

She said that it was time to put pressure on Alstom to abandon the project “because it plays a bigger role in the tramway”.

Veolia and Alstom had been under mounting pressure by advocacy groups to abandon the project in occupied Jerusalem. European companies have in the recent past refrained from investing in or giving contracts to both companies.

Omar Barghouthi, founding member of the Palestinian civil society Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign, said the movement’s pressure in the Derail Veolia and Alstom campaign “played a key role in denying Veolia major contracts, totalling about $7 billion [Dh25.6 billion], in Sweden, Britain and France”.

“Alstom will feel lonely now as the remaining French company that is still complicit in the colonising project of the Jerusalem Light Rail. But they will not withdraw unless, like Veolia, they are made to pay a heavy price that their shareholders cannot swallow,” he added.

Alstom spokesperson Eric Lenoir said the company was not thinking about withdrawing from Jerusalem Light Rail project. He added that the controversy over the project had never been brought up in any tenders Alstom Transport has been involved in, a number of which are in Gulf states.

When contacted by Gulf News, Sylvan Hijazi, Alstom’s president in the Gulf, said he could not comment.

Alain Gresh, editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, said that Alstom is now going to be “exposed” as pressure for the project was previously concentrated on Veolia.

He said, however, that companies withdrawing from the project are unlikely to publicly admit to giving into pressure.

“This decision can boost the BDS movement in France and Europe,” he said.

The Palestinian National Authority has since 2005 been trying to push France to intervene in order to stop the two companies’ involvement in the project, and has more recently been asking Arab states to get involved.

Gulf News reported earlier that the Palestinian foreign ministry was in talks with Saudi Arabia to withdraw a $1.8 billion civil works contract awarded to Alstom for the Haramain Express railway linking Makkah and Madinah.

Barghouthi said his movement hopes that states like Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have granted Alstom contracts, will take action against it.

Rights group warns of growing settler violence

Efrat Weiss | YNet News

10 June 2009

Palestinian farmers in the West Bank are paying the price for the government’s efforts to evacuate illegal outpost in the region, data published by human rights group Yesh Din on Wednesday revealed.

According to the organization, in recent weeks there has been an alarming rise in the number of attempts to uproot or damage trees in villages in the area, and the phenomenon is expected to expand if the security forces do not take action against the perpetrators.

In a letter sent to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Central Command Chief Gadi Shamni and Judea and Samaria District Police Commander Hagai Dotan, Yesh Din wrote that since the end of April and throughout the month of May, some 300 trees – mostly olive trees – have been uprooted or sawed in four West Bank villages. According to the group no one has been questioned in relation to the incidents.

“We ask that, in light of the increasing calls for violence and for collecting a ‘price tag’ from Palestinians following the evacuation of every outpost, you order the IDF and the police to boost their forces and work to prevent, handle and investigate offenses, and plans to commit offenses against civilians in the West Bank,” the group’s lawyer Michael Sfard wrote.

Sfard noted that in the last four years Yesh Din has repeatedly warned the law enforcement authorities in the West Bank of “systematic, organized and large-scale terrorist actions” taken by Jewish groups against Palestinian civilians in order to promote political objectives.

Free Gaza Movement launches its “Right to Read” Campaign

Free Gaza Movement

9 June 2009

In partnership with Al-Aqsa University, the Free Gaza Movement (FG) is launching its “Right to Read” campaign which will use the FG fleet to deliver textbooks and other educational supplies to universities throughout the occupied Gaza Strip.

“This is not a charitable endeavor,” notes FG Chair Huwaida Arraf. “Rather it is an act of solidarity and resistance to Israel’s chokehold on Gaza and attempt to deny Palestinians education. Dr. Haidar Eid, a professor at Al-Aqsa University and coordinator in Gaza for the campaign adds, “Education is a right. Yet throughout history, societies have used access to education as a weapon of oppression. We refuse to let Israel blockade our students’ thirst for knowledge. We welcome working with Free Gaza and others to break this siege against our people’s greatest resource.”

According to UNWRA, Israel’s blockade restricts paper, ink, and other learning materials from entering into Gaza. As a result of Israel’s hermetic closure of and repeated military attacks on the Gaza Strip, an entire generation of students in Gaza is growing up stunted intellectually and academically; they are trying to learn in circumstances that no student should have to endure. More than one-third of Gaza’s children and university students started the school year missing necessary textbooks and vital school supplies.

Al Aqsa University serves nearly 14,000 students, both male and female. During the assault, it sustained nearly $1.4-million worth of damage including significant damage to its library. Fourteen students and one professor were killed during the assault. This effort allows individuals as well as institutions around the world to support Palestinians’ rights to education by donating new and used copies of textbooks to be delivered by the FG fleet.

The first “Right to Read” shipment will be sent on FG’s Summer of Hope July voyage to Gaza To learn more about the program and to send books, please visit the FG campaign web page at http://freegaza.org/right-to-read?lang=en.

Supermarkets may face action on Israeli labels, say lawyers

Afua Hirsch | The Guardian

7 June 2009

Retailers including UK supermarkets may be at risk of prosecution for misleading consumers by selling goods from the Palestinian Territories under the label “West Bank”, lawyers have warned.

Fruit, wine and cosmetics originating from illegal Israeli settlements are among the goods that lawyers representing Palestinian interests argue are regularly being wrongly labelled, so that buyers might conclude they are actually produced by Palestinians. In a separate issue, they say illegal settlements are also wrongly benefiting from preferential trade agreements with Israel, which are meant only for goods from inside its pre-1967 borders.

“The use of the expression ‘West Bank’ may in many cases fail to give the consumer the full picture,” said barrister Kieron Beal from Matrix Chambers. He added that in other cases, “where goods have come from the occupied Palestinian Territories they should not be labelled as having their place of origin as Israel”.

The warnings come as government proposals for implementing new EU rules on product labelling, which make it illegal to deceive consumers, are expected within a month. Departments including the Office of Fair Trading, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have been grappling with the issue. Under UK law it is already illegal to present food products in a way which is “likely to mislead”, while European rules include strict measures requiring accurate “country of origin” information to be given.

Concerns about consumers being misled have been compounded by claims that Israeli exporters have benefited from preferential trading terms that allow goods from inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders exemption from import duties.

“It is a breach of the agreement for settlement goods to be imported as Israeli products getting preferential tariffs,” said Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford. “The labelling of herbs sold as ‘West Bank’ [for example] seems to me such an abuse. It is up to UK customs authorities to enforce the origin rules.”

“[Officials] should consider referring the matter to the anti-fraud office of the European commission,” said Sarah Macsherry, a lawyer at Christian Khan solicitors and member of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, a UK-based group.

HMRC denied that goods from the Palestinian Territories could take advantage of the system. “Any claim to Israeli preference which is accompanied by a proof of preferential origin indicating production [in a location] brought under Israeli administration since 1967 is immediately refused,” a spokesman said.

But officials are concerned about the issue. “The department is aware … that the location shown on the proof of origin may be that of a head office in Israel, when the goods concerned may have originated in a settlement,” HMRC said.