Tag: Action Alert

Support our work in Palestine

International Solidarity Movement

14 August 2010

The ongoing suppression of the Palestinian grassroots resistance has included targeting international solidarity activists. Numerous volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement have been arrested or deported in past months.

A tactic of challenging the occupation and the Israeli authorities is via legal measures.
As Israel’s crackdown on popular resistance escalates, International Solidarity Movement activists are working on the ground to fight the authorities’ attempts to arrest, imprison and deport us – all strategies employed by Israel in their attempts at disconnecting us from our role in the struggle against apartheid. Legal challenges are an important battle field in non-violent resistance because often the occupation is forced to change their policies when these are held up to scrutiny.

The past six months have seen a surge in Israel’s crackdown on Palestinian and international activists involved in the popular resistance, marked by a wave of arrests targeting grassroots organizers from the popular committees of Bil’in, Ni’lin, Al Masara and Nablus and international activists involved in these regions’ struggles. Several ISM activists have been illegally abducted by Israeli forces and continue to fight lengthy legal battles against the Israeli state for these cases, in addition to the frequent arrests of activists at the growing number of West Bank demonstrations that the military has struggled in vain to crush.

American ISM activist Ryan Olander was arrested on December 18 in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. He was then illegally re-arrested by “Oz” immigration unit the following day, just moments after his release. He spent 29 days in Ramle Givon detention center resisting deportation before he was released. On June 3 the Israeli District Court ruled in Olander’s favor, the precedent-setting ruling articulating that the police and “Oz” immigration unit practices were illegal. This victory paves the way for a legal grounding for future activists (see: https://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11278/).

Czech activist and ISM media co-ordinator Eva Novakova was kidnapped by Oz forces in a night raid operation on her Ramallah apartment on January 11. Australian activist and ISM international co-ordinator Bridget Chappell and Spanish activist Araidna Jove Marti were abducted by Israeli military forces in a similar night raid on the ISM media office in Ramallah on February 7 (see: https://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11224/). All three activists pursued the issue in the Israeli Supreme Court, bringing Israel’s repreated violation of the Oslo accords in to focus. In the case of Chappell and Marti, the State Prosecutor was forced to admit the their arrests had been outside the legal framework, with the judge declaring their detention illegal.

These legal battles, taking the Israeli power structures on at their own game, constitutes a form of “resistance” that has the potential to set decisive precedents and alter Israeli policy, while at the same time exposing the level of corroboration between various Israeli departments in the occupation’s implementation.

This kind of legal work comes at a high price tag, we currently owe around 18,000 NIS to our lawyers. The ISM is asking its supporters to donate now to support the work of the ISM’s solidarity with the Palestinian movement against apartheid. Activist groups may consider throwing fund-raising events to raise money, and continue raising awareness for the cause. You can donate online via Paypal (not through AJ Muste), please see https://palsolidarity.org/donate for details.

Ahmad Burnat needs your support to get out of prison

27 July 2010 | Popular Struggle

A picture of Ahmad Burnat from the movie Interrupted Streams
A picture of Ahmad Burnat from the movie Interrupted Stream

Dear friend,

At 1:30 in the morning on July 19th armed Israeli soldiers drove into our village, Bil’in, under the cover of the pitch black night, and raided the house of my friend and well known activist Wajeeh Burnat, who was featured in the documentary Bil’in Habibti. This time, the raid was conducted to take Ahmad, his 17 year-old son.

It is not often that we ask for such help, but we turn to you today asking for a donation, large or small, to help in securing his release.

Last Sunday, a military judge ruled Ahmad could be released, but only on the condition that a sum of 10,000 NIS (2,600 USD) be deposited as bail.

Ahmad’s family has lost most of its land to the construction of the Wall, and have paid dearly for their role in the struggle – Ahmad’s eldest brother, Rani, is paralyzed from the neck down after being shot in the neck by a sniper during a demonstration in the year 2000. Following the injury, Israel also revoked Ahmad’s father’s work permit. Another of Ahmad’s brothers, Ibrahim Burnat, was also arrested six months ago and has been in jail since.

Ahmad’s family cannot afford the money to pay Ahmad’s bail. Unless we are able to raise that sum, he will remain languishing at the Ofer Military Prison for the duration of his trial, which could last one year.

Raids such as the one Ahmad was arrested in are not exceptional in Bil’in, or in any of the other villages in which grassroots protest against the occupation takes place on a regular basis. In Bil’in alone, ninety people have been arrested in connection to demonstrations in the village.

The West Bank village of Bil’in, among numerous other villages, has been targeted by Israeli authorities for their commitment to grassroots organizing. Hundreds more have been arrested in the past two years in Ni’ilin, Nabi Saleh, Budrus, Jayyous, alMa’asara and the other villages who take part in the popular struggle against the occupation.

Every such arrest is a threat to our ability to sustain this new vital wave of grassroots resistance. Lawyers fees, bails and prisoner support are an obstacle that we will be able to overcome, but to do so, we need your support today more than we have ever needed it before.

Please click here to make a donation and encourage the work being done in these villages. Your contributions can help us stand up for a true justice in Palestine.

Activists to demonstrate outside of European Commission Delegation in Barcelona

NOVA

8 June 2010

The European Union must put an end to the shameful and illegal siege that Israel imposes on Gaza. For 4 years, 1.5 million people have been living in inhumane conditions for having democratically elected a party Israel does not accept; for 43 years, Israel has been blocking all access to Gaza and controlling its territorial waters.

From Friday 11 to Monday 14, when we know the outcome of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, we will rally with nonviolent action at the doors of the European Commission Delegation in Barcelona(P de Gracia, 90)*

(FRIDAY 11, SATURDAY 12, SUNDAY, 13 from 10 to 21h. MONDAY 14, from 10 to time we know the outcome)

The European Union must put an end to the shameful and illegal siege that Israel imposes on Gaza. For 4 years, 1.5 million people have been living in inhumane conditions for having democratically elected a party Israel does not accept; for 43 years, Israel has been blocking all access to Gaza and controlling its territorial waters.

The latest acts of violence, including injured and dead, committed by the ultraconservative Israeli government against the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ in international waters and the sweeping reaction against them that has arisen around the world are a turning point: we cannot continue accepting the impunity and arrogance of the Israeli government and the siege on Gaza must come to an end.

On Monday 14 June, the Spanish Presidency of the EU has its last chance for advancing peace in the Middle East. We demand, as Union citizens, that the EU Foreign Affairs Council approves an urgent plan to put an end to the siege on Gaza in the coming days.

From Friday 11 to Monday 14, when we know the outcome of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, we will rally with nonviolent action at the doors of the European Commission Delegation in Barcelona(P de Gracia, 90)*

We are calling on unions and cultural, political, academic, and religious organizations, and all citizens in general to support our demand, to submit their statements to the current President of the EU, Mr. J.L. Rodríguez Zapatero, and to read them at the rally **. We are also inviting artists, intellectuals and anyone who wants to join us to show their solidarity in silence, with poems, songs, and drawings.

We are calling for similar actions to take place across Europe and beyond, in front of EU institutions and delegations, Governments, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and municipalities, so that our demands are conveyed to our respective governments.

We do not want history to judge us because we were complicit in the largest and most enduring concentration camp of the century through our silence and inaction.

For the respect of international law. For an end to the siege and the occupation. No more impunity

Organised by: Coordinadora d’entitats Amb Palestina al Cor www.alcor.palestina.cat

ACSUR-Las Segovias, Alliance for Freedom and Dignity, Associació Catalana per la Pau, CIEMEN, Comunitat Palestina de Catalunya, Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya, Moviment per la Pau, Sodepau, Nexes, Nova – Centre per a la Innovació Social, Servei Civil Internacional (SCI), Xarxa d’Enllaç amb Palestina, Fundació Nous Horitzons i Consell de la Joventut de Barcelona (CJB).

(*) This action is part of a whole week of mobilisation in Barcelona against Israel’s impunity – demos on Monday and Saturday and, human rights activists in chains at the Spanish Government Delegation in Catalunya on 4 and 5 June requiring Spanish President Zapatero to demand Israel to allow the Rachel Corrie into Gaza.

(**) Organizations and people who would like to speak at the rally, please confirm if possible day and time: ambpalestinaalcor@yahoo.com

Spokespersons: 635 437 485 / +34 671 002 015 Press: +34 651 341 406 comunicacio@nova.cat www.noviolencia.nova.cat

Action Alert: Israeli forces sieze MV Rachel Corrie

The MV Rachel Corrie
The MV Rachel Corrie

Just before 9am GMT this morning, the Israeli military forcibly seized the Irish-owned humanitarian relief ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, from delivering over 1000 tons of medical and construction supplies to besieged Gaza. For the second time in less then a week, Israeli naval commandos stormed an unarmed aid ship, brutally taking its passengers hostage and towing the ship toward Ashdod port in Southern Israel.

Israeli forces stopped the other boats of the Freedom Flotilla on Monday, killing at least 9 activists while violently boarding the Turkish ship, Marvi Marmara. Since the murders, Israel has confiscated all videos aboard the ship and detained hundreds in its jails. Refusing an independent investigation into the attack, Israel continues the blockade of Gaza.

Witnesses refute Israel’s claims:
Democracy Now: Ambassador Peck’s account of the attack
Guardian: Gaza flotilla raid: ‘We heard gunfire – then our ship turned into lake of blood’
Archive of all Gaza Freedom Flotilla news

TAKE ACTION:

1. Organize an emergency protest to show Israel that its illegal blockade will not be tolerated

Register your demonstration or find a planned action in your area: http://gazafreedommarch.org/cms/en/flotilla/protest.aspx

2. Contact your representatives to demand that Israel be held accountable for violence against the Freedom Flotilla and end the siege on Gaza

International
Call your representative to Israel
http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Israel
United States
Call or send an email to your representatives
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/641/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3973
White House: 1.202.456.1111
Department of State: 1.202.647.4000

3. Support the call from Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) for an intensification of the sanctions campaign to compel Israel to end to its aggression, http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/710

Target local shops that sell Israeli products, http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/4
Supermarkets, clothing stores and consumer goods from Israel can be the focus of a BDS campaign. Find a campaign in your area or launch one today!
Ongoing campaigns: http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/54
Activist resources: http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/49

Refuse to load/offload Israeli ships and airplanes,
Follow the historic example set by the South Africa, Norway and Sweden.

Action Alert: Israeli military attacks Gaza Freedom Flotilla, 10 deaths confirmed

Free Gaza Movement

Israel Murders at Least 9 Unarmed Civilians on Aid Flotilla to Gaza, Dozens Injured

(Cyprus, June 1, 2010, 6:30AM local) Under darkness of night, Israeli commandos from at least 14 warships and military helicopters boarded the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began shooting. According to live video from the ship, at least two civilians have been murdered, and dozens injured. Israeli television is reporting 16 civilians killed.

The Mavi Marmara was part of a 6-ship unarmed flotilla, including a U.S.-flagged vessel, carrying 700 passengers from 40 different countries and 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza.

The last GPS signal from the flotilla, sent just prior to the attack, placed the ships at latitude:32.64113, longitude:33.56727 – approximately 65 miles off the coast of Netanya, well in international waters.

Palestinian fishermen are regularly fired upon off the coast of Gaza, but these are the first Israeli murders of internationals at sea. In recent years, the Israeli military has adopted increasingly vicious policies toward international human rights workers in Palestine, murdering Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall in 2003.

The names of the dead are not yet known. The flotilla passengers included retired US diplomats Amb. Edward Peck and Col. Ann Wright as well as humanitarian aid and human rights workers, several Members of Parliament from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, Malaysia, and Palestinian Members of the Knesset.

Numbers for Israeli officials:

  • Mark Regev in the Prime Minister’s office: +972 2670 5354 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +972 2670 5354      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +972 2670 5354      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +972 2670 5354      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or +972 5 0620 3264
  • Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence: +972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
  • Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy: + 972 5 781 86248
  • The Israeli Ministry of Defense, Fax: 972-3-697-6717
  • The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fax: 972-2- 5303367
  • Click here for a list of Israeli embassies in other countries

Organize a demonstration at an Israeli embassy
Register your demonstration or find a planned action in your area at the Gaza Freedom March

Numbers for United States officials:

  • White House: 1.202.456.1111
  • Department of State: 1.202.647.4000

Call or send a letter to your Congressional representative with this sample letter:

Dear YOUR REPRESENTATIVE,

In one of the most outrageous attacks on civilized people, the Israeli military killed at least three people and injured at least 30 more in an unprovoked assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters. The ships presented no threat as they were filled with diplomats, academics, journalists and human rights workers hoping to bring humanitarian goods to the besieged Gaza Strip.

I call on you to hold Israel accountable for their despicable actions and to immediately dispel your Israeli ambassador until a thorough investigation can be undertaken by a credible third party.