Tag: Egypt

It’s time to end this siege for good

13 August 2011 | Viva Palestina

Viva Palestina is returning to Gaza with our sixth major international aid mission to bring an end to the illegal siege. Much has changed for the Palestinian people and the wider region in the 11 months since our last convoy. Dictatorship has fallen in Egypt. Palestine has moved up the international agenda. Yet the siege on Gaza remains. Israel recently blocked the second international flotilla. Major aid agencies report that the situation in Gaza is as bad as ever. Civil society organisation and NGOs in Gaza have issued an appeal to the transitional Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah crossing for the free movement of people and goods.

A promised partial opening earlier this year did not go far enough and has largely been reversed. Meanwhile, the condition of Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank and Jerusalem continues to deteriorate with ongoing illegal settlement building and the construction of the apartheid/separation wall. Outside Palestine, conditions for three million Palestinian refugees living in camps remain desperate, despite UN and international recognition of their right to return to their homes. The VP convoy will be highlighting the call to open Rafah and also the conditions facing Palestinians in exile and under occupation. It will aim to arrive just after Christmas, on 27 December, the third anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead attack on Gaza.

At this time of year, the world’s Christian communities and many others are particularly focused on Jerusalem and the crisis facing the inhabitants of that ancient city will also be part of our message.

All four of VP’s previous convoy’s have successfully entered Gaza. As well as bringing millions of pounds of desperately needed medical and humanitarian aid, we have been told by people in Gaza and by supporters of the Palestinians in Egypt that they have helped play a role in highlighting the unjust policy of the now ousted Mubarak regime in maintaining the siege. The democratic upsurge in Egypt opens the prospect of ending that siege for good. We will be working in partnership with humanitarian organisations in Egypt to help to bring that about before another year of unnecessary suffering is inflicted on 1.5 million people subsisting in what British prime minister David Cameron has described as the world’s largest open air “prison camp”.

We ask you to join us in this mission, which again will enjoy widespread international support. Experience has shown that successful missions to Gaza require a high level of organisation and planning. The VP management team has built up that experience with hundreds of volunteers who have taken part in our previous convoys and other events. So everything from decisions on what aid to bring to what volunteers should expect of themselves and the mission as a whole is based on those successful convoys and nearly three years of experience.

We believe the time is ripe to finally end this siege with a massive return convoy, with considerable Egyptian participation, and to raise the underlying reasons for the humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people as a whole.

We will be opening registration shortly. Please send an email to tony@vivapalestina.org to register your interest, and we will let you know when registration is open.

We will be heading off from London at the end of November to arrive in Gaza on 27 December. International participants will be joining en route. Further details will be coming out over the coming weeks, so make sure you are on our mailing list.

Not everyone can take part in the convoy directly. But tens of thousands have supported our efforts and without them the convoys would not have taken place. You can raise money and send it to us to purchase the medical and humanitarian supplies. You can spread the word about the convoy through your networks. You can volunteer to help with vehicles, fundraising, outreach and other areas. The people of Gaza deserve the highest quality materials and professionalism. What they need above all is the end to this blockade and the restoration of trade and commerce ties that can allow them to rebuild their economy.

With your help, we aim to assist them in achieving that – this Christmas.

Inspired by Egypt, young Palestinians lead movement to end division

Vittorio Arrigoni

Translation by Daniela Loffreda.

The mighty flow of blood and hope from Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrein, Algeria and Lybia has also washed over young Palestinian minds in Gaza. What started as a stream has become a torrent and will soon spill its banks. Palestine’s 25 January will be 15 March. Palestinians are working hard to mobilize thousands of people to the squares of Ramallah and Gaza on the day which has been named “The Day of Reconciliation” rather than “The Day of Anger”.

The lessons learned from the Egyptian Revolution have refreshed the pride of young Gazawi as Muslims and Christians from various social classes were able to drive out a powerful dictator who seemed to be nailed to his throne. They are ready to explode into a strong and rational demand for the “End of Division,” ie the end of the division between Fatah and Hamas.

“We chose the 15 March because for us Palestinians, it is a day without political significance or special celebrations. The basis for our popular initiative is absolutely non political and independent from all political factions. We do not accept groups that even remotely identify with any party”, says 22 year old Assad.

When I met up with Assad Saftawy, Shamallakh Mohammed, and Mohammed Al Sheikh at the Coffee Gallery in downtown Gaza City, the tension was so high, one could cut it with a knife. Shortly before I had arrived, the boys got an unwelcome visit from undercover Hamas police who seized their computers and cell phones.

“Why are Hamas so afraid of you?” I ask them.

“Although we have been clear from the very beginning that our intentions are for a call to heal the fracture between Ramallah and Gaza due to so much suffering, apparently they suspect that there is someone among us who is connected to “The Revolution of Honor”, Fatah’s day of anger initiated a few weeks ago but deserted by people in droves. Besides this, all Arab leaders fear the spontaneous demonstrations of young people. “The funny thing is that senior government officials here, such as the deputy of Hamas’ Ahmed Yousef, declared publicly that he was in support of our initiative”, said 22 year old Mohammed Al Sheikh.

Anyone wishing to join the initiative for the movement on 15 March may have to contend with explicit threats from either the mukabarat in their dark uniforms or maybe a raid in a crowded coffee house by undercover Hamas security forces like the one today. The politics of double games wear two kinds of suits.

“Do you think they have the same problems even in Ramallah?” I ask.

24 year old Mohammed Shamallakh responds: “Of course. And like us, they too are willing to go to jail. We will not hide. Feel free to write our real names. In front of the tv cameras politicians pay lip service to all their good intentions regarding a possible reconciliation, but we know that in reality, they are enjoying many privileges in this stalemate. Young people are tired of being at their windows, watching life pass before their very eyes. Because of the feud between Hamas and Fatah, I have lost three scholarships, the opportunity to travel, work and create a family. Every day that passes is like a year and I do not want to begin living at 40 or 50 years of age. If our leaders are so short-sighted as to not have control of the situation, understand the needs of the people, then on 15 March we will show them that it’s time to put aside internal disagreements and work together in order to end the siege and occupation “.

Not only are large numbers of youths expected to mobilize from the center of Gaza City and Manara Square in Ramallah, but also Palestinians in Israel, various European cities and the world are ready to hit the streets.

“We need all the international support we can get so that it doesn’t get repressed by police violence and we can accomplish our goals to have an event as significant as we want it to be, for the good of all Palestinians”, continues Mohammed. “The difference between us and our Tunisian and Egyptians brothers is that we don’t want to break a system, but rather sew it back together. Then new elections can take place and the PLO could be reconstructed with the presence of Hamas. In this way there could be better salaries, improved living conditions and less unemployment. We will be able to get back that freedom of expression and civil rights which are now being smothered by both Fatah and Hamas.”

I bring to Mohammed’s attention the problem of external interference in the choice of Palestinian leadership and the recent scandals brought to light by the publishing of the cables by Al Jazeera which show the close collaboration of PLO leasdership and Israel.

“If we can be as smart as the guys who taught us how to move in Tahrir square, whoever governs us will have no choice. And this is our intention, nail Hamas and Fatah into a corner and force them to have real dialogue, to work for the people and against the Israeli occupation. The 6 million refugees outside of Palestine implore them as well.”

I asked them what they recalled from 14 June, 2007, the bloody day in Gaza when Palestinians slaughtered Palestinians without any mercy at all.

Their enthusiastic faces suddenly became bleak. Even though through the years, each of these three boys had lost friends and relatives at the hands of the Israelis, they all agreed in saying that day was the saddest day in recent Palestinian history.

“There were snipers and gunfire everywhere throughout the Gaza Strip. It was impossible to distinguish who was killing whom. Since then, our future has certainly been dead” says Assad Saftawy anguishly.

Before offering them a shisha, I ask them about how their parents took to the initiative.

Mohammed Shamallakh: “My father advised me to give up on the idea. You must know that I suffer from a particular situation: in Ramallah they are convinced that I am a militant from Hamas. In Gaza, that I belong to Fatah. But I do not side with one or the other and the initiative of 15 March will not be manipulated by anyone. We are only asking in a loud and strong voice for the end of the divisions”.

Assad: “I’m slowly convincing my father, in the meantime my brothers and my sisters have already sided with me”.

Mohammed Al Sheikh: “My father is already with us and has promised to attend the event. And he will not be alone, my mother will also come. The problem is that I suspect they want to participate so that they can defend me! ”

As the smoke rises from the arghile and begins to brood over our heads, I get the distinct feeling that Mohammed’s parents are probably not wrong.

Vittorio Arrigoni has lived in Gaza City since 2008. A freelance journalist, peace activist and Italian member of the ISM (International Solidarity Movement), He writes predominately for the newspaper Il Manifesto. He is the author of Gaza Stay Human (Gaza. Restiamo umani) and blogs at: http://guerrillaradio.iobloggo.com.

Action Alert: End US tear gas & military aid to Egypt, Tunisia & Israel

6 February 2011 | Adalah NY

Egyptians, Americans and people worldwide have been outraged in the last days by the photos, twitter messages and news articles showing that the tear gas canisters fired by Egyptian police at peaceful, pro-democracy protesters in Egypt are “Made in USA.” While we are seeing these pictures now from Egypt, we have seen similar ones in recent months from Tunisia and Palestine. All three places have had in common repressive governments, armed by US companies with tear gas and other weapons. All three have used extreme violence against unarmed protesters who were demanding basic human rights, maiming and even killing protesters with impunity.

In all three places, Combined Systems Inc., a US company based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, is providing the tear gas – often under its brand-name CTS, an acronym for Combined Tactical Systems – that these governments are employing to crush protest, deny human rights and cling to power.

Israel, Egypt and Tunisia’s CSI tear gas may have been supplied under the US’s massive military aid to these governments, despite those governments’ clear records of severe human rights abuses. Israel receives $3 billion in US military aid annually, including $1.85 million of “tear gasses and riot control agent” from 2007-2008. Egypt receives $1.3 billion in military aid annually, and Tunisia has received an average of around $15 million annually. At a minimum the US State Department has reviewed and approved the sale of US-made tear gas to those governments.

WRITE NOW to the US State Department and tell them to stop using US tax dollars to provide tear gas and other weapons, and to stop approving military sales to repressive governments like Egypt, Israel and Tunisia that use US equipment and weapons to deny basic human rights.

WRITE NOW to executives from CSI and from their major investors Point Lookout Capital Partners and the Carlyle Group, demanding that CSI stop providing tear gas that is used by repressive governments like Egypt, Tunisia and Israel to deny the right to protest.

Egypt: As one example, Agence France Press reported on January 28th that, “Dozens of the canisters made by Combined Tactical Systems in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, were fired at crowds on one Cairo street on Friday, littering the road surface along with rubble and spent shotgun cartridges. Many protesters have been injured through tear gas inhalation and by being hit by the canisters themselves, with the security forces sometimes firing them straight at demonstrators.” Human Rights Watch staff reportedseeing dead protesters in Alexandria with “massive head wounds from tear gas canisters we [HRW staff] were told had been fired directly at their heads at close range.”

Tunisia: According to CNN, “The photograph posted in Tunisia was of a 40 mm riot CS smoke projectile, made by a company called Combined Systems Inc., which describes itself as a ‘tactical weapons company’ and is based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania…. Its warning label reads: ‘Danger: Do not fire directly at person(s). Severe injury or death may result.’ That warning is apparently not always followed. Lucas Mebrouk Dolega died in Tunisia on January 17, three days after being hit by a tear gas grenade at close range. The 32-year-old was a photographer for the European PressPhoto Agency.

Palestine: In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in 2009 Israeli soldiers fired extended range CSI canisters directly at Bassem Abu Rahmah from the West Bank village of Bil’in, killing him, and directly at US citizen Tristan Anderson in the village of Ni’ilin, seriously inuring him. Bassem’s sister Jawaher Abu Rahmah died on January 1, 2011 after she was overcome by tear gas at a protest in Bil’in the day before. CSI tear gas canisters littered the ground in the village of Bil’in after the protest. In May, 2010, US citizen Emily Henochowicz was shot directly in the face by an Israeli soldier with a tear gas canister, causing the loss of her eye. For more detailed information on CSI and Israel’s use of tear gas against Palestinians, Click Here.

Email the United States Department of State and Combined Systems Inc. to demand an end to the shipments of tear-gas to be used against unarmed demonstrators.

Nabi Saleh marches with the people of Egypt

6 February 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Despite pounding rain and aggressive repression tactics employed by the army, the village of Nabi Saleh marched Friday in solidarity with the people of Egypt. The demonstration was also in honor of 14 year Nabi Saleh resident Islam Tamimi, who was arrested in a night raid in the village almost three weeks ago and remains in jail.

Nabi Saleh in Tear Gas and Rain Picture Credit: Joseph Dana

Even before the demonstration was slated to begin, the army had taken positions inside the small village of Nabi Saleh, located just west of Ramllah. Soldiers briefly detained three Israeli supporters around 10:30 in the morning inside the village. The activists were taken to the village entrance and told to leave and not return. They were able to enter from a different point and join the demonstration later in the day.

Dozens of Palestinian, international and Israeli activists marched holding posters of 14 year Islam Tamimi, who has been in an Israeli military jail for almost three weeks. The demonstration was also in solidarity with the people of Egypt. Across the West Bank, popular committees held demonstrations in solidarity with Egypt.

The demonstration was attacked with tear gas, the same American made gas used against protesters Egypt and Tunisa, before reaching the main junction of the village. Soldiers then took over the square of the village and forced protesters into the olive grooves surrounding Nabi Saleh. Despite the pounding rain, soldiers maintained positions inside the village until five in the evening.

Two international activists were detained for roughly three hours during the demonstration and no injuries other than tear gas inhalation were reported. The village has been suffering serious repression by the Israeli army over the past month. Weekly night raids, the systemic arrest of children and threaten popular committee leaders has become a mainstay of life in Nabi Saleh. Despite this, the people still resist the Israeli occupation and march in solidarity with the people of Egypt and Tunsia who are fighting for the spirit of freedom.

Amnesty: Israel’s Gaza blockade continues to suffocate daily life

Amnesty International

Israel must end its suffocating blockade of the Gaza Strip, which leaves more than 1.4 million Palestinians cut off from the outside world and struggling with desperate poverty, Amnesty International said one year on from the end of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

Amnesty International’s briefing paper Suffocating: The Gaza Strip under Israeli blockade gathers testimony from people still struggling to rebuild their lives following Operation “Cast Lead”, which killed around 1,400 Palestinians and injured thousands more.

“Israel claims that the ongoing blockade of Gaza, in force since June 2007, is a response to the indiscriminate rocket attacks launched from Gaza into southern Israel by Palestinian armed groups. The reality is that the blockade does not target armed groups but rather punishes Gaza’s entire population by restricting the entry of food, medical supplies, educational equipment and building materials,” said Malcolm Smart, Middle East and North Africa Director, Amnesty International.

“The blockade constitutes collective punishment under international law and must be lifted immediately.”

As the occupying power, Israel has a duty under international law to ensure the welfare of Gaza’s inhabitants, including their rights to health, education, food and adequate housing

During Operation “Cast Lead”, from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, 13 Israelis were killed, including three civilians in southern Israel, where dozens more were injured in indiscriminate rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups.

In Gaza, Israeli attacks damaged or destroyed civilian buildings and infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, the water and electricity systems. Thousands of Palestinian homes were destroyed or severely damaged.

An estimated 280 of the 641 schools in Gaza were damaged and 18 were destroyed. More than half of Gaza’s population is under the age of 18 and the disruption to their education, due to the damage caused during Operation “Cast Lead” and as a result of the continuing Israeli boycott, is having a devastating impact.

Hospitals have also been badly affected by the military offensive and the blockade. Trucks of medical aid provided by the World Health Organization have been repeatedly refused entry to Gaza without explanation by Israeli officials.

Patients with serious medical conditions that cannot be treated in Gaza continue to be prevented or delayed from leaving Gaza by the Israeli authorities – since the closure of crossings leading into and out of Gaza, patients have been made to apply for permits, but these permits are frequently denied. On 1 November 2009, Samir al-Nadim, a father of three children, died after his exit from Gaza for a heart operation was delayed by 22 days.

Amnesty International spoke to a number of families whose homes were destroyed in the Israeli military operation and one year on are still living in temporary accommodation.

Mohammed and Halima Mslih and their four young children fled their home in the village of Juhor al-Dik, south of Gaza City, during the conflict one year ago. While they were away their home was demolished by Israeli army bulldozers.

“When we returned everything was broken. People were giving us food because we had nothing,” said Mohammed Mslih.

Six months after the ceasefire the family was still living in a flimsy nylon tent and they have only now been able to construct a simple permanent home. The family fear, however, that continuing Israeli military incursions may destroy the little they have left.

Unemployment in Gaza is spiralling as those businesses that remain struggle to survive under the blockade. In December 2009, the UN reported that unemployment in Gaza was over 40 per cent.

“The blockade is strangling virtually every aspect of life for Gaza’s population, more than half of whom are children. The increasing isolation and suffering of the people of Gaza cannot be allowed to continue. The Israeli government must comply with binding legal obligation, as the occupying power, to lift the blockade without further delay,” said Malcolm Smart.