Tag: Gaza

Gaza court questions accused in death of Italian

22 September 2011 | AFP

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — A Gaza military court on Thursday played the alleged confessions of four men accused in the April kidnap and murder of Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni.

Of the four men, all from Gaza, two are accused of murder, a third of having helped in the kidnap and killing, and a fourth of providing the house where the body of Arrigoni was found hanging, hours after he was snatched.

The defendants appeared in Gaza City courtroom unshackled and in civilian clothes, all four sporting beards. They appeared calm and responded to questions from the court’s three judges.

The prosecution submitted four CDs purportedly containing videotaped confessions from each defendant.

The judges called each of the accused to the bench to observe a portion of their alleged confession being played on a laptop, which was not visible to the court’s audience.

“Is this your confession?” one of the judges asked Tamer al-Husasna, 25, who is charged with murder.

“Yes, but it was taken from me by force,” he replied, alleging he had been tortured by Hamas’s internal security forces.

The three other defendants also claimed that their confessions were extracted from them by torture, though they gave no details of their alleged mistreatment.

A lawyer observing the trial on behalf of a Gaza rights group told AFP on condition of anonymity that the trial had been adjourned to October 3, when the prosecution was expected to present additional witness testimony.

The three other defendants in the case are 23-year-old Mahmud al-Salfiti, who is charged with murder, Khadr Faruk Jerim, 25, who is accused of assisting the kidnap and murder, and Amer Abu Ghola, also 25, who allegedly provided the house in which Arrigoni was held and later killed.

Arrigoni, a long-time member of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, was kidnapped on April 14.

Shortly after his disappearance, a previously-unknown Salafist group released a YouTube video showing a bruised and bloodied Arrigoni and threatened to kill him within 30 hours if Hamas failed to release a group of jihadist prisoners.

Hamas security forces found Arrigoni’s body shortly afterward, ahead of the stated deadline, in an abandoned house in northern Gaza.

Among those the group demanded be freed was a leader of the Salafist group Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), which denied involvement in the incident.

Hamas quickly arrested several suspects in the case, and a week later raided a house where three more suspects were reportedly hiding.

Two were killed during the raid, and a third was taken into custody.

Arrigoni’s death shocked the local community and international aid workers and activists in Gaza, where he had lived and worked for much of the three years prior to his death.

Protests in Northern Gaza

15 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza 

The Palmer Report, recently released by the United Nations, was a moral travesty. It asserted that the naval blockade of Gaza was somehow separate from the land siege of Gaza.  The Palmer Report was an attempt to break up the oppression of Gaza into bite size morsels so that it could be consumed without causing one to choke on the injustice of the occupation, of the siege.

Last week, we planted a Palestinian flag in the buffer zone, it stands alone, everything else has been destroyed by Israel.  We did not leave it alone; we painted another flag on a large piece of rubble.  We moved the flag even farther into the buffer zone, about 30 meters from the wall encircles Gaza.

On Tuesday, September 13, the Local Initiative of Beit Hanoun, fisherman from Beit Lahia, and activists from the International Solidarity Movement gave their response to the Palmer Report.  They gathered on the beach near Beit Lahia and marched north, into the buffer zone, land that has been stolen from the people of Gaza and depleted of any fecundity.  Across from the buffer zone is the land of the refugees in Gaza from which they were ethnically cleansed 63 years ago.

The buffer zone doesn’t stop on the land, as the Palmer Report may suggest, yet it extends onto the sea.   Israel’s disregard for Oslos allotment of 20 miles of sea access to Palestinians has been defamed to a restricted area of three miles off the shore for fisherman to access.

The buffer zone has extended beyond the last grain of Gaza’s beach and continues into the waters under the misnomer of “buffer zone.” Scrap collectors shot to death, farmers murdered, families left without land to support themselves, it is a death zone.  After the balloons popped, the flags survived, just as the Palestinian people have survived all of the Israeli violence directed at them.

We gathered at Waha, a hotel complex destroyed by Israeli bombs, at 8 AM and marched north along the beach, towards the wall that marks the northern boundary of the open air prison that is referred to as Gaza.  We looked out over the sea that marks the western wall of the prison that is Gaza–the sea where earlier this week the Israeli Navy kidnapped eight fishermen, and then destroyed their boats with gunfire.

At 10:30 we gathered in Beit Hanoun to march north into the same buffer zone.  For three years the people of Beit Hanoun have demonstrated weekly against the occupation and against the buffer zone.  Participants marched north chanting and playing music over the megaphone into the buffer zone. They carried Palestinian flags attached to balloons.  As the balloons floated over the buffer zone trailing their flags, they occasionally fell to earth and popped on the thorn bushes which are the only thing to survive the regular Israeli bulldozing of the buffer zone.

Sabur Zaaneen, from the Local Initiative spoke on the need for a Palestinian state, he urged Palestinian leaders to continue the struggle this September, he urged them not to forget their duty to their people, not to forget the right of the refugees to return, the right of their people to justice.  The farmers of Beit Hanoun stand with the fisherman of Beit Lahia, with the people of Bil’in, with the people of Nil’in, we all carry the flag of popular resistance to the occupation.  None of us will give up.  We will be back next week, together, united in one cause, ending the occupation and justice for the Palestinian people.

 

 

Please act now! Pro-Israel groups censor Palestinian children’s art

13 September 2011 | Middle East Children’s Alliance

On Thursday, September 8, 2011, the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) in Oakland decided to cancel an exhibit of art by Palestinian children in Gaza, titled “A Child’s View From Gaza.” The Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) had established a partnership with MOCHA and spent several months planning the exhibit, which was slated to open on September 24.

Board President Hilmon Sorey cited vague museum guidelines on appropriate content as reasons for canceling the exhibit, but both board members and pro-Israel groups later admitted that the latter placed pressure on the museum to censor the artwork of Palestinian children.

It is likely that the censorship here was yet another example of a $6 million dollar nationwide campaign by the Jewish Federation of North America, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and its local proxies, to silence the Palestinian perspective, even in “cultural institutions.”

It is very sad and disturbing that MOCHA, which has in the past courageously displayed artwork by Iraqi children featuring U.S. tanks and weaponry, has now chosen to censor artwork of similar content by Palestinian children, and succumb to financial pressure. But it is an outrage that these pro-Israel groups are using their considerable political and financial power to intimidate a local non-profit organization into silencing Palestinian children and censoring their art.

Tell MOCHA to Show “A Child’s View From Gaza”!

Trial over murder of pro-Palestinian activist begins in Gaza

9 September 2011 | Haaretz

Four surviving defendants charged with kidnapping and murder of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni; court proceedings postponed until September 22.

The trial of the four surviving defendants allegedly involved in the kidnapping and murder of Italian journalist and International Solidarity Movement activist Vittorio Arrigoni began on Thursday in a Gaza military court, the ISM website reported.

Arrigoni was abducted earlier this year by members of the Monotheism and Holy War group in Gaza. The group initially claimed in a video that they would free the activist if Hamas would release one of their leaders whom they had arrested.

However, Arrigoni’s body was found hanging in the home of a Palestinian militant in the Gaza strip, mere hours after he was reportedly kidnapped.

The hearing began on Thursday morning and was open to the public. The four defendants, Abu Ghoul, age 25, Khader Jram, age 26, Mohammed Salfi, age 23, and Hasanah Tarek, age 25, appeared to be in good health at the hearing, the report said.

Attorneys from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which holds power of attorney for Vittorio’s family in Bulciago, Italy, requested that they be allowed to take part in the trial, the report said.

The presiding military judge Abu Omar Atallah denied the request, saying that Palestinian military law does not allow third-party-participation in criminal trials. However, he said that the case and its files would remain open to PCHR and the public, the website said.

The prosecution reportedly then introduced evidence that the defense counsel claimed had not been previously available to them, and requested that they be given time to revise their legal strategy, the report said.

Prosecutors asked Atallah to postpone the testimony from their witnesses, the report said, requesting further time to prepare, The defense objected to this request, saying that the testimony had been scheduled to begin on Thursday.

The judge took both the prosecution and the defense’s requests into account, scheduling the next hearing for September 22, the report said.

Vittorio Arrigoni trial, day one

8 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

The trial of four surviving defendants in the April 14 kidnapping and murder of Italian journalist and International Solidarity Movement activist Vittorio Arrigoni began today in a Gaza military court.

The hearing, which began at 10:30 am, was open to the public. Two International Solidarity Movement members, along with a number of Vittorio’s Palestinian and international friends, observed it.

It was held in a light, airy hall in Gaza’s military court compound. The four defendants, Abu Ghoul, age 25, Khader Jram, age 26, Mohammed Salfi, age 23, and Hasanah Tarek, age 25, appeared to be in good health, occasionally smiling or waving to family in the courtroom.

Proceedings began with a request by attorneys from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), which holds power of attorney for Vittorio’s family in Bulciago, Italy, that they be allowed to participate in the trial.

Military judge Abu Omar Atallah responded that while Palestinian military law does not allow for participation in criminal trials by third parties, the case and its files would be open to PCHR as well as the public.

After the PCHR attorneys moved their chairs from the front of the courtroom back into the public seating, prosecutors attempted to introduce the video contents of a compact disk, as well as a forensic report on the crime scene, as evidence.

The defense counsel responded that the prosecution had not yet made these materials available to them, and that they would need time to review them before deciding on their legal strategy.

Prosecutors also asked that testimony from their witnesses be postponed to allow them further time to prepare. The defense counsel objected, noting that testimony had been scheduled to begin today.

Taking these positions into account, Atallah opted to allow time for the preparation of witnesses by the prosecution, and the review of evidence by the defense. Before adjourning the court at 11:30 am, he scheduled its next hearing for Thursday, September 22.