Tag: Global Actions

Benefit Sunday for former Berkeley tree sitter severely injured in Israel

Kristin Bender | The Oakland Tribune

9 September 2009

Six months after Tristan Anderson, a former UC Berkeley tree sitter and Bay Area activist, nearly died after being struck in the head with a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops, friends are holding a benefit Sunday to raise money for his recovery costs.

Anderson, 38, remains at a rehabilitation hospital near Tel Aviv and continues to have setbacks and infections after skull surgery last month, supporters said.

The operation came after doctors learned Anderson was suffering from post-traumatic hydrocephalus, a blockage of the ventricles — open spaces in the brain — that causes poor circulation of cerebral spinal fluid in the head, supporters said.

“His girlfriend, Gabrielle Silverman, and his parents are hopeful and giving Tristan as much encouragement and support as they can, even though by all appearances he is struggling to get better,” said friend Karen Pickett. “There has been progress, but there have been times when they have lost ground because there have been setbacks.”

Anderson, a freelance photojournalist, sustained life-threatening injuries March 13 as he was taking photographs after a regular Friday demonstration over Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, Pickett said. He was struck in the right temple with a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops, according to peace activists with the International Solidarity Movement.

His skull was fractured, and some of the bone fragments entered his brain, friends said. He sustained a large hole in his forehead where he was struck by the canister, and he was blinded in his right eye, friends said.

The benefit is at 8 p.m. Sunday at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave., in Berkeley. There will be music from Rebecca Riots, a female folk trio; the Funky Nixons; American Indian singer and songwriter Phoenix; spoken word, an art auction and an update on Anderson.

The doors open at 7:30 p.m., and organizers are asking for a donation of $5 to $20 to cover Anderson’s recuperation costs. The event is sponsored by Friends of Tristan and Palestine and the International Solidarity Movement. For details, call 510-548-3113 or visit justicefortristan.org.

“We are trying to raise as much money as we can in support of his recovery costs,” Pickett said. “But it’s also a time to raise support and let people know what is going on with Tristan, and to make the point that things are still serious and he needs continuing support.”

On the day Anderson, of Oakland, was injured, there were several hundred protesters in the West Bank town of Naalin, where Palestinians and international backers frequently had gathered to demonstrate against the barrier. Israel says the barrier is necessary to keep Palestinian attackers from infiltrating into Israel, but many Palestinians view it as a thinly veiled land grab because it juts into the West Bank at multiple points.

Before going to the Middle East, he was involved in the tree-sit at UC Berkeley to protest the building of a sports training center. That protest lasted 21 months, but Anderson, who was known as “Cricket” during the sit, did not sit in a tree the entire time.

It is not known how long he was in the trees, but he came down from his perch on June 19, 2008, and was given a stay-away order, police said.

He was found near the tree-sit the following day, arrested and sent to trial, where he was found not guilty. The tree-sit ended last September, when the university razed the trees.

Support the Gaza Freedom March

Gaza Freedom March

Endorse the Gaza Freedom March! Sign the Pledge Below!

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is a flagrant violation of international law that has led to mass suffering. The U.S., the European Union, and the rest of the international community are complicit.

The law is clear. The conscience of humankind is shocked. Yet, the siege of Gaza continues. It is time for us to take action! On January 1, 2010, we will mark the New Year by marching alongside the Palestinian people of Gaza in a non-violent demonstration that breaches the illegal blockade.

Our purpose in this March is lifting the siege on Gaza. We demand that Israel end the blockade. We also call upon Egypt to open Gaza’s Rafah border. Palestinians must have freedom to travel for study, work, and much-needed medical treatment and to receive visitors from abroad.

As an international coalition we are not in a position to advocate a specific political solution to this conflict. Yet our faith in our common humanity leads us to call on all parties to respect and uphold international law and fundamental human rights to bring an end to the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 and pursue a just and lasting peace.

The march can only succeed if it arouses the conscience of humanity.

Please join us.

The International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza

For more information, please see the Statement of Context http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/article.php?id=5081

STATEMENT OF CONTEXT

Amnesty International has called the Gaza blockade a “form of collective punishment of the entire population of Gaza, a flagrant violation of Israel’s obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention.” Human Rights Watch has called the blockade a “serious violation of international law.” The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Richard Falk, condemned Israel’s siege of Gaza as amounting to a “crime against humanity.”

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has said the Palestinian people trapped in Gaza are being treated “like animals,” and has called for “ending of the siege of Gaza” that is depriving “one and a half million people of the necessities of life.”

One of the world’s leading authorities on Gaza, Sara Roy of Harvard University, has said that the consequence of the siege “is undeniably one of mass suffering, created largely by Israel, but with the active complicity of the international community, especially the U.S. and European Union.”

The law is clear. The conscience of humankind is shocked.

The Palestinians of Gaza have exhorted the international community to move beyond words of condemnation.

Yet, the siege of Gaza continues.

Upholding International Law

The illegal siege of Gaza is not happening in a vacuum. It is one of the many illegal acts committed by Israel in the Palestinian territories it occupied militarily in 1967.

The Wall and the settlements are illegal, according to the International Court of Justice the Hague.

House demolitions and wanton destruction of farm lands are illegal.

The closures and curfews are illegal.

The roadblocks and checkpoints are illegal.

The detention and torture are illegal.

The occupation itself is illegal.

The truth is that if international law were enforced the occupation would end.

An end to the military occupation that began in 1967 is a major condition for establishing a just and lasting peace. For over six decades, the Palestinian people have been denied freedom and rights to self-determination and equality. The hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced out of their homes during Israel’s creation in 1947-48 are still denied the rights granted them by UN Resolution 194.

Sources of Inspiration

The Gaza Freedom March is inspired by decades of nonviolent Palestinian resistance from the mass popular uprising of the first Intifada to the West Bank villagers currently resisting the land grab of Israel’s annexationist wall.

It draws inspiration from the Gazans themselves, who formed a human chain from Rafah to Erez, tore down the border barrier separating Gaza from Egypt, and marched to the six checkpoints separating the occupied Gaza Strip from Israel.

The Freedom March also draws inspiration from the international volunteers who have stood by Palestinian farmers harvesting their crops, from the crews on the vessels who have challenged the Gaza blockade by sea, and from the drivers of the convoys who have delivered humanitarian aid to Gaza.

And it is inspired by Nelson Mandela who said: “I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. … I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”

It heeds the words of Mahatma Gandhi, who called his movement Satyagraha-Hold on to the truth, and holds to the truth that Israel’s siege of Gaza is illegal and inhuman.

Gandhi said that the purpose of nonviolent action is to “quicken” the conscience of humankind. Through the Freedom March, humankind will not just deplore Israeli brutality but take action to stop it.

Palestinian civil society has followed in the footsteps of Mandela and Gandhi. Just as those two leaders called on international civil society to boycott the goods and institutions of their oppressors, Palestinian associations, trade unions, and mass movements have since 2005 been calling on all people of conscience to support a non-violent campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel fully complies with its obligations under international law.

The Freedom March also draws inspiration from the civil rights movement in the United States.

If Israel devalues Palestinian life then internationals must both interpose their bodies to shield Palestinians from Israeli brutality and bear personal witness to the inhumanity that Palestinians daily confront.

If Israel defies international law then people of conscience must send non-violent marshals from around the world to enforce the law of the international community in Gaza. The International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza will dispatch contingents from around the world to Gaza to mark the anniversary of Israel’s bloody 22-day assault on Gaza in December 2008 – January 2009.

The Freedom March takes no sides in internal Palestinian politics. It sides only with international law and the primacy of human rights.

The March is yet another link in the chain of non-violent resistance to Israel’s flagrant disregard of international law.

Citizens of the world are called upon to join ranks with Palestinians in the January 1st March to lift the inhumane siege of Gaza.

London protests against Sheikh Jarrah evictions

4 August 2009

On Monday afternoon from 5pm a large group of protesters put up tents and banners next to and across the road from the Israeli embassy in central London to protest the evictions of 53 Palestinians in Sheik Jarrah on Sunday. Police initially tried to move the protest but the protesters refused to move. Eventually the inspector in charge of Kensington and Chelsea police force arrived and agreed the protesters had every right to protest Israel’s crime of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Occupied East Jerusalem.

The protesters erected tents in solidarity with the 9 families who were thrown on to the streets by the occupying Israeli forces to make way for extremist Jewish settlers. The protesters were angry and upset at Israel’s blatant disregard of international law and world opinion in removing the families including 19 children from the ancient Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah near to old city of Jerusalem that is a fundamental part of a future Palestinian state.

Following condemnation from the British consulate, the US administration, the French government and the United Nations. The protesters have said they will continue pushing the British government and the European Union to follow up their words of condemnation with actions that punish Israel for the ethnic cleansing that it is perpetrating in Occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The determined protesters seriously call into question the favourable EU-Israel trade agreement, the supply of over 150 arms contracts by the British government to Israel and the full diplomatic relations Britain and the EU have with Israel in the light of it’s serious breaches of international law and of the 4th Geneva convention.

Activists demonstrate for a Danish condemnation of the evictions of Hanoun and Ghawe Family in Sheikh Jarrah

ISM Denmark

4 August 2009

Denmark demonstrates against ethnic cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah
Denmark demonstrates against ethnic cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah

On Monday 4 August at 5pm approximately 20 danish solidarity activist gathered in front of the Danish foreign ministry to call for a condemnation of the eviction of another two families in Sheikh Jarrah, occupied East Jerusalem.

The activists carried a banner saying “Stop Ethnic Cleansing” in danish as well as signs asking the politicians to actively condemn settlements and evictions in The Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The manifestation remained calm for the hour and half it lasted.

After the media storm the injuries and arrest of a Danish solidarity activist in Sheikh Jarrah caused in Denmark one danish party have suggested in parlaiment an official condemnation of the evictions of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

The eviction of the Hanoun and Ghawe family made 53 persons homeless, made them refugees again.

The 28 houses in Sheikh Jarrah threatened with evictions are build by the Jordanian kingdom and UNWRA in 1956 as a housing project for Palestinian refugees from 1948.

All the families live with a knowledge about where their family home was 61 but have no possibility of moving back to that house since it has been given to Israel in 1948. Despite of that, the houses that were given to the Palestinian refugees in return, are now being taken by Israeli settlers on claims that the land they are build on was owned by jewish people in the 18th century. The settler organization that claim the houses have no legal evidence for the claims, contrary the Palestinians just evicted, that have showed documents in court of the changing owners of the land since the otteman era.

Israeli settlers moved into the houses of the evicted families on Sunday afternoon only a few hours after the families had been violently removed from their homes by Israeli forces.

The US, the UK and the UN have all condemned the evictions of the Palestinian families as they represent an obstacle for achieving peace in the region as well as jet again shows Israels disregard for international law.

IMORB: End the siege on Gaza, open the Rafah border

Dear friends,

Please take a few minutes on Monday to call the Egyptian embassy in your country to demand the Rafah border be opened!

Since June 13, when International Movement to Open the Rafah Border members set their sit-in at the Rafah Gate, we witnessed the Egyptian authorities’ collaboration in the Gaza siege enforced by the Israeli government with the US an international community support.

Even after the Viva Palestina folks and some aid got into Gaza, the plight of the people waiting to get out or into Gaza has not changed,

Please call the Egyptian embassy Monday, July 20. Please spread this call far and wide. It will make a difference to so many Palestinians, And for those who can, come and join us at the Rafah Gate. Come and witness these tragedies at the border.

Below details of Egyptian embassies in 40 countries

Ambassade d’Egypte à Alger, Algérie
Tél: (213) 21 69 16 73
Fax: (213) 21 69 29 52

Egyptian Consulate in Sydney, Australia
Phone: (61 2) 9281-4844
Fax: (61 2) 9281-4344
Web Site: http://www.egypt.org.au
Email: consular@egypt.org.au,visa@egypt.org.au
Office Hours: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm Open to public: 9:30 am – 2:00 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Canberra, Australia
Phone: (00612) 6273 4437 – 6273 4438
Fax: (00612) 6273 4279
Email: egyembassy@bigpond.com
Office Hours: Monday – Friday: 9.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m.

Egyptian Consulate in Melbourne, Australia
Phone: (00613) 9654 8869
Fax: (00613) 9654 8634
Office Hours: Monday-Friday: 9.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.

Ambassade d’Egypte à Bruxelles, Belgique
Tél : (02) 663.5800
Fax : (02) 675.5888

Egyptian Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil
Phone: +55.61.3323.8800
Fax: +55.61.3323.1039
Email: embegito@opengate.com.br, eg.emb_brasilia@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Mo Fr: 9:00 17:00

Egyptian Embassy in Ottawa, Canada
Phone: (613)234-4931, (613)234-4935
Fax: (613)234-4398
Email: egyptemb@sympatico.ca
Office Hours: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm.

Egyptian Embassy in Beijing, China
Phone: (8610) 6532 1825
Fax: (8610) 6532 5365
Email: eg_emb_bj@yahoo.com

Egyptian Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus
Phone: 00357 22449050/1
Fax: 00357 22449081
Email: info@egyptianembassy.org.cy

Egyptian Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic
Phone: +420 224 311 506
Fax: +420 224 311 157
Email: embassyegypt@centrum.cz
Office Hours: Monday through Friday from 09.00 to 16.00

Sr. Embajador de la República Árabe de Egipto en Madrid, España
TEL: (0034) 915776308 – 915776309 – 915776310
FAX: (00.34) 915781732
egyptemb@teleline.es, embegipto.alicia@gmail.com

Ambassade d’Egypte à Paris, France
Tel : 01 53678830-32
Fax: 01 47230643

Consulat d’Egypte à Marseille, France
Tel : 04 91 25 04 04
Fax: 04 91 73 79 31

Consulat d’Egypte à Paris, France
Tel : 0145009989 – 0145007427 – 0145007710
Fax: 0145003528
Email: Paris_Con@mfa.gov.eg

Egyptian Embassy in Berlin, Germany
Phone: 030 477 54 70
Fax: 030 477 10 49
Web Site: http://www.egyptian-embassy.de/
Email: Embassy@egyptian-embassy.de

Egyptian Consulate in Hamburg, Germany
Phone: 0049 – 40-413326 0
Fax: 0049 – 40-413326 19
Email: gen-kons-et-hh@gmx.de, eg.con_hamburg@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Application: Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 12:00

Egyptian Embassy in Athens, Greece
Phone: 210 36 18 612 13
Fax: 210 36 03 538
Email: emb.egypt@yahoo.gr, eg.emb_athens@mfa.gov.eg

Egyptian Embassy in Budapest, Hungary
Phone: (+361) 225-2150
Fax: (+361) 225-8596
Email: egyemb@pronet.hu, eg.emb_budapest@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Mo Fr: 9:00 17:00

Egyptian Embassy in New Delhi, India
Phone: 26114096/7
Fax: 26885355
Email: egyptdel@spectranet.com
Office Hours: Monday till Friday 9am till 4 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia
Phone: (+6221) 3143440, 31935350, 31931141
Fax: (+6221) 3145073
Email: egypt@indosat.net.id
Office Hours: Office hours: 8:30 am 4:00 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Dublin, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-6606718
Fax: +353-1-6683745
Email: info@embegyptireland.ie

Egyptian Embassy in Roma, Italy
Phone: +39-6-8440192 – +39-6-8440191
Fax: +39-6-8554424
Email: amb.egi@pronet.it

Egypt Consulate General , Milano, Italy
Phone: +39-2-9516360 – +39-2-9526482
Fax: +39-2-9518194

Egyptian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan
Phone: 03-3770-8022(3)
Fax: 03-3770-8021
Web Site: http://www.embassy-avenue.jp/egypt/
Email: egyptemb@mc.kcom.ne.jp

Egyptian Embassy in Amman, Jordan
Phone: 5605175 / 5605176 / 5605202 /5605203
Fax: 5604082
Email: egypt@tedata.net.jo, embegypt@tedata.net.jo
Office Hours: Sunday to Thursday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m

Egyptian Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya
Phone: 3870298-3870278-3870360
Fax: 3870383
Email: egypt@wananchi.com
Office Hours: Embassy Working Hours: From 09:00 till 16:30

Egyptian Embassy in Benghazi, Libya
Phone: 00218612232522
Fax: 00218612232523
Email: Egyptian_Consulate_Ben@yahoo.com
Office Hours: Working Hours Daily from 8:30 am till 3:00 pm

Ambassade d’Egypte à Rabat, Maroc
Tél: (212) 37 73 18 33
Fax: (212) 37 70 68 21

Ambassade d’Egypte en Mauritanie
Tél: (222) 25 21 92

Egyptian Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands
Phone: +31 (0) 70-354 20 00, +31 (0) 70-354 45 35
Fax: +31 (0) 70-354 33 04
Office Hours: From 8.30 a.m. To 15.30 p.m.

Egyptian Embassy in Oslo, Norway
Phone: +47 22 44 77 67 or +47 23 08 42 00
Fax: +47 22 56 22 68
Web Site: http://www.egypt-embassy.no/
Email: Counsellor@egypt-embassy.no
Office Hours: 09.00-15.00

Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan
Phone: +92 (51) 2209072 or 2209082
Fax: (+92) 51 2279552
Office Hours: Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 12:00 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal
Phone: +351-1-213018301
Fax: +351-213017909
Email: egiptembassy@ip.pt

Egyptian Embassy in Bucharest, Romania
Phone: (4021) 2110938 – 2110939
Fax: (4021) 2100337
Email: Embassyofegypt@gmail.com
Office Hours: The Chancellery Monday to Friday; from 0900 to 1700

Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Phone: 009661)4810159 – 4831275
4810427 – 4831367 – 4810464
Fax: (009661)4810463
Web Site: http://www.mfa.gov.eg/missions/ksa/riyadh/embassy/en-gb/
Email: Riyadh_emb@mfa.gov.eg

Egyptian Embassy in Singapore, Singapore
Phone: (+65) 67371587 / (+65) 67371811
Fax: (+65) 67323422
Email: eg.emb_singapore@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Mon – Fri: 9.00 am – 3.00 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Seoul, South Korea
Phone: 00 822/ 749-0787, 749-0788, 749-0789
Fax: 00 822/ 795-2588
Email: embassyegyptkorea@yahoo.com

Egyptian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: (46 8) 662 9687 or 662 9603 or 660 3145
Fax: (46 8) 661 2664

Egyptian Embassy in Bern, Switzerland
Phone: 031 352 80 12 / 13
Fax: 031 352 06 25
Office Hours: Opening hours: Monday Friday 09.00 14.00

Egyptian Consulate in Geneva, Switzerland
Phone: 022 347 62 55
Fax: 022 346 05 71
Office Hours: 09.00 15.00

Ambassade d’Egypte en Tunisie
Tél: +216 71 792 233 / 841 192
Fax: +216 71 794 389

Egyptian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey
Phone: 09003124261026 / 00903124682240 / 00903124266132
Fax: 0090312- 4270099
Email: egyembassyankara@yahoo.com, eg.emb_ankara@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Working Hours of the embassy:- 9 am -4 pm

Egyptian Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine
Phone: 272-13-27 / 486-65-30
Fax: 4869428
Email: eg.emb_kiev@mfa.gov.eg

Egyptian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Phone: 4445656 4445566
Fax: 4449878
Office Hours: 9 am till 4 pm.

Egyptian Consulate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Phone: 3971122
Fax: 2971033

Egyptian Embassy in London, United Kingdom
Phone: 020 7235 9777
Fax: 020 7235 6562
Email: info@egyptianconsulate.co.uk

Egyptian Consulate in London, United Kingdom
Phone: 020 7235 9777
Fax: 09065 540 833
Email: consulate.london@mfa.gov.eg
Office Hours: Opening Hours: Monday-

Egyptian Embassy in Washington D.C., United States
Phone: (+1) (202) 8955400
Fax: (+1) (202) 2444319
Email: embassy@egyptembdc.org

Egyptian Consulate in Chicago, United States
Phone: (312) 828-9162-3-4
Fax: (312) 828-9167
Email: egyptianembassy@cantv.com.ve
Office Hours: 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Egyptian Consulate in Houston, United States
Phone: (713)961 4915 (713)9614916 (713)9614407
Fax: (713) 9613868
Office Hours: = From 9:00 AM Till 3:00 PM

Egyptian Consulate in New York, United States
Phone: +212-759-7120/1/2
Fax: +1212-308-7643
Web Site: http://www.egyptnyc.net/
Email: info@egyptnyc.net

Egyptian Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela
Phone: 0058212 9926259
Fax: 0058212 9931555
Email: egyptianembassy@cantv.com.ve
Office Hours: From 9 am till 3:30 pm

In solidarity,
International Movement to Open Rafah Border