Tag: Luisa Morgantini

Urgent call to action: Tell Egypt to end Gaza siege, refuse complicity in Israeli genocide

2nd August 2014 | International Solidarity Movement  | Occupied Palestine                               

Urgent call to action

In response to calls from our fellow human beings and comrades in Gaza who ask that we bring an end to the Egyptian government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza:

To all of you who understand the interconnectedness of our many human struggles for justice and dignity, we implore you to act in solidarity with Palestine as Gaza burns and bleeds, gathers and buries the lifeless bodies of her children, and contends with carnage, despair, and loss for which there is no language.

More than 1.8 million human beings have been under a suffocating, deadly siege imposed by Israel and accommodated by the Egyptian government, that severely restricts all movement of people and products.

It is creating in Gaza what has been described as the biggest open air prison in the world, subject to frequent Israeli attacks and used as a laboratory to test and market new Israeli weapons.

The average age in Gaza is 17 years, with half the people under the age of 16. This is a defenceless civilian population, densely packed into this besieged enclave with no place to run or take refuge from Israel’s full-on military onslaught.

The cynical claims that Palestinians are forcing Israel to kill their children lack the basic requirements of logic and minimal vestiges of humanity. No one is forcing Israel to commit genocide or to target infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and the only power plant in Gaza.

Purposefully, of their own volition, Israelis are using the most sophisticated death machines against civilians: children, families, medical facilities and aid workers. Meanwhile Israel maintains a violent and brutal aerial, land and sea siege on Gaza, continuous since 2006.

Despite a call from Egyptian citizens to lift the siege, the Egyptian government which controls one border and has the option to be part of a humanitarian response to the besieged people of Gaza, has instead supported the Israeli plan for return to the status quo of slow genocide.

Many people in Gaza are desperate to avoid slow death by savage siege, hunger and lack of medical care and demand to live like normal human beings, but feel the only option Israel gives them is to die quickly by carpet bombings and wanton mass destruction which Israel now mercilessly executes.

Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry stated that the Rafah Crossing into Egypt is “open.” “We receive injured daily from Gaza, as we pass more than 600 tons of aid through.”

However, between the 10th and 27th of July, the Egyptian government has allowed an average of just nine wounded people a day to cross the border from Gaza to Egypt to receive medical treatment.

Several aid shipments of medical supplies, and even doctors, were denied entry. In light of the actual number of wounded in Gaza, at least 8,265 as of 31 July 2014, the Egyptian government’s allowance is condemnable.

Egypt must help their sisters and brothers in Gaza. The Egyptian government must refuse complicity in Israel’s genocide of a population they hold captive.

Here’s how you can help:

  • Go to your local Egyptian Embassy or consulate and demand the Egyptian government open Rafah crossing immediately and end its complicity with Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza.

  • Flood embassy phone-lines/email with messages of protest. Write letters to print media holding Egypt complicit and similarly deluge radio/TV and Facebook etc.

  • Raise your concerns with your political representatives.

Please communicate your actions and the Embassy responses to us via email at: openrafahnow@gmail.com.

Updated list of endorsers:

  • Ahmed Kathrada, Former Robben Island inmate, anti-Apartheid icon, ANC leader – South Africa
  • Mr. Ronnie Kasrils Former ANC Minister for Intelligence Services – South Africa
  • Luisa Morgantini Former Vice President of the European Parliament – Italy
  • Richard Falk Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967
  • Breyten Breytenbach, anti-Apartheid writer, painter, novelist and icon – South Africa
  • Noam Chomsky, linguist, philosopher, political commentator and activist – USA
  • Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) – South Africa
  • Mosireen – Egypt
  • Abu Dis Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Adalah- NY (the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel) – USA
  • Al Eizariya Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Alternative Information Center – Palestine
  • Alternative Tourism Group – Palestine
  • Al Walaja Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Al Mufakara Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Al Masara Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Assopacepalestina – Italy
  • At Tuwani Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Australians for Palestine – Australia
  • Autónomos de Palestina – Spain
  • Badil – Palestine
  • BDS Catalunya – Catalunya
  • BDS Italy – Italy
  • BDS Kampagne – Germany
  • BDS Los Angeles for Justice in Palestine – USA
  • BDS Madrid – Spain
  • BDS – Netherlands
  • BDS – South Africa
  • Bil’in Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign- Vancouver – Canada
  • Boycott Israel Network – UK
  • British Muslim Initiative – UK
  • Campagne BDS France – France
  • Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – UK
  • Canadian Boat to Gaza – Canada
  • CODEPINK – USA
  • Collectif Palestine Libre (Toulouse) – France
  • Complicitats que Maten – Catalunya
  • Diensten Onderzoek Centrum Palestina – Netherlands
  • European Jews for a Just Peace – Europe
  • Felagid Island – Palestina – Iceland
  • Fourteen Friends of Palestine, Marin – USA
  • Free Gaza – International
  • Freedom Flotilla Italia – Italy
  • Gaza’s Ark – International
  • Global Peace and Justice Auckland (GPJA) – New Zealand
  • Hawai’i Coalition for Justice in Palestine – USA
  • Holy Land Trust – Palestine
  • International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network – International
  • International League for Human Rights – Germany
  • Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign – Ireland
  • Irish Anti-War Movement – Ireland
  • IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation – Turkey
  • International Solidarity Movement Northern California – USA
  • International Solidarity Movement Estado Espano – Spain
  • International Solidarity Movement – Palestine
  • Italian Peace Research Institute (Civil Peace Corps) – Italy
  • Izquierda Anticapitalista – Spain
  • Jews Against Genocide – International
  • Jews for Palestinian Right of Return – USA
  • Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost – Germany
  • Just Foreign Policy – US
  • Kenya Palestine Solidarity Committee – Kenya
  • Kufr Qaddum Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Labor for Palestine NY – USA
  • Lluita Internacionalista – Catalunya
  • Ni’lin Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Nabi Saleh Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative
  • One Democratic State Group – England
  • Palestine Festival of Literature – Palestine
  • Palestine Forum in Britain – UK
  • Palestine Solidarity Alliance – South Africa
  • Palestine Solidarity Campaign – Scotland
  • Palestine Solidarity Campaign – South Africa
  • Palestinian-American Women’s Association of Southern California – USA
  • Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People – Palestine
  • Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall) – Palestine
  • Palestinian Union of Social Workers and Psychologists – Palestine
  • People for Peace, London – Canada
  • People for Peace London – Canada
  • The Ahmed Katharda foundation – South Africa
  • PFB – Friends of Al Aqsa – UK
  • Plataforma de Boicot Acádemico contra Israel – Spain
  • Plataforma de Solidaridad con Palestina Madrid – Spain
  • Popular Struggle Coordination Committee – Palestine
  • Red Sparks Union- Vancouver – Canada
  • Red de Solidaridad contra la Ocupación de Palestina – Spain
  • Roman Solidarity Network for Palestine – Italy
  • Rumbo a Gaza – Spain
  • Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network – Canada
  • Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign – Scotland
  • Ship to Gaza – Norway
  • Ship to Gaza – Sweden
  • Social Democratic Party – Kenya
  • Stop the War – UK
  • Students for Justice in Palestine at Brooklyn College – USA
  • Students for Justice in Palestine Auckland – New Zealand
  • Student Senate of Bethlehem University – Palestine
  • Susya Popular Committee – Palestine
  • Unite Union – Palestine
  • Youth Against Settlements – Palestine

Hundreds celebrate popular struggle at the opening of the 6th Bil’in conference

20 April 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Dozens of diplomats and senior figures from across the Palestinian political spectrum joined hundreds of activists in the opening of the 6th International Bil’in Conference on Popular Resistance. Palestinian PM, Salam Fayyad, called for the international community to promote Palestinian self determination.

The 6th International Bil’in Conference on Popular Resistance opened today in a festive opening session participated by Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, the recently released protest organizer, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, Abbas Zackie of behalf of the PLO, and former Vice President of the European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini.

During the opening session, Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad called on the international community to promote Palestinian self determination, saying that “The international community must be committed to promoting a Palestinian state withing the 1967 borders and supporting the planned deceleration of independence coming September”. He also called on the international community to protect and safeguard the Palestinian nonviolent resistance and specifically referred to the recent arrests of Bassem and Naji Tamimi of the Nabi Saleh popular committee.

More than 20 diplomats from around the world attended the opening, including Christian Berger, representative of the European commission and the Consul Generals of Britain, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Romania, Poland and Austria. The US, France, Sweden, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Ireland have also sent lower level diplomatic representation.

In a live video feed from the Gaza Port, Jaber Wishah of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, announced the launching of a naval peace team that will accompany Gazan fishermen and report on human rights violations as part of the Civil Peace Service Mission – Gaza. The project is supported by more than 50 international and local organizations, including the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.

The opening was followed by a panel on the needs and strategies of the Palestinian popular struggle, including the role of women and the influences of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.

Israeli soldiers detain former European Parliament Vice President in Bil’in

Member of European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, detained by soldiers in Bil'in
Member - and former Vice President - of European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, detained by soldiers in Bil'in

23 July 2010

Israeli soldiers detained the former Vice President of the European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, in Bil’in this afternoon, injured one Israeli activist., and arrested another.

Sixty nine-year-old Morgantini, an Italian Member of the Euopean Parliament (MEP) has long been an outspoken supporter of Palestinians. She has participated several times in demonstrations in Bil’in and in June 2008 was injured when Israeli soldiers attacked a group of non-violent activists.

Morgantini, who served as Vice President of the European Parliament between 2007 and 2009, today joined the people of the West Bank village in their weekly Friday protest, which began after midday prayers. She was among a group of about 100 internationals supporting the peaceful demonstrators. People were dancing, singing and shouting slogans, among others the flag of the European Union was held aloft by Morgantini’s 50-strong delegation.

Israeli soldiers starting firing tear gas about ten minutes after the demonstration reached the fence that has been built illegally and cuts off villagers from their land. They then chased the protestors and forcefully detained the politician who was held for approximately 30 minutes before being released when her identity became clear to soldiers.

One Israeli activist, Kobi Snitz, was arrested while trying to speak to the army in order to secure Morgantini’s release. British activist Jody McIntyre was also detained temporarily. Another Israeli activist was hit with a tear gas canister suffered a head injury.

International media were present at this week's Bil'in protest
International media were present at this week's Bil'in protest

Nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, Morgantini was awarded the 2008 Peacemaker Award by the Rebuilding Alliance, an US non-profit organization committed to promoting respect for human rights and international law. She is a leading member of the Italian peace movement and a champion of the Palestinian cause.

Many people suffered from tear gas inhalation and stun grenades thrown into the field caused a fire among the olive trees.

Today’s protest in Bil’in proves once again that the army is continuing its policy of harshly suppressing demonstrations and arresting non-violent protesters. The demonstration called for the release of prisoners, Adeeb Abu Rahma, Abdullah Abu Rahme, Ibrahim al-Bornat, and Ahmed al-Bornat – all Bil’in residents jailed by Israel for resisting the occupation.

Under attack Bil’in and the peaceful resistance of the village against the Israeli wall

Luisa Morgantini | Liberazione

19 July 2009

Israel wants to stop the non-violent struggle and the unity created amongst Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals, who since more than four years demonstrate in order to end the construction of the wall: in the last weeks the escalation of systematic arrests and kidnappings of activists in Bil’in by the Israeli soldiers.

Raids in the middle of the nights, with military vehicles crossing in the dark that illegal barrier represented by the Apartheid wall. Tens of armed soldiers laying close to the ground in order to not to be seen.

They proceed slowly, without lights, wearing dark military camouflage uniforms and black masks on their faces.

They arrive in the hearth of Bil’in crossing streets and fields. They surround houses destroying all that they meet on their path, kidnapping people, including 15 or 16 years old adolescents, confiscating documents, mobile phones and personal things of the detained persons. Also last Friday a 15-years-old boy has been abducted from his home at 3 a.m., and during the demonstration activists have been attacked with a strange sort of smelling water, probably containing chemical substances provoking blistering effects and with a suffocating smell.

This is the same scenario taking place also in other villages in the West Bank, but Bil’in has become a symbol: the village –where the shame wall confiscates 49% of lands- in the last weeks has become a theatre of a further intensification of this kind of operations, that are real war operations, perpetrated against the activists of the Popular Committee of non-violent resistance, men and women, civilians, who are resisting in a non-violent, peaceful and creative way against the wall and the occupation.

Often, the activists stand on the rooftops of the village, in order to forewarning the others of incoming of the raids that usually comprise of approximately 100 soldiers divided into groups of 20-30 men, each encircling the home of an accused stone-thrower at varying hours of the night. In the last three weeks, 17 young activists have been arrested -15 Palestinians, 1 Israeli, then released, and one American, according to what reported in a document by Miftah, the Palestinian Initiative for the promotion of Global dialogue and democracy, denouncing the escalation of violence in Bil’in.

I saw with my own eyes many and many wounded people during the demonstrations that every Friday take place near the construction site of the wall and during which the Israeli soldiers use sound bombs, tear gas canisters, and a foul-smelling chemical spray: I was many times intoxicated by those gas, while rubber-coated bullets were shot at men’s height.

On 19th April 2009, Bassem Abu Rahmah, 30 years old, a pacifist Palestinian demonstrator, was shot in the chest by an Israeli soldier with a tear gas bomb during one of Bil’in’s nonviolent Friday protests: an use clearly excessive and inhuman of the force against unarmed demonstrators.

The week after the murder of Bassem, I have been many times in Bil’in with the Popular Committee. Together we have protested and built a symbolic grave in the place where he was killed.

We did under the fire of tear gas canisters and when we finished it, putting the memorial tablet with the name of Bassem, we were so happy. What a paradox to be happy for the construction of a grave!

In their attempts to dismantle the movement, the Israeli military specifically targets the youth: from 23rd to 25th 2009, four adolescents, 16-17 years old, have been arrested and forced to release the names of peace activists and information related to Bil’in Committee. The aim is not only to arrest, kidnap and physically neutralize the activists, but also to spread terror amongst the inhabitants of the village of Bil’in, 1,800 residents, in order to stop all kind of activity of non violent resistance, that become an example also for other realities of the occupied West Bank such as Nil’in and Ma’asara, whose land continue to be confiscated by the wall.

However neither all this, nor 1,300 wounded people and 60 arrests suffered by the activists have been enough to stop their determination.

“If they want to arrest us all, they can. But our wives and children will continue the struggle” declared Abdullah Abu Rahmah, one of the coordinators of the Popular Committee of non-violent resistance of Bil’in. His daughter Luma, 7 years old, suffers of insomnia, as well as other children in Bil’in, a clear sign of the emotional and psychological despair: constantly in panic, Luma awakes in the middle of the night, sometimes in screams and tears, calling out for her father fearing that he has been abducted.

The injustices suffered by Bil’in residents and witnessed by many organizations for human rights and International and Israeli activists, are the most clear consequence of the oppression experienced by Palestinians because of the Israeli military occupation.

However their answer has become an example for all those who struggle for justice showing the way to follow and to support for the solution of the conflict.

Since 2005 residents of Bil’in responded in fact with a peaceful and non-violent resistance to the separation wall, that far from the Green line, snakes deeply inside the West Bank annexing 1,968 of 4,040 dunums of Bil’in lands, (196,68 hectares on 403,88).

Activists in Bil’in are only exerting their legitimate rights to defend their land against the arbitrariness of Israel, disregarding the International Court of Justice that five years ago condemned as illegal the construction of the wall inside the Occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), including in and around East Jerusalem, in violation of international obligations, intimating to Israel to stop the construction and to bring down the parts already built, terminating also the entire system of rigid restrictions on the freedom of movement of Palestinians in the West Bank since they represent a violation of human rights.

And also the Israeli High Court of Justice declared many times illegal the route of the wall in Bil’in, inviting the Israeli Government to actuate an alternative route: this invitation has of course been ignored while the Israeli settlements of Mod’in Ilit and Mattityahu continue to grow.

For all this, their Friday demonstrations have gained the solidarity of Israeli and International activists, united in the common need of justice and against the strangulation, the occupation and the apartheid. Together they oppose to the uprooting of olive trees replaced by the foundations of the wall, blocking the bulldozers or preventing the installation of outposts of the Israeli settlements, still in expansion.

The International Community must give more force to all those Palestinians, supported by Israeli activists (who represent the honour of Israel) and Internationals in the defence of their rights, pretending from Israel the end of the raids and the immediate release of all activists arrested – included Abeed Abu Rahme- as requested by the Campaign launched by the Popular Committee of Bil’in (on the website http://www.bilin-village.org/english/activities-and-support/Campaign-to-release-Palestinian-activist-arrested-in-Bil-in the sample of letters of protest). It’s time also that the International Community demands with force and urgency to Israel to respect the International Court of Justice and to destroy the wall inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories, making reparation for all damage suffered by people affected by the wall, and to end military occupation, including all restriction of movement in the West Bank as well as the Siege that in Gaza, is collectively punishing over 1 million and a half of civilians.

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.