Revolt in Egypt undermines Israel's seige of Gaza

by Grant Morgan
Co-organiser of Kia Ora Gaza
26 January 2011

Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Egyptian demonstrators took to the streets in many cities across their land. In vast numbers they faced down legions of riot police and, in some places, forced the cops into retreat.

Their calls were simple: Down with president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s strongman for 30 years. Bring an end to his reign of torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment.

No protests on this scale have been seen in Egypt for three decades. Now the inspiration of Tunisia’s popular uprising is intersecting with the frustrated anger that has long been simmering among the grassroots.

One Cairo-based reporter, Kristen Chick of the Christian Science Monitor, likened this historic mass outpouring to a dam breaking. The word “revolution” is suddenly on the lips of people who were previously too frightened to speak out.

Interview: Advancing solidarity with Gaza

 Members of the latest Viva Palestina convoy celebrate after going through the Rafah crossing into Gaza

 

The fifth Viva Palestina convoy to break Israel’s siege of Gaza drove through the Rafah border crossing with 147 vehicles carrying 380 people from some 30 countries—and humanitarian aid worth some $5 million.
 
The convoy departed from London on September 18 and traveled 3,000 miles through France, Italy, Greece and Turkey before arriving in the Syrian port town of Latakia, where it was joined by two other convoys—one from Morocco and Algeria, and another that originated in Doha and came through the Gulf States and Jordan. After spending 16 days in Latakia while carrying out frustrating negotiations with Egyptian authorities, the convoys traveled on October 19 to the port city of El Arish, and from there drove into Gaza.
 
Kevin Ovenden, the director of the Viva Palestina convoy, spoke with Eric Ruder about the convoy’s significance for the Palestine solidarity movement. 

 

Palestinian MP’s message to Israel: I’ll be back on the flotilla

by Tom Walker

from Socialist Worker UK

Haneen Zoabi [pictured right], the Palestinian member of Israel’s parliament who went on the flotilla to Gaza, vowed that she will do it again at a meeting in London last Wednesday.

She told an audience of hundreds: “Israel wanted to send a message. Now I must send them a message back.

“It’s now more important for me to participate in the next flotilla—I must do so. I am not afraid.”

Haneen is the first woman ever to be elected to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, from an Arab party. She was aboard the Mavi Marmara ship that was trying to deliver aid and break the siege of Gaza when Israel brutally attacked it in May.

When she tried to speak in the Knesset about her experiences, Israeli MPs physically attacked her.

The Knesset has now voted to remove her parliamentary privileges—and some members even want her to be stripped of Israeli citizenship.

Haneen told the London crowd, “Racism and discrimination against Palestinians in Israel is systematic.

“It is part of the Zionist ideology that says it was ‘a land without a people’. We are ghosts—phantoms.

“In Israel I have no identity. I have no history. I am told I am an ‘Israeli Arab’.”

She explained how Israel sees the fact that some Palestinians managed to remain inside Israel’s borders after 1948 and become citizens as its great historic mistake.

“The Zionist project said that in order to live with those who remain we must domesticate them,” she added.

“So I’m told I must swear loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state. But I am not a Jew.”

Haneen explained why she felt she had to go on the flotilla: “No one can support the siege of Gaza and call themselves a human being,” she said.

“I met a hostile response in the Knesset because I was a witness [to the flotilla massacre] and I started to talk.”

She ridiculed the idea that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. “If Israel wants to be a democracy it shouldn’t confiscate my land.

“When I say in the Knesset I am Palestinian they shout, ‘How can you say this?’ But I’m not an immigrant here. I am the indigenous people.

“I am just asking for equality. By using the word equality you must radically change the state in Israel.”


Haneen spoke at a meeting organised by Middle East Monitor and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Long protest road leads to Gaza

Roger Fowler at the Mangere East Community Learning Centre. Photo / NZH.

By Simon Collins
from NZ Herald

Almost 40 years after being knocked to the ground by a future New Zealand prime minister, Roger Fowler is about to take on two much tougher foes - the armed forces of Egypt and Israel.

Rob Muldoon was about as tough as Kiwi politicians get. As Mr Fowler tells it, the new National leader was “obviously under the influence of drink” as he and property developers Bob Jones and Pat Rippin emerged from a landlords’ meeting in Auckland’s Peter Pan Cabaret in August 1974 “pushing and shoving and thumping people” to get through a crowd of protesters.

“He came straight for me and threw a punch at me. We both ended up falling down in the middle of the street,” Mr Fowler said.

The Herald reported that Mr Muldoon turned back to the protesters when he reached his car and called out: “One at a time and you’re welcome!”

Mr Fowler, now aged 61 and with a Queen’s Service Medal to his name, was picked this week as leader of a six-person Kiwi unit, “Kia Ora Gaza”, to join an international convoy of 500 trucks carrying aid to Palestinians in Gaza next month.

Pro-Israel Herald advert sparks war of words

By Dan Satherley

from TV3 News

A pro-Israel opinion piece published in the New Zealand Herald on Tuesday has been dismissed as “propaganda” by the leader of a team of Kiwi activists planning to join a Gaza aid convoy in September.

Robert Fisk: Israel has crept into the EU without anyone noticing

By Robert Fisk
from the Independant
Saturday, 31 July 2010

The death of five Israeli servicemen in a helicopter crash in Romania this week [July 26] raised scarcely a headline.

There was a Nato-Israeli exercise in progress. Well, that’s OK then. Now imagine the death of five Hamas fighters in a helicopter crash in Romania this week. We’d still be investigating this extraordinary phenomenon. Now mark you, I’m not comparing Israel and Hamas. Israel is the country that justifiably slaughtered more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza 19 months ago – more than 300 of them children – while the vicious, blood-sucking and terrorist Hamas killed 13 Israelis (three of them soldiers who actually shot each other by mistake).

Israel forced to apologise for YouTube spoof of Gaza flotilla

by Rachel Shabi in Jerusalem 
From guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 6 June 2010


The Israeli government has been forced to apologise for circulating a spoof video mocking activists aboard the Gaza flotilla, nine of who were shot dead by Israeli forces last week.

The YouTube clip, set to the tune of the 1985 charity single We Are the World, features Israelis dressed as Arabs and activists, waving weapons while singing: “We con the world, we con the people. We’ll make them all believe the IDF (Israel Defence Force) is Jack the Ripper.” It continues: “There’s no people dying, so the best that we can do is create the biggest bluff of all.”

Auckland: Candlelight vigil and protest march against Israeli terror attack

Press Release: Global Peace And Justice Auckland
2 June 2010

Global Peace and Justice Auckland has organised a series of events to give people the opportunity to express the outrage and anger which is felt across the community in the wake of the killing of at least nine humanitarian aid workers on the flotilla of boats travelling to Gaza to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza strip.

There will be a candlelight vigil this Friday evening from 5pm to 7pm outside the US consulate in Customs Street which will mourn the deaths of the aid workers in the Israeli attack.

A protest march will gather at Aotea Square at 1pm this Saturday for a march to the US consulate. We are asking people to bring old shoes which will be thrown at the building. Shoes have become a symbol of opposition to US and Israeli policy in the Middle East after an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at US President George Bush during a press conference a couple of years back.

The US consulate has been chosen as the focus because it is US policy which blindly supports Israeli policy and which drives injustice and terrorism in the Middle East.

GPJA will also continue to urge the government to –

1. Condemn the Israeli attacks on the Gaza convoy.
2. Close the Israeli embassy in Wellington
.
3. Revoke the policy giving privileged access to New Zealand for young Israelis on working holidays.

New Zealanders will work to intensify the international isolation of Israel just as we did in the case of apartheid South Africa.

John Pilger on Palestine solidarity

Recent protests against an Israeli tennis player competing in New Zealand’s top tennis tournament has bought the issue of Palestine to public attention once again. Like the struggle against South African apartheid the campaign has already provoked controversy over the links between politics and sport, the right to protest and police attempts to suppress it. In the following article, John Pilger looks at the international campaign for boycott, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel and in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

Photo from Aotearoa Indymedia

For Israel, a reckoning By John Pilger The farce of the climate change summit in Copenhagen affirmed a world war waged by the rich against most of humanity. It also illuminated a resistance growing perhaps as never before: an internationalism linking justice for the planet earth with universal human rights, and criminal justice for those who invade and dispossess with impunity. And the best news comes from Palestine. Palestinian resistance to the theft of their country reached a critical moment in 2001 when Israel was identified as an apartheid state at a United Nations conference on racism in Durban, South Africa. To Nelson Mandela, justice for the Palestinians is “the greatest moral issue of our time”. The Palestinian Civil Society Call for Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS), was issued on 9 July 2005, effectively reconvening the great non-violent movement that swept the world and brought the scaffolding of African apartheid crashing down. “Through decades of occupation and dispossession,” wrote Mustafa Barghouti, a wise voice of Palestinian politics, “90 per cent of the Palestinian struggle has been non-violent... A new generation of Palestinian leaders [now speaks] to the world precisely as Martin Luther King did. The same world that rejects all use of Palestinian violence, even clear self-defence, surely ought not begrudge us the non-violence employed by men such as King and Gandhi.”

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Remember Sabra and Shatila (16-18 September 1982)

Hat tip Socialist Unity

Ending the siege, freeing Palestine, BDS (Boycott/Divest/Sanctions)

Message from a Canadian activist from Global Peace & Justice Auckland newsletter People and groups wanting to stand in solidarity with Palestine during the current crisis should be careful not to simply fall into the trap of only reacting to the latest crisis. We need to work instead toward building a movement that can effectively challenge Israeli apartheid over the long-term. Part of this strategy is lifting the siege on Gaza, another part is imposing BDS on Israel until it recognizes fundamental Palestinian human rights.

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The Tangata Whenua of Palestine deserve our support

by Auckland union activist

In the 12th Century BC desert tribes invaded the Palestinian region. The Canaanites, Gibeonites and Philistines who occupied the area already were never completely subdued by the invading Hebrew tribes and maintained control of the coastal plains alongside the Mediterranean (encompassing the area of modern Gaza).

The ancient Kingdom of Israel that was founded by these desert people lasted about two centuries, until it split into two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. These later fell to the invading Assyrians and Babylonians. Throughout this period, and all subsequent invasions, right up to the 20th century, the Palestinians maintained continuous residence in Palestine.

RAM: "Stop the killing in Gaza!"

Below is the text of a RAM leaflet (http://www.ram.org.nz/) produced for a Wellington protest on 6 January against Israel's attacks on Gaza: STOP THE KILLING IN GAZA! “It’s horrible, but what can we do about it?” That’s the reaction of people everywhere to the pictures of dead Palestinian children and the pleas of the doctors in Gaza. Israel’s military might can seem unstoppable. But the ongoing attacks are only possible because of the diplomatic, financial and military support they receive from the US state, its allies and friends. Around the world, people are taking action to end their government’s acceptance of the Israel attacks. We can: Protest Protests have the power to keep the plight of innocent victims in the public eye. They can help people at home, feeling sickened by the TV news, to feel they aren’t alone. It’s hard for a lone individual not to shrug their shoulders and look the other way. It’s natural for people to come together at times like these to say they want it to stop. Protests can keep hope alive. Tell our government to take a stand National’s foreign minister, Murray McCully, has said almost nothing about the biggest international crisis of the day. He did declare that the NZ government “won’t take sides”. This is a continuation of what Labour called its “even handed approach”. But if a boy poked out his tongue at another in the school playground, and the second clubbed him back with a baseball bat, is it good enough to “not take sides”? British prime minister Gordon Brown has called for an immediate ceasefire. Venezuela’s campaigning president, Hugo Chavez, condemned the Israeli attacks as “criminal” and called for a “massive campaign of repudiation”. Our government should do similar. Boycott Israel In the 1980s, Black South Africans asked the world to impose an academic, sporting, political and economic boycott of their country. This added to the pressure which eventually ended South Africa’s racist apartheid system. Today, Palestinians are calling for a boycott of Israel. We can support it by refusing to buy Israeli products and by writing to the shops that sell them. Food brands include Beigel Beigel and Silan (sold by Pak’N’Save). Children’s toys (including Happy House) are sold by Bunnings Warehouse and Edukids. DIY hardware includes Chromagen hot water systems and Keter plastics (manufacturer of some Black & Decker toolboxes, sawhorses etc, stocked by Placemakers and Mitre10). And we must put pressure on the NZ company Rakon, which supplies components for Israeli guided bombs, to stop. Find out more With our news media full of official statements and interviews with the powerful, relying on mainly US and British reports for overseas news, the whole story is rarely told. Find out more about what’s going on and what’s behind the headlines: Global Peace & Justice Auckland http://www.gpja.org.nz/ Palestine Human Rights Campaign http://palestine.org.nz/ Boycott Israeli Goods http://big.org.nz/ Wellington Palestine Group http://wellingtonpalestinegroup.blogspot.com/ Auckland University Students for Justice in Palestine http://ausjp.wordpress.com/

The Real Goal Of The Slaughter In Gaza

by Jonathan Cook from Countercurrents.org 2 January 2009 Ever since Hamas triumphed in the Palestinian elections nearly three years ago, the story in Israel has been that a full-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip was imminent. But even when public pressure mounted for a decisive blow against Hamas, the government backed off from a frontal assault.

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See also Matt McCarten: Palestinians' fight is a struggle against 'apartheid'

Ending the siege, freeing Palestine, BDS (Boycott/Divest/Sanctions)

Message from a Canadian activist from Global Peace & Justice Auckland newsletter People and groups wanting to stand in solidarity with Palestine during the current crisis should be careful not to simply fall into the trap of only reacting to the latest crisis. We need to work instead toward building a movement that can effectively challenge Israeli apartheid over the long-term. Part of this strategy is lifting the siege on Gaza, another part is imposing BDS on Israel until it recognizes fundamental Palestinian human rights. These rights are spelled out by Palestinian organizations spearheading the BDS campaign, they include: the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes; the right of Palestinians living in Israel to be treated as equals; and the rights of all Palestinians living under foreign military occupation to be free of the racism, fear, repression and the impunity that are all necessary for Israel to maintain its racist foundations. Calling for an end to occupation, while important, only means we're standing in solidarity with a portion of the Palestinian people. It does nothing to back the struggles and demands of Palestinians living in refugee camps or as nominal “citizens” in an Israeli state that refuses to acknowledge fundamental Palestinian rights. Along these lines it is necessary not to counterpose our immediate, short-term demands with the longer-term strategy of BDS. Rather BDS provides a tool or mechanism through which to win these demands. For example, it makes little sense to raise a demand like “Lift the Siege of Gaza” without a concrete strategy to make this happen. The best and most effective strategy – as the experience of the Palestine solidarity movement has shown over the last few years – is to concretely cut ties with Israel apartheid in spaces where we have influence. Every step taken toward isolating Israel for its violations of Palestinian rights, even if symbolic, makes it more likely to win short-term demands such as lifting the siege on Gaza. BDS, in other words, is not a demand. It is rather, a course of action designed to ensure that demands are met. Over the long-term the collective impact of pushing these demands through an effective strategy of BDS will ensure that the broad and inclusive vision of justice that Palestinian social movements continue to struggle for. To maximize its impacts those wishing to stand in solidarity with Palestinians should coordinate their actions with the organizations in Palestine that are spearheading this campaign. As the crisis in Gaza continues any form of opposition is helpful. Everything from direct action, staying visible on the streets, occupying consulates, constituency offices, etc. needs to continue. Fundraising, teach-ins, etc. education, grassroots media work, etc. are all important for those moved in solidarity with Palestine. Each action has the potential to help. However, to magnify the impact of our grassroots individual or group actions, to ensure that after a successful event or action we don't go home and feel defeated by the latest news on our TV screens or inboxes, it is important to find ways of plugging into an already existing global solidarity movement that is responding directly to the BDS call from Palestine. Go to Global BDS Movement and The Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign Aotearoa

See Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions by Naomi Klein

The Real Goal Of Israel’s Blockade

by Jonathan Cook from Countercurrents 17 November 2008 The latest tightening of Israel’s chokehold on Gaza – ending all supplies into the Strip for more than a week – has produced immediate and shocking consequences for Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants. The refusal to allow in fuel has forced the shutting down of Gaza’s only power station, creating a blackout that pushed Palestinians bearing candles on to the streets in protest last week. A water and sanitation crisis are expected to follow.

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Israel’s threat to Iran pressures US

from British Socialist Worker
8 July 2008

The US is so bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan that recent threats by Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear sites has sent waves of panic through the US military.

The top US commander Michael Mullen warned Israel at a recent high level meeting that he has serious doubts that any attack will succeed.

According to military analysts, any operation to destroy Iran’s nuclear sites will also have to target missile bases and other facilities. This would involve hundreds of warplanes.

Mullen is worried that an attack would rebound on the US’s troubled occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, which share long borders with Iran.

To add to US woes, Iran said that it will respond to any attack by closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, choking off 20 percent of the world’s supply of oil.

Iran also warned that it will fire long range missiles at Israel, with the danger of sparking a regional war that could draw in Lebanon and Syria.

Following the meeting with Israeli military commanders, Mullen said, “Opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us, very challenging, with consequences that would be difficult to predict.

“This is a very unstable part of the world and I don’t need it to be more unstable.”

George Galloway: I'm Off To Iran Before Israel Bombs It

by George Galloway

30 June 2008

from DailyRecord.co.uk

By the time you read this, I will be in Iran. I've never been there before, never met an Iranian leader - I don't even like the present Iranian leadership - so remember all that, because it might become important.

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Israeli Attack On Iran: "Not a matter of if, but when"

by Stefan Steinberg

from World Socialist Web Site

20 June, 2008

An Israeli military strike is not a matter of if, but when, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel. The latest edition of the news weekly carries a four-page article entitled “Plan to Attack” devoted to preparations currently underway in Israel for air strikes against Iran.

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Israeli press reports US pledge of war on Iran—is Bush preparing an October Surprise?

by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site 21 May 2008 An Israeli press report that US President George W. Bush intends to launch a military attack on Iran before he leaves office at the beginning of next year prompted a heated denial from the White House Tuesday. The article, which appeared in Tuesday’s Jerusalem Post, cited a report on Israeli Army Radio, quoting Israeli officials who had met with Bush and his delegation during their visit to Israel last week. “A senior member of the president’s entourage said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for,” the article quoted an Israel official as saying. The report cited the US official as stating that “the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice” had delayed a decision on military action against Iran. The recent crisis in Lebanon and the evident ease with which the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement seized control of Beirut, according to the report, had placed a US attack on the Islamic Republic back on the front burner.

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