Gaza: Humanitarian aid remains below what is urgently required:
"United Nations, 18 march 2009 - Daily Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General. According to a report by the office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the overall levels of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza remain below what is urgently required."
Excerpt from FIELD UPDATE ON GAZA FROM THE HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR 10-16 March 2009
"Access into the Gaza Strip / Crossings
Commodities Import
A total of 671 truckloads of goods including 121 from humanitarian agencies (18%) were allowed • entry into Gaza this week compared to 1080 last week, representing an average of 121 truckloads per open day compared to a daily average of 246 received in the third week of July 2008.
The imported commodities included: food (520 truckloads, 68%), medical supplies (16 truckloads, • 2%), hygiene/cleaning supplies limited to chlorine, tissues, diapers, (84 truckloads, 11%) and non-edible consumables such as blankets, mattresses and, for the first time since 28 October 2008, clothes (33 truckloads, 4%). 14 truckloads containing education/stationery supplies and 4 truckloads with agricultural raw materials (fertilized eggs) were allowed entry.
No livestock, industrial/electrical appliances, vehicles/ transports, packaging applications or • construction materials were allowed entry.
Items banned by the Israeli authorities last week included jam, biscuits and tomato paste, resulting • in 498 boxes of USAID cargo and 2,488 boxes of World Vision cargo stopped from delivery to Gaza. According to COGAT, food parcels containing these foodstuffs, as well as tea, sweets and date bars, will be rejected in the future."
Click here to read full report (.pdf)
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Showing posts with label Humanitarian Crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humanitarian Crisis. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Norman G. Finkelstein on gaza crises
Norman Gary Finkelstein on gaza crises:
"01.01.2009
Norman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist and author, whose primary fields of research are the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"01.01.2009
Norman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist and author, whose primary fields of research are the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
HR Activist Caoimhe Butterly on Gaza Health Crisis
Activist, Caoimhe Butterly, comments on Gaza crises:
"01.01.2009
http://www.presstv.ir/
Caoimhe is a renowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"01.01.2009
http://www.presstv.ir/
Caoimhe is a renowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Gazans struggle to survive amid onslaught - 1 Jan 09
Gazans struggle to survive amid onslaught - 1 Jan 09:
"Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports on how the Israeli air bombardment is affecting the civilians in Gaza.
Finding water and food is a daily struggle. The war is forcing Gazans to choose between going hungry or risking their lives to find something to eat."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports on how the Israeli air bombardment is affecting the civilians in Gaza.
Finding water and food is a daily struggle. The war is forcing Gazans to choose between going hungry or risking their lives to find something to eat."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
B'Tselem questions Israeli account of attack - Disputed targets of Israeli air strikes - 1 Jan 09
Disputed targets of Israeli air strikes - 1 Jan 09:
"The Israeli military says it has a lorry which Hamas fighters were loading with rockets.
But that claim is being disputed by an Israeli human rights group.
They say innocent civilians were killed.
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"The Israeli military says it has a lorry which Hamas fighters were loading with rockets.
But that claim is being disputed by an Israeli human rights group.
They say innocent civilians were killed.
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Gazans live in fear of further attacks - 31 Dec 08
Gazans live in fear of further attacks - 31 Dec 08:
"Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in fear of the next Israeli attack.
People are afraid to go out, but as they still have to eat, they are lining up outside the few bakeries still open to grab what they can before they hurry back home."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in fear of the next Israeli attack.
People are afraid to go out, but as they still have to eat, they are lining up outside the few bakeries still open to grab what they can before they hurry back home."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Israel sends recorded messages to scare Gaza public
Israel sends recorded messages to scare Gaza public:
"PressTv Report"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"PressTv Report"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
RT Interview with ISM Activist Sharon Lock
RT Interview with Sharon Lock:
"As the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in Gaza, Sharon Lock, an activist for the International Solidarity Movement, says Israels actions are totally illegal as international law forbids collective punishment."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"As the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in Gaza, Sharon Lock, an activist for the International Solidarity Movement, says Israels actions are totally illegal as international law forbids collective punishment."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
What is the media coverage of Gaza in USA?
What is the media coverage of Gaza in USA?:
"Interview with Danny Schechter, editor of http://www.mediachannel.org/
Israel backed by army of cyber-soldiers http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news...
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Interview with Danny Schechter, editor of http://www.mediachannel.org/
Israel backed by army of cyber-soldiers http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news...
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Dec 31 - Morning update from Gaza - 390 killed including 2 doctors on aid mission
Update from inside Gaza...:
"31.December.2008, Morning"
Israel continues to shell Gaza by air, land and sea. Palestinian death toll at 390 (including 58 children). Injuries stand at around 1800 wounded (including 45 children)
Related Report:
Source: IRIN
humanitarian news and analysis
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
GAZA CITY, 31 December 2008 (IRIN) - In Gaza’s main hospital, the director’s office is under virtual siege, according to an IRIN journalist in Gaza. Relatives of the injured are desperate to get their kin transferred to Egypt for emergency treatment. There is a fear here that the already overstretched healthcare system will collapse if Israel mounts a ground offensive into the tiny coastal strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.
As of the night of 30 December the death toll from the Israeli offensive had reached 380, with 1,800 wounded, according to the Gaza health ministry. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said 30 children and nine women were among the dead and 250 children had been injured.
Fifteen medical patients passed through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt for emergency care on that day, said WHO.
Hospitals in the enclave have been overwhelmed by the trauma cases flowing into emergency rooms since the morning of 27 December.
An official from the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, Aed Yaghi, said at a press conference on 30 December that there were 2,053 hospital beds in Gaza, and warned it was not enough.
“One hundred and fifty patients were brought in at once,” said Khaled Abu-Najar, a staff nurse in Al-Shifa’s emergency room. “We lack beds, sterile gloves, sheets, scissors and gauze to treat patients.”
Shortages
He said there were shortages of chest tubes, forceps, artery clamps, ventilators and monitors.
Nearly half of the emergency room staff are volunteers recruited since 27 December, said Abu-Najar.
“We are short of rooms and supplies, we are up to our necks,” said Ramez Zyara, one of nine general surgeons working 24-hour shifts at Al-Shifa. The small team treated hundreds of patients on 30 December for crush injuries and severe trauma.
“The buildings are falling on the heads of the patients,” said Zyara.
The intensive care (ICU), burns, orthopaedic, and surgery units have reached capacity, said Al-Shifa hospital director Hussein Ashur, while 10 of the 12 operating rooms are being used for emergency care.
There are 25 life support systems - also used to measure a patient’s blood pressure, temperature, oxygen circulation and heart activity - in the ICU of As-Shifa. “We need at least 25 more,” said Ashur.
He also said there were shortages of dressings, and gauze used in X-ray machines.
“We have not received medical supplies at Al-Shifa for three months,” said Ashur.
The first emergency medical aid deliveries reached Gaza on 30 December. Some 90 trucks - 53 supplied by aid agencies - entered via the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to WHO.
Kamal Adwan hospital
Kamal Adwan is the primary hospital serving Jabalya and Beit Lahiya. Jabalya, Gaza’s largest refugee camp, is home to 300,000.
The hospital lacks medicine, including basic antibiotics, analgesics and hydrocortisone, said hospital director Bassam Abu-Warda.
“If there is a major Israeli invasion we will collapse,” warned Abu Warda. “On Saturday [27 December] 93 patients came for emergency care; we had to set up make-shift beds.”
Since 27 December Abu-Warda has added 24 beds to the existing 71.
Paramedics at Kamal said they did not have enough staff, medical supplies or ambulances.
Magdi Hatib, 48, witnessed his brother, Akram Hatib, 35, torn apart by burning shrapnel from an Israeli missile on 27 December in the Beach Refugee Camp of Gaza City, home to Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.
“He was bleeding on the ground for 15 minutes till we could approach him, fearing a second explosion,” said Magdi. “There were no ambulances, so we took him to Al-Shifa hospital by taxi.”
Rafah tunnels bombed
Israel bombed dozens of tunnels in the Rafah area on 30 December, saying they were used by Hamas for smuggling weapons.
Health ministry spokesperson Hamam Nasman said shipments of Egyptian fuel were the only means of running his fleet of ambulances, half of which are not operating due to a lack of spare parts - a result of the border closures by Israel since June 2007 when Hamas took over in the enclave.
The tunnels have been used to import fuel, cooking gas, medicine and food supplies to circumvent the Israeli blockade.
Residents flee their homes
Meanwhile, residents in Jabalya and Beit Lahiya were fleeing their homes in anticipation of further bombardments.
“We evacuated our home last night - my wife and our two-year old son Karim,” said Sami Abu-Salem, 38, an editor, after the Israeli authorities warned residents the home of a militant leader in the area would be targeted.
“We took basic food items with us and we are still afraid to return,” said Sami.
The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility in Gaza said that if the water supply network is damaged it will be impossible to repair, due to the lack of fuel and spare parts.
Access for aid agencies to Gaza has been severely restricted since the beginning of November. A ground invasion would make matters worse.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"31.December.2008, Morning"
Israel continues to shell Gaza by air, land and sea. Palestinian death toll at 390 (including 58 children). Injuries stand at around 1800 wounded (including 45 children)
Related Report:
Source: IRIN
humanitarian news and analysis
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
GAZA CITY, 31 December 2008 (IRIN) - In Gaza’s main hospital, the director’s office is under virtual siege, according to an IRIN journalist in Gaza. Relatives of the injured are desperate to get their kin transferred to Egypt for emergency treatment. There is a fear here that the already overstretched healthcare system will collapse if Israel mounts a ground offensive into the tiny coastal strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.
As of the night of 30 December the death toll from the Israeli offensive had reached 380, with 1,800 wounded, according to the Gaza health ministry. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said 30 children and nine women were among the dead and 250 children had been injured.
Fifteen medical patients passed through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt for emergency care on that day, said WHO.
Hospitals in the enclave have been overwhelmed by the trauma cases flowing into emergency rooms since the morning of 27 December.
An official from the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, Aed Yaghi, said at a press conference on 30 December that there were 2,053 hospital beds in Gaza, and warned it was not enough.
“One hundred and fifty patients were brought in at once,” said Khaled Abu-Najar, a staff nurse in Al-Shifa’s emergency room. “We lack beds, sterile gloves, sheets, scissors and gauze to treat patients.”
Shortages
He said there were shortages of chest tubes, forceps, artery clamps, ventilators and monitors.
Nearly half of the emergency room staff are volunteers recruited since 27 December, said Abu-Najar.
“We are short of rooms and supplies, we are up to our necks,” said Ramez Zyara, one of nine general surgeons working 24-hour shifts at Al-Shifa. The small team treated hundreds of patients on 30 December for crush injuries and severe trauma.
“The buildings are falling on the heads of the patients,” said Zyara.
The intensive care (ICU), burns, orthopaedic, and surgery units have reached capacity, said Al-Shifa hospital director Hussein Ashur, while 10 of the 12 operating rooms are being used for emergency care.
There are 25 life support systems - also used to measure a patient’s blood pressure, temperature, oxygen circulation and heart activity - in the ICU of As-Shifa. “We need at least 25 more,” said Ashur.
He also said there were shortages of dressings, and gauze used in X-ray machines.
“We have not received medical supplies at Al-Shifa for three months,” said Ashur.
The first emergency medical aid deliveries reached Gaza on 30 December. Some 90 trucks - 53 supplied by aid agencies - entered via the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to WHO.
Kamal Adwan hospital
Kamal Adwan is the primary hospital serving Jabalya and Beit Lahiya. Jabalya, Gaza’s largest refugee camp, is home to 300,000.
The hospital lacks medicine, including basic antibiotics, analgesics and hydrocortisone, said hospital director Bassam Abu-Warda.
“If there is a major Israeli invasion we will collapse,” warned Abu Warda. “On Saturday [27 December] 93 patients came for emergency care; we had to set up make-shift beds.”
Since 27 December Abu-Warda has added 24 beds to the existing 71.
Paramedics at Kamal said they did not have enough staff, medical supplies or ambulances.
Magdi Hatib, 48, witnessed his brother, Akram Hatib, 35, torn apart by burning shrapnel from an Israeli missile on 27 December in the Beach Refugee Camp of Gaza City, home to Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.
“He was bleeding on the ground for 15 minutes till we could approach him, fearing a second explosion,” said Magdi. “There were no ambulances, so we took him to Al-Shifa hospital by taxi.”
Rafah tunnels bombed
Israel bombed dozens of tunnels in the Rafah area on 30 December, saying they were used by Hamas for smuggling weapons.
Health ministry spokesperson Hamam Nasman said shipments of Egyptian fuel were the only means of running his fleet of ambulances, half of which are not operating due to a lack of spare parts - a result of the border closures by Israel since June 2007 when Hamas took over in the enclave.
The tunnels have been used to import fuel, cooking gas, medicine and food supplies to circumvent the Israeli blockade.
Residents flee their homes
Meanwhile, residents in Jabalya and Beit Lahiya were fleeing their homes in anticipation of further bombardments.
“We evacuated our home last night - my wife and our two-year old son Karim,” said Sami Abu-Salem, 38, an editor, after the Israeli authorities warned residents the home of a militant leader in the area would be targeted.
“We took basic food items with us and we are still afraid to return,” said Sami.
The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility in Gaza said that if the water supply network is damaged it will be impossible to repair, due to the lack of fuel and spare parts.
Access for aid agencies to Gaza has been severely restricted since the beginning of November. A ground invasion would make matters worse.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Inside Story- Post-attack options for Gaza - Dec 30 - Part 1
Inside Story- Post-attack options for Gaza - Dec 30 - Part 1:
"As Israeli warplanes continue to bombard the Gaza Strip for a fourth consecutive day, Inside Story takes a look at what could be next for Gaza."
Part 1
Part 2
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"As Israeli warplanes continue to bombard the Gaza Strip for a fourth consecutive day, Inside Story takes a look at what could be next for Gaza."
Part 1
Part 2
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Israel attacks Dignity aid-boat to Gaza
dignity aid boat hit:
An Israeli navy vessel Rams the "Dignity" boat in international waters as it headed to Gaza on a medical aid mission.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
An Israeli navy vessel Rams the "Dignity" boat in international waters as it headed to Gaza on a medical aid mission.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Monday, December 29, 2008
Free Gaza movement to defy Gaza blockade
Free Gaza movement to defy blockade:
"12-30-2008"
Former US Congresswoman and Presidential Candidate Cynthia Mckinney is on the Aid Boat to Gaza.
Passengers List (Dignity has left Cyprus)
Source: FreeGaza
Date : 12-29-2008
(UK) Denis Healey, Captain
Captain of the Dignity, Denis has been involved with boats for 45 years, beginning with small fishing boats in Portsmouth. He learned to sail while atschool and has been part of the sea ever since. He's a certified yachtmaster and has also worked on heavy marine equipment from yachts to large dredgers. This is his fourth trip to Gaza.
(Greece) Giorgios Klontzas, Relief Captain
Cpt. Klontzas is an experienced sailor and human rights activist. This will be his fourth trip to Gaza.
(Greece) Nikolas Bolos, First Mate
Nikolas is a chemical engineer and human rights activist. He has served as a crewmember on several Free Gaza voyages, including the first one in August.
(Jordan) Othman Abu Falah
Othman is a senior producer with Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(Australia) Renee Bowyer
Renee is a schoolteacher and human rights activist. She will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(Ireland) Caoimhe Butterly
Caoimhe is a reknowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza.
(Cyprus) Ekaterini Christodulou
Ekaterini is a well-known and respected freelance journalist in Cyprus. She is traveling to Gaza to report on the conflict.
(Sudan) Sami El-Haj
Sami is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, and head of the human rights section at Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(UK) Dr. David Halpin
Dr. Halpin is an experienced orthopaedic surgeon, medical professor, and ship's captain. He has organized humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza on several occasions with the Dove and Dolphin. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(Germany) Dr. Mohamed Issa
Dr. Issa is a pediatric surgeon from Germany. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(UK/Tunisia) Fathi Jaouadi
Fathi is a television producer and human rights activist. He will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(USA) Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia is a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green Party presidential candidate. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict.
(Cyprus) Martha Paisi
Martha is a senior research fellow and experienced human rights activist. She is traveling to Gaza to do human rights work and to assist with humanitarian relief efforts.
(UK) Karl Penhaul
Karl Penhaul is a video correspondent for CNN, based out of Bogotá, Colombia. Appointed to this position in February 2004, he covers breaking news around the world utilizing CNN's new laptop-based 'Digital Newsgathering' system. He is traveling to Gaza to report on the ongoing conflict.
(Iraq) Thaer Shaker
Thaer is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(Cyprus) Dr. Elena Theoharous, MP
Dr. Theoharous is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"12-30-2008"
Former US Congresswoman and Presidential Candidate Cynthia Mckinney is on the Aid Boat to Gaza.
Passengers List (Dignity has left Cyprus)
Source: FreeGaza
Date : 12-29-2008
(UK) Denis Healey, Captain
Captain of the Dignity, Denis has been involved with boats for 45 years, beginning with small fishing boats in Portsmouth. He learned to sail while atschool and has been part of the sea ever since. He's a certified yachtmaster and has also worked on heavy marine equipment from yachts to large dredgers. This is his fourth trip to Gaza.
(Greece) Giorgios Klontzas, Relief Captain
Cpt. Klontzas is an experienced sailor and human rights activist. This will be his fourth trip to Gaza.
(Greece) Nikolas Bolos, First Mate
Nikolas is a chemical engineer and human rights activist. He has served as a crewmember on several Free Gaza voyages, including the first one in August.
(Jordan) Othman Abu Falah
Othman is a senior producer with Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(Australia) Renee Bowyer
Renee is a schoolteacher and human rights activist. She will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(Ireland) Caoimhe Butterly
Caoimhe is a reknowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza.
(Cyprus) Ekaterini Christodulou
Ekaterini is a well-known and respected freelance journalist in Cyprus. She is traveling to Gaza to report on the conflict.
(Sudan) Sami El-Haj
Sami is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, and head of the human rights section at Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(UK) Dr. David Halpin
Dr. Halpin is an experienced orthopaedic surgeon, medical professor, and ship's captain. He has organized humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza on several occasions with the Dove and Dolphin. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(Germany) Dr. Mohamed Issa
Dr. Issa is a pediatric surgeon from Germany. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.
(UK/Tunisia) Fathi Jaouadi
Fathi is a television producer and human rights activist. He will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.
(USA) Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia is a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green Party presidential candidate. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict.
(Cyprus) Martha Paisi
Martha is a senior research fellow and experienced human rights activist. She is traveling to Gaza to do human rights work and to assist with humanitarian relief efforts.
(UK) Karl Penhaul
Karl Penhaul is a video correspondent for CNN, based out of Bogotá, Colombia. Appointed to this position in February 2004, he covers breaking news around the world utilizing CNN's new laptop-based 'Digital Newsgathering' system. He is traveling to Gaza to report on the ongoing conflict.
(Iraq) Thaer Shaker
Thaer is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.
(Cyprus) Dr. Elena Theoharous, MP
Dr. Theoharous is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Gaza humanitarian crisis deepening - Interview - Eva Bartlett
Gaza humanitarian crisis deepening:
"Israels deliberate targeting of civilian buildings such as mosques and universities in Gaza is deepening the humanitarian crisis in the Hamas-controlled area, says eyewitness Eva Bartlett from the International Solidarity Movement."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Israels deliberate targeting of civilian buildings such as mosques and universities in Gaza is deepening the humanitarian crisis in the Hamas-controlled area, says eyewitness Eva Bartlett from the International Solidarity Movement."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Monday, December 22, 2008
International activists break the siege, deliver medical aid to Gaza
International activists delivering medical aid to Gaza:
"http://www.euronews.net/
A fifth boat carrying humanitarian activists arrives to the Gaza Strip, loaded with aid and baby food."
Dignity Returns with Qatari Dignitaries
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Source:FreeGaza
Date : 12-21-2008
For More Information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +970 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Gaza) Huwaida Arraf, +970 599 130 426 / Huwaida.Arraf@gmail.com
(Cyprus) Greta Berlin, +357 99 081 767 / Iristulip@gmail.com
(Gaza Port, Gaza, 21 December 2008) At ll:00 am on Tuesday, December 22, the DIGNITY will pull into the port of Larnaca carrying several Palestinians out of Gaza as well as the two envoys from the Qatari charity.
Alaze Al-Qahtani and Talal Al-Qutaibi of the Eid Charity from Qatar were on a two-day mission to Gaza to determine how their charity can work with their Palestinian colleagues to improve the lives of the beleaguered population.
While in Gaza, Talal Al-Qutaibi said, "We are calling on all Qatari people to join forces to break this terrible siege on Gaza. We also call for a general mass mobilization to break the siege. And we very much want to bring a ship of supplies in and will be working hard to arrange this voyage soon. "
When the Dignity entered the waters of Gaza, it was not stopped at sea and was never searched by the Israeli Navy. According to Neta Golan, one of the Israelis on board, "They contacted us by radio and asked us to turn back, OR they would board and take off the two Israelis on board. We refused and said we were going to Gaza. The Israeli Navy did nothing."
We expect that the Israeli Navy will do nothing on our return as well.
Also traveling from Gaza are four Palestinians who have been denied their right to leave, even though they have citizenship from other countries. They hope to rejoin family members they have not seen for years.
###########
The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.
Qatari Ship Against the Israeli Siege Leaves Gaza
Source: IMEMC
Date: Monday December 22, 2008 04:32
The Free Gaza Movement reported on Sunday that the Qatari ship, the first Arab solidarity boat to break the Israeli siege, sailed out of Gaza after activists onboard spent 48 hours delivering humanitarian supplies, and observing the negative and devastating effects of the unjust Israeli siege.
The activists visited relief organizations and educational facilities in the coastal region. Fifteen Qatari nationals and international peace activists were onboard the ship.
The visiting delegates also observed the situation at the Gaza Port in order to prepare plans for rehabilitation and development. They also observed the conditions of the health sector, which collapsed due to the ongoing Israeli siege, and weighed the means to rehabilitate it.
On their way back, the activists carried a number of projects to be presented to the government of Qatar, and Qatari institutions in an attempt to collect aid to implement them.
Five Palestinians struck in Gaza managed to leave the region onboard the ship.
The Free Gaza Movement also vowed to organize further visits to support Gaza and its residents.
Jamal El Khodary, head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege, said that the ship left Gaza, but the area remains isolated, the crossings remain closed, and the conditions are continuously deteriorating.
“This requires more efforts from the Arab, Islamic and international countries”, EL Khodary said, “They all need to act to end this siege”.
He also stated that more ships will sail to Gaza until the siege if fully lifted, and called on the Arab and Islamic world to practice the needed pressure on the Israeli occupation to end the siege.
El Khodary thanked Qatar and its people for their efforts against the siege and their support to the residents in the Gaza Strip. He added that more efforts are essential to break this unjust siege.
----
Popular Committee Against Siege
Popular Committee Against Siege (PCAS) is a popular committee established in Gaza Strip on the 25th October 2007, headed by independent Palestinian MP. Eng. Jamal Naji AL-Khodri. The launch of PCAS comes as a step to face the recent siege imposed by Israeli Occupation.
The establishment Chart of the committee assert on serving the Gaza Strip civilians and alleviating siege ramifications and burdens on people's lives. PCAS is a pure popular gathering of thinkers, well-educated, expert people as well as NGO's. We serve and help harmed people far from any political or factional affiliation.
ISRAEL-OPT: UNRWA suspends food distribution in Gaza
Source: IRIN
GAZA CITY, 19 December 2008 (IRIN) - The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was forced to suspend its emergency and regular food distribution services in the Gaza Strip without warning on 18 December, due to the continued closure of all commercial and passenger border crossings.
Wheat supplies scheduled to arrive in Gaza on 9-10 December were unable to enter, and UNRWA had exhausted all stocks of flour in its warehouses due to the crisis.
“The food distribution programmes are suspended until further notice,” said UNRWA spokesperson Jamal Hamed in Gaza. “As soon as Israel allows us to import food we will resume.”
Some 750,000 refugees out of a population of 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza depend on food aid from UNRWA.
On average, the UN agency distributes food to about 20,000 refugees per day, including rice, cooking oil, flour, tinned meat and milk.
“UNRWA was able to import an average of 20 trucks of humanitarian assistance per day into Gaza last month, while a minimum of 50 are required to cover their basic assistance,” said Hamed.
Israel sealed commercial and passenger border crossings to Gaza on 4 November, when an Israeli military incursion into Gaza prompted Palestinian militants to resume daily rocket-fire into neighbouring Israeli towns. A five-month Egyptian-brokered ceasefire had been largely holding.
Israel has restricted imports into Gaza, including food, fuel, medical supplies and other basic necessities despite the truce, which calls on militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel easing its embargo on the territory.
Ceasefire set to end on 19 December
“The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel officially ends on 19 December,” said Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum, adding: “We [Hamas] bear the responsibility of defending our people if Israel attacks”.
“Thousands in Gaza depend on the UN for basic assistance in Gaza. This will increase the burden on the Hamas government to provide for people,” said Hamas political leader Ghazi Hamad - though the government has no alternatives while the crossings are closed.
At a speech at Hamas’s 21st anniversary rally in Gaza City on 14 December, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh noted the US$55 million in emergency assistance the Hamas government had provided to 10,000 families, fishermen and students in 2008. However, “there is no official budget for 2009, and it will not be enough,” said Hamad.
Tunnels
The alternatives for the civilian population living in Gaza are grim.
It has been almost a month since greengrocer Mohammed Abu Amra received fruit and vegetables from Israel. He gets fruit via the tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border but the deliveries are sporadic and “the goods from Egypt cost double,” said Abu Amra.
Apples are shipped from China to Egypt, and then make their way to Gaza via tunnel.
“Vegetables are available in Gaza, but there is not enough and they lack preservatives,” said Abu Amra. He is making less than half the profit he was two years ago, before Hamas won the legislative council elections.
*****
Israel's 'crime against humanity'
Chris Hedges, TruthDig.com, Dec 16, 2008
Israel's siege of Gaza, largely unseen by the outside world because of Jerusalem's refusal to allow humanitarian aid workers, reporters and photographers access to Gaza, rivals the most egregious crimes carried out at the height of apartheid by the South African regime. It comes close to the horrors visited on Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serbs. It has disturbing echoes of the Nazi ghettos of Lodz and Warsaw.
"This is a stain on what is left of Israeli morality," I was told by Richard N. Veits, the former U.S. ambassador to Jordan who led a delegation from the Council on Foreign Relations to Gaza to meet Hamas leaders this past summer. "I am almost breathless discussing this subject. It is so myopic. Washington, of course, is a handmaiden to all this. The Israeli manipulation of a population in this manner is comparable to some of the crimes that took place against civilian populations fifty years ago."
The U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, former Princeton University law professor Richard Falk, calls what Israel is doing to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza "a crime against humanity." Falk, who is Jewish, has condemned the collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza as "a flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention." He has asked for "the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation, and determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law."
Falk, while condemning the rocket attacks by the militant group Hamas, which he points out are also criminal violations of international law, goes on to say that "such Palestinian behavior does not legalize Israel's imposition of a collective punishment of a life- and health-threatening character on the people of Gaza, and should not distract the U.N. or international society from discharging their fundamental moral and legal duty to render protection to the Palestinian people."
"It is an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe that each day poses the entire 1.5 million Gazans to an unspeakable ordeal, to a struggle to survive in terms of their health," Falk said when I reached him by phone in California shortly before he left for Israel. "This is an increasingly precarious condition. A recent study reports that 46 percent of all Gazan children suffer from acute anemia. There are reports that the sonic booms associated with Israeli overflights have caused widespread deafness, especially among children. Gazan children need thousands of hearing aids. Malnutrition is extremely high in a number of different dimensions and affects 75 percent of Gazans. There are widespread mental disorders, especially among young people without the will to live. Over 50 percent of Gazan children under the age of 12 have been found to have no will to live."
“This is a crime of survival,” Falk said of the rocket attacks. “Israel has put the Gazans in a set of circumstances where they either have to accept whatever is imposed on them or resist in any way available to them. That is a horrible dilemma to impose upon a people. This does not alleviate the Palestinians, and Gazans in particular, for accountability for doing these acts involving rocket fire, but it also imposes some responsibility on Israel for creating these circumstances.”
Israel seeks to break the will of the Palestinians to resist. The Israeli government has demonstrated little interest in diplomacy or a peaceful solution. The rapid expansion of Jewish settlements on the West Bank is an effort to thwart the possibility of a two-state solution by gobbling up vast tracts of Palestinian real estate. Israel also appears to want to thrust the impoverished Gaza Strip onto Egypt. There are now dozens of tunnels, the principal means for food and goods, connecting Gaza to Egypt. Israel permits the tunnels to operate, most likely as part of an effort to further cut Gaza off from Israel.
“Israel, all along, has not been prepared to enter into diplomatic process that gives the Palestinians a viable state,” Falk said. “They [the Israelis] feel time is on their side. They feel they can create enough facts on the ground so people will come to the conclusion a viable state cannot emerge.”
The use of terror and hunger to break a hostile population is one of the oldest forms of warfare. I watched the Bosnian Serbs employ the same tactic in Sarajevo. Those who orchestrate such sieges do not grasp the terrible rage born of long humiliation, indiscriminate violence and abuse. A father or a mother whose child dies because of a lack of vaccines or proper medical care does not forget. A boy whose ill grandmother dies while detained at an Israel checkpoint does not forget. All who endure humiliation, abuse and the murder of family members do not forget. This rage becomes a virus within those who, eventually, stumble out into the daylight. Is it any wonder that 71 percent of children interviewed at a school in Gaza recently said they wanted to be a “martyr”?
The Israelis in Gaza, like the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, are foolishly breeding the next generation of militants and Islamic radicals. Jihadists, enraged by the injustices done by Israel and the United States, seek to carry out reciprocal acts of savagery, even at the cost of their own lives. The violence unleashed on Palestinian children will, one day, be the violence unleashed on Israeli children. This is the tragedy of Gaza. This is the tragedy of Israel.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"http://www.euronews.net/
A fifth boat carrying humanitarian activists arrives to the Gaza Strip, loaded with aid and baby food."
Dignity Returns with Qatari Dignitaries
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Source:FreeGaza
Date : 12-21-2008
For More Information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +970 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Gaza) Huwaida Arraf, +970 599 130 426 / Huwaida.Arraf@gmail.com
(Cyprus) Greta Berlin, +357 99 081 767 / Iristulip@gmail.com
(Gaza Port, Gaza, 21 December 2008) At ll:00 am on Tuesday, December 22, the DIGNITY will pull into the port of Larnaca carrying several Palestinians out of Gaza as well as the two envoys from the Qatari charity.
Alaze Al-Qahtani and Talal Al-Qutaibi of the Eid Charity from Qatar were on a two-day mission to Gaza to determine how their charity can work with their Palestinian colleagues to improve the lives of the beleaguered population.
While in Gaza, Talal Al-Qutaibi said, "We are calling on all Qatari people to join forces to break this terrible siege on Gaza. We also call for a general mass mobilization to break the siege. And we very much want to bring a ship of supplies in and will be working hard to arrange this voyage soon. "
When the Dignity entered the waters of Gaza, it was not stopped at sea and was never searched by the Israeli Navy. According to Neta Golan, one of the Israelis on board, "They contacted us by radio and asked us to turn back, OR they would board and take off the two Israelis on board. We refused and said we were going to Gaza. The Israeli Navy did nothing."
We expect that the Israeli Navy will do nothing on our return as well.
Also traveling from Gaza are four Palestinians who have been denied their right to leave, even though they have citizenship from other countries. They hope to rejoin family members they have not seen for years.
###########
The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.
Qatari Ship Against the Israeli Siege Leaves Gaza
Source: IMEMC
Date: Monday December 22, 2008 04:32
The Free Gaza Movement reported on Sunday that the Qatari ship, the first Arab solidarity boat to break the Israeli siege, sailed out of Gaza after activists onboard spent 48 hours delivering humanitarian supplies, and observing the negative and devastating effects of the unjust Israeli siege.
The activists visited relief organizations and educational facilities in the coastal region. Fifteen Qatari nationals and international peace activists were onboard the ship.
The visiting delegates also observed the situation at the Gaza Port in order to prepare plans for rehabilitation and development. They also observed the conditions of the health sector, which collapsed due to the ongoing Israeli siege, and weighed the means to rehabilitate it.
On their way back, the activists carried a number of projects to be presented to the government of Qatar, and Qatari institutions in an attempt to collect aid to implement them.
Five Palestinians struck in Gaza managed to leave the region onboard the ship.
The Free Gaza Movement also vowed to organize further visits to support Gaza and its residents.
Jamal El Khodary, head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege, said that the ship left Gaza, but the area remains isolated, the crossings remain closed, and the conditions are continuously deteriorating.
“This requires more efforts from the Arab, Islamic and international countries”, EL Khodary said, “They all need to act to end this siege”.
He also stated that more ships will sail to Gaza until the siege if fully lifted, and called on the Arab and Islamic world to practice the needed pressure on the Israeli occupation to end the siege.
El Khodary thanked Qatar and its people for their efforts against the siege and their support to the residents in the Gaza Strip. He added that more efforts are essential to break this unjust siege.
----
Popular Committee Against Siege
Popular Committee Against Siege (PCAS) is a popular committee established in Gaza Strip on the 25th October 2007, headed by independent Palestinian MP. Eng. Jamal Naji AL-Khodri. The launch of PCAS comes as a step to face the recent siege imposed by Israeli Occupation.
The establishment Chart of the committee assert on serving the Gaza Strip civilians and alleviating siege ramifications and burdens on people's lives. PCAS is a pure popular gathering of thinkers, well-educated, expert people as well as NGO's. We serve and help harmed people far from any political or factional affiliation.
ISRAEL-OPT: UNRWA suspends food distribution in Gaza
Source: IRIN
GAZA CITY, 19 December 2008 (IRIN) - The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was forced to suspend its emergency and regular food distribution services in the Gaza Strip without warning on 18 December, due to the continued closure of all commercial and passenger border crossings.
Wheat supplies scheduled to arrive in Gaza on 9-10 December were unable to enter, and UNRWA had exhausted all stocks of flour in its warehouses due to the crisis.
“The food distribution programmes are suspended until further notice,” said UNRWA spokesperson Jamal Hamed in Gaza. “As soon as Israel allows us to import food we will resume.”
Some 750,000 refugees out of a population of 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza depend on food aid from UNRWA.
On average, the UN agency distributes food to about 20,000 refugees per day, including rice, cooking oil, flour, tinned meat and milk.
“UNRWA was able to import an average of 20 trucks of humanitarian assistance per day into Gaza last month, while a minimum of 50 are required to cover their basic assistance,” said Hamed.
Israel sealed commercial and passenger border crossings to Gaza on 4 November, when an Israeli military incursion into Gaza prompted Palestinian militants to resume daily rocket-fire into neighbouring Israeli towns. A five-month Egyptian-brokered ceasefire had been largely holding.
Israel has restricted imports into Gaza, including food, fuel, medical supplies and other basic necessities despite the truce, which calls on militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel easing its embargo on the territory.
Ceasefire set to end on 19 December
“The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel officially ends on 19 December,” said Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum, adding: “We [Hamas] bear the responsibility of defending our people if Israel attacks”.
“Thousands in Gaza depend on the UN for basic assistance in Gaza. This will increase the burden on the Hamas government to provide for people,” said Hamas political leader Ghazi Hamad - though the government has no alternatives while the crossings are closed.
At a speech at Hamas’s 21st anniversary rally in Gaza City on 14 December, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh noted the US$55 million in emergency assistance the Hamas government had provided to 10,000 families, fishermen and students in 2008. However, “there is no official budget for 2009, and it will not be enough,” said Hamad.
Tunnels
The alternatives for the civilian population living in Gaza are grim.
It has been almost a month since greengrocer Mohammed Abu Amra received fruit and vegetables from Israel. He gets fruit via the tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border but the deliveries are sporadic and “the goods from Egypt cost double,” said Abu Amra.
Apples are shipped from China to Egypt, and then make their way to Gaza via tunnel.
“Vegetables are available in Gaza, but there is not enough and they lack preservatives,” said Abu Amra. He is making less than half the profit he was two years ago, before Hamas won the legislative council elections.
*****
Israel's 'crime against humanity'
Chris Hedges, TruthDig.com, Dec 16, 2008
Israel's siege of Gaza, largely unseen by the outside world because of Jerusalem's refusal to allow humanitarian aid workers, reporters and photographers access to Gaza, rivals the most egregious crimes carried out at the height of apartheid by the South African regime. It comes close to the horrors visited on Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serbs. It has disturbing echoes of the Nazi ghettos of Lodz and Warsaw.
"This is a stain on what is left of Israeli morality," I was told by Richard N. Veits, the former U.S. ambassador to Jordan who led a delegation from the Council on Foreign Relations to Gaza to meet Hamas leaders this past summer. "I am almost breathless discussing this subject. It is so myopic. Washington, of course, is a handmaiden to all this. The Israeli manipulation of a population in this manner is comparable to some of the crimes that took place against civilian populations fifty years ago."
The U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, former Princeton University law professor Richard Falk, calls what Israel is doing to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza "a crime against humanity." Falk, who is Jewish, has condemned the collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza as "a flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention." He has asked for "the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation, and determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law."
Falk, while condemning the rocket attacks by the militant group Hamas, which he points out are also criminal violations of international law, goes on to say that "such Palestinian behavior does not legalize Israel's imposition of a collective punishment of a life- and health-threatening character on the people of Gaza, and should not distract the U.N. or international society from discharging their fundamental moral and legal duty to render protection to the Palestinian people."
"It is an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe that each day poses the entire 1.5 million Gazans to an unspeakable ordeal, to a struggle to survive in terms of their health," Falk said when I reached him by phone in California shortly before he left for Israel. "This is an increasingly precarious condition. A recent study reports that 46 percent of all Gazan children suffer from acute anemia. There are reports that the sonic booms associated with Israeli overflights have caused widespread deafness, especially among children. Gazan children need thousands of hearing aids. Malnutrition is extremely high in a number of different dimensions and affects 75 percent of Gazans. There are widespread mental disorders, especially among young people without the will to live. Over 50 percent of Gazan children under the age of 12 have been found to have no will to live."
“This is a crime of survival,” Falk said of the rocket attacks. “Israel has put the Gazans in a set of circumstances where they either have to accept whatever is imposed on them or resist in any way available to them. That is a horrible dilemma to impose upon a people. This does not alleviate the Palestinians, and Gazans in particular, for accountability for doing these acts involving rocket fire, but it also imposes some responsibility on Israel for creating these circumstances.”
Israel seeks to break the will of the Palestinians to resist. The Israeli government has demonstrated little interest in diplomacy or a peaceful solution. The rapid expansion of Jewish settlements on the West Bank is an effort to thwart the possibility of a two-state solution by gobbling up vast tracts of Palestinian real estate. Israel also appears to want to thrust the impoverished Gaza Strip onto Egypt. There are now dozens of tunnels, the principal means for food and goods, connecting Gaza to Egypt. Israel permits the tunnels to operate, most likely as part of an effort to further cut Gaza off from Israel.
“Israel, all along, has not been prepared to enter into diplomatic process that gives the Palestinians a viable state,” Falk said. “They [the Israelis] feel time is on their side. They feel they can create enough facts on the ground so people will come to the conclusion a viable state cannot emerge.”
The use of terror and hunger to break a hostile population is one of the oldest forms of warfare. I watched the Bosnian Serbs employ the same tactic in Sarajevo. Those who orchestrate such sieges do not grasp the terrible rage born of long humiliation, indiscriminate violence and abuse. A father or a mother whose child dies because of a lack of vaccines or proper medical care does not forget. A boy whose ill grandmother dies while detained at an Israel checkpoint does not forget. All who endure humiliation, abuse and the murder of family members do not forget. This rage becomes a virus within those who, eventually, stumble out into the daylight. Is it any wonder that 71 percent of children interviewed at a school in Gaza recently said they wanted to be a “martyr”?
The Israelis in Gaza, like the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, are foolishly breeding the next generation of militants and Islamic radicals. Jihadists, enraged by the injustices done by Israel and the United States, seek to carry out reciprocal acts of savagery, even at the cost of their own lives. The violence unleashed on Palestinian children will, one day, be the violence unleashed on Israeli children. This is the tragedy of Gaza. This is the tragedy of Israel.
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Gaza and the World - So this is Christmas?
Gaza and the World - So this is Christmas?:
"Australians for Palestine and Women for Palestine offer a video that calls attention to the extreme humanitarian crisis in Gaza at a time when Christians are celebrating their most festive religious holiday - Christmas. Underlying the frivolity of Christmas shopping, eating and entertainment, is the destitution, misery and hopelessness that millions of Palestinians under occupation and in the refugee camps, face every day. Gaza endures the worst of it. The war is not over for them. Those who have allowed these crimes
against humanity to continue, also have the power to change direction and
demand freedom for the Palestinians and work for peace and justice. We can help them make that change. Speak up to end the siege of Gaza and the occupation of Palestine.
The video is accompanied by the music of John Lennon, Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band - 'Happy Christmas (War is over)'.
The video was created by Sonja Karkar as a not-for-profit initiative to highlight the tragedy of Gaza and stop people in their tracks as they spend and feast, so that they might demand an end to the crimes Israel is committing against the Palestinians. It is not too late to make your protest by writing to your country's politicians, the media, the Israeli embassies and consulates, companies that trade with Israel. Join a Palestinian solidarity group to learn more about the issues and to give momentum to a growing movement worldwide that sees a just peace for the Palestinians.
Visit our website for more information http://www.australiansforpalestine.com
FOOTNOTE: A special thanks to setfree68 who suggested the song for "Gaza in Crisis", which inspired me to create something specifically for the song. SK "
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Australians for Palestine and Women for Palestine offer a video that calls attention to the extreme humanitarian crisis in Gaza at a time when Christians are celebrating their most festive religious holiday - Christmas. Underlying the frivolity of Christmas shopping, eating and entertainment, is the destitution, misery and hopelessness that millions of Palestinians under occupation and in the refugee camps, face every day. Gaza endures the worst of it. The war is not over for them. Those who have allowed these crimes
against humanity to continue, also have the power to change direction and
demand freedom for the Palestinians and work for peace and justice. We can help them make that change. Speak up to end the siege of Gaza and the occupation of Palestine.
The video is accompanied by the music of John Lennon, Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band - 'Happy Christmas (War is over)'.
The video was created by Sonja Karkar as a not-for-profit initiative to highlight the tragedy of Gaza and stop people in their tracks as they spend and feast, so that they might demand an end to the crimes Israel is committing against the Palestinians. It is not too late to make your protest by writing to your country's politicians, the media, the Israeli embassies and consulates, companies that trade with Israel. Join a Palestinian solidarity group to learn more about the issues and to give momentum to a growing movement worldwide that sees a just peace for the Palestinians.
Visit our website for more information http://www.australiansforpalestine.com
FOOTNOTE: A special thanks to setfree68 who suggested the song for "Gaza in Crisis", which inspired me to create something specifically for the song. SK "
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
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