Showing posts with label Palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palestine. Show all posts

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Radical Disengagement: Organize, Mobilize, Refuse, Resist!

Obama vs Social Justice - National March on Washington DC 3/20/10

SocialJusticeNOW April 06, 2010Ibrahim Ramey from the American Muslim Society, Frances Villar and Edward Pages from the Party for Socialism and Liberation talk about how to defeat Empire and imperialism.On Saturday, thousands of people converged at the White House for the March 20 March on Washington—the largest anti-war demonstration since the announcement of the escalation of the Afghanistan war. By the time the march started at 2 p.m., the crowd had swelled up to 10,000 protesters.Speakers at the Washington rally represented a broad cross section of the anti-war movement, including veterans and military families, labor, youth and students, immigrant right groups, and the Muslim and Arab American community.Following the rally, a militant march led by veterans, active-duty service members and military families made its way through the streets of D.C. carrying coffins draped in Afghan, Iraqi, Pakistani, Somali, Yemeni, Haitian and U.S. flags, among those of other countries, as a symbol of the human cost of war and occupation. Coffins were dropped off along the way at Halliburton, the Washington Post, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and other institutions connected to the war profiteering, propaganda, and human suffering. The final coffin drop-off was at the White House—the decision-making center of U.S. imperialism.For more information go to:http://answercoalition.org



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Health Officials Warn of an Imminent Health Crisis in the Gaza Strip

OPT: West Bank health and economy up a bit, Gaza down

Source: IRIN
DUBAI, 18 May 2010 (IRIN) - With a failing economy, rising unemployment and deteriorating power, sanitation and health facilities, the health of Gaza’s population continues to worsen, according to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report. In contrast, modest improvements have been made in the West Bank.

[See photo slideshow on life in Gaza]

As a consequence of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, 98 percent of industrial operations have been shut down since 2007 and there are acute shortages of fuel, cash, cooking gas and other basic supplies.

“We are telling everybody not to build walls all around Gaza. That’s what we have been saying loud and clear,” Filippo Grandi, commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), told IRIN. “If Gaza gets encircled by walls everywhere, it can only explode. This is almost a law of physics. And that would be a catastrophe for everybody around - for the Egyptians, for the Israelis and for the region as a whole.”

He said the most important thing was to continue negotiating with the Israelis for full access of supplies to be granted legally - through crossings not illegal tunnels.

Import ban

The ban on imports of building materials has prevented the rebuilding of some 6,400 homes destroyed or severely damaged by Israel’s military operation in Gaza in 2008-2009 and prevented the construction of some 7,500 homes to cater for an expanding population. Some 3,500 families are still displaced.

“The Israeli position is that they must be absolutely sure that anything that goes into Gaza through the crossings on the Israeli side is for civilian and humanitarian purposes,” said UNRWA’s Grandi. “The UN has developed extensive tools to monitor [imports], and we have shared this with the Israelis to approve. If they want, we can offer all the guarantees in the world. Our problem is that in spite of all this assistance we cannot import.”

Water-related health problems are widespread in the Strip because of the blockade and Israel’s military operation in Gaza, which destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure, including reservoirs, wells, and thousands of kilometres of piping.

“Gaza is not a refugee camp in a small remote place. It’s a city of one and a half million people with the needs of a developed urban environment that is used to certain standards. It needs certain standards of maintenance. This is what is happening with the water supplies, with sanitation. We’re very worried about that and the Egyptians and the Israelis should be too. Everybody should be worried because contaminated water has no borders,” said Grandi.

An electricity crisis continues in Gaza with the network only able to meet 70 percent of demand due to insufficient money to buy fuel for the Gaza power plant, and a lack of spare parts which is causing technical failures.

In contrast the West Bank economy appears to be growing since the beginning of 2009, partly due to an influx of donor assistance but also because Israel has eased movement restrictions there, and an improved security environment has led to increased investor confidence and more economic activity.

Unemployment, poverty

Unemployment in occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) decreased marginally in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, to 31.4 percent, though unemployment among young people stood at 67 percent. Just one in seven women were working, and 70 percent of families were living on less than US$1 a day in May 2008, said the WHO report.

In the third quarter of 2008, 51 percent of Palestinians lived below the poverty line (56 percent for Gazans and 48 percent for those in the West Bank), with 19 percent living in extreme poverty.

In the second half of 2008, one third of West Bank households and 71 percent of Gaza households received food assistance, with food accounting for roughly half total household expenditures - making families highly vulnerable to food price fluctuations. In May 2008, 56 percent of Gazans and 25 percent of West Bank residents were deemed food insecure by the UN. Chronic malnutrition has risen in Gaza over the past few years to reach 10.2 percent.

That comes at a time when UNRWA - responsible for providing assistance, protection and advocacy for some 4.7 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the oPt - is projecting a 25 percent shortfall in its core budget. “UNRWA is a very massive machine to feed and unfortunately, although our donations increase, in fact they don’t increase fast enough to meet the needs,” Grandi said.

Health

Healthcare services have generally improved in the West Bank over the past year because of eased movement restrictions and the efforts of the Palestinian Ministry of Health with the support of donors and other stakeholders. However, the impact of Israel’s “Separation Wall” and the difficulties of access to hospitals in east Jerusalem, where nearly 50 percent of Health Ministry referrals were to in 2009, remain areas of concern.

In Gaza, Israel’s blockade is debilitating the healthcare system, limiting medical supplies and the training of medical personnel and preventing serious medical cases from travelling outside the Strip for specialized treatment.

Israel’s 2008-2009 military operation damaged 15 of the Strip’s 27 hospitals and damaged or destroyed 43 of its 110 primary health care facilities, none of which have been repaired or rebuilt because of the construction materials ban. Some 15-20 percent of essential medicines are commonly out of stock and there are shortages of essential spare parts for many items of medical equipment, the WHO report said.

As a result, the steady decline in the infant mortality rate in recent decades has stalled over the past few years and may have even risen in Gaza, which has a mortality rate around 30 percent higher than in the West Bank. Watery diarrhoea, acute bloody diarrhoea and viral hepatitis are the major causes of morbidity among reportable infectious diseases in the Strip.

Reliable data on maternal mortality and morbidity trends were generally not available.

“Very often journalists ask me whether I define the crisis in Gaza as humanitarian and I give this reply: It’s far beyond humanitarian. It’s much more serious,” said Grandi. “You can address a humanitarian crisis with medicines and food; this is far more serious. It’s a crisis of the economy first of all - people are very poor. It’s a crisis of the institutions and it’s a crisis of the infrastructure. This requires years to fix.”

The WHO report, released on 13 May, was the result of a fact-finding mission to assess the health and economic situation in oPt in response to Resolution WHA62.2, adopted on 21 May 2009 at the 62nd World Health Assembly, which called, among other things on Israel to “lift immediately the closure in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the closure of the crossing points of the occupied Gaza Strip that are causing the serious shortage of medicines and medical supplies”.
[end]

Israeli siege impinges on Gaza medical sector
Ashraf Shannon, Press TV, Gaza
Wed, 19 May 2010 18:45:25 GMT

  

Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Remember Palestine - Interview: Jo Rose - Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions

YouTube - Press TV-Remember Palestine-05-15-2010

PressTVGlobalNews May 16, 2010 — Palestinians day to day life in occupied territories.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Young Gazan inventor eases lives of the disabled.wmv

Young Gazan inventor eases lives of disabled.wmv

Palgaz May 19, 2010



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

HEBRON MARCH ON NAKBA DAY - MAY 15

HEBRON MARCH MAY 15th

TaayushHebron May 19, 2010כמאה וחמישים פעילים פלסטינים, ישראלים ובינלאומיים, צעדו בחברון לציון יום הנכבה. התהלוכה הגיעה לעמדת הצבא החוצצת בין שני חלקי העיר. המפגינים קראו לפתוח את רחוב השוהאדה, לעצור את ההתנחלויות ולסיום הכיבוש. המתנחלים יידו אבנים מהגגות ושפכו מים. הצבא בחר דווקא להתעמת עם המפגינים

Palestinians, Israelis and internationals marched in Hebron to mark Nakba Day... The protesters called for opening shuhada street, stop the settlements and the occupation. The settlers threw stones from the roofs and poured water. Army chose to confront protesters.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

BDS Israel - Elvis Costello Cancels Israel Concerts

DN! Boycott Israel - Elvis Costello Cancels Israel Concerts

StartLoving3 May 18, 2010



Here's a favorite of mine!

Elvis Costello - Everyday I Write The Book - (Solid Gold)

xyzmikey2 February 23, 2008 — From The Solid Gold TV Show In 1983!



Elvis Costello - Peace Love And Understanding (2004)

AAV711 April 28, 2007Live in Memphis



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Nakba Day San Francisco 5-15-10

Nakba Day San Francisco 5-15-10

TomVeeTV May 15, 2010San Francisco community commemorates the Nakba until about 7:39 secondsin when a Christian Zionist shows up escorted by police and scares the children.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Downing Street Demo - in solidarity with the Palestinians on the national Nakba Day of Action 15052010

DowningStreetDemo15052010.avi

MrAlexSeymour May 15, 2010 — Demonstration opposite Downing Street in London in solidarity with the Palestinians on the national Nakba Day of Action - 15h May 2010.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Jerusalem - A Short Film [subtitled] by the Palestinian Return Centre - فيلم القدس لمركز العودة

فيلم القدس لمركز العودة جديد 2010

PalestineReturn May 18, 2010مركز العودة الفلسطيني بلندن



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Living in Occupied Jerusalem as Prisoners of the Apartheid Regime - 79 sleepless Gaza Jerusalem

79 sleepless Gaza Jerusalem .divx

SleeplessinGaza May 18, 2010 — Day 79: Visit Al Khatib family in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem who carry West Bank IDs and Israel has refused to issue them permits, so they are not allowed to wonder inside of Jerusalem where they live. They own the 48 dunums of land and the house on it. Israel issued them a document that allows them to walk to Hizma checkpoint to enter the West Bank, but they are not allowed to ride in a car! Economy major Khitam & Banking & Finance major Um Kulthum suffer from a disease. Khitam needs a walker and her sister a wheelchair to move. Since they are not allowed to take a car to the checkpoint to enter the West Bank and they are not allowed to go anywhere in Jerusalem, they don't go anywhere! When they tried to evacuate them years back, the late PLO leader Faisal Al Husseini and the PLO Headquarters in Jerusalem, the Orient House, helped them raise a law suit which they won. So Israel said: We can't evacuate you, but we will not give you permits. Faisal died on June 1, 2001 and the Orient House was closed down in August 2001; international demands to reopen it have so far achieved no results with Israel. What says Janessa Schilmoeller, Ashira's friend from Minnesota, USA who is visiting, and came along?

In Gaza: Head with Eman to Pasha's Palace where Napoleon Bonaparte stayed 3 days in 1799! See artifacts dating back to the Roman and Byzantine eras at the Palace Museum. Why do the large clay jars have an odd shape bottom? What is the rumor about Islamic Leader Al Zaher Beibars and this palace and is it true? After the British took over, the Palace was used by the British as a police station with a jail; all of its furniture and contents were taken. Enter the hall used by the British as the female and male criminal jails. See the window that allows the persons inside to see outside but not the other way round. Does Eman kill anyone with her mock arrow?



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Nabi Saleh & the Israeli colony of Halamish.wmv

Cheek by Jowl Nabi Saleh & the Israeli colony of Halamish.wmv

planxtysumoud May 19, 2010 — Since 1976, under the conniving blind eye of the Israeli Supreme Court and the active aiding and abetting of the Israeli Occupation Forces, the illegal colony of Halamish has been spreading and growing like a cancerous tumour on stolen land belonging to the tiny West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. Weekly, after Friday prayers the villagers, internationals and Israelis with good conscience who protest this blatant land grab are invariably attacked with live fire, barrages of tear gas and beatings from the IOF and sometimes live fire and rock throwing from the "settlers."



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

TRNN: Speaking to Israelis on the Nakba

Speaking to Israelis on the Nakba

TheRealNews May 19, 2010For this year's Nakba Day, May 15th, TRNN asks Israelis what they know about the history of '48.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Their Enemy Is Not The Occupying Force

Non-violent Peace activists have also fallen prey to these U.S. trained thugs whose job is to root out and eliminate any resistance to the occupation.

Palestinian security troops battle rival factions
Agence France-Presse
May. 18, 2010. 08:29 AM EST



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Turkish Aid Convoy to Set Sail to Gaza

Aid convoy planning to set sail from Istanbul for Gaza
Jody Sabral, Press TV, Istanbul
Sun, 16 May 2010 12:03:47 GMT

 

Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

If William Can't Come to the Mountain: Part One on Vimeo

If William Can't Come to the Mountain: Part One on Vimeo

by Maurice Jacobsen in Gaza

This is the first chapter of a nine part series, designed to be the tour of the Gaza Strip that U.S. Congressman William Delahunt and four other members of Congress might have had, had they been allowed access into the territory.

This project is being produced independently, with no institutional or governmental support, by the sole western video journalist currently living in Gaza on a full time basis.

If William Can't Come to the Mountain: Part One from Maurice Jacobsen in Gaza on Vimeo.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Largest Internationally Coordinated Effort to Challenge Israeli Blockade on Gaza

New test for Israel's Gaza blockade | Video | Reuters.com

New test for Israel's Gaza blockade 1:29 Report

May 17 - An internationally coordinated group of ships will travel to the Gaza Strip with supplies in an effort to challenge Israel's blockade



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

The MV Rachel Corrie sets sail, the first ship in the flotilla to launch

The MV Rachel Corrie sets sail, the first ship in the flotilla to launch

gazafriends May 17, 2010On May 14, 2010, the MV Rachel Corrie pulled out of the docks in Ireland and began her long journey down the coast of Europe to the Mediterranean. She is named after the 23 year old American, Rachel Corrie, who was killed in Gaza by an Israeli bulldozer as she was protecting the home of a Palestinian doctor. She will join seven other vessels in the Mediterranean and sail to Gaza to deliver vitally needed construction, medical and school supplies to the imprisoned population of Gaza.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Physicians for Social Responsibility Arrive in Gaza

American medical team enters Gaza for aid operations.wmv

Palgaz May 17, 2010



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Noam Chomsky on US media, military and nuke-free Middle East

Noam Chomsky on US media, military and nuke-free Middle East

RussiaToday May 18, 2010Noam Chomsky, linguist and icon of the American left who has been denied from entering Israel, talked to RT days before the incident about his views, background and US domestic and foreign policy.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Norman Finkelstein: Israel being exposed and feels threatened

Norman Finkelstein: Israel being exposed and feels threatened

RussiaToday May 17, 2010Israel has refused to permit Noam Chomsky, the linguist and icon of the American left, to enter the occupied West Bank from Jordan. Some argue that Chomsky, an 81-year-old professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, could pose a risk to Israel. Norman Finkelstein says that Israel has been exposed to the world during the Gaza conflict and now feels threatened.



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog