There is no doubt that you have all read or heard by now about about the decision to expel an Israeli diplomat over the assassination of a Hamas member in Dubai by Mossad agents. David Miliband said earlier today that there was “compelling evidence” that Israel was responsible for misuse of British passports as part of a plot to kill the aforementioned Hamas member.

I cannot be alone in thinking that this response was weak. In 1987 Israel promised to stop the practise of forging UK documents after eight British blank passports, reckoned to be for Mossad agents, were left in a phone booth in West Germany [1].  This then leaves one wondering how much of this decision is a ploy just to win votes from the pro-Palestinian group of voters. No doubt this faux outrage by Britain is simply a necessity more than anything else.

The correct response should include the search and arrest of those responsible and demands made to hand those responsible over for trial. No compliance? Go further – sanctions!

No doubt, the replacement for this expelled diplomat will be on the way if he/she is not already. In conclusion, Israel gets off lightly, and escapes another crime. Does this really come as a surprise? I think not. It will be interesting to see how the other countries who had their passports forged respond in the coming days/weeks.

Related posts:

1. Tzipi Livni is proud of murder
2. Gordon Brown supports war criminals
3. Protestor attempts to perform citizen’s arrest on Blair

Rachel Corrie (1979 - 2003)

On Sunday March 16, 2003 in Rafah, occupied Gaza, 23 year old peace activist Rachel Corrie from Olympia, Washington, USA was crushed to death by a US made (Caterpillar D9R) Israeli bulldozer while protesting non violently. She was trying to prevent the demolition of the home of a Palestinian family (a pharmacist, accountant, their wives, and five young children). As a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Rachel was in Gaza opposing the bulldozing of Palestinian homes by the Israeli army.

Her words as a child are shown in the video below:

The video above is an excerpt from the award winning documentary Occupation 101, which if you have not yet seen, I highly recommend you do.

The video below is Rachel’s last interview conducted by Middle East Broadcasting Company on March 14th, 2003, two days before she was murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces:

It is now 7 years since the death of Rachel, and there is yet a thorough investigation to be done of the death of Rachel Corrie. The family of Rache are bringing a civil lawsuit against the Israeli defence ministry for Rachel’s killing. The Haifa District Court began hearing eyewitness testimonies today, the 10th of March 2010. The court heard the testimonies of two ISM witnesses today. The case continues.

Israel has granted visas to four key witnesses, three Britons and an American. These fellow members of ISM were at the scene in Rafah when Corrie was killed and will give evidence, according the family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein.

“As we approach the seven-year anniversary of Rachel’s killing, my family and I are still searching for justice. The brutal death of my daughter should never have happened. We believe the Israeli army must be held accountable for her unlawful killing,” said Rachel’s mother, Cindy Corrie who will be attending the trial today.  “We hope this trial will also illustrate the need for accountability for thousands of lives lost, or indelibly injured, by the Israeli occupation and bring attention to the assault on nonviolent human rights defenders – Palestinian, Israeli, and international,” stated Ms. Corrie.

I recommend a read through the sites listed at the bottom of this article if you wish to learn about the great woman that was Rachel Corrie. Rachel was a brave, courageous and heroic woman,  an inspiration to us all. A woman who sacrificed her life defending the Israeli destruction of a Palestinian home, defending a palestinian family. She will not be forgotten. May her soul rest in peace.

Sites related to Rachel Corrie:

• http://rachelcorriefoundation.org – The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice was established by members of Rachel’s family and community to continue the kind of work that she began and hoped to accomplish
• http://rachelswords.org
• http://www.rachelcorrie.org
• http://rachel-corrie.com

Related posts:

1. Israel – Arms Embargo Petition
2. Official UN Report – Israel War Crimes Confirmed.
3. Egyptian leaders should be ashamed

We can all agree that Palestine is indeed, not South Africa. You often hear people say that Palestine is different from apartheid South Africa, the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) is pointless. However, both countries are more similar than not.

Ronnie Kasrils, a South African politician, said in 2007 that the architecture of segregation that he saw in the West Bank and Gaza was “infinitely worse than apartheid.” This statement was made before Israel began its full-scale war against Gaza, which can now be compared to an open air prison.

Ronnie Kasrils was Minister for Intelligence Services from 27 April 2004 to 25 September 2008. He was a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1987 to 2007 as well as a member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party (SACP) from December 1986 to 2007.

But it’s not just Mr Kasrils that thinks this.

The respected Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), a leading human rights group in Israel, in 2008 described Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank as being “reminiscent of apartheid” in South Africa.

“Israel has built a modern arterial road system in the West Bank intended in fact only for use by Israeli traffic, whereas the Palestinians are forced to travel for the most part on twisting and dangerous roads,” the report said. While Israel facilitates the expansion of Jewish settlements, it restricts the growth of Palestinian towns, the report added. “This state of affairs in which all the services, budgets and the access to natural resources are granted along discriminatory and separatist lines according to ethnic-national criteria is a blatant violation of the principle of equality and is in many ways reminiscent of the Apartheid regime in South Africa.” The report said.

Boycott was an effective tool in helping to end South African apartheid, and it is hoped it will be as effective against Israeli apartheid.  The boycott was called for and is supported by Palestinian civil society organisations.

So, Israel’s separation wall is still being built, Israel still breaches international law by continuing to build settlements, Israel continues to export produce grown on stolen Palestinian land, in summary, Israel operates an apartheid, racist system.

The full article from Ronnie Kasrils is worth reading if you haven’t done so already. For your convenience, it is shown below. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, some useful resources for boycotting are provided.

It is chilling to pass through the myriad checkpoints — more than 500 in the West Bank. They are controlled by heavily armed soldiers, youthful but grim, tensely watching every movement, fingers on the trigger. Fortunately for me, travelling in a South African embassy vehicle with official documents and escort, the delays were brief.

Sweeping past the lines of Palestinians on foot or in taxis was like a view of the silent, depressed pass- office queues of South Africa’s past. A journey from one West Bank town to another that could take 20 minutes by car now takes seven hours for Palestinians, with manifold indignities at the hands of teenage soldiers.

My friend, peace activist Terry Boullata, has virtually given up her teaching job. The monstrous apartheid wall cuts off her East Jerusalem house from her school, which was once across the road, and now takes an hour’s journey. Yet she is better off than the farmers of Qalqilya, whose once prosperous agricultural town is totally surrounded by the wall and economically wasted. There is only one gated entry point. The key is with the occupation soldiers. Often they are not even there to let anyone in or out.

Bethlehem too is totally enclosed by the wall, with two gated entry points. The Israelis have added insult to injury by plastering the entrances with giant scenic posters welcoming tourists to Christ’s birthplace.

The “security barrier”, as the ­Israeli’s term it, is designed to crush the human spirit as much as to enclose the Palestinians in ghettoes. Like a reptile, it transforms its shape and cuts across agricultural lands as a steel-and-wire barrier, with watchtowers, ditches, patrol roads and alarm systems. It will be 700km long and, at a height of 8m to 9m in places, dwarfs the Berlin Wall.

The purpose of the barrier becomes clearest in open country. Its route cuts huge swathes into the West Bank to incorporate into Israel the illegal Jewish settlements — some of which are huge towns — and annexes more and more Palestinian territory.

The Israelis claim the purpose of the wall is purely to keep out terrorists. If that were the case, the Palestinians argue, why has it not been built along the 1967 Green Line border? One can only agree with the observation of Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad, who has stated: “It has become abundantly clear that the wall and checkpoints are principally aimed at advancing the safety, convenience and comfort of settlers.”

The West Bank, once 22% of historic Palestine, has shrunk to perhaps 10% to 12% of living space for its inhabitants, and is split into several fragments, including the fertile Jordan Valley, which is a security preserve for Jewish settlers and the Israeli Defence Force. Like the Gaza Strip, the West Bank is effectively a hermetically sealed prison. It is shocking to discover that certain roads are barred to Palestinians and reserved for Jewish settlers. I try in vain to recall anything quite as obscene in apartheid South Africa.

Gaza provides a desolate landscape of poverty, grime and bombed-out structures. Incon- gruously, we are able to host South Africa’s Freedom Day reception in a restaurant overlooking the splendid harbour and beach. Gunfire ­rattles up and down the street, briefly interrupting our proceedings, as some militia or other celebrates news of the recovery from hospital of a wounded comrade. Idle fishing boats bob in long lines in the harbour, for times are bad. They are confined by Israel to 3km of the coast and fishing is consequently unproductive. Yet, somehow, the guests are provided with a good feast in best Palestinian tradition.

We are leaving through Tel Aviv airport and the Israeli official catches my accent. “Are you South African?’ he asks in an unmistakable Gauteng accent. The young man left Benoni as a child in 1985. “How’s Israel?” I ask. “This is a f**ked-up place,” he laughs, “I’m leaving for Australia soon.”

“Down under?” I think. I’ve just been, like Alice, down under into a surreal world that is infinitely worse than apartheid. Within a few hours I am in Northern Ireland, a guest at the swearing in of the Stormont power-sharing government of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness.

Not even PW Botha or Ariel ­Sharon were once as extreme as Ian Paisley in his most riotous and bigoted days. Ireland was under England’s boot for 800 years, South Africa’s colonial-apartheid order lasted 350 years. The Zionist colonial-settler project stems from the 1880s. The Israeli ruling class, corrupt and with no vision, can no longer rule in the old way. The ­Palestinians are not prepared to be suppressed any longer. What is needed is Palestinian unity behind their democratically elected national government, reinforced by popular struggles of Palestinians and progressive Israelis, supported by international solidarity.

South Africa’s stated position is clear. The immediate demands are recognition of the government of national unity, the lifting of economic sanctions and blockade of the Palestinian territories, an end to the 40-year-old military occupation and resumption of negotiations for a two-state solution.

On a final note, the invitation to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh as head of a national unity government was welcomed by President Mahmoud Abbas, and will be dealt with by our government.

As they say in Arabic: “Insha ‘Allah [God-willing].”

Ronnie Kasrils is Minister of Intelligence

Original Aricle posted on Mail & Guardian Online (South African Newspaper) May 21 2007.

Boycott Resources:

• http://www.bigcampaign.org/
• http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.php

Related posts:

1. Boycott Israeli Goods
2. Venezuela and Palestine establish diplomatic ties
3. Settlement freeze – What settlement freeze?

Related posts:

1. Video: BNP candidate Bob Bailey viciously attacks youth in street
2. Gaza in Plain Language
3. In memory of Rachel Corrie (1979 – 2003)

This was obtained from the blog Dissident Voice, another to add to your RSS feed if you haven’t yet. Original links are at the very bottom.

Original article:

Gaza in Plain Language

by Joe Mowrey / January 19th, 2010

In articles acknowledging the one year anniversary of the assault on Gaza, blunt and unsparing language about what really happened is often avoided. Despite sympathy for and support of the Palestinian people in their struggle against dispossession and oppression, the description of what took place in January 2009 is sometimes buffered by a misguided sense of political correctness. Yes, it’s terrible. Yes, it is unjust. But we don’t want to be inflammatory or risk offending the sensitivities of those who through their own willful ignorance cling to the notion that Israel is a victim state, fighting for its very survival. The argument is that we should reach out to them and attempt to educate them and win them over.

I’ll be more forthright in this commentary.

The sociopathic Zionist administration of Israel, as part of its continuing brutal colonization of Palestine, set out to deliberately devastate the already nearly-incapacitated infrastructure which supports the existence of one and a half million human refugees. The people of Gaza, second-, third-, and fourth-generation dispossessed Palestinians, are living in forced exile from land their families inhabited and cultivated for generations. Half of them are children under the age of fifteen. Their culture and their economy has been systematically ravaged by Israel for decades and since 2006 a criminal siege supported by the United States, as well as much of the international community, has deprived them of all but the most minimal resources for subsistence. This oppressed and brutalized population was then bombed, bulldozed and terrorized mercilessly for twenty-three days.

Below is a small sampling of facts concerning what the fourth largest military in the world did to a captive and defenseless population. The source materials used to substantiate these statistics are available on request. If the reality presented here goes beyond the stretch of your imagination, you can verify the data yourself. Though you’d better hurry. Much of this information appears to be disappearing down Google’s memory hole, just as is the fate of the people of Gaza. A source referencing the percentage of agricultural land destroyed in the onslaught which was used for a shorter version of this article just a few weeks ago is no longer archived in Google’s cache. Surprise, surprise.

You will also find that exact figures vary somewhat depending on the source. But whether it was 21,000 structures or 22,000 structures destroyed, whether 280 schools were destroyed or badly damaged verses 230, the overwhelming truth of the physical devastation which took place in Gaza and the fact that this destruction was deliberate and premeditated is irrefutable. Even the Goldstone Report, itself a document with severe pro-Zionist overtones issued by a declared Zionist and a supporter of Israel, states unequivocally, “…[the] deliberate actions of the Israeli forces and the declared policies of the Government of Israel … cumulatively indicate the intention to inflict collective punishment on the people of the Gaza Strip in violation of international humanitarian law.”

We’ve heard time and again that more than 1400 Palestinians were killed, over 80% of them civilians, including 342 children. It has become a familiar talking point in discussions of last year’s assault, so much so that it may have lost its impact on our consciousness. But what we often aren’t reminded of is the horrific level of carefully-planned destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza orchestrated by Israel during Operation Cast Lead.

Financed and armed by the United States, the Israeli military destroyed fifteen percent of the structures in Gaza, approximately 22,000 buildings, including 5300 housing units destroyed or subject to major damage. Another 52,000 homes received some form of structural damage. Over 200 factories and 700 stores and businesses were destroyed or badly damaged. Of the residences, factories and businesses completely destroyed, 1300 of the homes and approximately 25% of the commercial property was deliberately and painstakingly bulldozed or exploded by Israeli ground forces. Eight hospitals and 26 primary health care clinics were damaged or destroyed. More than 280 schools were damaged or destroyed.

Water and sewage treatment facilities as well as electricity infrastructure were deliberately targeted leaving vast segments of the population with little or no power or clean water for the duration of the assault and for weeks and months to follow. Massive amounts of agricultural lands were systematically bombed or bulldozed. Some estimates suggest that as much as 80% of the arable land in Gaza has been ruined or declared off-limits to the people of Gaza over the last decade. Two million litres of wastewater at Gaza City’s sewage treatment plant, bombed during the assault, leaked into surrounding agricultural land making it unusable.

An Israeli television station boasted that Israeli war planes alone, without accounting for tank, ground troop and warship ammunition, dropped approximately one thousand tons of bombs on Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. The effort involved months, if not years, of carefully-considered target selection, giving lie to any claim that the devastation was incidental. It requires a stunning level of denial and self-delusion to pretend the destruction which was achieved in Gaza had anything to do with Israel’s “security” or the targeting of Hamas militants. This was savage and barbaric collective punishment unleashed on a civilian population, nothing more. Any suggestion to the contrary must be sharply and immediately ridiculed as absurd.

This was arguably the first aerial bombing campaign ever conducted on a defenseless civilian population held captive within a fenced enclosure and not allowed to escape the assault. It is a measure of the cynical mindset of the Israeli military that leaflets were sometimes dropped in neighborhoods about to be bombed suggesting the residents flee. We are about to destroy your home; you had better get out. Flee to where? Gazans are not allowed to leave their open-air prison, not even when under attack. This tactic on the part of Israel also gives lie to the claim that homes and buildings were targeted because there were Hamas militants “hiding” inside. Why then warn them to leave before destroying the structures?

Given this litany of horror and the coldly premeditated nature of its execution, we need to ask what kind of society condones this level of savagery on the part of their government? What precedent is there for such monstrous disregard for even the most basic tenets of human decency? We need look no further than the behavior of our very own United States, of course. In Iraq, the toll of our psychotic militarism is well over a million human beings (not counting the years of punishing economic sanctions) and a large part of the infrastructure of an entire nation of more than 26 million people has been obliterated. Let’s not even begin to tally up the deaths resulting from U.S. imperialism around the globe in the last sixty years alone. It would put the Zionists to shame–mere pikers in the annals of human slaughter.

And what of Gaza today, one year later? Israel’s continued illegal siege, enabled by the U.S., Egypt (a U.S. client state) and the international community has prevented any substantial amount of building materials from entering Gaza. Essentially, no reconstruction has been possible. The people of Gaza live amongst the rubble left to them by Israeli hatred and aggression. They are attempting to rebuild their society using mud bricks and materials salvaged from the wreckage.

The next time someone attempts to argue, “Israel has a right to defend itself,” or uses what I call the abusive spouse defense, ”Look what you made me do,” tell them, “No.” Tell them there is no and can never be any acceptable justification for the deliberate devastation of entire societies, no matter what political, ideological or “security” issues, real or imagined, may be at stake. It is unconscionable. It is wrong. Plainly put, there is no sane argument in favor of such behavior. Those who believe there is must be contradicted and opposed at every available opportunity.

Sources: 1 2

Related posts:

1. One year on – Israeli assault on Gaza
2. Official UN Report – Israel War Crimes Confirmed.
3. Israel drops Gaza war crimes investigation

The story of these internally displaced refugees is heartbreaking. Listen to Nasir as he shares with us the background of what is happening in Sheikh Jarrah. Note: Nasir only started learning English 17 months ago, and is a fluent Hebrew speaker as well. A man with many talents he is a graphics designer by profession, but has now made staying outside his own house in a tent his full-time duty. He shares his story with all the visitors, and even attempts to converse with his Occupiers.

The videos are below:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

This set of videos was brought to my attention by the brilliant Palestine Video blog.

Related posts:

1. Israeli police detain settler, seize weapon in Sheikh Jarrah
2. The real terrorists
3. Protest – Benjamin Netanyahu visits London

It’s sad that Egypt continues to condemn the Gazans who have been struck by poverty as a result of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead a year ago. Egypt continues to refuse entry for the Viva Palestina Convoy. It has said that 25% of the convoy must go through the Israeli checkpoint, and we all know that if that were to happen that 25% will never reach Gaza.

The video above shows a Guardian report on the clashes between Viva Palestina and the Egyptian Police. What harm will it do to Egypt to let the convoy pass? If anything it will shed some good light on them for a change. But alas, Egypt is succumbing to pressure from Israel and the USA who for a reason that is their own wish to continue the suffering of the Palestinians.

Another recent decision by Israel to build a wall blocking the underground tunnels which the Gazans have been using to bring essential supplies through is absurd. Again, succumbing to pressure from America and Israel who fear that weapons may be transported through these tunnels.

The Egyptian government are sellouts. Instead of standing by Palestine, they are standing by the Zionist regime that is ethnically cleansing Arabs from their lands. I do hope that Egypt soon realise the mistake they are making, and allow this humanitarian aid to go through.

Israel have nothing to worry about. I’m 100% certain George Galloway didn’t bring a convoy all the way from London, UK just to import weapons for the Gazans. Why is such fuss being created in getting humanitarian aid into Gaza? It makes no sense to me.

The effects of operation Cast Lead are from from over. You think 1,300 Palestinians died? Wrong… Countless people continue to die due to poverty, lack of essential supplies, lack of medical attention. Israel’s strict restrictions continue to suffocate the people of Gaza.

Let’s pray the convoy gets through, for the sake of the suffering Gazans.

Related posts:

1. One year on – Israeli assault on Gaza
2. Protest – Benjamin Netanyahu visits London
3. Israel – Arms Embargo Petition

The videos are below:

Part1:

Part 2:

Related posts:

1. Boycott Israeli dates this Ramadan
2. Boycott Israeli Goods

Israel’s use of white phosphorus on civilian targets, killing of innocent people waving white flags amongst other revelations in the Goldstone report has not given them a good moral standing. Israel is accused of breaking humanitarian law and Geneva conventions. Israeli politicians face the risk of arrest under charges of war crimes. The world stands by however, and seems to allow Israel to get away with breaking international law.

On to President Obama who, in his speech in Cairo, Egypt, had so much to say, has done very little. Israel continues to build settlements, desbite Obama saying that ALL settlement building must freeze. Netanyahu simply responded by saying a partial freeze will be in place (i.e. disregarded Obama’s request). Despite this blatant disregard, nothing was said, Israeli’s settlements continue to be built. Obama full of false promises comes to no surprise really.

On to Prime minister Gordon Brown, who is so worried about embarrassment that he puts saving face before the lives of the Palestinians. He bows to every Israeli demand, not much of a man, but merely a puppet. He is currently attempting to change the laws so Israeli politicians cannot be arrested in the UK under war crime charges, simply because it’s an embarrassment to his government. He is fully aware however that these courts work on an “Innocent until proven guilty” basis, thus, if the Israeli politicians are not guilty they have nothing to fear. The reason they do fear is because they ARE guilty, Brown aware of this fact, continues to try and protect these war criminals. He is in league with the war criminals, and equally responsible for little and no progress made in Palestine since Operation Cast Lead. Shame on the Labour government, shame on him. This being said, the Conservative government are no better. David Cameron commended Israel on Operation Cast Lead. A deluded man who I fear will be in power come next elections. Time will tell how his leadership pans out, but I’m pretty certain he’s in favour of Israel.

On to Egypt’s sad excuse of a human being, president Hosni Mubarak. The Viva Palestina Convoy is composed of 250 vehicles and ordinary people who have dedicated their time and efforts into rebuilding Gaza as well as they can without the much needed political backing of the Western governments. This convoy has been forced to detour thanks to Cairo’s obstruction and Mubarak’s bull headedness. So Egypt refused to allow it to go through the Red Sea port of Nuweiba, and the convoy is now taking a detour through Syria Latakia attempting to enter Egypt through the Mediterranean port city of El-Arish. The convoy was scheduled to deliver medical, humanitarian and educational aid to Gazans on December 27, which marked the first year anniversary of Israel’s three-week massacre. I have no doubt that the convoy will eventually reach where it must, no help of course from Mubarak. This man should be ashamed. A man who shows no compassion for his fellow Arabs living in poverty as a result of the actions of Israel.

So, one year on, not much has been done. I speak on behalf of all supporters of Palestine however when I say that in 2010 we will not forget the massacre by Israel. We will not forget the continuing oppression, the illegal occupation and the apartheid wall.  We will continue to protest, continue to boycott, make our voices heard, support the Palestinians with what is in our power to do so. Donate books, clothes, money, anything which will help get Gaza back on track. We will make sure that our politicians do not hear the end of it. Israel are owed a tribunal for their war crimes, let’s make it happen in 2010.

I wish you all a happy new year, may 2010 be a year of changes.

Related posts:

1. Egyptian leaders should be ashamed
2. Gordon Brown supports war criminals
3. Tzipi Livni is proud of murder

The beautiful thing about the British Judicial System (like most) is that you are innocent until proven guilty. You will not be convicted unless there is hard and sound evidence supporting the allegations. Nothing to fear really, unless of course you are actually guilty of the allegations, then yes, perhaps you should show some concern.

As to why David Miliband, the foreign secretary, phoned Livni and called his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman to apologise, is beyond me.

Since when to politicians get involved in legal issues and individual cases? The decision by Gordon Brown to try and change the law that allows for such arrest warrants has outraged many people.

One lawyer stated: “The Geneva Conventions Act of 1957 places a positive obligation on the UK to pursue those who are alleged to have committed grave offences under the act, in the light of the Goldstone report there is a prima facie case to answer.” So basically, it is the duty of the UK to pursue those alleged to be responsible in war crimes.

Shame on Gordon Brown, he is a weak leader who has decided to change a law that can bring mass murderers to justice simply to avoid embarrassment.

Related posts:

1. Tzipi Livni is proud of murder
2. One year on – Israeli assault on Gaza
3. Protest – Benjamin Netanyahu visits London