Thousands of Palestinians held rallies in Nablus, Gaza and Ramallah on Oct. 3, to show solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike since Sept. 27.

There are 6,000 to 8,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including women and children, many of them imprisoned without trial and others serving long terms.

The prisoners’ hunger strike was called to protest the solitary confinement of some prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, who was placed in isolation after he called for mass demonstrations across the occupied territories and the world in support of the Palestinian bid for U.N. membership. Arrested and detained since 2002, Barghouti is a hugely popular elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, dubbed “Palestine’s Mandela” by Israeli writer Uri Avnery. Like Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa’s first democratically elected president after being imprisoned for 27 years, Barghouti is considered a possible successor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian prisoners are continuously subject to lengthy solitary confinements, sudden night raids and torture. The Israeli prison administration also deprives Palestinian political detainees of the simple right of bathing, access to clean clothes and family visits. Prisoners also suffer as a result of an improper diet and a lack of medical attention.

Call, write, fax or e-mail the U.S. State Department, Red Cross and the Israeli Embassy to ask them to end the suffering of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails. Show your solidarity for Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.

U.S. State Department
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Dept. of State
Washington, DC 20520
State Dept. Public information Line: 202-647-6575

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
P.O. Box 372
CH-1211
Geneva 19
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 730 42 22
Fax: +41 22 733 03 95

International Federation of Red Cross New York Delegation to the UN
420 Lexington Avenue
Suite 2811
New York, NY 10170
USA
Tel: (212) 338 0161
Fax: (212) 338 9832

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
19 Avenue de la paix
CH 1202
Geneva, Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 733 20 57 

ICRC Media and Public Relations Officer for Middle East
Hicham HASSAN
Tel: +41 22 730 25 41
Mobile: +41 79 536 92 57
hihassan@icrc.org

American Red Cross National Headquarters
2025 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
202 303 4498
(1) 800 RED CROSS

Israeli Embassy
3514 International Dr. NW
Washington, DC 20008-3021
Tel: 202-364-5500
Fax: 202.364.5423

Let's FLOOD the emails and fax machines of Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, Major-General Avi Mizrahi and Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit

Stop Maskiot settlers driving Palestinians off their land

Urgent call for support from internationals in Palestine and around the world

For the last three weeks Palestinians in the northern Jordan Valley been subject to a concerted campaign of harassment and intimidation. It is becoming quite clear that Israeli settlers from nearby Maskiot want to steal yet more land from Palestinian communities, and are being aided and abetted by the Israeli army and police.

On 11th April the water was turned off in Bardala to prevent farmers from irrigating their crops, then on 12th April the Israeli occupation authorities declared the area of Ain Al-Maleh a closed military zone and prevented farmers and herders from entering their lands. The intimidation continued on 15th April when the Israeli occupation authorities raided Kirbet Al Farisiya and seized four water pumps belonging to local farmers.

The situation became far more serious on 25th April when armed settlers from Maskiot settlement, supported by the Israeli army and police from the settlement, erected a tent just 10 metres away from the entrance to the Palestinian Bedouin community of El Maleh and ordered the Bedouin community off the land. For four days this community refused to leave their home, despite constant abuse, harassment and intimidation, including theft of their property. Then, in the early hours of Thursday 29th the Army rewarded the settlers for their violence and theft. They declared the area a Closed Military Zone and forced the Bedouin family to dismantle their home and leave.

The previous evening, in a nearby Palestinian community two young Palestinian children were run over and killed by and Israeli army jeep. Local people believe this is connected to the earlier events in Al Maleh – the jeep had been driving round the area, constantly passing and intimidating local communities, and had circled around the tractor that the children were riding on, before driving straight over them.

The situation in this area is now very serious, with the local community being very worried about what will happen next. They have made repeated appeals over the last two weeks for support, and they need to know that support is available and people are able to act very quickly if they are subjected to further attacks.

Therezia, from Brighton Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group, who is in the area, has made this appeal:

"We desperately needed more internationals to come and support this community under threat. We are worried that the settlers will now try to use the same tactics in other areas, and it is really important that internationals in Palestine are able to respond quickly to support the communities in the Jordan Valley"

What can you do?

If you are in Palestine:

Contact Therezia or Fathy, ask them what support they need on the ground. They particularly need to hear from people who would be able to respond quickly in the event of further attacks.

Contact:
Therezia 00972 597215876
Fathy 0599352266 or 0507799232
brightontubas@gmail.com
www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org

If you are not in Palestine:

Please write/email to the following to protest at the illegal actions of the Maskiot settlers, and to demand that the Bedouin community should be allowed to stay free from violence and intimidation.

Ehud Barak
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence
Ministry of Defence
37 Kaplan Street
Hakirya
Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax:
+972 3 691 6940
+972 3 696 2757
+972 3 691 7915

Emails:
minister@mod.gov.il and ehudb@knesset.gov.il and pniot@mod.gov.il

Website:
www.mod.gov.il

Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit
Judge Advocate General
6 David Elazar Street
Hakirya
Tel Aviv, Israel
Fax:
+972 3 569 4526
+972 3 608 0366

Emails:
avimn@.idf.gov.il and arbel@mail.idf.il

Major-General Avi Mizrahi
Commander, West Bank
GOC Central Command
Military Post 01149
Battalion 877, Israel Defense Forces
Israel
Fax:
+972 2 530 5741
+972 2 530 5724

Perhaps also the PM?

Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan St.
PO Box 187
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Hakirya, Jerusalem 91950
Israel

Fax: +972 2-6496659

Emails:
bnetanyahu@knesset.gov.il and PM_ENG2@pmo.gov.il and PMO.HEB@it.pmo.gov.il and pm_eng@pmo.gov.il and sOffice@it.pmo.gov.il

Contact your state congressmen or senators today. The U.S. Congress is considering a bill to vote for it's annual $3 Billion assistance to Israel's IOF.

The US 2011 budget is now in the House Appropriations Committee, and Israel is to be given another $3 Billion in Military Aid! In past years, Israel has been given this "aid" with no discussion, no conditions that must be met, no reporting requirements, and no incremental/quarterly payments as is done with every other country receiving such Aid. These practices clearly must be stopped if the US is to be able to bring Israel to end all building of settlements, open Gaza and enter into good faith negotiations for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace agreement.

It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that our House Representatives hear from us NOW, before the $'s are approved with no changes, no conditions that Israel must meet! Tell your Rep. by phone, email or fax to insist on placing conditions on the release of more of our tax dollars (see section B - for sample text for you to "paste" into your congressperson's contact "box" - We've tested it and it will fit into those typical "boxes").

In Section C you will find the names, phone numbers and key aide of all 8 Democratic members of the powerful Appropriations Subcommittee for State and Foreign Operations. They make the initial recommendation to the house for these funds. They are key to this process, so PLEASE CONTACT THEM ALSO. We need them to add the necessary conditions on the release of any aid to Israel! We can make a difference!

A - Talking Points for your phone calls:

1- No funds released until all settlement construction is halted in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

2- No funds released until Israel opens up Gaza.

3- No funds released until the Administration fully investigates Israel's possible violations of the US Arms Export Control Act in the recent attack on Gaza - including the preliminary evidence in the Goldstone Report.

4- No funds released until Israel has withdrawn all military checkpoints, barriers, troops, walls/fences, military zones and installations from the West Bank (the pre June 5, 1967 borders).

B - Sample text for your congressperson's "contact me box":

2011 Budget time is here. We must not continue to support the land takeover and brutal occupation of recognized Palestinian land.

The World is watching us and our continued unconditional support is harming the USA, and Israel's continued actions harm them.

Please ensure that certain reasonable, easily achievable, conditions on the release of that Military Aid to Israel is enacted in this budget. All of these conditions may be met with Israel's security insured, in fact, their security will be much improved by these conditions being implemented. Placing conditions on the release of aid will assist the Administrations efforts to bring Israel and the Palestinians to a negotiated agreement and an end to this terrible situation.

2011 Military Aid to Israel be given in quarterly amounts based on:

• 1st qtr - No funds released until all settlement construction is halted in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
• 2nd qtr - No funds released until Israel has allowed Gaza: all food, medical aid, water purification and sewer treatment supplies; safe access to farm land and fishing; necessary building materials and supplies; movement and access as agreed upon in the 2005 Agreement.
• 3rd qtr - No funds released until the Administration presents Congress with a full investigation of Israel's possible violations of the Arms Export Control Act during the Dec. 08 - Jan. 09 attack on Gaza. The investigation is to include relevant portions of the UN's Goldstone Report.
• 4th qtr - No funds released until Israel, with appropriate security in place, has withdrawn all military checkpoints, barriers, troops, walls/fences, military zones and installations from the West Bank (the pre June5, 1967 borders).

C - This is the Subcommittee that makes the first approval on the proposed Military Aid to Israel: (Swarm them with faxes, it is all about numbers!)

Appropriations Subcommittee for State and Foreign Affairs - Democrats

• Nita M. Lowey, New York - Chair NY-18^th Dist. Office in White Plains.
  DC Office 202-225-6506, Fax - 0546
• Ann.Vaughan@mail.house.gov (Lowey's aide for this subcommittee)
• Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Illinois
  DC - 202-225-0773, Fax -0899
• Charles.Dujon@mail.house.gov
• Adam Schiff, California
  DC - 202-225-4176, Fax 5828
• Timothy.Bergreen@mail.house.gov
• Betty McCollum, Minnesota
  DC 202-225-6631, Fax 1968
• Peter.Frosch@mail.house.gov
• Steven R. Rothman, New Jersey
  DC 202-225-5061, Fax 5851
• Jonathan.Moore@mail.house.gov
• Barbara Lee, California
  DC 202-225-2661, Fax 9817
• Julie.nickson@mail.house.gov
• Scott.Exner@mail.house.gov
• Steve Israel, New York
  DC 202-225-3335, Fax 4669
• Mike.Ryan@mail.house.gov
• Ben Chandler, Kentucky
  DC 202-225-4706, Fax 2122
• Jim.Creevy@mail.house.gov
• David R. Obey, Wisconsin, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and Ex-Officio on this Subcommittee
  DC 202-225-3365
• Anne.Georges@mail.house.gov

The opposition is panicking!

AIPAC'S Call - in support of Aid! http://action.aipac.org/security_aid/

Source: www.14friendsofpalestine.org

On April 14th, Canada will be issuing a "Canada-Israel Diplomatic Relations" commemorative stamp to celebrate 60 years of relations. In light of on-going occupation, policies of racial segregation and war-crimes against the Palestinian people, we ask what is there to celebrate?

Please take a minute to send the following message to John Baird (baird.j@parl.gc.ca), the Minister responsible for Canada Post Corporation and Rob Merrifield (Merrifield.R@parl.gc.ca), the Minister of State (Transport) to express your anger at Canada Post's joint issue stamp with Israel Post.

CUT AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING INTO YOUR EMAIL:

To: baird.j@parl.gc.ca, Merrifield.R@parl.gc.ca

CC: IgnatM@parl.gc.ca, laytoj@parl.gc.ca, DucepG@parl.gc.ca

Dear Mr. Baird and Mr. Merrifield:

I am writing to express condemnation of your decision to launch a $1.70 "Canada-Israel Diplomatic Relations" joint issue stamp on April 14th. The stamp comes a little more than a year after Israel launched a brutal assault on the Gaza Strip that left 1400 Palestinians, including 320 children, dead. According to the Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, Israel was found responsible for grave violations of international humanitarian law and war-crimes.

Canada Post should be taking the lead from its employees - represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) - in endorsing the call by over 170 Palestinian civil society organization for a comprehensive campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) targeting Israeli institutions complicit with violations of international law. This is a non-violent and effective means of pursuing peace and justice in Israel/Palestine.

Along these lines, it should be noted that Israel Post continues its complicity with the Israeli occupation by servicing Israeli settlements in direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and actively promoting Israeli militarism through a series of stamp issues to that end. Furthermore, Israel continues to impede and disrupt mail delivery throughout Palestine, including through its nearly 3 year long siege on the Gaza Strip and its system of nearly 500 checkpoints throughout the West Bank.

I see little reason to 'celebrate' such policies at the expense of tax-payers residing in Canada.

Sincerely,

Enforcement started TODAY against:

* Gazans living or attending school in the West Bank (WB)-many of whom fled after Hamas assumed control of Gaza
* Jordanians (most of which are of Palestinian origins) living in the WB-many of whom are married to West Bankers
* Expats working with NGOs, especially advocacy groups
* Jerusalemites working in the WB-the IOF will force them to choose their "center of life"

Some court cases may be pending in the next few days to suspend implementation of the new law, the enforcement of which will likely be at checkpoints. The number of possible expulsions ranges from 70,000–125,000.

The new military order aimed at preventing "infiltration" into the West Bank will came into force today; it puts under the sole jurisdiction of Israeli military courts those who are likely to be targeted by the new order [i.e., those whose ID cards bear home addresses in the Gaza Strip-people born in Gaza and their West Bank-born children-or those born in the West Bank or abroad who for various reasons lost their residency status and also foreign-born spouses of Palestinians].

The new order defines anyone who enters the West Bank illegally as an infiltrator, as well as "a person who is present in the area and does not lawfully hold a permit." The order takes the original 1969 definition of infiltrator to the extreme, as the term originally applied only to those illegally staying in Israel after having passed through countries then classified as enemy states-Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria...The order's language is both general and ambiguous, stipulating that the term infiltrator will also be applied to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, citizens of countries with which Israel has friendly ties (such as the United States) and Israeli citizens, whether Arab or Jewish. All this depends on the judgment of Israel Occupation Forces commanders in the field.

Islamic Jihad, Fatah, PLO condemn new military orders
Ma'an: http://bit.ly/ceCfnO

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and Fatah Central Committee leader Nabil Sha'ath issued their own condemnations of the orders, with Erekat calling them "an assault on ordinary Palestinians, and an affront to the most fundamental principles of human rights," and the tools of an "apartheid state."

IDF order will enable mass deportation from West Bank
By Amira Hass: http://bit.ly/cE13SF

A new military order aimed at preventing infiltration will come into force this week, enabling the deportation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank, or their indictment on charges carrying prison terms of up to seven years.

When the order comes into effect, tens of thousands of Palestinians will automatically become criminal offenders liable to be severely punished.

Given the security authorities' actions over the past decade, the first Palestinians likely to be targeted under the new rules will be those whose ID cards bear home addresses in the Gaza Strip - people born in Gaza and their West Bank-born children - or those born in the West Bank or abroad who for various reasons lost their residency status. Also likely to be targeted are foreign-born spouses of Palestinians.

Until now, Israeli civil courts have occasionally prevented the expulsion of these three groups from the West Bank. The new order, however, puts them under the sole jurisdiction of Israeli military courts.

The new order defines anyone who enters the West Bank illegally as an infiltrator, as well as "a person who is present in the area and does not lawfully hold a permit." The order takes the original 1969 definition of infiltrator to the extreme, as the term originally applied only to those illegally staying in Israel after having passed through countries then classified as enemy states - Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.

The order's language is both general and ambiguous, stipulating that the term infiltrator will also be applied to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, citizens of countries with which Israel has friendly ties (such as the United States) and Israeli citizens, whether Arab or Jewish. All this depends on the judgment of Israel Defense Forces commanders in the field.

The Hamoked Center for the Defense of the Individual was the first Israeli human rights to issue warnings against the order, signed six months ago by then-commander of IDF forces in Judea and Samaria Area Gadi Shamni.

Two weeks ago, Hamoked director Dalia Kerstein sent GOC Central Command Avi Mizrahi a request to delay the order, given "the dramatic change it causes in relation to the human rights of a tremendous number of people."

According to the provisions, "a person is presumed to be an infiltrator if he is present in the area without a document or permit which attest to his lawful presence in the area without reasonable justification." Such documentation, it says, must be "issued by the commander of IDF forces in the Judea and Samaria area or someone acting on his behalf."

The instructions, however, are unclear over whether the permits referred to are those currently in force, or also refer to new permits that military commanders might issue in the future. The provision are also unclear about the status of bearers of West Bank residency cards, and disregards the existence of the Palestinian Authority and the agreements Israel signed with it and the PLO.

The order stipulates that if a commander discovers that an infiltrator has recently entered a given area, he "may order his deportation before 72 hours elapse from the time he is served the written deportation order, provided the infiltrator is deported to the country or area from whence he infiltrated."

The order also allows for criminal proceedings against suspected infiltrators that could produce sentences of up to seven years. Individuals able to prove that they entered the West Bank legally but without permission to remain there will also be tried, on charges carrying a maximum sentence of three years. (According to current Israeli law, illegal residents typically receive one-year sentences.)

The new provision also allow the IDF commander in the area to require that the infiltrator pay for the cost of his own detention, custody and expulsion, up to a total of NIS 7,500.

The fear that Palestinians with Gaza addresses will be the first to be targeted by this order is based on measures that Israel has taken in recent years to curtail their right to live, work, study or even visit the West Bank. These measures violated the Oslo Accords.

According to a decision by the West Bank commander that was not backed by military legislation, since 2007, Palestinians with Gaza addresses must request a permit to stay in the West Bank. Since 2000, they have been defined as illegal sojourners if they have Gaza addresses, as if they were citizens of a foreign state. Many of them have been deported to Gaza, including those born in the West Bank.

Currently, Palestinians need special permits to enter areas near the separation fence, even if their homes are there, and Palestinians have long been barred from the Jordan Valley without special authorization. Until 2009, East Jerusalemites needed permission to enter Area A, territory under full PA control.

Another group expected to be particularly harmed by the new rules are Palestinians who moved to the West Bank under family reunification provisions, which Israel stopped granting for several years.

In 2007, amid a number of Hamoked petitions and as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, tens of thousands of people received Palestinian residency cards. The PA distributed the cards, but Israel had exclusive control over who could receive them. Thousands of Palestinians, however, remained classified as "illegal sojourners," including many who are not citizens of any other country.

The new order is the latest step by the Israeli government in recent years to require permits that limit the freedom of movement and residency previously conferred by Palestinian ID cards. The new regulations are particularly sweeping, allowing for criminal measures and the mass expulsion of people from their homes.

The IDF Spokesman's Office said in response, "The amendments to the order on preventing infiltration, signed by GOC Central Command, were issued as part of a series of manifests, orders and appointments in Judea and Samaria, in Hebrew and Arabic as required, and will be posted in the offices of the Civil Administration and military courts' defense attorneys in Judea and Samaria. The IDF is ready to implement the order, which is not intended to apply to Israelis, but to illegal sojourners in Judea and Samaria."

TAKE ACTION:

Phone the White House to say this order will destroy any chances for peace and prevent charitable workers, teachers, and others from doing their jobs. (While you are at it, insist on a nuclear free Middle East-including Israel.) 202-456-1414 or 202-456-1111

Phone the U.S. State Department Public Information Line: 202-647-6575 ext 1

Phone the Israeli Embassy: 202-364-5500

Phone the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 011-972-2530-3111

Source: Washington Report

By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

THIS week, when I return to my village in the occupied West Bank, I face possible arrest by Israel for engaging in nonviolent protests against abusive Israeli policies opposed by our own government.

This prospect is difficult after 29 years of living in the United States, where such activities are fully protected. It was this openness that attracted me to the U.S. I became a proud citizen and pursued work not only in my profession but also as a human rights advocate.

Over the years, I gave hundreds of talks and participated in many vigils and protests, mostly against the war on Iraq and for justice and equality in Israel/Palestine. The activities always involved people of all backgrounds.

When I moved back to Palestine in early 2008, I continued to engage in these activities. I teach and have helped to establish a master’s program in biotechnology at Bethlehem University. I also pursue my passion of educating others on human rights and engaging in civil resistance through protests and vigils.

On March 1, shortly after I left my village near Bethlehem for a visit home to the United States, the Israeli army invaded the neighborhood and surrounded our house at 1:30 a.m. My mother, sister and wife, terrorized for no reason, told the military I was out of the country but would be “happy” to talk to them upon my return.

The soldiers delivered a note demanding my appearance in a military compound five days later — a date I have missed because my ticket was scheduled for a few days later. I thus face the likelihood of arrest, administrative detention or worse when I go back.

My story is just a minor manifestation of a disturbing pattern. As civil resistance against Israel’s West Bank apartheid wall and settlement activities have increased, there has been an escalation of Israeli repression of nonviolent protesters.

Nonviolent resistance to colonization and occupation are consistent with international law and U.S. policies. President Barack Obama has stated that settlement activities in the occupied territories must stop as a prelude to ending the occupation that started in 1967. Yet, Israeli authorities continue settlement activities apace, while intensifying attacks against peaceful vigils and protests against this indefensible behavior.

Obama also gave clear encouragement to nonviolent Palestinian demonstrators in his Cairo speech, yet has remained silent as nonviolent demonstrators have been seized in recent weeks by the Israeli military.

Bethlehem has suffered significantly because of Israeli actions. The district is squeezed now by illegal Israeli settlements and military installations on three sides. Bethlehem’s 130,00 residents have access to only 20 percent of the original land of the district. The settlers, protected by the Israeli military, now want to build a settlement in the only remaining open side of Bethlehem — to the east in an area called Ush Ghrab.

The people of my village, Beit Sahour, are known for a history of nonviolent resistance, including a tax revolt in 1988 against the Israeli military government. We are a town with limited resources, comprised of 70 percent Christians and 30 percent Muslims, but have a highly educated middle class with more than 300 holders of doctorates among the population of 12,000.

Having lost so much land, and being well-informed and connected to the outside world, we decided to nonviolently resist the additional Israeli encroachment on our town. The Israeli response relied on brute force. Our first prayer vigil was attacked while a Lutheran priest was leading us in prayer.

As a member of the committee that organized the vigil and another peaceful event a week later, I was targeted. An Israeli officer warned me not to participate and threatened me, noting he knew I was planning to come home to the U.S. for a lecture tour.

Given that the Israeli government receives billions in U.S. military aid, my taxes and yours at work, our government should defend those of us who engage in nonviolent protests. I was encouraged last week, therefore, in meeting with the office of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that his office will pursue my concerns with the State Department and the Israeli government.

While I fear for myself, I am more worried for other activists who do not have the minimal protection of a U.S. passport. And, I am terribly worried for our future as we are squeezed into smaller and smaller apartheid-like Bantustans.

We will not be deterred from nonviolent protest. Despite being let down by numerous governments, we look to the United States and elsewhere in the international community to help defend us from abusive and violent responses to nonviolence.

* Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh is a tireless activist for Palestinian human rights who returned to his hometown of Beit Sahour in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and now teaches at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities. He previously served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Duke and Yale Universities. He is now president of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People in Beit Sahour, a suburb of Bethlehem. The author of Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle.

Call to action: Contact the State Department at 202-647-6575 or email them by clicking here: http://bit.ly/aoJVMp

Ask the U.S, State Department to intervene with Israel to keep Dr, Qumsiyeh safe and out of jail.

Between 2009-2018, the United States is scheduled to give Israel--the largest recipient of U.S. aid--$30 billion in military aid. Through its illegal 42-year military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, Israel misuses U.S. weapons in violation of U.S. law to kill and injure Palestinian civilians, destroy Palestinian civilian infrastructure, blockade the Gaza Strip, and build illegal settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem.

How much of this total will your community provide? Is this a good use of your tax dollars? What else could your taxes be used for in your community? Find out on the interactive map below.

(Click on any state to check the figures)

Source: http://www.aidtoisrael.org/
Get the map code to embed on your blog from here!

Written by Free Gaza Team | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

This spring, the Free Gaza Movement is sending at least six boats to Gaza to break Israel’s illegal blockade on 1.5 million Palestinians. This blockade constitutes an act of collective punishment, a crime prohibited under international humanitarian law. Gaza's man-made and internationally perpetuated crisis is set to deepen as Egypt builds an Iron wall 30 meters deep   on the southern Rafah border, closing off the final route for Palestinians to get basic supplies.

The urgency of breaking the blockade grows by the day, as Palestinians living in this prison are denied their most basic rights.

Our mission will include two boats committed by a Turkish NGO plus a cargo ship purchased with donations from the Malaysian people. This ship will be loaded with cement, water filtration systems and paper - all essential reconstruction materials denied entry to Gaza by Israel.

Free Gaza's missions were the first to challenge Israel’s hermetic closing of Gaza when we sailed two small boats into Gaza in August 2008. We did not ask permission of Israel or Egypt to travel to Gaza and sailed directly from international waters into the waters of Gaza. Since then, we have been the catalyst for a growing international movement of civilian advocates, including the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina.

Of course we will face Israel’s illegal naval blockade. But we have broken through it before and we will do it again. We are writing to ask you to make sure the mission is funded and publicized.

We sailed four more successful missions to Gaza since August 2008, and we intend to come back this year with a small flotilla, so you still have time to get boats and come with us. We are calling on all NGOs, human rights organizations and communities around the world to join us. If you already have funding for boats, we can provide the logistical and technical advice on how get them ready to join the flotilla. If you want to help in other ways, we have listed five below.

1. Fundraise for this trip. Consider organizing a big or small fundraiser in your community. We already have people available to speak at your events. http://www.freegaza.org/speakers. Friends returning from the Gaza Freedom March, or the Viva Palestina convoy can be especially helpful by turning report backs into fundraisers.
2. Get your community involved and turn this flotilla into a global effort. Our boats will carry building supplies and school supplies, both banned by Israeli authorities. Contribute by donating paper, ink or books for our Right to Read campaign: http://www.freegaza.org/right-to-read. If you can donate reconstruction supplies, please contact us. Get your children and their schools involved by having them write letters to children in Gaza that we will carry on our boats and deliver.
3. Publicize the trip. Once we have announced the date, help us get the message out to the media and to your elected officials to assure the passengers and boats will sail safely.
4. Ask your Member of Parliament/Congress to come with us. We already have MPs from South America, South Africa, Malaysia, Turkey and Europe who are going. If you have contacts with other high profile people, please let us know.
5. Volunteer as land crew, media or support crew in your countries.

To help, organize a fundraiser, suggest passengers and offer support, please email us at friends@freegaza.org, and we will follow up immediately. We have only two to three months to finish organizing, raise the additional funds, and to set sail.

Join us as we sail together to Gaza this spring!

By Stuart Littlewood* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Dignitaries, emissaries, human rights delegations, fact-finding trippers... they come and go, but Gaza's suffering continues and day by day gets worse, thanks to the corrupted leadership of the international community who are the scandal of our age.

But here's a spot of Christmas cheer for the starving, desolated Palestinians imprisoned in the tiny coastal enclave.

Sometime in February they are likely to get a visit from none other than the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. At least, that's what his office at Lambeth Palace says. Yes, archbishops in England live in palaces and hang out in the House of Lords.

The top religious figure in England hopes to call at the Al-Ahli Hospital for which he has raised several thousand pounds in the past year. Al-Ahli is an 80-bed facility providing emergency care and mobile clinics in the Gaza Strip. During the blitzkrieg a year ago it dealt with many of the badly wounded. "Clearly the situation in Gaza is desperate," says the Palace. With fellow Anglicans in the region under the leadership of the Bishop of Jerusalem Suheil Dawani, they are actively engaged in humanitarian relief and advocacy.

That may be. But there is little mention of it here in England.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams

"Why not visit the Strip?" I suggested. "Ask Brown and Blair to fix it, and don't take 'no' for an answer. Galvanise the government and remind them of their Christian duty to defend and protect the weak: somebody should. Of course, that is the duty of all decent men, Christian or not."

Will the archbishop bring a smile to the face of God?

On past performance, however, Gazans needn't get too excited. I have seen no statement about Gaza on the archbishop's website for nearly a year. And while Israel was planning its infamous Cast Lead operation, which resulted in the cynical slaughter of hundreds of Palestinian women and children, the archbishop accompanied Chief Rabbi Sachs to Auschwitz to preach against extreme hostility and genocide. The archbishop called it "a place of utter profanity" and spoke of the collective corruption and moral sickness that made the Holocaust possible.

If and when he arrives in Gaza he'll witness a holocaust of another kind. The irony of his remarks about Auschwitz were not lost on the besieged Gazans, who are still under daily bombardment by their mad-dog tormentors. Unfortunately Lambeth Palace has given no further details of the archbishop's trip. Whom will he meet? Will he also visit the exhausted Al-Shifa hospital, which has taken the brunt of the casualties? Will he shoot the breeze with Ismail Haniyeh, the (legitimate) Palestinian prime minister, bishop to imam? Will he see the health minister, Basem Na'im? Will he look up Fr Manuel Mussallam, the redoubtable old priest who has been a mainstay of the Christian community thoughout Gaza's darkest hours? Fr Manuel, a man of true grit, recently retired but is probably contactable in the West Bank.

Will he paddle on Gaza's beach? Will he cast his net upon the waters with Gaza's fishermen, and scorn the machine-gun fire from marauding Israeli warships?

Gazans might perhaps write with helpful suggestions to publicaffairs@lambethpalace.org.uk

Will Rowan Williams bring a smile to the face of God? I hope so, for it is not too late.

He will have already done more than the Pope. That expensively frocked individual, who has a bigger stake in the Holy Land than anyone else in the Western world, earlier this year "refrained" from visiting the smoking ruins of Gaza to show solidarity with his terrified flock, and instead played the tourist in the Occupied Territories next-door. He chose the word "refrain" in his excuse to the media. It smacked of abstinence, as if abstaining from sex, and infuriated those who had suffered so much.

If this Vicar of Christ is a force for good, where is the armada he should have sent to bring relief to his Christian community and to his Muslim brothers and sisters?

'Salt of the earth' aim to break the siege for human decency's sake

British MP George Galloway speaks to reporters in Damascus December 21, 2009, during his campaign to aid Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

It seems that the salt of the earth from our city back-streets - assorted Christians, Muslims, atheists and even Jews - who organized, joined or supported the convoy, have more understanding of compassion and the teachings of Christ than all the learned navel-gazers in the Vatican.

I can find no specific reference to the human tragedy of the Holy Land on the Vatican's website. The Pope "refrains" from mentioning it even in his New Year's Message celebrating the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2010.

Nor do I see Christmas greetings to Gazans on the Lambeth Palace website.

When Archbishop Rowan gets home from his historic visit, what will he do? He and 25 of his colleagues sit in the British parliament's House of Lords. They have clout. But in a quick search through theyworkforyou.com I could find no recent record of these 'super-clerics' raising questions about Israel's murderous onslaught, the unending persecution of the Christian and Muslim communities and the unlawful restrictions imposed on the Holy Land generally. No criticism of the British government's inaction either.

When its leader has seen and heard the awful truth at source, and reported it, what will the Anglican church as a whole then do to begin the process of improving the human condition in the Holy Land and safeguarding its spiritual legacy?

* Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. Read other articles by Stuart, or visit Stuart's website.

Lifta, a most picturesque Palestinian village, lies on the slopes of West Jerusalem below the highway linking it to Tel-Aviv. It has been abandoned since the invading Hagana underground forces backed by the Stern Gang drove the last of its Palestinian inhabitants in 1948 during the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

It was the one single event which changed the nature of the place and the whole region. Although dozens of houses were destroyed, many of them still remain poised on the landscape.

Lifta is considered by many as a rare and fine example of Palestinian rural architecture with narrow streets aligned with the slopes of the mountains around it. Its cubist forms are a wonderful manifestation of the mastery of the Palestinian stone masons who were the indigenous owners and builders of these houses.

Today Lifta is more or less a ghost town suspended in space and remains deserted despite the fact that most of its original Palestinian inhabitants live in the surrounding communities. The Israeli authorities refuse to allow them to return.

Now the Jerusalem Municipality has produced plans to turn Lifta into a luxurious and exclusive Jewish development – reinventing its history in the process.

The Plan, numbered 6036, was designed by two architectural offices: G. Kartas – S. Grueg and S. Ahronson, as part of the “local space planning of Jerusalem”. The plan was submitted on June 28, 2004, and according to its title refers to “The Spring of National”. The plan, submitted to the Jerusalem Municipality Planning Committee in 2004, was approved by a regional committee.

In 2005, objections to the Plan were raised by several groups, including Bimkom (alternative center for Israeli planning) and the representatives of the regional committee of the organization and construction for the Al Quds-Jerusalem area.

Main Issues:

• The original Palestinian inhabitants of Lifta, their memories of the village, their exile and longing to return to Lifta are not mentioned, or even considered by the Municipality Master Plan.

• Lifta captures the moment of destruction of Palestinian life in 1948. Its 3,000 original inhabitants fled – mostly to East Jerusalem and to the Ramallah area. However, unlike many of the 530 Palestinian villages and towns conquered and bulldozed during the war of 1947/48, a few of Lifta’s houses remain almost intact, yet deserted and declared ‘officially’ resettled.

• These set of circumstances have placed Lifta in a unique position: its original inhabitants are still around, living in the OPT and the Chicago area with a desire that the injustices done in 1948 be acknowledged and repaired.

• In Israel, renovation projects are frequently used to build a national narrative, ignoring the deep contradictions between planning and human rights that inevitably arise out of such initiatives.

• With Lifta, we have a place where a new national transformation results in the erasure of another’ people’s memory as evidenced in the new Masterplan.

• Lifta is a tangible embodiment of the larger context of events in the region during 1947/48. Lifta can be a vital place for contemplating and understanding the concept of historical continuity.

• Lifta’s heritage is a story of a multicultural society, embracing a strong sense of an ethnically and religiously diverse community of Muslims, Jews and Christians which encapsulated a healthy civil equality amongst its inhabitants and the neighbouring communities. If Lifta were to be rejuvenated with due care to preserving its memory, it could offer a unique opportunity for the start of a new dialogue towards a conciliatory outcome.

Petition’s Aim:

This petition aims to save Lifta through the World Monuments Fund , amongst others, and to draw attention to this site which has been threatened by neglect, vandalism and forced occupation by extremist settlers.

Sign the petition

Please also visit the sponsor: http://www.1948.org.uk/

"Right and wrong are the same in Palestine as anywhere else. What is peculiar about the Palestine conflict is that the world has listened to the party that has committed the offence and has turned a deaf ear to the victims."
--Famed British Historian Professor Arnold Toynbee

"In the name of justice there cannot be subjection and in the name of peace there cannot be impunity."
--President Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia

"Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
-- Elie Wiesel

The Honorable Marit Arnstad, Chairman of the board

The Honorable Rector Torbjern Digernes

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Trondheim, Norway

Rarely in history do individuals, minority groups, or institutions have an opportunity to courageously adopt a principled unpopular stand that could be transformative in world affairs.

For sometime during the genocide of Gaza it was two extraordinary Norwegian physicians and humanitarians who risked their lives to save the lives of Gazans.

'This is what hell must look like'

Two Norwegian doctors witnessed first-hand the nightmare scenes inside Gaza
Guardian, January 16, 2009

Norway has always been known for its worldwide humanitarian efforts and generous foreign aid. It is no coincidence that Norway is always ranked first in the world by the United Nations.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has just such a historic opportunity tomorrow when it considers voting for an academic boycott of Israel, a nation that for too long has lived by violence, ethnic cleansing, military expansionism, illegal occupations, subjugation of millions of innocent Palestinians, defied all divine and international laws that respect and value human life, and that since its establishment has committed countless terrorist acts and war crimes, lately documented by the Goldstone Report, all with impunity, never accountable for its actions in courts of justice, the U.N., or to all of humanity. The West, especially the U.S., has constantly protected Israel's interests at the expense of its own interests.

You may remember this headline in Aftenposten, 12/1/06:

"USA threats after boycott support"

"US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatened Norway with "serious political consequences" after Finance Minister and Socialist Left Party leader Kristin Halvorsen admitted to supporting a boycott of Israeli goods."

A quote by the Nobel Prize Winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn encompasses both Israel's non stop violence against innocent Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, and Jordanian civilians and its brilliant intimidating propaganda that established the persecutor as the persecuted.

"Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle."

As a former academician I plead and urge you to take the only righteous stand possible against Israel and that is for your esteemed University to vote yes on an academic boycott of Israel. Your courage will open the door for Universities and other institutions around the world to follow your example.

In 1982 Sharon invaded Lebanon committing a widespread genocide that began in Southern Lebanon and ended in a three month devastating siege of Beirut, a city overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of refugees from Southern Lebanon who fled the Israeli army's advance. This genocide resulted in the murder of 20,000 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians other than the cold blooded massacre of 1,700 Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila. Under Sharon's protection, encouragement, and direction, the Christian Phalangists shed the blood of men, women, the elderly, and children. Sharon even provided powerful night lights for the murderers' to commit their slaughter. All the world could do is condemn the massacre without laying blame on Israel.

From the air, sea, and land Sharon unleashed his murderous campaign upon a crowded urban city bombing churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, orphanages, retirement homes, electrical and water plants, roads, bridges, the airport and sea port; not even ambulances and medics were spared.

He would bomb bakeries where men, women, and children stood in long lines for scarce bread.

Planes would bomb an area and await the gathering of ambulances, medics, and citizens to pull persons out of the wreckage only to bomb it again to inflict more casualties.

Ambassador Phil Habib, Reagan's personal envoy to stop the genocide in Beirut worked hard to reach a peace agreement between Sharon and Lebanon while promising the safety of the Palestinian civilians upon the departure of Yasser Arafat and the PLO from Lebanon. However, he discovered that Israel could never be trusted to keep its word.

In John Boykin's book, "Cursed is the Peacemaker" (2002, Applegate Press) he quotes Ambassador Habib as saying.

"I had signed this paper which guaranteed that these people in west Beirut would not be harmed. I got specific guarantees on this from Bashir (President of Lebanon) and from the Israelis--from Sharon'. He said he 'had been given assurances... that no action would be taken against the Palestinians remaining in the camps.... On the basis of those assurances we (Americans) had given our word. We had been deceived.... Sharon was a killer, obsessed by hatred of the Palestinians,' Habib said. 'I had given Arafat an undertaking that his people would not be harmed, but this was totally disregarded by Sharon whose word was worth nothing.'"

As is customary with Israel and U.N. Resolutions, Israel defied and rejected over a dozen UN Security Council Resolutions asking Israel to at least allow humanitarian aid into Beirut.

Israel's intransigence to make peaceful concessions to the Palestinians that they too may enjoy the freedom, liberty, and independence their occupiers enjoy makes us all complicit in this tragedy with our silence and inaction.

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is shocking that the world accepts Israel's genocides and threats against its neighbors as fait accompli without regard to the never ending suffering of Palestinians under its brutal military occupation. Palestinians and Lebanese die, suffer, and endure in silence in a world conditioned to accept Israel's "right to self defense", a euphemism for wanton murder. They die in silence absent from the western conscience due to the blanket support of most western media outlets, none more so than in America ,the nation exporting democracy and freedom through smart bombs and biased politicians who if dare to criticize Israel jeopardize their ambitions and become the recipients of the worst media smears. In the U.S. no debate or action is allowed against Israel neither by our own "never challenge Israel" government nor by our staunchly Pro Israel media.

The academicians and experts invited to your university to speak on this issue know first hand their personal victimization at the hands of Pro Israel forces. They have risked much for the truth and are honorable men and women.

Please do the right thing and vote for an academic boycott of Israel, a nation that is neither civilized nor democratic, by setting an educational precedent for your university, faculty, alumni, but most importantly for your students, that standing up for principle is the foundation for all just laws and human rights for all peoples and not just the powerful few.

Teach them to adopt "freedom from fear" as their guiding principle in life while facing all challenges, especially challenges that discriminate between the powerful and the weak, the haves and have nots, that no people should be victimized by the power of money and weapons.

""Freedom from fear" could be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights"
--The late Honorable Dag Hammarskjold

"Giving Flight To Dreams"....Yes, we dare to dream, we dare to act.

By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh *

It is not easy to remain a racist oppressor and it is getting harder to keep deflecting the critics by asking them to focus on nonexistent threats (like Iran). The Human Rights Council accuses Israel of war crimes in Gaza and the Israeli government panics and deals with it as a public relations challenge!. Israeli human rights groups challenge Israel home demolitions in Jerusalem and a UN experts' panel names Israel as profiting from Ivory Coast blood diamonds. Heads are buried in the sand. Israeli leaders are either foregoing trips (to Europe where they may be arrested for war crimes) or going to speak and heckled and challenged by human rights activists (e.g. Olmert's tour of the US). Israel is being called to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Spain is fuming after Netanyahu asks the right-wing government of Italy to retain control of UNIFIL. Amnesty study shows how much Israel steals Palestinian water and deprives Palestinians of water. And the list is endless.

Israel however has lots of money from US taxpayers and from extortion and from deluded Jewish Zionists around the world. Zionism deploys legions of lobbyists and media/hasbara people and they are all working overtime. Some are members of the US Congress and managed to pass resolutions that violate US laws but please Israel. One Israeli apologist heckled Jewish American Anna Baltzer and Dr Mustafa Barghouthi on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart (see action alert below). Desperate mean actions are taken in last ditch attempts maintain a costly Jewish state with racist laws. Israeli jails are filling with human rights activists, conscientious objectors, civil resistance people and even journalists. Psy-ops (psychological warfare) are being waged by Israel to crush resistance to its colonial activities and stem the increased exposure in the era of the internet (when a video of settlers attacking olive pickers and cutting olive trees can circulate to millions in seconds). We see more denial of entry to Internationals, petty denial of education rights to Palestinian students (see Action below) and desperate moves to hide the atrocities.

All this (much of it backfiring) is reminiscent of what happened to south Africa in the 10 years preceding the end of apartheid. Thus, we are optimistic that we are in the final stage of a multi-stage process. The boycotts, divestments, and sanctions movement is mushrooming. More Israelis are joining the human wave demanding justice and equality and the Zionist movement has become more desperate in its fraudulent use of "anti-Semitism" and "self hating Jews" to silence the critics. Increasingly paranoid and shrieking delusions, even some life-long Zionists have started to question the direction of the movement and its increasingly ghettoized mentality. Others remain in their racist and ultimately self-destructive ways (several homes demolished in Jerusalem and in the Negev just the past two days creating far more animosity).

Instead of taking advantage of the weaknesses inherent in a racist ideology bent on ethnic cleansing, some Palestinians fell into the trap created by the Oslo process of talking about endless negotiations and elections for a "Palestinian Authority" (PA). In my humble opinion, the PA has already outlived its usefulness (it was supposed to be interim for five years anyway and now it is 16 years). The only elections we should be talking about are elections to the Palestinian National Council (rebuilding the PLO). This would be critical to avoid reducing the Palestinian question to the form of the Bantustans/ghettos in the West Bank and Gaza and who rules these ghettos. It is time to reshape and reinvigorate the struggle for freedom. And once Palestinians are free, the Jews who live here will be freed from the self-imposed chains of Zionism and racism.

Amnesty international devastating report on water usage in the West Bank is now available (PDF file): http://www.ngo-monitor.org/data/images/File/Amnesty_water_112.pdf

Action 1: Fill out the form to a) thank the Daily show for interviewing Anna Baltzer and Mustafa Barghouthi and b) ask why the version broadcast was edited in a way to remove the most critical parts of what Anna said. The major issues cut out were (1) the US role in aiding Israel, (2) the lack of adequate coverage in mainstream US media, and (3) the Palestinian-led movement for Boycott / Divestment / Sanctions (BDS) to nonviolently pressure Israel to comply with international law. Go to http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml (make sure to choose The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as your topic). You may also want to join the forums of the daily show and post your thoughts there and also call 212-468-1700.
(the unedited version) Dr. Mustafa Barghouti and Anna Baltzer on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show http://www.thedailyshow.com/?kw=thedailyshow&xrs=SI_70251174_3712568170_0

Action 2: Send a letter to the Israeli military authorities by email (cogatspokesman@gmail.com) or by fax (+972 3 697 6306) and let them know that you demand that they release Berlanty Azzam immediately so that she can resume and complete her last year of studies at the Vatican-sponsored Bethlehem University (she is being threatened with deportation back to Gaza).

Action 3: Resist the visit by the racist "mayor" of occupied Jerusalem representing the apartheid regime that built 50,000 housing units in Jerusalem for illegal settlers while demolishing hundreds of Palestinian homes in the city. November 3, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. Gates Concert Hall, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, University of Denver Campus 2344 E. Iliff Avenue, Denver. Demonstrations and other civil resistance actions requested to highlight Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing policies.

Finally a report from the conference "United in Struggle against Israeli Colonialism, Occupation and Racism"

24-25 October, 2009

Bethlehem, Palestine

Seminar Declaration

Towards the unity of all forces in struggle for boycott, divestment and sanctions for Palestine

Between the 24th and the 25th of October, 2009, the Occupied Palestine and Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI), together with the Alternative Information Center (AIC), organized an international seminar in the city of Bethlehem, Palestine. The seminar gathered Palestinian, international and anti-colonial Israeli activists, researchers, and others interested in promoting justice for the Palestinian people. The seminar placed a special emphasis on the economic interests behind the occupation and the potential impact that the international campaigns for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) can make in promoting justices for the Palestinian people. The seminar aimed to review, develop, and document the Palestinian advocacy mechanisms locally and internationally, to determine the impact of such efforts so far, in addition to raising the level of cooperation and coordination amongst the various related actions and activities.

The conduct of the seminar coincided with the continuing unprecedented state of polarization within the Palestinian people. The severe and disastrous consequences of this internal dispute not only hamper the current political performance of the Palestinian people, but also do away with years of sacrifice, struggle and accomplishments. Now, the Israeli occupation is at a crossroads facing a potentially historic opportunity to continue its politics of separation and expansion on all fronts, marked by the intensification of political assassinations, arrests, restrictions on movement and basic freedoms, takeover of lands, and the construction of settlements. While the process of Judaization and isolation of Jerusalem is accelerating, Israel insists on continuing the settlement and expansion activities in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, the daily crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, and the politics of aggression and discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

In light of the decision taken by the United Nations Human Rights Council to adopt the Report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (the Goldstone Report), the United in Struggle Seminar joins in the call on Arab, Palestinian and international civil society and official institutions to take appropriate measures to bring officials from the occupying Israeli state to justice.

The participants in the United in Struggle Seminar call for the following:

1. To immediately restore Palestinian national unity.

2. To activate the Palestine Liberation Organization in a democratic and inclusive manner that will permit the participation of all Palestinian forces and factions based on the Cairo Agreement of 2005.

3. To activate and construct Palestinian national frameworks that will reinforce the capacity of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli occupation and to consolidate progressive Palestinian principals.

4. To continue the efforts on all levels to hold the state of Israel and its leadership accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity in international courts and milieus.

5. To consolidate and continue the efforts to end the blockade on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

6. To firmly oppose politics and projects of normalization with Israel in the Arab world by activating the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for Palestine campaign (BDS).

7. To emphasise the 2005 invitation extended by Palestinian civil society to conscientious Israelis to support the call for BDS for the sake of justice and genuine peace.

8. To reinforce a stronger and more efficient position in the Arab states and societies to defend Jerusalem, in addition to boycotting all political, economic and cultural activities complicit with Israeli efforts to Judaize and isolate Jerusalem.

The Seminar Organizing Committee

* Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD, A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home. Author of Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle. http://qumsiyeh.org

Gaza Freedom March promo:

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUYA78E-WtY

For more info: http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/

Embed the video at your blog (copy code):

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yUYA78E-WtY&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed>

Illustration by Ben Heine

By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh *

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom." Martin Luther King Jr.

The past weekend, we had a conference over two days attended by over 200 people from around the world. The Conference addressed issues of Israeli colonialism, occupation, and racism. It was held in the Paradise Hotel in Bethlehem, a scene of previous Israeli attack that severely damaged this beautiful hotel. In workshops and panels we heard from distinguished activists like Omar Barghouti (PACBI), Shawan Jabarin (AlHaq), Ameer Makhoul (Ittijah), Jamal Juma' (Stopthewall.org), Shir Hever (AIC), Dalit Baum (WhoProfits), Ingrid Jaradat Gassner (Badil), Michael Warschawski (AIC), and many more. It was a very productive meeting with significant networking accomplished and plans for coalition building, for enhancing the growing BDS movement, for support of the people of Gaza and Jerusalem, and more. (see http://www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=816 )

The meeting came at a critical and difficult period of our history when there is a confluence of events:

-- The ramification of the Goldtone report and growing calls not only to hold Israeli leaders accountable for specific acts that amount to war cries and crimes against humanity (e.g. in Gaza) but to clearly identify Israel as the racist, colonial state at its core (from which emanates all these atrocities tat include ethnic cleansing).

-- The intensified Israeli assault on the AlAqsa compound and the whole of the Holy City of AlQuds/Jerusalem in a final push to Judaicize the city and erase Arab Christian and Muslim heritage. Home demolitions, denial of basic rights of residence, denial of rights of worship and movement, and outright military assaults on the "city of peace" belie a culture of impunity and disregard for International law that has been allowed to grow. Leaders of Western, Arab, and Islamic world meanwhile oscillate between outright facilitation of the atrocities to collaboration to indifference (and I am not sure those are distinct or meaningful categories). Many of us began to think that should Israel destroy the holy sites and build a Jewish temple in its place, we would see merely a few more declarations and statements. [Stand-up for Jerusalem is new website to help families being ethnically cleansed http://www.standupforjerusalem.org/ ]

-- Self-created weaknesses. The continued split between Gaza and the West Bank with two "authorities" in essence as if two wings of the prison are being ruled by separate prison factions while the jailer is happy watching the prisoners waste time cursing each other. I looked into this and read and interviewed many people. My thought is that it is essential to speak the truth regardless of which prison section we are in. I noted that both leaderships stated things that are patently untrue about the reality of what transpired over the past three years. But also both ignored the fact that this situation is directly related to the original and huge mistake of signing Oslo and going down the path that led to an "authority" whose job it is to control the local population while the occupation remains. It is far better to simply state NOW that Oslo was supposed to be an interim 5 year arrangement, it is now 16 and it is time to declare it dead. Let us not bicker about "elections" in the West Bank and Gaza and instead make an agreement to dissolve those authorities and implement the agreement already signed by all factions on the revival/reactivation of the PLO. If we want to have more courage, these factions would take a political initiative like supporting the one state solution. We will explore these issues in the Arabic newsletter sent to those who indicated interest/wanted to be subscribed.

-- The logarithmic growth of the boycotts, divestments, and sanctions (BDS) movement (see http://www.bdsmovement.net )

ACTION 1: Join the Gaza Freedom March http://www.gazafreedommarch.org

ACTION 2: Petition to create special tribunal for Israeli war crimes (33,300n already signed)
http://www.petitiononline.com/EAFORD09/petition.html

ACTION 3: Join PACBI Listserve to stay abreast of academic and cultural boycott issues
http://www.pacbi.org/mailinglist.php

ACTION 4: Campaign to free Palestinian prisoners held in Egyptian jails, at least one of whom was clearly tortured to death (Arabic)
http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EE154C1C-BE12-4FD6-AEA3-8D757675B2B7.htm

* Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD, A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home. Author of Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle. http://qumsiyeh.org

Illustration by Bendib

By Mazin Qumsiyeh *

On 16 October 1935, a barrel marked "cement" fell as it was being unloaded from ships at the port in Jaffa. The broken barrel contained guns, grenades, and ammunition and was one of many secret shipments to the underground Zionist terrorist militias in Palestine. That incident among others (including the British government collusion in marginalizing natives in Palestine while encouraging Zionist Jewish migration and takeover) led in the year after to the great Palestinian uprising of 1936.

Before the state of Israel was founded, these terrorist underground militias that were to become the Israel "Defense" Forces committed over 100 massacres of civilians. The atrocities intensified in the months leading up to the "declaration of indeperndence". In March and April 1948 alone over 25 massacres were committed including infamous ones such as Tantura and Deir Yassin. Israeli leaders themselves credited these actions as of great use in getting the Palestinians to evacuate Palestine so that a Jewish state could be established without a demographic "burden" of "non-Jews" (Christains and Muslims). The massacres continued after the war with government ordered slaughters at Kufr Kassem in 1956 (see http://www.taayush.org/new/kassem.html), and more until the latest slaughter of 1400 in three weeks in Gaza (most of them civilians). This showed that the state of Israel is still addicted to these policies of terror.

Israeli leaders as before try to intimidate the world into silence and some do comply (the US and some Western Countries also feed this addiction with money and weapons and use of veto power to protect Israel from Internatioanl law). However, ethnic cleansing via state terrorism has become more exposed over the decades and Israeli leaders have been frustrated. They started using other coercive tools to affect the Zionist goal of a Palestine free from Palestinians: economic strangulations, bureaucracy, unjust laws analogous to the Nutremberg laws etc. The major credit for the decreased effectiveness of slaughter as an instrument of policy is Palestinian resistance (most of it civil resistance). The second factor is that in the age of the internet, governments and wealthy racists have less control over information. The public even in the US, Holland, France, England etc is largely aware and disgusted by their governments' support of ethnic cleansing in Palestine. We need to now translate the public mood and sentiment into change in government policy. That takes determination, energy and opportunity. We have an opportunity NOW.

The UN Human Rights Council voted by 25 : 6 to accept the Goldstone report despite intensive lobbying by the Israeli government and by the (Zionist dominated) US government. 25 Countries voted for the resolution including China, Russia, Egypt, India, Brazil, Jordan, Pakistan, South Africa, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ghana, Indonesia, Djibouti, Liberia, Qatar, Senegal, Mauritius, Nicaragua, and Nigeria. Six countries voted against the report: US, Italy, Holland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Ukraine. 11 countries abstained: Bosnia, Burkina-Faso, Cameron, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Belgium, South Korea, Slovenia and Uruguay. Others did not show-up to vote. Citizens of all those countries should write to their representatives in government (Presidents, parliamentarians etc) and commend those who supported accountability for war criminals and shame those who voted against it or abstained (spineless) thus becoming complicity in such war crimes. We must also reject the attempts by some countries to save Israel by asking it to conduct an internal investigation; you cannot ask a criminal to investigate his crime and Israel never found its leaders culpable for even one of the hundreds of massacres they committed). (British Prime Minister Brown and French President Sarkozy wrote a joint letter to Netanyahu with diplomatic language that only means more green light to do state terror in the name of "security")

The importance of this is not to be underestimated (hopefully eventually shocking the Israeli public out of its denial). This worries the Israeli government. The vote and potential downstream events have dominated the interest and talk of Israeli media and politicians. According to Haaretz: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Friday that Israel must prepare for a protracted struggle against a damning United Nations report.." and daughter of Irgun terrorist and war criminal Tzipi Livni stated "Today's vote was political and cynical. Israel will continue to do the right thing and to protect its citizens, and will continue the international battle against the report to ensure the legal protection of IDF officers, wherever they may be." The apartheid government is quickly forming a high level task force to exonerate itself and all its criminals. The Turkish government also took principled positions adding to the apartheid system delusions of denial and desperation (far better than positions of Arab countries like Jordan and Egypt and Israel is also panicking on this; imagine if Arab countries cut their ties) I think all of us should create grassroot committees all around the world to ensure accountability and to redouble our efforts on boycotts, divestments, and sanctions per the Palestinian Civil Society call to Action (http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52 ).

EI exclusive video: Protesters shout down Ehud Olmert in Chicago [Olmert is one of those war criminals who should be at the Hague for his crimes in Gaza and beyond]
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/10/17/protesters-shout-down-ehud-olmert-in-chicago/

Things are changing: American Jews rethink Israel
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091102/horowitz_weiss

Why Are Palestinians Losing Faith in Obama? Ask Rahm Emanuel

The Palestinians have the Cairo speech to hold on to, but I have bad news for them. Bibi is eating Obama's lunch. No one in that top 50, or the top 500 have any loyalty to the oppressed residents of the West Bank or Gaza. Official Washington has been drinking the AIPAC kool-aid for so long they don't know what all the fuss is about.
http://wallwritings.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/why-are-palestinians-losing-faith-in-obama-ask-rahm-emanuel/

Episcopal News Service: JERUSALEM: Evicted Palestinian family keeps watch near home taken by settlers By Rev. Pat McCaughan
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_115574_ENG_HTM.htm

* Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD, A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home. Author of Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle.
http://qumsiyeh.org