Free Gaza Movement latest news

Malaysia: Criminalize War Conference, Opening Address

Free Gaza Team — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:54:00 +0000

from sabbah report:

http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/11/06/criminalize-war-conference-opening-address/

Defying Israel With Aid

Free Gaza team — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Al Khaleej

October 19, 2009.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2009/October/middleeast_October767.xml§ion=middleeast&col=

The Maiden Voyage of the DIGNITY

Free Gaza Team — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:53:00 +0000

A year ago today, our boat, the DIGNITY, made her first voyage to Gaza. She was a beautiful yacht, donated by people who believed in the Free Gaza movement after our first voyage in August. On board were dignitaries such as Mairead Maquire, the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner from Ireland and Mustafa Barghouti, President of the Palestinian National Initiative and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (MP).

It was to be our second trip to Gaza, one postponed for a month, because we didnÕt have the proper vessel to go in the fall. The DIGNITY was beautiful, shining in the autumn sun as we got ready to go at dusk. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/sets/72157608508618185/

Four physicians were also going the this besieged territory to access the medical situation in Gaza.

We had made a decision after the first voyage to ask Al Jazeera to come with us on every trip, and they were there with cameras, a reporter and a camerman. They have been on board reporting through storms, sea sickness, and dangers from Israel for every trip since.

As usual, we were frantically working on passenger lists, supplies and media work until the very last minute. Osama Q. and I (we were the designated land team) watched supplies loaded on board, taking up most of the cabin space below. Although we took medical supplies with us, we knew they were only token supplies. Our mission was about breaking IsraelÕs siege of the sea. Our mission was about telling the world that Palestinians didnÕt need hand-outs, they needed their civil and human rights. We have always been a human rights organization, not a humanitarian organization, but we took what we could.

As the vessel steamed out past the breakwall in Larnaca, then took a right turn and headed to sea, I cried. Twenty-seven passengers and crew were going at last. We had promised the people of Gaza that we would return, and we were keeping our promise. Israel, as they did the first time, continued to threaten us, but decided at the last minute they would ignore this voyage. They didnÕt realize a year ago, that we would not stop coming to Gaza.

Three more voyages were successful, taking parliamentarians, physicians, activists and Palestinians to Gaza. Former Representative Cynthia McKinney named her American initiative ÒThe DIGNITYÓ in honor of our boat. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/sets/72157608814881165/

When the Israeli navy deliberately and viciously attacked the DIGNITY on December 30, 2008, ramming her three times in her side, the boat was so sturdy and the captain so expert, she didnÕt sink with all lost at sea. She struggled into port in Lebanon and was never the same. Like a wounded racehorse that ultimately died of its injuries, she sank in a storm off the coast of Cyprus in May 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/sets/72157612017624425/

So today, on that anniversary of her maiden voyage, the Free Gaza movement wants to assure those of you who have supported us for over three years. We will return to Gaza, and we will not stop returning until the 1.5 million people there have the right to their own sea lanes without interference from Israel.

Stay tuned for our next voyage. We are coming back.

Every Kind of Weapon Was Used Against the People of Gaza

Free Gaza team — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:18:00 +0000

Ewa Jasiewicz, Free Gaza Coordinator in Gaza, talks in Berlin, Germany about what she witnessed during the 22-day massacre of civilians in Gaza. Her on-the-ground reporting of what she and seven others saw during that time is heart-wrenching. Israel deliberately murdered 16 medics trying to do their job of rescuing other injured Palestinians, targeting them directly. Ewa and the other volunteers from Free Gaza and the International Solidarity Movement accompanied thes ambulances, horrified at what they saw.

http://www.youtube.com/gazafriends#p/a

She also eloquently speaks about the people in Gaza, how they are trying to make a living for their families as the Israeli Occupation Forces shoot to kill the farmers and fishermen, long after Operation Cast Lead was supposedly over.

Listen to her speech, see the images from the people who were there recording Israel’s use of phosophorus bombs and other deadly weapons that Israel literally threw at a civilian populations. Families have been torn apart, 29 members of one family murdered in their home as they held a white flag of surrender.

As Ewas says, “Israel’s objective is to rid Palestine of Palestinians: drip by drip, body by body, person by person, village by village

She as well as more than a dozen other speakers are available to speak to your groups. You can contact us at http://www.freegaza.org/join-in/speaker-bureau and ask for someone to come and talk about the voyages of Free Gaza movement, the work in Gaza and witnessing the destruction of a civilian population with American money and weapons.

838 Students Still Trying to Leave Gaza or Study Abroad

Free Gaza team — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Gisha

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

http://www.gisha.org/index.php?intLanguage=2&intItemId=1612&intSiteSN=113

Rebuilding Gaza’s infrastructure with mud

Free Gaza team — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:12:00 +0000

Eva Bartlett | Electronic Intifada

14 October 2009

SHEIKH ZAYED, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – On a searing summer morning,

workers are adding layers to the mud-brick police station being

constructed in Sheikh Zayed, northern Gaza.

“We started building on 20 June,” says Mohammed al-Sheikh Eid, a

consultant engineer with Gaza’s Ministry of Interior. “Since this is

the first time we’ve built something on this scale with mud bricks, we

can’t estimate exactly how much longer it will take to complete. Maybe

another two months or so.”

He is confident, however, that they will finish before the winter

rains begin.

Since the war on Gaza ended, a number of houses have been built using

mud to create simple, square, two or three-room homes. The new Sheikh

Zayed police station is one of the larger and more ambitious projects.

An intricate series of thick-walled, deep-arched chambers form what is

on the whole a much more artistic rendition of the former square,

cement police station bombed during the attacks. When finished, the

station will be 550 square meters, including seven 3.5m by 3.5m office

rooms and eight long, arched-roofed chambers 3m wide and 8m long.

In contrast to Gaza’s basic new mud-brick homes, with their cracked-

earth finish inside and rough, straw-flecked outer layer, the police

station design replicates that of the elegant, traditional Palestinian

stone or brick buildings: neatly-packed rows of brick frame windows

and doorways in graceful arcs; with surprisingly smooth domes that top

off vaulted rooms and corridors. The one-level station, with its

multiple rooftop domes, resembles the architecture of Palestinian

homes from Nablus to Jerusalem.

The site, just off the coastal road serving Beit Lahiya, is open and

spacious, with a contrasting backdrop of cement block apartment

buildings, built long before the Israeli siege on Gaza, when cement

was accessible.

Engineer and site supervisor Sameh al-Khalout explains the small-scale

and hand-crafted construction process.

“The mud bricks take between one and two weeks to cast and dry,” he

says, gesturing at the rows of bricks drying in the sun. “Each brick

costs roughly one shekel [a quarter of a dollar] to make.”

Al-Khalout says the clay is brought from a nearby area of Beit Lahiya,

and the straw comes from local farmers. “We will put plaster on the

roof, to seal it and protect it from rain.”

Wood is temporarily used to buffer ceiling arches and windows until

the clay mortar hardens. The wood is then removed and used elsewhere

in the same manner.

Apart from these wood bracings, conventional and excessively expensive

building materials are not used.

Cement smuggled in via the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza is as much

as ten times the pre-siege price. A ton of cement costs 3,400 shekels

($850), compared to the 350 shekels it cost prior to June 2007.

Husam Toubil from the United Nations Development Programme says Gaza

requires 50,000 tons of cement to rebuild destroyed homes, and 41,000

tons for public buildings.

Al-Khalout says problems extend beyond lack of availability of

materials. “For most of our workers, this is their first experience

building with mud bricks.”

“Since we have to bring in clay, straw and gravel, and mix the mud

cement, make the bricks and then build the actual station, we require

more workers than we would using cement.”

In an enclosed Strip where unemployment is near 50 percent and poverty

has reached 90 percent, according to a recent UN Conference on Trade

and Development (UNCATD) report, the workers will brave the heat for

the chance to earn 40 shekels a day.

Since the siege on Gaza tightened in June 2007, almost no construction

materials have entered Gaza, according to the OCHA report. This is in

comparison to the pre-attacks, pre-siege import levels of 7,400 trucks

per month, from January to May 2007.

According to the United Nations Relief Web news, 3,900 truckloads

entered Gaza from January to May 2007. Over the same period this year,

six trucks were allowed in. These carried material for water projects,

greatly in need and long awaiting completion.

The Israeli authorities say the ban on building materials is to

prevent Hamas from using so-called “dual use” items for military

activities.

Yet, non-Hamas run agencies, schools, and healthcare centers are

facing the same blanket restrictions on import of cement, gravel,

wood, tiles, piping, paint, glass and steel bars, notes the OCHA

report.

The mud brick technique, extended beyond the simple clay ovens

prevalent in Gaza to the building of houses, potentially meets some of

Gaza’s great construction needs.

East of Gaza city, in the al-Shejayia district, engineers have tackled

the challenge of a multi-level clay-brick building: a three-story

school for 600 disabled children is under construction, using a

combination of mud brick and rubble from the remains of homes and

buildings destroyed during the Israeli attacks.

According to a Guardian news report, engineer Maher al-Batroukh and

university engineers experimented with clay to create strong bricks.

When finished, the school will be roughly twice the size of the Sheikh

Zayed police station, with similar domed ceilings and plaster coating.

Noting the success of clay building endeavors, the Hamas Ministry of

Public Works is likewise pursuing the mud-brick alternative, with

plans to build multi-story houses and re-build destroyed public

buildings.

While some are finding means to get around the Israeli ban on nearly

everything needed to re-build in Gaza, the on-going siege on the Strip

continues to hit daily life to an extent that the latest UN report

notes that closed borders and delays in allowing in goods are

“devastating livelihoods” and causing gradual “de-development.”

The OCHA report further cites the damage to education, including

overcrowding due to destroyed or damaged schools, and denied or

delayed education materials.

In an August 2009 statement, Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Humanitarian

Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, noted that the

“deterioration and breakdown of water and sanitation facilities in

Gaza is compounding an already severe and protracted denial of human

dignity in the Gaza Strip.”

Gaylard, along with the Association for International Development

Agencies (AIDA), notes that the Israeli denial of entry of equipment

and supplies needed for the construction, maintenance and operation of

water and sanitation facilities since June 2007 has led to “the

gradual deterioration of these essential services.”

Further citing destruction from the Israeli attacks, the statement

says Gaza’s sanitation and water services are on the “brink of

collapse,” noting that the sparse supplies allowed in have been

“nowhere near enough to restore a fully functioning water and

sanitation system.”

About 60 percent of the population does not have continuous access to

water, the statement notes. Roughly 10,000 people in Gaza have no

access to the water network at all. This, combined with the 50-80

million liters of untreated and partially treated wastewater that is

being discharged daily since January 2008, compounds the water and

sanitation crisis.

Although some resourceful individuals have built homes despite the ban

on cement, these various reports highlight that the manifold problems

created by the ongoing siege and Israeli attacks on Gaza are too

extensive to be solved by improvisation and mud alone.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reports that 60 police

stations were destroyed or damaged during the winter 2008-2009 Israeli

attacks on Gaza.

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

(OCHA) August 2009 report says more than 6,400 homes were destroyed or

severely damaged, and over 52,000 suffered minor damage from bombing

during Israel’s winter war on Gaza.

The OCHA report notes that the continued Israeli-led siege on Gaza has

prevented reconstruction or repair of 13,900 homes, including

approximately 2,700 homes damaged or destroyed in earlier Israeli

military operations, and of 3,000 housing units intended to replace

inadequate homes in crowded refugee camps.

Over 20,000 Palestinians remain displaced in Gaza, with approximately

100 families still living in emergency tents provided by aid agencies.

PCHR also reports that 215 factories and 700 private businesses, 17

universities or colleges, 15 hospitals and 43 health care centers, and

58 mosques were destroyed or damaged during the attacks. The United

Nations says that 298 schools were destroyed or damaged.

They all await reconstruction, as does Gaza’s shattered economy.

Polish Paramedic union passes historic motion of solidarity with Palestinian medics

Free Gaza team — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:04:00 +0000

Last week, Poland ’s biggest independent medical rescuers union – The Nationwide Trade Union of Medical Rescue Employees (Krajowy Zwiazek Zawodowy Pracownikow Ratownictwa Medycznego) KZZ PRM - passed a historic motion of solidarity with Palestinian rescuers, and against Israeli occupation. The statement, agreed upon at the Union’s national conference on October 6th in Piotrkow Trybunalski, southern Poland, condemned the Israeli occupation and its’ violation of international law and announced plans to form twinning relationships with Palestinian ambulance stations in Gaza and the West Bank. The KZZ PRM’s statement said: ‘Nowhere else in the world is Occupation and the contempt for international and humanitarian law more obvious and clear, and nowhere has it lasted so long, than in the case of Occupied Palestine. ‘This is why we are urging rescuers from the whole of Europe and the whole world to support Palestinian emergency rescuers and why we treat our declaration as a stand against the occupation.’ The declaration is the first of its kind to be passed by a trade union in Poland . It marks the beginnings of a civil society current of active opposition to Israeli occupation and apartheid inside a country known as ‘ Israel ’s Best Friend in Europe ’. The KZZ PRM has 6,000 members throughout Poland . Their struggles internally are focused on resisting privatisation of the public rescue and health services, gender equality and women’s rights in the paramedic profession, as well as the retention of employee status. Under the Polish government’s sweeping privatisation plan – which will see the remaining 20% of the un-privatised public sector, including the entire health sector, go under the hammer - Polish paramedics will be reduced to self-employed subcontractors and stripped of their employment rights. General Secretary Robert Szulc has received death-threats linked to his union activism in Piotrkow. Union Treasurer and Executive Committee member Basia Jasinska, is taking her local council of Czestochowa to court for sexual discrimination after being denied the right to work as a paramedic because of her gender, in spite of her professional qualification. The Union believes she is being targeted for her trade union activism. The privatisation plan will also mean that patients will have to pay for non-essential call-outs – to be determined by paramedics - and that rescuers will have to buy their own equipment. Already, under the plan, 150 drivers – out of 300 – face the sack in Katowice city, with the remaining medics being forced to drive ambulances instead. The KZZ PRM union also needs international solidarity to defend public services, jobs, and women’s rights to work as paramedics. Despite the radically different circumstances that Polish and Palestinian medical rescuers work under, Polish medical rescuers have pledged solidarity and practical support to their brothers and sisters in Gaza and the West Bank . The Polish trade unionists were moved in paricular by the urgency of the situation in Gaza where 16 medical rescuers were killed in 22-days by Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead this January. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health , Israel has killed 56 medical rescuers since the beginning of the second intifada (2000) – an average of one every two months, and injured over 500 in the same period. Contacts KZZ PRM site http://kzzprm.pl/ The Defend the Rescuers Campaign website and the statement the KZZ PRM endorsed is here: http://defendtherescuers.wordpress.com/solidarity-in-action/supporting-organisations/ For solidarity ideas and pledges for Polish medics ratownictwomedyczne01@wp.pl or in English freelance@mailworks.org

Free Gaza Ireland to send “Irish boat” to Gaza

Free Gaza Team — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:49:00 +0000

The crisis in Gaza is unacceptable. For nearly four years, Israel has subjected the Gaza Strip to an increasingly cruel blockade, leading to severe increases in unemployment, poverty, and childhood malnutrition. Israel's 22-day assault on Gaza last December & January killed over 1400 civilians and destroyed thousands of homes, schools, mosques and hospitals. It’s been almost a year since these attacks and thousands of Gaza’s Palestinians are still living in rubble. Maintaining the Gaza siege and denying Palestinians the right to rebuild their lives is unconscionable.

Free Gaza Ireland is working closely with the international Free Gaza Movement to acquire an “Irish boat” to sail to Gaza as part of an international flotilla challenging Israel’s brutal siege. Since August 2008, international volunteers in the Free Gaza Movement have been sailing to Gaza, suceeding 5 times to break the siege. Ours remain the only ships to reach Gaza since 1967. More than simple charity, the Palestinian people need our solidarity and political action. They need us to challenge the policies that leave them in need of humanitarian aid.

With Ireland’s help, the Free Gaza Movement hopes to sail to Gaza before winter sets in with ships carrying badly needed humanitarian and reconstruction supplies. On board will be Irish TD's, journalists, human rights activists & Irish musicans who will perform in Gaza with local artists as part of a series of cultural events linking up with Ireland. We urge everyone to join us in concretely asserting the right of the Palestinian people to have access to the outside world. We will not stay silent as the Palestinian people are deliberately starved and humiliated. Like all peoples in the world – Palestinians have a right to life with dignity.

EVENTS

FREE GAZA IRELAND TO SEND “IRISH BOAT” TO GAZA

'TURNING MILITARY VESSELS INTO PEACE BOATS'

TO LAUNCH A SERIES OF CULTURAL EXCHANGE EVENTS LINKING IRELAND TO GAZA, PALESTINE

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME TO IRELAND...

. LOWKEY .

AMAZING RAPPER, POLITICAL POET,ACTIVIST & PLAYWRIGHT

'Lowkey is the fastest rising star in British urban music.

The rapper/poet of mixed Arab and British descent has been dubbed as "one of the best lyricists in the Western Hemisphere" by Benjamin Zephaniah as a solo artist. Lowkey is also lead vocalist of Mongrel - made up of members of the Arctic Monkeys, Babyshambles and Reverend and the Makers.

14TH OCTOBER - WED CORK @ AN SPAILPIN FANAC, CORK @ 9PM
15TH OCTOBER - THUR GALWAY @ COLLEGE BAR, NUI UNIVERSITY @ 9pm SUPPORTED BY MUPEID MC (rapper as Gaeilge)
15TH OCTOBER - THUR GALWAY 2 GAZA - video link up with students/artists in Gaza @ 4pm in NUI
16TH OCTOBER - FRI DUBLIN @ TRIPOD One Concert - Two Cities, live link up with Gaza @ 7pm

Dublin will extend the hand of friendship to the besieged city of Gaza when a very special concert will be transmitted from Tripod in Dublin LIVE to an audience in Gaza City – One Concert - Two Cities

Celebrated Irish musicians, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Lumiere, Kíla, Naisrin and Zahara El Safty will be joined on the bill by Palestinian singer, Shadia Mansour & Lowkey, as will the Dublin-based Discovery Gospel Choir.

The evening will celebrate culture and use the power of music to unite people in Ireland and in the besieged city of Gaza.

Caoimhe Butterly, Irish Free Gaza Project Coordinator in Gaza,

will be there to share her experience of volunteering with the ambulance service during Israel's 22 day assault on Gaza last winter.

Caoimhe is currently on tour to raise support for the next international flotilla to sail to Gaza & break the siege.

Filmmaker, Dearbhla Glynn, Filmmaker, Dearbhla Glynn, (Dust Devils, Dambé – The Mali Project), will screen some of her footage from her recent visit to the costal strip, to shed some light on the remaining devastation, nine months on from the January attacks

DUBLIN - Tickets are priced at 15 Euros and available from Ticketmaster. www.pod.ie

Through Women's Eyes

Free Gaza team — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights' (PCHR) new report, titled "Through Women's Eyes," highlights "the Gender-Specific Impact and Consequences of Operation Cast Lead" and the ongoing siege, including 12 case study examples "through the victims' words." Several are discussed below.

In patriarchal Palestinian society, women traditionally are caregivers while men typically head households and are the main breadwinners. As a result, when widows are thrust into this role, they're often victimized by cultural, social and economic discrimination and marginalization. In Gaza today, it's hard for women to get by alone, so widows must either live with family members or remarry. The alternative is a hard struggle alone, something most Palestinian women try to avoid, but post-conflict many have no choice.

Besides the vast destruction from Operation Cast Lead claiming over 1,400 lives and thousands more wounded, 118 women were killed and 825 injured, in many cases severely enough to make it hard for them to get by. The majority of victims were in Northern Gaza and Gaza City where the heaviest fighting and bombardment occurred. PCHR listed the names of the dead by age, their address, date and place of attack, and date of death.

Israel said the death toll was an unavoidable part of its military operations during which efforts were made to minimize civilian casualties. PCHR debunked this as baseless by documenting numerous indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against civilians and their property.

Individual testimonies bear witness that 83% of all fatalities were civilian, and so weren't most of the injured. "These crimes constitute serious violations of international law; they demand judicial redress." The September 25 Goldstone Commission's findings confirmed that Israel committed grievous war crimes that must not go unaddressed.

Israel's Imposed Closure of Gaza

The ongoing siege is a form of collective punishment, in direct violation of Fourth Geneva's Article 33 stating:

"No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited."

The siege restricts everything and makes reconstruction and recovery impossible. Homes can't be rebuilt. Families are forced to stay in camps, find temporary shelter with relatives, or get rented accommodation if available and they can afford it. Around 600,000 tons of rubble remain. It can't be cleared, and enough concrete for tombstones can't be found.

The situation is increasingly desperate with over 60% unemployment, at least an 80% poverty level, and according to a new UN Conference on Trade and Development report, the figure is 90% with the few jobs available almost solely in government, public administration, and small service industries along with the tunnel economy.

Health services "are in a state of imminent collapse due to shortages of electricity, medicine, and other vital, life-saving equipment," and the siege prevents most of those needing emergency care from leaving to get it. As a result, PCHR found that at least 61 patients died. It also cites a lack of safe drinking water as electricity cuts prevent pumps that supply it from operating. Even basic foodstuffs and other essentials are in short supply or not available, except for what UNRWA and other relief agencies supply in inadequate amounts.

As an occupying power, Israel is obligated under international law to fulfill what Fourth Geneva's Articles 55 and 56 require.

Article 55 states:

"To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate."

Article 56 states:

"To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics. Medical personnel of all categories shall be allowed to carry out their duties."

Article 69 of Fourth Geneva's Additional Protocol I requires the occupying power to:

"ensure the provision of clothing, bedding, means of shelter, other supplies essential to the survival of the civilian population of the occupied territory and objects necessary for religious worship."

Protection of Women Under International Law

As especially vulnerable non-combatants, they're afforded particular protection and remain so notably under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

As a result, their lives, physical, and moral integrity are protected against willful killing, coercion, collective penalties, reprisals, and the destruction of objects indispensable to their survival.

As a signatory to the major international human rights laws, Israel is required to obey them. Under the Hague Regulations and Geneva's Common Article 3, they include the principles of distinction and proportionality:

-- distinction between combatants and military targets v. civilians and non-military ones; attacking the latter ones are war crimes except when civilians take direct part in hostilities; and

-- proportionality prohibitions against disproportionate indiscriminate force likely to cause damage to or loss of lives and objects.

In addition, parties to a conflict must take all precautions to avoid and minimize incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, and damage to non-military sites. Civilians must also be given "effective advance warning," and "neutralized zones" must be available to protect them as much as possible. Further, using human shields is strictly prohibited.

By committing egregious war crimes throughout its history, Israel is a serial scofflaw with a record few countries anywhere can match.

Case Study 1: Wafa Al-Radea

On January 10, 2009, she and her sister, Ghada, were hit by two rockets fired from an unmanned Israeli drone. In clear site, they were the only people on the street at the time.

Nine months pregnant, Wafa was going to her doctor as she was close to delivery. It was a period of declared hudna (a temporary ceasefire), and no fighting was ongoing in the area. Both women were seriously hurt. Wafa lost her right leg above the knee and suffered extensive injuries to the rest of her body. The attack fractured Ghada's legs. In the hospital, they became infected, and it was feared at least one would be amputated. In a coma, Wafa gave birth to a son by caesarean section.

They later managed to reach Egypt for over five months of additional treatment, but require extensive followup care and physiotherapy. On July 1, 2009, PCHR interviewed Wafa and her brothers at their home in Beit Lahiya. She nearly died but managed to survive in intensive care. Six or seven operations performed skin grafts and saved her leg. She was so severely hurt, the Egyptian medical team said she was the hardest case in the hospital, but she survived and was fitted to a prosthesis. Even so, she can't bend her leg at the knee and "still can't walk."

Case Study 2: Hala Al-Habash

On January 4, 2009, an unmanned Israeli drone fired a missile killing Hala's daughter (age 10) and niece (age 11). Three other children were injured in the attack, including Hala's daughter (age 14) and two nephews (ages 15 and 16).

One daughter lost both legs above the knee and a nephew had one leg amputated half way up his shin. The Al-Habash home was the only house targeted in the immediate area. On June 29, PCHR interviewed Hala and her husband at their home.

On the day of the attack, "the area was very quiet, we weren't really afraid at all. There was no resistance and we felt safe. We let the children play outside." They were on the roof. Hala was so distraught, she couldn't attend her daughter's burial. "I refused. I only wanted to remember her alive."

When she visited her other daughter in the hospital, there was chaos. "There were so many injured, so many dead, so much suffering. The situation was horrible...the smell of blood and the injured. There weren't enough doctors and nurses. It was like a market, not a hospital."

Al Jazeera interviewed her daughter in the hospital, and afterward, Saudi Arabia arranged for further free treatment in the Kingdom. Hala kept in contact daily and said:

"My family is everything in my life. I have no father, no mother and no one but my husband, children, and close relatives....Once I woke up crazy, thinking why did this happen" to people she loves? "The Israelis came to fight Hamas, but they fought us. Why did they do it?"

Case Study 3: Majeda and Raya Abu Hajjaj

On January 4, Israeli forces shot and killed them. They were part of a group of 27 civilians fleeing the Johr Ad-Dik area following the ground invasion. They were killed with no warning or provocation. Majeda and another group member were carrying white flags.

On May 25, PCHR interviewed Raya's son, Salah, and Majeda's brother. "A fire broke out, so we decided to leave the house," said Salah. "We walked through the trees to a neighbor's house about 300 meters away. There were 27 of us hiding in the Assafadi stairwell. We were trying to call an ambulance....we called the Red Cross, but we couldn't get coordination. They told us there was a military operation and they couldn't reach the area."

The attack was so extensive he didn't recognize his neighborhood. After the ceasefire, he returned home and "was looking at the place where the Israeli had shot us. I found a piece of Majeda's foot and took it to the hospital....There was no resistance here. Nothing. The area is too open....This is a quiet area. It is an agricultural area. We have never had any troubles here, It was beautiful, and in a moment it was gone."

Case Study 4: Ghalya Nimr

"All of their bodies were cut in pieces and burned. They were wearing their Eid clothes. I saw their brains, all their pieces. I tried to carry them, but they were too hot, they were burned. You can't imagine what it was like," said Ghalya.

On January 4, an Israeli helicopter fired a rocket at the roof of Ghalya's home in south Gaza City. It killed three of Rahlea's children and her daughter's fiance. Ghalya's nephew was also hurt. At the time, 21 civilians, including Ghalya's brother's family, were sheltering in the house. The attack traumatized them.

The family moved in with Ghalya's brother-in-law. "It was very cold," she said. "We had no clothes, no blankets, no money. We left without taking anything. I didn't even have shoes....All the clothes were burnt. The house was very badly damaged. It was full of rubble."

Ghalya told PCHR they have no work or income. Their situation is desperate like many in Gaza.

Wafa Awaja was Case Study 7. After Israeli soldiers destroyed her home, she and her husband were shot in the legs. They kept firing as her husband Kamal explained:

"I was in the street along with my son. I was talking to him all the time, saying it would be OK. Ibrahim told me not to die. I told him, 'it is OK, the Israeli soldiers are coming. They will save us.' They shot me again in the chest, and Ibrahim in the head. They were about ten meters away. Ibrahim died instantly....I pretended to be dead. I thought that if the Israelis thought I was alive they would shoot me again. Pieces of Ibrahim's brain and skull were all over my shoulder."

Wafa told PCHR: "now we have no life."

Leila Al-Ir was Case Study 8. She told PCHR that for six days "we were away from the world, we had no connection to anyone. I slept with my dead children." On January 3, Israeli bombardment killed three of them, her daughter-in-law, and her husband. As a result, she suffered severe psychological trauma. For a month, she couldn't speak. She's now being treated by Medeciins Sans Frontiers, but she won't go home because it's too dangerous she believes.

Salah Abu Halima was Case Study 9. She told PCHR:

"I used to think I was the happiest woman in the world, now I have lost my daughter, my sons, my husband. I'm the saddest woman in the world, I am afraid to sleep. I am so scared in this house."

On January 4, Israeli bombardment killed her husband and four of her children. Four others were injured, including from severe burns from white phosphorous. As family members tried to bring their dead and wounded to the hospital, Israeli soldiers killed two of them and shot two more. Terrified, the others left their dead and fled for their lives.

Masouda Al-Samouni was Case Study 10. She told PCHR: "I have no hope, no future, I lost everything in the offensive."

On January 5, about 150 members of her extended family were sheltering in her house when Israeli forces shelled it and the adjacent area killing 29, including her husband and son. Her home was completely destroyed.

"I was in the corner with my children just watching," she said. "I was screaming and crying, I saw everything, the blood and the brains. There was smoke everywhere. I saw my brother-in-law falling down, and my mother-in-law. I realized that my three brothers-in-law and my mother-in-law were dead....I was injured in the chest and couldn't move....I was bleeding and five months pregnant."

The attack on the Al-Samouni family was widely publicized on numerous media outlets worldwide, yet the survivors got no real help. What little they received has now stopped except for limited assistance from local organizations. The family now lives in deep poverty with no source of income, and no publicity about their plight.

This case was the most egregious, but it highlighted what thousands of Gazans endured and still do under siege and the threat of new Israeli attacks against individually selected targets, including on farmers on their land, fishermen at sea, school children playing, and civilians trying to rebuild their lives.

Direct Targeting and Destruction of Civilian Objects

Testimony 8 of the Breaking the Silence Report on Operation Cast Lead read:

"houses - if the deputy battalion commander thought a house looked suspect, we'd blow it away. If the infantrymen didn't like the looks of that house - we'd shoot. Everything."

Testimony 9 read:

"All the time. Houses were demolished everywhere."

Under the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as codified in Article 8(2)(b)(ii), targeting civilian objects is strictly forbidden under customary international humanitarian law. Doing so constitutes a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions.

International law states that "in case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as places of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used."

PCHR states that "the direct targeting of a civilian object, resulting in the death of civilian inhabitants, constitutes the crime of willful killing, a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. It could reasonably be expected that attacking a civilian house would result in the injury or death of its civilian inhabitants."

Israeli forces also violated Fourth Geneva's Article 16 by preventing ambulances from entering affected areas. Another family told PCHR that on the morning that their home was demolished, "There was no warning, no loudspeakers. We were sleeping. (They were awakened by their daughter saying) the Israelis were destroying the outside wall." Just as they left, "the ceiling fell down. It is God's will that (they) are still alive."

Homeless, they hid in an empty area of land near their house. In mid-winter, they were frozen in the pre-dawn morning and too traumatized to return. They then tried to retrieve some clothing, but Israelis shot their son and others in both legs. Two Bedouin women brought them to Odwan hospital. After being released, they lived in a tent, still injured. "We couldn't do anything. There was no water in the camp. If I wanted to wash our clothes, I had to go back to (our) old house."

For three months in the camp with no cooking gas, the family was forced to use an open fire. They had a hard time adjusting and got very little aid.

Indiscriminate Attacks

Testimony 6 from the Breaking the Silence Report read:

"There were days when we fired only into built-up areas, inside Gaza City itself."

Article 51 of the Geneva Conventions' Additional Protocol I states that:

Indiscriminate attacks are those that are "of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians and civilian objects without distinction."

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross' Customary International Humanitarian Law, Rule 12, indiscriminate attacks are those which:

-- are not directed against a specific military target;

-- employ a method or means of combat that cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or

-- employ a combat method or means that can't be limited as international humanitarian law requires.

According to Additional Protocol I:

Disproportionate attacks are indiscriminate and "may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the direct military advantage anticipated."

Under Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the ICC Statute, intentionally launching an indiscriminate attack is a war crime.

Insufficient Precautions in Attack

Testimony 8 from the Breaking the Silence Report read:

"Why fire phosphorous? Because it's fun. Cool."

It's also an illegal weapon against civilians who were willfully targeted according to IDF commanders. Yet international humanitarian law requires protecting them and civilian objects. According to Article 57 of Additional Protocol I:

"(a) those who plan or decide upon an attack shall:

(i) do everything feasible to verify that the objectives to be attacked are neither civilians nor civilian objects and are not subject to special protection but are military objectives....;

(ii) take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack with a view to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects;

(iii) refrain from deciding to launch any attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated."

Additional Protocol I also states that attacks "shall be cancelled or suspended" if it's clear that it's against specially protected civilians or their property. Also, that "effective advance warning shall be given of attacks which may affect the civilian population...."

With regard to munitions, the principle of distinction, prohibition of indiscriminate attacks, and use of illegal weapons apply, such as shelling a civilian area, others not of a military nature, and using white phosphorous. It's an incendiary chemical dispersed through bombs, shells and rockets. On contact with oxygen, it ignites and can burn human flesh to the bone. After initially denying its use in Gaza, Israel later admitted that 155mm shells were fired, each containing 116 wedges soaked in the chemical. They inflicted severe burns on those struck, unseen before by doctors who treated them.

The Siege's Effect

Expressly prohibited by Fourth Geneva's Article 33 as a form of collective punishment, for over two years it's taken a terrible toll on Gaza's 1.5 million residents affecting all aspects of their lives, including their right to life, to an adequate standard of living, free movement, employment, education, good medical care, their emotional well-being, and what free people take for granted everywhere because they don't live under military occupation in Gaza.

Since June 2007, dozens have died by being forbidden to seek life-saving treatment abroad, unavailable in Gaza. This is in violation to Fourth Geneva's Article 17 that requires "Parties to (a) conflict (to) endeavour to conclude local agreements for the removal from besieged or encircled areas, (the) wounded, sick, infirm, and aged persons, children and maternity cases."

Investigations into Operation Cast Lead

Testimony 3 from Breaking the Silence read:

"But if I look at (what was done), there are people who deserve to go to jail."

As the Israeli media later revealed, Israel's Military Attorney General (MAG) and the Attorney General (AG) were heavily involved in planning and executing Operation Cast Lead by crafting the legal framework even though no legitimate one is possible.

As a result, Israel obstructed human rights organizations' demands for an independent investigation and full account of the killing, maiming, and vast destruction from the conflict. Yet several extensive ones were conducted, all concluding that Israel committed grave war crimes for which those involved to the highest levels should be held accountable.

On its own, Israeli authorities conducted two sets of internal investigations that PCHR called "inadequate and inappropriate, inter alia, on the basis of the fundamental flaws (that whitewashed crimes and) concluded that Israeli forces acted in accordance with the law."

On March 30, 2009, Military Advocate-General Avichai Mandelblit closed the official inquiry after 11 days even though numerous IDF soldiers made serious allegations of war crimes and other grave international law violations, based on their own firsthand observations and from what commanders ordered them to do.

On April 22, Israeli military authorities announced the conclusion of five internal investigations, supervised by the IDF Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi. In an extreme example of chutzpah, deceit, unaccountability, and hypocrisy, he claimed there were few incidents of intelligence or operational errors, and that "throughout the fighting in the Gaza Strip (Israeli forces) operated in accordance with international law."

According to PCHR, such behavior:

"has been a long-standing feature" of Israel's 42 years of occupation. Despite repeated, grievous war crimes of all kinds, "neither the State of Israel, nor individuals suspected of committing (them) have been brought before a court and prosecuted in accordance with the norms of international law. (This unaccountability) encourage(s) continued violations of international law (and serves) to undermine respect for the rule of law itself."

The result is that for decades Palestinians have paid the price and still suffer "at the hands of a brutal and illegal occupier." No state or individual is above the law. But that hasn't deterred Israel up to now while calling itself a free and open society surrounded by hordes of hostile Arabs.

Human Rights Organizations Condemn Israeli War Crimes in Gaza

Independent investigations by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, others, and, of course, the September 15 released Goldstone Commission report concluded that Israel committed grievous war crimes in violation of international humanitarian law and must be held accountable.

In addition, in July 2009, former UN Special Human Rights Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine, John Dugard, presented the results of his "investigations of Israeli conduct during the war in Gaza." As head of the "Independent Fact-Finding Committee (IFFC) on Gaza of the League of Arab States, Member, United National International Law Commission, The Hague," he revealed his findings at a UN international meeting in Geneva with regard to the:

"Responsibility of the international community to uphold international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in the wake of the war in Gaza."

He concluded that "states and their political and military (must) no longer (be) beyond the reach of the law, (and that) Israel's offensive in Gaza - Operation Cast Lead - must be seen in this context." He stressed that independent investigations found "a clear prima facie case that Israel committed very serious international crimes in the Gaza offensive."

Dugard's Independent Fact Finding Committee (IFFC) visited Gaza from February 22 - 27 and met with "a wide range of persons, including victims of" the conflict, "witnesses, members of the Hamas authority, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, journalists and member of NGOs and United Nations agencies."

IFFC members saw destruction of hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, factories, businesses, police stations, government buildings, UN facilities, private homes, agricultural land, and more. They asked Israel for cooperation, got none, but collected extensive evidence of great loss of life, injury, and vast indiscriminate destruction of targets unrelated to a military mission.

They heard "disturbing accounts of cold-blooded killing of civilians by (IDF) members, accounts which were later confirmed by Israeli soldiers...." They and civilians inside Israel suffered minor casualties by comparison.

Israel's actions were indefensible despite official government claims. The IFFC concluded that "the IDF was responsible for the crime of indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilians" and wanton destruction of property" - clear evidence of crimes of war and against humanity. "Considerable evidence" confirmed it enough for IFFC members to consider the "crime of crimes," namely genocide.

They "found Israel's actions met the requirement for the actus reus (guilty act) of the crime of genocide contained in the Genocide Convention, in that the IDF was responsible for killing, exterminating and causing serious bodily harm to members of a group - the Palestinians of Gaza," most of whom are non-combatants.

Members "rejected the argument that Israel had carried out operation Cast Lead in self-defense." Whether or not Israel's motive was genocide, individual commanders, soldiers, and rabbis who encouraged them "may well have had such an intent and might therefore be prosecuted for this crime."

As a result, IFFC members "found that members of the IDF committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly, genocide in the course of operation Cast Lead." In their judgment, they and Israel's political leaders must be held fully accountable under the law.

Unfortunately, "no serious attempt is being made to (do it). As far as the EU and the United States are concerned, Israel is beyond the reach of the law, above the law. What is the consequence? (It's) that the rules of international law on accountability for international crimes are not only undermined, their very existence is brought into question. (For Dugard), the position seems clear. Either the international community holds Israel and its leaders accountable for their actions or it abandons its efforts to secure international justice."

Consider also that on October 4, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, called Israel the "the number one threat to (the) Middle East given the nuclear arms it possesses," its refusal to allow inspections for over 30 years, and its stated intention to use all weapons at its disposal as it chooses in future conflicts.

So does America, of course, yet who in the international community dares hold it accountable for its many decades of grievous crimes, both before, during, and after the Korean war that slaughtered many millions. Who remembers, cares to, or speaks out publicly if they do.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Complicit in Gaza War Crimes Cover-up

Abbas is a notorious, longstanding imperial tool, so it's no surprise that despite clear evidence of Israeli crimes, he decided to delay action on the Goldstone Commission report by agreeing to defer a UN vote to condemn Israel's failure to cooperate with the investigation.

He thus risks buying it, and in so doing encourages the continued killing, repression, and occupation that benefits him, his cronies, and his sons' business interests, including the "Abbas-backed (Wataniya phone) company" in which one of his sons is closely involved, as revealed in an April 24 Reuters report. It said:

"US aid in the form of loan guarantees meant for Palestinian farmers and other small to mid-sized businesses has been given to a mobile phone firm backed by President Mahmoud Abbas and Gulf investors." Abbas' son, Tarek, is a vice president, and his elder son, Yasser, belongs to the US-based Aspen Institute, a right wing think tank, with prominent members like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Dennis Ross, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and former CIA Director John Deutch that supported the project.

Speaking for all Palestinians, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh accused Abbas of having "justified" the war, and added that his decision "cannot be seen as a conciliatory act. (It reflected an attitude that) would perpetuate internal conflict" and continued Israeli oppression. More than ever, Abbas exposed himself as an imperial tool on the side of the dark forces that perpetuate occupation and conflict and deny his people redress, justice, and the freedom they deserve.

Hundreds of West Bank protestors condemned him. Syrian officials postponed a scheduled meeting to express their displeasure. In Europe, 32 Palestinian groups demanded he immediately resign. Members of his own Fatah party were angered, and human rights groups accused him of acceding to Israeli and Washington pressure, a familiar tactic by him, yet he continues illegally as the Palestinian Authority (PA) president even though his term expired in January.

On October 2, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) planned to vote on a draft resolution condemning Israel for not cooperating. It would also have endorsed Goldstone's call for the Security Council and/or General Assembly to follow up on his findings.

On September 23, JTA, The Global News Service of the Jewish People, reported that:

"A top White House official told Jewish organizational leaders in an off-the-record phone call (September 23) that US strategy was to 'quickly' bring the report - commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council and carried out by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone - to its 'natural conclusion' within the Human Rights Council and not allow it to go further, Jewish participants in the call told JTA."

In the same article, JTA said the White House stands by ambassador Susan Rice's statement that the report is "unbalanced, one sided and basically unacceptable. We have very serious concerns about many of (its) recommendations."

It's now deferred, and given America's Security Council power, it may be buried unless the world community unites for accountability, redress, and justice. With that unlikely, Israel looks able to keep reigning terror freely by claiming threats to its security, even though it's the sole one in the region, aided and abetted by Washington and corrupted Fatah officials, headed by Mahmoud Abbas.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached atlendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.

Stephen Lendman is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Stephen Lendman

Bristol Gaza Link launched

Free Gaza Movement — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:46:00 +0000

The Bristol Gaza Link Association was launched in Bristol (England) on 28th September 2009 at a historical event supported by Bristol City Council and by members of all political parties, inclduing local members of Parliament. The BG link is working to build humanitarian, cultural and educational links between the people of Bristol and Gaza. Bristol has a long tradition of grassroots solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Bristol Gaza Link

Bristol Gaza Link launched

Leading Israeli Academics excuse war crimes; denounce Goldstone

Free Gaza team — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:45:00 +0000

Asa Kasher: Yes, We're the Most Moral Army in the World
From Ma'ariv
The Spirit of the IDF is Being Put to the Test

September 24, 2009

http://www.bricup.org.uk/news/AcademicsVsGoldstone.htm

Israeli drive to prevent Jewish girls dating Arabs

Free Gaza team — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:37:00 +0000

The National
Jonathan Cook, Foreign Correspondent
September 25. 2009

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090925/FOREIGN/709249932/1135

Recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict

Free Gaza team — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:26:00 +0000

Posted by:Mariana Rodriguez Pareja | cicc5
Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:36 am (PDT)

Dear all,

Please find below recent news coverage related to the recent launch of the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. The Mission was headed by Justice Goldstone and mandated by the UN Human Rights Council in April 2009 "to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after."

The Mission's report recommends that the United Nations Human Rights Council formally submit this report to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

The Mission further recommends "that upon receipt of the committee's report the Security Council consider the situation and, in the absence of good faith investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards having been undertaken or being under way within six months of the date of its resolution under Article 40 by the appropriate authorities of the State of Israel, again acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, refer the situation in Gaza to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court pursuant to Article 13 (b) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court."

The report also mentioned the declaration under Article 12 (3) lodged by the Palestinian National Authority in January 2009, by which it accepts voluntarily the jurisdiction of the Court with respect to the crimes referred to in Article 5 of relevance to the situation and the application of the provisions of Part 9 and any rules thereunder concerning States Parties, pursuant to Rule 44 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Mission considers that "accountability for victims and the interests of peace and justice in the region require that the legal determination should be made by the Prosecutor as expeditiously as possible."

The ICC has officially opened investigations in 4 situations: DRC, Northern Uganda, Darfur, and CAR but the Prosecutor's office is also reportedly conducting preliminary examinations in other situations, including Afghanistan, Chad, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Georgia, Kenya and Palestine.

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential and current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

Regards,

CICC Secretariat

*********************

I. REPORT OF THE UN FACT FINDING MISSION TO GAZA

"HUMAN RIGHTS IN PALESTINE AND OTHER OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES," Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, 15 September 2009, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf

"On April 3rd, 2009 the President of the Human Rights Council established the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict with the mandate to 'investigate all violations of International Human Rights law and International Humanitarian law that might have been committed at any times in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after.'

...The President appointed Justice Richard Goldstone, former judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, to head the mission.

...The mission convened for the first time in May 2009 and conducted field research in addition to other research. Their methodology to implement the mandate was to consider any actions by all parties that might have constituted violations of international human rights law or humanitarian law.

[...] XXXI. RECOMMENDATIONS

1764. The Mission makes recommendations related to the following matters:

(i) Accountability for serious violations of International Humanitarian Law

(ii) Reparations

(iii) Serious violations of human rights law

(iv) The blockade and reconstruction

(v) The use of weapons and military procedures

(vi)The protection of human rights organizations and defenders

(vii) Follow up to the Mission's recommendations

1765. To the Human Rights Council

[...] In view of the gravity of the violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and possible war crimes and crimes against humanity that it has reported, the Mission recommends that the United Nations Human Rights Council request the United Nations Secretary-General to bring this report to the attention of the United Nations Security Council under Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations so that the Security Council may consider action according to the relevant Mission's recommendations below.

The Mission further recommends that the United Nations Human Rights Council formally submit this report to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

1766. To the United Nations Security Council

The Mission recommends:

1. That the Security Council require the Government of Israel, under Article 40 of the Charter of the United Nations:

(a) To take all appropriate steps, within a period of three months, to launch appropriate investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards, into the serious violations of International Humanitarian and International Human Rights Law reported by the Mission and any other serious allegations that might come to its attention;

(b) To inform the Security Council, within a further period of three months, of actions taken, or in process of being taken, by the Government of Israel to inquire into, investigate and prosecute such serious violations

2. The Mission further recommends that the Security Council at the same time establish an independent committee of experts in International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law to monitor and report on any domestic legal or other proceedings undertaken by the Government of Israel in relation to the aforesaid investigations. Such committee of experts should report at the end of the six-months period to the Security Council on its assessment of relevant domestic proceedings initiated by the Government of Israel, including their progress, effectiveness and genuineness, so that the Security Council may assess whether appropriate action to ensure justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators has been or is being taken at the domestic level. The Security Council should request the committee to report to it at determined intervals, as may be necessary. The committee should be appropriately supported by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

3. The Mission recommends that upon receipt of the committee's report the Security Council consider the situation and, in the absence of good faith investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards having been undertaken or being under way within six months of the date of its resolution under Article 40 by the appropriate authorities of the State of Israel, again acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, refer the situation in Gaza to the Prosecutor of the

International Criminal Court pursuant to Article 13 (b) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Mission recommends:

1. That the Security Council require the independent committee of experts referred to in paragraph 3 to monitor and report on any domestic legal or other proceedings undertaken by the relevant authorities in the Gaza Strip in relation to the aforesaid investigations. The committee should report at the end of the six-months period to the Security Council on its assessment of relevant domestic proceedings initiated by the relevant authorities in Gaza, including their progress, effectiveness and genuineness, so that the Security Council may assess whether appropriate action to ensure justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators has been taken or is being taken at the domestic level. The Security Council should request the committee to report to it at determined intervals, as may be necessary.

2. The Mission recommends that upon receipt of the committee's report the Security Council consider the situation and, in the absence of good faith investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards having been undertaken or being under way within six months of the date of its resolution under Article 40 by the appropriate authorities in Gaza, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, refer the situation in Gaza to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court pursuant to Article 13 (b) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

1767. To the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

With reference to the declaration under article 12 (3) received by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC from the Government of Palestine, the Mission considers that accountability for victims and the interests of peace and justice in the region require that the legal determination should be made by the Prosecutor as expeditiously as possible. [...]"

II. CICC MEMBER PRESS RELEASES

i. "FIDH welcomes the conclusions of the Goldstone fact-finding mission", Sept 15, 2009, Ethan Bronner contributed reporting from Jerusalem, and Taghreed el-Khodary from Gaza.

http://www.fidh.org/FIDH-welcomes-the-conclusions-of

"The fact-finding mission headed by Justice Goldstone mandated by the UN Human Rights Council in January 2009 'to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after' released its report today.

According to the first conclusions of the report, it is established that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, during its December 27-January 18 military operations in the Gaza Strip. The commission also concludes that there is evidence that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, as well, by firing rockets into southern Israel.

FIDH and its member organizations in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have constantly reaffirmed that the grave human rights violations should not remain unpunished and those responsible for their perpetration should be prosecuted.

FIDH recalls that international law requires that every state investigates serious human rights violations that are committed by bodies or persons acting on its behalf and prosecutes those responsible for the violations; therefore it welcomes the request by the Goldstone Commission that both parties conduct independent, impartial and transparent investigations within 6 months.

Nevertheless, FIDH recalls that if the parties to the conflict fail in their obligation to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the violations, then it is necessary to support the establishment of international justice mechanisms that will ensure the process of accountability, through filing complaints based on the principle of universal jurisdiction and by contributing to the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor's preliminary analyses and investigations, by submitting communications providing information on the crimes perpetrated during Operation Cast Lead."

ii. "Israel/Gaza: Implement Goldstone Recommendations on Gaza," Human Rights Watch (HRW), 16 September 2009

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/09/16/israelgaza-implement-goldstone-recommendations-gaza

"Israel, Hamas, and relevant United Nations bodies should promptly implement the recommendations of the UN fact-finding mission led by Justice Richard Goldstone on the recent Gaza war and bring to justice those responsible for serious violations of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, established by the UN Human Rights Council, found that both parties to the conflict were responsible for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and that they committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.

"The fact-finding mission's findings of serious violations by both Israel and Hamas are a significant step toward justice and redress for the victims on both sides," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. 'Now the UN, and the Security Council in particular, need to act on these recommendations and ensure that justice is done.'

Human Rights Watch particularly urged the US government not to stand in the way of the recommended Security Council action that would for the first time address the conduct of both Israel and Hamas. The Human Rights Council alone is no substitute for the Security Council because Israel has dismissed the council as biased and because the Security Council can refer the situation in Gaza to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"The Obama administration's pronounced new principles for human rights in the Middle East will be put to the test," Whitson said. 'Washington should welcome this opportunity for the Security Council to address the actions of both sides in this conflict.'

The 575-page report, released on September 15, 2009, documented serious violations of international humanitarian law by Israel, with some incidents amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, including willful killings, deliberate attacks on civilian objects, wanton destruction of civilian property, indiscriminate attacks, the use of human shields, and collective punishment against Gaza's civilian population in the form of a continuing blockade.

The report also concluded that rocket fire from Gaza by Palestinian armed groups was deliberate and calculated to cause loss of civilian life and to terrorize Israeli civilians. As such, the mission concluded, they amounted to serious war crimes and perhaps crimes against humanity.

Human Rights Watch said the UN Security Council should implement the fact-finding mission's recommendation to establish a committee of experts to monitor if and how Israel and Hamas investigate alleged violations by their own forces. In the absence of good faith investigations after six months, the Goldstone report said, the Security Council should refer the situation in Gaza to the ICC.

Investigating and prosecuting laws-of-war violations are, first and foremost, the responsibility of the parties to the conflict, Human Rights Watch said. But both Israel and Hamas have dismal records of investigating and holding accountable members of their own forces for serious laws-of-war violations.

'The record gives little reason for confidence that Israel and Hamas will conduct serious investigations into credible allegations of laws-of-war violations by their own forces,' Whitson said. 'That's why a Security Council-appointed committee to monitor their actions is needed, to spur genuine investigations and prosecutions.'

Human Rights Watch supported the fact-finding mission's call for the Security Council to refer the Gaza conflict to the ICC, should investigations by Israel and Hamas authorities remain inadequate.

'Security Council member states should take concrete steps to ensure justice for crimes committed by all sides during the Gaza conflict,' said Whitson. 'International justice should not be limited to prosecuting perpetrators from states that are more vulnerable to international pressure.'

The ICC, the only permanent international criminal court, is the obvious international tribunal for war crimes committed during the Gaza conflict. Israel is not a party to the ICC, but the court would have jurisdiction over crimes committed during the Gaza conflict if the UN Security Council refers the situation to the ICC, if the ICC prosecutor acts positively on a declaration by the Palestinian National Authority requesting the court's authority over crimes committed in Gaza, or if nationals of ICC member states are found to have committed war crimes on behalf of one of the parties.

Human Rights Watch called on the ICC prosecutor to make a prompt legal determination on the Palestinian National Authority request, consistent with the ICC's mandate to end impunity.

The Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict was established by the UN Human Rights Council in January. The original mandate unfairly limited the investigation to Israeli abuses, but the council president subsequently expanded the scope to include an investigation of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, and the Human Rights Council acquiesced in that change when it was announced by the council president. Goldstone, an eminent international jurist and former chief prosecutor of the war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, led the mission, pledging to look at both sides.

The fact-finding mission said it conducted 188 individual interviews, and reviewed more than 300 reports and other documentation, in addition to more than 30 videos and 1,200 photographs.

Israel refused to cooperate and did not answer questions, ostensibly because it viewed the Human Rights Council and the initial resolution establishing the fact-finding mission as biased against Israel. However, Israel has refused to cooperate with other investigations into its recent conduct in Gaza as well, suggesting a desire to avoid scrutiny. It denied visas for Goldstone's team to visit Israel, so the mission invited Israelis to testify at public hearings in Geneva..."

III. MEDIA REPORTS

i. "Israel Rejects Call for Gaza Inquiry", Isabel Kershner; 16 September 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/world/middleeast/17gaza.html?em

"Israeli officials on Wednesday bluntly dismissed one of the main recommendations of the United Nations fact-finding mission's report on the three-week war in Gaza last winter: a call for the Israeli government to begin an independent investigation of 'serious violations' of international humanitarian and human rights law, including evidence of war crimes, during the military campaign.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the internal military investigations into the Israeli Army's conduct in Gaza already under way were 'a thousand times more serious' than the investigation just completed by the United Nations mission led by Richard Goldstone, a respected South African judge.

...The report, released on Tuesday, says that if no appropriate independent inquiry gets under way in Israel within six months, the United Nations Security Council should refer the matter to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. It made a similar recommendation for Palestinian authorities, calling for an inquiry into evidence of war crimes committed by Palestinian armed groups firing rockets into Israel.

Ahmed Yousef, a senior adviser to the Hamas government in Gaza, said the local authorities would investigate the relevant cases in the report. ..."

ii. "Barak aide: Goldstone Report on Gaza war encourages terror", by Roni Sofer for Y News, 16 September 2009, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3777530,00.html

"Defense minister's aide says findings of UN probe into IDF offensive 'reward terror,' while senior Hamas figure calls report 'politically imbalanced'

...The United Nations said the investigation led by former South African judge Goldstone concluded that 'Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity,' during its Dec. 27-Jan. 18 military operations in the Palestinian territories.

The global body said the report 'concludes there is also evidence that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity,' by firing rockets into southern Israel.

The report accuses Israel of violating international law and possibly committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead. Similar accusations, however, are also made regarding Hamas - the report condemns the groups' rocket fire on Israel, as well as IDF soldier Gilad Shalit's captivity, which the report said does not coincide with conventions meant to ensure treatment of prisoners of war.

... The prime minister intends to study the 575-page report - and its possible repercussions - thoroughly; especially those pertaining to possible UN and International Crimes Court (ICC) actions.

Jerusalem's main concern at this time is that a report by a seemingly ephemeral, biased body, will harm international relations. Netanyahu wished to refute the report completely...."

iii. "Evidence of Israel, Hamas war crimes in Gaza: U.N.," by Louis Charbonneau" for The Washington Post, 15 September 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR2009091501272.html

"Both the Israeli army and Palestinian militants committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, during the December-January Gaza war, the United Nations charged on Tuesday.

A 575-page report by a fact-finding mission organized by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council called on both sides to thoroughly investigate the allegations. Israel did not cooperate with the investigation.

'The mission concluded that actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly in some respects crimes against humanity, were committed by the Israel Defense Force,' U.N. investigator Richard Goldstone told reporters.

The report also said rockets fired by Palestinian militants into Israel where there were no military targets would also constitute war crimes, and perhaps crimes against humanity.

... Goldstone, a noted South African jurist, recommended that the U.N. Security Council call on Israel to fully investigate possible crimes committed by its forces. His report made clear that Palestinian authorities should do the same regarding crimes committed by Palestinian fighters.

The probes should be 'independent and in conformity with international standards' and establish a committee of human rights experts to monitor any such proceedings in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

If either Israel or the Palestinians fail to do so, then the 15-nation council should refer the situation in Gaza to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the report said..."

iv. "U.S. Rejects U.N. Proposal to Compel War Crimes Probes of Gaza Conflict", by Colum Lynch for The Washington Post; 17 September 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/17/AR2009091704278.html

"Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, rejected a U.N. proposal to compel Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, to conduct credible investigations into war crimes during last winter's war in Gaza or face possible prosecution by an international prosecutor.

Richard Goldstone, a South African judge who headed a U.N. fact-finding mission probing abuses in Gaza, accused the two sides Tuesday of unlawfully targeting civilians during the conflict. Goldstone's four-member team recommended that the U.N. Security Council instruct the combatants to investigate excesses within their own ranks and if they fail to comply, authorize the Hague-based International Criminal Court to do it.

Rice said that violations of human rights in Gaza should be addressed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which created Goldstone's panel in April, and not by the Security Council, which has the authority to authorize an international probe...."

IV. UN MEDIA BRIEFING

"UN - Daily Press Briefing - Gaza, Responsibility to Protect, Human Rights Council, Migration, Children and Armed Conflict, Timor-Leste, DRC", 15 September 2009, http://www.isria.com/pages/16_September_2009_30.php

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of September 15's noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and Jean-Victor Nkolo, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

"[...]...Gaza:

'The first of the press conferences that happened earlier today, the United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict, released its findings today in New York. The mission, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, was mandated by the Human Rights Council to 'investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after'.

Since its establishment, the Secretary-General has encouraged and supported the mission and called on all parties to cooperate fully in its work. He believes that accountability for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law is essential both to the protection of human dignity and to the quest for sustainable peace. The mission will formally present its report to the Human Rights Council on 29 September. And earlier today, Justice Goldstone had a telephone conversation with the Secretary-General to inform him of its broad contents and of his intention to release the report. The Secretary-General commended Justice Goldstone for his leadership and independence."

**************************

CICC's policy on the referral and prosecution of situations before the ICC:

The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the court. The CICC is an independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent international organization. The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to effectively implement the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Coalition will also endeavor to respond to basic queries and to raise awareness about the ICC's trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they develop. The Coalition as a whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific investigations or prosecutions or take a position on situations before the ICC. However, individual CICC members may endorse referrals, provide legal and other support on investigations, or develop partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of their efforts.

Communications to the ICC can be sent to:

ICC

P.O. Box 19519

2500 CM the Hague

The Netherlands

***********************************************

Mariana Rodriguez-Pareja

Senior Spanish Communications Officer

Communications Section

NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC)

Coalición de ONG por la Corte Penal Internacional (CCPI)

Together for Justice: Civil society in 150 countries advocating for a fair, effective and independent ICC. For more information, visit our new website at www.iccnow.org or www.togetherforjustice.org and participate in our blog at www.iccnow.org/blog

El Movimiento Gaza Libre

Bea — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:37:00 +0000

Vídeo del Movimiento Gaza Libre sobre la invasión de la franja de Gaza por parte del ejército israelí en diciembre de 2008 y enero de 2009, y sobre los intentos del movimiento para romper el brutal asedio impuesto por el Estado de Israel. Con subtítulos en español.

{youtube}RrqYRlEDKZQ{/youtube}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrqYRlEDKZQ

Gaza: Textbooks Become a Dream

Free Gaza team — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:43:00 +0000

Gaza: Textbooks Become a Dream

By Mel Frykberg

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48479

Palestinian Film Festival in Cape Town

Free Gaza Team — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:06:00 +0000

The Palestinian Struggle and Human Spirit Film Festival to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from October 2 - 4, 2009, will feature U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who has been on two Free Gaza Movement missions to Gaza and Free Gaza organizer, Huwaida Arraf. In addition, Aki Nawwaz's film documenting the trials and tribulations of the first historic voyage to Gaza, "To Gaza With Love." Please see below for more detail and spread the word!

Follows the press release:

Channel 4 Network SA, a Cape Town-based International News Network and Syndication company, will be hosting a Palestinian Film Festival from the 2nd to 4th October 2009 in Cape Town.

The objectives of the festival are to concientise the public and create a general awareness around the situation in Palestine. To foster a culture of human rights, respect for human dignity and justice for all. The Palestinian Struggle denotes the ultimate struggle of the Human Spirit’s will to survive; it is a cry to the world of nations for the rediscovery of their humanity; a battle for the soul of humanity. The world has a responsibility to honour its commitment to its promise, “never again”. This Palestinian Struggle and Human Spirit Film Festival is aimed at honouring that commitment.

Channel 4 Network SA is excited to announce that former US Congresswoman and 2009 US presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney will be the special guest at the festival. McKinney gained prominence when she was arrested by the Israeli Occupation Force Navy trying to break the siege on Gaza. Co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement and board member of the Free Gaza Movement, Huwaida Arraf will also honour the festival with her presence. Several local dignitaries, including the likes of secretary-general of COSATU, Zwelinzima Vavi, prominent academic, Dr Virginia Tilley, Dr Shabir Wadee and many more will also grace the occasion, delivering lectures and presentations. The internationally-acclaimed Act of State: 1967 – 2007 photo exhibition by Tel Aviv-based “visual philosopher”, Ariella Azoulay, will be on display. In addition, a keffiyah picket in support of the Palestinian Struggle will take place. McKinney will partake in an olive tree-planting/sod-turning ceremony, releasing white doves, twinning with Gaza City where a similar event will take place as a symbolic gesture of peace. Also other exciting events will be taking place throughout the weekend, including, various displays, but this is a closely guarded secret and patrons will have to be their to experience the atmosphere.

The festival’s main attraction however, will be its excellent array of documentaries on show. Channel 4 Network is proud to announce that four documentaries that will premiere (shown for the very first time) at the festival, namely, Coca Cola & Israel: Is Not The Real Thing (first locally produced film by Channel 4 Network SA, director, Fahrie Hassan); Tiger by the Tail (by British director, Robert Sutcliffe), To Gaza With Love (Director, Aki Nawaz) and the contribution from the USA, Operation Small Axe (Block Report Radio). Another scoop is the acclaimed DEFAMATION an exposé on anti-Semitism, which screened recently at the Encounters Film festival. 6 Floors to Hell, Zainab’s Story, Deir Yassin Remembered, Demolitions, Offside and acclaimed documentary film maker of “Iron Wall’ fame, Muhammed Alatar’s latest production, Jerusalem: East Side Story and many more.

The festival venue is The Joseph Stone Auditorium, Klipfontein Rd, Athlone, Cape Town.

For media or other enquiries, please contact:

Fahrie Hassan or Khalil Amod 021 691 9375 or 083 797 7299
e-mail: fahri@channel4.co.za; info@channel4.co.za
or for updates visit the festival page at www.channel4.co.za
or follow us on facebook.

Treading the Borders Between Life and Death

Ewa Jasiewicz — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:10:00 +0000

http://www.paltelegraph.com/newsflash/2266-treading-the-borders-between-life-and-death

Waiting for Another Harsh Winter in Gaza

Free Gaza Team — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:04:00 +0000

The Free Gaza movement is working hard to return to Gaza in the fall of 2009. We will return with a cargo ship laden with supplies denied by Israel as well as two to three passenger boats carrying members of Parliament from around the world, human rights observers and journalists. We will not wait for winter. And we will continue to send boats to break Israel's draconian siege of Gaza.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2009/September/opinion_September79.xml&section=opinion&col

Israel's war on Gaza killed 252 children, report claims

Free Gaza team — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:31:00 +0000

The Independent

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israels-war-on-gaza-killed-252-children-report-claims-1783877.html

In Support of the Free Gaza Movement

Free Gaza team — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:48:00 +0000

By former Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

We all remember the brutal Israeli attacks against Gaza last year. Many of us were outraged by the killings of some 1,300 Gazan Palestinian, men, women, the disabled, the children, the sick and the maimed. Hospitals and schools were destroyed.
The condemnation of this brutal assault had forced the Israelis to stop the massive retaliation against alleged Hamas rocket attacks against Israel.
Many of the rich countries had pledged billions in aid for the rebuilding of Gaza.
After that, things became quiet. There was hardly any report in the press on what was happening. I suppose most people assume that the reconstruction of Gaza was proceeding apace.
But the reality is far different. The Egyptians limited the medicine and the building materials from entering Gaza from its territory. The sea is blockaded illegally by the Israelis. The people of Gaza have literally been made prisoners by these actions.
The Free Gaza Movement led by Huwaida Arraf was set up in order to send needed supplies to beleaguered Gaza. But after five small boats were successful in delivering much needed supplies, the Israeli navy began to intercept them and forcing them to abort their humanitarian aid.
One small boat with a number of Palestinians, Arabs, European and American (a U.S. Congresswoman) was rammed by Israeli warships. Luckily they survived.
Recently another little boat, loaded with food, medicine, stationery for school use and toys, with 21 unarmed civilians including a Nobel Peace Laureate from Ireland and the American women candidate for presidency of the U.S. was fired at by Israeli commandos, who then boarded the boat, giving rough treatment to the people on board.
Repeated shouts on the loudhailer that there were only unarmed civilians and the boat carried no arm failed to stop the commandos. The boat was steered by the commandos to an Israeli port and the people on board were thrown into Israeli jails.
The people of the Free Gaza Movement have now been released. They are determined to carry on sailing from Cyprus to Gaza to bring relief.
Winter is coming and it will be bitterly cold in Gaza. A great number of the Gazans whose houses were destroyed by the Israelis have no shelter and would suffer terribly in the winter.
Modern civilization is supposedly very concerned about human rights. It is only right that we care for those heroes and heroines who are standing up to oppressive Governments.
But shouldn’t we also be concerned and caring for the 1½ million people of Gaza, who had lost 1,300 fellow inhabitants, whose houses, schools and hospitals have been destroyed, who do not have water or sanitary facilities, who will be without shelter from the coming winter.
It is sad that Governments who had pledged aid have so readily allowed the Israelis to blockade Gaza. It is disgusting that Israel can break international laws with impunity.
I went to Cyprus to meet these brave members of the Free Gaza Movement. I was shocked at how tiny was the only fishing boat that they still have for future trips to Gaza.
I had been sailing in a much bigger yacht and I know how rough was the sea. Yet 21 people dare to sail in this tiny boat, sleeping on the open deck, being seasick, being without proper food, and being made to face Israeli attacks. We really live in an uncivilized world where the fate of one or two people, useful for condemning certain Governments are constantly played up, yet the suffering, the freedom of 1½ million Gazans are ignored. I admire them Gazans whose main concern is for their right to be a free people, free that is from Israeli oppression, supported by the rich people who talk a lot about human rights and freedom.
I don’t think I would be able to endure the kind of discomfort and dangers faced by the activists of the Free Gaza Movement. All I can do is to give moral support to them.
Malaysians who wish to do so may volunteer to sail with these intrepid people. But if they cannot, then they can contribute towards their need to buy a bigger boat as no one would rent boats to them.
The PGPO (Perdana Global Peace Organisation) would like to appeal for donations in aid of the Free Gaza Movement members to purchase a small ship to carry cement and building materials apart from medicine and food etc.
All contributions by cheque can be issued to: KLFCW (Gaza Fund). KLFCW stands for the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War. The cheques can be addressed to the KLFCW c/o Perdana Global Peace Organisation, 5th Floor, 88, Jalan Perdana, Taman Tasik Perdana, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Cash contributions can be channeled to KLFCW Maybank Account: 5123 3430 6634.

###

Prosecuting Israel for war crimes

Free Gaza team — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:01:00 +0000

September 4, 2009

RealNewsNetwork.com

Deputy Prosecutor of Int'l Criminal Court discusses the Palestinian Authority appeal to join the court.

Lia Tarachansky speaks to Fatou Bensouda, the Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) about the Palestinian Authority's appeal to join the group of nations over which the court has jurisdiction. Bensouda says that before the ICC can investigate the perpetration of war crimes during Israel's recent attack on Gaza, the court would have to rule on whether it has jurisdiction in the Palestinian Territories. For that, there would have to be clear borders identified, a task the UN would have to take on. Once the court rules on jurisdiction it would be able to prosecute anyone who committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide within the territory, even if (such as in the case of Israel) the perpetrator is not part of the International Court.

Video here.

Set sail for justice

Free Gaza team — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:03:00 +0000

The National.

September 2. 2009 4:29PM GMT

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090903/OPINION/709029893

Israeli Navy Incinerates Gaza Fishing Boat

Free Gaza team — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:58:00 +0000

{youtube}7cK_0I3ZM1U{/youtube}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cK_0I3ZM1U

She turns her anguish into action

Free Gaza team — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:33:00 +0000

The National.

September 2. 2009 8:37PM GMT

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090903/NATIONAL/709029846

Not one penny has reached Gaza

Free Gaza team — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:15:00 +0000

From The National, August 31. 2009:
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090901/FOREIGN/708319876/1140

[Video Free Gaza] We made it to Gaza on 23rd August 2008, 29 August 2009

Free Gaza Team — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:39:00 +0000

We will return. We will come back. We will never forget.

A year ago, 23rd August 2008, 44 of us saw the coastline of Gaza in the distance, after 30 hours of traveling across the Mediterranean Sea. We were jubilant. We had made it to Gaza. We had actually made it to Gaza. We had really, really made it to Gaza.

We had MADE IT TO GAZA.

Thank you to all of you who made this possible, who worked on the land crew, who sent out the information to your lists, who covered the story while we were in Gaza. 44 of us made it to Gaza last year, but we were supported by hundreds of you

{youtube}NX9NfVxYrcY{/youtube}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX9NfVxYrcY

High resolution downloadable videos on archive.org:

http://www.archive.org/details/Aug09VideoFreeGazaWeMadeItToGaza23rdAugust2008

Non-violent action in Gaza

Free Gaza team — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Sameh Habeeb and Ayman Quader, 26 - 08 - 2009

If you are a young Gazan, how do you react to siege, blockade and war? It's time to hear about the struggle to be constructive in the midst of so much hatred and destruction, and to ask how long it can survive.

26 - 08 - 2009

he Gaza Strip has lost 1,400 lives and a further 5,000, mostly civilians, have been maimed and wounded in the latest attack waged by the Israeli government. This came on top of an illegal, yet relentless siege that has dragged on and on for over two years, preventing 1.5 million Gazans from having access to the basic necessities of life, and to the wider world. You might well ask how young people respond to this blockade. Some of course resort to violence. But others have chosen a different tack.

Peace for Gaza Blog

Free Gaza Movement Arrives in Veracruz, Mexico

Dr. Bill Dienst — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:30:00 +0000

Mexico City, 18 August 2009

During the past 10 days, I have brought the message of Free Gaza Movement to Veracruz, Mexico. I have given a total of 4 Palestine related lectures to different groups of Mexican family practice resident physicians in the State’s two largest cities: Xalapa and Puerto de Veracruz (Veracruz Port). This has been my forth visit to Veracruz in the past 8 years. I have participated in and helped develop a Family Medicine Exchange Program (FAMEX). This cultural exchange or intercambio is between family physicians from Washington State and the Mexican State of Veracruz. We have received to date 8 Mexican doctors in Washington State, including Seattle and Omak and have sent more than 15 physicians to partner with Mexican Family Physicians in Veracruz.

For those of you who do not know, the hit song “La Bamba” comes from Veracruz. Over a century before the Chicano star Ricardo Valenzuela (Richie Valens) made it a hit song in the USA during the 1950’s; La Bamba had been a traditional folksong of Veracruz.

Xalapa ( also spelled Jalapa) is the State Capital, with a lush, moderate tropical climate perched at 1430 meters (4000 feet) within view of Mexico’s highest peak. At 5611 meters (about 18000 ft), Orizaba People from Jalapa are called Jalapenios. It is a university town with a Bohemian artisan and music scene. The countryside is surrounded by lush jungles, coffee and sugar plantations, with waterfalls and whitewater rafting

The Xalapa Family Practice residency program is sponsored by Mexico’s national health care program IMSS, or Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social. IMMS number 66 primary care clinic is a large brick building located in the center of the city. I gave my first lecture there to a group of third year residents about to leave on their 6 month externships out in the bush in the rural hospitals of Chicontepec and Papantla in Northern Veracruz where they treat native Aztec (Nahuatl) and Totanaco patients.

In order to prepare these FP residents for trauma care, I gave them a PowerPoint lecture that I had originally prepared a year ago for the first passengers of Free Gaza Movement: The Trauma First Aid Training Manual. I initially gave this lecture in English last year to the Liberty and Free Gaza passengers at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus.

It was designed to orient those passengers to the basics of trauma first aid in the event that our boats were attacked by the Israeli Navy or Air Force, or if we had experienced other disasters at sea and needed to care for our injured fellow passengers. Fortunately none of the FGM sea journeys have suffered seriously wounded passengers thus far.

Here in Xalapa, I translated the PowerPoint slides into Spanish with the help of Mexican friends and gave the lecture in Spanish (Spanglish really). It contains authentic and graphic photos and DVD’s of Palestinian trauma victims based on the November 2006 Israeli massacres of the residents of Beit Hanoun, Gaza, which killed over 100 people and wounded over 300. I visited Gaza a week after these horrors.

Physicians from Palestine Medical Relief Society gave me these graphic images, saying to me, “Go outside with these and show the world what is really happening to us!” And so that is what I have tried to do. Many who live outside have found these images very disturbing though, and in poor taste. But less so the Mexican physicians, who live in a more pragmatic and realistic society about issues of Death and Dying. After all, Mexico is the land of “Dia de los Muertos” November 2nd, the Day of the Dead.

Apart from teaching the basics of trauma care to the residents, this trauma presentation also sensitized these Mexican residents to the horrors that the Palestinian people have been subjected to by the Israeli war machine .

I gave the second lecture the next day in English with a bilingual translator paraphrasing my lecture into Spanish for the residents. It was my more formal lecture about the history of Palestine and Israel as well as the Free Gaza Movement.

These Mexican residents were not that knowledgeable about the Middle East; but on the other hand, they have not been prejudiced by so much disinformation about Israel by lobby forces either, compared to a typical North American audience. So they were more open minded. And so they were more receptive to my presentation and more sympathetic to the current Palestinian situation.

I was also able to just walk in and give these presentations without any hassle. I didn’t experience any efforts to intimidate or silence me from any “Israel Firsters” trying to block my presentation as being “too political.” This would certainly happen if I tried to give these same presentations in English at the University of Washington Medical School, or at the Washington Academy of Family Physicians.

In Tacoma Washington a year and a half ago, I had a presentation on medical care in Palestine and the situation in the West Bank and Gaza that was all scheduled to go before the Pierce County Medical Society. A banquet hall had been reserved, and flyers went out to all members. They were to pay me a $500 Honorarium for my work. A week before the presentation, I received a call from the County Medical Society President. He was apologizing because he was going to have to cancel my program because of complaints from Zionist medical society members, who threatened to quit the Society if my program went through. So much for free speech in the Good Ol’ USA . . . In Mexico, I did not have to worry about any of this! I just had to try to speak the language without butchering it up too much.

Next I traveled by bus for 2 hours to the Port City of Veracruz. The Conquistador, Hernan Cortes, came ashore here in 1519. El Puerto, as Veracruz’s main city is called, is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement on the mainland of the Americas; It was preceded only by Spanish settlements in Cuba and Hispaniola (present day Haiti and Dominical Republic).

It is a sultry steamy seaport. In the middle of August it brings back memories of Larnaca Port in Cyprus, though not nearly as expensive. It is guarded by an ancient Spanish Fortaleza San Juan Ulua, which protected the Spanish Armada and city from British and French Pirates who sailed in from the Caribbean. There is live music and dancing in the main square until 3 am every morning. (Been there, done that before; didn’t do it this time). I did go Cuban salsa dancing with my colleagues, and went scuba diving.

In Puerto de Veracruz, I gave the same 2 lectures as I did in Xalapa. The last lecture on Free Gaza Movement was the most challenging. It was in a big lecture hall, and we were hooked up via telemedicine to the rural hospitals in Poza Rica, Papantla, and Chicontepec 3 and 6 hour’s drives away, and also back in Xalapa.

The only problem for this final high-tech presentation was that there was no one who could speak good English. So I had to plow through the history of Israel-Palestine and the Free Gaza Movement in Spanish. I got through it though maybe not as elequent as in English. Altogether, my lectures reached more that 200 family physicians in Mexico.

Photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/docbill/sets/72157622016016307/

British Witnesses to Operation Cast Lead: Netanyahu and Brown - ending Gaza siege not option ...

Free Gaza Team — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:24:00 +0000

The Free Gaza Movement (UK Chapter):

International solidarity activists brought to Gaza by Free Gaza's
boats witnessed first hand the destruction and massacres wrought on
the people of Gaza during Operation Cast Lead this January. [1]

Cast Lead saw over 1400 Palestinians killed, a third of them women and
children, 11,000 homes, over 200 schools and hundreds of businesses
damaged or destroyed. Netanyahu believes this invasion did not go far
enough.

As a former Minister of Finance, Netanyahu has been responsible for
financing military operations that wilfully destroyed property, land
and civilian lives; the expansion of illegal settlements, and the
construction of the ‘Security Barrier’ re-named the ‘Apartheid Wall’
for its’ reinforcement of Bantustans in the West Bank.

The Free Gaza Movement calls on UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to
adhere to his legal obligations, on behalf of the UK, as a signatory
to the Geneva Conventions and European Convention on Human Rights, to
enforce international law in relation to Israel's illegal activities.

This means action to immediately halt the construction of the illegal
apartheid wall, a barrier to peace that steals land and water
resources from the Palestinian population of the west bank.

This means action to end the illegal and collectively punishing siege of the
Gaza Strip that has blocked essential medical treatment, directly
resulting in the deaths of over 350 people in the past three years.

This means action to end to the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem,
where over 2000 homes have been set for demolition.

This means action to halt the expansion of new settlements in the West
Bank and dismantling existing ones - all are illegal under international law.

Taking decisive enforcement action on these violations of international
law is not an option, it is a legal obligation. Demands and positions
must be backed up by decisive action – sanctions – if international
law is not adhered to.

It is not an option for the British Prime Minister to derogate from
his duties in respect to the international community and the UK
community.

Media Contacts

[1] (All witnesses to Operation Cast Lead) - available for interview

Jenny Linnell, Free Gaza Movement (UK) 0044 7970 976 911

Ewa Jasiewicz, Free Gaza Movement (UK) 0044 7749 421 576 (volunteer
with ambulances and witness to white phosophorous bombing of Beit
Lahiya Elementary School)

Fida Qeshta, International Solidarity Movement co-ordinator for Gaza
(Palestinian Gazan - currently in the UK) 0044 7833 626 178

Sharyn Lock, Free Gaza (UK Resident) 0044 7881 651 259 (volunteer with
ambulances and witness to tank shelling and bombardment of Al Qds
Hospital with white phosphorous)

For Immediate Release:

Monday August 25th 2009

www.freegaza.org

Gordon Brown – ending the occupation and siege of Gaza is not an
option, it’s an obligation

The Free Gaza Movement (UK Chapter):

International solidarity activists brought to Gaza by Free Gaza's
boats witnessed first hand the destruction and massacres wrought on
the people of Gaza during Operation Cast Lead this January. [1]

Cast Lead saw over 1400 Palestinians killed, a third of them women and
children, 11,000 homes, over 200 schools and hundreds of businesses
damaged or destroyed. Netanyahu believes this invasion did not go far
enough.

As a former Minister of Finance, Netanyahu has been responsible for
financing military operations that wilfully destroyed property, land
and civilian lives; the expansion of illegal settlements, and the
construction of the ‘Security Barrier’ re-named the ‘Apartheid Wall’
for its’ reinforcement of Bantustans in the West Bank.

The Free Gaza Movement calls on UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to
adhere to his legal obligations, on behalf of the UK, as a signatory
to the Geneva Conventions and European Convention on Human Rights, to
enforce international law in relation to Israel's illegal activities.

This means action to immediately halt the construction of the illegal
apartheid wall, a barrier to peace that steals land and water
resources from the Palestinian population of the west bank.

This means action to end the illegal and collectively punishing siege of the
Gaza Strip that has blocked essential medical treatment, directly
resulting in the deaths of over 350 people in the past three years.

This means action to end to the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem,
where over 2000 homes have been set for demolition.

This means action to halt the expansion of new settlements in the West
Bank and dismantling existing ones - all are illegal under international law.

Taking decisive enforcement action on these violations of international
law is not an option, it is a legal obligation. Demands and positions
must be backed up by decisive action – sanctions – if international
law is not adhered to.

It is not an option for the British Prime Minister to derogate from
his duties in respect to the international community and the UK
community.

Media Contacts

[1] (All witnesses to Operation Cast Lead) - available for interview

Jenny Linnell, Free Gaza Movement (UK) 0044 7970 976 911

Ewa Jasiewicz, Free Gaza Movement (UK) 0044 7749 421 576 (volunteer
with ambulances and witness to white phosophorous bombing of Beit
Lahiya Elementary School)

Fida Qeshta, International Solidarity Movement co-ordinator for Gaza
(Palestinian Gazan - currently in the UK) 0044 7833 626 178

Sharyn Lock, Free Gaza (UK Resident) 0044 7881 651 259 (volunteer with
ambulances and witness to tank shelling and bombardment of Al Qds
Hospital with white phosphorous)

I Live In A Tent, With No Privacy

Free Gaza Team — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:58:00 +0000

Gaza, August 23, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Every time she tries to understand what happened to her, she asks herself : what was my fault? What's going to happen to me in my tent?

Ilham, a 30-year-old mother of 6, lives in Al-Atatra district, in the northern part of the Gaza strip. The Israeli war had a huge impact on her; it destroyed her house, her parent's house and killed her brother.

Ilham and her family spent 25 days in one of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's schools (UNRWA), to take shelter from phosphorous missiles of death that were chasing the population of the strip.

This is her story: http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/1955-i-live-in-a-tent-with-no-privacy