World Palestine Feature Archive

For the 12th day in a row, Israeli forces have been bombarding Lebanon, while more Israeli troops are moving into southern parts of the country. So far more than 400 Lebanese civilians have been killed, over 1,000 wounded and some 500,000 displaced, compared with 36 Israeli deaths (17 civilians) caused by Hizbullah's Katyusha rockets fired at northern Israeli cities and towns. Reports from Beirut talk of a deserted, devastated city, with residential buildings, roads and bridges being hit by Israeli air strikes [click the Full Article link for details].

Meanwhile in Palestine, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip continue. Tens of Palestinian civilians have been killed and many more injured, not to mention the periodic shortages of food, fuel, electricity, water and medicine. Many of those killed were Palestinian civilians, including children, who died during Israeli air force "targeted killings". As well as actual bombing raids, Israeli military airplanes have conducted nightly sonic booming raids over Gaza, with the aim of making the civilian population fearful that actual bombing is under way. In retaliation, Palestinian groups also continue to fire Qassam rockets at Israeli towns [see Human Rights Watch's statement].

Apart from the mass destruction of civilian infrastructure, there are reports that Israeli forces have been using internationally banned weapons, such as phosphorus incendiary bombs and vacuum bombs, both in Gaza and in Lebanon.

Although still small in scale, there have been a few protests against the continuing Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza throughout the world. On 18 June, several hundred people demonstrated in Parliament Square in London. National-wide demonstrations have been called for July 22nd by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition and various Muslim organisations. July 22nd is also going to be an International Day of Action Against Israeli Aggression. Earlier this month, protesters blockaded EDO MBM in Brighton, which makes electrical weapons components for the Israeli military. [see also "Boycott Israeli Goods" National Day of Action].

Read more: Global Indymedia feature | Word from Lebanon | Cyprus Indymedia features 1 | 2 | Appeal for Solidarity with Lebanese Civil Society | The racist subtext of the evacuation story | The Israeli Censor | The Gaza Sea Weeps Blood | Background to the Israel-Palestine crisis | Arab-Israeli wars | Photos: cmaq gallery

Links: IMC Beirut | IMC Israel | International Middle East Media Centre | Palestine News Network | Electronic Intifada | Electronic Lebanon | Palestine Blogs | Tadamon

As the British government continues to boycott Palestinians by refusing to recognise their democratically elected government, by joining the EU in a blockade of aid and by entertaining Israeli leader Ehud Olmert in London whilst bombs rain down on Gaza, activists around the country have answered a call from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and the Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign (BIG) to join a day of boycott action against Israeli apartheid.

During the day of action on Saturday, 24th June, pickets and demonstrations took place at stores selling Israeli products across the UK: in Liverpool, Brighton, Camden, Hackney, Islington, Southport, Cardiff, Darlington, Brixton, Oxford, Nottingham, Birmingham, Exeter, Halifax, Brent, Durham, Sheffield and Manchester. Concerned individuals took part in creative actions to persuade the public not to buy Israeli goods and demand that retailers do not stock them.

In Brighton campaigners picketed Waitrose calling on the corporation to adhere to its ethical buying policy by not buying goods from apartheid Israel. Another picket was held outside a highstreet store selling CATerpillar goods, who have a contract with the Israeli military for the supply of military bulldozers used in illegal demolitions of Palestinian homes. In the West Midlands activists drove a replica CATerpillar bulldozer through the high street as a creative way of highlighting the way in which CATerpillar fuels the occupation. Across London activist picketed supermarkets selling Israeli goods and delivered letters to store managers informing them of the boycott.

The actions today were part of a concerted campaign calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against apartheid Israel. Prevous actions and campaigns include:
Agrexco: Corporate Complicity in the Ethnic Cleansing of the Jordan Valley | Letting Apartheid Bloom | The Uxbridge Seven: Day One | Day Two | Seven Blockaders Acquitted
Caterpillar: Caterpillar Manchester Protest 2005 | Anniversary of Rachel Corries' Death | Film: Caterkiller Shut Down | Anti Caterpillar Motorcade | Rhythms of Resistance Anti Cat Shoes Protest | Caterpillar Trade Fair Action | Caterkiller Awarded Housewrecker of the Year | ESF Florence Action
Supermarket protests: Boycott Van | Marks and Spencers Stencilled | Repression of M&S Protesters
Academic boycott: AUT Boycott | NAFTHE Boycott | CUPE Ontario | COSATU (South Africa).
Sporting boycott campaigns include Stop Arsenal supporting Israeli Apartheid | Scotland Pitch Invasions | Free Jerusalem-Stop Connex and Alstrom.

On Friday, 9th of June, the Isreali Navy shelled families holidaying on Gaza beach. Ten people were obliterated in the bombing and children were left screaming over the mutilated bodies of their loved ones. Please follow the Full Article link for more details. [listen to audio interview with surviving member of the family]

The situation in Palestine is becoming more desperate in every area of life, from the continual land theft and increase in illegal settlements across the West Bank to the daily incursions, assassinations and arrests.

Reports:
Check out the links below to read and listen to reports form across the region. For constant updates, please visit the International Middle East Media Centre website.

Palestine Today [ Mon, 5 June | Tues, 6 June | Wed, 7 June] | This Week in Palestine [2nd June] | Analysis from Palestine | Report from the West Bank | AL Numan report | New Fateh-led force in West Bank | Interview about the non-violent movement in Palestine | Israeli Army repression of non-violent protests in occupied Bilien

Peace workers denied access to Bethlehem

In the early hours of December the 20th the Israeli authorities at Tel Aviv airport stopped a group of international observers who were en route to a Christmas Non Violence conference in Bethlehem.

After lengthy interrogations, two UK citizens were allowed to enter the country but three were denied entry on ‘security grounds’. The three internationals, from South Africa, Italy, Australia, intend to challenge this decision in the Israeli courts. Now they have spent Christmas in jail, rather than in Bethlehem.

The group are experienced peace campaigners who were on their way to the “Celebrating Non-Violence” conference to be held in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem early next week. All five have worked previously as international observers in the Palestinian territories.

Spokesperson Charlotte Carson states: “Our colleagues are being stopped from attending a conference about non-violent activism because they are non-violent activists. Clearly, Israel is afraid of the power of non-violence.”

Audio interviews with the peace activists prevented from attending the Non-Violence Conference in Bethlehem

Read the transcript of the judgement of the Peace Activists appeal against their deportation preventing their attendance at the Non-Violence Conference in Bethlehem

Reports of humanitarian work in the west bank between the 7th & 18th of Jan 2005

Internationals from the International Solidarity Movement and the International Women’s Peace Service today joined with Israeli peace activists to support the village of Bil’in in their second day of resistance to the construction of the Apartheid Wall. Approximately 150 men, women, and children from Bil’in walked onto their confiscated land and halted surveying work.

Full feature on arrested filmmaker Kelly Minio-Paluello on Cambridge IMC

Two hundred Egyptian activists and fifty from Europe were prevented from reaching Egyptian Rafah by security forces at Bahlouza, the entry to North Sinai yesterday. The group was accompanying hundreds of tons of relief supplies for the people of Rafah collected by the Egyptian Popular committee in support of the Palestinian Intifada. While the food and blankets were allowed to reach the border at Rafah, the solidarity demonstration planed for Rafah was held in the middle of the desert underneath the welcome arch of North Sinai.

I knew Arafat had finally (officially at least) died when the 1st mosque call of Thursday morning didn't end. As usual it began around 4am but on Thursday it continued until 12 noon. Partly in denial and partial in early morning confusion I dragged myself out of bed as usual and began walking down to the main street. I passed Ream – my land lady. Ream didn’t offer her usual recognition. Her black figure walked passed quickly; she was in a hurry to mourn. The streets looked strange. They were filled only with an unusual atmosphere. The shop doors were all shut and firmly locked, hiding the usual colour and vibrancy of Beit Sahour, while turning the beautiful stone walls of the old city into a metal corridor...
-Extract of a diary from Bex Tyrer from Oxford, writing from Beit Sahour, Palestine)

[ read full report ]

UPDATES:

Journalist Ewa Jasciewicz now held in detention for over 14 days as Israeli court fiasco continues.

19 AUGUST: Ewa is to be released from jail, but has still been forbidden by the IDF from entering Palestine.
20 AUGUST: Ewa remains locked up until at least Sunday, following an appeal by the Israeli Government [reports: 1 | 2 ]

The National Union of Journalists has condemned the Israeli Government for its treatment of journalist Ewa Jasiewicz, who was detained whilst entering Israel last week and remains in prison.

Ewa's appeal against deportation from Israel will be heard on Thursday, August 19th.

[ Telephone call from Ewa | Background on Baha | Ewa on Iraq | The "Intifada of the Empty Stomach"]

STOP PRESS FRIDAY 1600: WORLD COURT DECLARES WALL "ILLEGAL".

While the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Netherlands, prepares to give its advisory opinion on the Apartheid Wall on July 9th, the Wall in Palestine continues to destroy lives and lands at an ever-increasing pace. Four months of court deliberations have prompted international political immobility, but Palestinian resistance is growing. Whole villages have risen up to stop the Apartheid Wall and the devastating repression of the Israeli Occupation.

In light of the upcoming opinion from the ICJ, the Israeli government is trying to manipulate the truth and disguise the colonial foundation of its racist apartheid policy. The occupation forces have depicted a decision by their own High Court to move 30km of the Apartheid Wall as a Palestinian “victory”, but Palestinians see how, on the contrary, this decision validates Israel’s claim that the Wall is solely a security measure and how it states that the Wall can be built on Palestinian land.

Latest News on the Apartheid Wall at StopTheWall.org | Background info on the ICJ | video, audio, photo and info from: europe@stopthewall.org

There is an emergency situation right now in the Gaza Strip and the town of Rafah [feature on Indymedia.org], in particular, with scenes that bring to mind Israel's invasion of Jenin and Nablus in the spring of 2002... Last weekend, 116 homes were destroyed, making over a thousand people homeless [www.btselem.org]. Hundreds more are slated for destruction. [Indymedia Israel, Rafah Today, Electronic Intifada].

Add to this the ongoing trouble in Iraq, where revelations of torture abound, and there was real appetite for action as various groups around the UK called actions. The combination of the weeks' war crimes and media coverage brought people out in abundance, some of whom were protesting for the first time.

London

The previous weekend, Palestine Solidarity Campaign held its annual Nakba (Catastrophe) Day rally in Tragalgar Sq [Photo's: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ] at which several speakers called on people to attend the Stop the War/End the Torture demonstration last Saturday morning [Reports & photo's: 1 | 2 ], which then, in turn, built the protest against the Rafah Massacre outside Downing Street, which resulted in a sit down on Whitehall. [Reports & pictures 1 | 2 ].

During the week, George Bush Snr played an ill-timed visit to raise party funds for his son [report]. The weekly picket at Marks & Spencer on Oxford Street was this week swelled by a large number of new faces [Report; pictures: 1 | 2] whilst there have been daily gatherings alongside Brian Hawe in Parliament Square.

Around the UK:

There were other protests over the past week in cities across the country:

• Palestine protest reports & pictures: Sheffield | York | Oxf ord.
• Iraq Torture protest reports & pictures: Northampton | Chicksands Joint Services Interrogation Centre .

13-01-2004: Tom Hurndall has died. A Vigil took place on Wed 14 . Background information here and website.

The Israeli sniper who shot activist Tom Hurndall brain dead has been arrested. The army leadership has now admitted that its initial accusations of Tom being armoured and in camouflage, as well as its claim that the soldier was returning Palestinian fire, were lies. The arrest is particularly important as opening fire on activists in Palestine is becoming increasingly regular for the Israeli army. Last Friday Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition into a non-violent action [photos]. Gil Na'amati, an Israeli from the Anarchist Movement Against the Wall, and an American woman of the International Solidarity Movement were seriously injured. On 1 January the Israeli army fired over 100 rubber bullets aimed at people's heads during another demonstration. Approximately ten people were taken to the hospital and deportation orders were issued against four activists, including a Swedish MP. Tom was shot in Rafah (Gaza, Palestine) in April last year while pulling away children out of the way of a tank. He is currently on life support in a London hospital. [Maps of the Wall] [Palestine IMC] [Israel IMC]

Note: This article was written by a Cambridge resident who is currently working with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine.

Digging in the sand, late Wednesday night, outside Balata Camp. Four of us, crouched down near the mosque, next to the taxi rank. But there are no taxis - the streets are empty and silent. Everybody is inside, with the door locked - more soldiers are expected tonight.

Two small piles of light brown sand lie at the entrance to the camp. We kneel around one of them, as Mustapha slowly sifts through the sand, turning over clumps and examining the underside of stones.

'Move the light here. Now here. What's this?' asks Mustapha. I try to ignore distant rumbles of military vehicles and concentrate on aiming the torch at his quickly roving fingers. Each clump or lump is examined with care. Some are discarded, others placed in a see-through plastic bag, with the top folded over to keep it open.

Over the last few days there has been increased repression towards Internationalists in Gaza. The office of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was raided on Friday [Reports 1 | 2 | 3] resulting in the arrest of the those present. An American and an Australian activist from Human Rights Watch have already been deported, and Nick, an activist from Scotland is held since Thursday by the Israel Security Forces. He is likely to be deported soon. Alice, an activist from London, is also arrested and might be held for longer.

Nick and Alice are being held as part of the overall execution of a plan to remove the presence of Internationals from the West Bank and Gaza. Both have been deported back to Britain on Tuesady, 13.5.2003. In a new development, activists arriving to the Israeli border controls are presented with a new Visa form to fill out. This effectivly clears Israel of all responsibility in the event of an International activists being injured or killed whilst in the West Bank and Gaza. In addition, the form also forces the International activists to sign away basic human rights and legal protection.

Latest reports and updates:
• Update on the situation on Sunday 11th.
• Nick and Alice being held: Saturday 10th and Friday 9th reports.
• Electronic Intifada article about new document to be signed.
• Increased repression of ISM international activists
• ISM workers arrested; including Charlotte's letter to The Guardian.
• Latest activists reports
• Description and history of ISM.

[IMC-Jerusalem | [IMC-Israel | [Electronic Intifada | [New Profile]

On 16 March 2003 in Rafah, occupied Gaza, 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie from Olympia, Washington, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer. As a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Rachel had been staying in Palestinian homes threatened with illegal demolition. Throughout a 2 hours confrontation between the ISM and the Israeli Army Rachel and the other activists had clearly identified themselves as unarmed international peace activists. Witnesses say that Rachel was clearly visible to the bulldozer driver, and was doing nothing to provoke an attack. Initial report; detailed reports on Electronic Intifada. A statement by the parents of Rachel Corrie here.

Another foreigner was also injured and has been hospitalized - at this stage his nationality is unknown. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Captain Jacob Dallal was reported as saying in Ha'aretz newspaper, "This is a regrettable accident," "We are dealing with a group of protesters who were acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger." Israeli troops have shot and killed several other internationals in different incidents during the Intifada: German doctor Harald Fischer, Italian cameraman Rafaeli Ciriello, and British United Nations worker Iain Hook.

A protest was called at the London's Israeli Embassy on March 17th, whilst in Manchester a vigil is taking place on Thursday 19th.

For more information see: [IMC Israel] [IMC Palestine] , [ISM]

Around 500 Israeli Army reservists have so far refused to serve in the illegally occupied territories of West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the number grows day by day.

High school students have also formed a movement of conscientious objectors to declare their refusal to serve in the Occupied Territories. One of the organisers of this movement has been sentenced to jail and is expected to be re-arrested once he is released. Read the full report.

Click here for a relation of conscious prisoners in Israel and other countries. Israel-IMC | Palestine-IMC

Meanwhile, Turkish conscientious objector Mehmet Bal was arrested yesterday. Today he was transferred to the military prison in Adana. Fears for his safety grow. Read full report

War Resisters International

In February this year more than 100 Israeli Army reservists signed a statement saying they would refuse to continue serving in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because Israel's policies there involved "dominating, expelling, starving and humiliating an entire people." The number of so-called refusniks quickly reached 376and continues to grow.

Today, one conscientious objector has been sentencedto 14 days imprisonment.

Read full report.

Latest updates IMC-Palestine | IMC-Israel
Click here for coverage, reports and timelines of events.

After an escalation of suicide bombings in its cities, and using the pretext of 'self-defence', Israel launched Operation Protective Wall on 29 March 2002. What started with a raid on Arafat's Ramallah HQ has turned into the most intense and bloody assault on the Palestinian population of the West Bank since the state of Israel was declared in 1948. The world, by remaining silent, gave Israeli prime-minister Ariel Sharon a green light to inflict as much terror and destruction as deemed fit . And there seemed to be no limit to his capacity for terror. Tanks, bulldozers and APC's rolled into every West Bank city, while missile-firing helicopters lurked overhead. Thousands of Palestinians have been arrested; untold numbers, well into the hundreds, have been murdered or maimed, and cities have been reduced to piles of rubble. Now, the battered and traumatised survivors of this massacre wait for the invasion to stop and for the world to help them.

Urgent Call to Action:Come to Palestine | Electronic action against the occupation | Appeal fron 'internationals' inside PA's compound


Images: The War on Palestine | Recent photos from Ramallah
Video: Tanks & activists in Beit Jala | "Internationals" demo in Bethlehem
Maps of the Occupies Territories.
Article "IMC-Palestine: Be the Media".
Report from inside the masacre in Jenin
Reports from a British international inside PA's compound: 26/04 | 26/04</ a>
Life under curfew by IMC-Palestine. Contact IMC-Palestine on 011-972-2-277-7558
IMC-Italy dossier on Palestine (En)
List of destruction and vandalism of Palestinian installations and infrastructure by the IOF.
Regularly updated compilation of Palestine solidarity protests worldwide.

ISRAELI CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

A new force of resistance is brewing in Israel as more than 100 Israeli Army reservists signed a statement saying they would refuse to continue serving in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because Israel's policies there involved "dominating, expelling, starving and humiliating an entire people."

The statement, by combat officers and soldiers, amounted to the largest organized refusal by reservists to serve in the West Bank and Gaza in the last 16 months of violence. The letter also states that Army conscripts "were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people". Full story... | Images

More Info:
Conscientious Objectors dossier from IMC-Israel.
Indymedia-Israel

NEWEST FROM ISRAEL Nov 2000


Read the news as it happens from the newly opened IMC in Israel. Check out also the AIC, a Palestinian Israeli organization with information, research and political analysis on Palestinian and Israeli societies as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[ IMC Israel | AIC ]

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