Israeli military uses naval bombardment to keep Gaza starved and blockaded

Click on photo to enlarge it.

Click on photo to enlarge it.

Photos: A small boatload of Palestine human rights activists, including Parliamentarians, breaks the Israeli military blockade on the Gaza Strip, November 8, 2008.

Photos on the Web at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/DignityBoatAgainInGaza3rdTrip#

Latest news coverage:


"European parliamentarians' 'Dignity' boat docks in Gaza"

November 8, 2008

Published by Xinhua News Agency at:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/08/content_10326960.htm




Palestinians wave to a boat carrying European politicians after they arrived at Gaza's seaport Nov. 8, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)


"GAZA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- A third voyage to challenge Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip successfully completed on Saturday morning as the "Dignity" ship docked in the harbor of the Hamas-ruled territory...

The boat "carries 11 journalists, human rights and peace activists in addition to 12 European parliamentarians whom Egypt barred from traveling to Gaza through its territories last month.

"Hamas authorities arranged a three-day program for the delegation to inspect the effects of the Israeli closure, especially on the healthcare system.

"Nasser al-Badri, a London-based reporter for the Qatari satellite channel al-Jazeera, said this trip 'was easier than the previous two voyages,' adding that it is also more important 'since it carries parliamentarians whose governments boycott Hamas and its government.'

"The delegation is headed by Nazir Ahmed, a Labour member of the House of Lords in Britain. Most of the parliamentarians came from Britain and the remaining represented Italy, Switzerland and Ireland.

"Sami al-Haj, al-Jazeera's cameraman who spent five years in Guantanamo prison, is among the passengers. Clare Short, former British minister of international development, is also on board.

"Israeli navy allowed the ship to enter Gaza territorial waters as it has done with the previous voyage. Israel imposed a tight sea blockade on Gaza and banned Palestinian fishermen to work beyond two nautical miles..."

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Shortly afterward, Israel turns its military force against Palestinian fishermen:

"URGENT ALERT: Israeli gunboats firing on fishing boat (Update 11am)"
Date : 11-9-08

On the Web at:

http://freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=7e7f40ab0b65a398e921ddf9e69ac7e0&offset=


"Vik is yelling at the Israeli gunboat, telling them that three internationals are on board and they are all unarmed and they just want to go fishing. The pleas were met by water cannon so strong that all of the people on board went into the cabin for protection...

"...At 10:53 an Israeli gunboat is off the port side of the fishing boat getting ready to spray dirty water on the crew and the fish. The crew is trying to raise the nets and the fish inside. The Israeli military on board the gunboat have masks on before they spray the boat, an indication that the water is going to be dirty.

"The way point of the boat is .021 as the fishermen frantically try to raise their nets. The larger gunboat with the water cannon mounted on it has gone around to the winward side of the fishing boat, where they always shoot the water cannon. It is 50 yards off and preparing to fire as the nets are being hauled in as fast as the crew can work. As David is talking at 11:05, gunboat started to fire dirty water, attacking the crew and the fish. Nicos has collected the water in a sample jar and will bring it back for analysis. They are trying to ruin the catch.

"Update: 11:23

"The large gunboat has dropped back after spraying the crew with dirty water. The crew dropped the fish back into the sea to protect them and they were not hit. David said that the military men on the gunboat were wearing hazmat suits an masks, an indication of how dangerous the water must be..."


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At the University of Michigan:A call to "comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions"

Letter to Ken Fischer Asking Him to Cancel the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra Concert and the Bathsheva Dance Company Recital

Received via e-mail:
***PLEASE FORWARD***

The full letter is on the Web at:

http://zionistsout.blogspot.com/2008/11/letter-to-ken-fischer-asking-him-to.html


November 5, 2008

Ken Fischer, kenfisch@umich.edu
President, University Musical Society

"Dear Mr. Fischer:

"I am writing to ask you to please cancel the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra concert and the Batsheva Dance Company recital, hosted by the University Musical Society (UMS) on November 16, 2008, and February 14-15, 2009, respectively. My request to you does not come on my own behalf or initiative but is a response to several calls by Palestinian civil society organizations.

"In 2004, there was the Call for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which said, in part: "We, Palestinian academics and intellectuals, call upon our colleagues in the international community to comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel's occupation, colonization and system of apartheid, by ... Refrain[ing] from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions" (emphasis in original).

"In 2005, 171 Palestinian civil society organizations issued another call which reads, in part: "We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era." Late last month, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) specifically called for organizations which, like the UMS, are hosting the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra "to rescind their invitations to the Orchestra" and "to support the Palestinian civil society's call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, including the boycott of Israeli cultural institutions".

"In hosting these two Israeli cultural institutions (both Israeli government-sponsored)--the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Batsheva Dance Company--the UMS is clearly flouting the will of Palestinian people as expressed in the three boycott calls detailed above. I hope you will seriously consider what you can do for justice and peace in Palestine-Israel. It behooves those of us who want to see an end to the conflict to not blithely dismiss the nonviolent efforts of Palestinians.

"You may recall that Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke in Ann Arbor recently. As Archbishop Tutu has indicated, international boycotts and divestment against the South African apartheid state were two tools that South African people asked us living here in the US to apply. I am old enough to have been part of that movement and remember spending hours in a shanty town set up on the University of Hawaii campus to support divestment and educate people about the plight of Black South Africans. There were very few of us and the effort often seemed futile but together with like-minded people across the world and, most importantly, along with the crucial efforts of South African people themselves we made a difference and apartheid was ended in South Africa.

"I believe that Israeli apartheid can be ended, too, but it is up to every person of conscience to do what they can to help Palestinians to nonviolently end Israeli apartheid. Without our support for justice and peace the dying and suffering will be needlessly prolonged. To put some numbers to it, in 2008 alone, according to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, Israelis had killed 434 Palestinians, 86 of whom were minors, as of October 21st. The respective figures for Israelis killed by Palestinians was 30 and 4. For these sixty years now, violent and other deaths of Palestinians at the hands of Israelis have far exceeded Israeli deaths. This has been made possible by the crucial diplomatic, military, and economic support of the United States..."


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Israeli settlers stone a 6-year-old child in the head;Israeli soldiers stand around and watch.

Click on image of 6-year-old Bilal Daana, to enlarge.

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"Settlers stone six-year-old boy in Hebron"

Hebron – Ma’an News Agency

November 8, 2008

On the Web at:

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33104


Israeli settlers wounded six-year-old Palestinian Bilal Da’na from Hebron after pelting the young boy with stones near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, Palestinian sources in Hebron said.

Israeli soldiers stationed in the area stood by without preventing the group of settlers from assaulting the boy, locals reported, adding that when Israeli police arrived on the scene, none of the rock-throwers were arrested.

Medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said Da’na was taken to the governmental hospital in Hebron to treat moderate head injuries. Doctors confirmed the wounds were moderate.


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"Jewish settlers beat up Palestinian boy near Hebron"

Agence France-Presse (AFP)

November 8, 2008

On the Web at:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iT_1Jz3fsJH2bDRke0SjZn15JG2g

HEBRON, West Bank (AFP) — Jewish settlers on Saturday beat up a six-year-old Palestinian boy near the West Bank town of Hebron, and he was taken to hospital suffering from moderate head wounds, medics said.

Bilal Daana was attacked by a group of settlers near the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron. They beat him up and threw stones at him, the Palestinian medics said.

The boy was taken by Israeli soldiers to a checkpoint at the entrance to Hebron from where he was transferred to the local Al-Ahli hospital....

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"From the Warsaw Ghetto to the Gaza Ghetto"

Upcoming event at Goldsmiths, University of London, in the U.K.:

"From the Warsaw Ghetto to the Gaza Ghetto"

Facebook announcement at:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=37560722722


Holocaust survivor Suzanne Wiess speaks at Goldsmiths, November 12, 2008...

Event Info

Host:	Goldsmiths Palestine Twinning Campaign
Type:	Meetings - Informational Meeting
Network:	Global

Time and Place

Date:	Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Time:	5:30pm - 7:00pm
Location:	Small Hall Cinema
Street:	Goldsmiths, University of
	London, United Kingdom
	View Map

Suzanne Weiss is a member of 'Not In Our Name: Jewish Voices Against Zionism' and has flown all the way from Canada to speak to us at Goldsmiths.

Suzanne will be speaking about her time in the Warsaw ghetto in Poland as a child and her experiences in the ghettos of the Gaza Strip.

5:30pm - Wednesday 12th November
Small Hall Cinema

**After the meeting students will march to Deptford Town Hall to give the Warden of Goldsmiths a petition calling for 2 scholarships for Al--Quds University students (our twin University).


[Below is a flyer from Ms. Weiss's previous event in Canada:]

Click on this previous flyer to enlarge it.

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"...Boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Zionist State of Israel... to liberate the Palestinians and to put an end to Israeli apartheid."

Click on image to enlarge it.

A young Palestinian boy with the words ''I'm Hungry'' written in Arabic on his chest, in a protest against food shortages, against the Western economic blockade of Gaza, and against Israeli closures of Gaza's cargo terminals... in front of the United Nations office in Gaza City.

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"From the Warsaw Ghetto to the Gaza Ghetto"

Suzanne Weiss, a survivor of the European Holocaust, will speak at this event, November 12, 2008, hosted by the Student Union at Goldsmiths college, University of London.

Here are some quotes from Ms. Weiss:

"In Canada, we have built a broad alliance for Palestinian liberation called the Coalition against Israeli Apartheid. 'Not In Our Name' is one of its Jewish sister organizations and stands for the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland.

"The coalition has launched a nationwide joint campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Zionist State of Israel. Let's join in these and other efforts to liberate the Palestinians and to put an end to Israeli apartheid. Against imperialist wars and Zionist oppression in the Middle East!"

Weiss also commented about the European Holocaust of the early 1940's, stating that it was "a by-product of the catastrophic world wars in the last century which are linked to the social system that we call imperialism."

"In fact", noted Weiss, "the Zionist state uses many of the methods of Nazism to oppress the Palestinians, including confining them in walled ghettos."

--Source:

"London U. event likens Gaza to Ghetto"

Jerusalem Post, Nov. 7, 2008

Full article is on the Web at:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1225910058557

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"Israel" arrests you for refusing to shake the hand of its President:

"Student Detained after Refusing to Shake Hand with Israel’s President"

Tuesday Nov 4th, 2008

On the Web at:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/11/04/18548823.php

"On November 2, Hebrew University student Ali Bahar was detained for three hours after refusing to shake hands with Israeli president Shimon Peres. Visiting the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Peres was congratulating students on the opening of the academic year.

"Upon approaching Bahar, the student refused to shake Peres's hand and stated 'I will not shake hands with a murderer of kids.'

Immediately following the encounter, Bahar was detained by university security personal and his student ID was confiscated.

His student ID will not be returned until a disciplinary committee at Hebrew University investigates the incident. Bahar is currently chair of the Arab Student Body of Hebrew university and a member of Abna al-balad, a movement working for the human and legal rights of Palestinians. Abna al-Balad is a democratic organization active inside 1948 Israel, calling for "the return of all Palestinian refugees, and end to the Israeli occupation and the Zionist apartheid, and the establishment of a democratic secular Palestine."

"In calling Peres as a 'murder of kids', Bahar was referring to the Qana Massacre in Lebanon by the Israeli occupation forces. The Qana Massacre took place in 1996 while Israeli forces occupied South Lebanon. The government of Israeli used excessively violent force to subdue resistance to the Israeli occupation and in doing so,

"Israeli occupation forces shelled a UN compound where hundreds of civilians were taking refuge. 104 civilians died and 100 civilians were injured. Human right organizations investigated the massacre and concluded that Israel intentionally attacked the UN compound with deadly shells repeatedly, however Israel denies any real responsibility. Peres, then acting as Israeli Prime Minister, said in a press conference, 'we are sorry, but we do not apologize,' and scapegoats the responsibility to poor intelligence, and resistance forces for using civilians as shields.

"The detention of Bahar is not an isolated incident and sheds light on a common discriminatory practices of detaining and imprisoning Palestinian university students in 1948-Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For years, students organizing in Abna al-Balad have grown accustomed to imprisonment and detention, and the denial of their basic rights as Israeli citizens. Additionally, in the West Bank, the students from the Right to Education campaign, a student run initiative that monitors abuses by the Israeli government, have suffered from administrative detention (imprisonment without charge), the longest detention being two years long. For more information regarding the imprisonment of university student, visit their website: http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/news/catindex31

"In recent years many progressive organizations have called to boycott Israel's academia for being part of a colonial system. The boycott targets the universities compliance and silence in the face of atrocities committed by the apartheid state.


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Demonstration Demanding Boycott against Israel-- in Spain:

Click on photo to enlarge.

For more details, see:

"Bilbao, the Basque Country and Spain Join the Palestinian Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, Targeting Veolia."

November 2, 2008

On the Web at:

http://www.alternativenews.org/news/english/boycott-veolia-action-in-bilbao-palestinian-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-campaign-20081102.html


On 1 November a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists, in response to the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, joined international efforts to boycott Veolia in Europe.

This decision, made public in front of the city hall in Bilbao, was taken as the Bilbao city council has awarded (but not yet ratified) the concession contract for bus transportation in the city to Veolia.

Bilbao is the first city in the Spanish state where such a nonviolent direct action has happened to raise awareness about the responsibility of European public institutions in granting contracts to companies that collaborate with the Israeli colonization of Palestinian land.

Veolia, through its participation in building the Jerusalem light rail, is a direct accomplice to Israeli war crimes and its regime of apartheid, colonialism and belligerent occupation.


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