Freedom flotilla sets off!
Video report by Hassan Ghani, Press TV, who was on all the Viva Palestina convoys.
What is in a word? Quite a lot actually
By Jamal Elshayyal via Al Jazeera
At a time when media and spin are arguably as powerful as armies, the outcomes of battles for hearts and minds often shape the world we live in.
This is truest when it comes to the Palestinian struggle for liberation. As a journalist I’m aware of the simple nuances that can, and are, often used which ultimately affect the lives of millions of people. For example, a “war” can be described as a “conflict”, or civilians “killed” in an air strike could also be referred to as civilians who “died” in an attack etc.
Whoever said words were just words was lying.
From Mark Regev, to Press TV, as spin doctors and media outlets decide how to react and report on the Freedom Flotilla in the coming days, it’s important that one scrutinises their words (or lack of) in every way possible.
For starters, one must ask why such a big story is not being covered by many of the large international news networks. Surely one of the biggest demonstrations of collective international civil resistance, involving 50 nationalities, more than 30 parliamentarians, and costing millions of dollars is news worthy.
This Flotilla directly affects the lives of 1.5 million Gazans who have been living under siege for over 3 years; in fact it also affects the lives of many Israelis too, as they struggle to cling onto a two faced fallacy of democratic colonisation. It baffles me how some news outlets think the European launch of Apple’s i-Pad is more of a story.
When it comes to Arab media, the case is similar. In Egypt for example, there is little mention that were it not for Cairo’s collaboration with Israel, the siege on Gaza would never have succeeded, and this Flotilla would probably not be necessary.
Instead, newspapers and talk shows alike, label the Flotilla organisers as disingenuous for refusing the benevolent offer by the Egyptian government to allow the ships through Alarish and into Gaza.
And Egypt is not alone, even those in the Arab world who have commended the passengers on board the Flotilla in their attempt at breaking Israel’s inhumane and illegal siege on Gaza, have failed to question why their governments have not done more.
Why have a few hundred individuals taken it upon themselves to relieve a besieged people, whilst their “brother” nations with all their wealth and military might do nothing?
In the coming days, as journalists and politicians alike ponder on what words to use (or not to use) let us not forget that beyond all this, 1.5 million people remain besieged.
Un spin the spin and you will find that a territory ravaged by 23 days of Israeli bombardment remains crippled.
Read between the lines and you will see that this Flotilla is nothing more than a flame of hope, for people who possess little more than just that. Hope. Just a word.
By Jamal Elshayyal, via Al Jazeera
IHH passenger ship MV Mavi Marmara launched in Istanbul, 22 May 2010
(Photo via freegaza on flickr)
As the much anticipated departure of the Freedom Flotilla nears, Israel has been busy issuing statements and press releases as how it intends to deal with the humanitarian aid convoy of ships bound for Gaza.
Israel’s military says it has completed the construction of a mass detention centre in Ashdod where it plans to hold the 800 or so activists, humanitarians and journalists on board the nine ships.
Tel Aviv has declared the waters off the shores of Gaza a military zone, deeming any unauthorised entry tress passing.
But the problem is, Gaza’s waters are just that – waters belonging to Gaza. Israel’s navy has no right under any law to enter those waters let alone declare the area a military zone. In fact ask any of Gaza’s one and a half million residents and you will find that anything related to Israel is not welcome.
The Freedom Flotilla on the other hand, is welcomed by Gaza’s besieged people. It brings them much needed aid, building materials school and hospital equipment. Whereas as far as Palestinians are concerned all Israel has brought Gaza since 1948 is refugees, war and destruction.
Israel insists it no longer occupies Gaza, however its continued strangle hold over all but one of the strip’s entry and exit points deems such protestations, to put it mildly, grossly inaccurate.
Thus if the Israeli military does indeed act upon its threats of boarding the Flotilla and forcibly re-directing it as well as detaining the passengers; its actions, in the eyes of the conscious many, would amount to nothing less than piracy and abduction.
The likely ransom demands for the release of 800 activists, parliamentarians, aid workers and journalist:
1. Remain silent in the face of aggression.
2. Turn a blind eye to the suffering of many.
3. Report not on the injustices of Israel.
4. Forget that Gaza even exists.
Since the resurgence of piracy off the coasts of Somalia, western governments who’s vessels have been captured by pirates in recent years have always insisted that they do not negotiate with pirates. One wonders whether they will afford the same right to those on board the Freedom Flotilla.
Meanwhile, some multi-national corporations have taken a different approach when their interests were held to ransom, paying out millions of dollars to secure their financial assets on board these ships. But for the 800 odd passengers on their way to Gaza, the ransom that could be asked of them, may prove to be too valuable a price to pay.
Five minutes with Osama Hamdan of Hamas
Osama Hamdan is a senior member of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement. He is the group’s spokesman and a member of its political bureau.
Al Jazeera’s Andrew Wander caught up with him at the Al Jazeera Forum to ask how the group defines resistance, what it considers a legitimate target and how far it would go in compromise to achieve peace in the region.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/05/23/5-minutes-osama-hamdan
Buy a bag of cement for Gaza
If you live in the UK, and would like to buy a bag of cement for Gaza, you can text the word Cement to 70060, and £5.00 will be deducted from your phone bill.
You can also follow the Viva Palestina Flotilla group on Facebook.
Flotilla to break the Gaza siege – donate now!
On 23 May, an international flotilla of cargo and passenger ships will depart from various European ports and set sail for Gaza. Three cargo ships will carry over 5,000 tonnes of medical and building supplies, and five passenger boats will carry over 600 people.
This flotilla is being led by the IHH charity from Turkey, and is supported by many groups worldwide, including the Free Gaza Movement, Free Palestine Movement, European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza and the Greek and Swedish Boat to Gaza groups, amongst others.
In January of this year, IHH was an integral partner with Viva Palestina on the convoy to Gaza, where 500 people in over 200 vehicles successfully broke the siege on Gaza and delivered essential humanitarian aid. Viva Palestina are therefore very proud to announce their involvement with IHH again on this flotilla, and in addition to sending medical and building supplies, a Viva Palestina Coalition team will be on board this historic journey.
The siege imposed on Gaza is now in its fourth year. It has created a humanitarian crisis that has left the entire population without sufficient food, water, medicine, electricity, building supplies, clothes, toys, and freedom of movement. 1.5 million people, over half of whom are children, suffer directly because of this siege. Since the attacks on Gaza last year that left over 1,400 people dead, and 50,000 people homeless, no building supplies have been allowed to enter Gaza. Fifteen months on, people still live in tents and temporary shelter, unable to rebuild their homes.
Viva Palestina, led by George Galloway MP has successfully broken the siege on Gaza three times with land convoys of aid. Over 1,000 volunteers in 500 vehicles have delivered essential humanitarian aid to the stricken region in the past year. By taking part in this flotilla, Viva Palestina will be bringing much needed humanitarian aid, and attempting to break the siege once more.
We are calling on our supporters to donate towards the cost of medical and building supplies. Viva Palestina will be purchasing supplies in Turkey that will be loaded onto the IHH cargo ship departing from Istanbul. People can donate towards the cost of materials by clicking on the following link:
Or send direct to donations@vivapalestina.org using your PayPal account.
Less money for Gaza
Just when Gaza most needs NGO finance to sustain the basics of existence, charities are pulling out, worried by legal rulings over ‘supporting terrorism’.
by Jasmin Ramsey
The Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert had direct experience of the disturbing health situation at Gaza City’s poorly resourced al-Shifa hospital during Israel’s bombing campaign in December 2008. As health worker and activist since 1981, his most recent visit was last summer. In al-Zaitun, he met the Samoni family, who lost some 30 members during the Israeli offensive. Amal Atteia Samoni had been left in the rubble before her brother found her nearly dead from dehydration and exhaustion. Gilbert and his team were able to nurse the nine-year-old into “Lucky”, the best of the three triage states they used to sort patients; that means that eventually she will bee able to walk and talk.
Lucky hardly describes Amal. Her home was destroyed, and she now lives in a refugee camp amid crumbled infrastructure, with limited access to education or health. Israel’s siege of Gaza prevents everything from school supplies to building materials from entering, and health relief operations are also obstructed. Children like Amal have suffered varying degrees of trauma, but have limited access to counselling.
Gilbert argues that this is due in part to sanctions arranged by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), responsible for administering and enforcing economic sanctions programmes against individuals, countries and groups designated by the US as terrorist organisations, such as Hamas, or affiliated with them. OFAC’s sanctions prevent many NGOs from doing more than providing handouts to Gaza’s population or aiding private organisations.
The sanctions prohibit international NGOs in Gaza from providing money, material and goods, or training and services, to individuals, groups and authorities considered to be affiliated with the Hamas government. Yet 73% of Gazan children are suffering from psychological and behavioural disorders (1). Ayesh Samour, director of the Psychiatric Hospital in Gaza, says: “A dearth of health professionals in the Strip and a lack of access to medical equipment meant children were not getting the help they needed.”
Because of OFAC, Save the Children USA cannot help Gaza service providers, professionals or caretakers funded by the Hamas government, but only those they distinguish as “unaffiliated” with Hamas. And the same is true for any other US-based NGO. There is the difficulty of verifying who is affiliated with Hamas, and the NGOs’ desire to avoid controversy, and with it financial loss. So needy people go without help.
What can happen to non-profit organisations when they are accused of aiding those identified as terrorist organisations? A well-known example was Interpal, the British charity providing relief and development aid to Palestinians, listed in 2003 as a “terrorist entity” by the US Department of the Treasury (2). That year, the UK Charity Commission froze Interpal’s assets while it conducted an investigation, which cleared it of links to Hamas, after a request to the US authorities for evidence supporting their claims went unanswered. Another inquiry was opened in 2006 after a BBC Panorama (TV) programme, accusing Interpal of funding Islamic charities that promote the ideology of Hamas. A second request to the US authorities for evidence was ignored. The inquiry was closed in February 2009.
That was not the end of the story. Stuart A Levey, first Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the US Treasury under George W Bush, is the leading figure behind the US financial war against those it considers harmful to its security objectives. Levey said in a testimony on the 9/11 Commission Report in 2004 that he found it “extremely troubling” that Interpal continued to operate in the UK when the US had listed it as a terrorist organisation. Interpal faced further threats when Lloyds TSB, the clearing bank for the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), refused to provide financial services to Interpal and pressured the IBB to close their account. Natwest, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland, had closed Interpal’s account in 2007. Interpal, in its annual report for the year ended 2008, cited several instances of aid services being impeded, and said it suffered a “significant drop by more than 50% in income from overseas trusts due to Interpal’s banking difficulties”. Interpal remains designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, although cleared in the UK, and so faces hardship getting aid to Palestinians.
No wonder that many charities take extra measures to abide by OFAC sanctions. This means that fewer non-profits are willing to work in Gaza. If compliant NGOs do remain in Gaza, their options are reduced to working with private organisations or with Gazans not employed by the government. But with an almost non-existent economy, an overwhelming majority of Gazans can only find employment with Hamas.
Gilbert has a solution, yet to be realised: “OFAC could issue a temporary emergency licence to work with both the public and private health clinics, hospitals and schools in Gaza, similar to the licence issued for work in Iran after the Bam earthquake.”
In January Canada – one of the top 10 donors to UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) – became the first western government to halt funding to the agency which provides aid and services to more than four million Palestinians, including those in Gaza. Canada reportedly stopped funding because it claims the agency is not neutral in Gaza and works with Hamas. Was Canada’s change of heart to do with pressure from the pro-Israel lobby?
Gilbert is not alone in claiming that Gaza is worse than before. But he insists on the need for people to work to alleviate the conditions which lead to suffering. He has several healthcare projects in Gaza and elsewhere in the occupied territories, and is working on a scholarship programme between his university and al-Shifa hospital to train doctors. The challenge will be to convince the Israelis to allow Palestinian doctors to travel outside Gaza (not allowed even while Israel was bombing).
Gilbert says there is still hope if people continue solidarity work and lobby harder. In Gaza, hope has become a lifeline. But if the international community does not enforce UN resolutions on illegal Israeli actions, and the outside world decreases or cuts aid, even that lifeline may be cut.
The Zionist Story: film show and discussion
Tuesday 27 April 2010 at 7.30pm.
The Zionist Story is a documentary that explores the ideology of zionism and its impact on Israel and the Palestinians under occupation. The film uses archive footage of Palestine from the British mandate period up until the present day.
“I approach the subject from the perspective of an Israeli, an ex-reserve soldier and someone who has spent his entire life in the shadow of Zionism.” RB
Plus: a discussion with Michael Kalmanowitz of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Venue:
PASSING CLOUDS
1 Richmond Road, Dalston, E8
junction with Kingsland Road
(behind The Haggerston bar)
Free entry. Doors open 7.00pm.
Dispatches: Children of Gaza
The following comment was posted by me on the C4 website following the broadcast of Jezza Neumann’s documentary Dispatches: Children of Gaza.
Congratulations to Jezza Neumann for making this unusually honest film about the realities of Israel’s criminal war against the Palestinian people. To find a programme like this on mainstream British television is exceptionally unusual, given the British state’s backing of Israel.
The British government and British corporations fund and arm Israel; they give it preferential trade treatment and they give it diplomatic and propaganda support, which normalises and apologises for Israel’s crimes.
We in Britain are all complicit if we don’t stand up against the war criminals. We should refuse to make or move the arms that are sold to Israel; refuse to write or broadcast propaganda that portrays Israel as justified in its behaviour. We should join the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions by refusing to buy Israeli goods and by cutting all links with Israel. Make links with Palestinian communities instead and break down the walls of isolation that Israel is attempting to impose.
The Viva Palestina convoy in December was a massive story all over the world, but the press in the USA and Britain totally ignored it. This is no accident; it’s a deliberate blackout policy. Britain needs Israel to help intimidate the oil-producing governments of the Middle East. This means our government and the corporate and media moguls don’t care what crimes Israel commits; and they don’t want us to know about them.
Hence the media blackout. Hence the BBC trying to pretend that showing the DEC appeal for Gaza was ‘political’. Hence the outrageous criminalisation of young people who protested against the war crimes being committed when Israel was bombarding Gaza last year. Hence the plans to change the law so that Israeli war criminals can travel to Britain with impunity.
This makes it all the more welcome to find a programme like tonight’s Dispatches on Channel 4. Thank you.
And now it’s time to start telling the truth on the news, too. Talk about the illegal occupation when you talk about Palestine. Talk about the ethnic cleansing. Talk about ‘occupied Palestine’, not ‘southern Israel’. Explain that the Palestinians’ right to resist the illegal occupation of their country by a colonial power is enshrined in international law (just as the French had the right to resist Nazi occupation). Talk about Israel’s war crimes. Talk about the deliberate targeting of unarmed civilians by the fourth-largest army in the world. Talk about the destruction of schools and hospitals, the demolition of houses, the bulldozing of farmland, the shooting of fishermen, and the pollution of the land. Talk about babies and children dying due to lack of medical equipment. Talk about babies miscarrying or being born with deformities because of the pollution caused by Israel’s illegal chemical weapons. Talk about the slow strangulation of a people by the illegal and barbaric siege!
Broadcasting pro-Israeli propaganda is a war crime; it’s time we held our media to account for its role in these crimes. Channel 4: you’ve shown that you can broadcast truthful information about Palestine when you want to; please now have the courage to take this further and stop broadcasting lies that help Israel to continue with its dirty work.
Remember Rachel Corrie
American ISM activitst Rachel Corrie died seven years ago today underneath an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza.
Read her emails home and much more on her memorial website.
Joti's journey to Gaza 