gaza | KADAITCHA

August 19, 2013December 11, 2020

One Proper Vision – One Secular Democratic State Called Palestine : Haidar Eid

Dr. Haidar Eid speaks about opposition in Gaza to the renewed peace negotiations, the need for Palestinian self-critique concerning current political events, waning support for Hamas and the situation in Gaza.

“What is happening now in Gaza is a slow genocide.” – Dr. Haidar Eid

Dr. Haidar Eid is Associate Professor in the Department of English Literature, Al-Aqsa University, Gaza Strip, Palestine. Dr. Eid is a founding member of the One Democratic State Group (ODSG) and a member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

The world looks to a new round of negotiations under US Secretary of State Kerry – where is Gaza in those talks?

Gaza is diverse and I cannot speak for Gaza as one, but clearly most here are opposed to negotiations. Hamas laid out its official position on Tuesday with officials expressing their dismay at the resumption of talks. Most organizations within the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) – among them the Popular as well as the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP and DFLP) – oppose the talks. Only some members of Fatah have fallen for the lie that negotiations might bring a viable solution.

Speaking for myself, as an advocate for one democratic state of Palestine, I oppose the talks, which aim at a two-state solution. We believe that creating two states is no true solution but a racist one. Two viable states have become impossible to achieve – mainly because Israel has created facts on the ground that subvert the whole concept.

But more than that – the two state solution does not guarantee even a minimum of rights for the Palestinians. There is no talk anymore of the right of return for those refugees from villages and towns that were ethnically cleansed in 1948. 75-80% of Gaza’s population are refugees and international law provides for their return – what is there for them?

The Oslo accords never incorporated international law. And most importantly: they never dealt with Israel’s racist measures and apartheid system against Palestinians.

What alternative would you favor?

Fatah is the only force officially supporting negotiations. When I oppose them, I do not represent only Gazans but the majority of Palestinians. Our alternative? Stick to the call supported by most organizations in 2005: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)! The campaign calls on the international community to boycott Israel, divest from its economy and impose sanctions until Israel complies with international law. Then, when there is pressure, we can negotiate.

In South Africa the ANC did not negotiate before it had substantial backing. We cannot negotiate about basic rights at present, and equal rights must be the basis for negotiations about any kind of state. The only just solution is one like in Northern Ireland and South Africa, meaning a secular, democratic state for all.

How can this be achieved?

The first step is serious self-critique. Palestinians have to consider publicly what the leadership of PLO and Hamas have done to the Palestinian cause since the Oslo accords were struck. The past 20 years have led us nowhere. Instead, settlements have expanded and Gaza has been transformed into the largest concentration camp on earth.

Serious self-critique will, secondly, lead to dismantlement of the PA. The institution of the PA gives the wrong impression to the international community of an equality between the sides, as if Palestinians had an also army and occupied another people! We as Palestinians should have a local administration to organize daily life and the resistance, not to undermine it.

Thirdly, we have to forget about the two-state solution. It is a complete waste of time and energy. We should all be talking about one democratic state, because the two state option is a fiction.

What is the situation in Gaza like at the moment? How isolated is the population?

The situation has deteriorated. Israel has tightened its closure. Things have turned worse since last days of Morsi’s government in Egypt, when it decided to destroy all tunnels [on the Egyptian-Gazan border] that are vital for the supply of all basic goods here. After Morsi was ousted the destruction of tunnels continued, and now most are closed.

Furthermore, the only official crossing to Egypt, Rafah, is frequently closed, for example today. Rafah is vital! As all crossing points to Israel are virtually closed, Rafah is the bottleneck out of Gaza.

Hamas first renounced the Syrian regime and Hezbollah, now it lost the Muslim Brotherhood as a mighty ally in Egypt. What does this mean for the Hamas government?

Hamas is in a limbo now. It lost its most important strategic alliances with Iran and Hezbollah, which it gave up for closer relations with the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar. Now that the Muslim Brothers are deposed from the government in Egypt, Hamas is left hanging in the air. And the new Emir in Qatar is showing a new style of diplomacy, increasing pressure on Hamas.

Hamas, as a matter of fact, does not have a clear-cut political vision. You keep hearing different, contradictory positions from various officials. This has also affected talks for reconciliation with Fatah in the West Bank, which have effectively come to a halt.

Gaza is controlled by Hamas, yes, but Hamas is no more than the leading prisoner among the 1.7 million prisoners of Gaza.

What are the current topics of Gaza’s internal politics?

First is the need to end this deadly, medieval siege imposed on Gaza in 2006. A slow genocide is happening here that has already caused the death of about 2,000 people who did not receive vital medical treatment in time. The rate of malnutrition in Gaza is the highest worldwide.

The end of this siege will only come within a political solution to the Palestinian question as a whole. When we talk about negotiations, we are talking about Gaza’s fate as well. That is also why we, activists in Gaza, promote BDS so strongly.

We are highly affected by what is happening in Egypt. We are holding our breath right now. We want Egypt to open the Rafah crossing permanently and unconditionally. It is our only option right now so as to not make us utter hostages to Israel’s will.

And how much support does Hamas enjoy in Gaza today?

Hamas has lost a lot of its popularity as it resorted to repressive tools and tactics against its opponents. Most people who voted for Hamas did so not because they were for Hamas, but because they were against the corruption of the PA and the concept of a two-state solution. As such, Hamas was the only option.

Now people are questioning everything that Hamas said before the election. It promised resistance, but in fact since the ceasefire with Israel in Dec 2012, it does not allow any kind of independent and popular resistance anymore.

Is there a vision for Gaza?

For me, there is one proper vision – a solution for Palestine as a whole that implements UN Resolution 194 which calls for the right of return for all refugees and compensation for their decades in exile. Gaza should become part of one secular democratic state called Palestine.

Israel has another vision – it wants to get rid of Gaza. It wants Gaza to become part of Egypt like it was before 1967 to end all its Gaza problems. The Egyptians do not want and will not allow that. Instead, what is happening now is a slow genocide in Gaza.

Edited in consultataion with Haidar Eid, and reblogged from his interview with Lea Frehse, AIC

February 28, 2013December 11, 2020

Alicia Keys, Don’t Fall for Apartheid – Cancel Your Gig in Israel!

Please respect BDS, Alicia Keys Tweet to Alicia here to let her know how you feel

Dear Alicia Keys,

We urge you to cancel your plans to perform for a segregated audience in Tel Aviv on July 4, 2013. Palestinian civil society has called for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel’s policies of colonialism, occupation and apartheid towards the Palestinian people.

Israel’s attempts to hide systematic decades-long oppression and human-rights abuses against the Palestinians depend on its ability to maintain the facade of a progressive and democratic image in the eyes of the international community. Israel often goes as far as promoting itself as “the only Democracy in the Middle East.” Israel’s apartheid policies, however, even permeate events as joyous as concerts: Palestinian fans of your music living under the Israel’s brutal military occupation of the West Bank or its medieval siege of the Gaza Strip will be prohibited from coming to Tel Aviv to enjoy your performance. These 4 million people who are being denied their most fundamental rights include many Palestinian women, whom will not have the chance to be empowered by hearing you sing.

Palestinian Freedom Riders challenged Israeli segregated buses on which they are not allowed to travel. These buses carry instead Israeli settlers to and from their homes, illegally built on stolen land.[1][2][3] The ethnic-supremacist state of mind does not end there, unfortunately, as evidenced by the Tel-Aviv city councilman who appealed to the state to allocate segregated buses for African refugees and migrant workers in the city[4].

Prominent figures (authors, professors, and musicians) have visited Israel, Occupied Palestine and Gaza to witness for themselves the treatment of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, and have vowed not to lend their legitimacy to these crimes.

Alice Walker made the following comments on her visit to Palestine: “Going through Israeli checkpoints is like going back in time to American Civil Rights struggle…I am a big supporter of BDS. I frankly think that it is the best, absolutely the best way.“[5]

“One of the things so painful to remember about the segregated south is that no matter what white people did to them black people were not allowed to fight back, not even with a word or a glance, hence the expression “reckless eye-balling” which led many a black person to be beaten or killed. The idea that the people of Palestine are not even supposed to fight back… To collectively punish them (by bombing and starvation) for electing their own government in a democratic election acknowledged by most observers to have been fair, is sadistic as well as internationally condemned as illegal.“[6]

Professor Robin Kelley offers this analysis: “My last book was about [the jazz musician] Thelonious Monk. … And so for people of my generation, the Israel-South Africa nexus, dispossession of Palestinians … these were the key questions for anyone politically active in the 1980s. … witnessed a level of racist violence that I hadn’t even seen growing up as a black person here in the States (laughs), I have to say, and I’ve been beat by the cops. The level of racist violence from the settlers is kind of astounding. … The key thing was the kind of engagement that helped us better understand why the boycott is central… And part of what the boycott does is it delegitimizes the claim that this is a normal situation. It’s not a normal situation, it’s a settler-colonial situation, a situation of oppression.”[7]

The Palestinian people are denied elementary freedoms: the freedom of movement, the freedom to access their stolen lands and the freedom to protest injustice without facing brutal repression.[8] Those living in the Gaza strip (56% of whom are children) live under a debilitating siege, limiting their access to water, medical supplies, and construction material.[9] This unimaginable situation takes place only an hour away from your scheduled performance. In the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, 40 minutes away from the scheduled venue, children are being abducted from their homes, in violation of international law, and taken into violent police interrogations with no access to their parents or a lawyer.[10]

Representatives of Palestinian civil society, including over 170 different organizations such as women, academic and worker groups, have called for a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel’s policies. International artists are asked not to perform in Israel until it abides by its obligations under international law and reverses these policies.[11]

Some artists perform in Israel with the good will and intention to use their art as a means of changing Israeli public opinion and spreading the message of peace. One such example would be Roger Waters. These artists have later come to realize that their performance, as well-meaning as it was, has been hijacked and used to send a green light to the ongoing Israeli policies of oppression.

We have therefore learned that not performing is important to the promotion of justice in this region, as Israeli policy makers are coming to understand that the international community does not approve of their brutal policies towards the people of Palestine. Some prominent artists have stated:

Roger Waters: “In my view, the abhorrent and draconian control that Israel wields over the besieged Palestinians in Gaza, and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem), coupled with its denial of the rights of refugees to return to their homes in Israel, demands that fair minded people around the world support the Palestinians in their civil, nonviolent resistance. For me it means declaring my intention to stand in solidarity, not only with the people of Palestine, but also with the many thousands of Israelis who disagree with their governments racist and colonial policies, by joining a campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, until it satisfies three basic human rights demanded in international law.”[12]

Faithless: “We’ve been asked to do some shows this summer in your country and, with the heaviest of hearts, I have regretfully declined the invitation. While human beings are being willfully denied not just their rights but their needs for their children and grandparents and themselves, I feel deeply that I should not be sending even tacit signals that this is either ‘normal’ or ‘ok’.”

Macy Gray: “I had a reality check and I stated that I definitely would not have played there if I had known even the little that I know now.”[13]

Cassandra Wilson: “as a human rights activist, I identify with the cultural boycott of Israel.” [14]

Understanding that the picket line has clearly been marked and that you cannot avoid taking a political stand on this matter, we are now asking you to take a moral stand. Please reconsider your participation in whitewashing Israeli apartheid. Stand against oppression and for liberation, against deep rooted racism and in favor of justice and equality for all.

Sincerely,

DPAI
We are a group, of over 1000 members, representing many countries around the globe, who believe that it is essential for musicians & other artists to heed the call of the PACBI, and join in the boycott of Israel. This is essential in order to work towards justice for the Palestinian people under occupation, and also in refugee camps and in the diaspora throughout the world.

Stanley Jordan – “Love and Light” Isn’t Enough to End Apartheid

Stanley Jordan: You Don’t Get to Peace without Real Solidarity

by Rima Merriman

After putting BDS activists through their paces for eight straight days of discussion on his Facebook page, noted Jazz musician Stanley Jordan announced on January 1st, that he had decided not to support the call of the Palestinian civil society to boycott the upcoming Red Sea Jazz Festival this month in Eilat, Israel.

In his announcement, Jordan referred to a “spirited online discussion and much deep soul-searching” but did not give a reason for his decision. Instead, he avowed his dedication to “world peace” and pledged to demonstrate to the many activists who had contributed to his Facebook thread with over 800 posts of information and considered arguments – including two messages from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott – that he had “heard” them and was ready to make others hear their impassioned plea. Jordan had concluded that that the best way “I could serve the cause would be to do my performance as scheduled, but separately organize an event in a major city in the United States to raise funds and awareness of the plight of the Palestinian people. The time frame will be in September or October 2013.”

Though not unexpected, that “conclusion” was problematic for many BDS advocates. The discussion on the thread ranged over a wide variety of topics triggered by Jordan’s questions. However, there was one central issue that kept rearing its head: What does it really mean to be in solidarity with an oppressed people?

Besides Jordan, some artists, like Native American poet and musician Joy Harjo, who are approached by PACBI and asked to heed the Palestinian people’s call to honor the academic and cultural boycott – that is, to stand in solidarity – too often arrogantly assume that they can demonstrate their support by performing in Israel and then gesturing to Palestinians through other means of their own choosing, for example by arranging for a parallel performance in the occupied territory. That’s an offer that PACBI, which is represented by over 170 civil society organizations and is growing in international support daily, categorically refuses. The list of artists who have respected the call includes Santana, Cat Power, Elvis Costello, Cassandra Wilson, Massive Attack, Jello Biafra, Faithless, Leftfield, Gorillaz, Pixies, Gil Scott Heron, and many more that have refused to play for apartheid and is growing.

It is well known that Israel utilizes international artists as part of a clear strategy of normalization to try and legitimize settler colonialism, occupation, and apartheid. “Branding Israel” is a propaganda campaign financed by the well-heeled Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to showcase a side of Israel more palatable to the world. PACBI asks artists not to be complicit in these state efforts by not performing in Israeli institutions. Those who do not heed the call often end up regretting their decision, as has been expressed by Macy Gray, Pete Seeger, Richard Montoya and others.

Jordan is now trying to justify his decision by expressing inchoate beliefs about the power of his art to achieve “world peace” by “changing consciousness” while propounding the notion that the boycott undermines the freedom of the artist and limits the transformative power he possesses over his audience. By doing so, he has elevated the status as an artist as though he is ‘above’ human rights. True change of consciousness comes when the privileged use their power to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, not in telling them how best to resist – as he also tried in his comments on Facebook.

At several stages in the discussion, Jordan outlined his dilemma: “This situation and the information I’ve received has really moved me, and I regret that we have this sticking point about the boycott being the only acceptable form of help.” Activists pointed out that the boycott is one of the most effective ways to peacefully protest Israel’s deadly subjugation of Palestinians and one that is called for by those being oppressed. But more importantly, they explained what an act of solidarity actually demands. Adrian Boutureira Sansberro spelled this out most powerfully in his comments to Jordan:

“Firstly, we are in solidarity with the oppressed, not the oppressor. Secondly, being in solidarity entails being able to take direction from those one claims to be in solidarity with. Learning how to take direction, as to what is it that those we are in solidarity with wish us to do, is a huge aspect of shifting the relationships of power between the oppressed and the oppressor. It is also a way to really come face to face with our own true commitment and power issues. To do as we wish, is not being in solidarity. It is practicing supremacist charity. I say supremacist, because even when people claim to be in solidarity, they refuse to relinquish their own power and privilege as individuals. They refuse to surrender their own interests. They refuse to recognize that the collective must always be greater than the individual, or we are not in solidarity at all. We are then independent actors who cannot accept taking direction for whatever reason.”

In the end, Jordan was unable to relate to the above careful and important distinctions. He remained stuck on the notion of “help” in the sense of charity – thus his proposed charity concert in the US. “I would like to work in alliance with those who support the Palestinian people and, in the true spirit of alliance, have it be understood that there may be differences of opinion on how best to accomplish that.” Many people told Jordan that he could choose to do his own thing to show a sense of empathy or “an alliance” with the cause (as opposed to what is being requested of him specifically), but they also explained that such a choice would not be as effective and would certainly not be in solidarity in the true sense of the word, which is why Jordan’s decision not to support the boycott provoked Sylvia Posadas, one of his interlocutors to write simply: “So sorry you cannot fully support Palestinian people at this time. You have not been requested to give charity, but support for their ethical choice of tactic. In time, perhaps you will understand what ‘solidarity’ really means.”

SOURCE

For the Palestinian People – Against the Normalisation of Apartheid

False Equivalence

Contrast free choice
with less by the years
one is duplicitous
one is crushed
bulldozers grind
village homes to dust
one expands to usurp
indigenousness
one says enough
to a bone harvest
of human surplus
valley to valley
springs sealed dry
one steals water from
daughters of vines
one exposed, burning
one hand to hand
from settlement terraces
one laughs alone
500 checkpoints
between the two
one throws stones
one shoots to kill
one cries protest
one fires murder
tree spirit scream
love disinterred
ripped from the body
one redeems curses
exotic burdens
on children of land
another empirical
divide and rule
one from one
unequivocal theft
torments one mind
one asks the Beast
for armament gifts
one asks just people
for support, to resist.

Sylvia Posadas, December 2012

New Age Apartheid

In light and love
no more enemies
knock at the door
at 2 a.m. to drag away
the children
to the dungeons
where they will be
verballed,
detained till they
implicate out of fear
and next week the
boots will kick at the door
in light and love
at gunpoint take
husband for years
on no charge
no trial,
robbing light and love
no more enemies
they think
when all are driven
from coveted land.

Sylvia Posadas, December 2012

The appropriation of indigenousness has been a long term project on the part of the invading zionists – as Haneen Zoabi said at the Russell Tribunal hearings some months ago, they are trying to redefine themselves as the owners of the land – they are stealing the very concept of homeland from Palestinians. This endeavour is not only unjust for Palestinian Arabs but Palestinian Jews.

Zionists, who were and are predominantly secular, have absorbed pieces of mythology from many sources in order to bolster their expansionist, land thieving settler colonial purposes. The syncretism of religious themes into the political ideology of zionism is highly convenient, but of course is utterly worthless as any real claim. The Christian zionist vote is of much interest to Israel, for the evangelical vote is the single most important factor delivering clout to Israel’s influence in the US. Thus, when Israel courts evangelical Indigenes, there’s a double purpose – to aid in the usurpation of Indigenousness from Palestinians, rebranding Palestinians as invaders of their own lands, and assuring the evangelical vote.

Coincidentally and contemporaneously: Navajo President meeting with Israeli Apartheid government: Grassroots Navajos outraged, call Navajo president ‘war machine puppet’

‘Noting that Native American governments have been complicit with, or coopted by Israel, Barker says:

I want Native governments to divest themselves from Israel as well (most immediately the Chickasaw and Navajo governments, who support Israeli products and send delegates to the Israeli government).

Notably, Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly was in Israel for an official visit at the same time as Harjo.’

From Sa’ed Adel Atshan: ‘Many Palestinians and those in solidarity with our struggle had hoped that Joy Harjo would be principled in heeding the calls of another subjugated people. We have been profoundly dismayed by her recent decision to accept funding from Tel Aviv University, an Israeli state institution, and to not only perform there on Monday but also to serve as a Writer-in-Residence. Soon after hearing this disappointing news, Native American peers of Harjo, including Robert Warrior, called on her to boycott the event.’

President Shelly in Israel to Meet with Knesset, Agriculture Ministry, & Memorial Visit to Yad Vashem

Inferring wrongly that Palestinian students support her, Harjo breaches the boycott

Joy Harjo ‘Didn’t Know’

Alice Bach examines the fake biblical syncretism by zionists.

‘The triumphant Assyrians settled some of their subject populations there and in Syria to mingle with the Palestinian people. The Hill Country of Samaria remained a province during the Persian period. Then, Samaria, along with Judea, became the property of the Babylonians, from 539 until 333 BC, and subsequently was ruled by the Hellenistic Greeks, and then the formidable Roman Empire. The land was never owned by the Jewish people, except in minds that were nourished by the Biblical narratives.’

From Ricardo A. Bracho:

“My response to Joy Harjo letter defending her indefensible performance at Tel Aviv University. The “last minute” stuff is re: her seemingly being unaware of the boycott until she was contacted night before and day of her flight out.

Joy, It wasn’t as last minute as you claim. I, among others, noticed your earlier intent when you posted “Should I go to Tel Aviv?” while the occupying Zionist forces rained down bombs on the Gazans in November. Tel Aviv University posted in cancelling the event that you did not go “for security reasons” while your postings indicated that you stayed for a family medical emergency. I thought that was that. I should have intervened then. That was my political error. I then noticed, as others did, your posting indicating you had an early flight out to Tel Aviv the evening prior to your departure. Once I began to recover from his shock, and yes I found it utterly shocking that you would go to Israel and Tel Aviv University, I contacted others closer to the BDS movement and to you. Our emails and phone calls reached you before you left the US. You could have not boarded the plane. You could have, once you arrived, cancelled the gig and put yourself in contact with Israeli and Palestinian activists and gone to the West Bank and Gaza. You could have simply returned. You could have engaged, directly, with the critique coming from Palestinians, the initial letter emailed to you and then posted on here or the many eloquent comments. You did none of this. You now hide behind platitudes and metaphors. At the very least, you are a better writer than this. But even your best verse, will provide no shade for your grossly unethical actions. I am less in shock now. In rage and sadness, Ricardo A. Bracho”

Building Bridges Between Jews and Christians

Joshua Generation for Jesus: ‘The offical business is presenting a Proclamation Declaring the Navajo Nation, as a Sovereign Nation, is standing with Israel.’

‘Whether you are a Jewish person wondering about your connection to people who believe Yeshua is the Messiah, or a Christian who has accepted Him as your Savior you are called. We are called by God to join together.’

Tso is full Navajo, a “pastor” but also has a business – church is a registered non profit but has not submitted 990s. This is possible only if revenue is under 25 grand.

Somebody Cares America – The Net that works!

Glenn Beck amplifying Pastor Tso

Messanaic Jewish org: Navajo nation supports Israel

Main Street USA – Gallup, New Mexico – 10 Sep 07 – Part 1 : Dave Marash visits the town where Navajo and Palestinian traditions intertwine.
Main Street USA – Gallup, New Mexico – 10 Sep 07 – Part 2

On her blog, Harjo reflects dissonantly on boycott here, here and here.

December 4, 2012December 11, 2020

Solidarity with the Palestinian People of Gaza

Monique Buckner reports on Israel’s recent 8 day attack of the people of Gaza, who have now been besieged for over 2000 days.

The Palestinian people of Gaza have been devastated by Israel’s latest attack, which has killed 158 people, 33 of whom were children. Palestinians are still dying from injuries.

The Gaza Strip is an area of 141 square miles, occupied by Israel since 1967, along the Mediterranean coast bordering Israel and Egypt and comprising 8 refugee camps with 80% of its inhabitatnts being the refugees and their descendants of the ethnic cleansing of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from what became Israel. More than half the 1.7 million population of Gaza are children. Gaza has been under a relentless blockade since June 2007, which many legal experts have deemed ‘collective punishment’ which is illegal under international law. As UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Richard Falk has described the blockade as a crime against humanity and a violation of international humanitarian law. Living under blockade, Gaza’s population has still not recovered from Israel’s previous offensive which has led to further impoverishment and homelessness or internal displacement, insufficient hospital care, food insecurity to the point that 80% rely on food aid, an unavailability of essential life-saving medications, shortages of fuel, a lack of building materials, especially to rebuild or repair after ‘Cast Lead’ and insufficient clean, safe drinking water, leading to ‘blue baby syndrome’. Israel has admitted to engineering the Gazan economy to be on the brink of collapse and often cuts electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip. In fact, the World Health Organisation says that by 2020, Gaza will probably be completely uninhabitable. As Israel is the occupying power with full responsibilty for the well-being of the occupied, it has legal obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, the neglect of this making Israeli leaders guilty of violations of humanitarian law and human rights.

Israel’s ‘counting of calories’ has led to the stunting of children’s growth and development due to nutrient and calorie deficiency (10%) and chronic anaemia in pregnant women, among other health problems.

Theories abound concerning the true cause of Israel’s latest attack on Gaza. One is that Israel wanted to prevent the Palestinian bid for UN recognition as a ‘UN non-observer state’, which might open the way for the Palestinian people to pursue legal actions against Israeli politicians and officials for war crimes. Some have speculated that this latest offensive was to test the Iron Dome missile defense shield in preparation for future wars. Another theory is that the Israeli elections are in January and Netanyahu will gain popularity by spilling blood with his hawkish behaviour. Indeed, 91% of Israelis in one poll supported the offensive against Gaza. Eerily, Israeli elections also succeeded the Cast Lead massacre. “The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages,” says Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai. Yisrael Katz, the Minister of Transport, used colonial imagery and mentality to explain how Palestinians should be “hunted down as one hunts wild, dangerous animals.” Also see the violent racist and homophobic chants in Tel Aviv.

Dr Gershon Baskin, an Israeli negotiator and human rights activist, has noted that Israel spoiled a permanent truce agreement that had been on the table. Just hours before the truce was finalised, Ahmed Jabari was assassinated. This permanent truce could have resulted in Gaza being opened and the economy boosted as a result, but Israel does not want self-determination for the people of Gaza and the Palestinians in general.

From 2004 – 2012, a total of twenty-six Israeli civilians have been killed by Gazan rocket attacks, which are a symptom rather than a cause of Israeli aggression and truce violations. On 4 November, the Israeli army shot dead an unarmed and mentally-ill man who had wandered into the buffer-zone, an area created by Israel that has taken a third of Gaza’s arable land. Any person (including children, and even animals), who wanders into this area, is killed by Israeli soldiers.

For the timeline of Israel’s latest attack on the people of Gaza, see these two sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-kanwisher/reigniting-violence-how-d_b_155611.html and http://imeu.net/news/article0023227.shtml

Under international law, occupied people have a legal right to defend themselves, as long as civilians are not targeted, which constitutes war crimes. Israel manufactures ‘justifications’ for targeting civilian infrastructure (also a war crime).

The death of 12 members of the al-Dalu family spanning four generations, including 5 children, is an indication of how civilians have been targeted by Israel in so-called ‘wrong house’ episodes.

In one of the most densely populated areas on earth where the civilian population is trapped under a blockade with no bomb shelters, there is no refuge for Gazans, let alone anti-missile defences. In contrast to Israeli military capability, Gaza has no army, navy or airforce with which to defend itself, and the destructive power and range of their missiles paints an obvious David and Goliath narrative when comparisons with Israel are made. Taking this into perspective, it is easy to conclude just who is a very real, not merely an existential threat to whom.

Actions to take for Gaza and Palestine in general

1) Boycott Israeli products, such as Teva medicines and Tivall vegetarian products. Always read labels at the supermarket.

http://www.bigcampaign.org/the-palestinian-call/

Join in solidarity with the BDS movement.

2) Donate now:

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) responded immediately to the crisis caused by Israeli air, tank and naval strikes, working with local hospitals, doctors and nurses to ensure they have the supplies they need to treat the casualties. Medical Aid for Palestinians works for the health and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees. Medical Aid for Palestinians is an international, non-governmental, independent, non-political, non-religious organisation established in 1984.

Online: www.map.org.uk
Mobile: Text 70070 with the phrase
“GAZA10 £10”. This will donate £10 and will be added to your phone bill
Phone: 020 7226 4114
Post: Send a cheque to Medical Aid for Palestinians 33a Islington Park Street, Freepost ND6445, London, N1 1BR

3) Sign a petition to remove the 2013 UEFA finals from Israel, especially after it destroyed the Gaza sports stadium http://www.thenation.com/blog/171344/killing-hope-why-israel-targets-sports-gaza

http://redcardapartheid.weebly.com/

4) Purchase Palestinian fair trade products, such as Zaytoun.

5) Contact the media and if need be confront their distortions and bias, raise awareness on social media, join a protest, create an awareness event, write a blog post, share this blog post.

http://stopwar.org.uk/index.php/how-the-bbc-is-re-writing-history-in-its-reporting-of-israels-assault-on-gaza

GUEST POST BY Monique Buckner

Tag: gaza