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Gaza

I Have a Dream, by Ayman Quader

This is Ayman Talal Quader, a Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip, where its people have been besieged for almost 4 years. I was born in July, 1986. I received my education in the UNRWA schools since my childhood. Then I finished my studies from the Islamic University of Gaza from the English Department in 2008.

As a Palestinian who truly loves his homeland and believes that peace and justice will cover my people; I have been looking forward to helping my people especially in the cruel condition they are passing through in the present time. I have significantly been different fields’ pre and post of my university studies for almost 4 years. I have worked as volunteer in civil societies where I practiced tasks to help people and educate children. Since August 2008, I have been dedicating my life to helping my needy people through joining one of the international humanitarian organizations that based in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, I have launched a blog peaceforgaza, through which I have been trying to bring my people suffering to be seen by people internationally.

Where and when have I granted the scholarship?

I have been recently accepted to an academic scholarship program at the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) in Castellón, Spain for the International Masters in Peace, Conflict and Development Studies (PEACE Master). I have been successfully granted a Spanish student visa in order to complete my academic program that begins February 2010 and runs all the way through to May of 2012.

What are the senses of suffering?

Since the first day on my acceptance in Nov 2009 at the university, the hardship starts. As the Gaza strip brutally lives under a total siege, I have been getting worried from the very beginning. The main cause that gravely makes me worry is how to get out from Gaza. I have been forcing myself several times to get myself calm down till I get the visa keeping in my mind the hardship that I will be passing through when I get the visa. I have been granted the student visa recently, then I have come to the really suffering entitled “Rafah Border”.

Why am I deprived from my basic right?

All I aspire is my fundamental rights to learn and study; rights that are supposed to be guaranteed and recommended by all the international resolutions and the United Nations. I am not asking for a miracle, it is my reserved right. I am handling all my documents, visa, and acceptance letter from my university and supporting documents. Why I am being prevented from leaving Gaza and prevented access to Spain? I am actually paralyzed whom to ask and consult in regard to my exit from Gaza. I have been knocking all the doors, asking for help and advice to bring me out so as to receive my education in Spain.

The conditions of the borders have become extremely complex, making it almost impossible for Palestinians living in Gaza to leave under any circumstances, including for medical treatment, to visit relatives or on academic scholarship to study abroad. The borders, including the Rafah border – the only throughway between Gaza and Egypt – are all controlled by Israeli Security Forces, although Israel’s control of the Rafah border is more indirect than the borders leading out of Gaza and into “Israel Proper” (as defined by the 1967 armistice lines; see UN Resolution 242). The Israeli government practicing a collective punishment of a civilian population, contrary to article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions (1949), by neglecting much needed humanitarian aid and building supplies into the strip, pre and post Operation Cast Lead. The result is thousands of homeless and starving Gazans left with nowhere to turn but the international community.

I am growing increasingly worried as my studies are due to begin at the beginning of February and my flight is booked for February 1.

I am appealing and calling lawyers, politicians, journalists and all activists for human rights to join the fight for me and my right to the education that I have always dreamed of.

– Ayman Quader, in Gaza City

http://www.petitiononline.com/salam123/petition.html

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Beit Lahia

Khudari: IOA pays compensations to UNRWA to beautify its image[ 23/01/2010 – 03:02 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)– MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of the popular anti siege committee, has charged that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) had paid compensations to UNRWA for the destruction of its buildings during the Gaza war only to beautify its image before the world.

Khudari in a press release on Saturday said that the IOA is trying to absolve itself of responsibility for the disastrous consequences of the war on Gaza that left thousands killed or wounded and thousands of houses, public buildings and headquarters destroyed in addition to the displacement of many families.

The symbolic 10 million dollar compensation is also an attempt to deceive the world into believing that the IOA is a moral, legal and humanitarian state, he added.

The MP underlined that the Palestinians could not rebuild what was destroyed in the war without the world pressuring the IOA into opening all crossings and allowing entry of reconstruction material.

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Gaza freedom march looking ahead

Bio

Medea Benjamin is a co-founder of CODEPINK a grassroots anti-war group that seeks “positive social change through creative protest, non-violent direct action, and community involvement. Medea is also a member of the advisory committee for The Real News.

See transcript here

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A full report on the Gaza Freedom March

by Barnabe Geisweiller on January 18, 2010 · 2 comments

“It was meant to be a historic non-violent protest in Gaza against Israel’s blockade. But forces are quick to converge in the Middle East against those who work for peace.”

The author of the following report, Barnabe Geisweiller, a Canadian student at the Columbia Journalism School who has lived in Palestine, went to Egypt and Gaza with the Gaza Freedom March. He spent weeks reporting on the organization of the march. [There will be reports on the march this week, on Thursday in NYC, and on Saturday in Woodstock, NY].

read on

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The Egyptian “brothers”

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We’re Sailing Again – Join Us

This spring, the Free Gaza Movement is sending at least six boats to Gaza to break Israel’s illegal blockade on 1.5 million Palestinians. This blockade constitutes an act of collective punishment, a crime prohibited under international humanitarian law. Gaza’s man-made and internationally perpetuated crisis is set to deepen as Egypt builds an Iron wall 30 meters deep and 20 meters high on the southern Rafah border, closing off the final route for Palestinians to get basic supplies.

The urgency of breaking the blockade grows by the day, as Palestinians living in this prison are denied their most basic rights.

Our mission will include two boats committed by a Turkish NGO plus a cargo ship purchased with donations from the Malaysian people. This ship will be loaded with cement, water filtration systems and paper – all essential reconstruction materials denied entry to Gaza by Israel.

Free Gaza’s missions were the first to challenge Israel’s hermetic closing of Gaza when we sailed two small boats into Gaza in August 2008. We did not ask permission of Israel or Egypt to travel to Gaza and sailed directly from international waters into the waters of Gaza. Since then, we have been the catalyst for a growing international movement of civilian advocates, including the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina.

Of course we will face Israel’s illegal naval blockade. But we have broken through it before and we will do it again. We are writing to ask you to make sure the mission is funded and publicized.

We sailed four more successful missions to Gaza since August 2008, and we intend to come back this year with a small flotilla, so you still have time to get boats and come with us. We are calling on all NGOs, human rights organizations and communities around the world to join us. If you already have funding for boats, we can provide the logistical and technical advice on how get them ready to join the flotilla. If you want to help in other ways, we have listed five below.

1. Fundraise for this trip. Consider organizing a big or small fundraiser in your community. We already have people available to speak at your events. http://www.freegaza.org/en/join-in/speaker-bureau. Friends returning from the Gaza Freedom March, or the Viva Palestina convoy can be especially helpful by turning report backs into fundraisers.
2. Get your community involved and turn this flotilla into a global effort. Our boats will carry building supplies and school supplies, both banned by Israeli authorities. Contribute by donating paper, ink or books for our Right to Read campaign: http://www.freegaza.org/right-to-read. If you can donate reconstruction supplies, please contact us. Get your children and their schools involved by having them write letters to children in Gaza that we will carry on our boats and deliver.
3. Publicize the trip. Once we have announced the date, help us get the message out to the media and to your elected officials to assure the passengers and boats will sail safely.
4. Ask your Member of Parliament/Congress to come with us. We already have MPs from South America, South Africa, Malaysia, Turkey and Europe who are going. If you have contacts with other high profile people, please let us know.
5. Volunteer as land crew, media or support crew in your countries.

To help, organize a fundraiser, suggest passengers and offer support, please email us at friends@freegaza.org, and we will follow up immediately. We have only two to three months to finish organizing, raise the additional funds, and to set sail.

Join us as we sail together to Gaza this spring!

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Moufid Shehab and Egypt’s Gaza Hysteria

the blog of journalist Sarah Carr, has a very funny translation/commentary on Egyptian Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (and Gamal’s homme a tout faire) Moufid Shebab, who was the public face of the brouhaha over the Gaza convoys. There’s the usual — the “Qatari channel of discord,” the “engineering installations on our eastern borders” to refer to the wall, lamenting that Egyptian media is not patriotic enough, etc. My favorite bit, though, was about the Algerian conspiracy to make Egypt look bad:

The media lacked information and the truth as it talked about the French people [THERE WERE ANOTHER 41 NATIONALITIES REPRESENTED IN THE GAZA FREEDOM MARCH BUT I WILL CONVENIENTLY IGNORE THIS] who came to Egypt ostensibly for tourism but who in fact had other motives – going to Gaza [SHOCK HORROR. IS THERE A SPECIFIC VISA FOR ‘GOING TO GAZA’?]. There has been a plan to deceive, and all the media fell for it. Most of these French people were Algerian women carrying French nationality [THIS IS COMPLETE TWADDLE BUT INDULGE ME] who took advantage of the protests for Gaza [TWADDLE DUM TWADDLE DEE]. These Algerian women are carrying the message of the Algerian media from the heart of Cairo [T WORD, AGAIN]. They appealed to human emotion but there was a political aim behind their actions. We all remember what happening in Khartoum and the consequences after the match on November 18 [A LOVELY DISTRACTION FROM HOW CRAP THE GOVERNMENT IS]

In this way Algerian women came to Egypt with French passports and in their hearts they have taken a position against Egypt [EL TWADDALO, AGAIN. IF IT WAS TRUE, IT WOULD AGAIN BE A REMINDER THAT EGYPTIANS AND ALGERIANS REALLY DO HAVE MUCH IN COMMON].

Note that this diatribe also contains what’s now the standard justification for the wall:

1. Hamas’ coup is the reason for the closure of the crossings, including the Rafah Crossing.
2. Egypt is committed to not opening the border formally because of the absence of a legitimate authority and, in compliance with the 2005 treaty, in order to protect Palestinian unity and avoid giving Israel the pretext to shirk its obligations in the Strip in its capacity as an occupying power.
3. To stop Israeli ambitions and plans to divide Gaza from the rest of Palestine; Gaza – the West Bank – East Jerusalem.
4. The Rafah Crossing is for people and not goods.
5. Egypt is applying pressure for the other crossings into Gaza controlled by Israel to remain open. Egypt has nothing to do with these crossings and they are: Karem Abu Salem, Erez, Kesoufeem [sp.?], Sufa, Karni and Nahal Oz.
6. The flow of aid through the crossing has not halted and Egypt has facilitated in all ways possible the passage of aid caravans in conformity with the rules set by Egypt.
7. Every country in the world protects its sovereignty and ensures the security of its land in cooperation with its neighbours. No state accepts the infringement of its laws, and it punishes those who do infringe them.
8. The attack on Egypt is organised. Israel was not subject to a similar attack by Arab satellite channels and some politicians and opposition figures when it built its racist wall [AT LEAST NOT HERE IN LA LA LAND]. This places all of these people in the same basket with regional powers who have adopted the inflammatory message against Egypt [DOCTOR THE MONSTERS ARE COMING].

These Egyptian measures are aimed at protecting our interests and our citizens against danger. They are necessarily and most definitely against the interests of Israel, which wants to push Gazans into Sinai where they will become refugees like Palestinians dispersed in several Arab countries and then the story will be over forever [AS HAPPENED OF COURSE WHEN THE ‘TENS OF THOUSANDS’ OF GAZANS STORMED THE BORDER IN 2008].

Note that, following the Gaza Freedom March and Viva Palestina, not only has Egypt declared George Galloway persona non grata but it has also banned any future aid convoys for Gaza.

The labourer

Posted: 09 Jan 2010 11:47 PM PST

My review of Hamdi Abu Golayyel’s newly translated novel just came out in The Review.

A Dog with No Tail is his second book, after Thieves in Retirement, and it won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature last year, given out by AUC Press (part of the award is to be translated and published by the press).

Abu Golayyel emigrated to Cairo from his Bedouin village in the early 80s, and worked in construction. This experience informs the book and inspired its original Arabic title, as I note:

Yet in the years spent lugging sacks of cement, smashing walls, pouring foundations and sleeping in empty buildings at night – building the residences of others without a home to call his own – Abu Golayyel found both material and metaphor. The novel’s resonant title in Arabic, Al Fa’il, is derived from the verb “to do”. It means “the doer”, “the actor” or, used as an adjective, “the efficacious, efficient”. In a grammatical sense, it means “the subject” – but in common parlance the world simply means “the labourer”. The English title is derived from a quip in the story, and works well enough. But the original Arabic title is particularly fitting for a book about the unstable edifice that is identity and the constant act of construction that is writing.

The novel was translated by our good old friend, and one-time member of the Arabist household, Robin Moger. Mr. Moger did an above-par job, his translation is a pleasure to read, and I expect we’ll see more from him soon.

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Fishing in Gaza

This video presents the stories of three fisherman from the Gaza Strip who have difficulty earning a living because of the blockade and the army’s harsh restrictions on fishing off the coast. In breach of Israel’s undertaking in the Oslo agreement to allow fishing up to a distance of 20 nautical miles (37 km), the army has gradually reduced the distance in which it permits fishing. At the time of filming, the limit was six nautical miles from the Gaza coast. Since then, the permitted distance has been further reduced, to only three nautical miles (5.5 km) in December 2009. The restrictions harm thousands of fisherman and their families, who depend on fishing for their livelihood, and deny residents of the Strip a vital food source.

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New israeli attack on Gaza

Gaza, January 8, 2010 (Pal Telegraph)- A massive explosion took place few moments ago western Gaza City, in Tal Al Hawa neighborhood. Eyewitness reported that Israeli F16s launched an aerial attack midnight. The attack was followed by a series of air raids.

Palestine Telegraph reported that a number of air raids took place northern Gaza Strip while no new reported about the attacks yet. The attacks also targeted the southern and middle areas of Gaza Strip.

Medical sources reported no casualties till this moment while ambulances hurried to the targeted area.
A number of F16 can be heard at the moment and a case of panic and fear spread amongst the civilians who were in a sleep.

The attacks came amid a very densely populated area where around 150 thousands Palestinians live.
Israeli army launched a number of attacks last week killing a number of Palestinians.

Via Ayman Quaider and Sameh Habeeb

Fears for safety of Irish humanitarians in Gaza as Israel launches air strikes tonight
January 08, 2010 00:19author by Freda H and Fintan Lane – IPSC

There are fears tonight for the safety of several Irish people who entered Gaza yesterday with the Viva Palestina aid convoy. Reports have just reached the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) from both official Palestinian and Israeli sources that the area is under attack by Israeli warplanes.

It appears that the Israeli Air Force bombed several targets in the Gaza Strip tonight – there were no immediate reports of casualties. According to the reports received by the IPSC, the Israelis stuck targets in Gaza City itself. Flames and smoke were spotted in the strike zones.

This attack may be a disproportionate response the firing of mortar shells into Israel this morning. No injuries were reported from that incident. However, there are also fears within Gaza that Israel is planning a larger assault on the enclave and that tonight’s attack may not be over.

The IPSC is gravely concerned at the danger these attacks pose to the Irish aid workers who entered Gaza yesterday. Ten people from Cork, Tyrone and Derry are within Gaza and arrived as part of the Viva Palestina aid convoy. Their names and the contact phone numbers for three of them follow:

From Derry:
Jonathon Crockett,
Eanna O’Donaghaile,
Danny Doyle
Eddie Mc Bride
Derek Mc Chrystal

From Tyrone:
John Hurson
David Callendar

From Cork:
Kate O’Sullivan
Dave Curren
Caoimhe Butterly

The Viva Palestina aid convoy was greeted with scenes of celebration when it arrived via the Rafah crossing yesterday evening. Earlier today, before the air strikes began, John Hurson of Tyrone spoke to the IPSC about the aid distribution situation:

“All the vehicles and aid were handed over to various charities and NGO’s. There were very emotional scenes as people said goodbye to their vehicles which had become their homes for the past month on the road. The appreciation from the Palestinians is very hard to put into words, such was the emotions they displayed. For people from all over the world to travel to Gaza in order to deliver aid, really means so much to the stricken region. This was solidarity on a grand scale.”

The IPSC now fears for the safety of these brave Irish volunteers who may have difficulty leaving the Gaza strip as planned tomorrow.

Yesterday, following an attack on the convoy and its Irish members in Egypt, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said that his Department was doing everything possible to ensure the safety of Irish volunteers participating in the “Viva Palestina” aid convoy. The IPSC is asking him to ensure similar protection for the Irish volunteers from Israeli bombing raids on Gaza. Mr Martin himself was refused permission to visit Gaza recently by the Israeli authorities.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israel Air Force dropped thousands of leaflets over Gaza, telling Gaza residents to stay away from the border with Israel. One of the leaflets included a map and warned Gazans that anyone who goes within 300 metres of the security fence is “endangering” themselves. Another leaflet urged Gazans to inform to Israel on smugglers and on vital smuggling tunnels, which are Gaza’s lifeline to the outside world. It is clear that this is all part of Israel’s ongoing attempt to isolate Gaza and force its people into submission. The leaflet drop and tonight’s attack are clearly linked, and part of an Israeli attempt to intimidate those bringing aid into the besieged Gaza strip.

The siege of Gaza continues despite the suffering it brings daily to the civilian population. It must end.
Related Link: http://www.ipsc.ie

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