gaza aftermath, day 39

Robert Fisk: A fair point: Everyone is equal in their suffering in war
(Robert Fisk, Independent)

Palestinian olive oil bucks UK recession
(Guardian)

Israel and Hamas reject global call for arms embargo
(video, Guardian)

Jerusalem: no plans yet to raze Arab homes in area designated for park
(Haaretz)

"They killed me three times"
(Eva Bartlett, EI)

That's how we are. Singing and wrecking.

Gideon Levy's take on Waltz with Bashir, 'Antiwar' film Waltz with Bashir nothing but a charade, is a devastatingly honest look at how self-centeredly the suffering in Waltz with Bashir is portrayed. Folman focuses nearly the entire movie on his own guilt and confusion about his role in Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, except for the last 30 seconds of the film (I won't give it away for those who haven't seen it, although the article does). It centers around his moral and conscious wrestling with his actions and his own Jewish history. Levy rightfully holds the bar for art higher than Folman in that the movie focuses solely on the Israeli experience of 1982, and not the Lebanese or Palestinian. War affects everyone who participates in it or survives it, however in the spirit of true engagement and critical thinking Folman's movie could have done more to focus on the suffering of those who bore the heaviest burden in 1982--the Lebanese and Palestinians. That said, my personal reaction is still that I expect very little from mainstream Jewish Israel in terms of addressing past wrongs in regards to Palestinians in particular and Arabs at large. Not because I don't think they should address these wrongs, but because the Gideon Levys and Ilan Pappes and Amira Hasses of Israel are few and far between-- those who take a meaningful and truly critical look at Israel's past and have the moral courage to say "it's not always about us-- a lot of the time, it's about them." Folman's film poked larger holes in the illusion of the IDF being the world's most "moral army" at a very critical moment (the film came out during the Gaza war), and those who saw Waltz probably were led to reflect not only on Lebanon, but Gaza. So I accept Folman's baby steps of retrospectivity. Maybe the baby steps will grow.

THIS is important

Please take a minute today, and support US Campaign to End the Occupation in their effort to end military aid to Israel. Throughout Israel's war on Gaza, we were all aware that the majority of arms used against Palestinians were either manufactured in or bought from the United States-- just one more way the US (and those of us who are taxpayers in the US) was complicit in the horrendous attacks on Palestinians. We, in the States, have elected a man to office who has promised change and meaningful partnership in the international community. Let's help him begin his 4 years on the right foot-- by demanding Israel be held accountable for its misuse of weapons in the war.

It only takes a minute. If you feel comfortable doing so, please personalize the message. Let's flood his office.

I just sent my message, who will join me?

Hold Israel accountable for its actions.

gaza aftermath, day 37

Suspend military aid to Israel, Amnesty urges Obama after detailing US weapons used in Gaza
(Guardian)

Student apathy is good for business
(Hicham Yezza, Guardian)

Global boycott movement marks its success
(EI)

Columbia U faculty: support academic freedom in Palestine
(EI)

Durban II drafts: Israel is a racist, occupying state
(Haaretz)

BBC staff to deliver 400 strong petition over Gaza appeal decision
(Guardian)

Egypt opens Gaza border crossing
(al Jazeera english)

Hamas refuses to free Israeli soldier in return for lifting Gaza blockade
(Guardian)

Boycotting Durban II?

In April, Geneva will host Durban II-- the World Conference Against Racism. Obama's government has inserted itself onto the planning committee to ensure a hand in the creation of its guiding documents, but has not yet committed to going. Nice start to the "hope and change" administration-- potentially boycotting a conference about racism. The "controversy" that surrounds Durban II is that during the first Conference in South Africa in 2001, Israel was criticized to be a racist state employing Apartheid. And this was before Israel began constructing the Apartheid Wall. So naturally, Israel is a little nervous about a world conference discussing racism.

Indeed, Livni declared that, "Israel expects the free world not to participate in Durban II." But then again, the "free world" is just that--free. It is not made up of the countries still recovering from colonialism, those fettered by economic colonialism, or those under unmitigated occupation. It is the luxury of the "free world" to disengage from discussions of colonial history and racism. But do they have an obligation and duty to treat the "unfree world" with the respect of participating in a conference on Racism?

Yes.

Will they lower themselves off their high imperial horses to the level of the "unfree world" and participate meaningfully, in cooperative partnership?

We wait to see.

What a nice luxury it must be to have that distance from oppression to decide not to look in the mirror, as Barghouti urged them to, and see that the "free world" is indeed an oppressive force to others.

I hope Obama has the courage and moral clarity to send representatives to the Durban meeting, and participate in it meaningfully. Boycotting a conference on racism is neither hopeful, nor change.

gaza aftermath, day 32

Did Egypt sabatoge deal over Gaza, Shalit?
(Amal Ghazal, EI-- interesting, read this one!)

Obama officials meet with US Jews to explain their Durban II policies
(Haaretz)

Israel Palestine revisited
(Geoffrey Aronson, Guardian)

Gaza's forgotten elderly
(from PCHR)

Chasing Mirages in the Middle East
(Hasan Abu Nimah, EI)

Hamas no, Human Rights yes
(Peter Tatchell, Guardian-- for more reading on Hamas and its ideology/founding I suggest "Hamas" by Khaled Hroub, he actually contradicts to some extent what Tatchell says)

Israel braces for wave of lawsuits
(Mel Frykberg, EI)

From Gaza with love
(Khaled Diab, Guardian)

Hamas murder campaign in Gaza exposed
(Guardian)

Behind the violence in Gujarat, Gaza and Iraq is the banality of democracy
(Pankaj Mishra, Guardian)

South Africa Bantustans vs. West Bank

This is the only question

I read the news about Palestine and Israel a lot. I read books, watch interviews, listen to others' opinions, write about my own, attend lectures on law and history, watch Israeli movies, watch Palestinian movies, read novels and poetry, and have arguments. And throughout all this, my views and stances are reaffirmed to me. I question myself and these views, listen to pro-Zionist arguments, and my opinions have evolved through these exposures, but have always remained firmly rooted in where they started: humanity and human rights. But sometimes, with all these opinions and historical facts and points and nuances, thoughts get jumbled and I am susceptible sometimes to the "complexity of subtleties" of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that prevents some people from firmly coming down on one side or the other. And for this reason, I am so grateful for speakers and thinkers like Dr. Barghouti, who re-orient me, and clarify my thoughts.

It's not complicated, and it's not subtle.

When I say "one side or the other" I think it is generally interpreted as "Pro-Palestinian" or "Pro-Israel". What I mean here, and let me be clear, is that I am not on the "Pro-Palestinian" side-- I am on the side that believes that human rights, equality, and justice are applicable and deserved by every human and are not predicated on anything. This is the side that I am on. The other side predicates these values on other conditions. They are not absolutely, universally applied by this side.

No.

I know it is very, very, very difficult--psychologically and emotionally--for Jews to question Zionist ideals with which they have been brought up. I have seen numerous friends struggle with it. But it is imperative, of the utmost urgency, that these ideals be questioned. And it is so uncomfortable to question something this personal. Especially the Jews I roll with, who are very liberal, and largely see the world through a human rights paradigm and one of humanity. But this paradigm needs to be extended to Israel and Palestine-- not just to some extent, to the full extent. And when you start to feel a little uncomfortable, that's good. We should always feel uncomfortable when questioning assumed truths.

What Israel and Palestine comes down to is a grave injustice, not a myriad of complexities. An occupation--and anyone who has ever been to the West Bank, Gaza, or any refugee camp in any Arab country knows--is not subtle.

Dr. Barghouti spelled it out for us: If you believe that Israelis deserve security, economy, and peace, then (if you believe all people are equal), Palestinians also deserve security, economy, and peace. And it should not be predicated upon that of Israel. It is independently merited by the fact that Palestinians are human beings--no matter how hard the West and Israel try to deny us that label. We deserve peace because we are humans, not as some reward for giving up all our rights. And Israel and Jews absolutely deserve peace because they are humans--but not at the expense of that of Palestinians.

We stand and reaffirm, we are human--this is a human issue.

You either believe in equality for all people, or you don't. This is the only question. And it may be uncomfortable, but it's not complicated.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, "This is what Gaza is left with."

Yesterday, I had the distinct pleasure and privilege of hearing Dr. Mustafa Barghouti speak about his recent visit to Gaza. Dr. Barghouti is a medical doctor, President and founder of the Union of Palestinian Relief Committees, and came in second place in the 2005 Palestinian national elections. He has been a continuously humane, clear, and articulate voice for Palestine in the recent years, presenting the kind of Palestinian face not often seen in American press. It was a pleasure to hear such an eloquent, and human response to the Palestinian reality. It was reminiscent of Edward Said...who Dr. Barghouti remembered at the beginning of his talk. The talk is supposed to become available online soon, at which point I will post it, but for now...some notes...forgive the length.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, "The Gaza War Crime: 12.27.08-1.18.09

Dr. Barghouti recently visited Gaza, and is speaking about what he saw and experienced there "out of a sense of duty and obligation." Israel wouldn't let him into Gaza, so he had to go to Egypt and cross through Rafah-- a trip that should have taken him an hour or two from Ramallah became an international trip. He said, for the first time in his life, he was so shocked by what he saw in Gaza, he could not speak about it for 4 days. The violence in Gaza "was not a war, it was unilateral actions" highlighting the vast imbalance of power between Gaza's military might and that of Israel. He noted that the media "describes civilians as women and children, as though men cannot just be civilians." He showed that, based on population sizes, the ratio of Palestinians who were killed in Gaza would be equal to nearly a quarter million Americans being killed (1,345 Palestinians in Gaza=247,489 Americans), and that on September 11, 2001 3,500 Americans were killed, and we all saw the reaction to that.

357 of Gaza's factories were destroyed. But, Dr. Barghouti pointed out, most were purposefully destroyed in the last 2 days of war, as Israeli soldiers were leaving the Gaza Strip. They laced the factories with dynamite and blew them up, "And I thought the Americans supported the private sector!" he quipped. Dr. Barghouti showed a series of photos of patients who had been burned by phosphorous bombs--at which many people could not look. One photo was of charred corpse of a baby maybe 8 months old. It didn't have any limbs. The remnants of the phosphorous bombs are still all over, reigniting at a touch. He commented on the new weaponry Israel has been testing on the people of Gaza (to be sold later to other countries if they prove "effective"). New bombs and bullets are chemically enriched. Here, he asserted, he was speaking as a physician. The DIME bombs work by eating the flesh and tissue of a person upon contact, eating through until it reaches the bone. "Dom Dom" bullets and bombs release a spray of chemical powder that burns the flesh upon contact and is released in such a manner that the powder lands on your skin each particle only a centimeter apart from the others, making it difficult to escape mass burning. They are still investigating whether Israel used depleted uranium or tungsten.

Dr. Barghouti showed a map of the buffer zone Israel has implemented inland of Gaza--a strip of land which runs all along Gaza's borders usurping 10-15% of land--a significant amount of which is agricultural land. Palestinians who enter this area (like farmers) are shot.

He revealed a heartwrenching strategy Gazan families used to minimize their casualties. As we know, many Gazans lost their homes and became homeless--taking refuge in schools and with relatives' whose homes were still functional. When these Gazans left their homes-- they would split up their children among different places of refuge, so that if one of the spots was hit not all of the family's children would die. He showed us slide after slide after slide of what Gaza looks like now-- which is literally a garbage dump. It looks like heaps and piles of garbage and rubble.

"This is what Gaza is left with," Dr. Barghouti remarked.

Regarding reconstruction, Israel is letting in neither cement nor glass--only food and medical supplies. When he asked why Israel would not let in glass (this is very needed as all the windows in buildings have been blown out...and the cement need is obvious) he was told "it is considered a strategic material"--meaning it could be used to make weapons, not windows.

Dr. Barghouti said he speaks so that "Nobody should say, 'We didn't know...'" He warned that a sewage flood was imminent. Of Israel's policies, he said, "This is not a move to the right, this is a move towards racism" and warned that these actions were not good for Palestinians OR Israelis. He asserted that "We, the Palestinians, will never accept to be slaves to an Occupation, or slaves to an Apartheid state." When asked what kind of government he would like to see in Israel, he half-joked he'd like Obama's government. He seemed cautiously optimistic by Obama's team, especially Mitchel's appointment, and said change won't come from Israel itself, it must come from outside pressure, namely the US.

On the Palestinian side, he noted that we need leadership, not government...that the rift between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is "a stupid fight for an Authority that doesn't have any authority because it is under Occupation." He said the Palestinians need to go back to unity, but they need to go back to democracy and hold another election (Abbas' term expired on Jan. 9--over a month ago, during the war).

In response to the question "What do you think Israel's proper response would have been to the 8000 rockets that hit Israel from Gaza?" Dr. Barghouti responded that he does not support in any way the rocket attacks, and he does not want the Israelis to be bombarded, but that he expects Israelis also to say they don't want Palestinians to be bombarded with F-16s--and that if Israelis are entitled to social and economic security, then Palestinians are too. These are human rules. Gaza has been under siege for 2 years-- isn't this also an act of war? He restated that Israel broke the ceasefire on Nov. 4th.

He argued strongly for the effectiveness and necessity of boycott and divestment movements around Israel-- noting that Hampshire College, again, is leading the way in this movement (Hampshire was the first US school to divest from Apartheid South Africa).

When asked about a two vs. one state solution, Dr. Barghouti was torn in that, "My heart says two states, but my head says one." Explaining that he feels one state is just, but very far off, and he wants two states so his daughter can stop living under apartheid as soon as possible.

He said that he understands, very much, psychologically that for Jews now, after enduring centuries of persecution--from the Holocaust to Russian pogoms to the Spanish Inquisition, "it is so difficult to accept that they are sitting in the chair of the oppressor. It is time to look in the mirror. It is you."

He ended by postulating, "Are we equal human beings entitled to equal rights? This is the only question. It is a human issue."

"It could have been worse."

Often in defense of Israel's attacks on the Palestinians (and Lebanese), I have heard people backwardly praise Israel's "self-restraint" in the level of destruction and death they cause. That they have the capability of killing literally every person in Gaza, or razing every home, but chose not to, somehow is twisted into a moral stand by Israel.

So the next time someone tells you, "Well, the Palestinians are lucky, Israel could have made it much worse." Remind them that this is the same colonial logic used by Belgium in its cruel colonization of Congo, in which, "Fievez, an official of the Free State, noted that those who refused to collect rubber or else who did not meet their rubber quota, "I made war against them. One example was enough: a hundred heads cut off, and there have been plenty of supplies since. My goal is ultimately humanitarian. I killed a hundred people, but that allowed five hundred others to live."" ("Free State" was a colonial enterprise in the Congo-- for more readings on this and more on the Third World Revolution, I recommend "The Darker Nations" by Vijay Prashad. Lots of history we weren't taught in school.)

So Gaza could have been worse, and Congo could have been worse...although, look at the state it's in now...

gaza aftermath, day 27

Gaza 2009: Culture of resistance vs. defeat
(Dr. Haider Eid, EI--very interesting piece about the Palestinian activist movement, give a read, and opinions/reactions if you have them...am interested to hear what people involved, or not involved, think..)

Hamas 'close to truce' with Israel
(al Jazeera english)

Hampshire College first in US to divest from Israel
(Friends of Sabeel)

No Peace for Israel
(Ali Abunimah, Guardian)

Two is better than one
(Shimon Peres, Guardian)

Jimmy Carter: Include Hamas in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
(Haaretz)

Go to Durban II
(Claude Kandiyoti, Haaretz)

PHILIP HAS BEEN RELEASED!!
"I was accused of being everything from an Israeli spy to a Hamas militant."
(Haaretz)

A 14 year old in Gaza asks, Why?

Dr. Eyad El Sarraj is a psychiatrist in the Gaza Strip, and a founder of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, and is, in my eyes, a saint. A few weeks ago he wrote in the Boston Globe about his daughter's lack of understanding why this war happened. The work ahead of him, his staff, and the teams of community members they are training is tremendous and overwhelming.

On January 26, 2008, Dr. Sarraj wrote an Op-Ed in the Boston Globe asking why the stranglehold on Gaza was acceptable...why it was ok for Livni to spell out that it was "inconceivable that life in Gaza continues to be normal." And now, a year later, we are asking why Israel's attack on Gaza was "acceptable" and wonder that it is inconceivable that life in Gaza continues today.

Amidst the reports of trauma and death, people speak constantly in bewilderment of Palestinians' resilience. In my studies of mental health I have learned that two of the major sources of resilience are feeling you have control over your future-- that is actively resisting your stressful surroundings--and strong social networks. Palestine is a collectivist society, and much strength is drawn from large, closely knit family structures. Studies have found that one of the most frequently mentioned ways Palestinian children identify to contribute to the Palestinian resistance, is to attend school, educate themselves, and become professionals. I wonder where Noor, Sarraj's stepdaughter, will go to school now that Israel bombed hers.

Palestinians are indeed a incomprehensibly strong and resilient people. But resilience implies that there are difficult circumstances/environments against which to struggle and overcome. Palestinians don't want to be resilient...they want to live.

gaza aftermath, day 24

Abducted in Egypt
(Ben White on Philip Rizk and others, Guardian)

Gaza's labyrinth lifeline
(photos, Guardian)

Breaking the Palestinian impasse
(Arjan el Fassed, EI)

Israeli closures prevent import of aid, cement into Gaza
(EI)

Hamas is not going away
(Mel Frykberg, EI)

Free Philip Rizk

Philip is a Egyptian-German activist living in Cairo and was kidnapped/detained/taken by Egypt's secret police on Friday. He is the good friend of a dear friend of mine. Please read more at Amnesty International, or contact them if you have any information, or might be able to help in any way. And please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.


The truth is weapon feared by oppressive forces.

gaza aftermath, day 23

Inside the Gaza tunnels
(Rory McCarthy, Guardian)

Gaza: Living in the rubble
(Chasey, Tait, Khalil, Bennett, Guardian-- video)

Israeli Arabs fear a Gaza backlash as far right prepares for power role
(Peter Beaumont, Guardian)

Israel's forgotten Palestinians
(al Jazeera english)

Church of England divests from Bulldozer Biz
(al Arabiya)

UN to resume Gaza aid operations
(al Jazeera english)

Dining with terrorists
(video, al Jazeera English-- visits the often ignored questions of what constitutes a terrorist? what is terrorism?)

Economic Peace? No, we can't.

Gideon Levy argues in his article 'Let Netanyahu win', that if Netanyahu is to win the Israeli elections on Tuesday as predicted--this may be the only option left to engender real change between the Palestinians and Israel. He argues that Netanyahu is such a right-winged force that finally the "veil will be lifted" from the facade of Israel engaging in a peace process. A facade that has blocked from the general world's knowledge that while Israel may lament that it has "no partner for peace" it is actively sabatoging any real hopes for peace through its continuous expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, house demolitions, imprisonments, extrajudicial assassinations (you know, when they "kill Palestinian militants"), its excruciating strangulation of Gaza for 2 years, the erection of the Apartheid Wall excising Palestinian land from the West Bank (who remembers in 2002 when they began this wall? It started as a "temporary security barrier"...now it looks like an apocalyptic fortress), and on and on...

Levy's argument could hold...on the condition that the world (namely the US) actually cares. Everything he says is predicated upon the Quartet taking offense to Israel's suddenly revealed oppressive, counter-peace, attitude. I do say really it depends on the Quartet, as a large (and growing) part of the world takes deep offense already to Israel's treatment of Palestinians and saw through its facade a long, long time ago. But we are not as powerful as those who unconditionally support Israel's inhumane imprisonment and oppression of the Palestinians-- reminding us all, always, that Israel's security is "paramount" while that of the Palestinians is negotiatable at best, irrelevant at worst (or at most realistic).

Could the facing off of Obama's SuperHero "Justice and equality? Yes, we can." attitude with that of Netanyahu's "we can lull them into submission through Economic Peace" attitude be what will finally push us towards a change? ("Economic Peace" is the idea that if Israel builds up the West Bank's economy (I don't think Gaza even factors into this equation anymore as Israel refuses to acknowledge it is still occupied) then economic security for Palestinians will be enough to ensure security for Israel without making any "painful concessions" of land. Palesinians will be content with an economy, and no country. I love this approach-- does Netanyahu really think that once Abu Mustafa's is given some collateral to re-open his factory he will forget he is a dispossessed refugee without a homeland and give up fighting to have his own country? Really!?) Will Obama extend his promise of "change" to Palestine? Do Palestinians deserve justice? Are we equal to Israelis? Because, as Levy points out, the term "process" no longer applies to tension between Israel and the Palestinians. "Process" implies some advancement of change over time. The only change over time Palestinians have seen is a rise in the numbers of their brothers, fathers, uncles, grandfathers, sons imprisoned; the rise in settlements stealing Palestinian land in the West Bank; a rise in the number of Gazans dependent on UN handouts to live (that's up to 80% now); an increased number of checkpoints throughout Occupied Palestine; fewer Gazans alive. The leaders have not changed--neither Israeli nor Palestinian. Neither actually look out for their people's best interest.

Is this really what Palestinians' future depends upon? Shock value? Sigh...

gaza aftermath, day 20

UN halts aid to Gaza after 'Hamas theft'
(Guardian)

Let Netanyahu win
(Gideon Levy, Haaretz)

Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza
(al Jazeera english)

UN halts Gaza aid over 'thefts'
(al Jazeera english-- Hamas says theft was mistake)

War reporters used to prefer morality to 'impartiality'
(Robert Fisk, Independent)

Rise of the moderates
(Antony Lerman, Guardian)

List of Gideon Levy articles from Haaretz

From the Saturday Jan 31st issue of the Irish Times

Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Irish Call for Justice for Palestine
Israel's bombardment of Gaza killed over 1,300 Palestinians, a third of them children. Thousands have been wounded. Many victims had been taking refuge in clearly marked UN facilities.

This assault came in the wake of years of economic blockade by Israel. This blockade, which is illegal under International Humanitarian Law, has destroyed the Gazan economy and condemned its population to poverty. According to a World Bank report last September, "98% of Gaza's industrial operations are now inactive".

The most recent attack on Gaza is only the latest phase in Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people and appropriation of their land.

Israel has never declared its borders. Instead, it has continuously expanded at the expense of the Palestinians. In 1948, it took over 78% of Palestine, an area much larger than that suggested for a Jewish state by the UN General Assembly in 1947. Contrary to International Law, Israel expelled over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. These refugees and their descendants, who now number millions, are still dispersed throughout the region. They have the right, under International Law, to return to their homes. This right has been underlined by the UN General Assembly many times, starting with Resolution 194 in 1948.

In 1967, Israel occupied the remaining 22% of Palestine: the West Bank and Gaza. Contrary to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel has built, and continues to build, settlements in these occupied territories. Today, nearly 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the illegal settlements in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and the number grows daily as Israel expands its settler programme.

Israel has resisted pressure from the international community to abide by the human rights provisions of International Law. It has refused to comply with UN Security Council demands to cease building settlements and remove those it has built (Resolutions 446, 452 and 465) and to reverse its illegal annexation of East Jerusalem (252, 267, 271, 298, 476 and 478). Since September 2000, over 5,000 Palestinians, almost 1,000 of them minors, have been killed by the Israeli military.

11,000 Palestinians, including hundreds of minors, languish in Israel jails. Hundreds are detained without trial. In addition, Israel is breaking International Law by imprisoning them outside the occupied territories, thereby making it almost impossible for their families to visit them. Every year, hundreds of Palestinian homes are demolished. The Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza lives imprisoned by walls, barriers and checkpoints that prevent or impede access to shops, schools, workplaces, hospitals and places of worship. They are subjected to restrictions of every kind and to daily ritual humiliation at the hands of occupation soldiers and checkpoint guards.

Invasion, occupation and plantation of their land is the reality that Palestinians have faced for decades and still face on a daily basis, as their country is reduced remorselessly. Unless, and until, this Israeli aggression is halted, and the democratic rights of the Palestinian people are vindicated, there will be no justice or peace in the Middle East. Israel's 40-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza must be ended.

The occupation can end if political and economic pressure is placed on Israel by the international community. Recognizing this, the Palestinian people continually call on the international community to intervene.

We, the signatories, call for the following:

* The Irish Government to cease its purchase of Israeli military products and services and call

publicly for an arms embargo against Israel.

* The Irish Government to demand publicly that Israel reverse its settlement construction, illegal

occupation and annexation of land in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and to use

its influence in international fora to bring this about.

* The Irish Government to demand publicly that the Euro-Med Agreement under which Israel has

privileged access to the EU market be suspended until Israel complies with International Law.

* The Irish Government to veto any proposed upgrade in EU relations with Israel.

* The Irish people to boycott all Israeli goods and services until Israel abides by International Law.

gaza aftermath, day 19

Out of the rubble
(Mouin Rabbani, The National)

Amnesty International Gaza resources

Maltese Civil Society: Suspend EU-Israel agreement
(press release, EI)

Israeli navy intercepts Lebanese boat on its way to Gaza
(Guardian)

IDF: No arms and little found aboared seized Gaza-bound ship
(Haaretz)

Israel's lies
(Henry Siegman, London Books Review)

Buried Alive
(Eva Bartlett, EI)

Israeli army says shelling of house where girls died 'reasonable'
(Guardian-- to see the video of Dr. Abu Eish, click here)

Gaza burn victims exhibit possible signs of white phosphorous wounds
(Amira Hass, Haaretz)

I didn't know the word for "siege" when I was 5.

From the BBC to DIRECTV

Please take a moment to protest DIRECTV's unwillingness to air an informational ad by the US Campaign to End the Occupation about Gaza. It's important that corporate America knows this kind of censorship and truth-choosing cannot be tolerated. If Obama wants the States to restore its dedication to equality and justice, then we should lead by example.

Please visit US Campaign to End the Occupation

gaza aftermath, day 17

Israel and the politics of friendship
(Joseph Massad, Columbia professor, EI--good read)

Ghosts of 1948 haunt Gaza crisis
(BBC)

Palestinians make ICC overture
(BBC)

UN backtracks on claim that deadly IDF mortar hit Gaza school
(Haaretz)

From Gaza to Jerusalem: the impact of war on the Israeli elections
(Peter Beaumont, Guardian)

Abbas promotes Gaza plan in France
(al Jazeera english)

Waltz with Bashir, Gaza, and the post moral world
(Bradley Burston, Haaretz)

Arab talk focuses on Palestinians
(al Jazeera english)

Aid worker: Gaza an apocalypse
(Mel Frykberg, EI)

Welcome to Gaza

This piece is written by a journalist friend of mine about his first two days in Gaza. Please go to JustImage.wordpress.com for more of his writings and personal accounts of Gaza today, as well as the photos that accompany this piece.



We walked through an area of Jabaliya today that was completely destroyed by Israel. How, F-16? No. Tanks? No. Apache? No. Unmanned drones? No. So then how were dozens of homes destroyed and thousands made homeless in one area?

Dynamite.

This is a country that world leaders have the audacity to say is acting in "self-defense" and goes and puts bombs inside civilian homes and blows them up.

Why? Who really cares? How can such an act ever be justified? As one boy responded when I asked him, "They didn't destroy this because there was resistance here, and not because they want the land. They destroyed it because we are Palestinian!"

So true. Why even ask for the logic behind what Israel does? They do it and get away with it, and they don't have to explain themselves to anyone.

I was walking with my friend when I saw a young girl sitting atop her flattened home. The home was three floors before it was destroyed, now its height was probably equal to that of one of the floors. The rubble provided a perfect inclined surface for climbing up on top of the building.

I approached the young smiley girl and shouted out, "how can I come up into your home?"

She pointed to the staircase lying parallel with the earth and said, "the stairs!"

As I laughed at her my friend followed and asked her, "What are you doing sitting here on top of the rubble, aren't you scared there might be explosives left and you could be hurt?"

I was expecting an answer that had something to do with her feeling sad about what happened and wanting to be close to where she had lived her entire life.

Instead she replied, "I wanted him to take my picture." I couldn't believe it. This girl, 7 maybe, knew I would stop and go take her picture if she was sitting on top of her destroyed home.

By now, Palestinians in Gaza are used to the routine. Israel destroys. Journalists come. Nothing changes, in fact it seems to only get worse.

Every older person who I've talked to has made it a point to tell me that these latest attacks by Israel have by far been the worst they've ever witnessed. Some of them have lived for more than six decades of war. Never have Palestinians seen or heard a non-stop Israeli bombardment like the one that lasted for three weeks just last month.

It's quite incredible, the amount of destruction in the aftermath of these attacks. And it's even more incredible that a population -- that is already mostly refugees of countless Israeli wars -- has the will to keep living their lives, resisting the massive force that is trying so hard to keep them down.

I don't like to generalize, but a broad statement can be made for the 1.5 million people across the Gaza Strip. Regardless of their class or where they come from, their religious or political affiliation, all are living in the open-air prison that is Gaza. And all are subject to Israel's indiscriminate attacks across the territory. There is nowhere to go, nowhere to run.

Even now Israeli planes continue to fly overhead bombing targets across Gaza. Each time a jet is heard everyone stops ... and listens, closely, quietly, shhhh ... as it passes with no sounds of earth rattling explosions you can finally exhale, relax. No one died that time, thank God. But it will return again and again, and if not next time then the time after, or the time after
that the sound of the jet will not fade in and out with no interruptions in between.

So, you wait. You sit knowing that you are alone. You, sitting in your home watching television are the "terrorist" committing the wrong in the eyes of the world.

What was that? Shhhh... listen.... is it? No, it's nothing. A car off in the distance, thank God. Sit back, relax... and smile to yourself when you realize how silly you were to think that doing so might actually be possible. There is no chance to relax when you're constantly waiting for something to happen.

Like I've heard many times in English from the hundreds of people who I've met in the past two days, "Welcome to Gaza."

gaza aftermath, day 16

Gaza: The death and life of my father
(Fares Akram, Independent-- personal account)

Can Mitchell turn Jerusalem into Belfast?
(Ali Abu Nimah, EI)

A context for Gaza
(Duncan Kennedy, Harvard Crimson)

Sewage may contaminate Gaza drinking water
(EI)

States of confusion
(Khaled Diab, Guardian)

Gaza is no Warsaw Ghetto
(Mark LeVine, al Jazeera english)

Palestinian men bear trauma of war
(al Jazeera English)

gaza aftermath, day 15

Israel threatens 'disproportionate' response to Palestinian rocketfire
(Guardian)

Palestinians vs. Tibetans-- a double standard
(Gideon Levy, Haaretz)

Gaza desperately short of food after Israel destroys farmland
(Guardian)

When did we stop caring about civilian deaths in wartime?
(Robert Fisk, Independent)

Coping in Gaza
(Photostory, EI)

Belgium to stop exporting 'arms that bolster the IDF' to Israel
(Haaretz)

Carter says Hamas must be included
(al Jazeera english)

Beyond the bounds of religion
(Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, Guardian)

A call from the ruins of Beit Lahiya
(video, Guardian)

Gaza: Families in the rubble of Jabal al Rayas
(video, Guardian)

'Phosphorus shells' hit UN school
(video, Guardian)