Сионистские радикалы намереваются перекрывать дороги и нападать на палестинцев

Министерство по делам узников обратилось к международным правозащитным организациям, Комитету Красного Креста, которые в тех или иных дозированных формах, разрешенных сионистскими властями, курируют визиты в «израильские» тюрьмы родственников и близких томящихся там палестинских узников, с призывом принять срочные меры для защиты людей, подвергающихся нападениям со стороны незаконных еврейских поселенцев.

В интервью ПИЦ пресс-секретарь министерства Рияд аль-Ашкар выразил серьёзную обеспокоенность по поводу сообщений о том, что родственники еврейского боевика Шалита и радикально настроенные банды поселенцев имеют намерение перекрыть дороги, ведущие в «израильские» тюрьмы, и нападать на людей, которые навещают родных.

«Негодяи утверждают, что такие меры помогут им заставить семьи узников оказать давление на ХАМАС и принять все условия «Израиля» по обменной сделке», - подчеркнул представитель министерства.

В последние месяцы отмечается эскалация агрессии со стороны еврейских бандитов по отношении к палестинцам. Пресс-секретарь привел в качестве примера инциденты, произошедшие около контрольно-пропускного пункта «Анаф», к востоку от Тулкарма, а также столкновения в районе Негева, когда вооруженные «израильские» поселенцы напали на автобус с палестинскими гражданами, направлявшийся в одну из многочисленных оккупационных тюрем.
http://www.palestine-info.ru/

«Израильтяне» проводят демонстрации против осады Сектора Газа

Сотни «израильских» правозащитников, а так же представители арабских общин вышли в субботу ночью на улицы Тель-Авива. Демонстрация была приурочена к первой годовщине «израильской» войны в Секторе Газа, когда от рук сионистов погибли более 1500 палестинцев, большинство из которых женщины и дети.

«Израильское» радио сообщило, что все участники требовали немедленного прекращения осады Сектора Газа и расследования военных преступлений «израильской» армии в ходе операции «Литой свинец».

Между тем, в Наблусе в ночь с субботы на воскресенье десятки иностранных активистов приняли участие в сидячей забастовке, которая была организована в память первой годовщины кровавых расправ сионистов в Секторе Газа. Демонстранты со свечами в руках скандировали анти«израильские» лозунги с требованиями привлечь к суду виновных за убийство трех членов ФАТХ и снять осаду с Сектора Газа.

Участники акции протеста призывали движения ХАМАС и ФАТХ объединить усилия в борьбе против сионистского врага, вернуться к диалогу и подписать договор о национальном примирении.

Суд Египта запретил сдавать экзамены в никабах

Административный суд Египта запретил студенткам сдавать экзамены в никабах (мусульманская женская одежда, полностью скрывающая лицо и фигуру женщины), подтвердив тем самым принятые ранее соответствующие решения руководства трех крупнейших университетов Египта, сообщают в воскресенье египетские СМИ.

С жалобой на решение о запрете никабов в стенах вузов Каирского, Хелуанского и Айн-Шамского университетов обратились в суд 55 студенток, требовавших отменить неправомерное, по их мнению, распоряжение университетской администрации. Однако суд, рассмотрев жалобу, подтвердил законность запрета на ношение никабов в студенческих городках, а также во время экзаменационной сессии.

"Студенткам не запрещается в принципе одевать никабы на лекциях или в свободное от занятий время. Запрет распространяется лишь на женские общежития, где ношение никаба ничем не оправдано, а также на время экзаменационной сессии, поскольку в последнее время зафиксировано увеличение числа различных нарушений и подлогов, связанных с никабами на экзаменах", – цитирует министра высшего образования Египта Хани Хиляля РИА Новости.

По его словам, администрации крупнейших вузов Египта недавно провели специальную проверку, показавшую странный факт увеличения на период экзаменационных сессий числа студенток, закрывающих лицо.

"Ношение студентками никаба затрудняет контроль за удостоверением личности экзаменуемых и самим процессом экзамена", - говорится в заявлении административного суда.

Споры о никабе в Египте ведутся много лет. Большинство мусульманок в стране носят хиджаб (платок, покрывающий волосы, но оставляющий открытым лицо). В то же время за последние несколько лет в Египте появилось значительное число женщин, закрывающих лицо никабом, что вызывает беспокойство у властей, пытающихся остановить этот процесс.

Закрытие лица согласно шариату не является обязанностью мусульманки, исторически никаб стал распространенной традицией в некоторых странах арабского и исламского мира. Поэтому, в отличие от обязательного для ношения платка-хиджаба, его запрет не вызывает столь бурных дискуссий и протестов со стороны мусульманского сообщества.
http://www.islamnews.ru/news-22012.html

You DIDN'T hear It on the News

A new year for Gaza? Waiting for a miracle

One year since Israel’s 22-day assault on Gaza, the coastal strip is still struggling to survive under a crippling blockade. Karl Schembri writes about the hardships the 1.5 million people of Gaza are still being forced to endure in this cruel and protracted man-made crisis.

A stone’s throw away from the Israeli border in Shajaiya, a group of young men are rummaging among the steel and concrete that remains of the Sarayo Biscuits Factory.

Hasan Ahmed Al Awadi, who worked here as a watchman, now sits looking at the rubble. He is using part of the former offices to raise some poultry.

“I can’t give you biscuits but I have some chickens,” he tells me smiling.

A year ago, Israeli tanks and fighter planes reduced the factory to rubble, leaving 50 workers jobless and Hasan’s colleague dead.

Further down the road, Al Wafa Hospital has just managed to get a consignment of cement and glass smuggled from the tunnels to be able to repair the extensive damage to the new state of the art four-storey building for physical rehabilitation and the elderly.

“We had a totally new building that was meant to be inaugurated in January 2009,” says the head of rehabilitation, Dr Kamees Al Issi. “The Israelis ‘inaugurated’ it for us. Not one window pane was left intact.”

Facing the hospital is the Gaza juice factory. The cold store was totally burnt down and most of the equipment destroyed. The factory now employs half of the 100 workers it had before the war, and they are manually capping and labelling bottles through new equipment they managed to get through the clandestine tunnels under the border with Egypt.

In Zeitoun, Sameh Sawafiri had a poultry farm of 30,000 chickens providing most of Gaza’s supply of eggs. Israeli soldiers flattened them all in their cages with their tanks. Now he has managed to reopen with one-third of the chickens had a year ago and a lot of debts.

The owners of El Bader Flour Mill in Beit Lahiya were not so lucky. Israeli planes targeted the central nerve of the mill, leaving it totally out of action.

“Since the war we had to stop completely,” says Hamdan Hamada who still pays 25 of the 85 workers in the hope they will be able to resume work soon. “We need iron, cement and equipment, but Israel is not allowing us to get anything. We are waiting for a political decision from Israel to get the material to reconstruct our flourmill. So far we only got promises.”

A year since the war on Gaza, most of the coastal strip is still at a standstill, waiting for a political decision from Israel, and for pressure from the rest of the world, for the blockade to be lifted. Billions of dollars pledged for reconstruction remain out of reach, making significant reconstruction and recovery impossible.

Driving through the streets of Gaza, the rubble is still everywhere, with many of the bombed buildings still standing like skeletons, memorials to destruction. In some parts, the rubble has started being cleared in the last few weeks, but Israel’s and Egypt’s ban on construction material makes it impossible to rebuild the 3,535 homes that were totally destroyed last January.

Mohammed Zaid Hader’s family from Izbet Abed Rabbo is one of around 1,000 still living in tents. It is their second winter facing the cold and the rain. Left totally impoverished since his four-storey house was destroyed, he has become one of the 80% of Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid.

Nawer Thabet from Juhor Ad Dik lost her mother and only sister when their house was shelled. One year on, she is still in trauma, recounting, in tears, how she is unable to go back to the house where her mother always welcomed her. (Read Nawer’s blog)

“I remember this tragedy everyday, I can’t get it out of my mind. I still can’t go back to our house in Johr Al Deek, I can’t face it,” she says.

Everyone says they were used to attacks from the Israeli army, but this was something else altogether. The attacks were coming from everywhere, leaving nowhere to escape as people were forbidden to leave the Gaza Strip to seek refuge far from the conflict zone.

Children are perhaps paying the highest price. The war taught them that not even their homes were safe, and not even their parents could protect them. Ahmed Hdeir, father of six from Beit Lahiya, told his children the war was just a computer game.

“But when they hit our house I couldn’t keep up that story,” he says.

They still suffer from nightmares and he takes them to psychologists for counselling every week. During the Eid festival in late November, thousands of children were playing in the streets with toy guns. Gazan psychiatrists are concerned about both the widespread trauma and the potential radicalisation of those that may now choose the path of the martyr when everything is lost.

A whole generation of children has never been out of Gaza. Unlike their parents, most of whom used to work in Israel and have Jewish friends, the only Israelis they have seen were armed soldiers keen on destroying their houses and killing their relatives.

Now, the Egyptian government is reportedly erecting yet another wall in Rafah - an iron barrier meant to stop tunnel smuggling. Tunnels are the only lifeline left for Gazans, and in their resourcefulness they might also find a way around this latest obstacle.

Gazans are known for their resilience and creative ways of getting by against all odds, but they are paying a very high price. Even before the war, the blockade was collectively punishing an entire population, leaving scars that will take decades to heal. But the healing cannot begin until Gazans are given that chance, until the blockade comes to an end.

Help end the blockade of Gaza

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/pressoffice/?p=9691&v=newsblog

Help to stop the next war!

Help to stop the next war! Support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of the Israeli regime
Support Palestinian universities – spread the BDS campaign – it is what people under the Israeli jackboot ask you to do!
Israeli War Criminals – to the International Criminal Court, NOW!
Make Zionism History!
One year since the Gaza Carnage by Israel’s murderers! We shall not forget!
One year to the criminal carnage of Israel in Gaza

Now that 2010 is finally upon us, the real story behind the Cairo staruggle comes out from different sources. Philip Weiss description is one of the clearest, even when one disagrees with his own judgment, as he gives both sides of the argument space and caeful detail. Due to its nature, I thought including it in full is justified, despite its length:
Cairo meets the movement, with tears and chaos and exaltation: MondoWeiss

by PHILIP WEISS on DECEMBER 31, 2009 ·
Today the Gaza Freedom March fragmented slightly when in the face of stern opposition from their fellows about 80 people headed off to Gaza on buses, the rest staying in Cairo.

But wait, weren’t you trying to go to Gaza? Yes, but it has been quite a drama. How to state this clearly…

Over the last week, as the international marchers arrived in Egypt, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry made it very clear that it did not want them going into Gaza, and it would arrest them short of that goal. But these 1400 are not tourists or milquetoasts, they are activists; and they were not going to be stopped by any old Ministry, even the ministry of a police state. Many set out by bus and taxi to the Sinai desert, while the 300 members of the French group camped out in front of the French Embassy across from the Cairo Zoo, demanding to go even as they were ringed by riot police.

After hunger strikes and demos and international press, and supposedly too the intervention of the president’s clement wife Suzanne Mubarak, the Egyptians relented yesterday and said, Well 100 of you can go in, two busfuls. I heard about this first as a rumor last night at an Egyptian-led rally at the Journalists Syndicate building in opposition to Bibi Netanyahu’s visit to Hosni Mubarak (Down Down Hosni Mubarak!), and already many of us were wondering, who would get the call? Code Pink, the antiwar group that has led the organizing, claimed victory and sent out a bulletin to delegations to select the two or three members who could go. Some delegations duly nominated representatives. But the decision set off an angry and wrenching round of all-night meetings, some of them in hotel stairwells, with many coming out against the deal. Even the Gaza Freedom March steering committee voted against the slice of bread that was being offered, instead of the whole loaf.

Then, I gather, the Egyptians made the deal even more problematic by issuing a statement saying that the 100 peaceful people were being allowed to go to Gaza, implying that the rest of us were hooligans.

Still Code Pink went forward with its plan, and at 6:30 this morning the lucky few gathered on a sidewalk on Ramses Street near the bus station. Over the next 4 hours I witnessed agony and torment, and said a secret blessing that I had not tried to get on the buses last night. A crowd of those opposed to the 100 stood outside barricades set up around the buses and shouted “All or none!” and “Get off the Bus!” It turned out that they had many confederates among the 100 who boarded the buses– confederates who at a signal marched off the buses, some giving heroic speeches.

The people staying on the buses leaned out the doors to say that the Gazans wanted them to come so as to to join their march to the Israeli border on the 31st. But they wavered. Indeed, you saw some of the most resolute activists on the planet—Bernardine Dohrn, the law professor and former member of the Weather Underground; Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada; and Donna Mulhearn, an Australian woman who was a human shield during the beginning of he Iraq war, board the bus and get it off it, and then board it again and get off it, and on and on.

Abunimah, who had been roughed up by security at the American Embassy yesterday, told me it was the hardest decision he’d ever had to make. It was an individual decision, he had no clarity on it, and no one could tell you what to do, and he respected the decisions of all parties. Mulhearn said that going to Iraq in 2003 had been easy compared to this; for that choice was in the face of physical danger and she would take that any day, this was in the face of moral doubt. As for the Egyptian statement that only hooligans were staying behind in Cairo, she said it was a lie, she would say so on her blog, and the people who were against anyone going on that basis were giving the Egyptian security state power. Dohrn said that the principle of “All or none” was a miserable one for activist politics. You always took what you could get and kept fighting for more. A European man in a red keffiyeh screamed at her that she was serving the fascisti. Her partner Bill Ayers gently confronted him and asked him why he was so out of control. Between getting on and off the bus, Dohrn, who wore a flower in her hair, said that she didn’t like the absolutist certainty of the people on the other side of the police barricades, and having been in the Weather Underground, she knew something about absolutist feeling.

In the end Dohrn and Abunimah got off the bus. Mulhearn stayed on, I heard. A big reason for them was a call that Abunimah had with leaders of civil society in Gaza, who said, if this is going to hurt the movement, don’t come. We will march without you. (The message, from Haidar Eid and Omar Barghouti, says, “After a lot of hesitation and deliberation, we are writing to call on you to reject the ‘deal’ reached with the Egyptian authorities. This deal is bad for us and, we deeply feel, terrible for the solidarity movement.”) Abunimah abided by that call (and later told me he had no regrets, he was clear now). I saw other friends sitting on the sidewalk crying, as they tried to figure out what to do.
The argument for the majority went like this: We have come a long way with the support of an international community. We have come to march in Gaza to lift the siege against the people there. Many of us are walking our talk, by confronting the Egyptian power at the French Embassy. Now we are giving into the siege by accepting a piecemeal offering, when the core principle here is inarguable: the people of Gaza must have freedom of movement, freedom to come and go. We will show our power and solidarity not by acceding to the terms of a police state that is working with the U.S. and Israel, but by demanding our rights as a bloc here in Cairo. And by doing so, we will dramatize the Palestinian condition and serve the most important element of the struggle: activating an international movement.

I could see the other side, too. There is nothing like an actual trip to Gaza to politicize people, and having had that experience myself, I had urged some young people to have it. But I can see that I am a lousy movement person, and that the overall sense of the movement was clear and emphatic. We will work from Cairo to gain publicity for Palestinian oppression. Big deal we’re not in Gaza, it’s like being in Birmingham when the big march is going down in Selma.

By the way, the South African contingent, many of them veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle, were no-doubters on the question: we stay in Cairo.

I can see both sides, but it was a convulsive experience. People turned on one another, the Code Pink leadership was accused of being all hat and no saddle. Young people I saw last night walking around biting their lips in the hope that they might be chosen to get a seat on the bus were today enraged and vituperative at the idea that anyone was getting on the bus—a transformation out of As You Like It.

Yet I remind readers that good things are arising from this experience. The Americans, who are so conditioned to living with the Israel lobby, as an abused wife to her battering husband, are being exposed to a more adamant politics—we are having a rendezvous with the Freedom Riders. For another thing, our direct actions and demonstrations seem to be awaking Egypt, a little, and getting a lot of publicity. Helen Schiff told me that the front page of an official government newspaper today said, “Mubarak to Netanyahu: Lift the siege and end the suffering of the Palestinian people.” We gave him that line! she said. A longtime civil rights activist, Helen told me it’s “fabulous” what happened, we are achieving more in Cairo than we would if we had gotten into Gaza.

So there’s a tumultuous and ascendant feeling here tonight, in the little hotels that we have to meet in to make our plans. I can feel the spirit of the Freedom Riders and of the abolitionists, who fought the limits on freedom of movement of black people for so long in my country. As for the divisions, and bitterness, I think they will go away. A European friend advised me tonight that those who take the Palestinian side will find that they share somewhat in the Palestinian experience. They will experience isolation, division, bitterness, failure, contempt, manipulation. Surely not on the scale of the Palestinians; still, they will experience some of those things, and they will grow from them.

Having weathered the storm, tomorrow this group has more action plans. I have to be quiet about them now, because I crunched into another stairwell tonight for a planning session. Still, it should be dramatic. The international street has come to the Arab street, and everyone is learning.

http://gaza.haimbresheeth.com/

A Introduction to Israel’s Blockade of Gaza

The Gaza Strip is essentially a prison. That’s the best way to think of it. About two-thirds of Gaza is surrounded by a security fence that is patrolled by the Israeli Army. The rest of Gaza borders the Mediterranean Sea and is patrolled by the Israeli Navy. Israel destroyed the Strip’s only airport in 2001. So Israel, with the help of Egypt, completely controls who and what enters Gaza and who and what leaves Gaza.

After Hamas took control of Gaza in June 2007, Israel began to sharply restrict the flow of people and goods entering and leaving the Strip. Because Gaza, like most small economies, depends upon foreign trade for its survival, this proved to be devastating. Businesses went bankrupt, unemployment skyrocketed. By August 2008, 80% of the population had become dependent upon international aid.

And then last year Israel launched “Operation Cast Lead” and for three weeks subjected Gazans to what can only be described as Hell. When all was said and done, 1,400 people (most of them civilians) had been killed, 100,000 people displaced, 3,540 homes destroyed, 55,770 homes damaged, 268 businesses destroyed, 432 businesses damaged. Moreover, “Tanks and other military vehicles demolished 17% of Gaza’s cultivated land in the conflict, including 17.5% of olive, date and other fruit orchards and 9.2% of open fields.” [Sources: United Nations OCHA and Amnesty International, Oxfam, et al (h/t Norman Finkelstein and The Heathlander).]

Once the assault ended, foreign governments offered a total of $4 billion to help rebuild Gaza. But Israel has continued the blockade, rendering that offer all but meaningless. For the last twelve months, Israel has allowed just a trickle of humanitarian goods to enter the Strip. And to make matters worse, its definition of “humanitarian goods” keeps changing. Some weeks, this means that Gazans can receive things like pasta, school notebooks, and hearing aids. Other weeks, they’re not so lucky. All total, over the past year, Israel has allowed approximately 112 truckloads of goods to enter Gaza a day, down from 583 truckloads a day during the first five months of 2007.

And Israel has allowed almost no construction materials to enter Gaza. During the past twelve months, Israel has permitted less than four truckloads of such material to enter the Strip a month, down from approximately 7,400 truckloads a month during the first part of 2007. Needless to say, this means that Gazans have been unable to rebuild their homes and businesses.

This also means that Gazans cannot rebuild their medical facilities, 48% of which were damaged or destroyed in “Cast Lead.” And it means that Gazans have been unable to repair their electrical power system, which was heavily damaged in the assault. And it means that Gazans have been unable to repair their water sanitation system, which also suffered major damage. Because of this, the UN warns that the Strip’s “water supply is on the verge of collapse.”

As far as exports go, well, fuhghettaboutit. They’ve been almost nonexistent. Consequently, 40% of Gazans remain unemployed and 70% of Gazan families are forced to survive on less than one dollar a day per person.

I could keep going on and on. I could discuss all the medical patients who are prevented from leaving the Strip to receive treatment. I could discuss all the students who cannot leave to study abroad. I could tell you that most Gazan children have PTSD, that 10% of Gazan children under five suffer from malnutrition. I could describe how Israel recently imposed a 300 meter “buffer zone” along the border, cutting “Gazans off from 30 percent of the strip’s arable land.”

I could go on and on. But I think you get the idea.
http://donemmerich.blogspot.com/2010/01/introduction-to-israels-blockade-of.html

WHEN THE OPPRESSED BECOMES THE OPPRESSOR ~~ TAKING KOSHER RACISM TO THE POLLS

A rabbi that has enjoyed fame as the author of a controversial book known as ‘Kosher Sex’, has transformed himself into one of America’s most unkosher politicians.

Taking his pro Israel and anti Arab sentiments to the polls is just one more example of how the oppressed becomes the oppressor.

Without sounding paranoid, it’s time that we in the Jewish community face some facts. Across the globe it’s open season on Israel and the Jews. Why? Some would say that antipathy toward Jews is a law of physics. I disagree. It is happening because we allow it.

We are a powerful global economic market and we must seriously consider boycotting the products of countries whose shameful behavior mistreats Jews. For example, the situation in Britain is out of control: There have been attempts to ban Israeli professors from academic conferences; a magistrate issued an arrest warrant against Israel’s former foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and the government issued an advisory allowing retailers to label products originating from the West Bank as being produced in Israeli settlements or by Palestinians. A serious conversation about whether or not to vacation in Britain or buy its products should now occur.

Our community must make it clear to our Catholic brothers and sisters how upset we are that Pope Pius XII is being considered for sainthood. Calling a man a saint who lost his voice while 6 million Jews died will irreparably harm Catholic-Jewish relations.

Here in the United States we have had to contend with the Obama administration’s canard that Israeli settlements are a major obstacle to Middle East peace. And it’s more than a little disappointing that the Netanyahu government has endorsed this fraud by instituting a 10-month freeze on settlements, thereby unjustly identifying some of Israel’s most patriotic citizens as its most intransigent.

In the face of such developments, more committed Jews must begin considering running for office. Rather than merely relying on friends to represent us, we must also begin representing ourselves.
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/

Gaza Freedom March Wrap Up

By Sana (Keffiyeh And Onions)

I'm sure its going to take me some time to process everything that has happened in Cairo with the Gaza Freedom March over the past week or so but here are some of my initial thoughts and feelings. Bear in mind, these are my own opinions and reflections and they surely are not the same as the 1300 other people who were in Cairo. So for what its worth – here it goes:

This whole political experience here with CODEPINK, for me, has been honestly disappointing and angering. I'm going to be honest here, I did not participate in many of the protests that took place in Cairo because I had serious issues with the way everything was being handled and the way that the March really seemed to have fallen apart and unraveled once everyone realized that our chances of getting into Gaza were really slim to none. From the very first meeting that was held in Tahrir Square, the individuals who were going to be staying in Gaza longer (past January 2nd) were told to not participate in any of these demonstrations because if we did somehow come up with a way to get into Gaza, if we had any record or history with problems with the Egyptians – this would effectively eliminate any chance of us getting in. People told us to completely "disassociate from the March" and that because Egypt is not a democracy, "nothing we do will change their minds" – which sadly, ended up being quite true despite how often people demonstrated, were barricaded in by people, and some even beaten up. Moral of the story: This is not the U.S., they don't care that you're Americans, and we did not fly thousands of miles to protest in Egypt.


Aside from this though, there were so many critical problems with the way things were being done and decisions were being made that I really felt uncomfortable with doing anything that GFM was doing in Cairo.

I felt as though there was no insight to the way the Egyptian government works, or the greater public opinion in Egypt, at all. We cannot simply think that a country, who has religiously served the agenda of the U.S. and Israel, will do a complete 360 and open the borders when a group of activists show up, no matter how big. Anyone who has any familiarity with the politics of this conflict, know that Egypt's role in ensuring the Palestinian suffering is not a new or novel concept. Given that, the fact that CODEPINK did not prepare for the very unsurprising setback that Egypt delivered by closing its borders, really baffled me. When we got news on Monday, that the borders were going to be closed and no one would enter, I figured that this was a very expected move (especially after news of Egypt's steel wall just was released as well) and that the steering committee and whoever else also saw this coming and that surely back up plans and strategies were on hand now that Egypt played its cards. But after a couple days when everyone started arriving and it was time to figure out what we were going to do, it just seemed like these small fragmented actions (the hunger strike here, french sit-in there) were things that groups were doing on their own, hardly with any support from the mass collective. There was no unified message besides come out in the streets and protest. It felt like everyone kind of went their own way and that now instead of focusing on the occupation we were going to go after the Egyptian government – which as much as I have issues with that they are doing and how they add to the Palestinian suffering – that is not why I came here.
Lets clarify something here. As much as I hate Egypt, Egypt is NOT occupying the Palestinian territories. ISRAEL is. I mean, to a certain degree, by doing of all this, I feel, we took a lot of heat off of Israel b/c the press coverage just shows a bunch of people demonstrating in Cairo, which is giving the message that we have a problem with Egypt for what they are doing wrong when we were here to raise awareness of the ISRAELI OCCUPATION and Operation Cast Lead which was carried out by ISRAEL one year ago. Why are people shouting "Free Egypt" at the demonstrations? It makes no sense, we had no focus.

I want to believe that GFM tried to do the best that it could, given the circumstances, but honestly it just led to many people feeling as if they had to do something, anything, since we weren't being allowed in Gaza. Don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in public resistance and demonstrating, even getting arrested when its necessary, etc – but you cannot do these things without tons of planning, proper escalation tactics leading up to massive direct action like that, and a solid SOLID solid foundation in Egypt (resources, connections, lawyers, etc) for the people that do take those risks. Otherwise, you just end up looking like a bunch of stupid foreigners (mostly Americans) who are protesting, sitting in, going on hunger strike – for what? We came here to deliver aid and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza – if that was not going to happen then we could have held all of these actions back in our home towns where we know how things work, we know what resources we have, and we can accurately assess what type of risk we are willing to take for this dire cause. After these past few days, I feel that all we've done is agitate Egypt for a brief period of time, spent a lot of money fueling this unjust country's economy, and made the daily lives of the Egyptian people harder.

When our plans fell through, and it did not seem like we were going to get in, there should have been a massive meeting/discussion with a vote with all of the delegates who have come from around the world as to what we think would be the best thing to do. But when people were told to figure it out and come up with ideas, you had serious fragmentation and people, like the French delegates, who were occupying the area in front of the Embassy feeling like they did not have support or instances like when the entire Japanese delegation just left after the first day for the West Bank. All I've been asking myself these past few days is "What the hell is going on?" and "What is all of this?". And to tell the truth, I still really don't know because I don't think GFM really even knows.

The "100 people to Gaza" stunt was also another fiasco that only further divided this group and our efforts. At first, CODEPINK accepts this offer and takes credit for it since the women went and talked to Suzanne Mubarak. They come up with a list in a very short time of these people who would get to go, not realizing what a bad mistake this is. After a few hour, they do realize its a bad idea, send out an official message saying how they have 'rejected' this offer, and yet, lo and behold people STILL got on the buses and went? Again, "What is going on?"

I realize that this has gotten really long already and these are just some of my preliminary thoughts from the past few days. As of right now this is how I feel: as much as I'd like to really blame fully the repressive Egyptian dictatorship for the Gaza Freedom March falling apart and not succeeding, I believe that CODEPINK, and the same old foreign arrogance/ignorance we have, has a lot to do with it this time as well. Sadly, the Palestinian people are still under occupation and I wish the best of luck to the VIVA Palestina convoys who seem to have a better grasp on how to deal with all this nonsense than we do.

Until later, free free Palestine,

-Sana
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2010/01/02/gaza-freedom-march-wrap-up/#more-5469

The Cairo Declaration to End Israeli Apartheid

As expected, the Egyptian client regime allowed only a token number of Gaza Freedom Marchers to enter the besieged prison territory. Roughly 1400 activists from 43 countries were forced to remain in Cairo, where they managed to demonstrate outside various embassies and in the central Tahrir Square. Egyptian police turned out in huge numbers to harass the protestors and, most crucially, to stop Egyptians from coming into contact with them. (Ali Abunimah has been blogging on events in Cairo). The Freedom Marchers chanted ‘ash-sha’ab al-misri ma’ana – The Egyptian People Support Us’, a slogan which is undoubtedly true. The Egyptian regime, meanwhile, with the help of American military engineers, is building a metal wall across the frontier with Gaza which will reach deep underground and cut off the tunnels which are Gaza’s only lifeline. The corrupt Azhar Mosque authorities have declared this crime to be compatible with Islamic law.

The Gaza Freedom Marchers approved today an important declaration aimed at accelerating the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli Apartheid. The Cairo Declaration deserves the widest possible circulation.

Cairo Declaration
January 1, 2010

We, international delegates meeting in Cairo during the Gaza Freedom March 2009 in collective response to an initiative from the South African delegation, state:

In view of:

o Israel’s ongoing collective punishment of Palestinians through the illegal occupation and siege of Gaza;

o the illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the continued construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall and settlements;

o the new Wall under construction by Egypt and the US which will tighten even further the siege of Gaza;

o the contempt for Palestinian democracy shown by Israel, the US, Canada, the EU and others after the Palestinian elections of 2006;

o the war crimes committed by Israel during the invasion of Gaza one year ago;

o the continuing discrimination and repression faced by Palestinians within Israel;

o and the continuing exile of millions of Palestinian refugees;

o all of which oppressive acts are based ultimately on the Zionist ideology which underpins Israel;

o in the knowledge that our own governments have given Israel direct economic, financial, military and diplomatic support and allowed it to behave with impunity;

o and mindful of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (2007)

We reaffirm our commitment to:

Palestinian Self-Determination

Ending the Occupation

Equal Rights for All within historic Palestine

The full Right of Return for Palestinian refugees

We therefore reaffirm our commitment to the United Palestinian call of July 2005 for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to compel Israel to comply with international law.

To that end, we call for and wish to help initiate a global mass, democratic anti-apartheid movement to work in full consultation with Palestinian civil society to implement the Palestinian call for BDS.

Mindful of the many strong similarities between apartheid Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa, we propose:

1) An international speaking tour in the first 6 months of 2010 by Palestinian and South African trade unionists and civil society activists, to be joined by trade unionists and activists committed to this programme within the countries toured, to take mass education on BDS directly to the trade union membership and wider public internationally;

2) Participation in the Israeli Apartheid Week in March 2010;

3) A systematic unified approach to the boycott of Israeli products, involving consumers, workers and their unions in the retail, warehousing, and transportation sectors;

4) Developing the Academic, Cultural and Sports boycott;

5) Campaigns to encourage divestment of trade union and other pension funds from companies directly implicated in the Occupation and/or the Israeli military industries;

6) Legal actions targeting the external recruitment of soldiers to serve in the Israeli military, and the prosecution of Israeli government war criminals; coordination of Citizen’s Arrest Bureaux to identify, campaign and seek to prosecute Israeli war criminals; support for the Goldstone Report and the implementation of its recommendations;

7) Campaigns against charitable status of the Jewish National Fund (JNF).

We appeal to organisations and individuals committed to this declaration to sign it and work with us to make it a reality.

Please e-mail us at cairodec@gmail.com

http://pulsemedia.org/2010/01/02/the-cairo-declaration-to-end-israeli-apartheid/