War On You: Breaking Alternative News » Palestine

Israeli Police Captured On Video Violently Attacking Arab Family in Haifa

WarOnYou — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 06:43:02 +0000

Israeli Police Captured On Video Violently Attacking Arab Family in Haifa

Saed Bannoura

October 7, 2011

Two days ago, the Israeli Police violently attacked and evicted an Arab family who had been living in a vacant home in Salma Street, Haifa, mistreating the mother and her children, the Arabs48 news website reported. Video included.

After losing their home, the Arab family had been living in a protest tent in Al Ajamy Garden before moving to an unfurnished, abandoned home, seeking shelter for the children.

The Israeli Police attacked the home and and the mother, pushing her violently. One policeman also kicked the mother, and another held her by the neck. Other policemen chased the terrified children.

Some persons apparently tried to intervene but were forced away by the police.

The police also kidnapped two members of the family (brother and sister) and took them to a nearby police station. They were released later and went back to their protest tent in Al Ajamy Garden.

Video captured by Haim Schwartzenberg.

Source

US Congress freezes $200 million in aid to Palestinians

WarOnYou — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:43:42 +0000

US Congress freezes $200 million in aid to Palestinians

October 2, 2011

Print Version

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON — Key US lawmakers are blocking about $200 million in Palestinian aid in response to the territories’ UN statehood bid, congressional aides said Saturday.

Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have frozen the funding “until the Palestinian statehood issue is sorted out,” one of the aides told AFP.

The economic package is separate from security aid, which the US lawmakers say would be counterproductive to block. They fear that withholding those funds would weaken the ability of Palestinian security forces to quell anti-Israel violence.

A coalition of Israel-backing Democrats and conservative Republican lawmakers are angered by the Palestinian bid for United Nations membership. Both the United States and Israel insist that only direct negotiations can produce an accord leading to Palestinian statehood.

Full article here

Here’s What Really Happens when one defies Israel:

WarOnYou — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 06:06:37 +0000

Here’s What Really Happens when one defies Israel:

It’s as easy as…..1……2……3……

1.

Belize recognizes Palestine Borders

“Press Release – Belize (Government) Press Office - September 9, 2011 – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pleased to announce that the Government of Belize has decided to formally recognize Palestine as a sovereign and independent State within its pre-1967 borders.”

El Salvador recognizes Palestine as independent state

“S

AN SALVADOR | Thu Aug 25, 2011 6:21pm EDT

(Reuters) – El Salvador on Thursday recognized Palestine as an independent state in the midst of a drive by the Arab League to upgrade it to full membership status in the United Nations.”

US adds Belize, El Salvador to ‘major’ drug producing, transit countries

“

By Associated Press, Published: September 15

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has added Belize and El Salvador to the U.S. list of “major” drug producing and transit countries.

The annual list identifies countries playing a role in the drug trade that “significantly affect the United States.””

——————-

ISRAELI YELLOW PAGES: CODEWORD RACISM

WarOnYou — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:55:26 +0000

ISRAELI YELLOW PAGES: CODEWORD RACISM

September 4, 2011 at 08:41

Looking for a business that’s Arab-free? Try Yellow Pages!

By Dimi Reider

The Israeli licensees of the Yellow Pages trademark are allowing businesses to advertise themselves as Arab-free, using an old Zionist codeword.

It turns out that certain businesses advertising in the Yellow Pages in Israel use the term “Avoda Ivrit” (Hebrew Labor) in their adverts, to reassure readers that they won’t be interacting with any Arabs should they decide to take their business there. Happy days.

The term Avoda Ivrit harks back to a classic (and therefore, nostalgic and partly legtimized – see below) practice of the first Zionist communities in Palestine, who employed only Jews on farms, factories and so forth. At the time, it was described as a campaign to reduce (Jewish) immigrant unemployment and to solidify the Jewish Yishuv as an independent economic polity in Mandatory Palestine. In hindsight, Avoda Ivrit was the first modern segregationist institution in Palestine, and played a key role in ensuring that immigrant Jews never integrated with the Palestinian majority, contributing to turning existing tensions into the all-out ethnic conflict that has plagued the country for three-quarters of a century.

Since 1995, thankfully, employment discrimination by nationality has been illegal. The businesses that state they guarantee their customers will not have to interact with Arabs are violating the law. But since enforcing these laws against the businesses is likely to prove difficult if not futile, a campaign has now been launched to at least get the Yellow Pages to stop facilitating their discriminatory practice. The small umbrella organisation Shutafut-Sharakah has produced a short clip pointing out that prostitution ads are illegal and are not allowed in Yellow Pages, but Hebrew Labor , equally illegal, still gets a free ride. (Full disclosure: Our fab web manager Shir Harel also provided technical support for that campaign). I’m not sure a society as racist and sexist as ours will be particularly shocked by the comparison – I imagine precious few people go around reporting escort / massage parlours / prostitution ads on the Internet and in various small print publications – but here’s the clip:

Shutafut-Sharakah also offers a form that you can fill in, sending an email directly to Yellow Pages requesting they removing the term Hebrew Labor from their ads. The form is in Hebrew, but the order of the fields goes as follows: Name – Email – Subject line – Content – Tick here for updates from Shutafut-Sharakah – Send.

So far, Yellow Pages have been responding to protests with a uniform letter. It bears quoting here in full:

In the last two weeks Yellow Pages was approached several times from both sides of the spectrum on the issue of Avoda Ivrit.

First, we stress that the Yellow Pages company denounces any and all instances of racism and discrimination based on gender, race religion [sic], age and so on.

Secondly, Yellow Pages does not have and never had a category named Hebrew Labor. The business index of the company hold individuals and companies who added the words “Hebrew Labor” to their company name or the content of their advert, but Yellow Pages itself does not have bearing on this content. We should note that Yellow Pages serves as an advertising platform for its customers and is not responsible for the content of the adverts, most certainly when the adverts are by a business or a company licensed by the company registrar at the Justice Ministry. The company is not allowed [sic] to investigate the conduct of its customers beyond the advertising submissions done at their own risk.

We would also like to remind you that [Hebrew Labor] is a turn of phrase in use in Israel for many years, and using the term Hebrew Labor does not constitute a violation of the law. There are musical concerts, television programs, and more that also use this term, sometimes even in their title.

If there are indeed companies that have advertised themselves in the Yellow Pages index and actually engage in illegal activities (theft, discrimination and so on), they should be reported on this conduct to the relevant authorities, namely the legal authorities that enable that activity.

Kind regards,

Gilia Shapira

CEO Office Director

That letter is so convoluted and stumbling over its own feet it barely needs deconstruction. I just hope Shutafut’s next step will be placing advertising in Yellow Pages itself, under company names like “Hebrew Labor Cloak and Dagger solutions for business competitors” or “Hebrew Labor Burglars ‘R Us,” or “Small investment – big returns: Children kidnapping for Ransom, Hebrew Labor Ltd.” They can list the Yellow Pages’ own phone number for contact.

Source

Turkey expels Israel ambassador over flotilla raid

WarOnYou — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:38:26 +0000

Turkey expels Israel ambassador over flotilla raid

September 2, 2011

Print Version

Source: AJC

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and cut military ties over Israel’s refusal to apologize for last year’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, further straining a relationship that had been a cornerstone of regional stability.

The rupture between the Jewish state and what was once its most important Muslim ally raised concerns Egypt and Jordan may follow, increasing Israel’s isolation in the region.

The dramatic move came ahead of the anticipated publication Friday of a U.N. report on the Israeli raid that killed nine activists.

Turkey had made an Israeli apology a condition of improved diplomatic ties. But Israel insisted there would be no apology, just an expression of regret for the deaths. The U.N. report, obtained by the New York Times and posted on its website, does not demand an Israeli apology, recommending instead that Israel should express regret and pay reparations.

The breakdown in ties has led to fears that other countries could follow Turkey’s example.

“If this ends with Turkey, it will be a miracle,” said Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to Turkey. “There is a lot of internal pressure in Egypt, and Turkey could use its clout in the Arab and Muslim world to pressure other nations to follow suit.”

Turkey was once Israel’s closest ally in the region. Ankara had mediated several rounds of indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria in 2008, but the talks made no significant headway and were suspended following the Israeli military offensive in Gaza the following year.

Ties have soured further in recent years and deteriorated sharply after the flotilla bloodshed on May 31, 2010. The Israeli ambassador’s expulsion is the most significant downgrading in ties between the two countries.

Read Full Article Here…

WILL THERE BE ANYTHING LEFT OF PALESTINE BY SEPTEMBER?

WarOnYou — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:17:13 +0000

Almost certainly, the United Nations General Assembly will vote in September to grant statehood to Palestine, thus legally removing it from Israeli authority. Almost every U.N. member will vote “aye.” See growing map of support HERE

BUT … before the long awaited for vote takes place Israel has been systematically destroying whatever remains of Gaza and demolishing homes in the Occupied West Bank. So, I ask again, will there be anything left of Palestine by September?

Join those who SAY NO to the destruction of Palestine!

Demolitions by Israel increase fivefold, says new UN report

The Israeli army has increased the number of demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. (Keren Manor / ActiveStills )

RAMALLAH, Each year, hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank have their homes demolished by the Israeli authorities because they are unable to obtain permits for their buildings, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The demolitions take place in Area C, a zone designated by the Oslo accords covering 60 percent of the West Bank with a Palestinian population of about 150,000.

Israel retains military authority and full control over building and planning in Area C: as much as 70 percent of it is inaccessible to Palestinians, classified as Israeli settlements, firing zones or nature reserves.

In the remaining 30 percent there are a number of other restrictions that reduce the possibility for Palestinians to obtain a building permit, reports OCHA. In practice, Palestinian construction is normally permitted only within the boundaries of a plan approved by the Israeli Civil Administration, which covers less than 1 percent of Area C, much of which is already built-up, according to OCHA.

Many Palestinians living in Area C are left with no choice other than to build without a permit.

Israel says authorities have only demolished illegal structures, and that Jewish and Palestinian residents in Area C are subject to the same restrictions.

An August 2011 OCHA report highlights the concerns of 13 Area C communities, including restrictive and discriminatory planning and zoning policies which limit Palestinian construction and use of the land, and lack of effective law enforcement in response to settler attacks.

Also, movement and access restrictions, like those created by Israel’s wall in the West Bank, limit access to land and water resources for many communities.

Racist grafitti

Residents of Khallet Zakariya, located in Area C south of Bethlehem say Israeli authorities are demolishing their homes and settlers have destroyed their livelihoods in an effort to force the community to relocate.

Farmer Mohamed Khalil, 55, from Khallet Zakariya, says Israeli settlers ruined about half a hectare of his agricultural fields in June and spray-painted “death to Arabs” in black on the wall of his home, which is still visible.

“It’s not the first time settlers destroyed my land,” said Khalil. “It takes 3-4 years to cultivate crops of grapes and plums.”

The lost crops will affect income for three families, including 19 people. Mohamed has filed a complaint with Israeli police.

According to Khalil, officials from the Civil Administration, the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank, came and offered to relocate his community of about 350 people to an area west of Bethlehem called Nahhlin.

“My father cultivated this land — we declined,” he said.

With the Bat Ayin settlement located directly west and the Rosh Zurim settlement directly to the north, residents of Khallet Zakariya say there is a strategy to force them out to allow further settlement expansion.

However, expansion has mostly been in larger settlements over the past year, according to Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem.

20 minutes notice before bulldozing

Fatima Saed, her husband Mahmoud, and their four children had 20 minutes notice to pack their belongings and evacuate their home in Khallet Zakariya before it was bulldozed by Israeli authorities on 25 July.

“Our lawyer was not informed that we had lost our court case disputing the demolition order for our home,” said Fatima. Her family is now living at her brother’s house nearby, with 21 people crammed into two rooms.

“We built here without a permit, because my family owns the land,” she said.

In the first six months of 2011, OCHA reports that the Israeli authorities demolished 342 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C, including 125 residential “structures,” displacing a total of 656 Palestinians, including 351 children — almost five times as many demolitions and people displaced as during the first half of 2010.

Guy Inbar, the Israeli coordinator of government activities in the occupied Palestinian territory (COGAT), said: “There is no policy to move people from their homes.”

He acknowledged, however, that Israel has increased action to monitor unapproved building, both in Jewish and Palestinian sectors within Area C. Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) are illegal. But Israel has created confusion by referring to settlement expansions not officially authorized by its governments as “illegal outposts.”

“A similar number of illegal Israeli and Palestinian structures have been demolished by Israel so far in 2011,” said Inbar, and “Israel is working to approve and authorize more areas within Area C that Palestinians will be permitted to live [in] and build [on].”

Few building permits

B’Tselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli said: “Israeli settlements were built in contravention of international law in the West Bank, while the Palestinian population in Area C is under occupation and protected by international law.”

Another Israeli organization, Bimkom, comprised of planners and architects to strengthen human rights in the field of planning, published a comprehensive report in 2008 detailing what it describes as separate planning systems for Israeli settlements that allow for growth and expansion.

From 2000 to 2007, the Civil Administration approved 5 percent of the applications for building permits submitted by Palestinians in Area C. The total number of building permits issued to Palestinians during these seven years was 91, an average of 13 building permits per annum, Bimkom reported.

This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Source

PHOTO ESSAY ~~ NEW YORKERS STAND WITH GAZA

WarOnYou — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:50:15 +0000

PHOTO ESSAY ~~ NEW YORKERS STAND WITH GAZA

August 20, 2011 at

Friends of Palestine and Gaza demonstrated in front of the Israeli Consulate in New York last night. Their demands were simple and to the point….

STOP BOMBING GAZA!

Photos © by Bud Korotzer

Canada government committee declares that criticism of Israel Crimes should be considered anti-Semitic

WarOnYou — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 07:03:12 +0000

Canada clamps down on criticism of Israel

In an affront to free speech, government committee declares that criticism of Israel should be considered anti-Semitic.

Jillian Kestler-DAmours Last Modified: 22 Jul 2011 10:28

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a staunch supporter of Israeli policy, has described criticism of Israeli as a form of ”new anti-Semitism”. [EPA]

Nearly two years after the first hearings were held in Ottawa, the Canadian Parliamentary Committee to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) released a detailed report on July 7 that found that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Canada, especially on university campuses.

While the CPCCA’s final report does contain some cases of real anti-Semitism, the committee has provided little evidence that anti-Semitism has actually increased in Canada in recent years. Instead, it has focused a disproportionate amount of effort and resources on what it calls a so-called “new anti-Semitism”: criticism of Israel.

Indeed, the real purpose of the CPCCA committee seems to be to stifle critiques of Israeli policy and disrupt pro-Palestinian solidarity organizing in Canada, including, most notably, Israeli Apartheid Week events. Many of the CPCCA’s findings, therefore, must be rejected as both an attack on freedom of speech and freedom of protest, and as recklessly undermining the fight against real instances of anti-Semitism.

The CPCCA and its findings

The Canadian Parliamentary Committee to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) was born out of a conference held in London in February 2009 by the Inter-Parliamentary Committee for Combating Anti-Semitism. Formed in March 2009 and not directly linked to the Canadian government, or to any NGO or advocacy group, the CPCCA included 22 Canadian Parliament members from across party lines. Former Liberal MP Mario Silva chaired the Inquiry Panel and Conservative MP Scott Reid led the Steering Committee.

Between November 2009 and January 2010, the CPCCA held ten separate hearings during which time representatives of various non-governmental organizations, religious institutions, police departments and Canadian and Israeli universities presented papers meant to assess the level of anti-Semitism in Canada. While groups critical of Israel were denied the chance to address the committee, major Zionist organizations like B’nai Brith Canada, Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, and the Canadian Jewish Congress were welcomed.

“Much of today’s anti-Semitism manifests in anti-Israel agitation around boycotts, divestment and sanctions,” said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, during a hearing in November 2009. “It deploys an unfair double standard against the Jewish state, singling out of Israel alone for one-sided, harsh criticism and calls for punitive actions.”

Throughout the consultation process, the CPCCA regularly focused on Canadian university campuses, which were routinely described as hotbeds of anti-Semitism, where Jewish students or students with pro-Israel leanings are often intimidated and threatened. This accusation was made repeatedly, and included in the CPCCA’s final report, despite the fact that Dr. Fred Lowy, President Emeritus of Concordia University in Montreal, stated in his address to the CPCCA that, “by and large, Canadian campuses are safe and are not hotbeds of anti-Semitism of any kind”.

In its final report, the CPCCA made about two dozen recommendations on how best to fight anti-Semitism in Canada. While the report states that “criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitic, and saying so is wrong”, it also found that “singling Israel out for selective condemnation and opprobrium … is discriminatory and hateful” and many of its recommendations deal with combating this “new anti-Semitism”.

A major recommendation issued by the CPCCA was that the Canadian government should promote the working definition of anti-Semitism used by The European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). This definition categorizes “applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” as anti-Semitic.

In other words, the CPCCA is supporting a definition whereby individuals who focus their attention on Israeli human rights violations, yet don’t level an equal amount of condemnation on other states for their human rights violations, can be labeled as anti-Semitic. This is obviously problematic since Palestine solidarity activists - like any other people – have commitments that make it impossible to engage with every issue they are otherwise interested in. They shouldn’t be labeled as anti-Semitic due to their inability to participate in every single human rights struggle happening around the world.

Another dangerous recommendation made by the CPCCA was that Canadian university administrators should condemn “discourse, events and speakers which are untrue, harmful, or not in the interest of academic discourse, including Israeli Apartheid Week”. Even the use of the word “apartheid” in relation to Israel is anti-Semitic, the CPCCA found, since it amounts to the “denial of the Jewish people their right to self- determination … by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”.

This clearly violates freedom of speech and an open exchange of ideas at Canadian universities, and also unfairly and inaccurate labels Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) as anti-Semitic. In reality, IAW has since 2005 brought together respected activists, academics, journalists and cultural figures from around the world, including Judith Butler, Ronnie Kasrils, Noam Chomsky and Ali Abunimah, among others, to openly discuss ideas related to Israel/Palestine.

IAW provides an educational space for understanding Israel’s apartheid policies - as evidenced, for example, through the separate legal systems used by Israelis and Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank or the discriminatory land ownership laws operating inside Israel - and supports the growing campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), which aims to non-violently pressure Israel to respect international law. It is far from the “uniformly well-organized, aggressive [campaign] designed to make the Jewish state and its supporters pariahs” the CPCCA report makes it out to be.

The CPCCA also recommended that the Canadian Committee of Foreign Affairs undertake a study on the United Nations Human Rights Council, “particularly regarding its over-emphasis of alleged human rights abuses by Israel, while ignoring flagrant human rights abuses of other member states”.

This clearly demonstrates how the committee has confounded anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel, and is prepared to levy dubious suspicions against UN bodies and tarnish Canada’s international standing in the process.

In a statement released on July 8, Thomas Woodley, President of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), said that the CPCCA’s recommendations, “if implemented, will inhibit public discussion of Israel’s conduct”.

“CJPME believes that conclusions and recommendations generated by a process in which the same body – the CPCCA - is prosecutor, jury, and judge, are not credible. Although a few of the witnesses recounted incidents that were indeed indicative of genuine anti-Semitism, many were complaining about merely being exposed to criticism of the Israel’s conduct,” the CJPME press release stated.

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada also criticized the committee, stating that “the CPCCA’s goal is to criminalize criticism of Israel and Zionism, not to hold impartial hearings. Therefore, we oppose the CPCCA as an ideologically biased organization with an agenda that will harm free speech and human rights activity in Canada. We oppose the CPCCA’s Orwellian distortion of anti-Semitism. It is a danger to both Canadian liberties and to the genuine and necessary fight against anti-Semitism.”

Reflection of official Canadian policy

While labeling critics of Israeli policy as anti-Semitic is nothing new, the level at which this accusation is now being used in Canadian discourse must be seen as a reflection of the Canadian government’s official and current policy on the Middle East.

“When Israel, the only country in the world whose very existence is under attack, is consistently and conspicuously singled out for condemnation, I believe we are morally obligated to take a stand. Demonization, double standards, de-legitimization, the three D’s, it is the responsibility of us all to stand up to them,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in 2010 at the Ottawa Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism, which was supported by the CPCCA. Harper added:

“Harnessing disparate anti-American, anti-Semitic and anti-Western ideologies, it targets the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, Israel, as the source of injustice and conflict in the world and uses, perversely, the language of human rights to do so. We must be relentless in exposing this new anti-Semitism for what it is.”

Under Harper, Canada has routinely defended Israeli intransigence and disregard for international law and the human rights of the Palestinian people under its control. In return, trade cooperation and military and security technologies ties have been strengthened between the two states.

In May of this year, it was reported that Harper was adamantly opposed to making any reference to the 1967 borders in a G8 summit statement calling for renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Far-right Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman thanked Harper for his position, and stated, “Canada is a true friend of Israel”.

In 2010, Canada announced it would discontinue its financial contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the organization that provides support and resources to approximately 4.7m registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territories, and funnel the money into greater policing and security institutions run by the un-elected and corrupt Palestinian Authority leadership instead.

In January 2009, as the Israeli army continued its disproportionate attack on the besieged civilian population in Gaza that left 1,400 Palestinians dead in the span of three weeks, Canada was the only country out of 47 that voted against a motion at the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning the Israeli violence.
In addition to providing diplomatic cover for Israel, the Canadian government has attacked and cut funding to various non-governmental organizations working on issues related to Israel/Palestine, including Kairos Churches and Alternatives International.

Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney, who led the formation of the Canadian Parliamentary Committee to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) and is an ex-officio member, has also repeatedly alleged that the Canadian Arab Federation promotes anti-Semitism and hatred. While Kenney never backed up these claims, the Canadian Arab Federation’s contracts with the government - which helped finance language programs for Toronto-area immigrants (the majority of whom are of Chinese origin) - were not renewed in 2009.

Undermining the fight against real anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism, like all other forms of racism, is appalling and must be strongly and unequivocally condemned.
But by defining legitimate criticism of Israeli policy and pro-Palestinian activism in Canada as anti-Semitic, the CPCCA is not only threatening free speech and freedom of protest, but it is undermining the fight against real cases of anti-Semitism and weakening the seriousness with which such cases should be dealt.

This is something that Canadians, and people everywhere, should be adamantly against.

Jillian Kestler-D’Amours is a Canadian freelance journalist based in Jerusalem. She regularly contributes to The Electronic Intifada, Inter-Press Service and Free Speech Radio News. More of her work can be found at http://jkdamours.com/

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

CAMP IN NORWAY WHERE SHOOTING OCCURRED HAD JUST CONCLUDED PRO-PALESTINIAN RALLY THE DAY BEFORE!

WarOnYou — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:59:01 +0000

CAMP IN NORWAY WHERE SHOOTING OCCURRED HAD JUST CONCLUDED PRO-PALESTINIAN RALLY THE DAY BEFORE!

The Foreign Minister was met with claims that Norway must recognize a Palestinian state when he visited the Labour Youth League summer camp Thursday.

The camp after the shooting. The pixelated portions are the dead children gunned down in cold blood.

Congress Blesses Israel’s Matrix of Control

WarOnYou — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:48:15 +0000

Congress Blesses Israel’s Matrix of Control

Sabbah Report
James M. Wall

The US Congress announced through two July votes that since the US and Israel are obviously the colonial bosses of the Middle East, the future of the Palestinian people must be determined through “negotiations” between unequal partners, an occupying military power and the captive population it occupies.

OK, so the resolution did not actually say that part about colonialism. But ponder for a moment what really happened in our national legislative halls this month.

By a unanimous Senate vote and a 407 to 6 majority in the US House, the Congress demanded that Palestinian leaders “cease all efforts at circumventing the negotiation process, including through a unilateral declaration of statehood or by seeking recognition of a Palestinian state from other nations or the United Nations.”

The Congress also demanded that President Obama “announce that the United States will veto any resolution on Palestinian statehood that comes before the United Nations Security Council which is not a result of agreements reached between the Government of Israel and the Palestinians”.

Furthermore, the Congress, in the words of its resolution, expects President Obama to “lead a diplomatic effort to oppose a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state and to oppose recognition of a Palestinian state by other nations, within the United Nations and in other international forums prior to achievement of a final agreement between the Government of Israel and the Palestinians.”
Stephen Zunes understands the American zeitgeist which produced the arrogance behind that resolution. He wrote:

Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are still trapped in an early 20th century colonialist mindset which believes that colonized people should only be allowed independence under the terms and conditions granted them by their occupiers.

We are all occupied by Israel’s army because we are, as Zunes notes, “trapped in an early 20th century colonial mindset”. To be trapped in a colonial mindset is to be linked to a a matrix of mind control that deadens our hearts, our minds, and yes, our souls. Not convinced? You still believe that our political leaders, our church leaders, and our media controllers tell us the truth about Israel?

Take note of what riles up the oppressors. Why else would the state of Israel react with such vehemence at the slightest effort to throw supportive and symbolic lifelines to the Palestinian people? Recent example: The Israeli Knesset has just declared it to be a crime to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

That’s right, that innocent-sounding Palestinian-inspired effort to call attention to the connection between corporate profits and Israel’s occupation has made Israel chip away yet another hunk of high-minded idealism that once led Israelis to dub themselves as “the only democracy” in the Middle East.

Remember that, you delegates to church legislative bodies. You could end up in an Israeli prison cell if you continue to protest Israeli occupation. These people want us to be afraid, very afraid.
You congressional legislators who have come to love the perks and glamour of power, you thought you could be Mr. Smith in Washington doing what is good for your people? The moment a member of Congress endorses a check from supporters of colonialism, they lose their freedom to determine what is good.

It works this way, Madame and Mr. Congress member. Listen well. When AIPAC sends over its latest resolutions, don’t bother to read it. Just sign and cast your vote the way you are told. When you have been ground down sufficiently, you will embrace Israel’s control the way you once accepted the control of the schoolyard bully who stole that piece of your Mom’s apple pie you brought for an afternoon snack.

You will get used to it, so much so that you will find yourself sending out lies and distortions to your voters and believing them, just as you expect the voters to believe them.

After a while, it becomes easy to send out such a letter the way Hawaii’s Democratic Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, did recently. The Congresswoman caught on fast. She is serving her first term in Washington:

Stuart Littlewood shared Hanabusa’s letter.

Littlewood reminds us just what is in Resolution 268, of which the congresswoman is so proud to have supported in her first term in office:

Resolution 268 actually states that “Palestinian efforts to gain recognition of a state outside direct negotiations demonstrates absence of a good faith commitment to peace negotiations.” It threatens withholding US foreign aid to the Palestinian National Authority if it presses ahead with an application for statehood in the United Nations in September. It also calls for the Palestinian unity government to “publicly and formally forswear terrorism, accept Israel’s right to exist, and reaffirm previous agreements made with the Government of Israel.”

Got that, you Palestinians? If you expect to keep your 40 acres and the mule, you must talk to no one but us. And, another thing, you must do so under our rules of engagement. Otherwise, as the Mafia guys in my town might say, “we know where you live”. Read Hanabusa’s letter carefully and take note of the deceptions and distortions members of Congress accept as the price for staying in office.

As the only democracy in the region, I believe that the United States has a special relationship with Israel… During my time in the House of Representatives, I will support our funding our ally and help to forward Israel’s efforts to keep their citizens safe, which currently stands at $2.8 billion in general foreign aid, and another $280 million for a missile defense system…

Our foreign aid to Palestine is intended to create a virtuous cycle of stability and prosperity in the West Bank that inclines Palestinians towards peaceful coexistence with Israel and prepares them for self-governance. . ..

Most recently, I became a co-sponsor of House Resolution 268, which reaffirms our support for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulting in two states. This resolution is also in opposition to a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, as well as outlined consequences for Palestinian efforts to circumvent direct negotiations. This bill passed in the House on July 7, 2011 by a vote of 407 – 6…

(The resolution was sponsored by Representative Eric Cantor, the Debt Ceiling Republican point man. It was co-sponsored by virtually the entire house membership. Visit this site to see how your member voted.)

In the essay he wrote for Truthout this week, Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies and chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco, describes the history of the colonial mindset which is so slavishly followed by the US Congress. Zunes calls his essay, “Congress and Its Colonialist Agenda”. He writes:

Up until the mid-20th century, Western attitudes regarding national freedom essentially went like this: the independence of white Western nations (Great Britain, France, the United States etc.) was a given. Independence for nonwhite, non-Western nations (such as those in Africa, the Middle East and Asia), however, could only be under conditions granted by the occupying powers.

The time at which these nations could be free, their specific boundaries and the conditions of their independence could only be reached through negotiations between the colonial occupiers and representatives (if approved by the colonial powers) of the conquered peoples.

The time for freedom, the ” specific boundaries” and what will constitute independence, must be negotiated, which is to say, handed down to the “conquered peoples” by their conquerers. Any suggestion that a “third party”, say, the United Nations, might be able to suggest a more equitable arrangement for the “conquered peoples”, must be resisted vigorously.

There have been many Israelis who have felt the painful burden of having to impose their will on a captive people. These Israelis have spoken out, written about, and sought to reverse the uglier aspects of this occupation, but they have not prevailed against successive hardline conservative governments that buy the US Congress and shape the US media, all with one aim, to deny the reality of colonialism in the 21st century.

President Obama is no stranger to colonialism nor to racial hatred. We keep hoping his sensitivity to oppression will influence him to take his decision-making away from slavish adherence to Israel’s dictates. Thus far, he has been a huge disappointment. When he was elected and basking in the adoration that engulfed him in Chicago’s Grant Park, that long-ago night in 2008, we thought the matrix was about to crack.

But even before he was sworn into office, the signs were ominous. The President-elect sat by without complaint as President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert completed their dirty business in Gaza, carrying out an invasion which did not end until a few hours before Obama’s inauguration.

Then came the appointments. Obama added no one to his inner circle who might have at least suggested to him that Palestinians are people who have been continuously brutalized. Instead, he brought in people like Dennis Ross to guide his Middle East policies.
The American media pontificators give Ross a free ride. Not so the liberal wing of Israel’s media, as Stephen Walt (of Mearsheimer and Walt fame) points out in his blog for Foreign Policy:

In case you missed it, veteran Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar has written a scathing denunciation of US Middle East policy – and long-time Middle East advisor Dennis Ross – in Ha’aretz. His bottom line is that Oslo is over, yet the United States is still trying to convince the Palestinian leadership to buy into a diplomatic process that has been a cover for continued settlement building and has manifestly failed to bring them a state. The key passage:

“It would be tough to find a bigger expert than Ross on the myths and illusions related to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. For years he has been nurturing the myth that if the United States would only meet his exact specifications, the Israeli right would offer the Arabs extensive concessions.”

During the years he headed the American peace team, Israeli settlement construction ramped up. Now Ross, the former chairman of the Jewish People Policy Institute, is trying to convince the Palestinians to give up on bringing Palestinian independence for a vote in the United Nations in September and recognize the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people – in other words, as his country, though he was born in San Francisco, more than that of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was born in Safed. . . .

Ross is trying to peddle the illusion that the most right-wing government Israel has ever seen will abandon the strategy of eradicating the Oslo approach in favor of fulfilling the hated agreement. In an effort to save his latest boss from choosing between recognizing a Palestinian state at the risk of clashing with the Jewish community and voting against recognition at the risk of damaging U.S. standing in the Arab world, Ross is trying to drag the Palestinians back into the “peace process” trap.

There are reports out of Ramallah that the Palestinians may decide not to go forward in their appeal to the United Nations in September. If this is true, and we hope it is not true, then look for the US-Israeli matrix of colonial control to tighten even further.

The picture at top is from Aljazeera. The children are in Gaza. The time is December, 2008, taken during the Israeli invasion.

* James M. Wall is currently a Contributing Editor of The Christian Century magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999, he was editor and publisher of the Christian Century magazine. Jim launched personal blog April 24, 2008.

Israel aircraft raid Gaza for fourth day in row

WarOnYou — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 01:58:47 +0000

Israel aircraft raid Gaza for fourth day in row

July 16, 2011

Print Version

Source: AFP

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Israeli aircraft struck Gaza overnight for the fourth time in as many days, wounding a militant who was about to fire a rocket, Palestinian security sources said on Saturday.

The Palestinian was admitted to hospital but his injuries were not life-threatening, the sources said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that an air strike had targeted a Palestinian.

The raid was followed by the firing of two rockets from Gaza into Israel, neither of which caused casualties or damage, she added.

There has been a sharp increase in rocket fire by Gaza militants in recent days, ending two months of relative calm in which just two rockets were fired into Israel in two months.

Armed forces chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz convened a meeting on Friday with regional commander for Gaza Brigadier General Tal Russo, air force chief Major General Ido Nehustan and military intelligence chief Major General Aviv Kochavi to discuss a response, Israeli media reported.

Israel has launched a series of air strikes in retaliation for the rocket fire.

Read Full Article Here…

WHAT IS THE BOYCOTT AND WHY ISRAEL IS SO AFRAID OF IT

WarOnYou — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:42:54 +0000

WHAT IS THE BOYCOTT AND WHY ISRAEL IS SO AFRAID OF IT

July 12, 2011 at 08:14

The Law in question has been passed by the Knesset;

Israel passes law banning calls for boycott

What is the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement?

Posted by Joseph Dana

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement is in the news today. Israel is posed to pass a bill that will criminalize support for the nonviolent movement among Israeli citizens. Risking a criminal sentence, I am publishing some basic information about the BDS movement below as a means of dispelling rumors about BDS and its aims. The information below is taken from the official website of the BDS movement.

From the BDS site:

The campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) is shaped by a rights-based approach and highlights the three broad sections of the Palestinian people: the refugees, those under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinians in Israel. The call urges various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law by:

Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;
Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

The BDS call was endorsed by over 170 Palestinian political parties, organizations, trade unions and movements. The signatories represent the refugees, Palestinians in the OPT, and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Boycotts target products and companies (Israeli and international) that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights, as well as Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions. Anyone can boycott Israeli goods, simply by making sure that they don’t buy produce made in Israel or by Israeli companies. Campaigners and groups call on consumers not to buy Israeli goods and on businesses not to buy or sell them.

Israeli cultural and academic institutions directly contribute to maintaining, defending or whitewashing the oppression of Palestinians, as Israel deliberately tries to boost its image internationally through academic and cultural collaborations. As part of the boycott, academics, artists and consumers are campaigning against such collaboration and ‘rebranding’. A growing number of artists have refused to exhibit or play in Israel.

Divestment means targeting corporations complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights and ensuring that the likes of university investment portfolios and pension funds are not used to finance such companies. These efforts raise awareness about the reality of Israel’s policies and encourage companies to use their economic influence to pressure Israel to end its systematic denial of Palestinian rights.

Sanctions are an essential part of demonstrating disapproval for a country’s actions. Israel’s membership of various diplomatic and economic forums provides both an unmerited veneer of respectability and material support for its crimes. By calling for sanctions against Israel, campaigners educate society about violations of international law and seek to end the complicity of other nations in these violations.

Posted AT

What exactly does the anti-Boycott bill say?

Posted by Joseph Dana

This afternoon, the Israeli Knesset is expected to pass a controversial ’anti-boycott’ law. This law will criminaize Israeli support for the Palestinian led Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement. Some in Israel are saying that the law is anti-free speech and will limit freedom of expression by Israeli citizens that want to protest Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. One reason that I am writing about the bill on my personal site and not +972 is because of fears that +972 could be targeted as being in violation of the bill.

So much has been discussed about the bill in recent days, yet many have not read it. Below is a translated version of the bill. No matter where one stands on Israeli politics, today is a historic day for the future of Israeli democracy. Translation below is from ACRI

Proposed Bill to Prevent Harm to the State of Israel by Means of Boycott, 27 June 2011

Definition:

1. In this bill, “a boycott against the State of Israel” – deliberately avoiding economic, cultural or academic ties with another person or another factor only because of his ties with the State of Israel, one of its institutions or an area under its control, in such a way that may cause economic, cultural or academic damage.

Boycott – a civil wrong:

A. Knowingly publishing a public call for a boycott against the State of Israel will be considered a civil wrong to which the civil tort law [new version] applies, if according to the content and circumstances of the publication there is reasonable probability that the call will bring about a boycott and he who published the call was aware of this possibility.

B. In regards to clause 62 [A] of the civil tort law [new version], he who causes a binding legal agreement to be breached by calling for a boycott against the State of Israel will not be viewed as someone who operated with sufficient justification.

C. If the court will find that an wrong according to this law was deliberately carried out, it will be authorized to compel the person who did the wrongdoing to pay damages that are not dependent on the damage (in this clause – damages, for example); in calculating the sum of the damages for example, the court will take into consideration, among other things, the circumstances under which the wrong was carried out, its severity and its extent.

Regulations pertaining to limitation on participation in tenders

3. The Finance Minister is authorized, with the agreement of the Justice Minister and the approval of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, to set the regulations of this matter [special cases where it will be limited] and to limit the participation of he who knowingly published a public call for a boycott against the State of Israel, or who committed to take part in a boycott, in a tender that must to be carried out according to legislation.

Regulations pertaining to the suspension of benefits

A. The Finance Minister, with the approval of the Justice Minister, may decide in the case of someone who knowingly published a public call for a boycott against the State of Israel or committed to take part in a boycott [in special cases] that –

1. He will not be considered a public institution as to clause 9 (2) of the income tax ordinance;

2. He will not be eligible for receiving money from the council of sports gambling according to clause 9 of the law regulating sports gambling, 1967;

3. He will not be considered a public institution as far as receiving support according to clause 3(A) of the budget foundations law, 1985;

4. He will not be subject to the orders of the guaranteeing law on behalf of the state, 1958

5. He will not be eligible to enjoy benefits given according to the law to encourage capital investment, 1959, and according to the law to encourage research and development in industry, 1984.

B. Putting into practice the authority of the Finance Minister according to small clause (A)(2) will be carried out with the approval of the Sports Minister. Putting into practice the authority of the Finance Minister according to small clause (A)(3) will be carried out with the approval of the minister that the government had decided is responsible for the budget as is stated in paragraph (2) of the definition of who is “responsible for the budget clause” within the budget foundations law, 1985. Putting into practice the authority of the Finance Minister according to small clause (5) will be carried out with the approval of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor.

Implementation

5. The Minister of Justice is appointed to implement this law.

Posted AT

International support for the Boycott continues to grow…..

Roger Waters endorses BDS and speaks against Israeli anti-boycott law

*

Israel army releases photographic proof of Flotilla “Threat to Israel”

WarOnYou — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 01:34:26 +0000

Israel army releases photographic proof of Flotilla “Threat to Israel”

Ali Abunimah

Flotilla II Seeks Provocation, Poses Threat to Israel (Israeli military)

EI, July 3, 2011

In a move intended to convince skeptics to finally accept Israel’s claims that the Gaza Freedom Flotilla 2 poses a real danger, the Israeli military spokesperson’s office has issued photographic evidence in a blog post titled “Flotilla II Seeks Provocation, Poses Threat to Israel.”Well, it turns out that the “threat” is none other than Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and poet Alice Walker whose fearsome and terrifying smile can be seen in the Israeli-issued image. But the danger to Israel does not end there. As the “IDF” Spokesperson explains:

Organizers of the 2011 Gaza flotilla have a provocation-seeking agenda: Deliberately provoke and humiliate Israeli soldiers. For example, organizers trained boat passengers on how to defiantly rebuff Israel Navy attempts to peacefully board the boats.

The “IDF” must be referring to the nonviolence training all passengers received, as well as the nonviolence pledge they all signed. Indeed, Israel does show every day that it finds nonviolence very humiliating.

Still, the military spokesperson’s blog made me finally see the light: those poor Israeli soldiers at risk of “humiliation” from Alice Walker and 87 year-old Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein among others. Of course no one can forget how Israel “peacefully” boarded the Mavi Marmara, part of last year’s flotilla, in international waters with a force that involved large warships, a swarm of armed speed boats carrying dozens of heavily-armed commandos, and airborne troops dropped from helicopters.

Israel insists that it was the passengers who were “violent” because they failed to receive the Israeli hijackers with tea and traditional Turkish börek pastries. Now in case you doubt Israel’s version of what happened, you can just watch all the footage taken by the hundreds of passengers and journalists on board. Oh wait, no, you can’t do that because Israel, the “only democracy in the Middle East,” confiscated all the evidence and is still refusing to return it.

Other than selectively edited and doctored images released by Israel, the only independent footage which escaped Israeli censorship and manipulation was Iara Lee’s, and analysis of that showed anything but a “peaceful” boarding. It was a full-scale military assault that took nine innocent lives. And yet it is Israel’s military that has the chutzpah to whine about “provocations” to its soldiers.

:: Article nr. 79216 sent on 04-jul-2011 02:18 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=79216

Haaretz Claims Greek Bailout Used by Netanyahu to Block Gaza Flotilla

WarOnYou — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:24:05 +0000

Haaretz Claims Greek Bailout Used by Netanyahu to Block Gaza Flotilla

Craig Murraynd

July 2, 2011

Haaretz is trumpeting that Netanyahu was able to use his support for the Greek bailout to block the Gaza flotilla. I don’t buy that Netanyahu had that much influence on the bailout, or could persuade Papandreou that he had. But the actions of the Greek government are disgraceful, and unlawful in preventing ships from sailing on politically motivated false pretences. Every Greek should be deeply ashamed of their government. Of course, they already are, for different reasons.

Some of my FCO sources tell me that the Israeli government has now been supplying the Greek government with emergency supplies of tear gas and other unspecified “anti-riot equipment”, as the Greek government ran out. Isn’t the Greek government lucky to have a friend like Natanyahu?

Link: www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2011/07/haaretz-claims-greek-bailout-used-by-net
anyahu-to-block-gaza-flotilla/

FLOTILLA TWO ROUNDUP OF UPDATES EYEWITNESS REPORTS AND PHOTOS

WarOnYou — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:46:26 +0000

July 1, 2011

Flotilla to sail ‘very soon’ despite snags

ATHENS, Greece (Ma’an) — Organizers of a US boat participating in the Gaza-bound flotilla said Thursday afternoon that they hoped to sail “very very soon,” with some expecting an immanent departure.

Speaking to reporters and passengers alongside the ship, organizer Anne Wright said “we will sail to challenge the naval blockade of Gaza ,we have ten ships, we have passengers aged 22-87 … we have carpenters, retirees, acupuncturists; these are the people that the state of Israel fears.”

Organizers stressed, following a press inspection of the ship, that the 3,000 letters from Americans to the Palestinians in Gaza were not “very dangerous cargo.”

Pulitzer prize winning writer and ship passenger Alice Walker read out some of the letters. One read: “Stay strong and don’t give up on your freedom, there are millions of people who love you, love Elvira,” adding “”very dangerous material, yes?”

Wright, addressing concerns from NGOs that aid from the ships abdicated Israel of its responsibilities in Gaza, said the flotilla was a “symbolic, a political act,” explaining that if Israel wanted to stop the voyage – amid promises from the Israeli Navy that the ships would be halted – that they need to lift the blockade of Gaza.

World outcry against the deaths of nine activists aboard a 2010 flotilla resulted in the easing of the blockade, though reports have since found that the majority of the promises made by Israeli officials to ease restrictions were not implemented.

Until the blockade is over, Wright said, the flotilla aimed to “to let the Gaza people know that they have friends who care,” and galvanize international support.

Earlier in the day, organizers from an Irish boat also set to sail to Gaza said their ship had been tampered with.

Wright said the damage would cost some $25,000 to fix.

Agence France Presse reported frustrated volunteers milling helplessly around Athens and cited organizers as saying they were making little headway with the Greek government over getting the necessary permission to sail.

“We have a dock order on us now,” Wright told passengers, “but we hope to sail very very soon,” and called on the Greek government to “stand tall” and facilitate the voyage.

The problem with the Irish boat Saoirse – Gaelic for freedom – followed Monday’s news that the propeller on the Juliano boat, belonging to Swedish activists, had been cut.

Organizers of the US boat said they were still waiting for the go-ahead from Greek inspection officials, after a complaint was lodged to the port authority in Athens alleging that the ship was not seaworthy. The statement said the complaint was made by an Israeli group.

An inspection was carried out Monday to verify the claims, which were allegedly made by a right wing Israeli group according to its website.

“We have not yet received notification of their findings nor a copy of [the Greek government's] report [on the allegations], but we are certain that our boat is up to code,” a statement from the group said.

Officials noted the ship was also having problems with its insurance and blamed the complications on the US government, which they said was “placing great pressure on Greece” to prevent them from leaving.

US boat invites inspection of goods

Organizers called “outrageous” recent allegations that passengers on the flotilla had packed bringing chemicals for militant groups in Gaza.

“There are radical elements on board the American boat who have said they want to kill Israeli soldiers,” said Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovitz on Tuesday.

Activists in Greek port upbeat as flotilla departure faces delays

[MaanImages/Mya Guarnieri]

“We also know that one of the boats is carrying dangerous incendiary chemicals that these human rights militants want to use against Israeli soldiers,” she said.

“We are confident that such an inspection will show that our boat is ‘sulfur-free’ and ready to sail,” organizers wrote, re-stating that the ship would carry the personal possessions of the 36 crew members and passengers, as well as some 3,000 letters to Gaza from people in the United States.

“I invite the media to ask us anything, inspect anything, taste our food, look inside our bags” activist and passenger Gale Courey Toensing said on behalf of the passengers in a news statement.

“Our voyage is totally transparent and we have nothing to hide. All we want to do is sail to Gaza with our cargo of letters from Americans to the people of Gaza,” Toensing said, in an attempt to counter further allegations from Israeli officials that boats to Gaza posed a threat to the country’s security.

A long wait

Almost a week past its original sail date, some activists have said they are running out of time and money, and may not be able to see out the voyage if it is delayed much longer. Organizers have told some US boat passengers, however, that if they’re low on cash, they should speak to organizers who do have a slush fund to keep the group going.

Despite fears that activists will begin to pull out of the flotilla, organizers dismissed calls for those boats that are cleared to leave to set sail ahead of the others.

“We need to stick together. We’re not going to jump the gun by setting off in just a few of the boats before the others are ready,” said Leostic.

“Even if we can’t leave in the end, it’s not a defeat. Just getting this far has been a political victory,” she added.

US Ship – The Audacity of Hope [MaanImages/Mya Guarnieri]

Initially scheduled to sail on 26 June, the Audacity of Hope and nine other ships from 22 countries including Canada, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain, hope to reach the Gaza City Port in a symbolic challenge to Israel’s years’ long blockade of the Palestinian coastal enclave.

Home to 1.6 million Palestinians, Gaza has been under siege for five years. Israel all but closed its borders with Gaza, preventing movement of people and goods between the Strip and the West Bank, cutting off families, friends and trade. Pressure on Egypt also kept closed the Rafah crossing Gaza shared with the country to the south, though the ouster of its former President Hosni Mubarak allowed some Palestinians to travel.

A single commercial crossing remains open, strictly monitored by Israel, and solely for the import of what has risen in the last year to what UN observers say is 40 percent of pre-siege levels of goods. Imports remain banned.

Fishing limits are enforced three nautical miles off the Gaza coast by Israeli naval ships, firing on fishermen who venture out of the zone, and all but stiffing the fish market.

Since August 2008 ships have attempted to break the blockade by sea. Three voyages were successful, but nearly ten others were prevented from reaching Gaza by Israel’s military and naval forces. In Mary 2010, a fleet of six ships was apprehended in international waters by Israeli commandos, who shot nine passengers in an attempt to gain control of the largest vessel.

Flotilla organizers: Greece aiding Israel in delaying departure

By Joseph Dana

Live Update From Jewish Holocaust Survivor on U.S. Ship in Gaza Flotilla

From Democracy Now

Sabotage of M.V. Saoirse in Turkey ‘an act of international terrorism’

From Irish Ship To Gaza (via Uruknet)

With multiple ships disabled, Gaza flotilla organizers regroup in Greece

By Amira Hass

GREAT NEWS FROM THE US BOAT TO GAZA….

July 1, 2011

At 4:45 pm Athens time (9:45 am east coast time, 6:45 am west coast time) today The Audacity of Hope left it’s dock in Athens.

We are waiting to see what the Greek authorities will do.

More updates will be coming later. Check HERE

The latest not such great news…..

July 1, 2011

At 10:18 am (NYC time) we received word that the Greek Coast Guard has stopped the boat. They told the people on our boat that the boat cannot continue, people are chanting “Let us sail to Gaza!”

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*

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