Tag Archives: Gaza

Will Egypt Prevent Marchers from Entering Gaza?

Interviews Available:

HEDY EPSTEIN, [until Fri.] (314) 361-6820, hedy@hedyepstein.com, http://www.hedyepstein.com
DANA BALICKI, (202) 422-8624, dana@codepinkalert.org, http://www.gazafreedommarch.org
ANN WRIGHT,  now in Cairo, 011-20-19-508-1493, in Gaza, 011-972-59-950-1517, microann@yahoo.com
MEDEA BENJAMIN, in Cairo 011-20-18-956-1919, in Gaza 011-972-599501519, medea@globalexchange.org
Balicki, Wright and Benjamin are with the group CODEPINK, which is organizing the Gaza Freedom March on Dec. 31. A delegation to Gaza will begin in Cairo on Dec. 27, one year after the start of the “Cast Lead” bombing of Gaza by Israel.

Among the people going on the delegation are: author Alice Walker, musician Roger Waters, Filipino member of parliament Walden Bello, ElectronicIntifada.net founder Ali Abunimah, IPA communications director Sam Husseini and Epstein, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust and author of “Remembering Is Not Enough.” After World War II, she worked at the Nuremberg Medical Trial, which tried the doctors accused of performing medical experiments on concentration camp inmates.

CODEPINK recently put out a statement: “Citing escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry informed us on Dec. 20 that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January. We responded that there is always tension at the border because of the siege and that if there are any risks, they are risks we are willing to take. We also said that it was too late for over 1,360 delegates coming from over 42 countries to change their plans now.

“Although we consider this as a setback, it is something we’ve encountered — and overcome — before. No delegation, large or small, that has entered Gaza over the past 12 months has received a final OK before arriving at the Rafah border. Most delegations were discouraged from even heading out of Cairo to Rafah. Some had their buses stopped on the way. Some have been told outright that they could not go into Gaza. But after public and political pressure, the Egyptian government changed its position and let them pass.”

The number for the Egyptian embassy in Washington, D.C. is (202) 895-5400; the contact person is Omar Youssef.

PHILIP FARAH, (703) 593-7982, farahp@yahoo.com, http://www.wiamep.org

Farah, who has family in Gaza and grew up in Jerusalem, is a spokesperson for the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace. They are holding a march and vigil in downtown Washington, D.C. in solidarity with the Gaza Freedom March that involves several groups including Jewish Voice for Peace.

He said today: “As people all around the world sing ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem,’ the Palestinians in Bethlehem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian territories continue to be oppressed. Nowhere is that more bitter than in Gaza, where over 1,300 Palestinians were killed during 22 days of bombings. Living conditions in Gaza remain desperate as Israel continues to impose its siege on 1.5 million Palestinians, preventing almost anyone from leaving the strip and making it virtually impossible to rebuild or repair the thousands of homes and businesses that were demolished during the attack.”

Background: See the new report from Amnesty International, which states: “The international community has betrayed the people of Gaza by failing to back their words with effective action to secure the ending of the Israeli blockade which is preventing reconstruction and recovery, say a group of 16 leading humanitarian and human rights groups in a new report released today (22 December) ahead of the anniversary of the start of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza (27 December-18 January).” http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18552

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

http://accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=2148

Institute for Public Accuracy
980 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 *
http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org

 

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Register for the 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference in Chicago!

8th Annual National Organizers Conference

8th Annual National Organizers Conference

http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=253

Less than Two Months to Register and Attend the 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference

A new President in the White House. The Gaza Strip still under siege. A growing international movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). Israeli settlements debated in the U.S. media. These are just a few of the aspects of the exciting and challenging new space that we find ourselves in as we advocate for an end to occupation and equal rights for all.

How should our movement move forward? How can we make our advocacy more effective? How can we expand our BDS work? These questions and more will be discussed in depth at our 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference. Don’t miss out–join the conversation by registering today.

Join us in Chicago, September 12-13 to help plan the future of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation during these exciting times.

 

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Marches against Wars and Occupations

Help Us Organize to End Military Aid to Israel
at Marches against Wars and Occupations


As we approach the 6th anniversary of the U.S. war on Iraq and the 42nd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous Riverside Church speech “Beyond Vietnam,” the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation calls on all of its member groups and individual supporters to join marches protesting U.S. spending on wars and occupations and calling for a new economy based on our country’s unmet domestic needs.

Over the next ten years, the United States is scheduled to provide Israel with $30 billion in military aid to maintain its illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, and to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians living under this military occupation. During the Bush Administration, Israel killed more than 3,000 innocent Palestinian civilians who took no part in hostilities, often with U.S. weapons.

These marches are great opportunities for us to reach out to like-minded people and get them to join with us in our campaign to challenge U.S. military aid to Israel. Help us organize at these marches!


On the sixth anniversary of the war on Iraq, the ANSWER Coalition is holding a national march on the Pentagon, this Saturday, March 21.

Join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation for this important march and help us collect postcard signatures to President Obama calling on him to cut off military aid to Israel.

Sign up to volunteer to organize with us this Saturday by clicking here and we’ll send you instructions on how to get supplies and how to meet up with us.

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Statement from the Family of Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice

Statement from the Family of Rachel Corrie, March 16, 2009

We thank all who continue to remember Rachel and who, on this sixth anniversary of her stand in Gaza, renew their own commitments to human rights, justice and peace in the Middle East. The tributes and actions in her memory are a source of inspiration to us and to others.

Friday, March 13th, we learned of the tragic injury to American activist Tristan Anderson. Tristan was shot in the head with a tear-gas canister in Ni’lin Village in the West Bank when Israeli forces attacked a demonstration opposing the construction of the annexation wall through the village’s land. On the same day, a Ni’lin resident was, also, shot in the leg with live ammunition. Four residents of Ni’lin have been killed in the past eight months as villagers and their supporters have courageously demonstrated against the Apartheid Wall deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice—a wall that will ultimately absorb one-quarter of the village’s remaining land. Those who have died are a ten-year-old child Ahmed Mousa, shot in the forehead with live ammunition on July 29, 2008; Yousef Amira (17) shot with rubber-coated steel bullets on July 30, 2008; Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22) and Mohammed Khawaje (20), both shot and killed with live ammunition on December 8, 2008. On this anniversary, Rachel would want us all to hold Tristan Anderson and his family and these Palestinians and their families in our thoughts and prayers, and we ask everyone to do so.

We are writing this message from Cairo where we returned after a visit to Gaza with the Code Pink Delegation from the United States. Fifty-eight women and men successfully passed through Rafah Crossing on Saturday, March 7th to challenge the border closures and siege and to celebrate International Women’s Day with the strong and courageous women of Gaza. Rachel would be very happy that our spirited delegation made this journey. North to south throughout the Strip, we witnessed the sweeping destruction of neighborhoods, municipal buildings, police stations, mosques, and schools –casualties of the Israeli military assaults in December and January. When we asked about the personal impact of the attacks on those we met, we heard repeatedly of the loss of mothers, fathers, children, cousins, and friends. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports 1434 Palestinian dead and over 5000 injured, among them 288 children and 121 women.

We walked through the farming village of Khoza in the South where fifty homes were destroyed during the land invasion. A young boy scrambled through a hole in the rubble to show us the basement he and his family crouched in as a bulldozer crushed their house upon them. We heard of Rafiya who lead the frightened women and children of this neighborhood away from threatening Israeli military bulldozers, only to be struck down and killed by an Israeli soldier’s sniper fire as she walked in the street carrying her white flag.

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Free Palestine

Occupation

End Notes


March 15, 2009

Volume 7

Number 3


1. US Campaign Update: Save the Date: 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference in Chicago, September 12-13, 2009; National Coalition Against Censorship Covers Gaza Ad

2. Gaza Action: Poetry and Power to Support the Gaza Accountability Project; Members of Congress Visit Gaza

3. Challenging U.S. Policy Update: No Mention of US Military Aid to Israel in FY2010 Budget Outline; Act to End US Military Aid to Israel

4. Standing Against Apartheid Update: Israeli Apartheid Week Events; US Campaign on Africa Now; Israeli Apartheid in the News

5. Boycott & Divestment Update: March is Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Month; Support Hampshire College Divestment; UK Government Boycotts Israeli Tycoon Lev Leviev & other exciting BDS news!

6. Expressions of Nakba Update: Expressions of Nakba: Coming to a City Near You

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