at least 10 but probably more like 20 people have been killed today because Israel attacked the Freedom Flotilla aid convoy headed for Gaza.
emergency protests are happening all across the country, here is a list:
Washington, D.C. at 3:00pm
Israeli Embassy
3514 International Dr. NW
(near Van Ness and Reno Rd.)
New York City at 3:00pm
Times Square
44th Street & 7th Avenue
Los Angeles at 4:30pm
Israeli Consulate
6380 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles
(Between Crescent Heights and San Vicente)
Boston, Mass. at 4pm
Park St. T Station
San Francisco at 1pm
Powell and Market
Miami at 5pm
Israeli Consulate
100 N. Biscayne Blvd.
New Haven, CT at 3pm
Federal Courthouse
141 Church St.
Showing posts with label palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label palestine. Show all posts
11/12/09
"jews love books...books are bodies of stories and stories make history and we are a people who believe in the stories of people to tell history"
shared with me by my sister
Posted by Kevin Coval
Posted by Kevin Coval
peace. i invite and hope for conversation with poems i write. this about a real event that happened last month
that sounds like orwellian fiction, but is true and tragic and unacceptable. it is 2009. writers, artists, and all who believe in democracy must consider the current and historic practices of the of state of israel. i offer a reflection.
Reflection on The Israeli Army shutting down The Palestine Festival of Literature
in the month of May in 2009: Burning Books, A Bebelplatz in Jerusalem
Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too.
Heinrich Heine
jews love books.
we dress them up
in crowns and gold
breast plates. fine
paper, our finest
calligraphy. our books
live in an ark lit by a flame
that always burns, a metaphor
for a G-d, we don’t have
vowels for.
if we carry nothing
else into Diaspora, we carry
these stories, these scrolls
that unroll a history we revere
and parade thru aisles
on the highest of holy days.
we kiss the corner of tallis
to our lips, put cloth to text
to praise words Moses brought
off the mount, our ancestors
lugged thru the desert. stories
told and told again at a kitchen
table some where, the 5th and 15th
time we heard them bored out
our seder mind, but the 50th
and 502nd time something stuck
so we wrote them down
in our most reverent hand style
in the blackest of ink on bone
parchment. we record the trials
and rivals and lineage and heroes
of our families cuz we love books
mourn all the storied bodies
burned by the those who hate books
with messy endings. we love books
cuz books are bodies of stories
and stories make history
and we are a people who believe
in the stories of people to tell history
and mourn all the bodies and stories
burned before they are recorded
in the Eternal book, authored
by the voiceless and Voweless.
but it is 2009/5769
& this spring Israeli troops shut down The Palestine Festival of Literature
behind barrels of guns. they stormed into a theater where poets were reading poems
& demanded silence behind triggers where bullets scream & governments check point
& knessets approve military bombardments & schools bombed & burned on ground they are meant to be on fire from words & ideas, not metal.
in the name of a jewish state
Israeli educated young men aimed guns in the faces of women
reading poems. in the name of a jewish state stories silence forever.
which raises the question(s):
who are we because of empire? what democracy are we scared of?
how can we deny the right to sing, to chazzan a Palestinian song?
mad men bring books to the bond fire.
power mad men bring bodies.
our books been banned & burned & bordered, bodies into boxes
& camps cuz they demand memory, insist our presence in the story
of the world & books are memory of never forgetting & people house books
in their stories & stories should never be crushed by missiles. books record the day
& days in exile & days that should not have been recorded. the horrors & the horrible. the record of families spilt & broken & bastards forever. books are records that never forget & preserve & serve memory & history when militarized revisers deny events
as lived by the natives. the records prove otherwise, proof of existence & empires
want proof of purchase & per chance & pursue silencing stories that make them look criminal in the honest of day & moon of night.
records are stories, a people
hold dear. who knows this
more than us?
all us wandering immigrants
all us seekers of safe land
all us unfettered poets of wind
all us literate builders of pidgins
all us inventors with scraps
all us people of the book
though we don’t seem to know anything
anymore except the havoc
reaped on our bodies in exile, the learned
behavior of executioners we internalize
the bureaucracies & boots & lines of refugees
we terrorize. gather families into open air
prisons & worse. we bury bodies in graves
of steel. bodies who house forests of stories.
the sad song of our own malignancy untold.
where is the ark in the center of the congregation
the ark in the center of the city of peace filled
with bodies of stories, records stacked
unsequestered & unsilenced.
it is mad men who burn books
& bodies & hold poets at gun point
this the work of emperors & empires
furors & fascists. scared colonists
insane to control what no state could
the record of people living
despite the state’s efforts
to have them not.
11/11/09
ALL WALLS FALL
Palestinians take down parts of WB wall
Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:06:37 GMT
Palestinian youths have tipped over a part of Israel's separation wall in the occupied West Bank during a demonstration which marked the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some 300 Palestinians and left-wing activists attended the demonstration in the village of Naalin, Ynet reported on Friday. They held banners reading "No matter how tall, all walls fall." According to the demonstrators, a 6-meter (20-foot) high section of the wall was taken down. "Twenty years ago, no one imagined that the monstrosity that divided Berlin would ever be taken down, but it took only two days to do it," said Muhib Hawaja, a protester attending the rally. Israeli police however dispersed the crowd by firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Some of the demonstrators were wounded, according to the report. Israel began the construction of the barrier in 2000 despite the fact that the International Court of Justice had declared the project illegal. It confiscated thousands of acres of Palestinian lands for constructing 723 km (454 miles) of a barrier of steel and concrete walls, fences and barbed wire.
2/13/09
Hampshire College may or may not have becomes first college in U.S. to divest from Israeli Occupation! (?)
I received this from a friend who I'm assuming received it from a friend but on further look the Hampshire College website say something different. I copied the Hamp statement under the press release.
Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, has become the first of any college or university in the U.S. to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
This landmark move is a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign by the campus group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group pressured Hampshire College's Board of Trustees to divest from six specific companies due to human rights concerns in occupied Palestine. Over 800 students, professors, and alumni have signed SJP's "institutional statement" calling for the divestment.
The proposal put forth by SJP was approved on Saturday, 7 Feb 2009 by the Board. By divesting from these companies, SJP believes that Hampshire has distanced itself from complicity in the illegal occupation and war crimes of Israel.
Meeting minutes from a committee of Hampshire's Board of Trustees confirm that "President Hexter acknowledged that it was the good work of SJP that brought this issue to the attention of the committee." This groundbreaking decision follows in Hampshire's history of being the first college in the country to divest from apartheid South Africa thirty-two years ago, a decision based on similar
human rights concerns. This divestment was also a direct result of student pressure.
The divestment has so far been endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Rashid Khalidi, Vice President of the EU Parliament Luisa Morganitini, Cynthia McKinney, former member of the African National Congress Ronnie Kasrils, Mustafa Barghouti, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, John Berger, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, among others.
The six corporations, all of which provide the Israeli military with equipment and services in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza are: Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola, and Terex (see attached info sheet for more information on these corporations.) Furthermore, our policy prevents the reinvestment in any company involved in the illegal occupation.
SJP is responding to a call from Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) as a way of bringing non-violent pressure to bear on the state of Israel to end its violations of international law. SJP is following in the footsteps of many noted groups and institutions such as the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education in the UK, the Israeli group Gush Shalom, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and the American Friends Service Committee.
As well as voicing our opposition to the illegal occupation and the consistent human rights violations of the Palestinian people, we as members of an institute of higher education see it as our moral responsibility to express our solidarity with Palestinian students whose access to education is severely inhibited by the Israeli occupation.
SJP has proven that student groups can organize, rally and pressure their schools to divest from the illegal occupation. The group hopes that this decision will pave the way for other institutions of higher learning in the U.S. to take similar stands.
Please email **hampshiresjp@mail.com **to schedule a phone interview.
From Hampshire College Website:
Statement of Clarification Regarding Trustees’ Actions on College Investments
Statement of Clarification from Sigmund Roos (73F), chair of the board of trustees, Ralph Hexter, president, and Aaron Berman, vice president and dean of faculty, regarding trustees’ actions on college investments
We write to correct numerous reports circulating about actions taken by the Hampshire College board of trustees on February 7, 2009. The facts are as follows:
* On February 7, 2009, the Hampshire College board of trustees accepted the report of its investment committee, which earlier had voted, without reference to any country or political movement, to transfer assets held in a State Street fund to another fund.
* Based on a comprehensive review of the fund by the trustee investment committee, administrators and an outside consultant, the college found that this fund held stocks in well over 200 companies engaged in business practices that violate the college’s policy on socially responsible investments. These violations include: unfair labor practices, environmental abuse, military weapons manufacturing, and unsafe workplace settings.
* The review also led the board of trustees to vote to revise its 1994 socially responsible investment policy to bring it up-to-date with current standards and practices, and, pending revision, to suspend that policy.
* The review of the State Street fund was undertaken at the request of a sub-committee of the investment committee, to address a petition from a student group, Students for Justice in Palestine. The investment committee’s decision, however, was based on the consultant’s finding that the State Street fund included 200-plus companies engaged in multiple violations of the college’s investment policy; the decision expressly did not pertain to a political movement or single out businesses active in a specific region or country.
* No other report or interpretation of the actions of February 7, 2009 by the Hampshire College board of trustees is accurate.
Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, has become the first of any college or university in the U.S. to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
This landmark move is a direct result of a two-year intensive campaign by the campus group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group pressured Hampshire College's Board of Trustees to divest from six specific companies due to human rights concerns in occupied Palestine. Over 800 students, professors, and alumni have signed SJP's "institutional statement" calling for the divestment.
The proposal put forth by SJP was approved on Saturday, 7 Feb 2009 by the Board. By divesting from these companies, SJP believes that Hampshire has distanced itself from complicity in the illegal occupation and war crimes of Israel.
Meeting minutes from a committee of Hampshire's Board of Trustees confirm that "President Hexter acknowledged that it was the good work of SJP that brought this issue to the attention of the committee." This groundbreaking decision follows in Hampshire's history of being the first college in the country to divest from apartheid South Africa thirty-two years ago, a decision based on similar
human rights concerns. This divestment was also a direct result of student pressure.
The divestment has so far been endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Rashid Khalidi, Vice President of the EU Parliament Luisa Morganitini, Cynthia McKinney, former member of the African National Congress Ronnie Kasrils, Mustafa Barghouti, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, John Berger, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, among others.
The six corporations, all of which provide the Israeli military with equipment and services in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza are: Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola, and Terex (see attached info sheet for more information on these corporations.) Furthermore, our policy prevents the reinvestment in any company involved in the illegal occupation.
SJP is responding to a call from Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) as a way of bringing non-violent pressure to bear on the state of Israel to end its violations of international law. SJP is following in the footsteps of many noted groups and institutions such as the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education in the UK, the Israeli group Gush Shalom, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and the American Friends Service Committee.
As well as voicing our opposition to the illegal occupation and the consistent human rights violations of the Palestinian people, we as members of an institute of higher education see it as our moral responsibility to express our solidarity with Palestinian students whose access to education is severely inhibited by the Israeli occupation.
SJP has proven that student groups can organize, rally and pressure their schools to divest from the illegal occupation. The group hopes that this decision will pave the way for other institutions of higher learning in the U.S. to take similar stands.
Please email **hampshiresjp@mail.com **to schedule a phone interview.
From Hampshire College Website:
Statement of Clarification Regarding Trustees’ Actions on College Investments
Statement of Clarification from Sigmund Roos (73F), chair of the board of trustees, Ralph Hexter, president, and Aaron Berman, vice president and dean of faculty, regarding trustees’ actions on college investments
We write to correct numerous reports circulating about actions taken by the Hampshire College board of trustees on February 7, 2009. The facts are as follows:
* On February 7, 2009, the Hampshire College board of trustees accepted the report of its investment committee, which earlier had voted, without reference to any country or political movement, to transfer assets held in a State Street fund to another fund.
* Based on a comprehensive review of the fund by the trustee investment committee, administrators and an outside consultant, the college found that this fund held stocks in well over 200 companies engaged in business practices that violate the college’s policy on socially responsible investments. These violations include: unfair labor practices, environmental abuse, military weapons manufacturing, and unsafe workplace settings.
* The review also led the board of trustees to vote to revise its 1994 socially responsible investment policy to bring it up-to-date with current standards and practices, and, pending revision, to suspend that policy.
* The review of the State Street fund was undertaken at the request of a sub-committee of the investment committee, to address a petition from a student group, Students for Justice in Palestine. The investment committee’s decision, however, was based on the consultant’s finding that the State Street fund included 200-plus companies engaged in multiple violations of the college’s investment policy; the decision expressly did not pertain to a political movement or single out businesses active in a specific region or country.
* No other report or interpretation of the actions of February 7, 2009 by the Hampshire College board of trustees is accurate.
2/11/09
U of Rochester SDS occupies building in solidarity with gaza, sign action plan with the administration
some of the questions floating around my head: what role does the academy (higher education) play in society? what role should it play? what responsibility do academics/intellectuals/scholars have in creating a more just world? this makes me think about trouillot's assertion that we must be transparent in stating our subjectivities and the reasons for our academic pursuits...
[Trouillot: "We [anthropologists] owe it to ourselves and to our interlocutors to say loudly that we have seen alternative visions of humankind--indeed more than any academic discipline--and that we know that this one may not be the most respectful of the planet we share, nor indeed the more accurate nor the most practical. We also owe it to ourselves to say that it is not the most beautiful nor the most optimistic." previous posts re: trouillot]
some context: the site for the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
"The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel was launched in Ramallah in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals to join the growing international boycott movement. The Campaign built on the Palestinian call for a comprehensive economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel issued in August 2002 and a statement made by Palestinian academics and intellectuals in the occupied territories and in the Diaspora calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions in October 2003."
"The Palestinian Campaign is inspired by the historic role played by people of conscience in the international community of scholars and intellectuals who have shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in their struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott."
and from U of R SDS blog: (backwards-- their original declaration is below)
UR-SDS Declares Victory in less than 9 hours.
We spoke for peace and solidarity with the Palestinians and we were heard. UR-SDS and friends declared a victory to our occupation just before midnight Friday (Feb. 6, 2009) when we signed a joint statement of understanding/plan of action with the Dean of Students where we found common ground on addressing our demands in a substantive manner. This final statement was approved overwhelmingly by a vote of the general assembly of all those present to the occupation.
The rough wording of the signed Joint Statement of Understanding/Action Plan is as follows:
1. University of Rochester will commit to provide any surplus goods or supplies that could assist the devastated University of Gaza.
2. University of Rochester will commit resources and information to assist fundraising for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
3. University of Rochester will commit to reach out to Palestinian students in order to provide them scholarships to the University of Rochester
4. University of Rochester will commit to organize an open forum to discuss why the University invests in weapons manufactures and discuss the process of the University moving toward a more socially responsible, transparent, and democratically controlled investment policy.
The spirit in the air at midnight was jubilation. Because we took a stand for peace and justice in Gaza, and we got the University of Rochester to act decisively to better the lives of the people of Gaza.
--
University of Rochester Students for a Democratic Society (UR-SDS)
U of R Students to Occupy Academic Building for Peace and in Solidarity with Gaza
Rochester, NY - 02/05/09-- Students from the University of Rochester and members of the local Rochester community will be occupying an academic building on campus tomorrow for peace and in solidarity with the people Gaza and in opposition to U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the recent atrocities in Gaza. The action, organized by U of R Students for a Democratic Society (UR-SDS), will begin on the afternoon of Friday, February 6 and will last until the University of Rochester administration meets the demands put forward.
The demands are:
1. Divestment: We demand the University of Rochester to adopt the "UR-Peaceful Investing Initiative" which institutes a peaceful investment policy to the university's endowment which includes divestment from corporations that manufacturer weapons and profit from war. (For example, the U of R invests in General Dynamics which manufactures weapons to maintain a 41-year occupation of the Palestinian territories and wars which slaughter Palestinian civilians by the 100s)
2. Humanitarian aid: We demand that the University of Rochester commit to a day of fundraising for humanitarian aid in Gaza within the next two weeks, as part of an ongoing commitment to provide financial support for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
3. Academic aid: We demand that the University of Rochester twin with the devastated Gaza University and provide the necessary academic aid (e.g., recycled computers, books, etc. ).
4. Scholarships: We demand that the University of Rochester grant a minimum of five scholarships to Palestinian students every year.
The recent war on Gaza has devastated Gazan society, taken hundreds of innocent lives, and has escalated the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Given the United States' central role in supporting the war in Gaza and a harsh 41-year military occupation of the Palestinian territories, the students' actions are to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for life and peace.
The student occupation will feature a number of informational and peaceful consciousness raising events such as public talks, teach-ins, and sit-ins. The action was inspired by a wave of student occupations that occurred in 16 universities in England following the Israeli assault on Gaza.
This event is organized by the University of Rochester Students for a Democratic Society (UR-SDS), a local chapter of the national Students for a Democratic Society. UR-SDS was founded in the Fall 2008 semester and seeks to effect progressive social change on campus through educational events and direct actions.
2/4/09
are we really surprised that DirecTV won't air an ad calling to cut US military aid to israel?
from Democracy Now
Group: DirecTV Rejects Ad Critical of Israeli Occupation
The satellite network DirecTV is being accused of censorship after reportedly refusing to air a commercial critical of US backing for Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip. The spot was produced by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. It lists the number of Palestinian dead from Israeli attacks and criticizes Israel for blocking aid and supplies. It then calls for cutting US military aid to Israel, concluding, “President Barack Obama, we need a change of policy toward Israel/ Palestine.” The group says DirecTV abruptly refused to air the ad after having reached an agreement.
1/29/09
Hamas Official: “We Accept a State in ‘67 Borders”
Solana’s comments come as Hamas officials continue to repeat they’d accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. In an interview with the Associated Press, Hamas spokesperson Ghazi Hamad said, “We want to be part of the international community. I think Hamas has no interest now to increase the number of crises in Gaza or to challenge the world.” Hamad continued, “We accept a state in the ‘67 borders. We are not talking about the destruction of Israel.”
from Democracy Now, January 29
1/25/09
"make war not peace"
i don't really claim to be unbiased about the israel-palestine conflict--my bias comes from what is admittedly a too limited understanding of the complex history of the area, from my sister's accounts of living in Ramallah, from the fact that Palestine is clearly the underdog, that U.S. military and financial aid supports Israel and Israel's foreign/domestic policy against Hamas ( more importantly, against the Palestinian people), from the belief that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and consequent military dehumanization of a whole group of people is point-blank unjust, from a severe uncomfortableness with the israeli concept of a birthright (entitlement much?)...
and from stories like this one.
"Helmi Samouni's two-storey house was one of the few left standing, despite the gaping hole from a large tank shell that pierced his blackened bedroom wall. During the invasion it had been taken over by Israeli soldiers, who wrecked the furniture and set up sand-bagged shooting positions throughout.
and from stories like this one.
"Helmi Samouni's two-storey house was one of the few left standing, despite the gaping hole from a large tank shell that pierced his blackened bedroom wall. During the invasion it had been taken over by Israeli soldiers, who wrecked the furniture and set up sand-bagged shooting positions throughout.
They left behind their own unique detritus: bullet casings, roasted peanuts in tins with Hebrew script, a plastic bag containing a "High Quality Body Warmer", dozens of olive-green waste disposal bags, some empty, some stinking full - the troops' portable toilets.
But most disturbing of all was the graffiti they daubed on the walls of the ground floor. Some was in Hebrew, but much was naively written in English: "Arabs need 2 die", "Die you all", "Make war not peace", "1 is down, 999,999 to go", and scrawled on an image of a gravestone the words: "Arabs 1948-2009".
There were several sketches of the Star of David flag. "Gaza here we are," it said in English next to one."
----
The New York Times just published an audio video slide show of the 3-week war in Gaza. Photographs and commentary by the photographer(s) are separated into two sets of slides: Israel and Gaza. I'm curious to hear other's reactions, but my reaction was just that I was re-learning (albeit in a very disconnected way) what so many news stories can't help but portray, no matter how off-hand they mention the death counts--less than 15 israelis lost to over 1300 palestinians lost: incomparable pain, destruction, and death in Gaza.
I maintain that being anti-Israel does not make me pro-Hamas, and that we must mourn the lives lost on both sides of this violence.
1/15/09
bolivia and venezuela break ties with israel
[below is an article in english]
from diariocolatino.com
El presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales, anunció este miércoles la ruptura de las relaciones diplomáticas de su Gobierno con el Estado de Israel en repudio ante la invasión que mantiene en la Franja de Gaza y que ha dejado cerca de mil muertos y más de 4 mil 600 heridos.
Durante el saludo del cuerpo diplomático acreditado en Bolivia, el Presidente de la nación informó que "Bolivia tenía relaciones diplomáticas con Israel, pero frente a estos hechos graves, antentó a la vida, atentó contra la humanidad, Bolivia rompe las relaciones diplomáticas con Israel". El mandatario también presentará una denuncia contra el Estado israelí ante la Corte Penal Internacional, por los hechos ocurridos en la Franja de Gaza.
"Es urgente convocar a una asamblea general extraordinaria de Naciones Unidas para emitir un voto de condena a la actitud criminal de Israel contra el pueblo palestino", refirió el Jefe de Estado, mientras leía el documento de la denuncia.
Indicó, que "cualquier Estado puede promover la investigación y la sanción de estos crímenes. Bolivia como Estado soberano e independiente manifiesta su adhesión al principio de no agresión y al respeto a la vida".
En este sentido, informó que el Estado boliviano "coordinará con otros Estados y organizaciones humanitarias, la presentación de una solicitud de investigación ante la Corte Penal Internacional por los graves crímenes que comete el primer ministro y otros miembros del gabinete israelí en la Franja de Gaza".
El presidente Evo Morales solicitó al Comité del Premio Nobel con sede en Oshlo, que retire el premio nobel de la Paz otorgado al presidente israelí Simon Peres en el año 1994. "El señor Simon Peres, actual presidente del Estado de Israel, debe ser también acusado ante la Corte Penal Internacional ya que nada ha hecho por frenar la actitud criminal del primer ministro israelí y su gobierno".
Refirió que el presidente del Estado israelí "al contrario, ha justificado las acciones criminales contra los palestinos en Gaza".
"Los crímenes que comete el Gobierno de Israel afectan la estabilidad y paz mundial y han hecho retroceder al mundo a la peor etapa de los crímenes de lesa humanidad que no se había vivido sino en la segunda Guerra Mundial".
Por su parte, el Gobierno venezolano decidió el pasado martes 6 de enero expulsar al embajador de Israel, Shlomo Cohen, y a parte del cuerpo diplomático en Venezuela en rechazo a la invasión en la Franja de Gaza.
En un comunicado difundido por la Cancillería, Venezuela condena de forma tajante las flagrantes violaciones del Derecho Internacional en las que ha incurrido el Estado de Israel, así como el uso del terrorismo de estado para castigar a un pueblo entero.
from haaretz:
Venezuela: We cut ties with Israel over 'persecution of Palestinians'
Venezuela cut ties with Israel in protest over its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Venezuela ... has definitively decided to break diplomatic ties with the state of Israel given the inhumane persecution of the Palestinian people carried out by the authorities of Israel," said a statement read over state television.
Venezuela expelled Israel's ambassador in Caracas last Tuesday to protest the offensive in Gaza. The move came just hours after President Hugo Chavez called the attacks a "holocaust."
This Tuesday however, the South American country passed a message to Israel in which it said they are not interested in breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel.
Israel's 20-day offensive, launched to halt rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas militants, has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians. A Palestinian rights group said 670 of those killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed, including three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire and 10 soldiers killed in Gaza fighting.
Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close Chavez ally, on Wednesday also cut ties with Israel to protest the attacks.
Chavez in 2006 threatened to break ties with Israel over its five-week war in Lebanon in a diplomatic spat that led both countries to withdraw their envoys.
from diariocolatino.com
Miércoles, 14 de Enero de 2009 / 11:46 h
Bolivia rompe relaciones con Israel
Durante el saludo del cuerpo diplomático acreditado en Bolivia, el Presidente de la nación informó que "Bolivia tenía relaciones diplomáticas con Israel, pero frente a estos hechos graves, antentó a la vida, atentó contra la humanidad, Bolivia rompe las relaciones diplomáticas con Israel". El mandatario también presentará una denuncia contra el Estado israelí ante la Corte Penal Internacional, por los hechos ocurridos en la Franja de Gaza.
"Es urgente convocar a una asamblea general extraordinaria de Naciones Unidas para emitir un voto de condena a la actitud criminal de Israel contra el pueblo palestino", refirió el Jefe de Estado, mientras leía el documento de la denuncia.
Indicó, que "cualquier Estado puede promover la investigación y la sanción de estos crímenes. Bolivia como Estado soberano e independiente manifiesta su adhesión al principio de no agresión y al respeto a la vida".
En este sentido, informó que el Estado boliviano "coordinará con otros Estados y organizaciones humanitarias, la presentación de una solicitud de investigación ante la Corte Penal Internacional por los graves crímenes que comete el primer ministro y otros miembros del gabinete israelí en la Franja de Gaza".
El presidente Evo Morales solicitó al Comité del Premio Nobel con sede en Oshlo, que retire el premio nobel de la Paz otorgado al presidente israelí Simon Peres en el año 1994. "El señor Simon Peres, actual presidente del Estado de Israel, debe ser también acusado ante la Corte Penal Internacional ya que nada ha hecho por frenar la actitud criminal del primer ministro israelí y su gobierno".
Refirió que el presidente del Estado israelí "al contrario, ha justificado las acciones criminales contra los palestinos en Gaza".
"Los crímenes que comete el Gobierno de Israel afectan la estabilidad y paz mundial y han hecho retroceder al mundo a la peor etapa de los crímenes de lesa humanidad que no se había vivido sino en la segunda Guerra Mundial".
Por su parte, el Gobierno venezolano decidió el pasado martes 6 de enero expulsar al embajador de Israel, Shlomo Cohen, y a parte del cuerpo diplomático en Venezuela en rechazo a la invasión en la Franja de Gaza.
En un comunicado difundido por la Cancillería, Venezuela condena de forma tajante las flagrantes violaciones del Derecho Internacional en las que ha incurrido el Estado de Israel, así como el uso del terrorismo de estado para castigar a un pueblo entero.
from haaretz:
Venezuela: We cut ties with Israel over 'persecution of Palestinians'
Venezuela cut ties with Israel in protest over its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Venezuela ... has definitively decided to break diplomatic ties with the state of Israel given the inhumane persecution of the Palestinian people carried out by the authorities of Israel," said a statement read over state television.
Venezuela expelled Israel's ambassador in Caracas last Tuesday to protest the offensive in Gaza. The move came just hours after President Hugo Chavez called the attacks a "holocaust."
This Tuesday however, the South American country passed a message to Israel in which it said they are not interested in breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel.
Israel's 20-day offensive, launched to halt rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas militants, has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians. A Palestinian rights group said 670 of those killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have been killed, including three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire and 10 soldiers killed in Gaza fighting.
Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close Chavez ally, on Wednesday also cut ties with Israel to protest the attacks.
Chavez in 2006 threatened to break ties with Israel over its five-week war in Lebanon in a diplomatic spat that led both countries to withdraw their envoys.
1/6/09
VIOLENCE IS CIRCULAR
my aunt on huffington post
REIGNITING VIOLENCE: HOW DO CEASEFIRES END?
january 6, 2009
By Nancy Kanwisher, Johannes Haushofer, & Anat Biletzki
As Israel and Palestine suffer a hideous new spasm of terror, misery, and mayhem, it is important to ask how this situation came about. Perhaps an understanding of recent events will afford lessons for the future.
How did the recent ceasefire unravel? The mainstream media in the US and Israel places the blame squarely on Hamas. Indeed, a massive barrage of Palestinian rockets were fired into Israel in November and December, and ending this rocket fire is the stated goal of the current Israeli invasion of Gaza. However, this account leaves out crucial facts.
First, and most importantly, the ceasefire was remarkably effective: after it began in June 2008, the rate of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza dropped to almost zero, and stayed there for four straight months (see Figure 1, from a factsheet produced by the Israeli consulate in NYC). During this period, no Israelis were killed by Palestinians or vice versa in Gaza. So much for the widespread view, exemplified in yesterday's New York Times editorial that: "There is little chance of restraining Hamas without dealing with its patrons in Syria and Iran." Instead, the data shows clearly that Hamas can indeed control the violence if it so chooses, and sometimes it does, for long periods of time.
Second, and just as important, what happened to end this striking period of peace? On November 4rth, Israel killed a Palestinian, an event that was followed by a volley of mortars fired from Gaza. Immediately after that, an Israeli air strike killed five more Palestinians. Then a massive barrage of rockets was unleashed, leading to the end of the ceasefire.
Figure 1. Number of Palestinian rockets fired in each month of 2008 (adapted from The Israeli consulate in NYC, http://www.israelpolitik.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/gaza_fact_sheet.pdf).
Thus the latest ceasefire ended when Israel first killed Palestinians, and Palestinians then fired rockets into Israel. However, before attempting to glean lessons from this event, we need to know if this case is atypical, or if it reflects a systematic pattern.
We decided to tally the data to find out. We analyzed the entire timeline of killings of Palestinians by Israelis, and killings of Israelis by Palestinians, in the Second Intifada, based on the data from the widely-respected Israeli Human Rights group B'Tselem (including all the data from September 2000 to October 2008).
We defined "conflict pauses" as periods of one or more days when no one is killed on either side, and we asked which side kills first after conflict pauses of different durations. As shown in Figure 2, this analysis shows that it is overwhelmingly Israel that kills first after a pause in the conflict: 79% of all conflict pauses were interrupted when Israel killed a Palestinian, while only 8% were interrupted by Palestinian attacks (the remaining 13% were interrupted by both sides on the same day). In addition, we found that this pattern -- in which Israel is more likely than Palestine to kill first after a conflict pause -- becomes more pronounced for longer conflict pauses. Indeed, of the 25 periods of nonviolence lasting longer than a week, Israel unilaterally interrupted 24, or 96%, and it unilaterally interrupted 100% of the 14 periods of nonviolence lasting longer than 9 days.
Figure 2. For conflict pauses of different durations (i.e., periods of time when no one is killed on either side), we show here the percentage of times from the Second Intifada in which Israelis ended the period of nonviolence by killing one or more Palestinians (black), the percentage of times that Palestinians ended the period of nonviolence by killing Israelis (grey), and the percentage of times that both sides killed on the same day (white). Virtually all periods of nonviolence lasting more than a week were ended when the Israelis killed Palestinians first. We include here the data from all pause durations that actually occurred.
Thus, a systematic pattern does exist: it is overwhelmingly Israel, not Palestine, that kills first following a lull. Indeed, it is virtually always Israel that kills first after a lull lasting more than a week.
The lessons from these data are clear:
First, Hamas can indeed control the rockets, when it is in their interest. The data shows that ceasefires can work, reducing the violence to nearly zero for months at a time.
Second, if Israel wants to reduce rocket fire from Gaza, it should cherish and preserve the peace when it starts to break out, not be the first to kill.
REIGNITING VIOLENCE: HOW DO CEASEFIRES END?
january 6, 2009
By Nancy Kanwisher, Johannes Haushofer, & Anat Biletzki
As Israel and Palestine suffer a hideous new spasm of terror, misery, and mayhem, it is important to ask how this situation came about. Perhaps an understanding of recent events will afford lessons for the future.
How did the recent ceasefire unravel? The mainstream media in the US and Israel places the blame squarely on Hamas. Indeed, a massive barrage of Palestinian rockets were fired into Israel in November and December, and ending this rocket fire is the stated goal of the current Israeli invasion of Gaza. However, this account leaves out crucial facts.
First, and most importantly, the ceasefire was remarkably effective: after it began in June 2008, the rate of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza dropped to almost zero, and stayed there for four straight months (see Figure 1, from a factsheet produced by the Israeli consulate in NYC). During this period, no Israelis were killed by Palestinians or vice versa in Gaza. So much for the widespread view, exemplified in yesterday's New York Times editorial that: "There is little chance of restraining Hamas without dealing with its patrons in Syria and Iran." Instead, the data shows clearly that Hamas can indeed control the violence if it so chooses, and sometimes it does, for long periods of time.
Second, and just as important, what happened to end this striking period of peace? On November 4rth, Israel killed a Palestinian, an event that was followed by a volley of mortars fired from Gaza. Immediately after that, an Israeli air strike killed five more Palestinians. Then a massive barrage of rockets was unleashed, leading to the end of the ceasefire.
Figure 1. Number of Palestinian rockets fired in each month of 2008 (adapted from The Israeli consulate in NYC, http://www.israelpolitik.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/gaza_fact_sheet.pdf).
Thus the latest ceasefire ended when Israel first killed Palestinians, and Palestinians then fired rockets into Israel. However, before attempting to glean lessons from this event, we need to know if this case is atypical, or if it reflects a systematic pattern.
We decided to tally the data to find out. We analyzed the entire timeline of killings of Palestinians by Israelis, and killings of Israelis by Palestinians, in the Second Intifada, based on the data from the widely-respected Israeli Human Rights group B'Tselem (including all the data from September 2000 to October 2008).
We defined "conflict pauses" as periods of one or more days when no one is killed on either side, and we asked which side kills first after conflict pauses of different durations. As shown in Figure 2, this analysis shows that it is overwhelmingly Israel that kills first after a pause in the conflict: 79% of all conflict pauses were interrupted when Israel killed a Palestinian, while only 8% were interrupted by Palestinian attacks (the remaining 13% were interrupted by both sides on the same day). In addition, we found that this pattern -- in which Israel is more likely than Palestine to kill first after a conflict pause -- becomes more pronounced for longer conflict pauses. Indeed, of the 25 periods of nonviolence lasting longer than a week, Israel unilaterally interrupted 24, or 96%, and it unilaterally interrupted 100% of the 14 periods of nonviolence lasting longer than 9 days.
Figure 2. For conflict pauses of different durations (i.e., periods of time when no one is killed on either side), we show here the percentage of times from the Second Intifada in which Israelis ended the period of nonviolence by killing one or more Palestinians (black), the percentage of times that Palestinians ended the period of nonviolence by killing Israelis (grey), and the percentage of times that both sides killed on the same day (white). Virtually all periods of nonviolence lasting more than a week were ended when the Israelis killed Palestinians first. We include here the data from all pause durations that actually occurred.
Thus, a systematic pattern does exist: it is overwhelmingly Israel, not Palestine, that kills first following a lull. Indeed, it is virtually always Israel that kills first after a lull lasting more than a week.
The lessons from these data are clear:
First, Hamas can indeed control the rockets, when it is in their interest. The data shows that ceasefires can work, reducing the violence to nearly zero for months at a time.
Second, if Israel wants to reduce rocket fire from Gaza, it should cherish and preserve the peace when it starts to break out, not be the first to kill.
1/3/09
Today I end my support of Israel
Very powerful article from the Daily Kos about one persons reasons for their decisions regarding support of Israel. Personal and important.
12/31/08
video footage from today's protests in phila
there were well over 300 people at today's demonstration, which began in front of the israeli consulate but later marched what seemed like 10 blocks to city hall.
i couldn't figure out how to embed it, but this is good footage. (i never saw anything being burned)
and from youtube:
i couldn't figure out how to embed it, but this is good footage. (i never saw anything being burned)
and from youtube:
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