PSC weekly update 5 June 2009

A UN team investigating possible war crimes in Gaza says it will hold public hearings with victims of the conflict in Gaza and Geneva later this month. The team has spent the week interviewing witnesses and visiting sites damaged in Israel’s three-week offensive, which ended on 18 January. Richard Goldstone, who is heading the team, said it had hoped to hold hearings in Israel and the West Bank. But Israel has refused to co-operate in the inquiry, accusing it of bias. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8084734.stm

In June 2009 the blockade on the Gaza Strip enters its third year. The intense closure policy, coupled with the government of Israel’s recent military operation ‘Cast Lead’, has had a devastating impact on the lives and livelihoods of one and a half million Gazans, pushing them further into poverty and aid dependency. Parties to the conflict and the international community have, to varying degrees, prioritised their own political objectives over people’s rights and needs, leaving Gazans sitting on the ruins of their homes. By attempting to isolate Hamas, the government of Israel and key international donor governments and institutions have in fact isolated the people of Gaza, thereby reducing chances of securing a peaceful, just and durable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The report also makes clear that ‘For signatories to the Geneva Conventions, it is not a choice of whether or not to act, it is a legal obligation. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/conflict_disasters/bn-rebuilding-gaza.html And Palestinian psychologists have warned Wednesday that 98% of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip were suffering psychological traumas, and feel unsafe following Israel’s war on Gaza. In a workshop organized by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) Palestinian psychologists urged all concerned international institutions to help protect the Palestinian children in a more effective way in order to minimize the effect of the war on them. http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7vnolVzqr1e1GVIWdAuyEWPlAGV3mfJkdAt2EzlhTOPO6AVzVOofp9PoKHHwJi5jq54jr193D933zQvgQlSqBKmnf10R3COl6bpHlVfO6n5Q%3d

Phyllis Bennis: ‘President Barack Obama’s much-anticipated Cairo speech reflected a significant shift away from the ideological framework of militarism and unilateralism that shaped the Bush administration’s war-based policy towards the Arab and Muslim worlds… The shift in discourse, away from justifying reckless imperial hubris, unilateralism and militarism and towards a more cooperative and potentially even internationalist approach was potent. The actual policy shifts were much smaller’. http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/obama_in_egypt_changing_the_discourse Ali Abunimah: ‘Obama’s speech shows little real change. In most regards his analysis maintains flawed American policies. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/04/barack-obama-middleeast For Barack Obama’s full speech: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/20096410251287187.html

and read Sawt El-Amel’s report Available on the PSC website, Hana’s deeply moving speech to the PCS Union’s conference: http://www.palestinecampaign.org/index7b.asp?m_id=1&l1_id=4&l2_id=24&Content_ID=661 And read Sawt El-Amel’s report of their delegation to PCS Annual Conference: http://laborers-voice.org/files/090601-PCSBrighton.pdf

Following our successful campaign against the Israeli tourism advertisements on the London Tube, the story went worldwide: A very public controversy with regard to a map of Israel erupted last month in London. The Israeli Ministry of Tourism placed an advertisement throughout the London Underground showing a map of Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights in the same yellow color, giving the impression that Israel’s vast geography did not include occupied Palestinian territory. Obviously misrepresentative, because a British tourist cannot sunbath on the pristine beaches of Gaza or shop the markets of Ramallah, all the while travelling from Eilat to Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to Haifa. After mass protests, the Israeli Ministry removed the posters, calling them a “professional mistake.” However, Ministry officials most likely see the incident as a market miscalculation rather than an issue related to the borders of their country. A similar incident occurred when I was travelling through Israel a few months ago. I noticed that my travel map, published by Hertz, all but erased the existence of the occupied Palestinian territory. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-shtenderauerbach/the-cartographic-crux-of_b_208264.html

Mary Senior, the Scottish TUC’s Assistant Secretary, has written ‘The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) applauds the decision of the Edinburgh International Film Festival to return funding from the Israeli Embassy, and welcomes the intervention on this matter from British director Ken Loach (your report, 19 May). Standing up to the State of Israel is not “extremist”, “sanctimonious” or “self glorifying”. Rather, it is about exposing the illegitimate actions of the Israeli government, for example in Gaza, in the continued construction of the separation wall, and in the growing settlement programme. http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Pressure-on-Israel.5337562.jp

In an attempt to prevent Israeli peace activists from entering the Nablus area, the head of the Central Command of the Israeli Army, Gadi Shamni, declared Nablus a closed military zone.’ http://www.imemc.org/article/60652

BADIL writes: ‘For decades Israel has practiced discrimination and forced displacement against its Palestinian citizenry with impunity. But now it seeks to impose consent for its crimes upon its Palestinian victims. Three bills currently making rounds in the Israeli Knesset reveal an obscene and dangerous targeting of the individual and collective rights of Palestinian citizens. http://www.badil.org/Publications/Press/2009/press507-09.htm