ISM Digest January 15, 2009 - Alexia Cournoyer

1) Israeli snipers using new ammunition in Ni’lin

2) Free Gaza Movement stopped in international waters by Israeli navy

3) Israeli snipers shooting at families seeking refuge in Al-Quds hospital

4) Voices from Tel al Huwa, Gaza City

5) Boycott, Divestment, Ssanctions:

A Call from Gaza ———-

Israeli snipers using new ammunition in Ni’lin On Friday the 9th of January at 11.30am the weekly prayer demonstration was carried out in Ni’lin.

Approximately 100 citizens of Ni’lin together with international and Israeli human right activists took part in the demonstration. During the demonstration the Israeli army used snipers to shoot the new ‘0.22$B!l(B caliber bullet, injuring two people. The army was already present at three different spots close to the clinic long before the prayer had started. After the prayer the demonstrators marched from the clinic towards the construction site of the Apartheid Wall.

Even before the demonstrators entered the olive fields the army shot both the old type of tear gas canister and the new type which is much heavier and explodes on impact making it impossible to see. They also shot rubber-coated steel bullets.

The demonstration was held back with much tear gas and so remained at the site of the clinic throughout the whole demonstration. There were many more soldiers and border police than usual. Read more and view a video form the demonstration: http://palsolidarity.org/2009/01/4297

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Free Gaza Movement stopped in international waters by Israeli navy FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The latest reports are of four Israeli gunboats saying they will use their weapons if the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY does not turn back to Greece. The boat is asserting its right to continue in international waters.

The Free Gaza mercy ship, SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, left port in Cyprus this morning on an emergency mission to besieged Gaza. Aboard the ship are desperately needed medical supplies and 21 passengers and crew, including doctors, human rights workers, journalists, and two parliamentarians from Spain and Italy. Read more: http://palsolidarity.org/2009/01/4331 Free Gaza Movement: http://freegaza.org

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Israeli snipers shooting at families seeking refuge in Al-Quds hospital Israeli snipers are shooting at families who are attempting to seek refuge in Al-Quds hospital, Gaza City. Palestinian and international volunteers are now on the streets outside the hospital to try and get the families inside the hospital.

Australian Human Rights Activist Sharon Lock is assisting medical teams at the hospital, “Israeli snipers are shooting at families attempting to get to the hospital. They are frightened and have no where to go. At least two families have been shot at now, children have been wounded.” Al-Quds hospital, Gaza City, located in the Tel al Huwa neighbourhood of Gaza, has been under attack by the Israeli army since 1:30 AM.

According to International volunteers at the hospital it has been hit by shells four times. “The hospital has received over 150 calls for help from people including many children in the surrounding area who have been wounded and are in desperate need of medical care. The Israeli army has surrounded the hospital and no one is able to get in or out.” – Sharon Lock (Australia) International Solidarity Movement

No one is able to get to these children.

Link: http://palsolidarity.org/2009/01/4336

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Voices from Tel al Huwa, Gaza City As a result of the ongoing shelling in the Tel al Huwa neigbourhood of Gaza City, many families are attempting to find shelter in the Al Quds hospital.

Australian Human Rights Activist Sharon Lock has described the events as Israeli snipers opened fire on families seeking refuge in Al-Quds hospital, in Tel al Huwa: “One family lives very close to the hospital. They tried to come here as they thought it would be safer. Israeli snipers started firing at the family. They shot a young girl in the face and abdomen. She is now being operated on. The father of the family was shot in the leg and fell to the ground. The mother was screaming that one of her daughters was still outside, behind a bush, too scared to move. Mohammed, a medic I have been working with, ran outside and carried her to the hospital.”

Mohammed Shiziq, Palestinian medic, said, “The Red Cross is not managing to coordinate evacuation of wounded people. There are people right next to the Red Crescent hospital bleeding to death. We cannot get to them as the Israelis shoot at us. Usually we transfer severe cases to Al-Shifa hospital. We cannot do that now.”

Dr Amal el Khaloud, of El Azhar University told the ISM that, “There was very heavy shelling and many fires since 11pm last night. We went to hide under the elevator shaft in our apartment block as it is made of concrete. At 11am the army broke down the door for our building and took al the men under 40. They also took their documents and phones. My husband is a childrens doctor. They took my him with them.

There are now around 600 people crammed in the hospital, mostly women and children.”

Link: http://palsolidarity.org/2009/01/4339

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Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions:

A Call from Gaza With the death toll in Gaza growing hourly, silence is complicity.

It is imperative for concerned citizens to demand that their governments take immediate action in order to stop Israeli genocide in Gaza. Write your representative today and demand:

1. That Israeli war criminals be brought before the International Criminal Court or a Special Tribunal for war crimes committed in Gaza. (Remind your representative that the investigation, prosecution or extradition of those responsible for war crimes is an obligation of all high contracting parties to the Geneva Conventions.)

2. That in response to Israel’s severe breaches of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, your state terminate all favorable trade agreements and economic relations with Israel, including the EU Association Agreement which is conditional upon adherence to human rights and democratic principles.

3. That your state cut all diplomatic ties with Israel.

The current events in Gaza were predicated and advocated for by Israeli Professor Arnon Soffer, Head of the IDF’s National Defense College. Professor Soffer spelled out the desired results of Israel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza in an interview with the Jerusalem Post (24 May 2004): Jerusalem Post: How will the region look the day after unilateral separation? … First of all … Instead of entering Gaza like we did last week. We will tell the Palestinians that if a single missile is fired over the fence, we will fire 10 in response. And women and children will be killed, and houses will be destroyed. After the fifth such incident, Palestinian mothers won’t allow their husbands to shoot Kassams, because they will know what’s waiting for them.

Second of all, when 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it’s going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It’s going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day…If we don’t kill, we will cease to exist…Unilateral separation doesn’t guarantee “peace” – it guarantees a Zionist-Jewish state with an overwhelming majority of Jews… Jerusalem Post: Voluntary transfer? Arnon Soffer: Yes. And Gaza is going to be such a disaster that it will be beyond our capacity to help. There will have to be large-scale international aid. The US will have to pressure Egypt to cede land. More recently Matan Vilnai, Deputy Defense Minister of Israel, told Army Radio during “Operation Hot Winter” (29 February 2008): They will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves.

In the days following this statement, 107 Palestinians were killed. The international comunity failed to take action. This inaction, followed by European declarations of intentions to upgrade their trade agreements with Israel, served as a green light for the current atrocities.

Reserve Colonel Yoav Gal, an Israeli Air Force pilot, told Army Radio during “Operation Cast Lead” (11 January 2009): “I believe that it should have been even stronger! Dresden! Dresden! The extermination of a city! After all, we’re told that the face of war has changed. No longer is it the advancing of tanks or an organized military. […] It is a whole nation, from the old lady to the child, this is the military. It is a nation fighting a war. I am calling them a nation, even though I don’t see them as one. It is a nation fighting a nation. Civilians fighting civilians. I’m telling you that we […] must know […] that stones will not be thrown at us! I am not talking about rockets – not even a stone will be thrown at us. Because we’re Jews.[…] I want the Arabs of Gaza to flee to Egypt. This is what I want. I want to destroy the city, not necessarily the people living within it.”

In order to end Israel’s impunity we call on civil society to support the Palestinian campaign for an international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Signatories, The One Democratic State Group – Gaza University Teacher Association in Palestine – Gaza Arab Cultural Forum – Gaza Endorsed by, Popular Committees Against the Wall and Settlements – West Bank Link: http://palsolidarity.org/2009/01/4301

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Other recent headlines:

Progressive: Critic of Israel Threatened Before Talk in NY http://palsolidarity.org/2009/01/4305

Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction – Naomi Klein http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090126/klein

Israel shells hospital, UN compound – Al Jazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200911510353779666.html

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More Resources on Gaza:

Tales To Tell: http://talestotell.wordpress.com

In Gaza: http://ingaza.wordpress.com/

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