"Locked in: Life in Gaza"

(Pal Telegraph) - Munzer al-Dayyeh is a 40-year-old mechanic living in Gaza. In a land of ruin and disrepair, Munzer is kept busy fixing generators and repairing motorbikes. In June 2007, Israel placed Gaza under siege and imposed an unprecedented blockade on nearly all movement and supplies in and out of the Gaza Strip.

Munzer is a traditional man from a conservative society where inter-marriage is common.

In Munzer's case, inter-breeding has brought hereditary problems - most of his children are either visually impaired or physically handicapped.

Munzer can not find any way to get his children out of Gaza to get medical treatment.

Petrol is increasingly expensive, motorbikes not cars are becoming popular. Electricity is sporadic and infrequent, generators are becoming popular. Munzer fixes both.

But while the effects of war and ongoing siege may be good for his business, it has frustrated his attempts to secure medical treatment for his disabled children.

His eldest daughter is blind and clings to the hope of travelling to London for specialist treatment. His eldest son is suffering from muscular disorder.

Besieged in Gaza, neither has the hope of medical treatment abroad.

This film offers an insight into an everyday man struggling to make a living and to find a solution for his family in the unique difficulties of the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera spoke to some Gazans about their daily lives, their hopes and dreams for the future, and how the siege affected them:

Doctor Mustafa Al-Hawi, 50, lecturer at al-Aqsa university

Mustafa al-Hawi, holds a PhD in environmental management and he currently works as a lecturer at al-Aqsa university.

He lost a job opportunity in Spain due to the blockade.

"I feel very traumatised, pissed off and very sad for not being able to travel and to have the freedom to do whatever I like," he says.

Fadi Bakheet, 27, Hip hop group manager

Fadi Bakheet is the manager of a hip hop group called "darasheen, the Arabian revolutionary guys."

His group missed out on an opportunity to represent Palestine in a festival in Copenhagen due to the siege.

"I don't think I would leave Gaza if things were better because this is my home, the worst thing about being here is being trapped and not be part of the world community," he says.

Iman Salem, 22, Medical student

Iman Salem is a medical student at the faculty of medicine at al-Azhar university.

She lost her scholarship in Jordan university because she could not leave Gaza.

"In these circumstances that we live under now, I would leave Gaza to pursue my dream to become a doctor," she says.

Ahmed abu-Hamda, 39, TV producer

Ahmed abu-Hamda is a TV producer, he feels paralysed under the siege because he does not have the freedom to leave whenever he wants.

Due to the siege he has not been able to see his parents who live outside Gaza, and they have not seen their grand child.

"it is an awful feeling to be under the siege, you feel paralysed," he says.

Mohammed el-Sharif, 39, Executive director

Mohammed el-Sharif is the executive director of the society for deaf children.

He is a Palestinian-American, but he is unable to get his daughters their US citizenship because they can't get out to start the process.

"Living in Gaza means that you can not exercise your right, everything is out of reach," he says.

Watch it on Al jazeera TV

Locked in Gaza can be seen from Monday, October 19, 2009 at the following times GMT: Monday: 1230; Tuesday: 0600, 1930; Wednesday: 0830; Thursday: 0330; Friday: 1630; Saturday: 2330; and Sunday: 1030.

Al Jazeera

"Legal Action to enforce Human Rights Conditions in EU-Israel Association Agreement"

Gaza Strip, September 2, 2009 (PalTelegraph)- Clare Short MP and the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza have launched a legal action which require the European Union to uphold the human rights conditions entrenched in the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

The action was launched in a letter sent to President Barroso and Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, spelling out the way in which the Treaty conditions are being breached and the way in which international law applies.

The case is being taken forward on behalf of the complainants by Public Interest Lawyers of 8 Hylton Street, Birmingham.

The Commission has been given 28 days to reply to the detailed case outlined in a 15 page letter which spells out the fact that under the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the EU has clear obligations in the light of Israel's violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The case made is that the EU is failing to meet these obligations.

In the letter it is argued that ‘Palestinian, Israeli and International Human Rights organizations have concluded in numerous reports and studies that Israel's actions in Operation Cast Lead intentionally and systematically disregarded and violated both international humanitarian law and international human rights law'.

Furthermore ‘the combined reports delivered to the UN including that of Richard Falk, charged with investigating the human rights situation in Palestine found several breaches of law in Operation Cast Lead. The Special Rapporteur on Poverty discussed reports that during the military intervention Israel deliberately obstructed the work of humanitarian personnel leaving the poor without basic medical, food and other services in violation of both international humanitarian law and human rights law'

The case presented outlines the position of the International Court of Justice and the UN with respect to the countless violations, amongst which include the acquisition of territory by force, obstructing the self determination of the Palestinian People and many other peremptory norms.

In pointing to EU's obligation in the face of so many reports and statements of the highest authority in international law, it states that ‘Under the Geneva convention The EU must not only insure that its own comply with human rights: it also requires it to base its relations with Israel on the mutual respect for human rights.

Thus where Israel persistently violates human rights and the EU does not take appropriate steps against Israel it will be in breach of article 2 of the Geneva Convention'.

Maintaining the status quo in the EU-Israeli Association Agreement, which makes Israel, EU's biggest trading partner is improper and more importantly it is justiciable. The letter points towards specific steps which the European Community is required to take under the agreement where Israel is in breach of Article 2 of the Geneva Convention.

In recognition of its obligations it calls upon the Commissioner to meet its obligations and further provide detailed description of its actions in fulfilling its obligations.

Clare Short said today "I and many others have tried through our parliaments to require our governments to comply with international law, without success. We now hope legal action will require compliance.

It is my firm belief that the only way to peace is to require Israel to comply with international law and that this is in the interests of all parties. The European Commission and member states are failing in their duty to uphold the conditions of our own treaty with Israel and to use these requirements to obtain long term peace and justice."

Civilians must now ‘take up task’ of breaking Gaza siege

London, July 29, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) - When governments fail to protect human rights, civilians must step up, human rights group Free Gaza Movement said during a talk at the American University of Beirut on Tuesday.

“Civilians have a very important role to play, especially when government institutions fail to do their job in upholding the law and human rights,” Huwaida Arraf, Chairperson of the Free Gaza Movement (FGM), said.

Delivering a lecture entitled “What we learned from breaking the siege, confronting Israel,” at the American University of Beirut, Arraf recounted how a group of activists from the FGM, herself included, set sail from Larnaca in Cyprus with two fishing boats to deliver aid to Gazans.

“In 2006 when Israel began tightening the siege, we couldn’t even get into Gaza to stand by the Palestinians. So we began to think, what can we do?”

Since the election of Hamas in 2006, Israel has allowed only limited humanitarian supplies into Gaza, causing around half of the 1.5 million population to rely on food aid, according to UN agencies.

The FGM took out loans, sold possessions and borrowed from where they could to raise money for the trip. They filled the boats with medicines, toys, writing equipment and anything that was denied the Palestinian people by the blockade.

“It was the most beautiful and memorable moment of my life when we arrived in Gaza to see thousands of people standing along the shore, fishing boats coming out to meet us and children swimming out,” Arraf said.

The next time the FGM was to return to Gaza, this time on a ferry, they were rammed by Israeli navy boats. This would not deter them from repeating their mission four more times.

“We could not back down. We could not allow violence to triumph. So we went back again,” said Arraf.

The group once again left Larnaca on their vessel named “Spirit of Humanity” to carry more aid to Gazans suffering under the blockade. Accompanying them were former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Laureate Mairead MaGuire.

A video played at the lecture showed Israeli naval vessels surrounding the boat and demanding they return to Larnaca. "We will be forced to take all necessary action if you do not return to Larnaca immediately," a voice from an Israeli naval vessel said over the boat's radio.

The reply from "Spirit of Humanity" came back: "The Israeli navy is mistaken. Since you occupy Gaza, under international law you are responsible for the safety of Gazans. We are delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza and it is illegal for you to stop us."

"Spirit of Humanity" was boarded and all 20 activists on board were arrested and detained within Israel for seven days, until they were deported.

The group also ran a short film shot by the FGM showing the Israeli navy opening fire on Gazan fishing boats, shooting the water surrounding them and forcing them to return to shore.

Documentary filmmaker and human rights activist Adam Shapiro spoke at the meeting of his motivation for getting involved with the campaign.

"I was quite skeptical at first. I had lots of concerns, especially when I saw the boats. But I went to Gaza in February for the first time in 10 years, and I saw tremendous devastation. I couldn't see anything new being built; I realized that the blockade was stopping people from rebuilding their lives."

Shapiro also added that "Spirit of Humanity" was in international waters when it was boarded by Israeli naval personnel.

Both speakers expressed the need not just for humanitarian aid, but for this action to be undertaken alongside political attempts to end the blockade.

They also described as "complicit" the NGOs who adhere to the blockade by not taking in items which Israel doesn't consider to be "essential humanitarian aid."

"The blockade is collective punishment, it constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Convention. Many organizations have declared the blockade to be illegal including Amnesty International and the International Red Cross. Who is standing up against it? Which state?" Arraf asked.

The FGM is planning another voyage to break the siege on Gaza later this year.

By Richard Hall
Daily Star
Lebanon

"On the Right of Resistance"

London, July 27, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) - "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." - Desmond Tutu

On the Right of Resistance
By Ramzi Kysia

We live in an era defined by its brutality. Our challenge is whether to accept this - or to take the risks necessary to transform our world commons in beloved community.

A year ago this August, forty-four ordinary people from seventeen different countries sailed to Gaza in two, small wooden boats. We did what the world would not do - we broke through the siege of Gaza. Over the last year the Free Gaza Movement has organized seven more voyages, successfully arriving to Gaza on five separate occasions. Ours remain the only international ships to reach the Gaza Strip in over forty-two years.

In the Middle-East, the struggle for justice is an uncertain endeavour in the best of times. On all sides human rights workers are beset with difficulties and distress. The Arab states are tyrannies, their peoples subject to secret police, arbitrary arrest, torture, and oppression. Within their societies, the Arab world is equally fractured by ethnic and class tensions, poverty, and political stagnation. From the outside, from the West, the Middle-East faces both open and covert acts of intimidation, intervention, economic destabilization, and even war, invasion, and mass killings.

Standing astride all these troubles, blocking near every attempt at progress in the region are the twin colossi of big oil and Israel. Seldom have a people been cursed with burdens more bitter, more devastating, and seemingly more intransigent than have the Arabs with oil and Israel.

Nowhere is this truer today than in Gaza. In 1999, British Gas discovered huge natural gas fields, worth billions of dollars, in Palestinian territorial waters off the coast of Gaza. Israel has already built a horizontal pipeline to siphon off gas from at least one of these fields. If there is an unspoken reason for the siege of Gaza - this is it.

Israel maintains effective control of all points of entry and exit to Gaza, as well as de facto control of Gaza's revenues and economy. As such, and despite the closure of settlements in Gaza in 2005, Israel remains an occupying power in Gaza as in the rest of Palestine. As an occupying power, Israel is responsible for the well-being of the people it occupies and cannot legally impose a blockade, particularly one the collectively punishes the entire population of Gaza. These are clear crimes and the Israeli government and military should be prosecuted for them.

For the last three and a half years the Israeli siege has become increasingly ruthless. Less than twenty percent of normal trade is allowed into Gaza today. The siege has caused the local economy to collapse, leading to steep increases in unemployment, poverty and childhood malnutrition rates.

Because of Israel's siege there is little fuel to run Gaza's power plant - so electricity is scarce and intermittent. Without electricity, water and sanitation systems do not function. On March 27, 2008 two elderly women in their 70s, a teenage girl, and two babies were killed by a flood of sewage in Umm Naser. Last year alone, well over 16 billion litres of raw sewage had to be dumped in the sea, turning the Mediterranean into a toilet and creating a public health disaster.

Gaza is a tiny coastal plain, barely twenty-five miles long by four to seven miles wide. It does not have the ability to independently support the one and a half million human beings who live in one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Two-thirds of Gaza's people are refugees, driven out of historical Palestine during Israel's founding war in 1948. Over half the population are children.

Israel has a long history of violence against Palestinian children. A few examples: In December 2004, the IDF shot and killed seven-year old Rana Siyam. Earlier that year, nine-year old Raghda Alassar was shot and killed in her school while she was taking an English test. Thirteen-year old Iman al-Hams was shot seventeen times by the IDF as she was walking home after class in Gaza. An Israeli captain went up to her corpse and shot her again in the head - "dead-checking" the schoolgirl. The IDF prosecuted him, but not for murder. He was charged with "illegal use of his weapon," and - despite admitting that he emptied his entire magazine into a little girl - he was found "not guilty."

Over the summer of 2006, the IDF killed three-year old Bara Habib, three-year old Rajaa Abu Shaban, six-year old Rawan Hajjah, nine-year old Aya Salmeya, and over thirty-five other children just in Gaza alone. On January 16th, 2007, the IDF killed ten-year old Abir Aramin, the daughter of a Palestinian peace activist, as she was walking home from school. These are only a handful of cases. The Israeli human rights organization B'tselem estimates that over 900 Palestinian children were killed by the Israeli military between 2000 and 2008.

Israel has already recreated the worst aspects of the Warsaw Ghetto in Gaza - transforming this small strip of land into the world's largest open-air prison, and the humanitarian condition of the one and a half million men, women, and children illegally incarcerated in Gaza is now at its worst point in the last forty-two years of Israeli occupation.

But there are darker histories waiting to be reborn. The simple and terrifying truth is that Israel is pushing the world on a path towards genocide. We are all en route to the slow-drip destruction of the Palestinian people. This reality must be forcefully confronted and fully overcome before it's too late.

It's now been more than six months since the end of Israel's latest assault on the Gaza Strip, which led to the killing of over 1,400 Palestinians, and the people of Gaza are still living in rubble. Israel's hermetic closure has created a man-made and deliberately-sustained humanitarian catastrophe. The continuing failure of the international community to enforce its own laws and protect the people of Gaza demands that we as private citizens directly intervene to take action commensurate with the crisis. We must act because our governments refuse to do so.

Regardless of Israeli threats or intimidation, Free Gaza volunteers intend to continue sailing unarmed boats to Gaza. Now more than ever - we need the people of the world to join with us.

The siege of Gaza only serves to strengthen authoritarian structures on all sides of this conflict, entrenching centralized control, rallying people against a common enemy. The isolation of Gaza reinforces a belief that the world has forgotten Palestine, and little cares how Palestinians are forced to live or even whether they live or die.

In contrast, civil resistance and citizens' action movements are not only aimed against the injustices that we face - they are also strategies for social change. Nonviolent resistance empowers everyone with the knowledge that any among us can reach out, organize, and act to change the entire world. Time and again, history demonstrates that even the greatest of tyrannies can crumble to the ground when confronted with an organized and determined resistance.

Join us, whether in whole or in part. Join the Free Gaza Movement, the International Solidarity Movement, and the BDS Movement. Join us and other campaigns in the struggle for justice for Palestine. We need volunteers to do research and writing, web updates, translation, graphic design, local organizing in their communities, and much more.

Become part of the resistance.

We are often told that resistance is either unwarranted or impossible. Liberal apologists for Israel, such as Thomas Friedman, are constantly demanding that Palestinians lay down their arms, all the while exhorting Israelis to pick them up in ever increasing acts of violence and degradation.

When faced with violence in our world, our elites tell us that we have two - and only two - choices: capitulate to the violence, or go to war. Of course, which of these two choices is the right and proper course of action depends on who you are. Faced with Palestinian violence, Israelis must, rightly and properly, go to war. Faced with Israeli violence, Palestinians must, rightly and properly, capitulate. In Tel Aviv and Washington D.C. this is called "moral clarity:" the supposed necessity of pursuing Israeli security through deliberately creating massive insecurity among Palestinians. This is lunacy.

But even mainstream "peace" movements in the West try to delegitimize resistance by calling on both Palestinians and Israelis to renounce overt acts of violence, equating Palestinians who commit suicide bombings with Israelis who send F-16s, D9 military bulldozers, and Apache attack helicopters to level entire neighborhoods.

The problem is that the usually random and individual acts of violence by Palestinians against Israelis are not equal to the myriad structural oppressions and cruelties imposed on Palestinians through Israeli government policies. No Palestinian fighter jets bomb Israeli cities - because Palestine has no fighter jets. No Palestinian bulldozers demolish Israeli homes - because Palestine has no military bulldozers. No Palestinian soldiers invade Israeli neighbourhoods, terrorizing the populace - because there is no Palestinian army. The conflict in Palestine is a war of Israeli state terror against a largely unarmed and defenceless civilian population.

Even immoral and self-defeating acts of violence against Israeli civilians (such as some suicide bombings are) cannot be equated with the daily humiliations, terror, and death that Israel inflicts on Palestinians by deliberate policy. Contrary to its presentation in the mainstream media, this conflict is neither a righteous war against evil Arab terrorists, nor a religious or ethnic dispute between two opposing and equally self-justified groups of people. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is the struggle of two irreconcilable and unequal causes: the struggle of an oppressed people for freedom, justice, and self-determination against their oppressors' struggle to maintain (and even expand) their domination. Under these circumstances resistance is not only a right - it's a moral imperative.

This is not to say that any and all acts of resistance are acceptable. Clearly they are not. But it grows tedious to continually hear well-meaning, but otherwise clueless, Westerners try to equate the two sides of this conflict. I am past tired of hearing white people passively whine, or shrilly demand, "Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?"

With respect, just because some people have chosen to remain ignorant of the long and deep history of Palestinian nonviolent resistance - from the 1936 Boycott to Bil'in today - does not mean that it does not exist. The Free Gaza Movement struggles in solidarity with an already vibrant Palestinian civil resistance.

Similarly, the other criticism of resistance - that it is futile - is equally mistaken. There is a widespread delusion among many that Israel and the Israeli lobby are simply too powerful to be challenged, let alone defeated. This is not the case.

On June 30th 2009 Israeli Occupation Forces forcibly boarded one of our boats, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, and kidnapped 21 human rights workers and journalists who were on their way to deliver much needed humanitarian and reconstruction supplies to besieged Gaza, including Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. They were held in jail for a week before being deported.

Though we were stopped on this particular voyage, it was not a "failure." In the month after our boat was hijacked, over 100,000 news stories, essays, blog entries, action alerts, and radio and television segments were made on Israel's violent response to our mission. It's true that the ordeal of our 21 volunteers pales in comparison to the 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli prisons. The seizure of our small cargo of 3 tons of medical aid and reconstruction kits is insignificant in light of the $4 billion (USD) of aid promised to Gaza - aid that has not and will not be delivered because of the Israeli blockade.

But that too misses the point. By choosing to violently confront and kidnap unarmed human rights workers on a mission of mercy, Israel publicly demonstrated both the illegality and the absurdity of the Gaza siege. The siege is abjectly not about "security." No one could possibly have believed that our small boat was a physical threat to Israel,

This public demonstration of the siege's illegality resulted in record action at the governmental level as well. Both the Irish and Greek governments formally intervened to protect their citizens and property. Despite having no diplomatic relationship and refusing to recognize the legitimacy of Israel's government - the King of Bahrain personally & successfully intervened to force Israel to immediately release the five Bahraini human rights workers kidnapped from the SPIRIT. The British parliament held a formal debate on the issue, and even the U.S. State Department was forced to hold a national conference call on for family and friends of the kidnap victims, as well as for Arab-American civil rights groups.

This was unprecedented, but it's not enough.

The Free Gaza Movement started our small part in this struggle in 2006. We began on hope alone. Many thought it couldn't be done, yet we did it. We broke through the Israeli blockade. We will sail again, and we are absolutely determined to reach the Gaza Strip on our next voyage. We intend to non-violently escalate our response. By sending a cargo ship, we will escalate the challenge to the blockade by bringing in significant amounts of banned reconstruction materials. By sending more boats on our next mission, we will significantly escalate the logistical difficulties Israel faces should they decide to violently attack us again. By sending even more parliamentarians, dignitaries, journalists, and human rights workers to accompany the boats, we will significantly escalate the political difficulties Israel faces should they decide to violently attack us again.

The journey to Gaza is dangerous. The Israeli navy rammed our flagship, the Dignity, when we attempted to deliver medical supplies to Gaza during their vicious assault in December/January. In June, they hijacked our small boat and kidnapped everyone on board. Israel has even threatened to open fire on our unarmed ships, rather than allow us to deliver humanitarian and reconstruction supplies to the people of Gaza.

But the risks we take on our voyages are insignificant compared to the risks imposed every day upon the people of Gaza.

The purpose of nonviolent direct action and civil resistance is to take risks - to put ourselves "in the way" of injustice. We take these risks well aware of what the possible consequences may be. We do so because the consequences of doing nothing are so much worse. Any time we allow ourselves to be bullied, every time we pass by an evil and ignore it - we lower our standards and allow our world to be made that much harsher and unjust for us all.

Israel can threaten our boats and passengers - we will keep coming. Israel can illegally disrupt our communications and navigation systems - we will keep coming. Israel can open fire around our boats, or attempt to ram and sink them. Israel can choose to forcibly board and highjack our boats, and abduct our volunteers.

It doesn't matter. We will keep coming. Armed only with the love of justice, and in the rite of resistance - we will go to Gaza again and again and again, until this siege is forever shattered and the people of Gaza have free access to the rest of the world.

-----
Ramzi Kysia is an Arab-American essayist and an organizer with the Free Gaza Movement. If you would like to support these efforts, please visit www.FreeGaza.org, or email donations[at]freegaza.org. If you would like to volunteer with Free Gaza, please send an email to volunteer[at]freegaza.org

"Agitating for Freedom: Anniversaries, Dreams and Persistence"

USA, July 21, (Pal Telegraph) "If we wait for it to work itself out, it will never be worked out! Freedom only comes through persistent revolt, through persistent agitation, through persistently rising up against the system of evil." – Martin Luther King

This July 22, marks the fourth anniversary of my website, but I did not establish the 'blog' until October 8, 2005, when I wrote:

It was about six months ago that I heard Charlie Rose on his PBS show say something like;

"We have yet to begin to imagine the potential of the Internet."

When I began writing for WeAreWideAwake/WAWA about three months ago, I imagined it would be an instrument to provoke thought, engage a dialogue and stimulate American's to do something about the state of our Union and for all our sisters and brothers in Israel Palestine.

I had hoped to be challenged by some conservative and many fundamentalist Christians, but so far, they remain mute. Perhaps, they just haven't read me, so if you know of any right wing neo-con Christian types I would appreciate any connections you can make with WAWA. Debate is great and all opinions are welcome but no mean-spiritedness will be posted.

Imagine the potential of the Internet. [end]


I still am imagining, but have had no luck engaging USA Christians, but have managed to get myself censored/banned/deactivated and deleted from Reverend Jim Wallis's Belief Net blog, Facebook, The Democratic Underground and the DAILY KOS.

Not one of the powers to be of the above sites has bothered to reply to my inquiries as to why was I censored/banned/deactivated and deleted, but I have 'blogged' all about it and the links are accessible through the home page of my site.


I also have a link that tells me daily, what countries are hitting on my site, and the USA Government and Military are considered a country on that link. In the last few months of the Bush Administration, Big Brother dropped out of the top 30 of over 75+ countries that hit on WAWA; but ever since February 2009, when I began contacting President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton to do something to help free Vanunu, Big Brother has hovered in the top twenty [Israel is consistently in the top ten.]

But, after five months of agitating them and never receiving any reply and because this is the 4th anniversary of my membership in the New Fourth Estate-which equates to activist reporters- I established a Soapbox Alert to Obama and Biden @

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=13764921&content_dir=ua_congressorg

That link will be alive for thirty days and for every one of them, I will use it to email Obama and Biden and remind them that on April 21, 2004, upon emerging from 18 years in a tomb sized cell, Mordechai Vanunu said:


"I am not harming Israel. I am not interested in Israel. I want to tell you something very important. I suffered here 18 years because I am a Christian, because I was baptized into Christianity. If I was a Jew I wouldn't have all this suffering here in isolation for 18 years. Only because I was a Christian man."


It was in May of 2005, just prior to my first [now 7] trips to Israel Palestine that I phoned Mother Agapia Stephanopolous, a Russian Orthodox nun and the administrator of the Orthodox School of Bethany in Jerusalem. I was inspired by her bold words to Congress about The Wall and also, I wanted to schedule an appointment with her for spiritual direction.


Mother Agapia is the sister of ABC News commentator, George Stephanopolous, and she had passionately informed Congress about the fact that, “Israel is destroying the local Christian community.”


On April 18, 2005, Robert Novak’s article “Walling off Christianity” reported on the nun and how East Jerusalem had been cut off from the rest of the West Bank. Mother Agapia predicted, “It is only a matter of time before Christians and Muslims will be unable to survive culturally and economically.”


Mother Agapia spoke bluntly about the nine yards high wall of Israeli concrete that have “shattered” the Christian communities.

She said, "I witness the strangulation of East Jerusalem, and the deprivation of her non-Jewish residents’ religious rights every day. Even the United States seems to have been taken in by Israeli spin."

On my very first afternoon in Jerusalem, on June 12, 2005, the nun met me at the Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem and I told her that I hadn’t been taken in by the spin, but what could I possibly do? She had no answer-but when I returned to USA I established WAWA/WeAreWideAwake.org with hope to raise awareness of what the USA media was not reporting and what the government did not want we the people to know about-such as the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land and the ongoing persecution of Vanunu-an ex-Orthodox Jew baptized Christian just days before being kidnapped by the Mossad on September 30, 1986.

But, I did not know any of that on the afternoon when I met Mother Agapia on the first day of my first trip to occupied east Jerusalem. The very first thing I told her about was of the surreal experience I had that very morning while wandering around in the Old City.

I had landed in Tel Aviv with ten other members of the interfaith Olive Trees Foundation for Peace just a few hours before dawn on that Sunday morn. We all checked into the Ambassador Hotel, a fifteen minute walk from the Old City and although they all crashed, I was wide awake. As soon as the sun rose I began to explore, and although I have no sense of direction and only understand English, I wandered around the Old City, which was eerily empty the closer I came to site of the Pool of Bethsaida and when I tread upon that ground, I experienced déjà vu, which was more real than imaginary.

Background:

Between 2000 and 2001, I was a first year student in the Episcopal Diocese of Orlando’s Formation Program for Spiritual Directors. I knew going into the program I would never be hanging out a shingle as a Spiritual Director that I was there because of the curriculum; to deepen my prayer life and study the lives of the saints. That is also when I became uncorked as a writer and began going on spiritual retreats.

On the second night of the second retreat in that program, we had a guided meditation on the story of Jesus at the Pool of Bethsaida.

There were seven of us in the class and we were instructed to close our eyes, listen to the story and allow our imagination to lead us to respond to the character that resonated most deeply to us.

Our leader prefaced the story from John 5:1-6, by telling the legend of the angel from heaven who would descend and agitate the waters of the Pool of Bethsaida.

Only the first leper, blind, or invalid who made it into the water would receive a healing. One day while Jesus was there, he walked by a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years.

Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”

The man answered he had no friends to help him get into the water first.

Jesus asked him again, “Do you want to be healed?”

Our leader then went silent, and in my imagination I was immediately upon the back of that agitating angel.


I hadn’t thought of that experience until I found myself at the site of the Pool of Bethsaida and what triggered the memory of that guided meditation was the recollection of a dream I had had a few weeks after that day we call 9/11.

In my dream I had stood at the edge of a dried up pool where crumbling stone columns were overgrown with vines and weeds and scores of doves and pigeons nested and flew. To my right was a large shade tree, but to my left I saw a few square squat dwellings with large satellite dishes attached to them. I remembered thinking the moment I woke up from that dream what a strange place it was, but then I quickly forgot all about it.

That is, until the afternoon of June 12, 2005, when I found myself standing at the edge of a dried up pool where crumbling stone columns were overgrown with vines and weeds and scores of doves and pigeons nested and flew. To my right was a large shade tree, but to my left I saw a few square squat dwellings with large satellite dishes attached to them. What a strange place I thought, how could it be that I had seen this scene in a dream a few weeks after that day we call 9/11?


On the afternoon of my very first day in Jerusalem, after I told Mother Agapia about my dream and what I had seen at the Pool of Bethsaida, she shrugged and smiled, then told me about the Jerusalem Interfaith Peace Conference with satellite link to the world that was happening the Sunday after the Thursday I was scheduled to return to the USA.

I knew immediately that I needed to attend and after saying goodbye to Mother Agapia, I phoned my husband to get his OK, changed my flight plans and on June 26, 2006, I attended the world wide satellite linked Interfaith Peace Conference at Jerusalem’s Notre Dame Cathedral.

Dan Rather moderated from Washington DC and the Holy Land interfaith panel were all moderates attempting to reclaim the battlefield of ideas from extremists on both sides.

Reverend Theodore Hessburgh, President Emeritus University of Notre Dame began the evening by stating, “The Peace of the world begins in Jerusalem.”

Dr. Tsvia Walden, Board of Director of the Peres Center and Geneva Initiative said, "There is a need for a third party in the negotiations that could enable both sides to trust each other. There are more people in this region interested in making concessions, they all want peace so desperately."

Rania Kharma, Coordinator of World Bank emergency services to the PA, reminded everyone, “We all need to be the bridges to our leaders that justice, equality, and human rights will bring peace. Give people justice and they will reward you with peace.”


Sheik Imad Falouiji warned, “Religions must go back to their origins. God commands us to love each other and live together. This Holy Land was given to all people. This land is on fire. There is an occupation that must be removed. The language of peace cannot succeed without justice for all.”


The Rt. Rev. Bishop Riah Abu Assal affirmed, “Peace is an act. Blessed are the peacemakers not the peace talkers. Peace is possible in the Holy Land. The root cause for the lack of peace since 1967 is the occupation. For peace to make progress in the Middle East we need to deal with the root cause...Religion was not meant to bring death. All those involved in searching for peace should commit themselves to work for justice and truth.”


Throughout the entire evening, I kept remembering what President Bush promised in his Second Inaugural Address: “In the long run, there is no justice without FREEDOM. There can be no human rights without LIBERTY. All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for liberty, we stand with you.”

I also wondered what Bush would say to the video message Vanunu taped three days prior as to where WMD's could actually be found in the Middle East:

Cut and paste the link to view that Message on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTX3vrHQOE


On 24 April 2004, Uri Avnery wrote:

"This week it became clear that the Americans are full partners in the creation of Israel's "nuclear option". How was this exposed? With the help of Mordecai Vanunu, of course. …The Security Establishment has not stopped harassing him even after he has sat in prison for 18 years, 11 of them in complete solitary confinement – a treatment he himself described on leaving the prison as "cruel and barbaric". After he was "set free", far-reaching restrictions were imposed on him (e.g. he is forbidden to leave the country, is restricted to one town, cannot go near any embassy or consulate, may not talk with foreign citizens). All this under the colonial British emergency regulations that were condemned at the time by the leaders of the Jewish community in Palestine, as "worse then the Nazi laws".

"Everybody understands that he has no more secrets. What can a technician know after 18 years in jail, during which technology has advanced with giant steps?...it becomes clear what the security establishment is really afraid of. Vanunu is in a position to expose the close partnership with the United States in the development of Israel's nuclear armaments.

"This worries Washington so much, that the man responsible in the State Department for "arms control", Under-Secretary John Bolton, has come to Israel in person for the occasion. Vanunu, it appears, can cause severe damage to the mighty super-power…By the way, this John Bolton is an avid supporter of the group of Zionists neo-cons who play a central role in the Bush theater. He opposes arms control for the United States and its satellites, and was installed in the State Department against the wishes of the Secretary of State himself." http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/taxonomy/term/226


"If we wait for it to work itself out, it will never be worked out! Freedom only comes through persistent revolt, through persistent agitation, through persistently rising up against the system of evil." – Martin Luther King


Eileen Fleming, A Feature Correspondent for The Palestine Telegraph and Arabisto.com
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"

"Israeli soldiers reveal dreadful war crimes in Gaza"

Wednesday, 15 July 2009 01:41 Added www.Paltelegraph.com

Gaza, July 15, (Pal Telegraph) - A group of soldiers who took part in Israel's assault in Gaza say widespread abuses were committed against civilians under "permissive" rules of engagement.

The troops said they had been urged to fire on any building or person that seemed suspicious and said civilians were sometimes used as human shields.One soldier said: "You feel like an infantile little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them."

Breaking the Silence, a campaign group made up of Israeli soldiers, gathered new anonymous accounts from 26 soldiers.

The picture that emerges from the testimonies, which have been seen by The Independent, is one of massive fire power to cover advances and rules of engagement that were calculated to ensure, in the words attributed to one battalion commander, that "not a hair will fall of a soldier of mine. I am not willing to allow a soldier of mine to risk himself by hesitating. If you are not sure, shoot."

The first eye-witness accounts of the war by serving Israeli reservists and conscripts describes the Israeli use of Palestinian civilians as "human shields". They detail the killing of at least two civilians, the vandalism, looting and wholesale destruction of Palestinian houses, the use of deadly white phosphorus, bellicose religious advice from army rabbis and what another battalion commander described to his troops as "insane firepower with artillery and air force". The reports amount to the most formidable challenge by Israelis since the Gaza war to the military's own considered view that it conducted the operation according to international law and made "an enormous effort to focus its fire only against the terrorists whilst doing the utmost to avoid harming uninvolved civilians".

They are contained in testimonies from about 30 soldiers that were collected by Breaking the Silence, an army veterans organisation that seeks to "expose the Israeli public to the routine situations of everyday life in the occupied territories". Although the organisation has collected hundreds of testimonies from ex-soldiers before, this is the first time that it has done so from serving soldiers so soon after the events they describe.

They tell how:

* Unprecedentedly loose rules of engagement were put in place to protect Israeli troops. One soldier said his brigade commander and other officers made it clear that "any movement must entail gunfire". He added: "I don't remember if the brigade commander said this or someone else. I' m not sure. No one is supposed to be there. If you see any signs of movement at all, you shoot. These, essentially, were the rules of engagement. Shoot if you like if you are afraid or you see someone, shoot." Another soldier said his battalion commander had said the operation was not "a limited confrontation such as in Hebron, and not to hesitate if we suspected someone nor feel bad about destruction because it is all done for the safety of our own soldiers... if we see something suspect and shoot, better hit an innocent than hesitate to target an enemy". One soldier said the "awareness of each soldier going in is simply... a light finger on the trigger. You see something and you're not quite sure? You shoot".

* Houses were systematically demolished. Despite official accounts that homes were only destroyed for strictly "operational" reasons, one reservist, a veteran of the conflict in Gaza since before 2005, said "I never knew such fire power" used by tanks and helicopters for the "constant destruction" of houses. The soldier said that some houses had been destroyed for normal operational reasons, such as because they had been booby trapped or used by militants to fire from, or had contained tunnel openings. But he said others were destroyed for the "day after" - to make a "very large" area "sterile", to allow better "firing capacity, good visibility and control" once the operation was over. This meant, demolishing houses "not implicated in any way, whose single sin is that it is situated on a hill in the Gaza strip" .

* A civilian man between 50 and 60 who was unarmed but carrying a torch was shot dead after the unit's commander ordered his soldiers not to fire warning shots but to hold their fire until he was 50m away. The soldier said the company commander announced over the radio after the incident: "Here's an opener for tonight". The soldier said that the commander was challenged over why he had not authorised deterrent fire when the man was further away: "He didn't agree and couldn't give a damn, and finally the guys felt that even if they could take this up with the higher echelons it wouldn't be effective." Another soldier said his unit commander shot dead an old man hiding with his family under the stairs of a house. While the soldier said that the killing of the man was a mistake, it had happened as the unit entered the house using live fire.

* Palestinian human shields - or "johnnies" as they were termed by soldiers on the ground - were suborned to enter surrounded houses ahead of troops, including houses known to contain armed militants. One account corroborates the story of one such human shield that was exposed in The Independent, that of Majdi Abed Rabbo in Jabalya in northern Gaza, who was ordered three times to enter a house to report on the condition of three armed Hamas militants inside.

* Military rabbis prepared troops for battle. One soldier said an army rabbi had "aimed at inspiring the men with courage, cruelty aggressiveness, expressions as 'no pity. God protects you. Everything you do is sanctified'... there were specific scenarios discussed... but from the context it was pretty obvious he came to tell us how aggressive and determined we need to be, that we must win because this is a holy war". Leaflets distributed at military synagogues had stated that "the Palestinians are like the Philistines of old, newcomers who do not belong in the land, aliens planted on the soil which should clearly return to us".

* Mortars - rarely if ever used in Gaza before - were widely deployed. They included 120mm mortars of the sort that killed up to 40 civilians outside the UN el-Fakhoura school in Jabalya which was being used as a shelter, and in a nearby house. One soldier explained that while "with light arms you've got an 80 per cent chance of hitting the target with your first shot, with mortars it is much less". Another said: "I finally understood. We were firing at launcher crews in open spaces. But it didn't take much to aim at schools, hospitals and such. So I see I'm firing literally into a built-up area. I don't know to what degree it was still inhabited because the army made considerable attempts to get people to leave. But I understand that... [tails off]."

The testimonies appear to reinforce evidence from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and journalists who visited battle zones just after the war in January that white phosphorus was used for purposes other than "marking", "range-finding" and "smoke screening". Those purposes included to ignite homes suspected of being booby trapped.

Houses that troops occupied were vandalised. One testimony stated: "One of the soldiers... opened the child's bag... he took out notebooks and ripped them. One guy smashed cupboards for kicks out of boredom. There were guys arguing with the platoon commander before we left the house why he wouldn't let them smash the picture hanging there..." A reservist soldier said that there was a "big difference between the way we treated the contents of the house and the way the regulars did. The regulars wouldn't take care even of the most basic sanitary stuff like going to the toilet, basic hygiene. I mean you could see that they had defecated anywhere and left the stuff lying round".

A spokeswoman for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Leibovitz, sought to challenge the motives and credibility of the report. She said "more than a dozen" military police investigations were under way into incidents that took place during Operation Cast Lead. While the IDF continued to operate according to "uncompromising ethical values", it was ready to investigate allegations of misconduct but not on the basis of anonymous testimonies which she could not be sure were from soldiers.

The Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard said the report showed that the Gaza operation violated the "number one principle in international laws of war": that of distinguishing between the civilian population and combatants.

Yehuda Shaul, a founder of Breaking the Silence, said the group had names and details for all the testimonies - all of which had been taped - and that anonymity was to protect the testifiers from any disciplinary or criminal proceedings. The army already knew the name of at least one, he said.

Gaza invasion: Witnesses on the front line

On military briefings ahead of the invasion

"We talked about practical matters... but the basic approach to war was very brutal, that was my impression... He said something along the lines of 'don't let morality become an issue. That will come up later'. He had this strange language: 'Leave the nightmares and horrors that will come up for later, now just shoot'... The basic approach was that there were no chances taken. If you face an area that is hidden by a building, you take down the building. Questions such as 'who lives in the building?' are not asked."

On problems with identifying targets for bombing

"It got to the point where we would try to report to field intelligence about a figure sticking out its head or a rocket being launched, and the girl [at field intelligence] would ask, 'Is it near this or that house?' We'd look at the aerial photo and say, 'Yes, but the house is no longer there'. 'Wait, is it facing a square?' 'No more square.'... Later I went in to the look-out war-room and asked how things worked, and the girl-soldiers there, the look-outs, resented the fact that they had no way to direct the planes, because all their reference points were razed... It's highly possible that now the pilot will bomb the wrong house."

On the rules of engagement

"[The Brigade commander] went so far as to say this was war and in war, no consideration of civilians was to be taken. You shoot anyone you see. I'm paraphrasing here, not literally quoting, but the gist of the matter was very clear."

On the rabbinate's role in the conflict

"The rabbi said we are actually conducting the war of 'the sons of light' against 'the sons of darkness'. This is in fact a statement with highly messianic language... It turns the other side as a generality into 'sons of darkness' while we become 'sons of light'. There is no differentiation which we would expect to find between civilians and others. Here is one people fighting another people, with all the messianic implications. But that's the point: this is also religious propaganda. In other words, the army is not a revival meeting. They do not put on a uniform in order to be Judaized."

On soldiers' responsibility

"Anything we did there, we'd answer ourselves: there's no other choice, but this is how we shirk our responsibility. You bring yourself to this kind of deterministic situation, a moment that I have not chosen, where I no longer have any responsibility for my own actions. Even if your choice is the right one, you must admit you chose it. You have to admit you chose to go into Gaza. As soon as you did, you've brought people into a moral twilight zone, you've forced them to handle dilemmas and part of that confrontation failed. As soon as you say 'there is no other choice', you're shirking your responsibility. Then you don't need to investigate, to look into things."

Independent

Breaking the Silence http://www.shovrimshtika.org/index_e.asp

"Breaking: Demos, actions in support of kidnapped peace activists across Europe"

Gaza-london, July 2, ( Pal Telegraph) - The European campaign to end the siege on Gaza (ECESG) called today for international human rights organizations and lobbying groups to organize large protests in front of Israeli embassies across Europe in solidarity with activists of Freegaza Movement. Activists onboard the humanitarian boat were kidnapped by Israeli naval forces while they were sailing in a peaceful mission to end the siege. The call aims at creating factual movements on the ground to release "the spirit of humanity" activists

The boat was boarded by highly-profiled people like Mairead Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize and a former U.S. congressperson, Cynthia McKinney. The vessel was forcibly take to one of the Israeli seaports under direct threats from Naval boats.

Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize was taken against her will and isolated from the rest of the team. The Israeli army didn't care about neither her old age nor her position. Two activists were released only while the rest are in Israeli detention of Ramalah. The exemplary punishment against the activists is a small glimpse of what's happening to 12 thousand Palestinians in Israeli jails.

ECESG is organizing today a number of protests in various European countries to call on releasing the kidnapped peace activists. Protests would be held in Demnark, Italy, Holland and Sweeden

Sameh Habeeb, spokesman of (ECESG), said that the issue is not only showing solidarity for the activists but also for 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in the Gaza strip with no basics.

According to Habeeb, the way Israel treated the activists show the confusions and fluctuation of Israeli policies towards facing the non-violent resistance actions. The boat was only carrying humanitarian needs, toys for children and small quantities of cement.

" We are going to start mobilizing the mainstream in Europe on popular and official levels. The campaign would form a front of politicians and MPs to release the activists and ending the siege on Gaza".

Ramy Abdu, member of the campaign said that ECESG is working to lobby European MPs to participate in future trips of Freegaza movement. He revealed that some MPs and politicians would be on board of future boats.

He said that contacts are being made at the moment to urge MPs to participate and some of them expressed readiness towards the idea.