Zaterdag aanstaande is een grote demonstratie gepland door een aantal Israelische organisaties waaronder Gush Shalom. Ze zullen met een goederenconvooi op weg gaan naar grenspost Erez van Gaza. Wie vanuit Nederland iets bij wil dragen: dat kan. SIVMO (Steuncomité Israelische Vredesbewegingen en Mensenrechten Organisaties) heeft een gironummer. Wie nu geld overmaakt is nog op tijd.
SIVMO, Amsterdam, giro nummer, 6181625 met vermelding Gush-Shalom/ Relief Convoy Gaza.
Zie Gush Shalom, hier.
GAZA: AN ISRAELI CALL FOR URGENT ACTION
We, the Israeli organizations signed below, deplore the decision by the Israeli government to cut off vital supplies of electricity and fuel (and therefore water, since the pumps cannot work), as well as essential foodstuffs, medicines and other humanitarian supplies to the civilian population of Gaza. Such an action constitutes a clear and unequivocal crime against humanity.
Prof. John Dugard, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, called the Israeli government’s actions “serious war crimes” for which its political and military officials should be prosecuted and punished. The killing of more than 40 civilians this past week violates, he said, “the strict prohibition on collective punishment contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention. It also violates one of the basic principles of international humanitarian law that military action must distinguish between military targets and civilian targets.” Indeed, the very legal framework invoked by the Israeli government to carry out this illegal and immoral act – declaring Gaza a “hostile entity” within a “conflict short of war” – has absolutely no standing in international law.
We call on the Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, to lead the Security Council to a decisive decision to end the siege on Gaza when it meets in emergency session on Wednesday.
We call on the governments of the world, and in particular the American government and the European Parliament, to censure Israel’s actions and, in light of recent attempts to revive the diplomatic process, to end all attacks on civilians, including the continuing demolition of Palestinian homes at an alarming rate.
We call upon the Jews of the world in whose name the Israeli government purports to speak, and upon their rabbis and communal leaders in particular, to speak out unequivocally against this offense to the very moral core of Jewish values.
And we call upon the peoples of the world to let their officials and leaders know of their repudiation of this cruel, illegal and immoral act – an act that stands out in its cruelty even in an already oppressive Israeli Occupation.
We condemn attacks on all civilians, and we acknowledge the suffering of the residents of Sderot. Still, those attacks do not justify the massive disproportionality of Israeli sanctions over a million and half civilians of Gaza, in particular in light of Israel’s oppressive 40 year occupation. Such violations of international law by a government are especially egregious and must be denounced and punished if the very system of human rights and international law is to be preserved.
The Israeli government’s decision to punish Gaza’s civilian population, with all the human suffering that entails, constitutes State Terrorism against innocent people. Only when Israeli policy-makers are held accountable for their actions and international law upheld will a just peace be possible in the Middle East.
The Alternative Information Center * Bat Tsafon * Gush Shalom * The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) * Physicians for Human Rights * The Women’s Coalition for Peace
Hieronder de laatste pressrelease over de demonstratie a.s. zaterdag. Zoals je kan zien doen er veel organizaties aan mee, ook Arabisch Israelische organizaties.
Press release:
LIFT THE BLOCKADE ON GAZA !!
Saturday 26.1.08: A countrywide relief convoy and Israeli demonstration in solidarity on the Gaza border with a parallel Palestinian demonstration in the Strip.
On Saturday, 26 January 2008, a humanitarian convoy of supplies headed by peace and human rights organisations will go from Haifa , Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beer Sheva to the Gaza Strip border, decked with signs “Lift the Blockade!” The convoy will meet up at 12.00 noon at Yad Mordechai Junction and all will then travel together to a hill which overlooks the Strip, where a demonstration will take place at 13:00. Speakers will be Shulamit Aloni, Uri Avnery, Ronit Matalon, Hassan Jabareen and Prof. Jeff Halper. There will be a ‘phone link between the Israeli demo and hundreds of Gazans on the Gaza side in Gaza City at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, demonstrating as part of the Palestinian-International Campaign to End the Siege,” one of whose spokesmen is psychiatrist and human rights activist, Dr. Eyad Sarraj.
The convoy will contain sacks of flour, food supplies and other essential products, especially water filters. Water supplies in Gaza are polluted, with nitrates at a level ten times the maximum recommended by the World Health Organisation. Due to the Israeli blockade, Gaza has a critical shortage of water filters, creating an intolerable violation of minimum humanitarian standards.
Organisers of the convoy will be appealing to the army for immediate permission for the goods to be allowed into the Strip, and are prepared for an ongoing campaign next to the border crossings, together with a public and judicial appeal; nearby kibbutzim, which are within the range of the Qassam rockets and mortars, have offered their warehouses for storage of the convoy’s goods.
A simultaneous demonstration will be taking place in Rome , Italy . There will also be demonstrations in various cities in America , at the initiative of San Francisco-based Jewish Voice for Peace.
To travel as part of the event, you may go in one of the convoys (8.30 a.m. departure from Reading Terminal in Tel Aviv, 8.45 a.m. from Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem) or join the general convoy as it leaves at 12 noon from Yad Mordechai Junction, or go individually to the demo, which will take place at “Nabiya Maraai Lookout,” near Kibbutz Mefalsim (from Yad Mordechai Junction, go on Road 34 and at Gavim Junction turn right onto Road 232, after about 6 kms, immediately after Kibbutz Mefalsim, turn right and go for a short distance to the site). A map showing the site of the demonstration is available on the website: http://toibillboard.info/26janmap.jpg
For further details: Adam Keller, Gush Shalom (0506-709603), Adi Dagan, Coalition of Women for Peace (0508-575730), Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, ICAHD (0547-366393).
Dr. Eyad Sarraj ( Gaza ), End the Siege on Gaza campaign, (0599-408438), Marwan Diab ( Gaza ), End the Siege on Gaza campaign, (0599-462037).
Participating organisations: Gush Shalom, Combatants for Peace, Coalition of Women for Peace, ICAHD – The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Bat Shalom, Bat Tzafon for Peace and Equality, Balad, Hadash, Adalah, Tarabut-Hithabrut, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, AIC – The Alternative Information Center, Psychoactive – Mental Health Workers for Human Rights, ActiveStills, The Students Coalition (Tel Aviv University), New Profile, MachsomWatch, PCATI – The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Yesh Gvul, Gisha, Local Television on the Internet.
Background: Despite unilateral evacuation of 7,000 settlers, the Gaza Strip remains Occupied Territory and the situation of its residents is increasingly worsening. The Government of Israel continues to control its airspace, territorial waters, population registry, tax system, supply of goods, freedom of movement and access to healthcare. Entry and exit of people and goods is completely controlled by Israel , and is currently under total closure, so that the Strip has actually become the largest prison in the world.
We sympathize with Sderot’s residents and others living near the border, exposed to traumatising Qassam rockets, but siege and collective punishment are no answer: although 1.5 million men, women and children are denied basic necessities, driven to the edge of starvation, Israel is increasing the daily deathtoll among Palestinians, many of whom are civilians, whilst the rocket fire has increased. Few Israelis ask why several Palestinian ceasefire offers have been rejected out of hand by the Israeli government. We’ll go to the Gaza border, in co-operation with Palestinian partners inside Gaza , to show there’s an alternative to siege and rocketfire – an alternative of peace.
END THE BLOCKADE ON GAZA !
Does it help the children of Sderot that we are forcing starvation on the children of Gaza , and making them drink polluted water?
On Saturday, 26th January, we will not stay at home!
There will be a huge supply convoy to Gaza .
Israeli and Palestinian peace organisations will be working together!
We shall travel in a huge convoy of private cars and buses, in order to bring basic supplies to the people of Gaza .
Owners of private cars are asked to come with their cars and their families, too. Bring food packages from your own family for a family in Gaza (make your personal choice from basic food stuffs, with a personal message placed inside).
In order to help with effective organisation:
Please register immediate notice of your participation by bus or car from Tel Aviv and Haifa to Tali Schiff (0523-738832) and from Jerusalem and Beer Sheva to Moshe Pesach (0509-702338).
Departure times:
Tel Aviv: 8.15 a.m. by bus from the Arlosorov Train Station and 8.30 a.m. by private car from the Reading Power Station car park.
Jerusalem: 8.30 a.m. by bus from Liberty Bell Gardens (Gan HaPa’amon) and 8.45 a.m. by private car from Teddy Stadium car park.
Haifa: 7.45 a.m. by bus and private car from Solel Boneh Square .
Beer Sheva: 10.15 a.m. by bus and private car from the Ben Gurion University Gate.
Yad Mordechai Junction: 12.00 noon the convoy will congregate, from all points.
Contributions for the purchase of supplies may be sent to P.O. Box 3322 , Tel Aviv 61033, and cheques should be made out to “Gush Shalom” and labelled “For the Gaza convoy”, or you may make your donations to organisers actually at the demonstration