Thursday, July 31, 2014

Reporting from Gaza: Israel's assault exceeds death toll of 2008/2009 Operation Cast Lead

Dear friends,
it has been announced there will a limited true for 72 hours. This announcement comes as the death toll in Gaza exceeds that of Operation Cast Lead. As of 31 July, Israel has now murdered more Palestinians in Gaza than they did in Operation Cast Lead in 2008/2009. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza(PCHR), Israel has now killed 1432 people during its 24 day murder spree in Gaza. Of this number, 1219 are civilian (85%) and 345 are children. Israel has injured 6511. According PCHR, 1,417 Palestinians were killed and 5303 injured in Israel's 22 day Operation Cast Lead.

The tweets included in this post are from the following journalists, photographers and bloggers (click on their names to go to their accounts) documenting the situation on the ground in Gaza:

Belal- Gaza - Palestinian doctor working in Gaza.
Mohammed Suliman - Gazan blogger (see also his article on Gaza in Alkhabar)
Dalia Hatuaq - Palestinian journalist
Ayman Mohyeldin - Egyptian reporter, reporting for NBC
Sherine Tadros - Sky News journalist in Gaza
Chris Morris - BBC journalist
UNRWA - UN Relief and Works Agency
Pierre Krähenbühl - Commissioner General UNRWA

You can read the earlier posts in this "Reporting from Gaza" series by clicking on the titles blow:

In solidarity,
Kim

Gaza: A boy and his cat

Dear friends,

Over the last three weeks I have spent an enormous amount of time on social media following what is happening in Gaza and speaking with friends there. I have lost count of the times I have just burst into tears reading the accounts or viewing the images tweeted and posted by ordinary Palestinians, doctors and media in Gaza.

However, I have made it a rule to try to avoid as much as possible reading the comments in response to these posts because invariably many of them are by Zionist hasbara (propaganda) trolls, shilling in defence of Israel's massacres and regurgitating the standard Zionist talking points of the Israeli government. No matter what horror or human tragedy is reported, the suffering of their fellow human beings is either ignored or worst still, at times, rejoiced in by these shills.

As a political activist, I understand intellectually and politically why and how this happens, but on a emotional level I just can not get my head around how people can completely ignore the dire impact of this murderous rampage against a largely defenseless population locked in an open air prison for more than 8 years. I can't comprehend on an emotional level, how people can ignore the suffering and trauma that is being inflicted on 1.8 million people. As the death toll rises and more children are killed, I can not comprehend on a human emotional level how anyone, whatever your ideology or your politics, can turn a blind eye to the horrors in Gaza.

Amongst the photos and posts, there have been many bloody images but the ones that usually upset me the most are not these ones, as horrible as they are. It is usually the ones which show the simply humanity of the people of Gaza, as they try to survive these horrible and harrowing times.

How can you not be moved by images such as this one which was just tweeted this morning by one of the Palestinian doctors, Dr Belal Dabour, working in Shifa Hospital in Gaza?

The death toll in Gaza has now exceeded that of Operation Cast Lead. As of 31 July, Israel has now killed more Palestinians in Gaza than they did in Operation Cast Lead in 2008/2009. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza (PCHR), Israel has now killed 1432 people during its 24 day assault on Gaza. Of this number, 1219 are civilian (85%) and 345 are children. Israel has injured 6511. According PCHR, 1,417 Palestinians were killed and 5303 injured in Israel's 22 day Operation Cast Lead.

Now more than ever the people of Gaza and Palestine need our voices. Please join the rallies, marches and actions in your city, please write letters to your local political representative, please join the Palestinian BDS campaign, please speak out at your church, community group and in your union, ask them to pass motions condemning the massacre in Gaza and ask them to support the BDS campaign.

And please remember, always, the humanity of the people of Gaza - that they are and always will be someone's beloved son or daughter, mother or father, grandparent, wife, husband, cousin, aunt, uncle, nephew, niece, friend and loved one. That their lives, like all lives, not matter what your religion, nationality, ethnicity or gender, are precious and that they are not just a statistic.

in solidarity, Kim

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Australian Rallies for Gaza and Palestine this coming weekend: 1st - 3rd of August 2014

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

From Gaza: I Would Rather Die in Dignity Than Agree to Living in an Open-Air Prison

Dear friends,
I am reprinting this very moving and eloquent account, published in the Huffington Post, written by Mohammed Suliman about Palestinian sumoud (steadfastness) and defiance in Gaza and the demand for human dignity.

In the article Mohammed eloquently explains: "The reality is that if Palestinians stop resisting, Israel won't stop occupying, as its leaders repeatedly affirm. The besieged Jews of the Warsaw ghetto had a motto "to live and die in dignity." As I sit in my own besieged ghetto, I think how Palestinians have honored this universal value. We live in dignity and we die in dignity, refusing to accept subjugation".

You can follow Mohammed on twitter: @imPalestine

in solidarity, Kim

**

From Gaza: I Would Rather Die in Dignity Than Agree to Living in an Open-Air Prison

Mohammed Suliman, Huffington Post: 28/07/2014

Gaza is a tough place; it's tiny, overcrowded and besieged. But the people are kind. The food is delicious, and the beach, though filthy, allows us to pretend that we're free. The sunset at sea is a spectacular scene, despite the Israeli warships dotting the landscape. Take a stroll down the street, and you'll meet vendors, mostly young children hawking their wares. Take a taxi, and by the time you get off, you'll be exchanging phone numbers with your newest friend, the taxi driver.

Our markets are complete chaos, an experience for all five senses. Rush hour is when school children, dressed in UNRWA uniforms or Barcelona and Real Madrid t-shirts, finish classes and flood the streets on their way back home. It is when I realize how young Gaza's population is. Night is as lively a time as daytime. Smoke shisha at a beach or downtown café or chill with the family. The people in Gaza, too, are humans.

But this isn't the scene in Gaza anymore. The streets are deserted, and so is the beach. Schools have become makeshift shelters crammed with displaced people fleeing death to a supposedly safer place. The beautiful noise of life has been replaced by a horrid one of death. Drones are humming overhead, and jet fighters are roaring.

There is always shelling at a distance. Distance, however, is relative. It could be so close that your windows will be blown out as you scream your heart out. Only then will you realize you have just escaped a narrow death. But someone else must have inevitably died. This could happen numerous times a day before you force yourself to sleep in the dark in a safe corner of your house to the sound of falling bombs and missiles, in the hope that none of these missiles will know its way to you.

The people in Gaza are living through yet another Israeli assault, the third such assault in six years, with nowhere to flee. As missiles hit civilian houses, entire families are obliterated. How else could one possibly characterize the killing of twenty-five members from one family in one strike, or the killing of another eighteen members from another family in just another strike? How can one describe the arbitrary and indiscriminate shelling of one of the most crowded and impoverished areas in Gaza City with endless barrages of missiles and mortar shells all night long while preventing ambulances and civil defense forces from entering the area to rescue and evacuate the victims?

"We don't target civilians," Israel tells us. "You're simply lying" should be a sane person's response to these, at best, baseless claims. Israel does target civilians with its sophisticated high-precision weapons, hence the over 1,000 deaths in Gaza so far, 80 percent of whom are civilians, according to human rights groups. Over 200 children have been killed, some charred, others decapitated and many disemboweled. Israeli warships have killed four young children from Bakr family playing on the beach in broad daylight, an incident witnessed by NBC's reporter in Gaza Ayman Mohyedin. A sniper killed a distressed young man looking for his lost cousin amongst the debris in the wake of its unspeakable massacre in Al Shujayeh.

Its unmanned drones killed two young brothers from Areef family with a missile while they were on their way to buy yogurt for their breakfast. In another incident, it fired missiles at and killed three children feeding their pigeons and chickens on the roof of their building. Israel has dropped thousands of tons of explosives on one of the world's most densely populated areas, killing 26 members from Abu Jame' family in one airstrike, 20 members from Al Najjar family, 18 from Al Batsh family, nine from Al Qassas family, 7 from Al Keilani family, 8 from Kaware' family, five from Hamad family and on and on. These are the stories we hear as we wait death in the comfort of our home.

A ceasefire might be negotiated and agreed upon. Hamas might soon stop firing rockets, but then will Israel cease to exercise its violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank on a daily basis? The reality is that if Palestinians stop resisting, Israel won't stop occupying, as its leaders repeatedly affirm. The besieged Jews of the Warsaw ghetto had a motto "to live and die in dignity." As I sit in my own besieged ghetto, I think how Palestinians have honored this universal value. We live in dignity and we die in dignity, refusing to accept subjugation.

We're tired of war. I, for one, have had enough of bloodshed, death and destruction. But I also can no longer tolerate the return to a deeply unjust status quo. I can no longer agree to live in this open-air prison. We can no longer tolerate to be treated as sub-humans, deprived of our most basic human rights. We are trapped here, trapped between two deaths: death by Israeli bombs and missiles, and death by Israel's blockade of Gaza.

We want to be able to get in and out of Gaza freely, whenever we choose. Why should our students not be granted their right to study at universities of their own choice? Why should our patients be left for their own death as Israel deprives them of receiving medical treatment in hospitals outside of Gaza? Our fishermen want to fish in our sea waters without the prospect of being shot at and killed. We deserve the right to access clean water, electricity and our most basic needs. And yet we can't because Israel occupies. It occupies not only our land but our bodies and our destinies. No people can tolerate this injustice. We, too, are humans.

Reporting for Gaza: More than 250 Palestinian children killed by Israel in assault on Gaza

Dear friends,
once again more children have been killed by Israel as it bombs Gaza. We are now entering the third week of Israel's murderous assault on Gaza and the death toll is now in excess of 1180, most of whom are civilians, including more than 250 children. At least 6,800 Palestinians have been injured.

On the very first day of Eid, 8 Palestinian children playing in park and on the street lost their lives, along with two adults, when Israeli military drones carried out a strike. At the time eyewitness reported of two separate strike assaults - one on Shifa Hospital and one on Al Shati Refugee camp where the childen where. Palestinians and Western reporters on the scene gave eyewitness reports that the strike was carried out by Israeli drones. Israeli Occupation Forces quickly attempted to shift the blame, saying both strikes were caused by a failed rockets launched by Hamas. However, as Australian reporter Ruth Pollard later noted in a tweet, there was no evidence of Hamas rocket fragments to be found in the debris. Hamas also denied that they had fired a rocket which misfired.

Al Jazeera, also published eyewitness accounts of the strike: According to Munzer al-Derby, "The kids were playing on the wheel... A rocket fell and cut them apart.""I know some of them. They were from Al-Helou family who left their homes in Shujayea (east Gaza city, where massive artillery fire destroyed neighbourhoods). They came here and rented an apartment last week".

The tweets included in this post are from the following journalists, photographers and bloggers (click on their names to go to their accounts) documenting the situation on the ground in Gaza.

Ruth Pollard - Australian journalist with the Fairfax Media
Dr Bassel Abuwarda - Palestinian doctor working in Gaza
Maram Humaid - Gazan blogger/tweeter
Ayman Mohyeldin - Egyptian reporter, reporting for NBC
Sharif Kouddous - Independent reporter, reporting for Democracy Now
Tamer El-Ghobashy - Wall St Journal Middle East Correspondent

You can read the earlier posts in this "Reporting from Gaza" by clicking on the titles blow:

In solidarity,
Kim

Monday, July 28, 2014

Mass Definiance in Palestine

Dear friends,
please find below my latest article on the Palestinian mass protests in the Occupied West Bank and Israel against the assault on Gaza and Israel's ongoing occupation.

in solidarity, Kim
**

Mass defiance in Palestine

27 July 2014 | Kim Bullimore | RedFlag

For Muslims, Laylat al-Qadr is the holiest night of Ramadan, which is the holiest month in the calendar. This year, the night witnesses more violent Palestinian deaths.

Mohammed al-Araj (19) and Majd Sufyan (27) were killed on 24 July when Israeli forces opened fire on more than 20,000 protesters in the Occupied West Bank. One participant told Red Flag that more than 1,000 Palestinian youth – both men and women – subsequently clashed with Israeli soldiers. More than 280 Palestinians were injured as a result of further Israeli military fire.

The demonstration, the largest in almost a decade, called for Palestinians to “deliver a message to Gaza people that you don’t stand alone against this brutal offensive”. Anger also was fuelled by Israel’s refusal to issue permits enabling West Bank Palestinians to pray at al-Aqsa mosque.

Beginning at al-Amari refugee camp two kilometres south of Ramallah, the protesters had marched towards Qalandia, the main Israeli checkpoint between Ramallah and Occupied East Jerusalem.

Since the kidnapping, torture and murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir on 4 July, there have been daily confrontations and protests in both Occupied East Jerusalem and throughout the Occupied West Bank in cities such as Bethlehem.

Palestinians in the West Bank staged a general strike on 21 July in the wake of the Shejaiya massacre, during which Israel all but levelled the eastern district of Gaza City, killing almost 100 people. Palestinian shops, businesses and institutions closed their doors for the day. According to the Palestine News Network more than 1,500 Palestinians took part in the demonstrations in Bethlehem. Demonstrations also took place in Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarem and Occupied East Jerusalem.

Palestinian citizens of Israel also joined the general strike. In Nazareth, the main commercial street was closed and up to 10,000 protested. Israeli police arrested at least a dozen demonstrators. Since early July, the Israeli state has arrested more than 930 Palestinians in both East Jerusalem and from Palestinian towns and districts inside Israel.

As news spread of the use of live ammunition and the deaths at the Qalandia march, spontaneous protests broke out in Hebron, Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Nablus. Protests also took place in Occupied East Jerusalem, where Palestinians attacked and burned an Israeli military post.

For weeks the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) and its police force have suppressed demonstrations in support of Gaza. Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has refused to end “security coordination” with Israel, describing it in May as “sacred”.

In July, an increasing level of violence was used by the PA against Palestinian demonstrators, including the use of weapons of the occupation army – tear gas, sound grenades and live ammunition. Abbas and the PA are viewed by many Palestinians, particularly the youth, as little more than a “subcontractor for Israel”. In fact, amid the anti-Israel demonstrations, there have also been demonstrations against the PA police.

Yet the growing outrage at PA collaboration resulted in a shift at the end of July. Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade – which has not engaged in armed struggle in the Occupied West Bank for the past seven years – claimed it had engaged in a fire fight with Israeli troops. According to Palestinian media outlet Ma’an News, the gun battle took place concurrently with the Qalandia march.

The PA subsequently called for a “day of rage” on 25 July. Tens of thousands of Palestinians joined demonstrations across the West Bank. The biggest protests taking place in Jenin, Bethlehem and Nablus. Israeli occupation forces killed seven and wounded hundreds more.

In Abu Dis, on the outskirts of East Jerusalem, dozens of protesters attempted to break holes in the apartheid wall. In Tulkarem, thousands marched on Netanyah Checkpoint. In Bethlehem at least 3,000 people took part in a rally that marched from Manger Square to the apartheid wall at Rachel’s Tomb.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Reporting from Gaza: Ceasefire in Beit Hanoun & Shejaiya

Dear friends,
a brief ceasefire has taken place. During this time, Palestinian families attempted to return to their homes, only to discover their homes no longer existed.

Many Gazan families spent the ceasefire trying to retrieve what belongings they could and sadly digging the bodies of their family members out of the rubble. So far more than 150 bodies have removed from the rubble of the cities that Israel destroyed. The number is expected to continue to grow.

Israel has now massacred more than 1050 people in its bloody and brutal assault on Gaza. Please join the rallies and actions in your cities to add your voice in protest against their actions. Please get involved in the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign and discuss with your church, place of worship, community group and union about joining the BDS campaign and passing motions condemning Israel's war crimes in Gaza.

The tweets included in this post are from the following journalists, photographers and bloggers: (click on their names to go directly to their twitter account):

Hazem Balousha - Palestinian journalist working in Gaza
Belal- Gaza - Palestinian doctor working in Gaza.
Noah Browning - Reuters journalist
Daniel Rivers - ITV News
Kate Benyon-Tinker - BBC
Jesse Rosenfeld - Independent Journalist in Gaza
ISM Palestine - International solidarity activists in Gaza & West Bank
Kelvin Brown - BBC journalist and photographer
Tamer El-Ghobashy - Wall St Journal Middle East Correspondent
International Red Cross
Agence France-Presse

You can read the earlier posts in this "Reporting from Gaza" by clicking on the titles blow: