The U.S. Palestinian Community Network is appalled that the government of the United States not only continues its unconditional support for Israel, but has engaged in establishing a Palestinian contra forces in the West Bank, aimed at deepening Palestinian internal division and engaging in arbitrary arrests and assassinations of political activists. We demand an immediate end to all such programs and the immediate withdrawal of U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton and his mercenaries from Palestine!

U.S. Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, has overseen the creation of a paramilitary force serving the occupation under the title of Palestinian Authority 'security forces.' While Israeli occupation soldiers regularly abduct, injure and kill Palestinians, Dayton's contras have engaged in a campaign of intimidation against the Palestinian populace, including arbitrary arrests, raids on charitable institutions and non-governmental organizations, assassinations, and torture of political opponents of the Palestinian Authority.

Furthermore, the focus on 'security' comes at the expense of the Palestinian people's real needs. While Palestinians continue to organize to resist occupation and strengthen their communities by building schools, hospitals and community-centered institutions that support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, the U.S. has poured money, arms and resources into 'security forces' that  provide no security for Palestinians who face daily threats from settlers and occupying forces, but instead act as threats against Palestinians on the ground.

The actions of these squads are fully coordinated with the Israeli military occupation. They carry out arrests, abductions and raids at the direction of Israeli military forces and provide the occupation forces with information about the location of Palestinian activists. Israeli officials have bragged about the success of these paramilitary forces in repressing Palestinian resistance.

In addition, this force is designed to prop up a subservient and collaborationist Palestinian authority. The training for these forces is provided by a number of repressive Arab regimes, who themselves maintain their power due to U.S. funding and support.

These paramilitary squads are not an internal Palestinian question alone.  As taxpayers and residents of the United States, we demand that the U.S. ceases its funding and training of Dayton's mercenaries. U.S. involvement in paramilitary death and terror squads is nothing new - from Colombia, to the Philippines, to El Salvador, to Nicaragua, to Angola and Mozambique, the U.S. has funded trained and armed paramilitary forces to serve U.S. interests and/or support reactionary local rulers.

We call upon all Arab American community organizations, anti-war coalitions, and progressive institutions to take action to end Dayton?s contras program in Palestine by:

1.      Signing on to this statement! Email your endorsement to stopdayton@palestineconference.org. 

2.      Organizing a visit to your Congressional representative. Deliver him or her letter from your community urging that Congress end all funding to Dayton's contras program. 

3.      Issuing a statement from your local community group demanding the immediate withdrawal of  Dayton and his team from Palestine.

U.S. Palestinian Community Network (Palestinian Popular Conference)

September 8, 2009

http://www.palestineconference.org   +   stopdayton@palestineconference.org

The International Campaign for Freedom of Movement for Palestinians

The International Campaign for Freedom of Movement for Palestinians (KARAMA) is an independent public and national campaign that aims to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people and help them travel within and outside of Palestine in freedom and dignity. The Campaign is fully aware that the ultimate solution to the freedom of movement and travelling for Palestinians is the end of the Israeli occupation, and the full sovereignty for the Palestinian people over their borders, land, water, and air. And this does not contradict at all with our work to reduce the suffering of our people and defend its dignity. 

http://www.ahewar.org/camp/i.asp?id=169&ref=1#new

Phase 1: Travel to Jordan 

Since this campaign commenced with the case of travelling between the West Bank and Jordan, we the undersigned request the following:

Assist Palestinians to travel to and from Jordan with freedom and dignity, without heavy financial burdens, and exhaustive routine procedures. This needs an immediate end to their suffering and improvement to existing travelling conditions, so that Palestinians in the West Bank will be able: 

1. To travel to and from Jordan in new public buses directly from Palestinian city centers, without the need for passengers and their luggage to keep moving from one bus to the other and wait for extended periods of time.
2. To travel directly in private cars to and from Jordan, with minimal procedures and fees.
3. To travel freely 24 hours seven days a week, regardless of the volume of passengers. 

  الحملة الدولية لحرية حركة الفلسطينيين (الكرامة)

الحملة الدولية لحرية حركة الفلسطينيين 
hazem.kawasmi@gmail.com 

2009 / 9 / 6

Please Sign Petition to Support Free Speech and an Investigation of Alleged Israeli Organ Theft From Palestinians

Five organizations have joined together to sponsor the following petition:

"As people deeply concerned with human rights, we believe it is essential to listen respectfully when occupied people speak about war crimes committed against them. Therefore, we support Donald Boström and Aftonbladet in their decision to publish 'Our sons plundered for their organs.' We salute the Swedish government's refusal to submit to Israeli pressure and undermine the freedom of the press. We support calls for an investigation and urge the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other competent tribunals to undertake a thorough, impartial investigation of allegations that Israelis have unlawfully removed organs from Palestinians."

There is a full background statement at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/investigateorgantheft/ . The petition sponsored by:

Deir Yassin Remembered
www.deiryassin.org/

Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
www.a2vigil.org/

If Americans Knew
ifamericansknew.com/

Voices of Palestine
http://www.voicesofpalestine/

We Hold These Truths
whtt.org/

The petition

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/investigateorgantheft/
BACKGROUND: In late July 2009, FBI Agent Robert J. Cooke filed a criminal complaint in US District Court against Levy Rosenbaum alleging that he unlawfully conspired "to acquire, receive, and otherwise transfer human organs." Rosenbaum is quoted as indicating he had been procuring human organs for "[t]en years" and there are "people over there [in Israel] hunting" for organs.

On August 17, 2009, a Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet, published "Our sons plundered for their organs," by veteran Middle East photojournalist Donald Boström. Boström indicates the Rosenbaum story, which garnered international attention, inspired him to revisit his experiences in Palestine in the 1990s. He writes: "I then travelled around interviewing a great number of Palestinian families in the West Bank and Gaza—meeting parents who told of how their sons had been deprived of organs before being killed. … 'Our sons are used as involuntary organ donors,' relatives of Khaled from Nablus told me, as did the mother of Raed from Jenin and the uncles of Machmod and Nafes from Gaza, who had all disappeared for a number of days only to return at night, dead and autopsied." Boström opines that these charges raise "enough question marks to motivate the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to start an investigation …"

Boström's article echoes a report by Mary Barrett; "Autopsies and Executions," which was published in April 1990 in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. In it, Barrett concludes, "The question of organ theft is of compelling concern to Palestinians." In June 2001, Dr. Nancy Scheper-Hughes of the University of California-Berkeley and Organs Watch testified to the House Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. She described a "multi-million dollar business" that the Israeli Ministry of Health refused "to intervene and crack down on." She stated:

"… hundreds of kidney patients from Israel … travel in privately brokered 'transplant tourist' junkets to Turkey, Moldova, Romania …. to Russia … and to South Africa …

"While in Israel for Organs Watch in the summer of [2000] and, again in March 2001, … I interviewed more than 50 transplants professionals, transplant patients, and organs buyers and sellers involved in commercialized transplants … none were willing to condemn a practice which they saw as 'saving lives'. …

"Meanwhile, human rights groups in the West Bank complained to me of tissue and organs stealing of slain Palestinains [sic] by Israeli pathologists at the national Israeli legal medical institute in Tel Aviv. …

"A more troubling phenomenon is the support and direct involvement of the Israeli Ministry of Defense in the illicit national 'program' of transplant tourism. Some patients who traveled with the outlaw Israeli transplant surgeon to other countries noted that in each of the organized transplant groups were members of the Ministry of Defense or those closely related to them."

It's worth recalling that millions of Palestinians live under brutal military occupation by troops of the very same Israeli Ministry of Defense. Just a little more than a year after Scheper-Hughes' testimony, Israel's Chief Pathologist and Director of the national Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv was investigated. Arutz Sheva, reports in 2005, that Dr. Yehuda Hiss agreed to a plea bargain with Israeli prosecutors. It says: "In all of the 125 cases, Dr. Hiss and his subordinates removed organs, bones and tissue without the permission of, and in many cases, against the expressed wishes of the families of the deceased."

Veteran, award-winning Palestinian journalist Kawther Salam wrote recently: "The issue of stealing the Palestinian organs is known to everybody in Palestine. I reported several times about this crime." She concluded: "If the Israelis go forward and cause troubles for Donald Boström in court, I will volunteer to testify in his favor …"

Israelis have gone forward to cause trouble. The Yedioth Ahronoth reports, "Thousands of Israelis on Sunday signed an internet petition calling for a consumers' boycott on Swedish home products retailer IKEA, as well as other companies from the Scandinavian country …" Meanwhile, the Israeli government is pressuring Sweden's government to "condemn the 'anti-Semitic' article" and "Swedish Chancellor of Justice Goeran Lambertz received two written requests on Tuesday asking to investigate whether the report amounted to racial agitation …" Ha'aretz reports the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) is delaying the issuance of press credentials to Swedish journalists trying to get into Gaza. Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reports Israeli lawyer Guy Ophir filed a $7.5 million lawsuit against the Aftonbladet and Boström in a New York court.

Despite the vociferous Israeli response, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has called for "an immediate, serious investigation into reports alleging that Zionist occupation forces stole organs from young Palestinians they killed in the West Bank and Gaza." The younger brother of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, whose mutilated body was pictured in Boström's article, is quoted in the Jerusalem Post as follows: "But in light of the investigative report in the Swedish newspaper, we are demanding an international commission of inquiry into the case." American Muslims for Palestine has also stated it "believes the questions the article raises must be investigated."

PETITION TEXT: As people deeply concerned with human rights, we believe it is essential to listen respectfully when occupied people speak about war crimes committed against them. Therefore, we support Donald Boström and Aftonbladet in their decision to publish "Our sons plundered for their organs." We salute the Swedish government's refusal to submit to Israeli pressure and undermine the freedom of the press. We support calls for an investigation and urge the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other competent tribunals to undertake a thorough, impartial investigation of allegations that Israelis have unlawfully removed organs from Palestinians.

Netherlands/ The Hague, Amira Al-Qirim, a Palestinian girl aged 15, a victim and survivor of the Israeli massacre in Gaza last January, held a press conference together with her lawyer Gilles Devers in The Hague, in front of the building of the International Criminal Court, ICC, during which she stated: “I am here to present a complaint and to hand to the office of prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in the ICC a file requesting an investigation into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli Zionists against the Palestinian civilians of Gaza Strip in which my father, my brother aged 14, and my sister aged 16, all civilians, were murdered by the IOF in the Tel Al-Hawa area south of Gaza City”.

Amira’s lawyer, Gilles Devers from the Court of Lyon (France) said “This was a crime against humanity, and we are here to raise the case to the International Criminal Court, against the Israeli politicians and the military leaders who must take responsibility of what they did. They murdered hundreds and injured thousands more of civilians”.

Amira herself was injured seriously, she survived and arrived in France for medical treatment.
Over the period of 27 December 2008 until the ceasefire of 18 Jan 2009, the criminal Israeli IOF deliberately dropped on Gaza more than one million and a half tons of explosives during their so-called “Operation Cast Lead”. With over 1.5 million inhabitants, Gaza is the most crowded area in the whole world. The IOF executed Palestinians in their houses in cold blood, either by shooting them directly or by launching missiles and rockets at them. The cold-blooded executions of these “prisoners of war” is clear violation to the international humanitarian treaties and conventions.

Since February 2009, the attorney general of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is making a “preliminary study” of the charges of war crimes against Israel. According to his press office, the attorney general has received more than 360 letter, petitions from persons, association of human rights, and casualties in this regard:

The Israeli military massacre in Gaza had the purpose of ethnic cleansing of the civilians and murdering politicians in Gaza. According to the former cabinet chief of Ehud Olmert,  the criminal Ehud Barak, and the chief of the Israeli intelligence, Yuval Diskin, the military Operation “Cast Lead” had the purpose of putting an end to some political activists, Palestinian resistance activists and their families as the only solution to “decrease the terror” of revenge against Israel. The war criminals stated that the murder of the families of Palestinian political activists and resistance fighters was very important for the security of Israel. By murdering their families, Israel would guarantee that no revenge would be possible in the future. Another motive for this willfully planned crime was for it to secure votes for its organizers.

During the Israeli war crime in Gaza, most of the murdered and the causalities were civilians. Israel dropped phosphor bombs on civilians, and the victims have been found to be contaminated with depleted Uranium.

Simultaneously, and in solidarity with Amira Al-Qirim, another press conference was held by children in Gaza on Tuesday September 1 2009 in the “Small Journalist Club”, during which they demanded that the International Criminal Court and peace-loving people around the world “criminalize the Israeli occupation” and its officials, and sue them before to the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes against the civilians of Gaza.

The children demanded an international intervention to lift the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip and to provide Gaza with the humanitarian supplies which can guarantee a human life for the children there, just like all other children around the world.

During the conference in Gaza, the children accused Israel of committing war crimes, genocide and of targeting the Palestinian people. The children called for international protection for them and for an end to the the violations of their rights.

During the Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza, the so called “Operation Cast Lead”, over 1400 Palestinians were murdered and thousands more were injured, among them over 420 child who were murdered, and over 1600 more children are among the causalities.

Source: http://www.kawther.info/wpr/2009/09/01/a-palestinian-child-against-israel-at-the-icc

From the International Campaign for Releasing Abducted Members of Parliament (Free PLC) site:

Three years have passed since PLC members were abducted by Israeli occupation forces before the eyes and the hearing of the world in a dangerous precedent as a political crime and in atrocious violation of the principles of international law and Geneva Fourth Convention, besides trespassing the rules of democracy and principles of respecting the people's wills.

Israeli occupation insists on violating the dignity of democracy and even trying it through its persistence in abducting the MPs and prosecuting them and going too far in extending their unlawful imprisonment after its end with the aim of keeping them behind the prison bars during all the parliamentary term.

Out of our care for peace among people, our respect for their will to choose their representatives and for consolidating the rules of the free democratic and parliament action, our decisive rejection of the abducting and trying of MPs which has been a trial of democracy and abducing of its consequences, our awareness of the fact that the place of those abducted MPs in not jail but their parliamentary seats for which the Palestinian people have chosen them through the ballot boxes, we have decided to conduct the International campaign for freeing the abducted MPs in continuation of efforts exerted in defense of this cause and to unite the abilities of the parliamentarians and freemen of the world so as to ensure the dawn of freedom for the abducted MPs.

In this campaign we are keen on sending the following telegrams:

First: our decisive rejection of the Israeli piracy and harsh intervention in the internal Palestinian affairs and the incessant attempts to change the Palestinian political map through the abducting of MPs and blowing up the democratic choice.

Second: the necessity of the World Community's movement to protect human values and democratic morals and confront Israeli violation of International conventions and agreements.

Third: inviting all parliamentarians and free personalities of the world to join the international campaign for freeing the abducted MPs and bear their responsibility in defending democracy and to form a world public opinion pressing for releasing the PLC members and incriminating this serious Israeli policy.

Out of our desire to see peace prevailing all over the world, our keenness to have mutual respect among all the peoples of the Earth and our observance of the results of the democratic process and the peaceful exchange of authority, we declare our rejection of kidnapping of the elected Palestinian members of parliament which has been a dangerous precedent and an atrocious violation of international laws and conventions.

We warn that this silence towards such crime means directing a deathblow to democracy, social peace and world peace, it means a threat to stability in the world and empowering the law of the jungle which trespasses civilized development and modern human regulations.

We hereby call on the world community the human rights organizations and all those who are able to practice pressure an the Israeli occupation to act seriously and effectively for the prompt release of the symbols of Palestinian legitimacy, the members of parliament.

And jointly let us act for the freeing of Palestinian members of parliament kidnapped in the prison of Israeli occupation.

http://www.freeplc.org/ (in English and Arabic)
http://www.freeplc.org/en/home.php?page=c2hvd1RocmVhZA==&id=NA==&type=Zml4ZWQ=

SIGN THE SUPPORT DOCUMENT: http://www.freeplc.org/en/home.php?page=Z3Vlc3RCb29r

See also: for background http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=10670&CategoryId=2

Published by the Italian Newspaper  Liberazione on 19/07/2009

Israel wants to stop the non-violent struggle and the unity created amongst Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals, who since more than four years demonstrate in order to end the construction of the wall: in the last weeks the escalation of systematic arrests and kidnappings of activists in Bil’in by the Israeli soldiers.

Raids in the middle of the nights, with military vehicles crossing in the dark that illegal barrier represented by the Apartheid wall. Tens of armed soldiers laying close to the ground in order to not to be seen.

They proceed slowly, without lights, wearing dark military camouflage uniforms and black masks on their faces.

They arrive in the hearth of Bil’in crossing streets and fields. They surround houses destroying all that they meet on their path, kidnapping people, including 15 or 16 years old adolescents, confiscating documents, mobile phones and personal things of the detained persons. Also last Friday a 15-years-old boy has been abducted from his home at 3 a.m., and during the demonstration activists have been attacked with a strange sort of smelling water, probably containing chemical substances provoking blistering effects and with a suffocating smell.  

This is the same scenario taking place also in other villages in the West Bank, but Bil’in has become a symbol: the village –where the shame wall confiscates 49% of lands- in the last weeks has become a theatre of a further intensification of this kind of operations, that are real war operations, perpetrated against the activists of the Popular Committee of non-violent resistance, men and women, civilians, who are resisting in a non-violent, peaceful and creative way against the wall and the occupation.     

Often, the activists stand on the rooftops of the village, in order to forewarning the others of incoming of the raids that usually comprise of approximately 100 soldiers divided into groups of 20-30 men, each encircling the home of an accused stone-thrower at varying hours of the night. In the last three weeks, 17 young activists have been arrested -15 Palestinians, 1 Israeli, then released, and one American, according to what reported in a document by Miftah, the Palestinian Initiative for the promotion of Global dialogue and democracy, denouncing the escalation of violence in Bil’in.   

I saw with my own eyes many and many wounded people during the demonstrations that every Friday take place near the construction site of the wall and during which the Israeli soldiers use sound bombs, tear gas canisters, and a foul-smelling chemical spray: I was many times intoxicated by those gas, while rubber-coated bullets were shot at men’s height. 

On 19th April 2009, Bassem Abu Rahmah, 30 years old, a pacifist Palestinian demonstrator, was shot in the chest by an Israeli soldier with a tear gas bomb during one of Bil’in's nonviolent Friday protests: an use clearly excessive and inhuman of the force against unarmed demonstrators.

The week after the murder of Bassem, I have been many times in Bil’in with the Popular Committee. Together we have protested and built a symbolic grave in the place where he was killed.

We did under the fire of tear gas canisters and when we finished it, putting the memorial tablet with the name of Bassem, we were so happy. What a paradox to be happy for the construction of a grave!

In their attempts to dismantle the movement, the Israeli military specifically targets the youth: from 23rd to 25th 2009, four adolescents, 16-17 years old, have been arrested and forced to release the names of peace activists and information related to Bil’in Committee. The aim is not only to arrest, kidnap and physically neutralize the activists, but also to spread terror amongst the inhabitants of the village of Bil’in, 1,800 residents, in order to stop all kind of activity of non violent resistance, that become an example also for other realities of the occupied West Bank such as Nil'in and Ma'asara, whose land continue to be confiscated by the wall.

However neither all this, nor 1,300 wounded people and 60 arrests suffered by the activists have been enough to stop their determination. 

"If they want to arrest us all, they can. But our wives and children will continue the struggle" declared Abdullah Abu Rahmah, one of the coordinators of the Popular Committee of non-violent resistance of Bil’in. His daughter Luma, 7 years old, suffers of insomnia, as well as other children in Bil’in, a clear sign of the emotional and psychological despair: constantly in panic, Luma awakes in the middle of the night, sometimes in screams and tears, calling out for her father fearing that he has been abducted.

The injustices suffered by Bil’in residents and witnessed by many organizations for human rights and International and Israeli activists, are the most clear consequence of the oppression experienced by Palestinians because of the Israeli military occupation.

However their answer has become an example for all those who struggle for justice showing the way to follow and to support for the solution of the conflict.

Since 2005 residents of Bil’in responded in fact with a peaceful and non-violent resistance to the separation wall, that far from the Green line, snakes deeply inside the West Bank annexing 1,968 of 4,040 dunums of Bil’in lands, (196,68 hectares on 403,88).

Activists in Bil’in are only exerting their legitimate rights to defend their land against the arbitrariness of Israel, disregarding the International Court of Justice that five years ago condemned as illegal the construction of the wall inside the Occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), including in and around East Jerusalem, in violation of international obligations, intimating to Israel to stop the construction and to bring down the parts already built, terminating also the entire system of rigid restrictions on the freedom of movement of Palestinians in the West Bank since they represent a violation of human rights.

And also the Israeli High Court of Justice declared many times illegal the route of the wall in Bil’in, inviting the Israeli Government to actuate an alternative route: this invitation has of course been ignored while the Israeli settlements of Mod'in Ilit and Mattityahu continue to grow.

For all this, their Friday demonstrations have gained the solidarity of Israeli and International activists, united in the common need of justice and against the strangulation, the occupation and the apartheid. Together they oppose to the uprooting of olive trees replaced by the foundations of the wall, blocking the bulldozers  or preventing the installation of outposts of the Israeli settlements, still in expansion.      

The International Community must give more force to all those Palestinians, supported by Israeli activists (who represent the honour of Israel) and Internationals in the defence of their rights, pretending from Israel the end of the raids and the immediate release of all activists arreted – included Abeed Abu Rahme- as requested by the Campaign launched by the Popular Committee of Bil’in (on the website http://www.bilin-village.org/english/activities-and-support/Campaign-to-release-Palestinian-activist-arrested-in-Bil-in  the sample of letters of protest). It’s time also that the International Community demands with force and urgency to Israel to respect the International Court of Justice and to destroy the wall inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories, making reparation for all damage suffered by people affected by the wall, and to end military occupation, including all restriction of movement in the West Bank as well as the Siege that in Gaza, is collectively punishing over 1 million and a half of civilians.

Today, July 8, 2009, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat sent the below letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, demanding that he and the United Nations uphold their responsibilities to protect the rights of Palestinian prisoners and secure their freedom. Well over 400 international organizations and individuals (see below for the full list) have supported this call, and we thank you all for your endorsement and support and urge you to distribute this letter widely, link to the website of the Campaign from your own websites, and continue your important work.

Signatories of the letter include youth, student and workers' unions, solidarity organizations, lawyers' associations, political parties, human rights groups, and numerous activists, academics and supporters of Palestine from around the world.  Please visit our website at http://www.freeahmadsaadat.org/ and contact the Campaign at info@freeahmadsaadat.org to discuss forming local Friends of Ahmad Sa'adat committees and further coordinated statements, days of action and additional activities to inform the world about the case of Ahmad Sa'adat and the struggle of Palestinian prisoners. The Campaign also supports the struggles of political prisoners around the world who fight for justice, freedom and national liberation.

The thousands of Palestinian prisoners are facing an ongoing campaign in denial of their rights – from denial of family visits, to the imposition of solitary confinement and isolation. Every day, they stand on the front lines, confronting the injustice and repression of the occupation, as prisoners for the freedom of Palestinian land and the Palestinian people.

Ahmad Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a Palestinian national leader, is a leader in the Palestinian prisoners' movement. His recent hunger strike galvanized attention upon the prisoners' struggle. He is a living symbol of the oppression of the occupier and the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and the prisoners as they struggle for freedom, justice, liberation and return.

International action and attention are critical to stand in defense of Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners. Contact the Campaign today – your involvement, support and solidarity are much needed!

This letter was delivered to Ban Ki-Moon's office on July 8, 2009.

Statement in Italian | Statement in French

Dear Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon;

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, call upon you to immediately take action in defense of the lives, health and rights of the over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners held inside Israeli occupation jails. This number includes numerous elected members of Palestinian Legislative Council, among them Ahmad Sa'adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Marwan al-Barghouthi, Fateh leader; Abdel-Aziz Dweik, Hamas leader and President of the Council, just freed after three years in prison, and dozens of other elected political leaders, in addition to thousands of other Palestinian activists, union members, community organizers, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.

Palestinian prisoners suffer in conditions that violate international standards and norms, and are imprisoned because they refuse to accept a brutal occupation of their land and their people. Ahmad Sa'adat recently waged a nine-day hunger strike in protest of the policy of isolation and solitary confinement that has recently been escalated against Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian prisoners have been denied family visits, at times for years, denied access to all books and magazines, and denied even communication with their fellow prisoners in the isolation units. Palestinian prisoners, including Sa'adat, are currently denied necessary health care and medical treatment.

Palestinian prisoners are placed into isolation because they are national leaders and because the Palestinian prisoner movement has been an inspiration to all Palestinians and all who struggle for freedom. Ahmad Sa'adat's hunger strike has sparked thousands of people around the world to appeal for his release, as a living example who symbolizes the steadfastness and strength of the Palestinian prisoners amid isolation and dire conditions, and it must compel all of those outside the prisons to act. Many Palestinian and international human rights and social justice organizations have called for the release of Sa'adat and to ensure the safety of his life and health, as well as for freedom and protection for all Palestinian prisoners.

The fate of these 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners is a fundamental issue of justice. Palestinians, in Palestine and in exile, are denied their rights – to return home, to self-determination, and to freedom, and those who seek to secure those rights are subject to imprisonment, whether within the open-air prisons of Gaza under siege or the walled-in West Bank, or the jails of the occupation. The silent, and at times, active, complicity of international agencies, particularly the United Nations, in the denial of Palestinian rights must not continue.

We call upon you to uphold your responsibilities and exert all pressure to end torture, cruel and inhuman treatment of Palestinian prisoners, and to free every Palestinian political prisoner from Israel's occupation jails.

Sincerely,

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

Al-Awda NY
Al-Awda Newspaper and Publishing House, Chicago
Al-Awda Omaha
Al-Fajr News, Tunisia
Alliance for People's Health
Almubadara USA
Al-Nakba Awareness Project
American Iranian Friendship Committee
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition – Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
Anti-Imperialist Camp
Artists to End the Occupation
Association Réveil des Consciences
Arab American Community Center, Youngstown, OH
Arab American Union Members Council
Arab Muslim American Federation
Arab Resource and Organizing Center, San Francisco, CA
Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine
BAYAN USA
Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
Bay Area United Against War
Campaign to Free Marwan Barghouti and All Prisoners
Canadian Arab Federation
Canada Palestine Association – Vancouver
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (Toronto)
Comité 'Libérez-les!'
Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient, Luxembourg
Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Argentina
Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Brazil
Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Ecuador
Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Uruguay
Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
Communist Organization of Greece (KOE)
Coordination de l'Appel de Strasbourg pour une Paix juste au Proche-Orient
Danish Communist Party
Droit Solidarite, France
EuroPalestine
Free Gaza Movement
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal/NYC
Free Palestine Alliance
The Freedom Archives
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
French Committee to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah (Collectiv pour la libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah)
Friends of Al-Aqsa
General Union of Palestine Students/NY
General Union of Palestine Students/SF Bay Area
General Union of Workers of Chile
Hammerhard MediaWorks
International Action Center
International Association of Democratic Lawyers
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
International Platform Against Isolation (IPAI)
International Platform of Jurists for East Timor, Leiden, Netherlands
International Republican Socialist Network
International Socialist Organization
International Solidarity Movement – France
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Irish Republican Socialist Party
Jericho Movement – NYC
Jewish People's Liberation Organization
Justice for Palestinians, San Jose, CA
Kommunistische Initiative Deutschlands (KI)/Communist Initiative Germany
L'Observatoire Tunisien pour les Droits et les Libertés Syndicales
Left Formations of the Youth, Greece
Middle East Children's Alliance
National Boricua Human Rights Network
National Democratic Action Society of Bahrain
National Lawyers Guild
New Jersey Solidarity – Activists for the Liberation of Palestine
New Orleans Palestine Solidarity
NYC Labor Against the War
NY Committee For Human Rights in the Philippines
No One Is Illegal – Vancouver
PalestineFreeVoice
Palestine House
PNN – Palestine News Network
Palestine Solidarity Group – Chicago
Palestine Solidarity Committee – Seattle
Palestine Think Tank
Palestinian American Youth, Youngstown, OH
The Palestinian Cultural and Political Club of Boston
Palestinian Democratic Committee – Chile
Palestinian Federation of Chile
Palestinian Youth Network
Palestinian Youth Organization
PATOIS: New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
PROGRESS Lawyers Network
Progressive Labor Action Front, Palestine
Progressive Student Action Front, Palestine
Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism!
Revolutionary Communist Group, Britain
Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) of Ecuador
Secretariat Nationale de la Voie Democratique Maroc
Socialist Action
Socialist Party of Malaysia
Socialist Viewpoint
SOUL School of Unity & Liberation, Oakland, CA
Students for a Democratic Society, UNC-Chapel Hill chapter
TLAXCALA activist translators' collective
Union of Palestinian Women's Committees
Union of the Working People, Greece
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) (Popular Conference)
Vent Libertaire 29, France
Voice of Palestine, Canada
War Times/Tiempo De Guerra
WESPAC Foundation
Women Against Military Madness
Women's Peace Speakers Series, Honolulu, Hawaii
Workers Party of New Zealand

Leila Khaled
MP George Galloway, UK Parliament Member and coordinator of Viva Palestina USA medical aid caravan to Gaza
Ulla Sandbaek, former Member of European Parliament, Denmark
Eleni Sotiriou, 1st stand-in MEP of the Coalition of Radical Left (SYRIZA) , Greece
May Abboud, Lebanon
Chbari Abdelmoumen, journalist, Morocco
Rami Abu Ayash, Jordan
Prof. Bashir Abu Manneh, Columbia University
Susan Abulhawa, author, Pennsylvania
Nader Abuljebain, writer
Yousef Abudayyeh, California
Nasser Abu-khdeir, Jerusalem University Political Science Department, Jerusalem-Shuafat, Palestine
Sheriff Abuzahra, Cambridge, MA
Darwish Addassi, Walnut Creek, CA
Musil Akinsanya, Lagos, Nigeria
Ghassan H. Alami, Jordan
Abdul-Rahman Alawi, publisher and journalist, Cologne, Germany
Reham Alhelsi, Jerusalem, Palestine
Musa al-Hindi, Omaha, NE
Sonia Almonacid, Spain
Abdelwahab Amri Secretary-General of the Federation of PDP, Gabes, Tunisia
Steve Amsel, DesertPeace
Giuseppe Ardizzone, Perugia, Italy
Emmanuel Arenes, France
Justo Arriola, Euskal Herria
Jamal Aruri, attorney, Andover, MA
Prof. Emeritus Naseer Aruri, University of Massachussetts at Dartmouth
Boniardi Ambrogio, Milano, Italy
Mary Avice, Canada
Rahef Awadallah, Chicago, IL
A. R. Ayoubi, UK
Mike Baldwin, California, USA
George Elfie Ballis, Prather, CA
Khaled Barakat, Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat, Canada
Nidal A. Barakat, California
Patrice Bardet, France
Anees Barghouthi, Palestine
Halim Bari, France
David Barsamian, Director, Alternative Radio, Boulder, CO
Pawel Michal Bartolik, journalist, Poland
Abdul-Nasser J.G. Baston, London, UK
Levent Basturk, Red Hook, NY
Tahmeena Bax, UK
Dr. Oren Ben-Dor University of Southampton, UK
B. Benhamid, USA
Arnauld Bengochea, Bordeaux-France
Cheryl Benson, Canada
Simone Bilotta, Faenza (RA), Italy
Patricia Blair, Hawaii, USA
Jeff Blankfort, Ukiah, CA
Yoon Bok-Dong, Korea Truth Commission – Hawaii Representative, USA
Thomas Bolt, England
Giulio Bonali, Italy
Hadassah Borreman, Jeshurun-Judaism Against Zionism, Belgium
Yamina Bounir, Comité Verviers Palestine, France
Glenn Bowman, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK
John P. Brassard, elementary teacher, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Andrea Breuer, Klagenfurt, Austria
Richard Brinton, Salinas, CA, USA
Peter Brown, Olives for Palestine/Olives for Peace
Dr.C.J. Burns-Cox MD FRCP, Gloucester UK
William Buttrey, Los Angeles, CA
George Cammarota, San Jose, CA
Daniele Campione, Milan, Italy
José Canali, France
Hadi Chammah, Gainesville, FL, USA
Sukant Chandan, Chair of the British Section of the International Union of Parliamentarians for Palestine
Vassilis Chatzilabrou, prefectural council of Achaia (Western Greece)
Sharon Clarke, Cambridge, MA
Irene Clausen, Denmark
Ana Cleja, France
Catherine Cobham, St. Andrews University, Scotland, UK
Prof. William A. Cook, University of La Verne
Sebastiano Cosenza, Milano, Italy
Claude Coursin, Assistante Sociale, Marseilles, France
Maya Cutler, Stanley, ID
Professor Seif Da'Na, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Ilgvar Daga, USA
Elena Davinca, Austria
Rosylin Dean, USA
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Herman De Ley, Ghent University (Belgium)
Paul Delmotte, France
Graham Derrick, UK
Deborah Dexter-Mendez, Fresno, CA
Shaheen Sultan Dhanji, Chairperson, African Socialist Movement
Nicholas Dibs, Long Beach, CA
Waroquiez Dominique, LCR Belgique
Dennis E. Donohue, New York, NY
Idrissi K. Driss, France
Peter Durant, New York, NY
Dr. Adel Elsaie, USA
Ali Faraj, Rennes, France
James C. Faris, Director Emeritus, University of Connecticut Program in Middle East Languages and Area Studies
Mahmoud Faris, Gaza, Palestine
Priscilla Felia, Whitestone, NY
Enrique Ferro, Brussels, Belgium
Franco Ferro, teacher, Italy
Nadia Ferro, teacher, Italy
Sara Flounders, co-director, International Action Center
Linda Frank, Northwest Middle East Peace Forum, USA
Donnie Fraser, UK
Stephanie Frizzell, Garland, CA
Nikos Galanis, member of the National Secretariat of the Coalition of Radical Left (SYRIZA), Greece
Yolanda Garza-Birdwell, Houston, TX
Elisabeth Geschiere, Minneapolis, MN
Ron George, USA
Sarah Gillespie, musician, London
Francesco Giordano, educator, Milano, Italy
Prof. Emerita Sherna Berger Gluck, California State University Long Beach
Richard Gomez, Fresno Greens, Fresno, CA
Margaret Goodheart, Honolulu, HI
Maligorn Gouez, France
Stephen Gowans, Canada
Phil Grace, Liverpool, England
Michela Graham, Italy
Dr. Anne Gray, London, UK
Anne Gwynne, Aberystwyth, Wales
Lamari Habib, Al-Fajr News, Tunisia
Anita Hadjadji, Bordeaux, France
M. Hadjuk, USA
Prof. Emerita Elaine Hagopian, Simmons College
Samia A. Halaby, artist, New York, NY
Corrinne Hales, Fresno, CA
Hatem Hammad, Canada
Dr. Leila Hanaineh, Jordan
Kamal Hassan, USA
Jean Hays, CA, USA
Jennifer Heath, Boulder, CO
Gary Heisinger, Peace Fresno, Fresno, CA
Monadel Herzallah, San Francisco, CA
Nadia Hijab, writer
Isabella Horn, Italy
Paul Hubbard, Providence, RI
Jay Hubbell, Peace Fresno, Fresno, CA
Mary Hughes Thompson, Women in Black Los Angeles, CA
Prof. Mahmood Ibrahim, CSU Pomona, Los Angeles, CA
Barbara Ida, Malone, NY
Sascha Iversen, International Forum, Denmark
Firas Jaber, writer and researcher, Palestine
Karl Ange Angri Jacobsen, Red-Green Alliance, Denmark
Dr. Mohammed Jadallah, Jerusalem Centre For Development
Francois Jadoul, Belgium
Intisar Jardaneh, Jordan
Randa Jazairi, Gainesville, FL
Humberto Jijón, Ecuador
Richard Jones, Swansea, UK
Maya Joulkva, France
Akis Kaloudis, member of the administration of the Private Employees' Union , Greece
Sana Kassem, Athens, Greece
Charlotte Kates, attorney
Stathis Katsoulas, member of the administration of the Teachers' Union of Western Athens, Greece
Ahmad Kawash, Boston, MA
Prof. Mujid S. Kazimi,   Massachusetts Institiute of Technology
Nabil Keilani, California
Basem Khader, Chappaqua, NY
Sobhi Khalaf, Gaza, Palestine
Hocine Khelfaoui, Montreal, Canada
Annette Klepzig, Wilhemsfeld, Germany
Peter Klosterman, Ph.D. Oakland, CA
Norman Koerner, educator, Philadelphia, PA
Khaled Kouteich, France
Pantelis Koutsianas, coordinator of Thessaloniki's Popular Committees against price hikes, Greece
Zbigniew Marcin Kowalewski, researcher and editor, Poland
Garold Langley, Hawaii, USA
Bahauddeen Latif, UK
Carlos Latuff, cartoonist, Brazil
Joelle Laurent-Laneau, France
David Letwin, Brooklyn, NY
Michael Letwin, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325
Mariah Leung, Al-Nakba Awareness Project, Eugene, OR
Dr. Renee Levant, Instructor, Master of Liberal Studies Program, Fort Hays State University
Nessim Liamani, Italy
Catherine Lieutenant, Belgium
Britta Lillesøe, Denmark
Tammy Bang Luu, Los Angeles, CA
Amir M. Maasoumi, Quebec, Canada
Professor Moshé Machover, London School of Economics
Patrick MacManus, Rebellion, Denmark
Rania Madi, Switzerland
Dr. Bruce J. Malina, Dept of Theology, Creighton University
Hanif Manjoo, South Africa
Polly Mann, Women Against Military Madness, Minneapolis, MN
Sharon Martinas, San Francisco, CA
Professor Nur Masalha, London
Beatriz Maturana, President, Architects for Peace, Australia
Bill McGrath, Minnesota, USA
Marcelo Mendoza Azat, Arauco, Chile
Roberto J. Mercado, photographer, Social Impact Photography, New York, NY
Ali Mili, Phillipsburg, NJ
Emil Mishriky, Palestine
Harald Molgaard, Twickenham, UK
Serajeddin Momeni, Phoenix, AZ
Michael Moore, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Lillian Morgan, East Aurora, NY
Talaat Ahmed Mosallam, Retired General, researcher, co chairman Al A'mal Party, Egypt
Tawfieq Mousa, California, USA
Atiya Munir, Policy Analyst, London, UK
Catherine Myles, UK
Linda Nedjaa, France
Marlene Newesri, New York City, USA
Dr. Marcy Newman, Associate Professor of English, An Najah University, Nablus, Palestine
Prof. Osamu Niikura, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan
Hiyam Noir, PalestineFreeVoice.org, USA/Palestine
Christopher North, Antalya, Turkey
Henry Ode, California
Alain Ollivier, Quebec, Canada
Ivan Olsen, San Francisco Bay, CA
Ardeshir and Eleanor Ommani, Founders, AIFC
Michael Opperskalski, Journalist and Editor, Germany
Manlio Padova, Italy
Yiorgos Papaioannou, member of the administration of the Accountants' Union of Athens, Greece
Marie-Ange Patrizio, psychologist, Marseille, France
Daniel Perez Creus, Ingenio {Gran Canaria} Spain
Jørgen Petersen, Danish Communist Party, Denmark
Lily Phan, Calgary, AB, Canada
Andrea Pietropaolo, Italy
Paola Pisi, Uruknet.info
Gabriel Proulx, Quebec
Karina Rahef, USA
Jespers Raf, Progress Lawyers Network, Belgium
Ahmed S. Rajah, South Africa
Hussin Ramadan, Palestine
Dr. Nagesh Rao, Assistant Professor of English, The College of New Jersey
Gabriele Rapaci, student, University of Milan, Italy
Angel Rebollar, Spain
Dick Reilly, Chicago, IL, US
Mary Rizzo, writer, translator, S Benedetto Tr, Italy
Julian Rodriguez Veiga, Argentina
Diane Roehm, New York, NY
Francesca Rosa, San Francisco, CA
Nadine Rosa-Rosso, recognizeresistance.net, Belgium
Mimi Rosenberg, Esq., Producer & Host Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report WBAI Radio, NY
Bob Rossi, union organizer, Salem, OR
Mireille Rumeau, Bordeaux-France
Doug Russell, Dallas, TX
Tony Ryan, Australia
Dr. Hamoudi Hadj Sahraoui, Setif University, Algeria
Nizar Sakhnini, Toronto, Canada
Samia Saleh, northern Virginia, US
Professor Therese Saliba, The Evergreen State College, Washington
Susanne Scheidt, writer, journalist, Italy
Carol Scheller-Doyle, Genève, Switzerland
Guenter Schenk, Strasbourg, France
Einar Schlereth, Sweden
Penny Schoner, paralegal, San Francisco, CA
Paolina Scoccimarro, Italy
Marco Antonio Sechi, Sassari, Italy
Shahin Shabanian, Williamsport, PA
Mark Shapiro, UK
Meena Sharma, USA
Michel Shehadeh, San Francisco, CA
Kemal Sidhoum, Paris, France
Júlio da Silveira Moreira, International Association of People's Lawyers, Brazil
Hilary Smith, UK
Dr. Ahdaf Soueif, author
Professor Mustapha Soueif, University of Cairo
Maryloo Souied, house cleaner/office worker, New York, NY
Edna Spennato, Maceio, Brazil
Stan Squires, Canada
Burton Steck, Chicago
Robert H. Stiver, Hawaii, USA, retiree and activist
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Y.N. Tamimi, University of Hawaii
Zaid Tayem, the Netherlands
Richard S. Thomas, former Hampden County Commissioner, retired
Angie Tibbs, Canada
Brian Tierney, Union organizer, Washington, DC
Luciano Torresani, Italy
Madjid Tounsi, Montreal, Canada
Mary Tuma, artist, USA
Vic and Barby Ulmer, Our Developing World, Saratoga, CA
Peter Urban, International Republican Socialist Movement
Laura Vance, California
JoAnne VanDatta MS, Eugene, OR
Fay Van Dunk, United Kingdom
Ivan Vanney, student, Haifa, occupied Palestine
Nils Vest, Denmark
Valdemar Vest-Lillesøe, Denmark
William Vest-Lillesøe, Denmark
Erin Wade, Seattle, WA
Claudia Wainerman, occupied Palestine
Darlene Wallach, San Jose, CA
Donna Wallach, San Jose, CA
Viola Ware, Artists to End the Occupation
Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, M.D., USA
Alison Weir, If Americans Knew, USA
Tony Whelan, London, UK
Katherine Wilson, CUNY, New York City
Betsy Wolf-Graves, San Jose, CA
R. Worrell, US
Rami Yaseen, Jordan
Ra'ana-Dilruba Yasmin, USA
Patrick Young, USA
Anthony Joseph Geha Yuja, Italy
Dr. A. B. Zahlan, London and Beirut
Edgar Zarifa, Canada
Dr. Ismail Zayid, Canada
Omar Zietawi, Arab American Community Center, Southern California
Said Zulficar, Network for Colonial Freedom

Hello, 

Please, think of new ideas we can use and do to put more pressure on the authorities to listen to our demands. They think we're a small number and can do nothing, we want to change this idea.

Iman 

Dear friends

Jenny Linnell is a co-founder of the ISM Rafah group, and an original crew member of one of the "Free Gaza" boats. For the last year she has been accompanying Palestinians and documenting events in the Gaza strip, both before, during and after the war. You can see footage of her work with fishermen and farmers under fire at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDD8ANFgwtA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTUYivihoTE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffishingunderfire.blogspot.com%2F2008_09_01_archive.html&feature=player_embedded

Since the end of May Jenny has been trying to make arrangements to leave and return home via the border crossing at Rafah into Egypt. She keeps getting turned away, most recently under pretty extreme circumstances, as outlined below. The significant part of the story is that Egyptian Border Guards told her and fellow ISMer Natalie that they were being refused exit because of their work with the Free Gaza boats. They were told that they would 'never be let out'.

For the sake of both women and other peace workers it is vital that this treatment is not allowed to continue unchallenged. So if you have some time in the next few days, please help us get them back by ringing the British Foriegn office and the Egyptian Embassy in London.

The Egyptian Embassy in London
phone 020 7499 3304/2401
Fax: 020 7491 1542

The British Foreign Office
Middle East Desk
Tel: 020 70088784
Email: jill.bayliss@fco.gov.uk and trish.wise2@fco.gov.uk

Our approach has been polite, but persistent and lengthy.

The plan is to ring every day for the next three days, step back and assess.

If you get a chance to mail me to let me know when you rang, and how it went, it would be great for helping us keep tabs on how effectively the mobilising going my address is lizthesnook at gmail.com.

Many many thanks on behalf of Jenny, Natalie and their friends and family.

Liz Snook.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Sample letter:

Dear sir/ madam

I am concerned about the continued refusal at the Egyptian Border with Gaza to let British citizens Jenny Linnell and Natalie Abou Chakra leave Gaza for return via Egypt to the UK. In the past months they have been engaged in humanitarian work in Gaza and it is important that as British Citizens they must be given whatever legal protection and entitlement is necessary for their safe return to the UK.

They had been assured that their documentation was in order and yet on the 28th of June it was deemed to be inadequate despite assurances made to the contrary. There appears to be a missing link in the coordination between the MFA and the Egyptian Intelligence Services, or between these offices and the officials working in the crossing, resulting in Ms Linnell and Ms Abou Chakras continued refused entry into Egypt.

As a matter of urgency, it is essential that a greater level of assurance is acquired from the MFA that this situation does not arise again, either through further coordination or documentation, or by the physical presence of a representatives to ensure the border guards at the Egyptian crossing implement what appears to have been agreed by more senior Egyptian officials.

The women have every reason to believe that simple reiterations of documentation and assurances alone will not be sufficient. They have put their faith in these mechanisms for over a month now, with no effect. They first approached the British Embassy in Cairo on the 31st of May. On the 9th of June they were told that they had the required coordination and paperwork from the MFA, this was faxed through to the British Embassy in Cairo. They took a copy of this fax to the Crossing when they attempted to pass. They had been told that it was acceptable for British nationals to leave before the date of the official opening of the Crossing so they attempted to cross on the 10th of June. After several hours and several trips backwards and forwards by the by the Palestinian official responsible for coordination they were told that the Egyptian Intelligence office at the Crossing had informed him that we were not allowed to go through at that time and said things would work out once the Crossing opened. Despite several calls to Ms. Hayek from the MFA, they were refused entry.

On Saturday 27th June, 2009, the first day of the officially announced three-day opening of the Rafah Crossing, 4 British citizens including Ms Linnell and Ms Abou Chakra passed through six phases of checkpoints, before finally being allowed onto a bus waiting before the gates to the Egyptian side of the Crossing. This meant that they were still on the Palestinian side, in a bus in a queue of around seven buses and dozens of ambulances, stranded waiting for the Egyptians to open the entry gate to the Egyptian terminal. At 7.30pm local time, the Egyptians called the Palestinians to return back. The Egyptians then allowed some ambulances through, although 20 ambulances and the buses were left stranded again until 11pm, when all were returned back to Gaza.

The following day, Sunday 28th June, the four British nationals headed to the crossing in the early morning. At 2pm they were asked to get on a bus heading to the Egyptian gate. At 3pm, the four British nationals had gained entry to the Egyptian terminal. At 7.30pm, the other two British nationals were allowed into Egypt, however Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra were told their passports were being checked and were then questioned by the border officials regarding the purpose of their stay in Gaza, their arrival, and marital status. An hour later, Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra's names were called as part of the list of those to be “returned back” to Gaza. The afore-mentioned protested against this, thinking that there must have been a misunderstanding, reiterated that they had "tanseeq", or coordination from the MFA based on the request of the British Embassy and repeatedly showed the document from the MFA.

They were told by a uniformed officer that the faxed document was in fact a letter from the British Embassy and what they actually needed was a letter from the Egyptian Government, despite the fact that the document was written on letter-headed notepaper from the MFA emblazoned with a governmental emblem and that it bore a governmental stamp below the text. They were also told that they weren't being allowed to pass because the British Embassy hadn't approved of their departure from Gaza. The officers and Intelligence personnel threw the faxed document on the ground. Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra attempted to refuse to leave the Crossing, demanding to know why the permission they had previously been granted was not now being honoured. No answer was given although an Intelligence officer there, Mr. Saeid, insisted that they needed “tassdeeq” which constitutes a call by the MFA to their office at the Crossing. He said the document from the MFA meant nothing. Ms. Dina Hayek from the MFA had previously explained to Ms. Linnell that it would have been impossible for her to have sent the fax to the British Embassy without the approval of the Intelligence Services.

After approaching other Intelligence officers, they were denied entry to the Government Security office that they'd been recommended. At around twelve midnight, when one of the women was speaking to the media about the situation at the Crossing, Mr. Saeid approached her saying “I will make sure you will not leave Gaza,” and assured her “We are untouchable” (literally, meen hayhasibna). During these hours, Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra were speaking on the telephone with family members who contacted the British Embassy in Cairo. “We are working on it,” was a repetitive answer.. Hours later, they received a 'phone call from Caroline, the Duty Officer at the Embassy saying, “I've seen this happen before,” “Wait till tomorrow when we can sort things out,” and “You have everything you need to cross, the problem is from them [Egyptian Intelligence Services].”

The two British women informed the Embassy that they would remain in the crossing until an explanation was given as to why they had been denied entry based on unjustifiable and potentially false grounds. The Egyptian officials at the border asked how they entered Gaza, and on explaining that they arrived on the Free Gaza Movement Boats they were told, “So, you don’t need us to answer. You already know why you’re not being allowed out.”

This would seem to suggest that they were detained as a form of unofficial punishment for their humanitarian work in Gaza. This is extremely alarming. Officers then forcibly removed them from the departure hall to where there was a bus waiting outside. Moments later, Ms. Abou Chakra was also assaulted and lost sight of Ms. Linnell. Officers again threatened Ms. Abou Chakra with her continued detention in Gaza saying saying “We will make sure you will never get out,” and, “You are lucky you are not in Jordan. Our boots would be in your mouths by now.”

The treatment Ms. Linnell and Ms. Abou Chakra were subjected to was abusive and unnecessary. The Egyptian authorities at the Crossing have failed to acknowledge their right of passage. As is evident from the verbal exchange mentioned above, this is a direct challenge from the Egyptian authorities to the democratic rights of any person who has been working aiding the desperate situation in Gaza.

I would be grateful if you would fully investigate this matter further and urge you to act on this information to secure an efficient and safe passage from Gaza for these two humanitarian workers, which they have so far been unjustly denied.

I would appreciate you keeping me informed of the results of your enquiries.

–
In Solidarity
from all
International Movement to Open Rafah Border

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9986479902

"Only a united world against oppression will help unite and free all of Palestine."

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country

We are asking for your endorsement and that of your organization to the below letter, inspired by the hunger strike of imprisoned Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat, calling upon United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to uphold his responsibilities and take action to protect the rights, health and lives of Palestinian prisoners and demand the freedom of all 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners. This letter will be delivered to Ban Ki-Moon's office on July 8, 2009. Please send your endorsement as quickly as possible in order to ensure it is included, preferably before July 5, 2009. This initiative is being supported by the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat. Please send endorsements to info@freeahmadsaadat.org. We welcome endorsements from all organizations, individuals, coalitions and institutions in support of the goals of this letter and the rights and freedom of Palestinian prisoners.

Statement in Italian | Statement in French

Dear Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon;

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, call upon you to immediately take action in defense of the lives, health and rights of the over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners held inside Israeli occupation jails. This number includes numerous elected members of Palestinian Legislative Council, among them Ahmad Sa'adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Marwan al-Barghouthi, Fateh leader; Abdel-Aziz Dweik, Hamas leader and President of the Council, just freed after three years in prison, and dozens of other elected political leaders, in addition to thousands of other Palestinian activists, union members, community organizers, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.

Palestinian prisoners suffer in conditions that violate international standards and norms, and are imprisoned because they refuse to accept a brutal occupation of their land and their people. Ahmad Sa'adat recently waged a nine-day hunger strike in protest of the policy of isolation and solitary confinement that has recently been escalated against Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian prisoners have been denied family visits, at times for years, denied access to all books and magazines, and denied even communication with their fellow prisoners in the isolation units. Palestinian prisoners, including Sa'adat, are currently denied necessary health care and medical treatment.

Palestinian prisoners are placed into isolation because they are national leaders and because the Palestinian prisoner movement has been an inspiration to all Palestinians and all who struggle for freedom. Ahmad Sa'adat's hunger strike has sparked thousands of people around the world to appeal for his release, as a living example who symbolizes the steadfastness and strength of the Palestinian prisoners amid isolation and dire conditions, and it must compel all of those outside the prisons to act. Many Palestinian and international human rights and social justice organizations have called for the release of Sa'adat and to ensure the safety of his life and health, as well as for freedom and protection for all Palestinian prisoners.
 
The fate of these 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners is a fundamental issue of justice. Palestinians, in Palestine and in exile, are denied their rights – to return home, to self-determination, and to freedom, and those who seek to secure those rights are subject to imprisonment, whether within the open-air prisons of Gaza under siege or the walled-in West Bank, or the jails of the occupation. The silent, and at times, active, complicity of international agencies, particularly the United Nations, in the denial of Palestinian rights must not continue.

We call upon you to uphold your responsibilities and exert all pressure to end torture, cruel and inhuman treatment of Palestinian prisoners, and to free every Palestinian political prisoner from Israel's occupation jails.

Sincerely,

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

Al-Awda NY
Al-Awda Newspaper and Publishing House, Chicago
Al-Awda Omaha
Al-Fajr News, Tunisia
Alliance for People's Health
Almubadara USA
Al-Nakba Awareness Project
American Iranian Friendship Committee
Anti-Imperialist Camp
Artists to End the Occupation
Association Réveil des Consciences
Arab American Community Center, Youngstown, OH
Arab American Union Members Council
Arab Muslim American Federation
Arab Resource and Organizing Center, San Francisco, CA
Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine
BAYAN USA
Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
Campaign to Free Marwan Barghouti and All Prisoners
Canadian Arab Federation
Canada Palestine Association – Vancouver
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (Toronto)
Comité 'Libérez-les!'
Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient, Luxembourg
Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Argentina
Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Brazil
Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Ecuador
Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Uruguay
Coordination de l'Appel de Strasbourg pour une Paix juste au Proche-Orient
Danish Communist Party
EuroPalestine
Free Gaza Movement
Free Palestine Alliance
The Freedom Archives
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
French Committee to Free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah (Collectiv pour la libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah)
Friends of Al-Aqsa
General Union of Workers of Chile
Hammerhard MediaWorks
International Action Center
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
International Platform Against Isolation (IPAI)
International Platform of Jurists for East Timor, Leiden, Netherlands
International Republican Socialist Network
International Socialist Organization
International Solidarity Movement – France
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Irish Republican Socialist Party
Jericho Movement – NYC
Jewish People's Liberation Organization
Justice for Palestinians, San Jose, CA
Kommunistische Initiative Deutschlands (KI)/Communist Initiative Germany
L'Observatoire Tunisien pour les Droits et les Libertés Syndicales
Middle East Children's Alliance
National Boricua Human Rights Network
National Democratic Action Society of Bahrain
National Lawyers Guild
New Jersey Solidarity – Activists for the Liberation of Palestine
New Orleans Palestine Solidarity
NYC Labor Against the War
NY Committee For Human Rights in the Philippines
No One Is Illegal – Vancouver
PalestineFreeVoice
Palestine House
Palestine Solidarity Group – Chicago
Palestine Solidarity Committee – Seattle
Palestine Think Tank
Palestinian American Youth, Youngstown, OH
The Palestinian Cultural and Political Club of Boston
Palestinian Democratic Committee – Chile
Palestinian Federation of Chile
Palestinian Youth Network
PATOIS: New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism!
Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) of Ecuador
Secretariat Nationale de la Voie Democratique Maroc
Socialist Action
Socialist Party of Malaysia
TLAXCALA activist translators' collective
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) (Popular Conference)
Vent Libertaire 29, France
Voice of Palestine, Canada
War Times/Tiempo De Guerra
WESPAC Foundation
Women Against Military Madness
Women's Peace Speakers Series, Honolulu, Hawaii

Leila Khaled
MP George Galloway, UK Parliament Member and coordinator of Viva Palestina USA medical aid caravan to Gaza
Ulla Sandbaek, former Member of European Parliament, Denmark
May Abboud, Lebanon
Chbari Abdelmoumen, journalist, Morocco
Prof. Bashir Abu Manneh, Columbia University
Susan Abulhawa, author, Pennsylvania
Nader Abuljebain, writer
Yousef Abudayyeh, California
Nasser Abu-khdeir, Jerusalem University Political Science Department, Jerusalem-Shuafat, Palestine
Sheriff Abuzahra, Cambridge, MA
Darwish Addassi, Walnut Creek, CA
Ghassan H. Alami, Jordan
Abdul-Rahman Alawi, publisher and journalist, Cologne, Germany
Musa al-Hindi, Omaha, NE
Sonia Almonacid, Spain
Abdelwahab Amri Secretary-General of the Federation of PDP, Gabes, Tunisia 
Giuseppe Ardizzone, Perugia, Italy
Emmanuel Arenes, France
Justo Arriola, Euskal Herria
Jamal Aruri, attorney, Andover, MA
Prof. Emeritus Naseer Aruri, University of Massachussetts at Dartmouth
Boniardi Ambrogio, Milano, Italy
Mary Avice, Canada
Rahef Awadallah, Chicago, IL
A. R. Ayoubi, UK
Mike Baldwin, California, USA
Khaled Barakat, Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat, Canada
Nidal A. Barakat, California
Patrice Bardet, France
Anees Barghouthi, Palestine
Pawel Michal Bartolik, journalist, Poland
Abdul-Nasser J.G. Baston, London, UK
Levent Basturk, Red Hook, NY
Tahmeena Bax, UK
Dr. Oren Ben-Dor University of Southampton, UK
Arnauld Bengochea, Bordeaux-France
Cheryl Benson, Canada
Simone Bilotta, Faenza (RA), Italy
Patricia Blair, Hawaii, USA
Yoon Bok-Dong, Korea Truth Commission – Hawaii Representative, USA
Thomas Bolt, England
Giulio Bonali, Italy
Hadassah Borreman, Jeshurun-Judaism Against Zionism, Belgium
Yamina Bounir, Comité Verviers Palestine, France
John P. Brassard, elementary teacher, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Andrea Breuer, Klagenfurt, Austria
Richard Brinton, Salinas, CA, USA
Peter Brown, Olives for Palestine/Olives for Peace
Dr.C.J. Burns-Cox MD FRCP, Gloucester UK
George Cammarota, San Jose, CA
Daniele Campione, Milan, Italy
José Canali, France
Hadi Chammah, Gainesville, FL, USA
Sukant Chandan, Chair of the British Section of the International Union of Parliamentarians for Palestine.
Irene Clausen, Denmark
Ana Cleja, France
Catherine Cobham, St. Andrews University, Scotland, UK
Prof. William A. Cook, University of La Verne
Claude Coursin, Assistante Sociale, Marseilles, France
Maya Cutler, Stanley, ID
Professor Seif Da'Na, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Ilgvar Daga, USA
Elena Davinca, Austria
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Herman De Ley, Ghent University (Belgium)
Shaheen Sultan Dhanji, Chairperson, African Socialist Movement
Dennis E. Donohue, New York, NY
Peter Durant, New York, NY
Dr. Adel Elsaie, USA
Ali Faraj, Rennes, France
James C. Faris, Director Emeritus, University of Connecticut Program in Middle East Languages and Area Studies
Mahmoud Faris, Gaza, Palestine
Enrique Ferro, Brussels, Belgium
Franco Ferro, teacher, Italy
Nadia Ferro, teacher, Italy
Sara Flounders, co-director, International Action Center
Linda Frank, Northwest Middle East Peace Forum, USA
Donnie Fraser, UK
Yolanda Garza-Birdwell, Houston, TX
Elisabeth Geschiere, Minneapolis, MN
Ron George, USA
Francesco Giordano, educator, Milano, Italy
Prof. Emerita Sherna Berger Gluck, California State University Long Beach
Margaret Goodheart, Honolulu, HI
Maligorn Gouez, France
Stephen Gowans, Canada
Michela Graham, Italy
Dr. Anne Gray, London, UK
Lamari Habib, Al-Fajr News, Tunisia
Anita Hadjadji, Bordeaux, France
M. Hadjuk, USA
Prof. Emerita Elaine Hagopian, Simmons College
Samia A. Halaby, artist, New York, NY
Hatem Hammad, Canada
Dr. Leila Hanaineh, Jordan
Kamal Hassan, USA
Monadel Herzallah, San Francisco, CA
Nadia Hijab, writer
Paul Hubbard, Providence, RI
Jay Hubbell, Peace Fresno, Fresno, CA
Mary Hughes Thompson, Women in Black Los Angeles, CA
Barbara Ida, Malone, NY
Sascha Iversen, International Forum, Denmark
Firas Jaber, writer and researcher, Palestine
Karl Ange Angri Jacobsen, Red-Green Alliance, Denmark
Dr. Mohammed Jadallah, Jerusalem Centre For Development
Francois Jadoul, Belgium
Intisar Jardaneh, Jordan
Randa Jazairi, Gainesville, FL
Humberto Jijón, Ecuador
Richard Jones, Swansea, UK
Maya Joulkva, France
Sana Kassem, Athens, Greece
Charlotte Kates, attorney
Ahmad Kawash, Boston, MA
Prof. Mujid S. Kazimi,   Massachusetts Institiute of Technology
Nabil Keilani, California
Basem Khader, Chappaqua, NY
Hocine Khelfaoui, Montreal, Canada
Peter Klosterman, Ph.D. Oakland, CA
Norman Koerner, educator, Philadelphia, PA
Khaled Kouteich, France
Zbigniew Marcin Kowalewski, researcher and editor, Poland
Garold Langley, Hawaii, USA
Carlos Latuff, cartoonist, Brazil
Joelle Laurent-Laneau, France
David Letwin, Brooklyn, NY
Michael Letwin, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325
Mariah Leung, Al-Nakba Awareness Project, Eugene, OR
Dr. Renee Levant, Instructor, Master of Liberal Studies Program, Fort Hays State University
Catherine Lieutenant, Belgium
Tammy Bang Luu, Los Angeles, CA
Amir M. Maasoumi, Quebec, Canada
Professor Moshé Machover, London School of Economics
Patrick MacManus, Rebellion, Denmark
Dr. Bruce J. Malina, Dept of Theology, Creighton University
Hanif Manjoo, South Africa
Polly Mann, Women Against Military Madness, Minneapolis, MN
Sharon Martinas, San Francisco, CA
Professor Nur Masalha, London
Beatriz Maturana, President, Architects for Peace, Australia
Bill McGrath, Minnesota, USA
Marcelo Mendoza Azat, Arauco, Chile
Roberto J. Mercado, photographer, Social Impact Photography, New York, NY
Ali Mili, Phillipsburg, NJ
Emil Mishriky, Palestine
Harald Molgaard, Twickenham, UK
Serajeddin Momeni, Phoenix, AZ
Michael Moore, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Lillian Morgan, East Aurora, NY
Talaat Ahmed Mosallam, Retired General, researcher, co chairman Al A'mal Party, Egypt
Tawfieq Mousa, California, USA
Atiya Munir, Policy Analyst, London, UK
Catherine Myles, UK
Linda Nedjaa, France
Marlene Newesri, New York City, USA
Dr. Marcy Newman, Associate Professor of English, An Najah University, Nablus, Palestine
Hiyam Noir, PalestineFreeVoice.org, USA/Palestine
Christopher North, Antalya, Turkey
Henry Ode, California
Alain Ollivier, Quebec, Canada
Ivan Olsen, San Francisco Bay, CA
Ardeshir and Eleanor Ommani, Founders, AIFC
Michael Opperskalski, Journalist and Editor, Germany
Manlio Padova, Italy
Marie-Ange Patrizio, psychologist, Marseille, France
Daniel Perez Creus, Ingenio {Gran Canaria} Spain
Jørgen Petersen, Danish Communist Party, Denmark
Lily Phan, Calgary, AB, Canada
Andrea Pietropaolo, Italy
Paola Pisi, Uruknet.info
Karina Rahef, USA
Jespers Raf, Progress Lawyers Network, Belgium
Ahmed S. Rajah, South Africa
Hussin Ramadan, Palestine
Dr. Nagesh Rao, Assistant Professor of English, The College of New Jersey
Gabriele Rapaci, student, University of Milan, Italy
Angel Rebollar, Spain
Dick Reilly, Chicago, IL, US
Mary Rizzo, writer, translator, S Benedetto Tr, Italy
Diane Roehm, New York, NY
Francesca Rosa, San Francisco, CA
Nadine Rosa-Rosso, recognizeresistance.net, Belgium
Mimi Rosenberg, Esq., Producer & Host Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report WBAI Radio, NY
Bob Rossi, union organizer, Salem, OR
Mireille Rumeau, Bordeaux-France
Tony Ryan, Australia
Dr. Hamoudi Hadj Sahraoui, Setif University, Algeria
Nizar Sakhnini, Toronto, Canada
Samia Saleh, northern Virginia, US
Professor Therese Saliba, The Evergreen State College, Washington
Carol Scheller-Doyle, Genève, Switzerland
Guenter Schenk, Strasbourg, France
Penny Schoner, paralegal, San Francisco, CA
Marco Antonio Sechi, Sassari, Italy
Shahin Shabanian, Williamsport, PA
Mark Shapiro, UK
Meena Sharma, USA
Michel Shehadeh, San Francisco, CA
Kemal Sidhoum, Paris, France
Júlio da Silveira Moreira, International Association of People's Lawyers, Brazil
Hilary Smith, UK
Dr. Ahdaf Soueif, author
Professor Mustapha Soueif, University of Cairo
Maryloo Souied, house cleaner/office worker, New York, NY
Stan Squires, Canada
Robert H. Stiver, Hawaii, USA, retiree and activist
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Y.N. Tamimi, University of Hawaii
Zaid Tayem, the Netherlands
Richard S. Thomas, former Hampden County Commissioner, retired
Angie Tibbs, Canada
Brian Tierney, Union organizer, Washington, DC
Madjid Tounsi, Montreal, Canada
Vic and Barby Ulmer, Our Developing World, Saratoga, CA
JoAnne VanDatta MS, Eugene, OR
Fay Van Dunk, United Kingdom
Erin Wade, Seattle, WA
Claudia Wainerman, occupied Palestine
Darlene Wallach, San Jose, CA
Donna Wallach, San Jose, CA
Viola Ware, Artists to End the Occupation
Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, M.D., USA
Alison Weir, If Americans Knew, USA
Tony Whelan, London, UK
Katherine Wilson, CUNY, New York City
R. Worrell, US
Ra'ana-Dilruba Yasmin, USA
Anthony Joseph Geha Yuja, Italy
Dr. A. B. Zahlan, London and Beirut
Edgar Zarifa, Canada
Omar Zietawi, Arab American Community Center, Southern California
Said Zulficar, Network for Colonial Freedom

This letter will be delivered to Ban Ki-Moon's office on July 8, 2009. Please send your endorsement as quickly as possible in order to ensure it is included, preferably before July 5, 2009. This initiative is being supported by the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat. Please send endorsements to info@freeahmadsaadat.org.

Respect ILO Convention 111 against all forms of discrimination at work

We bring to the attention of all workers, of all trade unions and their members, the following appeal sent to us by the trade union organisation Sawt el-Amel, based in Nazareth.

The measures taken against the Palestinian Arab railworkers in Israel contravene every provision of international law against discrimination in whatever form, and especially the provisions of ILO Convention 111 on discrimination at work, which Israel has ratified and which stipulates: Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes to declare and pursue a national policy designed to promote, by methods appropriate to national conditions and practice, equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation, with a view to eliminating any discrimination in respect thereof. (Article 2)

For equal rights, against the discrimination being directed at Palestinian Arab workers

Endorse the Sawt el-Amel appeal as widely as possible. 

12 April 2009

Appeal

This appeal was developed in cooperation with Arab railway workers

who have been sacked as a result of this policy.

Support Arab railway workers in Israel in their struggle to keep their jobs!

Call on Israel Railways to revise its new policy requiring army service as an employment condition!

This policy is clearly discriminatory: it disqualifies Arab workers because Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel are exempt from service in the Israeli army.

Background

In March 2009, Israel Railways, a state-owned company, launched a new policy denying employment to railroad crossing guards who have no permit to carry weapons – that is: who have not served in the Israeli army. This policy will lead to the lay-off of around 150 Arab railway workers who monitor and maintain Israel’s level crossings. Israel Railways explicitly stated that the new employment policy is designed to give priority to young army veterans.

Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel have always been extremely underrepresented in Israel’s public sector (including state-owned companies), and despite existing anti-discrimination laws only about 5% of civil servants are Arabs, while they make up almost 20% of the overall population. Exclusion of Arabs from the public sector is mainly a result of Israel’s state security policies, which deny Arabs who have not served in the Israeli army and do thus not have a permit to carry weapons access to employment in public administration and services (such as: communication, water, electricity, public transport and port authorities, fire brigades etc.). This strong focus on state security is also reflected in the biographies of executive officers in Israeli government-owned companies.

Yitzhak ‘Haki’ Harel, general manager of Israel Railways, for instance, is a Major General in the Israeli army (IDF). He retired from the army in August 2006, shortly after the July War on Lebanon, and has headed the company since 2007.

Israel Railways’ new policy is an instructive example of the way Arab workers are systematically excluded from the Israeli labour market: firstly, it shows that state security takes absolute preference over personal safety and security in Israel’s employment policy; secondly, it reveals that these security concerns are used to camouflage double standards in favour of Jewish Israeli workers because a) the job of crossing guard has so far not required bearing arms, b) other railway workers, such as train drivers, are not addressed by the new policy, and c) some positions are reserved for “minorities who did not serve in the army”. This allows the conclusion that army service is in fact an irrelevant employment condition. At this point, it should be noted that the new policy also excludes recent immigrants, ultra-orthodox Jews, disabled persons and conscientious objectors.

On April 7, 2009, the Tel Aviv Labour Court suspended the dismissal of the railway workers until the next court hearing on April 19, 2009. However, workers told Sawt el-Amel that Israel Railways has already started recruiting new crossing guards. On April 8, 2009, Israel Railways responded to Sawt el-Amel’s enquiry about the new employment policy, reaffirming that the policy decision is based on ‘practical and security considerations’ and does not aim to ‘discriminate against minorities’.

On the whole, Israel Railways’ new employment policy should be seen both as a continuation of Israel’s long-standing strategy to exclude Arab workers from the labour market and as an assault on all economically and socially marginalised groups in times of growing economic crisis.

What you can do:

1) Endorse the appeal: Fill in the ‘Endorse the Appeal’ form below and send it to: laborers@laborers-voice.org

2) Forward the appeal to your colleagues and friends

3) Encourage your organisation/branch to endorse the appeal; attach your organisation’s logo to the email

4) Write a protest letter to Israel Railways. Copy-paste the sample letter below or write your own message to:

Yitzhak Harel, CEO

Israel Railways

Fax: +972 (0)3 6937480

Email: pniyot@rail.co.il

CC your email/fax to Sawt el-Amel/The Laborer’s Voice:

Fax: +972 (0)4 6080917         

Email: laborers@laborers-voice.org         

Tel.: +972 (0)4 6561996         

Postal address: PO Box 2721, Nazareth 16126, Israel  

Website: www.laborers-voice.org

Sample letter to Israel Railways:

Dear Mr Yitzhak Harel,

I am concerned about Israel Railways’ new policy requiring army service and weapons training as an employment condition for guards at level crossings. Since Arab citizens of Israel are exempt from obligatory army service, it can be assumed that all or most Arab crossing guards will be laid off as a consequence of this policy decision.

This contradicts the fundamental right of workers to equality and non-discrimination in employment, and consequently, the policy should be revised.

I would much appreciate to hear your position on this issue.

Sincerely,

Initiators of this appeal:

Taher Jayousi, railworker; Assad Salami, railworker; Ibrahim Nasrallah, railworker; Luqman Salami, railworker; Mustapha Matani, railworker; Karim Qadi, railworker; Ali Rabus, railworker; Yussef Nasrallah, railworker; Amir Hamoudi, railworker; Ahmad Hamoudi, railworker; Sawt el-Amel/The Laborer's Voice; Jibran Naddaf, Chairperson of Sawt el-Amel; Wehbe Badarne, Director of Sawt el-Amel; Marie Badarne, International Relations Sawt el-Amel; Fakher Badarne, Young Workers Sawt el-Amel; Auni Banna, advocate, Sawt el-Amel Board Member; Haifa Shehadi, Sawt el-Amel Board Member; Maha Krayyem, Sawt el-Amel Women’s Programme;

Support the fight by the Sawt el-Amel trade union and the railworkers

Send your financial support to FSFN

LCL Account no.30002-00441-0000008791R-5

IBAN : FR89 3000 2004 4100 0000 8791 R05/BIC : CRLYFRPP

http://www.recogniseresistance.net/index.php

Initial Signatories:

Palestinians are the Priority

an open statement of commitment to the Palestinian Solidarity Cause

* deliberately shifting focus away from Israel's war crimes and its supremacist Zionist ideology;

* imposing unilateral agendas by presenting both sides as victims;

* sabotaging service to the just cause of the Palestinian people;

* ignoring the issue of right of return for the Palestinians;

* utilising the platform of the Palestinian discourse to argue about anti-Semitism, which is not a Palestinian problem and not created by Arabs.

Our primary and single concern is solidarity with the Palestinian people.

As ethical human beings we consider it our obligation to:

* do all we can to allow the information to be diffused as widely and as quickly as possible;

* ensure the argument of the oppression and disenfranchisement of the Palestinian people stays in the forefront;

* present as clear and honest a picture as possible of the meaning of Zionism and the Jewish State;

* to cross the divide and to unite in our war against the Zionist crime.

We accept and believe in equality of all persons, regardless of their race, religion, political or other orientation. We believe that full and unconditional support of the Palestinian people is a condition sine qua non for activists to adopt, and we recognise that their attachment to their homeland is a fundamental and unalterable condition. To that end we advocate for one unified State with equal rights for all its citizens.

Any attempts at censoring reasoned critique of Israel and Zionism must be refused a priori, as it is in conflict with the goal of seeking to protect and support the Palestinian people – as their empowerment is the only way to peaceful coexistence for all the populations of the Middle East. Any attempts at dictating what the Palestinians should do will be looked upon with great circumspection and suspicion. Palestinians themselves wish to construct their own future and are not pawns to be shifted on the chessboard.

We demand free speech for sincere critics of Zionism and call for an end to campaigns created in order to ostracise its most vocal critics. Smear campaigns will not be tolerated, as we recognise that they are the instrument of choice of Zionists, and detract energy from our work. We will not hesitate to expose the instrumental usage of them, no matter the claimed principles of those who are engaged in creating such campaigns. On the other hand, open dialogue and reasoned argumentation is welcome and greatly encouraged as a tool to understanding and collaboration.

The indigenous people of Palestine are facing extermination by the hands of the Jewish State, and the world keeps silent. The sooner we draw public attention to Israel's needless wanton destruction, the sooner we can do away with this horrifying, insufferable situation.

If you agree with this statement, please sign the petition.

http://www.petitiononline.com/grosveno/petition.html

Approximately 300 among NGOs and associations ask the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open an investigation on the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. Our support is indispensable. Sign and circulate this urgent «universal petition». 

To the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)

Law is the distinguishing mark of human civilisation. All progress made by humanity coincides with the consolidation of rights. The challenge that Israel’s aggression against Gaza poses to us consists in affirming, when confronted with such great suffering, that the response to violence is justice.

War crimes? Only courts are able to bring about a sentence, but all of us can bear witness, because a human being only exists in his relationship with others. The circumstances show the breadth of their dimension in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1949, «All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.»

The protection of populations, and not only of States, is the reason why the International Criminal Court exists. A population without a State is the most threatened of all, and before History, they are placed under the protection of international bodies. The most vulnerable populations must be the most protected. Killing Palestinian civilians, the Israeli armoured tanks have caused humanity as a whole to bleed. We have been insisting that the power of the Prosecutor be put at the service of all the victims, and this task must allow that the entire world receives a message of hope, that of the construction of international rights based on human rights. And together, one day, we can pay homage to the Palestinian people for the contribution that they have given to the defence of human freedom.

use this link to sign in the English page. But, if English isn't enough, Tlaxcala has translated it into 16 languages! One of them might be yours, so no excuse to not go there, click on your favourite language and join us in our appeal!!

Please sign, publish and spread !

Israël doit être jugé par la Cour pénale internationale – Pétition universelle  

Israel debe ser juzgado por la Corte Penal Internacional – Petición universal 

Israel must be judged at the International Criminal Court – Universal petition

Israel deve ser julgado pelo Tribunal Penal Internacional – Petição universal

Israele deve essere giudicato dalla CPI – Petizione universale

Israel ha de ser jutjat per la Cort Penal Internacional – Petició universal

 تعين أن تحاكم اسرائيل في المحكمة الجنائية الدولية – عريضة عالمية

Israel måste dömas av den internationella brottsmålsdomstolen-Universell namninsamling

اسراییل باید در دادگاه جنایی بین‌المللی محاکمه شود   

Το Ισραήλ πρέπει να δικαστεί από το Διεθνές Ποίνικό Δικαστήριο – Παγκόσμια αίτηση

Israelul trebuie să fie judecat de către Curtea Penală Internațională – Petiție universală/

ИЗРАИЛЬ ДОЛЖЕН БЫТЬ СУДИМ МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫМ УГОЛОВНЫМ СУДОМ

עצומה אוניברסלית: על ישראל להישפט בפני בית המשפט הדין הבינלאומי

 Israël moet berecht worden voor het Internationaal Strafhof – Universele petitie

Uluslararası Ceza Mahkemesinde İsrail yargılanmalıdır- Evrensel İmza Kampanyası

The current attack can only be seen as the culmination of a deliberate plan to starve and kill the people of Gaza. The portrayal of zionist actions in corporate media as "retaliatory" and Palestinian resistance as "provocation" falsifies the nature and history of the zionist state.

“Israel” is a colonial settler state founded on the racist ideology of zionism. It has followed the expansionist and genocidal logic of white supremacist, settler-colonialism for over 60 years: its aim is to completely eradicate the indigenous population — either by “transfer” or by total annihilation.

Historically, the only force that has stood between the zionists and the completion of this goal has been the armed resistance. It was the armed resistance of Palestinians in the 1930s that first forced the British to reconsider their goal of establishing a zionist state in Palestine. Armed resistance forced Ariel Sharon to scrap his plan in 2000 of bringing a million new settlers into the West Bank. Armed resistance drove Israel out of South Lebanon, and forced 5,000 settlers out of Gaza.

In the absence of armed resistance, zionist expansion has continued unhindered and without international attention–as in the case of the Naqab, where Bedouins have been driven from their traditional lands. As the collaborationist Palestinian Authority increasingly tightens its repression against resistance forces in the West Bank, settler atrocities against Palestinians —aimed at driving them from their land— now escalate unchecked.

Rockets fired from Gaza on settlements in  ‘48 occupied Palestine (e.g. Sderot, Ashkelon) are not mere acts of symbolism: they have defeated the capacity of the zionist state to offer settlers "security." Since "security" is now the main promise which the state holds out to its settler population, this defeat is quite significant. It has prevented the zionists from achieving their “demographic” goals: deluging Palestine with fresh new waves of colonial invaders.

We recognize that Palestinian resistance follows in the tradition of many other indigenous peoples who have had to survive and defend themselves against colonialism.  First Nations peoples in the Americas, enslaved Africans in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Latin and South America, the Zapatistas in Mexico, the Herero in Namibia, the Mau Mau in Kenya, Aborigines in Australia, Arabs in Iraq, and the Macheteros in Puerto Rico have all had to, and continue to, defend themselves against white supremacist violence and land theft.

All in the international community who support the Palestinian people in their fight against zionist oppression must also support their struggle against the colonization of their land. This means supporting not just the right to resist, but the resistance itself— recognizing both its legitimacy and its viability.

The resistance has issued statements asking all supporters worldwide to state their support for the legitimacy of the Palestinian resistance and recognize it as the sole alternative for Palestinian liberation. This was their only request.

We, the undersigned, answer this call:

Long live the Palestinian Resistance!

We are encouraging organizations to sign this statement by sending an e-mail to qawem@riseup.net . Names will be posted to the statement on our website: http://qawemcoalition.org

Pro-Resistance Coalition in Support of Palestine  

People of good-will have been horrified by the most recent genocidal zionist assault on Gaza. Many have felt powerless to have any significant impact on it, but have still used the means at their disposal to express their outrage. Since neither the anti-war movement nor the Palestine solidarity movement have developed more serious forms of organized, oppositional power, these expressions of grief and anger have followed a well-worn pattern:

·               emergency demonstrations in front of the “Israeli” consulate

·               candle-light vigils for the people of Gaza

·               marches and rallies

With hundreds murdered within the first days of the bombing, and almost a thousand massacred by the third week, the sheer magnitude of atrocities committed by the zionist military in Palestine has brought groups together around the narrow call for an “end to the massacre in Gaza.”

Given the power that is currently organized in the US on the side of maintaining the zionist project, it is understandable that people who are earnestly searching for some way to intervene strategically on the Palestinian side would want to see the broadest possible coalition of forces around key goals. Regardless of political differences, and however conflicting the long-term goals of these forces may be, the crisis is felt to call for the broadest possible immediate action to stop an unfolding act of mass-murder.

As the zionists outdo themselves in the brutality of their military actions, this crisis-driven unity rears its head every few years. One thinks most immediately of the mass mobilizations that took place in 2002 after the bombing of Jenin and 2006 during the sustained air-assault on Lebanon.

But this unity not only fails to lead to more serious sustained action, it presents fundamental obstacles to the struggle for Palestinian liberation. These obstacles include:

1)   a failure to denounce and reject zionism

2)   a narrow reliance on marches, rallies, vigils and protests that have no impact

3)   a co-opted and dangerous call for ‘unity’ between colonizing zionists and colonized Palestinians

4)   a diffusion of resistance by channeling opposition into forms of protest that do not threaten the status-quo of occupation and war.
 

1.  Failing to Denounce Zionism

By ignoring the implicit white-supremacist foundations of zionism, people are able to protest massacres while silently accepting the larger pattern of colonization. The message at the root of these actions seems to be one that denounces how Israel oppresses Palestinians (with ‘disproportionate’ violence) while silently accepting the racism, colonialism and violence implicit in “Israel’s” very existence.   

As the violence of “massacres” becomes the exclusive object of protest, the violence of colonial settlement can be portrayed as “peace.” This also serves as one more weapon in the zionist propaganda arsenal: Palestinian resistance against the ordinary, daily violence of colonial oppression can be presented as “provocation,” and zionist violence as “retaliation.” 

The failure to denounce zionism itself also means that zionists who object only to the most extreme policies of aggression are tolerated within a movement that should be guided exclusively by those who are fighting zionist oppression.

2.  Rallies, Marches, Protests Protests, marches, and rallies can be effective when they are part of a larger strategy of building and exerting power.  This can take place when movements have a strong base and clearly articulated visions.  If a union is considering a strike to enforce its demands, a mass demonstration of unity by workers is a direct threat to management. A million people mobilizing on the streets of Lebanon to demonstrate their opposition to foreign intervention aimed at disarming Hizballah was enough to scuttle a number of NATO plans. In both of these cases, the tactical meaning of demonstrations is an implicit threat: there is a next step after demonstrations, a threat that the powerful cannot ignore.   

In both the anti-war and in the Palestine solidarity movements, there is no next step after marches and rallies, except more marches and rallies. Usually these marches and rallies will get big, then will taper off into smaller marches and rallies, and then will get big again in the face of the next crisis.   

The marches and rallies alone fail to:  

1) send a clear message in support of the Palestinian struggle for liberation through active resistance
2) have an immediate tactical impact on the machinery of genocide and war here where we live
3) become the launching point for more serious, sustained initiatives. 

This is at least partly a consequence of the political forces involved in the current broad coalitions.
3.  Unity between whom? 

“Unity” in this case is not just the unity of more and less radical forces or of different social forces with limited shared goals.  Because unity is formed around the call to “end the massacre,” it tends to include organized groups whose fundamental interest is in maintaining the state of “Israel”.  They tend to be groups who think that massacres are a bad idea tactically (a real PR nightmare).  For these groups, it is important to maintain support for “Israel” while at the same time objecting to the “cycle of violence” and calling for more “dialogue.”   

In our current situation, these groups include people here who are tied to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority exists to administer the occupation and is now preparing to reap the benefits of the recent assault on Gaza.  They are complicit in this US backed, zionist attempt to destroy the resistance. They have imprisoned and tortured members of the resistance. They have received guns and training from the “US” while promising not to use them against zionist invaders­that is to say, exclusively against Palestinians. Abbas has prepared an emergency cabinet to take control of Gaza when the zionist assault is over. While those tied to the Palestinian Authority need some kind of a stage from which to publicly proclaim their opposition to the attack, their condemnation of ‘Israeli’ attacks in Gaza keep them legitimate, but do not make them implicitly pro-resistance or pro-Palestinian liberation.   

It has become clear that “unity” in this context includes forces who are against the resistance in Gaza and who oppose any real liberation for Palestinians. In any given coalition, these groups are more likely to have resources and sustained organizational infrastructures that put them in a much better position to project the message of collective action.    

The main focus of political activity has been symbolic demonstrations that send a political message.  That message fails to articulate unambiguous support for the Palestinian resistance, in this case military resistance in Gaza.  These dangerous omissions negate the significance that such action might have. This is a crucial failure: political support for the legitimacy of the resistance is the single most important request that the Gaza resistance has asked of the broader international community. 

4.  Impact: Diffusing Resistance 

Mass mobilizations in the streets carry with them the potential to disrupt the machinery of war and business.     

One could better sympathize with limited calls for protest aimed at maximizing numbers if those numbers were being mobilized to do something to impede the infrastructure of mass murder.  In six years of organizing against the war in Iraq, this goal has not crystallized.  Any attempts at disruption of the imperialist war in Iraq have been limited to smaller groups in a few locations.   

Here, once again, it is possible to see how the organizations involved in broad coalition work have functioned to keep anti-war actions on terrain that is safe and unthreatening to the war.  These include groups who have functioned as appendages of the Democratic party who have used demonstrations as another stage for electioneering and self-promotion.  At the root of their protests is not support for the Arab resistance and struggle for freedom, but alternately, progression of their own political and economic fortunes.  Included in the types of coalitions who participate in co-opting sustainable, effective activism are left-wing party organizations that have used demonstrations primarily as a means of recruitment.   

These types of coalitions diffuse resistance by providing avenues through which people can protest massacres while ensuring that these protests do not disrupt wars.  These coalitions and their demonstrations allow people who feel ‘uncomfortable’ with massacres the ability to express this discomfort.  Not organizing or supporting resistance beyond that, centralizes these demos within the consciousness of the demonstrating protestors.  It becomes more about protestors’ feelings and anxieties than it does about stopping violent institutions and the states that perpetrate the bloodshed being protested. 

Marches and rallies, if they did nothing else, could potentially be a way of getting new people involved in a movement with strategic goals. This is something different from mere recruitment to existing organizations and parties: it requires the building of credible initiatives by groups and individuals with shared goals that would allow us to exert power. 

What We Can Do 

Such strategic initiatives will not arise from coalition work with any of the forces already mentioned above.  Zionists have a long history of involving themselves in “pro-Palestine” work in order to prevent Palestine solidarity from having any real consequences.  Liberal democrats have worked hard to ensure that the anti-war movement does not organize demonstrations that might potentially harm the interests of Democratic Party war-mongers (Kerry in 2004; Obama in 2008). 

Despite these ideological and structural obstacles, we need to build coalitions.  In those coalitions, we need to hold serious strategy discussions, and from those strategy discussions, to build initiatives with both short-term and long-term goals. These initiatives cannot be the initiatives of any one group, but must be owned by a larger movement. 

1) We need a coalition that is both anti-zionist and pro-resistance. Whatever immediate strategic action or initiative we may form, it must be guided by those who share the consensus that Palestinians have a right to reclaim all of their historic land by any means necessary. 

2) We need a coalition that supports not only radical principles but radical actions. Such a coalition must be willing to look for ways to intervene tactically and to move beyond the script of rallies and demonstrations. 

3) Out of that coalition, we need to set both short and long term goals and build movement infrastructure for achieving them. 

The Qawem Coalition has come together to advance these goals:  

• Supporting the resistance in its struggle to liberate all of historic Palestine  
• Providing aid to Palestine that is not tied to political parties and organizations whose primary goal is to undercut support for the resistance  
• Ending all “US” aid to “Israel”: military, economic and political  
• Fighting colonialism and “US” imperialism here where we live  If you are interested in joining the Qawem coalition (qawemcoalition.org), please write us at qawem@riseup.net. FREE PALESTINE!!!

(thanks Lana Habash for the forward)

A note from Shministit Omer Goldman.

 Dear Mary,

My name is Omer Goldman. I am 19 years old. I am one of the Shministim. Thank you for signing the Shministim letter to support me and my friends.  

I first went to prison on September 23 and served 35 days. I am lucky, after 2 times in jail,  I got a medical discharge, but I'm the only one. By the time you read this, many of my friends will be in prison too: in for three weeks, out for one, and then back in, over and over, until they are 21. The reason? We refuse to do military service for the Israeli army because of the occupation.

I grew up with the army. My father was deputy head of Mossad and I saw my sister, who is eight years older than me, do her military service. As a young girl, I wanted to be a soldier. The military was such a part of my life that I never even questioned it.

Earlier this year, I went to a peace demonstration in Palestine. I had always been told that the Israeli army was there to defend me, but during that demonstration Israeli soldiers opened fire on me and my friends with rubber bullets and tear-gas grenades. I was shocked and scared. I saw the truth. I saw the reality. I saw for the first time that the most dangerous thing in Palestine is the Israeli soldiers, the very people who are supposed to be on my side.

When I came back to Israel, I knew I had changed. And so, I have joined with a number of other young people who are refusing to serve – they call us the Shministim. On December 18th, we are holding a Day of Action in Israel, and we are determined to show Israelis and the world that there is wide support for stopping a culture of war. Will you join us?

I suppose, actually, we have similar characters. We both fight for what we believe in.

I understand from our friends at Jewish Voice for Peace that you are also someone who fights for what you believe in. Believe in me. Believe in Omer Goldman. Believe in the Shministim.

Thank you,

Omer Goldman
Tel-Aviv, Israel

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/IJAN_Brockmann_BDS/?e

During the 57th Plenary Meeting on the Question of Palestine, President of the General Assembly Miguel D'escoto Brockmann broke a diplomatic taboo by describing Israeli policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as similar to those of the defunct apartheid regime in South Africa.

Brockmann also urged the United Nations to use the term ‘apartheid’ without fear, and recommended that the United Nations

"….should consider following the lead of a new generation of civil society, who are calling for a similar non-violent campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel to end its violations."

Unsurprisingly, Brockmann has been branded as an antisemite by apologists for Israel.

We are appalled by the recurrent use of baseless accusations of antisemitism; they silence calls for compassion and humanity in the name of the Palestinian people. The use of such accusations to defend massive violence against civilians offends all people of conscience. The false invocation of the slur of antisemitism positions Israel, with great political and military advantage, as a victim, while desecrating Jewish histories and trivializing the real experiences and outcomes of antisemitism.

Likening Israel's policies to apartheid is not antisemitic. It is common sense. Israel's policies have been widely described in these terms by, among others, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Jamal Zahalka, Azmi Bishara, Gideon Levy, John Dugard, Omar Barghouti, Danny Rubinstein, Amira Haas, Shulamit Aloni, Meron Benvenisti, and Ami Ayalon.

Calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel is not antisemitism. It is the recognition that only such a campaign can lay the ground for a long-lasting peace based on justice and reconciliation. In the words of Nelson Mandela,

"The responses made by South Africa to human rights abuses emanating from the removal policies and apartheid policies respectively, shed light on what Israeli society must necessarily go through before one can speak of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East…"

As Israel continues to ignore the growing outrage over the blockade of Gaza, and as Israel repeatedly breaks the cease-fire, blocks humanitarian aid and prevents journalists from covering the catastrophic impact of its actions, we the undersigned express our support for President Brockmann and urge the United Nations and all member states to adopt his recommendation without delay.

The Encyclopaedia is the first such work examining the anthropological, sociological, historical, economic, and scientific theories of race and racism in the modern era. The set delves into the historic origins of ideas of race and racism and explores their social and scientific consequences. Some of the nearly 400 articles address broad theoretical topics that have helped to shape modern ideas about race and racism; others address more specific subjects in the larger fields. Zionism is one of those racist ideas explored in this book. It was written by Dr. Noel Ignatiev^*.

In October 2008, the American Jewish Committee objected to the encyclopedia article on Zionism that Dr. Ignatiev wrote for "The Encyclopedia of Race and Racism". In an effort to hide the truth behind Zionism, Zionist lobbies are now putting huge pressure on the publishing house to remove the article in which Dr. Ignatiev described Israel as a racial state, where rights are assigned on the basis of ascribed descent or the approval of the superior race and likened it to Nazi Germany and the Southern United States before the civil rights movement.

Action:

First, have a look at this entry on "Zionism" in the Macmillan "Encyclopedia of Race and Racism" (PDF File):

http://www.ccsu.edu/library/Bernstein/Zionism.pdf

Alternatively, you can read the 5 pages of this article by viewing the attached images (click to enlarge):

Page 1:

Page 2:

Page 3:

Page 4:

Page 5:

Now, you can guess where this is heading. You can see why the Zionists are going apoplectic – the article doesn't just make the case for the Palestinian right of return but also quotes Lenni Brenner on Zionist collaboration with the Nazis. And much more.

Please sign the petition at:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/urge-macmillan-to-retain-entry-on-zionism

And you can also send individual e-mail messages to the publishers via:
emea.enquiries@cengage.com

They can be reached at:

Phone: 1-800-877-4253
Fax: 1-877-363-4253 Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST or visit:

http://www.gale.cengage.com/contact.htm

^* Noel Ignatiev is an American history professor at the Massachusetts College of Art best known for his call to "abolish" the white race. Ignatiev is the co-founder and co-editor of the journal Race Traitor and the New Abolitionist Society. He also has written a book on antebellum northern racism against Irish immigrants, How the Irish Became White.

The US occupation of Iraq is illegal and cannot be made legal. All that has derived from the occupation is illegal and illegitimate and cannot gain legitimacy. These facts are incontrovertible. What are their consequences?

Peace, stability and democracy in Iraq are impossible under occupation. Foreign occupation is opposed by nature to the interests of the occupied people, as proven by the six million Iraqis displaced both inside and outside Iraq, the planned assassination of Iraqi academics and professionals and the destruction of their culture, and the more than one million killed.

Propaganda in the West tries to make palatable the absurdity that the invader and destroyer of Iraq can play the role of Iraq’s protector. The convenient fear of a “security vacuum” — used to perpetuate the occupation — ignores the fact that the Iraqi army never capitulated and forms the backbone of the Iraqi armed resistance. That backbone is concerned only with defending the Iraqi people and Iraq’s sovereignty. Similarly, projections of civil war ignore the reality that the Iraqi population overwhelmingly, by number and by interest, rejects the occupation and will continue to do so.

In Iraq, the Iraqi people resist the occupation by all means, in accordance with international law. [1] Only the popular resistance can be recognized to express and defend the Iraqi people’s interests and will. Until now the United States is blind to this reality, hoping that a “diplomatic surge”, following the military surge of effective ethnic cleansing, will secure a government it imposes on Iraq. Regardless of who wins the upcoming US presidential election, the US can never achieve its imperial goals and the forces it imposes on Iraq are opposed to the interests of the Iraqi people.

Some in the West continue to justify the negation of popular sovereignty under the rubric of the “war on terror”, criminalizing not only resistance [2], but also humanitarian assistance to a besieged people. Under international law the Iraqi resistance constitutes a national liberation movement. Recognition of the Iraqi resistance is consequently a right, not an option. [3] The international community has the right to withdraw recognition from the US-imposed government in Iraq and recognize the Iraqi resistance.

It is evident that Iraq cannot recover lasting stability, unity and territorial integrity until its sovereignty is guaranteed. It is also evident that the US occupation cannot avoid accountability by trying to switch responsibility to Iraq’s neighbors. A pact of non-aggression, development and cooperation between a liberated Iraq and its immediate neighbors is the obvious means by which to achieve this stability. [4] In its median geopolitical position, and given its natural resources, a liberated, peaceful and democratic Iraq is central to the welfare and development of its neighbors. All of Iraq’s neighbors should recognize that stability in Iraq serves their own interests and commit to not interfering in its internal affairs.

If the international community and the United States are interested in peace, stability and democracy in Iraq they should accept that only the Iraqi resistance — armed, civil and political — can achieve these by securing the interests of the Iraqi people. The first demand of the Iraqi resistance is the unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces illegally occupying Iraq — including private contractors — and disbanding all armed forces established by the occupation.

The Iraqi anti-occupation movement — in all its expressions — in defending the Iraqi people is the only force empowered to ensure democracy in Iraq. Across the spectrum of this movement it is agreed that upon US withdrawal a temporary administrative government would be charged with two tasks: preparing the ground for democratic elections and reconstituting the national army. Upon completion of these tasks the administrative government would disband, leaving decisions regarding reparations, development and reconstruction to a sovereign and freely elected Iraqi government in a state of all its citizens without religious, ethnic, confessional or gender discrimination.

All laws, contracts, treaties and agreements signed under occupation are unequivocally null and void. According to international law and the will of the Iraqi people, total sovereignty of Iraqi oil and all natural, cultural and material resources rests in the hands of the Iraqi people, in all its generations, past, present and future. Across the spectrum of the Iraqi anti-occupation movement all agree that Iraq should sell its oil on the international market to all states not at war with Iraq, and in line with Iraq’s obligations as a member of OPEC.

The 2003 US invasion was and remains illegal and the law of state responsibility demands that states refuse to recognize the consequences of illegal state acts. [5] State responsability also includes a duty to restore. Compensation should be paid by all state and non-state actors that profited from the destruction and plundering of Iraq.

The Iraqi people are longing for long-term peace. On the basis of the 2005 Istanbul conclusions of the World Tribunal on Iraq [6], and in recognition of the tremendous suffering of the aggressed Iraqi people, the signatories to this declaration endorse the abovementioned principles for peace, stability and democracy in Iraq.

The sovereignty of Iraq rests in the hands of its people in resistance. Peace in Iraq is simple to attain: unconditional US withdrawal and recognition of the Iraqi resistance that by definition represents the will of the Iraqi people.

We appeal to all peace loving people in the world to work to support the Iraqi people and its resistance. The future of peace, democracy and progress in Iraq, the region and the world depends on this.

Members of the International Anti-Occupation Network [7]

Abdul Ilah Albayaty, member of the BRussells Tribunal Executive Committee, www.brusselstribunal.org, France – Iraq

Hana Al Bayaty, Coordinator of the Iraqi International Initiative on refugees, www.3iii.org, France – Egypt

Dirk Adriaensens, member of the BRussells Tribunal Executive Committee, www.brusselstribunal.org, Belgium

John Catalinotto, International Action Center, www.iacenter.org, USA

Ian Douglas, Coordinator of the International Initiative to Prosecute US Genocide in Iraq, www.USgenocide.org, UK – Egypt

Max Fuller, Author of For Iraq, the Salvador Option Becomes Reality and Crying Wolf, death squads in Iraq – www.cryingwolf.deconstructingiraq.org.uk, UK

Paola Manduca, Scientist, New Weapons Committee, www.newweapons.org, Italy

Sigyn Meder, member of the Iraq Solidarity Association in Stockholm, www.iraksolidaritet.se, Sweden

Cristina Meneses, member of the Portuguese session of the World Tribunal on Iraq, www.tribunaliraque.info/pagina/inicio.html, Portugal

Mike Powers, member of the Iraq Solidarity Association in Stockholm, www.iraksolidaritet.se, Sweden

Manuel Raposo, member of the Portuguese session of the World Tribunal on Iraq, www.tribunaliraque.info/pagina/inicio.html, Portugal

Manuel Talens, writer, member of Cubadebate, Rebelión and Tlaxcala, Spain

Paloma Valverde, member of the Spanish Campaign Against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI), www.nodo50.org/iraq/, www.iraqsolidaridad.org, Spain

27 August 2008

Le Feyt, France

Notes

[1] The right to self-determination, national independence, territorial integrity, national unity, and sovereignty without external interference has been affirmed numerous times by a number of UN bodies, including the UN Security Council, UN General Assembly, UN Commission on Human Rights, the International Law Commission and the International Court of Justice. The principle of self-determination provides that where forcible action has been taken to suppress this right, force may be used in order to counter this and achieve self-determination.

The Commission on Human Rights has routinely reaffirmed the legitimacy of struggling against occupation by all available means, including armed struggle (CHR Resolution No. 3 XXXV, 21 February 1979 and CHR Resolution No. 1989/19, 6 March 1989). Explicitly, UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43, adopted 3 December 1982: “Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.” (See also UN General Assembly Resolutions 1514, 3070, 3103, 3246, 3328, 3382, 3421, 3481, 31/91, 32/42 and 32/154).

[2] Article 1(4) of the 1st Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, 1977, considers self-determination struggles as international armed conflict situations. The Geneva Declaration on Terrorism states: “As repeatedly recognized by the United Nations General Assembly, peoples who are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of self-determination have the right to use force to accomplish their objectives within the framework of international humanitarian law. Such lawful uses of force must not be confused with acts of international terrorism.”

[3] National liberation movements are recognized as the consequence of the right of self-determination. In the exercise of their right to self-determination, peoples under colonial and alien domination have the right “to struggle … and to seek and receive support, in accordance with the principles of the Charter” and in conformity with the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States. It is in these terms that Article 7 of the Definition of Aggression (General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974) recognizes the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples under colonial or alien domination. Recognition by the UN of the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples under colonial and alien domination or occupation is in line with the general prohibition of the use of force enshrined in the UN Charter as a state that forcibly subjugates a people to colonial or alien domination is committing an unlawful act as defined by international law, and the subject people, in the exercise of its inherent right of self-defence, may fight to defend and attain its right to self-determination.

[4] The Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States (General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV)) cites the principle that, “States shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.” Individually and collectively, Iraq and its neighbors would commit to refrain from the use of force or threat of the use of force, facilitating the use of force or threat of use of force by other actors, and refraining from all forms of interference in the affairs of other states. Individually and collectively, Iraq and its neighbors would also commit to cooperation and development on the basis of negotiation, arbitrage and mutual advantage.

[5] Article 41(2) of the United Nations International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on State Responsibility, representing the rule of customary international law (adopted in UN General Assembly Resolution 56/83 of 28 January 2002, “Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts”), prevents states from benefiting from their own illegal acts: “No State shall recognize as lawful a situation created by a serious breach [of an obligation arising under a peremptory norm of general international law]”; Section III(e), UN General Assembly Resolution 36/103 of 14 December 1962, “Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States”.

[6] Declaration of the Jury of Conscience, World Tribunal on Iraq, Istanbul, 23-27 June 2005.

[7] The International Anti-occupation Network is a coalition of groups that stand in solidarity with the Iraqi people and for Iraqi sovereignty and against the US-led occupation of Iraq. It was established in April 2006 at the Madrid International Seminar on the Assassination of Iraqi Academics and Health Professionals, the final resolution of which can be read here. 

Please circulate this statement widely

For individual and organizational endorsements, contact:  

http://www.tlaxcala.es/detail_campagne.asp?lg=en&ref_campagne=5
*     *     *

International figures who join us in our commitment to a true end to the occupation and to a lasting, sustainable peace in Iraq

Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General, international human rights activist, founder of the International Action Center – USA
 
Cynthia McKinney, Green Party US Presidential Candidate, www.runcynthiarun.org – USA
 
Denis Halliday, Former UN Assistant Secretary General & United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq 1997-98 – Ireland
 
François Houtart, Director of the Tricontinental Center (Cetri), spiritual father and member of the International Committee of the World Social Forum of Porto Alegre, Executive Secretary of the Alternative World Forum, President of the International League for rights and liberation of people and president of the BRussells Tribunal – Belgium
 
Socorro Gomes, Chairwoman of WPC – World Peace Council and of Cebrapaz – Brazilian Center of Solidarity with Peoples and Struggle for Peace
 
José Francisco Gallardo Rodríguez, General Major and PhD. in Public Administration – Mexico
 
Manik Mukherjee, Deputy, International Affairs, Socialist Unity Center of India, General Secretary, International Anti-imperialist and People's Solidarity Coordinating Committee – India
 
Eduardo Galeano, Essayist, journalist, historian, and activist – Uruguay
 
Harold Pinter, Author, Nobel Prize in Literature 2005 – UK
 
James Petras, Author – USA
 
Jan Myrdal, Author – Sweden
 
Michael Parenti, Author – USA
 
Peter Curman, Author – Sweden
 
Rosa Regàs, Author – Spain
 
Santiago Alba Rico, Author, philosopher, member of www.rebelion.org, Spain – Tunisia
 
William Blum, Author, USA
 
Issam Chalabi, Former Iraqi Oil Minister, Iraq/Jordan
 
Dr. Omar Al Kubaisy, Senior iraqi cardiologist, anti occupation politician and activist on iraq health & medical situation
 
Dr. Saeed H. Hasan, Former Iraqi Permanent Representative to the United Nations – Iraq
 
Dr. Saadallah Al-Fathi, Former head of the Energy Studies Department at OPEC – Iraq
 
Salah Omar Al Ali, Ex iraqi minister/ex Iraq's ambassador to UN
 
Faruq Ziada, Former Iraqi Ambassador
 
Majid Al Samarai, Former Iraqi ambassador
 
Wajdi A. Mardan, Writer and Iraqi Diplomat
 
Naji Haraj, former Iraqi diplomat, human rights activist
 
Hassan T. Walli Aydinli, President of the Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmens’ Rights – Belgium-Iraq
 
Sabah Al-Mukhtar, President of the Arab Lawyers Association – Iraq / UK
 
Mohammed Younis Alobaidi, Oil Expert, Petroleum Consultancy Group (PCG) Board Member
 
Prof. Dr. Zuhair Al Sharook, Former President of Mosul University, Iraq
 
Dr. Abdul Razaq M. Al Dulaimi, Dean of college of communication in Baghdad before the invasion
 
Mohammed Aref, Science writer – Iraq / UK
 
Muhamad Tareq Al-Deraji, Director of Monitoring net of human rights in Iraq – President of CCERF – Fallujah
 
Dr. Mousa Al-Hussaini, Iraqi Writer
 
Buthaina al Nasiri, Author and activist, iraq-egypt
 
Dr. Souad Naji Al-Azzawi, Asst. Prof. Env. Eng. – University of Baghdad – Iraq
 
Mundher Al-Adhami, Research Fellow at Kings College London – Iraq / UK
 
Nermeen Al-Mufti, Former co-director of Occupation Watch – Journalist – Iraq
 
Salam Musafir, Iraqi author and journalist based in Russia
 
Wafaa' Al-Natheema, Independent journalist, activist, founder of the Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS), filmmaker, author of "Untamed Nostalgia – Wild Poems," http://zennobia.blogspot.com
 
Hisham Bustani, Writer and Activist, Secretary – Socialist Thought Forum, Jordan
 
Nada Kassass, Activist, Egypt
 
Dr Sahera Al Abta, Academic,Doctor in biology,Faculty of Sience,Iraq/Amman
 
Sabah Al-Khozai, Academic & Politician
 
Dr. Mahmoud Khalid Almsafir, Ass. Prof. International Economics, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
 
Ghali Hassan, Independent writer living in Syndey, Australia
 
Yasar Mohammed Salman Hasan, Computer science and business management – UK
 
Abdul Wahab Hamid Rashid, Iraq/Sweden
 
Asma Darwish Al-Haidari, Economist and Activist – Amman
 
Dr. Curtis F.J. Doebbler, International Human Rights Lawyer – USA
 
Karen Parker, Attorney, Association of Humanitarian Lawyers, partners of the BRussells Tribunal – USA
 
Niloufer Bhagwat, Vice President of Indian Lawyers Association – Mumbai / India
 
Amy Bartholomew, Law professor – Canada
 
Jennifer Van Bergen, Journalist, author writing about civil liberties, human rights and international law, law lecturer at the Anglo-American University in Prague
 
Ana Esther Ceceña, Researcher/professor in geopolitics, National Autonomous University of México, Director of the Geopolitics Latinamerican Observatory – Mexico
 
Ángel Guerra Cabrera, Journalist and professor – Cuba
 
April Hurley, MD, Iraq Peace Team, Baghdad 2003 – California, USA
 
Azildin Bin Hussain Al Qutamil, Arab Avant Guard-blog – Tunis
 
Dr. Bert De Belder, Coordinator Intal  & Medical Aid For The Third World – Belgium
 
Carlos Fazio, Journalist and academic – Mexico
 
Carlos Taibo, Professor of Political Sciences, Madrid Autonomous University – Spain
 
Carmen Bohorquez, Philosopher, Coordinator of the network of networks In Defense of Humanity – Venezuela
 
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, President of JUST International – Malaysia
 
Claudio Moffa, Professor of History – Italy
 
Corinne Kumar, Secretary General of El Taller International – Tunesia / India
 
Dahr Jamail, Independent journalist, author: Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq – USA
 
David Miller, Professor of Sociology at Strathclyde University, co-founder of Spinwatch – UK
 
Dirk Tuypens, Actor – Belgium
 
Elias Davidsson, Composer, international law scholar and activist for 9/11 truth – Germany
 
Eric Goeman, Coordinator ATTAC – Belgium
 
Fausto Giudice, Writer, translator, activist, member of Tlaxcala – Italy/France
 
Felicity Arbuthnot, Journalist – UK
 
Frank Vercruyssen, Actor, TG Stan – Belgium
 
Frantz Mendes, President United Steel Workers Local 8751 – USA
 
Dr. Gideon Polya, Scientist, author of Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950 – http://mwcnews.net/Gideon-Polya, Australia
 
Gie van den Berghe, Professor University of Ghent – Belgium
 
Gilad Atzmon, Musician, writer, pro-Palestinian activist – UK
 
Gilberto López y Rivas, Anthropologist – Mexico
 
Prof. Hedvig Ekerwald, Dept of Sociology, Uppsala University – Sweden
 
Prof. Em. Herman De Ley, Em. Prof. Ghent University, Ex-director of Centre for Islam in Europe – Belgium
 
Isaac Rosa, Writer – Spain
 
James E. Jennings, PH.D., President, Conscience International, Inc., a humanitarian aid and human rights organization working primarily in the Middle East; and Executive Director, US Academics for Peace, a group of university professors dedicated to dialogue among civilizations – USA
 
Jean Pestieau,  Professor Emeritus, Catholic Univercity of Louvain (UCL), Belgium
 
Joachim Guilliard, Journalist, Anti-war movement – Germany
 
John Saxe-Fernández, Professor of political science, National Autonomous University – México
 
Jos Hennes, Publisher EPO – Edition House – Belgium
 
José Reinaldo Carvalho, Journalist, politologue, Relations Internationales, Cebrapaz -  Centre Brésilien Pour la Solidarité avec les Peuples et la Lutte pour la Paix – Brazil
 
Kris Smet, Former Journalist – Belgium
 
Larry Holmes, Troops Out Now Coalition – USA
 
LeiLani Dowell, Fight Imperialism, Stand Together – USA
 
Prof. Dr. Lieven De Cauter, Philosopher, K.U. Leuven / Rits, initiator of the BRussells Tribunal – Belgium
 
Lolo Rico, Screenwriter – Spain
 
Ludo De Brabander, Vrede, Peace Organisation – Belgium
 
Luz Gómez García, Lecturer. Universidad Autonoma de Madrid – Spain
 
Manlio Dinucci, Journalist Il Manifesto – Italy
 
Marc Vandepitte, Philosopher – Belgium
 
Maria McGavigan, Institute for Marxist Studies, Brussels
 
Dr Mario Novelli, Lecturer in International Development, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
 
Maruja Torres, Writer and journalist – Spain
 
Mary Rizzo, Writer, translator, pro-Palestinian activist, member of Tlaxcala – USA/Italy
 
Mathias Cederholm, Historian University of Lund, member in the Iraq Committe in Malmö, Sweden
 
Merry Fitzgerald, Europe-Turkmens of Iraq Friendships – Belgium     http://www.turkmenfriendship.blogspot.com/
 
Michel Chossudovsky, Economics professor and director, Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) – Canada
 
Michel Collon, Author, journalist – Belgium
 
Miguel Álvarez Gándara, member of SERAPAZ, http://www.serapaz.org.mx/ – Mexico
 
Dr. Nayar López Castellanos, National Autonomous University of México – Mexico
 
Pascual Serrano, Journalist, member of www.rebelion.org – Spain
 
Paul Vanden Bavière, Former journalist De Standaard, publicist and editor of webzine Uitpers – Belgium
 
Pedro Monzón, Professor, Coordinator of the Cuban Chapter In Defense of Humanity – Cuba
 
Dr. Pol De Vos, Public Health Researcher – Peace movement, Belgium
 
René Naba, Journalist, writer – France
 
Robin Eastman-Abaya, Physician and human rights activist – USA
 
Prof. Rudi Laermans, Sociologist, Catholic University of Leuven – Belgium
 
Sara Flounders, Co-director of the International Action Center
 
Sarah Meyer, Independent researcher living in Sussex – UK
 
Saul Landau, Scholar, author, commentator, and filmmaker on foreign and domestic policy issues, fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies – USA.
 
Sköld Peter Matthis, Ophthalmologist – Sweden
 
Stephan Galon, ABVV Trade-Union Secretary / Permanent Syndical Centrale Générale FGTB – Belgium
 
Stéphane Lathion, Swiss scholar (Fribourg University) – President of the GRIS (Research Group on Islam in Switzerland).
 
Stephen Eric Bronner, Professor of political science, Rutgers University – USA
 
Stevan Kirschbaum, Chair Grievance Committee United Steel Workers 8751 – USA
 
Steve Gillis, Vice President, United Steel Workers Local 8751 – USA
 
Teresa Gutierrez, May 1st Coalition for Immigrant and Worker Rights Co-Coordinator and Deputy Secretary General International Migrant Alliance (organizations for ID only) – USA
 
Dr. Thomas M. Fasy, MD PhD, Clinical Associate Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine – USA
 
Víctor Flores Olea, Writer and political scientist – Mexico

Endorsing organizations

All India Anti-imperialist Forum – India
 
BRussells Tribunal – Belgium
 
CEOSI – Spain
 
Conscience International – USA
 
El Taller International – Tunesia
 
INTAL – Belgium
 
International Action Center – USA
 
International Anti-imperialist and People's Solidarity Coordinating Committee
 
The Iraq Solidarity Association in Stockholm (IrakSolidaritet) – Sweden
 
Medical Aid For The Third World – Belgium
 
Muslim Peacemaker Teams – Iraq
 
Palestine Think Tank (Free Minds for a Free Palestine)
 
Tlaxcala, The Translators' (Global) Network for Linguistic Diversity
 
US Academics for Peace – USA
 
World Courts of Women  

We encourage the international peace movement, civil society and politicians to follow their example! Please sign!

http://www.tlaxcala.es/detail_campagne2.asp?ref_campagne=5&lg=en

[FRA] CAMPAGNES est née. Nous vous prions de signer, publier et diffuser la « Déclaration de Le Feyt – Irak : la paix est une option ».

[ESP] Nació CAMPAÑAS. Se ruega firmar, publicar y difundir la «Declaración de Le Feyt: la paz en Iraq es una opción» en Tlaxcala.

[ENG] CAMPAIGNS is born. Please sign, publish and spread the «Le Feyt Declaration: Peace in Iraq is an option».

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[ESP] La nueva sección CAMPAÑAS está a vuestra disposición en Tlaxcala. En ella podréis publicar vuestras campañas y peticiones en una docena de lenguas. Enviad vuestras proposiciones a cmp@tlaxcala.es

[FRA] La nouvelle section CAMPAGNES est à votre disposition sur Tlaxcala. Vous pourrez y publier vos appels et pétitions en une douzaine de langues. Envoyez vos propositions à cmp@tlaxcala.es

[ENG] The new section CAMPAIGNS is at your disposal at Tlaxcala. There you can publish your appeals and petitions in a dozen languages. Send your proposals to cmp@tlaxcala.es

To:  Honorable President Hosni Mubarak, Honorable Omar Suleiman, Interior Minister Habib Ibrahim El Adly and Members of Cabinet

24 August, 2008

To the Honorable President Hosni Mubarak, Honorable Omar Suleiman, Interior Minister Habib Ibrahim El Adly and Members of Cabinet,

We, the hundreds of Palestinians waiting at the Rafah crossing in Egypt, call upon your honorable government to allow the entrance of over 600 Palestinians stuck in Egypt and separated from our homes in Gaza due to the continued Rafah border closure.

Egypt has historically played an integral and active role in the Palestinian struggle for justice, holding numerous negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders, as well as between our different Palestinian political parties. We greatly appreciate this support which has meant an alleviation of some of our problems and the resumption of stalled peace discussions, as well as the continuous efforts of the Egyptian government to help reunite Palestinians.

But, as we wait and suffer, silent and out of the international spotlight, we state clearly that Palestinian suffering should not be politicized. The closure of Gaza for over one year, including the continued closure of Rafah, has created a humanitarian crisis that Egypt has a very tangible role in solving, immediately. Egypt should not partake in the immoral sanctions and border closures imposed on Palestinians, sanctions which the justice-seeking people of the international community have recognized as collective punishment imposed because Hamas is in power.

We beseech you, above all, to keep in mind that the politicians who may be sparring, vying for power, are not in the same dire situation as the thousands of civilians stuck at the border on either side, people waiting only to enter to be with families or to exit for medical treatment, schooling, work…

Our money is running out -for many it is completely depleted -as we have waited for weeks, without working. Many of us have come from countries where we have work permits, taking vacation time to visit families not seen in years. We risk losing our jobs and our residency permits, or otherwise leaving Egypt without having seen our families in Gaza. Indeed, we are now merely running on hope and faith that the border will open one day.

But we are weary and that faith is worn-out.

There are approximately 450 Palestinians in Al Arish waiting to enter Gaza. There are approximately another 100 in Cairo. Most of us have been waiting since June 1st. Others among us have been exiled in Egypt for over a year, outside of Gaza when the border was sealed closed in June 2007 after Hamas took control. Approximately 200 of the Palestinians waiting to re-enter Gaza are in dire financial circumstances, many of whom must beg for and borrow money, some of whom are sleeping in the streets. This is without even mentioning the over 3,500 terminally ill Palestinians within Gaza who await the opening of the Rafah Crossing for treatment in hospitals outside Gaza. Nor does it include the thousands of others who need to leave Gaza to study and work in other countries where they hold residency permits.

On Wednesday morning, one of the hundreds stuck in Al Arish lost his father to a chronic illness. The son had been waiting for the border to open so that his father could see his grandchild and the son could say a last goodbye. He has lost this chance. The pain of his father's death is amplified by the knowledge that if the border had been opened two days earlier as promised, let alone months earlier, he would have been able to bid his father farewell.

It is with overwhelming sadness that we acknowledge that this man's loss is not an isolated case. As we sit, just 50 km from our land, we ask again and again: "when will the border be opened? Why are we, the people, being punished? Will our Egyptian brothers and sisters see us waiting close but cut off from our land as our families die, get married, go on with their lives separated.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in May of this year that the international community's "silence and complicity on the situation in Gaza shames us all." As the honorable Tutu said, "Gaza needs the engagement of the outside world." We add that Palestinians need the engagement of Egypt to open the Rafah border and end this inhumane situation.

Respectfully,
The Palestinians waiting in Al Arish for the Rafah Crossing to Open

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

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