[Gushalom] Let him go, let him speak + action alerts & reports
Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)
info at gush-shalom.org
Thu Apr 22 21:51:00 IDT 2004
GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - www.gush-shalom.org/
on the agenda:
[]Let him go, let him speak, let there be an open debate
(Gush ad tomorrow)
[]Saturday - a working day in solidarity with the cave dwellers
[]Sunday, an Alternative Day of Remembrance in Tel-Aviv
reports
[]Civilian Yoni Ben Artzi dragged back to the military prison
[]Roundup of Vanunu news & request for your protest of the restrictions
[]Yes, Alice, it does do some good (Gila Svirsky)
followed by press release: UNWRA back to Gaza
[]Eldar on opportunities lost once more in blood
(based on Gush Shalom report of Arafat visit 10.4 )
\\// //\\ \\//
[]Let him go, let him speak, let there be an open debate
(Gush ad tomorrow)
òáøéú áàúø / Hebrew on the website
www.gush-shalom.org
THE HARASSMENT OF
MORDECHAI VANUNU MUST STOP.
LET HIM GO.
LET HIM SPEAK.
BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANT:
THE AMBIGUITY ABOUT
ISRAEL'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS
MUST STOP.
LET THERE BE AN OPEN DEBATE.
OUR LIVES ARE AT STAKE.
[ad to be published in Ha'aretz, 23.04.04]
To voice our opinion we need your donation
to Gush Shalom, P.O.Box 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033
or ask us about charities in your country
+++
[]Saturday - a working day in solidarity with the cave dwellers
[Hebrew was sent earlier / ðåñç òáøé ðùìç ëáø + éùìç ùåá òì ôé á÷ùä]
~~Day of Solidarity with Palestinians of South-Hebron Hills~~
During the past months the Israeli occupation is further tightening the
noose around the neck of the cave dwellers in the South-Hebron hills.
Already for more than 20 years the government of Israel, the army and the
settlers maintain their ongoing joint effort to make this an area "free
of Palestinians."
Now, the planned route of the "Separation Fence" is threatening to cut
off the inhabitants from the town of Yatta, on which they depend for
basic necessities, forcing them to give up their centuries-old way of
life.
On Saturday, April 24, 2004, we will holdan Israeli-Palestinian working
day in South Hebron Hills in order to express solidarity with the
inhabitants and strengthening them in their struggle for their homes and
their livelihood.
Please, bring working clothes, water and food sufficient for the day.
The action is fitting also for families.
Transportation:
Tel-Aviv:
8.00am Arlozorov Street Railway Station (info: 050-814343)
Jerusalem:
7.45am Liberty Bell Park, 8.00 Binyaney HaUma (info: 058-603199)
Haifa:
7.30am Solel Boneh Junction (info: 052-887185 - possible picking from
elsewhere in the North)
Be'er Sheva:
9.00am University Entrance Gate (info: 067-804909)
Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush, HaCampus Lo Shotek, Yesh Gvul
+++
[]Sunday, an Alternative Day of Remembrance in Tel-Aviv
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: "yuval halperin" <yuvalhal at hotmail.com>
To: info at gush-shalom.org, yerushali9 at walla.co.il,
actleft at yahoogroups.com
[English follows]
éåí äæéëøåï ìçììé äîìçîåú åäëéáåù
áéåí à', 25.4.04, ùòä 19:30 éú÷ééí áâãä äùîàìéú, øç' àçã äòí 70 ú"à
àéøåò àìèøðèéáé ìéåí äæéëøåï.
:ééùàå ãáøéí
àéáøäéí áåùðà÷, ùàçééðå ðøöç áàå÷èåáø 200 îàù îùèøú éùøàì.
øîé àìçðï, çáø "ôåøåí ääåøéí äùëåìéí äéùøàìé-ôìñèéðé ìîòï äùìåí".
îùä éäåãàé, çáø äñðéó äéùøàìé ùì äôãøöéä äòåìîéú ìñøáðé îìçîä.
çåä ÷ìø, ìåçîú á- 1948: "äáèéçå ìé ùòåã îòè îçæéøéí àú äôìéèéí".
àåøé éò÷á, ñøáï âéåñ á-2003.
éò÷á çï, ñøáï âéåñ á-1956.
øåúé ÷ðèåø, ôòéìä áàøâåï "ôøåôéì çãù".
ùîåàì éøåùìîé, îùåøø åôòéì ùìåí.
ëîå ëï úåöâ úòøåëä áðåùà îéìéèøéæí áéùøàì.
Day of remembrance to the victims of war and occupation.
An alternative ceremony of the day of remembrance will take place at the
Gada Smalit ("Left Bank", Ahad Ha'am 70) on Sunday, 25 of April, at 19:30.
The participants:
Ibrahim Bushnak,whose nephew was murdered in October 2000 by the guns of
the Israeli police;
Rami Elhanan, member of the joint Israeli-Palestinian forum of bereaved
families for peace; Moshe Yehudai, member in the
Moshe Yehuda'i, Israeli branch of the world federation of war resisters;
Hava Keller, who fought in 1948: "I was promised that the refugees would
return to their
homes shortly";
Uri Yaakobi, 2003 draft resister;
Yaakov Chen, 1956 draft resister;
Ruti Kantor, activist in the "New profile" organization;
Shmuel Yerushalmi, poet and peace activist.
An exhibition on the theme of Israeli militarism will be opened.
+++
[]Civilian Yoni Ben Artzi dragged back to the military prison
[report by Adam Keller - Gush Shalom member and member of the Refuser
Parents Forum]
It would have required the pen of a Kafka or an Orwell to do justice to
the scene at the Jaffa Military Court yesterday morning. CO Yoni Ben
Artzi, who had spent nearly two years in repeated detentions, had already
in January gotten a complete discharge from military service. Officially
and formally a civilian who should never again be required to wear a
uniform or be part of military hierarchy - yet here he was, brought back
to complete the process of a military trial and hear the verdict passed on
him for the most military of all offences - "Refusal to obey a legal order
from the commanding officer placed in charge of him".
Colonel Avi Levy, the presiding judge, started by reiterating that
himself and his two fellow judges have become convinced of Ben-Artzi's
sincerity in his pacifist convictions. That, surely, should clinch the
matter? It turns out that it does not. "This court is not the competent
body to rule on exemptions for reasons of conscience. The body in charge
of that - the Conscience Committee - now includes not only military
officers but also a civilian philosopher (sic). The committee heard the
accused and remains in doubt whether he is motivated by conscience or by
by self-seeking and egoism.(...) The accused has chosen to flout the legal
decision of the committee and to take the law into his own hands by
refusing orders repeatedly. Whatever his motives, for that he must be
punished - to deter him from future defiance of the law, and to deter
others whose request for exemption may in future be turned down. We regret
that the accused rejected the court's offer that he serve his punishment
in the form of Military Works, whence he could come home every night and
avoid actual incarceration". Ben Artzi: "Had I been willing to do that, I
could as well have enlisted in the army to begin with". The judge went
on: "The accused having declined our offer, we have no choice but to
impose the term of two months' incarceration in the military prison, plus
a fine of NIS 2,000 - non-payment of which would entail a further two
month imprisonment". Silence in the hall - and then Prof. Matanya Ben
Artzi, Yoni's father' rose up and stated in a clear, steady voice:
"Colonel Avi Levy, once upon a time you, too, will be called to account
for your iniquities". "I meant it" Prof. Ben Artzi afterwards told the
group of activists and refusers' parents who had been following this trial
from the start. "All this pretence at a fair process and letting justice
be served, but it's a crooked game. It's all part of the same predatory
and vindictive system - like letting Vanunu out after 18 years and then
imposing such severe restrictions on him, like declaring that they are
going to withdraw from Gaza and then sending the army back in to destroy
and kill. Why, right now they said on the news that the army killed six
Palestinians near Gaza, just as we were sitting here in the court and
listening to this verdict! Someone had to get out and say it, even if it's
against the court rules. What the court said in this verdict was that Yoni
should have become a robot, silenced the voice of his conscience in
deference to the judgement of a bunch of bureaucrats who never gave him a
fair hearing."
Meanwhile, Adv. Michael Sfard managed to obtain a stay of execution
pending an appeal to the Military Appeals Court. "If necessary, we will go
higher, also to the Supreme Court".
+++
[]Roundup of Vanunu news & request for your protest of the restrictions
A taxi ride from the military court - to the Ashkelon Prison, just in time to witness the nuclea
r whistleblower
Mordechai Vanunu emerge.
A pandemonium, with hundreds of journalists, photographers and TV crews jockeying for position.
A bit behind, anti-nuclear activists from all over the world were since the early morning chanting
"Peace,
Shalom, Salam" from behind police fences, holding up Vanunu posters, a smiling Vanunu and "Thank y
ou,
Mordechai " in Hebrew, Arabic and English. There were also the individual signs of particular group
s:
"Hiroshima survivors welcome Mordechai Vanunu"; "Vanunu the whistleblower, you are welcome in Irela
nd";
"US Campaign to Free Vanunu".
Then arrived the extreme-right people - waving Israeli national flags, shouting unprintable obscen
ities,
throwing eggs, tearing signs... With the connivance of the police they advanced forward, placing
themselves
between the peace delegations and the prison gate. Would that be Vanunu's first sight after eightee
n years
behind bars, this his welcome?
A group of Israeli activists and some internationals - led by the anarchists, fresh from the daily
struggle
around the "Separation Wall", rushed forward and placed themselves right near the gate, Upon notici
ng them,
the nationalists increased their heckling and catcalls, bursting out into "He's a traitor, he's a t
raitor, he's a
traitor!" in a cadence usually heard at football matches - which was answered with "He's a hero, he
's a hero,
he's a hero!" and "Peace Yes - Nukes No!" and "Nukes are terror - Vanunu a hero!" Meanwhile the
international contingent released 18 white doves, one for each year of incarceration, to the gay st
rains of a
trumpeteer.
.
The moment was drawing close…
Already we could hear on a transistor radio snatches of Vanunu speaking to journalists inside the
prison
gates: "I am proud of what I did... I call for international inspection of the Dimona Nuclear Pile.
.. I have no more
secrets to reveal... I did not say that I am against the existence of Israel, I said that I have no
use for a Jewish
state and don't want to live in one...". Would he say anything that would be interpreted as breakin
g the
stringent restrictions put on him, which would provide a pretext for the authorities to pounce on h
im?
Then, the heavy gate opened. Our clapping and cheers drowned out the curses of our opponents, we th
rew
outwards the flowers which were saved for this moment, got a glimpse of a speeding white car - and
he was
past. The frustrated rightists rampaged a it more, threw a few more eggs - happy throats answered t
hem with
"Mordie is free, Mordie is free!".
Still, the scene at the prison gates made one thing clear: aside from the officially-imposed restri
ctions, the
nominally-free Mordechai Vanunu could hardly stroll down the streets of Tel-Aviv or Jerusalem, unle
ss
heavily disguised. The intensive hate campaign of the past months ensured that people who get their
information from what passes for the news sections of the mainstream Israeli media would think of h
im as a
despicable traitor. And yet the government which made such a thorough job of making so many people
hate
him also insists upon forcing him to go on living in one country with these people.
For the time being, Mordechai Vanunu has found a welcoming refuge at the Pilgrim Guest House, run b
y the
Anglican Church at St. George's Cathedral in East Jerusalem. But that can only be a temporary exped
ient.
Mordechai Vanunu should not be forces to live among hatred. He must be allowed to try building a n
ew life
somewhere else.
P.S. from Rayna Moss <legalese at netvision.net.il> the following:
[compiled of two messages]
For a review of articles, photos and other news about Vanunu's release, go
to www.vanunu.com
Even if you don't read Hebrew, see www.haaretz.com and www.ynet.com for
photos.
Coverage also on www.cnn.com
For addresses of where to send a protest against the restrictions on
Vanunu who served his full prison term:
http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/youcanhelp.html
in order to send a copy to the nearest Israeli Embassy:
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/israel1.htm
+++
[]Yes, Alice, it does do some good (Gila Svirsky)
followed by press release: UNWRA back to Gaza
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: Gila Svirsky [mailto:gsvirsky at netvision.net.il]
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 9:59 PM
To: Gila Svirsky
Subject: Yes, Alice, it does do some good.
Dear Alice,
You were signature number 2,750 on the petition "Open the Gates to Allow
Food into Gaza", and you added after your name, "This won't do any good,
but here goes."
Thankfully, Alice, you were mistaken: The gates to Gaza have now been
re-opened to regular UNRWA emergency food shipments, following three
harrowing weeks of sporadic delivery. Celebration, or at least great
relief, is in order.
I asked a senior UNRWA official what he thought made a difference, and he
replied, "Everything -- the people who signed the petition, the Israelis
and Palestinians who spoke out against it, the internationals who
expressed their indignation, the letters to the officials -- everything
together made the difference."
So thank you, Alice, wherever you are, and thank you to the 6,685 others
who signed the petition and sent letters or made phone calls. It's a drop
in the ocean of what remains to be done, but for 600,000 men, women, and
children in Gaza, it means that tomorrow they won't go hungry.
Gila Svirsky
Jerusalem
www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org
_________________________
The UNRWA Press release:
UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East-Headquarters Gaza
website: www.unrwa.org
Press Release No. HQ/G/07/2004
21 April, 2004
UNRWA Recommences Emergency Food
Distributions in the Gaza Strip
Gaza - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
today recommenced the distribution of emergency food aid to some 600,000
refugees in the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA's emergency food programme was suspended on April 1 following
restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities at the sole commercial
entry point for Gaza. Those restrictions prevented UNRWA from transporting
empty freight containers out of Gaza, causing the Agency a bottleneck that
prevented 11,000 tons of food from entering from the Israeli port of
Ashdod and costing UNRWA around $130,000 in fees.
For most of the last two weeks, the Israeli authorities have operated
workable arrangements - as is required under international humanitarian
law - at the Gaza entry point. These have permitted the Agency to bring
sufficient amounts of humanitarian aid into the Strip. The Agency now has
enough food in Gaza to provide for the needs of the refugees for the next
30 days.
However, the future of the emergency food assistance programme remains in
doubt because the Israeli authorities are now insisting that holes must be
drilled in the two-inch wall cavities of containers leaving Gaza so that
they can be searched by mini-camera. The containers are not the property
of UNRWA and such procedures will add to the costs and the delays in
providing food to the needy.
UNRWA delivers around 250 tons of food aid per day to the refugees in Gaza
as part of a wider programme of emergency operations. These operations are
designed to alleviate the worst of the economic hardship felt by the
refugees since the start of the strife in the West Bank and Gaza in
September 2000. Around two-thirds of the population of the Gaza Strip, 80
per cent of whom are refugees, are now living below the poverty line and
are increasingly dependent on international humanitarian assistance.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A donation of US$30 can provide one month's food parcel
for a family of eight containing 50kg of flour, five kg of rice, five kg
of sugar, two liters of cooking oil, one kg of powdered mil and five kg of
lentils. You can make a donation by visiting
http://www.un.org/unrwa/emergency/donation/index.html and paying by credit
card, or by sending crossed cheques to UNRWA liaison offices.
Alternatively you can send cheques payable to UNRWA to its bank accounts.
Please contact us about a nearest bank account from your location.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Information Office UNRWA-HQ (GAZA) website:
www.unrwa.org
+++
[]Eldar on opportunities lost once more in blood
(based on Gush Shalom report of Arafat visit 10.4 )
People and Politics:
It's still the same old story, a tale of missed opportunity
By Akiva Eldar // Ha'aretz 20.04.04
Saturday morning, 10 days ago, a small group of Israelis slipped through
the checkpoints to Ramallah. The Gush Shalom activists, headed by Uri
Avnery, were on their way to tell Yasser Arafat that if Ariel Sharon
aimed to kill him, Arafat will find them once again at his side.
full text
<http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/417259.html>
Hebrew/ òáøéú
<http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=417408>
--
Ongoing struggle
#Against the Wall (contact addresses)
#Refusniks (prisoner addresses & links to constantly updated sites)
#Against the Wall
ðåëçåú éåîéåîéú áëôøéí îàéîéí ò"é äçåîä ìúàí òí
àééáé 064-604172 isichel at netvision.net.il
àøé÷ 050-607034 info at rhr.israel.net
Day to day presence at villages threatened by route of wall.
Contact: Ivy Sichel 064-604172 isichel at netvision.net.il who set's up a
list for people who can come at short notice, or: Arik Asherman 050-
607034 info at rhr.israel.net
#Refusniks
Constantly-updated refusniks lists:
English - http://www.yesh-gvul.org/english/prison/
Hebrew / òáøéú - http://www.yesh-gvul.org/prison/
English - http://www.newprofile.org/default.asp?language=en
Hebrew / òáøéú - http://www.newprofile.org/
For the latest news about the five:
http://www.refuz.org.il/News.html
NB:
Letters of support to
Noam Bahat / Haggai Mattar / Matan Kaminer
AGAF BET
Ma’asiyaho Prison
P.O.B 13
Ramla
Israel
Adam Maor / Shimri Tzameret:
Hermon Prison
P.O.B 4011
KFAR M’RAR
Israel
--
http://www.gush-shalom.org/ (òáøéú/Hebrew)
http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html (English)
http://www.gush-shalom.org/arabic/index.html (selected articles in Arabic)
with
\\photos of recent actions
\\the weekly Gush Shalom ad
\\the columns of Uri Avnery
\\Gush Shalom's history & action chronicle
\\position papers & analysis (in "documents")
\\and a lot more
N.B.:
On the Gush Shalom website links for
Articles and documents in German, French and Spanish
In order to receive Gush Shalom's Hebrew-language
press releases mail to:
gush-shalom-heb-request at mailman.gush-shalom.org
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