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The Al Awda, a former fishing boat sailing under a Norwegian flag, took off from Italy with 22 activists on board - including Yonatan Shapira, former combat pilot of the Israeli Air Force, who is on his fourth attempt to break the blockade from the sea. Other activists came from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK and the United States. The boat was carrying aid and €13,000 worth of medical supplies, and the organizers had intended to donate the boat itself to the hard-pressed Gazan fishermen`s community. The Al Awda was intercepted less than 60 nautical miles off the Gaza shore and towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod. https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israeli-Navy-intercepts-Gaza-Freedom-Flotilla-563694 Freedom Flotilla Coalition News Statement For Immediate Release, Monday July 30, 2018 15:00 CEST. Two people from Al Awda (The Return) have been released, but most of the crew and participants are still in unlawful detention at Givon prison in Israel. We are still gravely concerned for their safety and well-being as we had no contact with most of them as of 14:00 CEST today. We continue to demand that our boat and the medical supplies on board reach their rightful recipients, Palestinian civil society in Gaza. Although the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) claim that the capture of our vessel happened ‘without exceptional incident’, eye-witness Zohar Chamberlain Regev reports that at the time of boarding: “People on board were tasered and hit by masked IOF soldiers. We did not get our passports or belongings before we got off the boat. Do not believe reports of peaceful interception.” We urgently need to know the details of who was injured and how seriously, and what treatment they are receiving, if any. A military attack on a civilian vessel is a violent act and a violation of international law. Taking 22 people from international waters to a country which is not their destination constitutes an act of kidnapping, which is also unlawful under the international Convention of the Law of Sea. From the time we lost contact around 13:15 local time on Sunday, we know that the IOF blocked all communication signals, including satellite phones. We are very concerned about this violation of journalists’ right to report freely and we remain gravely concerned about their ability to keep their professional equipment and their storage media. As Australian journalist Chris Graham recently observed “Bad things happen when good people stay silent, as history well records. But horrendous things happen when media are prevented from scrutinizing the actions of a state.” Two of our participants who are Israeli citizens have been charged with attempting to enter Gaza and conspiracy to commit a crime, and were released on bail this morning. One of them, boat leader Zohar Chamberlain Regev, reports seeing blood on the deck of the Al Awda as the last participants were being dragged off the ship. In comparison with the violence routinely directed at Palestinian civilians, including at fishers from Gaza, and the violent capture of Palestinian fishing boats, yesterday’s seizure and kidnapping may not be the most serious of Israeli crimes. What these violents acts have in common is that there is no accountability demanded by other governments and Israel continues to enjoy total impunity. We call on national governments, civil society and international organizations to demand that Israeli authorities immediately release our boat so that we can deliver our much-needed medical supplies on Al Awda and the fishing boat itself to the rightful recipients in Gaza. Detailed specification of our exact cargo on board are available on request. Israel’s capture of the lead boat in this Gaza-bound flotilla may seem like a predictable outcome to some, but that doesn’t make it any less violent nor any less illegal. Our second boat Freedom will follow Al Awda within a day or two, and the Freedom Flotilla will continue until the blockade ends and Palestinians of Gaza regain their full freedom of movement. Details about detainees still in prison, including their last videos and personal statements, can be found on our website and Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/FreedomFlotillaCoalition/ For more information, contact media spokespeople: https://jfp.freedomflotilla.org/media-room-2 (Low resolution photo transmitted from the boat during final hours of navigation) Stop the war - reach an agreement! Thursday July 19, 17: 30-19: 30 – demonstration at the Yad Mordechai junction, just north of the Gaza Strip Prevent the next war! Reach a long-term agreement! This the 44th consecutive week of the weekly protests at this junction. The past week was one of the most difficult we have experienced since the summer of 2014. Dozens of missiles shot, nights of running to air raid shelters, leaving dead on the Palestinian side and wounded on the Israeli side. The terrible sequence of events, which we have witnessed too many times already, is once again running its familiar course. Once again, swords are rattled on both sides and preparations made for a destructive new round of all-out fighting. The politicians and the media no longer talk of whether there will be a war, but only of when it will break out. To us, this situation is completely unacceptable – because there is no real reason for war. It's time for an agreement! Residents of both sides of the border should no long remain the hostages of cowardly and irresponsible leaders. We demand a long-term agreement – a pause for breath to all of us, a chance to establish normal life on both sides of the fence. Come with us, to call out:
The government of Israel has no plan for Gaza. Even worse, the government so far rejects any long-term cease-fire initiative, despite many mediation attempts made by various countries around the world. The continuing policy of ingoring Gaza’s misery leads to even repeating cycles of violence – completely futile, leading only to ever-new destruction and misery. We must continue to call, also this week, for a comprehensive, long-term political plan for the rehabilitation of Gaza. This alone can give residents on both sides of the fence a life of hope and respect. Not to further fighting! Yes to a diplomatic solution in and with Gaza! Contact: Naomika Tzion +972-(0)54-7689181 Eric Yellin - +972-(0)54-4689001 Protest the racist “Nationality Law”! A mass march and rally to protest the the racist “Nationality Law” will take place in Tel Aviv. It will start from the Rabin Square, at 8.00 PM on Saturday night July 14, from there marching to the Likud Party headquarters on King George Street. Gush Shalom has joined with various organizations, movements and political parties to endorse the call for this strong protest. Among the other signatories are the Meretz and Hadash parities, Labour Youth, Standing Together, the Arab Renewal Movement, the Reform Judaism Movement in Israel, Sikkuy, Socialist Struggle, the New Israel Fund, Shatil, the Association of Ethiopian Jews, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. "The Nationality Law” is the name of the bill which is due to be voted in the Knesset next week, a law that would authorize “communities” made up of a single ethnic or religious group to exclude anyone not belonging to that group. It is a law which would enshrine racism, discrimination, and segeregation. A law which would officially declare the worst of practices to be positive and desirable in the State of Israel. It is a law which would give complete legitimacy to pernicious procedures and practices which had been long rooted in Israeli daily practice, but which had started to be questioned in the past two decades, especially in some ground-breaking rulings by the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. The first and obvious target would be Arab citizens of Israel who would be officially and openly excluded from “purely Jewish” communities set up on amply financed by the state and set up on “state lands” (which are often lands originally confiscated from these Arabs themselves). But exclusion would not stop there. Eventually, it could effect other groups which are the target of prejudice in Israeli society, such as Black-skinned Ethiopian Jews, or LGBT people. Later, it might extend also to the Mizrahi Jews who compose a large part of of the Israeli population and who face a bit more veiled – but very real – prejudice and discrimination. Once the principle is accepted of erecting “homogeneous communities” and authorizing them to exclude those who “don’t belong”, it can be extended almost indefinitely. We have less than a week to stop the Nationality Law. To succeed we need all of you. This is our home, the common home of all of us, and we are not going to give it up! On Saturday night we will go out to the street and say: We are all equal citizens - Arabs and Jews, women and men, Mizrahim, Ethiopians, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, members of the or LGBT community. We will march together and cry out together against this Nationality Law, we will not allow this blot to smear our law books. We will cry out: This is our home – the home of all of us. All are equal, we will let none be excluded! Facebook event https://he-il.facebook.com/events/277853069628786 Jerusalem demo against the destruction of Khan Al-Ahmar The fight for Khan Al-Ahmar will not be stopped! Demonstration today, Tuesday July 10 at 20:00 - Paris Square, Jerusalem Over the past few weeks, we have feared that Khan al-Ahmar's homes and elementary school will be destroyed at any time of any day. However, because of efforts of Palestinians, Israelis and international activists fighting for Khan al-Ahmar on the ground and in the courts, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered that the demolitions be delayed for at least a few days. Now is the time: Don't stay at home, come and join the fight. Add your voice to the loud call to: Immediately and permanently cancel the plan to expel and dispossess Khan al-Ahmar! All of us, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals, want to live in peace and security. The horrific act of destroying the roofs over the heads of Palestinians living in Khan al-Ahmar, for the sake of expanding illegal neighboring settlements, will only contribute to furthering the cycle of violence. The reality on the ground is one in which Israel: dispossesses land, demolishes home, prevents Palestinians from accessing water and farm land, denies building permits. These tactics are part of the government's toolbox to expand settlements and entrench occupation in Area C, about 60% of the West Bank. The military rule in the occupied territories almost completely prevents Palestinians from building and developing in these areas and also ignores the needs of the Palestinian population. Simultaneously, Israel encourages settlement expansion and development, through both expansive urban planning and ignoring building violations. We will meet in Kikar Paris on Tuesday at 8:00pm to demonstrate together against the evacuation and demolition of Khan al-Ahmar and for the basic human right to a home. https://www.facebook.com/events/175613399965479/ Support rally for the women's march in Gaza Members of Other Voice will today (Tuesday, July 3) hold a support rally for the women's march in Gaza. Today, at 17:00, there will be a non-violent march of some 20,000 women in Gaza demanding the end of the siege and the right to a dignified life. The march is organized by the leaders of the nonviolent struggle in Gaza. Women from all over the Palestinian political spectrum will march from the Saja'iya neighborhood towards the border - near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. They asked us to march with them as a sign of solidarity on the other side of the fence ... It is important for them to see that there is someone in Israel to talk to. In response to the request of the Gaza organizers, Tuesday, 3 July, at 17:30, we will gather at the entrance Kibbutz Nahal Oz and march with large signs, expressing a message of peace, towards the border, in the hope that both processions will succeed in seeing each other across the fences and barriers. Contact: . Nomika Zion 054-7689181; Eric Yellin 054-4689001 Update We just came back from the border. Some of us managed to get very close to the fence and saw the demonstration on the other side. We spoke via cell phone with few people in Gaza and they told us that there are around 20,000-30,000 women demonstrators, which is great. The army shot tear gas and it was very stuffy. We’ll try to send some pics and videos later on. Preparations for committing a war crime Israeli police and Civil Administration arrived this morning at the Palestinian community of Khan al-Ahmar which Israel plans to forcibely transfer. This morning (Sunday, 1 July 2018), Israeli police and Civil Administration personnel arrived at Khan al-Ahmar, the Palestinian community Israel announced it plans to transfer. The troops walked through Khan al-Ahmar, among the residents' homes, in what appeared to be preparations for the planned demolition of the community. Residents reported that a police officer told them they would be forcibly removed and that they would be better off if they left "voluntarily." The police officer declined to name the date of the transfer. On Thursday, 24 May 2018, three Israeli Supreme Court justices – Noam Sohlberg, Anat Baron and Yael Willner – ruled that the state may demolish the homes of the community of Khan al-Ahmar and transfer the residents from their homes. This ruling removes the last impediment which had thus far served to defer the transfer of the community, a war crime under international law. Tel Aviv demonstration against the expulsion of Khan al-Ahmar Tomorrow, Friday, June 29, we will demonstrate together, Jews and Arabs, against the racist plan to demolish the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, in order to expand the settlement of Kfar Adumim. The plan, which was approved by the Supreme Court, will enable the demolition of the village and the expulsion of some 170 residents from their lands. The sheep pens will be destroyed, as will the ecological school for about 200 students established under a European initiative. With this ruling, the effort to judicially stop the injustice of demolitions and evictions was ended and the lives of the 173 residents of Khan al-Ahmar were abandoned to the destroyers and bulldozers. Every day could be the last day of Khan al-Ahmar. The forced expulsion plan is part of the government's strategy to create a territorial contiguity of Israeli settlements between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, to uproot ever more Palestinian communities from Area C so as to prepare the land for the annexation of these lands, to perpetuate the occupation and to prevent any possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state. Among those who join the protest are: Khan al-Ahmar Coalition, Peace Now, Combatants for Peace, Gush Shalom, Maki and Hadash, Meretz, Hadash Students, Ta'ayush. The protest will take place on Friday, June 29, at 13:00, on the corner of Ben Zion and King George Street, Tel Aviv. The forcible transfer of Khan al-Ahmar community - a war crime Over 300 elected officials, legal scholars, academics, artists, faith leaders, and activists from around the world and Israel published an open letter voicing opposition to Israel’s plans to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinians living in farming-shepherding communities in the West Bank. The letter focuses on Khan al-Ahmar in particular, a community under imminent threat of demolition and forcible transfer. Signatories include 90 members of parliament, many of whom are from the EU and UK Parliaments. Other notable signatories include ten Israel Prize laureates, playwright Eve Enslar, film directors Ken Loach, Amos Gitai, Costa-Gavras and Aki Kaurismäki, artists Marlene Dumas and Ai Weiwei, authors Alice Walker, Assaf Gavron and Iris Leal, choreographer Ohad Naharin, industrial designer Ron Arad, academics Noam Chomsky and Judith Butler, and musicians Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters and the members of Mashrou’ Leila. The letter states: “Forcible transfer – by direct physical force or by creating a coercive environment that makes residents leave their homes – is a war crime.” It goes on to detail the measures Israel employs to create this coercive environment, including “not allowing to build new private or public buildings, to be connected to water or power grids, or to pave access roads. When, in the absence of any other alternative, residents build without permits, they face threatened – or actual – demolition, and confiscation of essential equipment.” The letter counters Israel’s attempts to relegate these policies to a mere issue of law enforcement, calling it disingenuous since “Israel’s planning policy in the West Bank all but precludes Palestinians from ever receiving the required permits”. The letter clarifies that all people responsible for this war crime bear personal liability for it. This includes the Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, as well as the High Court Justices, whose recent decision to approve the demolition of the Khan al-Ahmar community implicates them “in what is nothing short of a war crime, no matter how much legal formalism is enlisted in an effort to excuse the inexcusable.” 51 Years of occupation On the 51st year of the occupation, Women in Black Will hold special protest vigils On Friday June 8, 2018 at 13:00 In four locations: Jerusalem, Hagar Square (Paris Square) Tel Aviv, at the corner of King George St. & Ben Zion Blvd Haifa, at the corner of Ben Gurion and Hagefen Gan Shmuel, at the entrance to the kibutz Women and men - join us to protest 51 years of one long disaster! END THE OCCUPATION! Demonstrate near the Gaza border: “Stop the escalation - rebuild Gaza !!!” On the 51st year of the occupation, Women in Black Will hold special protest vigils On Friday June 8, 2018 at 13:00 In four locations: Jerusalem, Hagar Square (Paris Square) Gan Shmuel, at the entrance to the kibutz Tel Aviv, at the corner of King George St. & Ben Zion Blvd Haifa, at the corner of Ben Gurion and Hagefen St. Women and men join us to protest 51 years of one long disaster! END THE OCCUPATION! On the 51st year of the occupation, Women in Black Will hold special protest vigils On Friday June 8, 2018 at 13:00 In four locations: Jerusalem, Hagar Square (Paris Square) Gan Shmuel, at the entrance to the kibutz Tel Aviv, at the corner of King George St. & Ben Zion Blvd Haifa, at the corner of Ben Gurion and Hagefen St. Women and men join us to protest 51 years of one long disaster! END THE OCCUPATION! The Other Voice invites you to stand with us: Put out the Fire – Rebuild Gaza!! Friday, 18th May, 2018, 12:00 – 14:00 Yad Mordechai Junction For the last year, Other Voice from Sderot and communities in the surrounding Gaza region has held quiet demonstrations at the Yad Mordechai junction. Our aim is to draw attention to the unbearable conditions in the Gaza Strip and to the deep despair of its residents. For over a decade, we have called upon our government to stop the bloodshed, to enter into negotiations with the Hamas, to end the blockade and to develop a long-term program for the rehabilitation and rebuilding of the Gazan economy. Such a move can make it possible for our neighbors, and for us, to have hope, personal safety and dignity. The killing of over one hundred Gazans and the harming of thousands of demonstrators, who came to protest near the border, alongside the protestors’ burning of fields in kibbutzim and mosahvim in the surrounding region have, yet again, brought the area to a dangerous boiling point. We will be demonstrating this Friday at the junction. Hundreds of people from a number of organizations will join us: Combatants for Peace, Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace, Standing Together, Breaking the Silence, Meretz, Gush Shalom, The Democratic Camp, and others. Come stand with us! For details – visit our Facebook page For transportation – click here For additional details, please contact: Eric Yellin – 054-4689001 or Nomika Zion - 0547689181 In recent days, violence at the fence with Gaza has reached new heights. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed and thousands more have been injured. Rather than working towards a solution to the worsening situation, the Israeli government instead chooses violence and continues to intensify the siege. Members of Other Voice will join at Yad-Mordechai Junction this Friday, May 18 from 12 to 2 pm, together with Breaking The Silence, The Parents Circle, Meretz, Combatants for Peace, Standing Together, and more. Together we will call:
To sign up for buses from Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beer Sheva: https://www.facebook.com/events/1784508301629028/ Emergency demonstration: Stop the fire - we want to live here! Tuesday, 15.5 at 7:00 pm, opposite Likud Party Headqurters (Metzudat Ze'ev) at 38 King George Street, Tel Aviv. When Netanyahu and Trump play with fire, the fire flares up - and kills. This is what is happening now in the Gaza Strip. The same might happen also in Jerusalem and throughout the country, if this dangerous lighting of matchs near the powder keg does not stop. Instead of striving for Israeli-Palestinian peace, which is the only way to achieve a life of dignity and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike, the right-wing government prefers to drag us all into another round of violence and blood. Instead of allowing them to continue with this reckless game , we must stand up and demand: Stop the fire, stop playing with the lives of the residents of this country, and make a complete change of direction. No more occupation, no more annexation and blockade! We demand Israeli-Palestinian peace! Trump: moving the Embassy won't hide the occupation! Today May 14th at 15:15 to 18:00, a demonstration is held against Trump's reckless and cynical act of moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem! Location: 13 Eliyahu Lankin St, Jerusalem, contact Maya +972-(0)58-7667463, initiated by ATL (All That's Left: Anti-Occupation Collective) In parallel, American Jewish activists are holding a protest against the Embassy move in Washington D.C. initiated by IfNotNow Jerusalem is the home of both Jews and Palestinians - and must be recognized as home to both peoples. Moving the embassy plays into the hands of right-wing extremists and the Israeli government’s attempts to erase Palestinian ties and claims to the city. This will only add bloodshed and entrench the occupation! The takes place happen only 24 hours after Jerusalem Day, during which thousands of Israelis marched through Palestinian East Jerusalem and the Muslim Quarter of the Old City shouted racist and hateful slogans. It takes place as Israeli snipers on the Gaza border go on shooting and killing dozens of Palestinian demonstrators. Instead of condemning these actions - the Trump administration has once again aligned itself with the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, and undermined the last shred of Palestinian trust in the U.S. We cannot stay silent. Let’s stand together against with a message of hope and solidarity.
https://www.facebook.com/events/226891041399344 American Jews Risk Arrest against Trump's Embassy of Occupation Building #EmbassyOfFreedom American Jews are demonstrating against Trump’s decision to move the embassy IfNotNow on Twitter: "LIVESTREAM: Young Jews fighting against Trump's disastrous embassy move, and for freedom and dignity for all, march in Washington D.C. #EmbassyOfFreedom #WeWillBeTheGeneration https://t.co/wGOFyKfG6a… https://t.co/BLpEd6am7b" Peace Now campaign against Embassy move Peace Now will hold a protest next Monday outside the dedication ceremony for the new United States Embassy in Jerusalem, complaining that the move was not made within the context of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The demonstration will be part of a public campaign warning that moving the embassy would harm Israeli security and chances for a peace process. As part of the campaign, Peace Now sent letters to MKs in the Zionist Union urging them not to play into the hands of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump by attending the ceremony. “This is a cynical and dangerous step that will not only not reinforce Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem, it could ignite conflict in the city,” Peace Now wrote in the letter. “Under different circumstances, moving the embassy could be a day of celebration, but not if it is done this way, not now. Do not be extras in the messianic show of Netanyahu and Trump.” Posters in the campaign and the demonstration will say “Not this way, not now.” Likud MK Anat Berko responded to the campaign by saying that “there is no limit to the undermining by Peace Now.” The organization always chooses to go against the Israeli consensus, she said. “Peace Now should demonstrate against Iran but apparently it won’t,” Berko said. Likud MK Yoav Kisch said Peace Now has stooped very low if it cannot be happy about the strengthening of Israel and Jerusalem. He said it pained him to see how “disconnected and delusional” the organization had become. Zionist Union MKs Ayelet Nahmias- Verbin and Nachman Shai have complained that Knesset members were not invited to the ceremony. A US Embassy spokeswoman said this was due to lack of space. Solidarity demonstration near the Gaza border: “Stop the escalation - rebuild Gaza !!!” Members of Kol Aher (Another Voice), an Israeli movement based in the town of Sderot and in smaller communities in the Gaza border area, held a demonstration Friday at the Yad Mordechai Junction, a short distance north of the border - where they have already held numerous demonstrations and protests on earlier occasions. Demonstrators made upon the government of Israel the following calls: - Cease the shooting of unarmed demonstrators! - Lift the siege on the Gaza Strip! - No violence! Yes to aid in rebuilding Gaza !! - Form a political program, rather than cause further destruction !! “For almost 11 years, Israeli society tacitly accepts the situation that two million Palestinians live on the verge of a humanitarian disaster, in its close vicinity... This has to do with the corruption of a society’s basic moral values, with dehumanization and the glorification of the sniper rifle. Under this government, it is not Palestinian society which loses its basic human values – it is the Israeli society. " Zvi Bar'el, Ha'aretz, 11.4.18 Attached is the press release we published on the eve of the Passover holiday, at the beginning of the violent confrontations. https://www.facebook.com/OtherVoiceSdeortGaza/posts/1661956237173406 Stop the escalation immediately! An urgent call upon the government of Israeli government from residents in the Gaza border area. We, the members of Kol Acher, residents of Sderot and communities in the close vicinity of the Gaza Strip, call upon the Government of Israel and the IDF to stop the escalation and violent policy of shooting and killing civilians involved in demonstrations along the Gaza border. The organizers of the Gaza demonstrations reiterate that theirs is a nonviolent struggle. In an interview before the first demonstration Sami Obeid, a veteran journalist from Gaza, said that he and his five children would march to the border because they had nothing to lose. Gaza is dying, and it does not matter if they die of starvation or gunfire by IDF soldiers. (...) The march is an act of despair and an attempt to draw the world's attention to the ongoing siege and inhuman suffering of Gaza residents besieged for years. If the government of Israel really wants to protect its citizens who live near the border, it is best to finally formulate a clear policy on Gaza and invest these billions of taxpayers money in helping to rehabilitate Gaza, instead of further buttressing the walls around the world's largest prison. Contact: Noamika Zion - +972-54-7689181; Arik Yellin +972-54-4689001 |
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