Search Results for: jewish Boat to Gaza

Hanin Majadli writes in Haaretz on 31 October 2023: On Sunday morning, I received a message from a friend in Gaza. The night before, I asked how he was and waited for his answer. I was so afraid; I was worried there would be no answer. It was the night the electricity and all communications […]

Amos Harel writes in Haaretz on 12 May 2023: Jewish terrorism, which usually targets Palestinians and sometimes churches and mosques, isn’t anything new. Israeli journalist Roy Sharon has just come out with a riveting book on the phenomenon in the three decades since the signing of the Oslo Accords. Sharon, the military commentator at state […]

It is now ten years since the last soldiers left Gaza, and the last settlers were removed, by force. Propagandists now claim Israel has nothing to do with Gaza and all its misfortunes are the result of Hamas rule. On the anniversary, Gisha details the web of force, sea and land siege, imprisoning walls, and total denial of free movement to the West Bank – or anywhere else – and free trade which prevent Gazans taking their lives into their own hands.

This is the first part of an interview with Henry Siegman, former head of the American Jewish Congress. It is remarkable that, given his position in American Jewish and Zionist life, he should be so forthright in his condemnation of Israeli persecution of Palestinians because ‘you do not treat people in that kind of an inhumane and cruel way’.

British MPs queued up last Wednesday (Feb. 5th) to deplore the situation in Gaza and ask what was being done, and why it had come about. Who knew? The well-attended debate was in Westminster Hall – where backbenchers, without a party whip, can speak on what they care about. Despite this,and although 30% to 35% of all the correspondence to the Foreign Office is about Israel-Palestine, this debate received no media coverage at all. Conservative Friends of Israel chose to boycott the debate – knowing they could not legitimise Israel’s siege.

For several years Harriet Sherwood has been visiting Gaza as part of her job at the Guardian’s Jerusalem bureau. She has found much to admire in the courage and resourcefulness of the people there but now, as she leaves her post, she wonders how much longer they can go on taking the punishment inflicted on them by Israel – now abetted by Egypt.

For a brief moment it seemed as though Egypt’s civilian government could broker a truce between Israel and Gaza – no more rockets from Gaza or bombs from Israel, free access to their sea by Gaza’s fishermen, regular movement in and out of Gaza of products and people. With the return of a military government to Egypt that hope is now lost. How do the Quartet and governments of Israel, Egypt, the EU, the USA expect the people to live?

So terrible is the situation in Gaza – no fuel, scant drinking water, thousands flooded out of their homes, economy shattered by the collusive blockages of Israel and Egypt, that JfJfP is appealing for emergency aid. The plight of the people of Gaza has been ignored by the media and is unknown to most people. 29 MPs (Commons and Lords) have published a letter demanding an end to the Gaza siege. Plus what you can do including Saturday January 18th Protest Vigil: Cast Lead 5 Years On. Latest update- Israeli and Egyptian barriers.

2nd posting this week on a fast-moving situation. President Mursi has ordered military action and closed the Rafah crossing; Israeli aircraft hover with lethal weapons. But reports here suggest an agreement with Bedouin tribes and relaxing the Gaza siege – which has created a network of tunnels and their thriving trade in everything from fuel and food to weapons – offer the only route to law and order in the Sinai.

An open letter signed by more than 100 prominent solidarity activists in protest at Gilad Atzmon’s writings and support for them from “a small section of the left”. They write of Atzmon’s statements: “[B]esides distorting the history of Jews and constituting a brazen justification for centuries of anti-Jewish behavior and beliefs, [they] also downgrade anti-Zionism to a mere front in the broader (anti-Jewish) struggle. Atzmon has specifically described Zionism not as a form of colonialism or settlerism, but as a uniquely evil ideology unlike anything else in human history…” Plus some critical reviews of the Atzmon book The Wandering Who?