Give students in Gaza a chance to study!
http://www.trappedingaza.org/
Azhar, Samer, Zeinab, Wael and Izideen are just five out of hundreds of students trapped in the Gaza Strip, prevented from reaching the universities around the world to which they have been accepted. Since June 2007, Israel has imposed a nearly total closure on the Gaza Strip, violating the right to freedom of movement for 1.5 million Palestinian residents - including hundreds of students in danger of losing their chance to access study programs not available in Gaza.Faced with pressure from world leaders outraged over the ban, Israeli officials declared that they would allow exit for just a few dozen students in Gaza holding "recognized scholarships" and seeking to access "friendly countries" but will continue to prevent hundreds of other students from reaching their studies.
With each passing day, Gaza's most talented young people risk losing their places in universities abroad – and losing their chance to pursue their dreams of building a better future in the region.
This is the time to send a clear message to Israeli leaders:The right to access education is universal!Give students in Gaza a chance to study!Greetings, I write to ask you to join us in helping hundreds of Palestinian students in the Gaza Strip reach their universities abroad. Since June 2007, Gaza's borders have been closed, trapping 1.5 million people – including hundreds of talented young people accepted to universities abroad but prevented from reaching their studies.
Last year, Israel permitted approximately 500 students and dependents to reach their studies abroad via "shuttle" services, but this year, Israel says that students will not be permitted to leave Gaza – except for a few dozen with prestigious scholarships to Western countries. Hundreds remain trapped, in danger of losing hard-won places at universities all over the world. Today we are launching an online campaign aimed at recruiting international support for the right of Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip to reach their studies abroad.
Please visit the campaign's mini-site: http://www.trappedingaza.org/
The campaign is accessible in three languages - English, Arabic and Hebrew - and we hope to communicate it via e-mail, social networks, blogs and other websites.
How can you help?
1. Join the campaign by logging on to the mini-site and asking Israel's leaders to let students in Gaza access education;
2. Spread word of the campaign by forwarding this message to others;
3. Feature the banner on your website or blog. You may choose a banner to download at the Gisha website: http://www.gisha.org/
4. Click on the mini-site for further action.Please join us in helping Gaza's young people exercise their right to freedom of movement and to access education – and to build a better future in the region.
Best Regards,
Sari Bashi, Executive DirectorGisha -
Legal Center for Freedom of MovementDo more:
* Forward this campaign link to your friends.
* Feature the campaign banner on your blog or web site.
* Write your country's leaders and ask them to raise the issue with their Israeli counterparts.
* Join our campaign on Facebook.
* If you are a member of an academic or student association, an activist group or another kind of organization - initiate a call, a letter, or an op-ed on behalf of your organization. Please contact us to receive information or for further ideas!
Following Hamas's majority victory in Legislative Council elections in January 2006, Arab countries could have congratulated the winner, promised cooperation and urged unity among rivals. Instead, some chose to do the exact opposite, ostracising Hamas from their meetings and conferences, playing favourites and smoothing the way for US-led international sanctions that have devastated Palestinian society in Gaza, leading to utter desperation and strife.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, some of those countries found it appropriate to train Palestinian fighters loyal to the Fatah faction in preparation for combat not against Israel but against their own Palestinian brethren in Gaza and the West Bank. The funds for such camps were, of course, provided courtesy of Uncle Sam, and some of the weapons were widely reportedly to have been channelled through Israel.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14174
Second Palestinian battalion begins U.S.-funded training
ReplyDeleteThu Sep 18, 11:20 AM ET
ALLENBY BRIDGE, West Bank (Reuters) - About 500 members of a security force loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas crossed into Jordan on Thursday for U.S. funded training, the second such battalion to do so.
(...) Arab allies provide guns and ammunition with Israeli consent.
(...) The training is conducted by Jordanian police at the Jordanian International Police Training Centre near Amman.
The right of no return
ReplyDeleteby Hasan Abu Nimah
The debate on the Palestinian refugee problem has been confused and badly mishandled. While Israel maintains a consistent position, the Palestinians and the Arabs are often contradictory, vague and inconsistent.
For some unclear reason, the refugee problem has, with time, been limited to only one aspect: the right of return. This narrowed the scope of discussion to an extent that not only shifted emphasis but also played well into the hands of the Israeli hardliners who stubbornly deny all refugee rights as well as denying Israel’s responsibility in creating the refugee problem, first through the systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestine and then by refusing to allow refugees to come back home. Yet the refugee problem entails more rights than the right of return and should be dealt with on that basis.
The Arab Peace Initiative of March 2002 provides for the “achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194”.
Because this resolution forms the core of the Arab and Palestinian position on the refugee issue, it should be recalled what the resolution, first passed by the UN General Assembly six decades ago and reaffirmed annually ever since, actually says.
In paragraph 2, it “resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which under principles to international law, or in equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible.”
The resolution therefore affirms the right of return of those who wish to do so, and provides for compensation of any loss or damage caused to all refugees, regardless of their decision whether or not to return.
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Dr. Barghouthi: the question of Palestine is one for the world's conscience
ReplyDeletePalestinian Legislative Council member, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, says that he cannot talk about peace without a real Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He was speaking at the European Social Forum in Malmo, Sweden.
Also the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Barghouthi told the European social movements and solidarity organizations that the issue of Palestine is one for the world’s conscience. “It is the first issue of struggle for peace and justice.”
He explained to the forum developments in the Palestinian arena, the risks and the Israeli violations particularly in regard to settlement activity, construction of the Wall, the blockade, assassinations and arrests. “All of these violations are being committed under the cover of negotiations.”
Dr. Barghouthi also talked about the pressing need to activate the solidarity movement with the Palestinian people on an international level. “We are looking for more solidarity movements to join the Palestinian people in their struggle against the apartheid wall and the apartheid system which is in place in both Israeli and Palestinian territories.”
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Do you remember when the Taliban were condemned all the world over for flowing up the gigantic Buddhas in Bamiyam?
ReplyDeleteLet's wait and see it there is a similar outrage with the zionist-Taleban.
Israel to construct dump in Nablus, just as archaeological discovery made
Typo: i mean blowing up, not flowing up
ReplyDelete