Desertpeace
January 3, 2010 at 7:21 am (Activism, Associate Post, Gaza, Humanitarian Aid, International Solidarity, Israel, Palestine, Photography)
Commentary by Chippy Dee, Photos © by Bud Korotzer
The Gaza blockade is, “a form of collective punishment of the entire population of Gaza, a flagrant violation of Israel’s obligations under the 4th Geneva Convention.”
Amnesty International
Israel’s blockade of Gaza is “a serious violation of international law.”
Human Rights Watch
2009, in ways, ended as it began, with a protest about what Israel was doing to the men, women, and children of Gaza.
Organized on the spur of the moment by several groups, about 70 activists gathered in front of the Egyptian Mission to the United Nations on East 44th St. in NYC. They carried Palestinian flags, and were bearing signs that read, “Let Our People Go” as they chanted “Collaboration is a crime. Stop blockading Palestine.” They were there because the 1,400 people from 42 countries were being held in Cairo and not being allowed to join the people of Gaza for a peaceful freedom march demanding an end to the Israeli blockade of the small, crowded area where 1.5 million Palestinians reside in desperate circumstances. The international community has failed to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1860 which calls for “unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including food, fuel, and medical treatment.”
Since the assault last year Israel has tightened the siege on Gaza with Egyptian support. In cooperation with Israel, Egypt is preventing vital basic items from getting into Gaza. They are stopping people entering or leaving Gaza – including students and medical patients. Egypt, with the aid of the US Army Corps of Engineers, is beginning construction of a wall that will penetrate 70 feet into the earth along their border with Gaza. It will close the tunnels through which the population of Gaza has been able to get some of the essentials and it will make the Obama Administration further complicit in the genocide of the Gazan people.
The 1,400 people that expected to enter Gaza and deliver aid have been told that gatherings of more than 6 people in public areas are illegal in Egypt. When the internationals learned that they absolutely could not enter Gaza they tried to make the best of it by staging Gaza solidarity demonstrations all over Cairo. The police and military have been trying to thwart them and, at times, have been violent (1 person had 3 fractured ribs) but they have not been successful in stopping the events. There have been no reports of arrests of the Gaza Freedom Marchers but locals participating with them have been arrested. One government official, foreign minister Abu Al – Gheit, called the internationals “hooligans”.
Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dohrn wrote from Cairo (the Rag Blog, 1/1/10), “…the French Gaza Freedom March delegation had gone to the pyramids; someone faked an illness and while security forces moved in to respond, they unfurled a giant Palestinian flag across the pyramid. From that photo they made an enormous color streamer, stamped with Gaza, now rippling in the [Tahir] square. The endless stream of Cairo traffic (there are 23 million people living in this city) buses, taxis, cars, and crowds heard and saw the protest.”
85 year old holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein is one of the marchers. She and 21 others are on a hunger strike.
On New Year’s Day about 500 marchers held a protest in front of the Israeli Consulate in Cairo. This being the day they were going to march in Gaza, they decided to make the Consulate their focal point. They are also calling on their home countries to hold Israel accountable for the war crimes outlined in the Goldstone Report.
If Israel was hoping to avoid adverse publicity by keeping the dedicated, passionate internationals out of Gaza they made a serious miscalculation. Having 1,400 people protesting and speaking out in the streets of Cairo even reached the pages of the New York Times – several times.
Back in NYC, while demonstrating at the Egyptian Mission to the UN the group asked to speak to the senior diplomat at the Mission. The meeting was granted and a 3 person delegation went in to speak with him. When they came out they reported that he agreed with everything they said, he too wanted justice for the Palestinian people, and he said he was unaware of demonstrators in Cairo being treated extremely roughly. He was going to Cairo the next day and would look into the charges.
When the protest at the Egyptian Mission ended part of the group walked over to the Israeli Consulate and continued the protest there for about 40 minutes.
Later, towards evening, about 20 members of the group, Women In Black, held a special vigil in Union Square because it was both the anniversary of the massacre in Gaza and because of the aborted peaceful march that was supposed to take place, a march that would bring solidarity to the people caged in by the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. One member of the group said, “…it’s time for us all to remake the world, march by march, shout by shout, act by act, speech by speech, song by song. book by book, with all the old paper methods and the new electronic methods, and especially with a groundswell of mass optimism and, as the old union saying goes, ‘organize, organize, organize’.”
In discussing the lasting effects of the Gaza Freedom March, Robert Naiman wrote in the Huffington Post on 1/2/10:
“It is almost certain that new organizing around BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza will take place in the US as a result of the Gaza Freedom March. There is a strong push for Palestinian solidarity activists in South Africa and Europe and for American solidarity activists to do more to promote the BDS campaign. There are plans for a delegation of Palestinian and South African trade unionists to tour the US, and for student activists in the US to train other student activists to launch BDS campaigns at universities.
Greater activity in support of sanctions against the Israeli government in trade unions, universities, and churches in the US could eventually change the political terrain in Washington by legitimizing the idea that the Israeli government should face real consequences from the US for continuing it’s present practices.”
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