A demonstrator holding a Palestinian flag stands in front of Israeli forces during a recent protest against Israeli settlements and Trump’s Middle East peace plan, in Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (REUTERS)
There is a recent surge of official voices in the West that are alarmed at the agenda of the new Israeli coalition government. Many western liberal governments are offering slightly more than their usual token objections to Israeli policy, including some European threats of sanctions if Israel implements its new annexation plans.
Is all of this because of concern for the human rights of Palestinians? Or concern for the “rule of law” that they are so fond of referencing?
Or is it because they know that formal Israeli annexation of new chunks of the occupied Palestinian territories will be the final blow to the moribund “two-state solution”? A mirage that for over a quarter of a century has legitimized and fueled the status quo of Israeli settler colonialism and continuing ethnic cleansing, but with “plausible deniability” for many international players.
Following our well-attended screening of ‘Gaza Fights for Freedom’ by Abby Martin last month, Kia Ora Gaza is pleased to invite you to view another special on-line award-winning documentary – ’The Truth: Lost at Sea’ at 6pm on this Sunday 31 May
On Sunday 31 May, at 6pm (NZ time) Kia Ora Gaza will co-host a special (free) on-line screening of the award-winning film ‘The Truth: Lost at Sea’, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Israeli commando attack on the Mavi Marmara. The film will be followed by a discussion with the Palestinian film-maker and Mavi Marmara survivor Rifat Audeh and Palestinian/Australian writer, human rights advocate, Samah Sabawi.
In 2010, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a convoy of six civilian boats carrying humanitarian aid, attempted to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza to bring international attention to the plight of 2 million Palestinians living under a brutal Israeli land, sea and air blockade of the Gaza Strip.
After refusing Israel’s demand to turn away, the flotilla continued on course through international waters, and the Israeli Occupation Forces launched their deadly night-raid attack with guns and stun grenades. On one of the boats, the Mavi Marmara, the Israeli commandos shot and killed nine un-armed human rights activists on board and a tenth later died of his injuries. Over fifty others were wounded. People on the other boats were also beaten up. The film details what happened that night unravelling how the story was spun by the media.
A 77-year-old woman infected with coronavirus dies in hospital at Rafah Crossing, says Gaza health ministry.3 hours ago
Authorities in Gaza have reported the first novel coronavirus fatality in the besieged territory, after a sharp rise in confirmed infections in recent days.null
“Fadila Muhammad Abu Raida, 77, from the Khan Younes governorate, died in isolation in hospital at the Rafah Crossing due to her infection with coronavirus,” the health ministry said on Saturday.
A wave of coronavirus infections among residents returning to Gaza has more than doubled the number of cases in the coastal enclave in recent days, raising fears of a bigger outbreak.
Gaza had managed to limit the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to no more than 20, with its borders with both Israel and Egypt closed to prevent the spread of the respiratory disease.
But in recent days, around 1,500 Palestinians who had been stuck in Egypt were allowed to return via the Rafah crossing, while smaller numbers were permitted to enter from Israel.
They were all placed in confinement, but 35 new cases have been confirmed among them, including 25 on Thursday, authorities announced, raising the total number to 55.
Health ministry official Yussef Abu al-Reesh said on Thursday that those infected had mingled with other returning residents, including in the quarantine centres.
Authorities were verifying whether any had met with Gaza residents before entering quarantine, he added.
In recent weeks, preventive measures in the enclave had been relaxed, with cafes and restaurants allowed to reopen.
Khalil al-Hayya, a senior official with the Hamas movement, which runs the enclave, told a news conference on Thursday that authorities were considering imposing a curfew.
The United Nations has warned that a coronavirus outbreak in Gaza could be disastrous, given the high poverty rate and weak health system in the coastal strip under Israeli blockade since 2007.
Gaza’s healthcare system is fraying under the weight of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, internal Palestinian division and a several wars and skirmishes between Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
Home to two million people, the Gaza Strip has only a few more than 60 ventilators and a chronic shortage of medication.
Since mid-March, Hamas has enforced mandatory quarantining at hotels, clinics and schools for all residents returning via Israel and Egypt. With the recent spike of cases, Hamas said it was closing Gaza’s borders for all arrivals until the end of June.
But on Friday, mosques were reopened for noon prayers across the territory, with worshippers bringing their own prayer rugs, wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and receiving hand sanitiser.
Authorities say the partial reopening of the mosques after nearly two months of closure came after relative success at keeping the virus at bay and preventing an outbreak.null
Schools and wedding halls remained closed in Gaza. Hamas’ interior ministry said public and amusement parks are not allowed to open during Eid al-Fitr, a major holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, that starts Sunday Sent from my iPhone
Israeli navy attacks on Gaza fishers spiked in April against the backdrop of increased economic uncertainty in the besieged territory amid COVID-19 restrictions.
Spring is the sardine fishing season, one of the most profitable harvests for Gaza fishers. Israel’s use of lethal force against Gaza fishers, particularly at a peak season, further undermines the fishing industry and food security in the coastal territory.
Gaza has been under a tightened Israeli blockade since 2007, severely debilitating its economy and plunging the territory’s two million residents, most of whom are refugees, into widespread poverty.
Three human rights groups are calling on Israel’s attorney general and military advocate general “to put an immediate end to the harassment of fishermen and investigate past incidents.”
Israel fired at fishing boats inside Gaza’s fishing zone more than 100 times in the first four months of the year, according to Al Mezan, a human rights group based in the territory.
Nearly 40 of those live fire incidents occurred in April, reflecting a 70 percent increase in the cases over the first three months of 2020.
Six fishers were injured and seven arrested during those incidents, and seven boats were badly damaged and one vessel seized.
Israel shot at Gaza fishers around 350 times in all of 2019.
A Freedom Flotilla delegation (above) joined a big international protest at the ICC, the Hague, in November last year, demanding action on prosecuting Israel for war crimes. [Photo: Kia Ora Gaza]
Since the International Criminal Court (ICC) determined that Palestine is a state for the purpose of its investigations into war crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian civilians, a fresh round of threats against the institution is taking place. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned of consequences based upon his government’s interpretation of what constitutes a Palestinian state. “The United States reiterates its longstanding objection to any illegitimate ICC investigations. If the ICC continues down its current course, we will exact consequences,” Pompeo said.
The US opposition to a Palestinian state has been further asserted through the so-called ‘deal of the century’, which pretends to advocate for a state while prioritising Israel’s colonial agenda; the latter leaving no possibility of any state-formation. US opposition to ICC investigations, therefore, is permanent.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has branded the possible forthcoming war crimes investigations as a “strategic threat”. Speaking during the first cabinet meeting, and claiming he rarely uses the word “strategic” although a common reference when it comes to Iran and the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions Movement (BDS), Netanyahu declared: “This is a strategic threat to the State of Israel – to the IDF soldiers, to the commanders, to the ministers, to the governments, to everything.”
Israel has long played upon exceptions to maintain its colonisation of Palestine and further entrench its military occupation. US President Donald Trump has awarded Israel unprecedented impunity and normalisation of international law violations, to the point that, bolstered also by the international community’s tacit silence, Israel is politicising the ICC investigation with the aim of maintaining the state of exception.
Much of the rhetoric around the global response to the coronavirus pandemic has been militarized, inviting the harms that fear-mongering war metaphors tend to evoke.
In Israel that militarization has been more than metaphor.
A new report from the occupation profiteer watchdog Who Profits demonstrates that Israel’s defense ministry and military corporations, both private and state-owned, have “been at the forefront” of the country’s coronavirus response.
This “exposes the deep military bias that underpins the Israeli economy and political regime and the symbiosis between the civilian sphere and the military apparatus,” Who Profits states.
The Electronic Intifada has previously reported on how Israel’s notorious NSO Group, implicated in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is seeking to export its spyware for coronavirus contact tracing, which is seen as a crucial step towards ending broad lockdowns.
According to Who Profits, NSO Group is partnering with Israel’s defense ministry to “develop, operationalize and potentially export a centralized data system to rate the probability of individuals being infected with the virus.”
“Dangerous slippery slope”
Meanwhile, the Mossad, Israel’s foreign spy agency infamous for extrajudicial assassinations, illicitly obtained medical equipment, the head of its technology division told media.
Israel’s domestic spy apparatus, the Shin Bet, has provided its “massive secret database … which gathers continuous real-time data on all Israeli citizens” for contact tracing purposes.
“Allowing the Shin Bet to employ its secret, unsupervised methods in civilian affairs could create a dangerous slippery slope that might pave the way for its intervention in additional civilian realms,” Suhad Bishara, a lawyer with Adalah, a human rights group campaigning against the surveillance tracking, has warned.
Two elite Israeli army intelligence units are now conducting medical research related to the coronavirus.
Those units are the usually top-secret Unit 81, which develops advanced spy tech, and Unit 8200, widely viewed as Israel’s equivalent to the National Security Agency in the US. Reservists affiliated with Unit 8200 revealed in 2014 that they employ widespread and invasive surveillance to coerce Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip into collaborating with Israel.
The heavy involvement of Israel’s spy agencies has been covered uncritically if not breathlessly by international media outlets that omit mention of their primary focus: the repression of the Palestinian people and their struggle for liberation.
As Who Profits notes, the “newfound medical calling has not taken the Israeli military apparatus away from its primary function and raison d’être, the continued military control over a civilian Palestinian population.”
That remains “the army’s ‘essential’ work,” the watchdog adds.
From military repression to civilian innovation
Who Profits has previously noted how knowledge developed in the context of the occupation and applied to seemingly benign civilian industry helps Israeli military companies promote “a sanitized version of their repressive technologies.”
The transfer of these technologies to the medical industry to combat the coronavirus once again demonstrates how “the state military apparatus functions as a laboratory, a reference, a client and an incubator for Israeli technological innovation.”
With fewer than 50 serious or critical cases at the time of this writing, Israel appears to have been successful in curbing the spread of the virus, notwithstanding its discriminatory and neglectful treatment of Palestinians.
Israel’s military companies have “new prospects for material and symbolic gain,” Who Profits states.
And having won the war on coronavirus – or at least the first battle – “the potential for future export is undeniable.”
Hon Dr Megan Woods – Minister for Housing, Research, Science and Development, Energy and Resources with Ambassador Dr Itzhak Gerberg, Israeli Ambassador to New Zealand after signing a hushed ‘innovation’ deal in March.
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, Media release, 20 May 2020
New Zealand government silent on deals with Israel
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa is accusing the New Zealand government of developing a back-door policy entanglement with the State of Israel.
PSNA says it only discovered that New Zealand had actually signed a Technical, Innovation, Research and Development Agreement with Israel through a Facebook post by the Israeli Embassy.
National Chair, John Minto, says New Zealand Minister, Megan Woods signed the Agreement on 5 March, but kept it totally quiet at the time.
“Normally a major bilateral deal would involve photo opportunities at Parliament and press releases. On this occasion, with the Israelis, nothing.”
John Minto says he concludes that the government is embarrassed about an increasing set of agreements with Israel.
“They know that they shouldn’t be doing deals when Israel is poised to illegally annex major parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
“They know they should be breaking off agreements with Israel at this time – not signing new ones.”
John Minto says the previous government delayed signing the New Zealand-Israel Film Co-production Agreement until 2015, because it thought that signing the Agreement while Israel was attacking Gaza the previous year was ‘not a good look.’
“The current government has never criticised Israeli actions. Not even in 2018 when Israeli snipers were gunning down unarmed Palestinian protesters through the Israeli blockade fence around Gaza. And now not when the Israeli government is ready to steal more Palestinian land.”
Respect for international law and the most basic human rights demands New Zealand suspend all bi-lateral agreements with Israel until the threat of annexation is lifted.
‘Time will tell how far the ICC is willing to go with its unprecedented and historic attempt aimed at, finally, investigating the numerous crimes that have been committed in Palestine unhindered, with no recourse and no accountability.
For the Palestinian people, the long-denied justice cannot arrive soon enough’. Ramzy Baroud
Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has, once and for all, settled the doubts on the Court’s jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed in occupied Palestine.
On April 30, Bensouda released a 60-page document diligently laying down the legal bases for that decision, concluding that “the Prosecution has carefully considered the observations of the participants, and remains of the view that the Court has jurisdiction over the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Bensouda’s legal explanation was itself a preemptive decision, dating back to December 2019, as the ICC Prosecutor must have anticipated an Israeli-orchestrated pushback against the investigation of war crimes committed in the Occupied Territories.
After years of haggling, the ICC had resolved in December 2019 that, “there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation into the situation in Palestine, pursuant to article 53(1) of the Statute.”
Article 53(1) merely describes the procedural steps that often lead, or do not lead, to an investigation by the Court.
That Article is satisfied when the amount of evidence provided to the Court is so convincing that it leaves the ICC with no other option but to move forward with an investigation.
Indeed, Bensouda had already declared late last year that she was, “satisfied that (i) war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip… (ii) potential cases arising from the situation would be admissible; and (iii) there are no substantial reasons to believe that an investigation would not serve the interests of justice.”
Naturally, Israel and its main Western ally, the United States, fumed. Israel has never been held accountable by the international community for war crimes and other human rights violations in Palestine. The ICC’s decision, especially if the investigation moves forward, would be an historic precedent.
On May 31th 2010, the six Gaza-bound boats of the Freedom Flotilla, headed by the Mavi Marmara, were attacked by Israeli commandos in international waters. Ten peace activists were killed and over 50 others wounded. Ten years later, Israel still remains unpunished for this war crime.
This short documentary film (above) reconstructs what happened on board of Mavi Marmara in 2010. Since 2008 thirty-five peace boats have sailed to break the illegal blockade of Gaza. The flotillas to Gaza will continue to sail until the blockade ends. The next flotilla will sail again once the Covid-19 travel restrictions have been lifted. Kia Ora Gaza is a member of the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
The above video, All aboard. Witnesses of the Mavi Marmara attack made by Laura Arau is licensed under a Creative Commons.
Also announcing: A special on-line screening of an award-winning documentary: 6pm on Sunday 31 May
On Sunday 31 May, at 6pm (NZ time) Kia Ora Gaza will co-host a special (free) on-line screening of the award-winning film ‘The Truth: Lost at Sea’, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Israeli commando attack on the Mavi Marmara. The film will be followed by a discussion with film-maker and Mavi Marmara survivor Rifat Audeh and other Freedom Flotilla participants.
In 2010, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a convoy of six civilian boats carrying humanitarian aid, attempted to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza to bring international attention to the plight of 2 million Palestinians living under a brutal Israeli land, sea and air blockade of the Gaza Strip.
After refusing Israel’s demand to turn away, the flotilla continued on course through international waters, and the Israeli Occupation Forces launched their deadly night-raid attack with guns and stun grenades. On one of the boats, the Mavi Marmara, the Israeli commandos shot and killed nine un-armed human rights activists on board and a tenth later died of his injuries. Fifty others were wounded. People on the other boats were also beaten up. The film details what happened that night unravelling how the story was spun by the media.
The Electronic Intifada’s founding editor, Ali Abunimah reacts to the swearing in of Israel’s new government, earlier today on Al Jazeera English.
“Though they may be bitter rivals on a personal level, Israel’s ruling duo Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz are in ideological lockstep over annexing the occupied West Bank.”
After more than 500 days without a stable government and three inconclusive elections, lawmakers approved a Netanyahu-Gantz coalition [Adina Valman/Knesset via AFP]
AlJazeera, 18 May 2020
Israel’s parliament has sworn in a new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz, ending the longest political crisis in the country’s history.
After more than 500 days without a stable government and three inconclusive elections, lawmakers in the 120-seat Knesset approved a three-year coalition, with 73 voting for and 49 against. One member was absent.
The new government was set to confront serious crises in its first weeks, including the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus and a looming battle over Israel’s possible annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank.
Addressing the parliament before the vote, Netanyahu said his incoming government should apply Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements, which are illegal under international law.
“It’s time to apply the Israeli law and write another glorious chapter in the history of Zionism,” Netanyahu said on the issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Philip Pullman, Naomi Klein, Peter Gabriel, Alia Shawkat, Vic Mensa and Viggo Mortensen Jr. are among more than two hundred musicians, actors, filmmakers, authors and others calling for an end to Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip amid the coronavirus crisis.
In an open letter published on Wednesday, they write,“Gaza’s almost two million inhabitants, predominantly refugees, face a mortal threat in the world’s largest open-air prison.”
The first cases of coronavirus in blockaded Gaza were reported in March. Palestinian, Israeli and international humanitarian and human rights organisations have called for the lifting of Israel’s siege so that Gaza can address its severe shortages of medical equipment.
Authors Irvine Welsh and Jeanette Winterson, actors Julie Christie and Steve Coogan, and sculptor Antony Gormley are also signatories to the letter, which states:
“International pressure is urgently needed to make life in Gaza liveable and dignified. Israel’s siege must be ended. And most urgently, a potentially devastating outbreak must be prevented.”
Marking two years since Israel killed sixty Palestinian protestors in Gaza, the signatories — including Irish novelist Colm Tóibín, visual artists Kevin Beasley and Shepard Fairey, and 2019 Turner Prize co-winners Tai Shani and Lawrence Abu Hamdan — continue:
“What happens in Gaza is a test for the conscience of humanity. We back Amnesty International’s call on all world governments to impose a military embargo on Israel until it fully complies with its obligations under international law.”
Film producer and director James Schamus, actors Peter Mullan and Liam Cunningham and artists Charlotte Prodger, Mark Wallinger and Helen Marten join pioneering poet K. Satchidanandan, novelist and screenwriter Candace Allen, composer and producer Brian Eno and musicians Roger Waters and Massive Attack in signing the letter, which concludes:
“We recognise that the rights guaranteed to refugees by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be upheld for Palestinians as well.
In these times of international crisis, we must stand for justice, peace, freedom, and equal rights for all, regardless of identity or creed. We may be staying at home, but our ethical responsibility shouldn’t.”
Read the full letter:
Long before the global outbreak of COVID-19 threatened to overwhelm the already devastated healthcare system in Gaza, the UN had predicted that the blockaded coastal strip would be unliveable by 2020. With the pandemic, Gaza’s almost two million inhabitants, predominantly refugees, face a mortal threat in the world’s largest open-air prison.
Two years ago on May 14th, Israeli snipers killedsixty Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza, with total impunity. The overwhelmingly peaceful Great March of Return weekly mass demonstrations, currently on hold due to the threat of coronavirus, were met with brutal violence.
Well before the ongoing crisis, Gaza’s hospitals were already stretched to breaking point through lack of essential resources denied by Israel’s siege. Its healthcare system could not cope with the thousands of gunshot wounds, leading to many amputations.
Reports of the first cases of coronavirus in densely-populated Gaza are therefore deeply disturbing. As several health professionals recently wrote: “Epidemics (and indeed, pandemics) are disproportionately violent to populations burdened by poverty, military occupation, discrimination & institutionalised oppression.”
Yet Israel’s blockade impedes the flow of medical equipment, personnel and fundamental humanitarian aid. International pressure is urgently needed to make life in Gaza liveable and dignified. Israel’s siege must be ended. And most urgently, a potentially devastating outbreak must be prevented.
What happens in Gaza is a test for the conscience of humanity. We back Amnesty International’s call on all world governments to impose a military embargo on Israel until it fully complies with its obligations under international law. We recognise that the rights guaranteed to refugees by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be upheld for Palestinians as well.
In these times of international crisis, we must stand for justice, peace, freedom, and equal rights for all, regardless of identity or creed. We may be staying at home, but our ethical responsibility shouldn’t.
International Middle East Media Centre, 15 May 2020
Israeli soldiers and navy ships attacked, on Thursday morning, Palestinian farmers and fishermen with live fire and shells, in the southern and northern parts of the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip.
Media sources said the soldiers, stationed in military towers across the perimeter fence, fired many live rounds at Palestinian farmers on their own lands near the perimeter fence, east of Khuza’a town, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the coastal region.
The farmers had to flee their lands and seek shelter away from the area to avoid further Israeli violations.
A similar attack targeted farmers on their lands, east of Shouka town, near Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza Strip, forcing the farmers out of their lands.
In related news, Israeli navy ships attacked Palestinian fishing boats with sporadic rounds of live fire, and a few shells, while in Gaza territorial waters, in the northern part of the coastal region.
The attacks did not lead to casualties but forced the fishermen back to the shore without being able to fish to provide for their families.
Last week, Israeli soldiers shot and injured three fishermen and abducted two others, in addition to causing extensive damage to fishing boats and equipment.
US Secretary of State urges Israeli leaders to make sure annexation plans align with Washington’s plans for region. Pompeo was on one-day visit to Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partner Benny Gantz (AFP)
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Israeli leaders to consider “all the factors” in a proposed de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank, so that it aligns with Washington’s plan for the region.
Pompeo made the remarks during a one-day visit to Israel on Wednesday, when he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partner Benny Gantz. Washington’s chief diplomat did not meet with any Palestinian leaders.
Pompeo said he discussed the issue of annexation with the two leaders, “but also many other issues related to it – how to deal with all the factors involved, and how to make sure the move is done properly to bring about an outcome in accordance with the vision of peace,” according to the Israel Hayom newspaper.
‘The Trump administration is collaborating with Israel in its annexation plan in what is both an attempt at burying the rights of the Palestinian people as well as a blatant attack on a rules-based international system’ – Saeb Erakat, PLO chief negotiator
Under the coalition agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said cabinet discussions will start in early July over extending Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, as was mooted in US President Donald Trump’s recently announced Middle East plan.
The proposed annexations have been slammed by the Palestinians, and opposed by much of the international community, including the European Union and the United Nations.
Several United Nations officials called on Israel Monday to release Palestinian child prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The call was made by the coordinator of UN’s humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians on the ground, Jamie McGoldrick, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the West Bank, James Heenan, and UNICEF special representative, Genevieve Boutin.
“The rights of children to protection, safety, and wellbeing must be upheld at all times. In normal times, the arrest or detention of a child should be a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time,” the statement read.
“During a pandemic, States should pay increased attention to children’s protection needs and children’s rights, and the best interests of children should be a primary consideration in all actions taken by Governments.”
Israel has been criticized repeatedly in the past for its arrest and trial in military courts of Palestinian children. Recent data released by the Israeli rights group B’tselem indicate that by the end of March, Israel was holding 194 Palestinian children.
While Israel has released hundreds of its own prisoners to control the spread of the COVID-19 disease in its overpopulated prisons, the same policy did not apply to Palestinian detainees. There are over 5,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, in addition to nearly 500 prisoners who are held without charge or trial.
“Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis in Israel, legal proceedings are on hold, almost all prison visits are cancelled, and children are denied in-person access to their families and their lawyers. This creates additional hardship, psychological suffering, and prevents the child from receiving the legal advice to which they are entitled. ” the joint statement also read.
“For children awaiting trial, these pressures could put them under increased pressure to incriminate themselves, pleading guilty to be released faster.”
May 15, Nakba Day, is an important date for the Palestinian people. It’s the day when Palestinians commemorate their history and their culture. While Israeli nationalists and Zionist supporters celebrate the forming in 1948 of the State of Israel, the ‘Birth’ of Israel, Palestinians remember the Nakba , the catastrophe, ie, what was done to the indigenous people.
It’s a memory that the Israeli regime has tried to outlaw, to erase. Decades ago Israel deliberately renamed, ie ‘Hebrewised ‘, village and geographical locations. Some destroyed villages were covered over with pine forests, hiding evidence that people had lived there.
George Orwell has pointed out that,
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
Palestinian academic Edward Said warned,
“Part of the main plan of imperialism… is that we will give you your history, we will write it for you, we will re-order the past…What’s more truly frightening is the defacement, the mutilation, and ultimately the eradication of history…”
The Israeli historian Ilan Pappé has coined the word ‘memoricide’, to describe the Israeli efforts to erase knowledge and evidence of a Palestinian past.
The Nakba is more than a historical event. It is an ongoing process. The Nakba continues today as Israel continues to destroy houses, farmlands, schools ..yes schools too..in the West Bank and East Jerusalem…as Israeli snipers continue to shoot to kill or permanently maim, unarmed Gazan demonstrators, as Israeli forces continue to attack Gazan fishermen and bomb Gaza.
Writer and journalist Ramzy Baroud says about the ‘birth’ of Israel,
” That blood-stained birth callously required the destruction of an entire nation; people with a unique history, language, culture and collective memory. It was thus absolutely necessary for the Palestinians to be wiped out to quell any possible sense of Israeli guilt, shame and legal and moral responsibility for what has befallen millions of dispossessed people.” “The Nakba is not merely a question of history, but an ongoing reality that has affected several generations of Palestinians. It is not a celebration of victimhood, but the impetus for an ongoing resistance. It is not an ‘event’ assigned a specific political context and analysis, but is now a state of mind; the Palestinian people’s strongest rapport between them and their past, present and future.”
This weekend – Sunday 10 May at 7pm – the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa will hold an Online rally with Gaza for Nakba Day. (Zoom meeting number below)
This is our second on-line rally with Gaza to hear directly from Palestinians on the front line of the Covid 19 pandemic. It’s an astonishing achievement that Palestinians have kept Covid 19 out of the Gaza community so far through quarantining all those entering the strip. However, the danger remains extreme.
One thing you can do now – copy and paste this notice into your social media posts TODAYDr Medhat Abbas – Director General of Primary Health Services in Gaza. One of the speakers for our online rally with Gaza for Nakba Day.
Nakba Day (15 May – ‘Nakba’ means ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic) refers to the mass expulsion, at gunpoint and with many massacres, of Palestinian Arabs (between 750,000 and one million) from Palestine during Israel’s creation (1947-49)
We will be hearing from Palestinian medical professionals, community activists and journalists about the huge threat Covid 19 poses to the people of Palestine – and Gaza in particular – and what we can do about it. See you there”
Twelve Palestinian journalists are currently detained in Israeli jails. (Photo: File)
Palestine Chronicle, 3 May 2020.
May 3 marks the World Press Freedom Day, and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said today that 12 Palestinian journalists are currently held behind Israeli prison bars.
The longest-serving of these 12 journalists are Mahmoud Essa (three life sentences and 45 years), Basem Khendoggi (three life sentences in prison), Munther Mefleh (30 years), and Ahmad Saifi (17 years).
Moreover, some of these journalists are held in Israeli detention without charge or trial, based on what the Israeli intelligence describes as the “secret file”.
“The occupation authorities have pursued the policy of arresting journalists and activists in an attempt to undermine their societal, cultural, and political role, and prevent them from revealing the crimes of the occupation,” the PPS said on this occasion.
Detention of journalists by Israeli occupation authorities has been on the rise since 2015 when Israeli courts started to use the pretext of “incitement” to justify their arrest as well as the closure of TVs and media institutions under military orders.
“Good journalism must not be allowed to die,” wrote Palestinian journalist and editor of ThePalestine Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud.
“We must fight back, in the name of Tareq Ayyoub who was killed by US forces in Iraq in 2003, and Yaser Murtaja who was killed by Israeli snipers in Gaza in 2018, and thousands like them, who are either dead or spending torturous years in Arab or Israeli prisons,” Baroud added.
Palestine is a state, and therefore the International Criminal Court (ICC) has legal jurisdiction to rule on alleged war crimes committed there, the ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda reiterated on Thursday, April 30.
The statement was a firm response to intense lobbying efforts by Israel and its supporters, especially Germany, to delegitimize the proceeding altogether.
The 60-page document was entitled: A Response to the ‘Observations of Amici Curiae, Legal Representatives of Victims, and States’.
“Once a state becomes a party to the Statute, the Court is automatically entitled to exercise jurisdiction over article 5 crimes committed on its territory” without any further “separate assessment” by organs of the Court as to the Statehood of the State Party,” the statement reads in part.
“Palestine’s viability as a State—and the exercise of the Palestinian people’s right to self determination—has been obstructed by the expansion of settlements and the construction of the barrier and its associated regime in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which have been found to violate international law,” the document also stated.
The ICC pre-trial chamber will now decide how to move forward with the investigation.
“The Prosecutor advanced quite compelling arguments and properly addressed those submissions which aimed at persuading the court not to move forward,” Dr. Triestino Mariniello, member of the Legal Team Representing Gaza Victims before the ICC, told The Palestine Chronicle.
Mariniello also told the Chronicle that although Bensouda’s “observations were compelling,” her decision to call on the pre-trial chamber was not a mandated legal procedure and “it only causes unnecessary delays.”
“Since Palestine submitted a referral to the court, the ICC had the power to open an investigation without asking the pre-trial chamber to rule on the matter,” he said.
“The victims we represent are worried about further delays. The victims are also worried about the so-called ‘narrow scope of investigation’, which is a de facto exclusion of crimes that were committed since 2015 against Palestinian civilians.”
Palestinian-Canadian doctor says Israel must lift Gaza siege
Video report by Democracy Now! 25 April 2020.
As fears continue to grow about what a rampant outbreak of the coronavirus might do to the occupied Palestinian territory, already crippled by years of Israeli sanctions, we get an update from Dr. Tarek Loubani, Palestinian-Canadian doctor and emergency physician who volunteers in the Gaza Strip and returned from a trip there last month. “Testing is severely limited,” he says. “There have been fewer tests in Gaza so far throughout the entire pandemic than there were in South Korea yesterday.” #DemocracyNow
Kia Ora Gaza is a New Zealand network dedicated to support international efforts to break the inhuman and illegal Israeli siege and naval blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian aid, fostering fraternal relations, enhancing understanding of Palestine and the Middle East, and cooperating with others who have similar aims.
Kia Ora Gaza promotes human rights, and solidarity for the people of Palestine and their struggle for justice, peace and freedom.
Our website and facebook pages underscore and promote these goals, however posts do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Kia Ora Gaza or our partners.
All forms of racism and discrimination are the antithesis of justice, peace and freedom. Kia Ora Gaza social media will not tolerate any act or discourse which adopts or promotes, among others: racism, anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, xenophobia, or homophobia.
Kia Ora Gaza is a member of the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition - website: freedomflotilla.org and part of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa. Website: www.PSNA.nz
Postal address: Kia Ora Gaza, PO Box 86022, Mangere East, Auckland, New Zealand 2158.
KIA ORA GAZA PROJECTS
Kia Ora Gaza was established from a series of public meetings to organise Kiwi participation in international efforts to end the siege of Gaza & promote practical solidarity for Palestine. This followed the Israeli commando raid on the Mavi Mamara-led peace flotilla in international waters in 2010 which resulted in the deaths of 10 civilian peace activists. Since then Kia Ora Gaza has organised or supported the following projects: 1. Sent a team of 6 Kiwis on the 140-vehicle Viva Palestina international land convoy in 2010, driving and donating 3 ambulances to Gaza – part of the $7million medical aid delivered.
2. Supported Kiwi participant Harmeet Sooden to join the Canadian boat, Tahrir on Freedom Flotilla 2 to Gaza in 2011. 3. Sent a team of 4 Kiwis on the “Miles of Smiles” land convoy to Gaza with 10 tonnes of medical aid, 20124. Sent a fact-finding mission for www.kiaoragaza.net to Gaza Nov, 2012 5. Sent donations for food relief following the 2014 floods in Gaza 6. Co-organised nation-wide protests each weekend during Israel’s 50-day bombardment of Gaza in 2014 7. Transferred $25,000 to Gaza for urgent medical aid via Palestinian International Medical Aid in July 2014. 8. Sponsored an education project training young Palestinian journalists in Gaza 2015 9. Facilitated “NZ-Gaza twinning agreements” with a sports club and community centre in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza. 10. Co-sponsored 2 ambulances for Doctors Worldwide rehabilitation centre in Khan Younis (Israeli bombing in 2014 destroyed 26 ambulances in Gaza) 11. Maintains website: kiaoragaza.net and facebook pages. 12. Co-hosted the NZ Conference on Palestine, 2013 and 2016 13. Facilitated 2 Maori TV journalists on board the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in 2015 14. Co-hosted NZ speaking tours including: – Harry Fear (UK doco-maker) & Roger Fowler (Kia Ora Gaza) in 2013
– Jeff Halper (Director, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) 2013
– Miko Peled (author) 2013
– Yousef Aljamal (Palestinian commentator) 2013
– Amira Hass (Israeli Journalist, Haaretz) 2015
– Samah Sabawi (Palestinian Writer) 2015
– Emad Burnat (Palestinian Film-maker) 2016
– Ali Abunimah (founder Electronic Intifada) 2016
– Rafeef Ziadah (Palestinian poet) April 2017
– Gideon Levy (Israeli journalist) 2017
– Huwaida Arraf (Palestinian lawyer) and Justine Sachs. 2018
-Dr Ramzy Baroud (US/Palestinian author) 2018
– Dr Salman Abu-Sitta (Palestinian author) 2019
15. Aug 2016 co-hosted special Auckland screening of Emad Burnat’s documentary ‘5 Broken Cameras’
16. Sept 2016. Transferred $6000 raised in our appeal to Palestinian doco-maker Emad Burnat towards a new camera.
17. Sept 2016 facilitated Green MP Marama Davidson to join Women’s Boat to Gaza peace flotilla.
18. Feb 2017 co-hosted film screening event: “The Idol”
19. April 2017, co-hosted three-city NZ tour with Palestinian performance poet Rafeef Ziadah and musician Phil Monsour.
20. May 2017 ‘Salt Water Challenge’ solidarity actions with Palestinian hunger strikers.
21. May 2017 transferred $1000 donation to Al Ahli Sports club in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Gaza for football equipment. 22. July 2017 transferred our EURO1000 share to the FFC Gaza fishers project via MyCare Humanitarian Care Malaysia. 23. July 2017 transferred $1000 donation to Al Ahli Sports Club, Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Gaza. 24. Sept 2017 the Freedom Flotilla Coalition delivered fishing equipment as solidarity aid to 400 Gazan fishers via MyCare, Malaysia. 25. Kia Ora Gaza co-hosted a public lecture in Auckland on 3 December 2017, by renowned Haaretz journalist and writer, Gideon Levy. 26. January 2018, Kia Ora Gaza organiser, Roger Fowler, attends the Freedom Flotilla Coalition conference in Sweden to plan the 2018 international flotilla to break the illegal blockade of Gaza. 27. Co-organised Nationwide ‘Day of Action’ for Free Palestine on Sat 3 February 2018 demanding the release of all children held in Israeli prisons. 28. Co-hosted a public meeting at Auckland Uni with US/Palestinian writer Huwaida Arraf and Justine Sachs from Dayenu: NZ Jews against Occupation, March 2018. 29. Co-organised Auckland rallies in support of Palestinian March of Return, from April 2018. 30. Co-organised a five-city speaking tour with acclaimed US/Palestinian author, Dr Ramzy Baroud. May 2018. 31. Facilitated NZ participation in the 2018 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. Selected veteran human rights campaigner and union leader, Mike Treen to represent NZ. Co-organised NZ speaking tour with Mike Treen. 2018.
CURRENT APPEALS
In 2020 the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is organising another international peace flotilla to challenge Israel's illegal 12 year naval blockade of Gaza and for a just future for Palestine - after the Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions have been lifted.For updates visit the FFC facebook page and website: freedomflotilla.org You can support NZ participation in this project by checking the options in the 'How to donate to Kia Ora Gaza' segment below.Appeal target: $40,000 to cover costs of our share of the purchase and upgrade of the flotilla boats, airfares and accommodation for our NZ participant.
HOW TO DONATE TO KIA ORA GAZA
Make a direct payment to our bank account: Kia Ora Gaza Trust, 03-0211-0447718-000, Westpac Bank, Onehunga branch. Afterwards, email office@kiaoragaza.net with your deposit details so our Board of Trustees can send you an e-receipt.
Write a cheque for ‘Kia Ora Gaza’ and post to: Kia Ora Gaza Trust, P.O. Box 86022, Mangere East, Auckland 2158
Kia Ora Gaza is a Charitable Trust incorporated under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957. Registration number 2540065 However we are not registered with IRD for tax deduction purposes, as Kia Ora Gaza is deemed to be mainly an advocacy group.
FREEDOM FLOTILLA TO GAZA: DOCUMENTARY
A MaoriTV media team of senior journalist Ruwani Perera and award-winning, free-lance camera operator Jacob Bryant, returned home from reporting on the 2015 Freedom Flotilla III attempt to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
Facilitated by Kia Ora Gaza, the Native Affairs team joined other international journalists on the board the flotilla to observe and document the mission.
Thanks to all those who generously supported the Flotilla project.
Over 100,000 Palestinians were injured and over 2,100 killed during Israel’s 2014 genocidal onslaught. Their illegal siege on Gaza left the medical services without basic supplies.
Kia Ora Gaza Trust launched an urgent appeal for funds towards humanitarian relief in war-ravaged Gaza.
Kia Ora Gaza co-sponsored two ambulances for Gaza in 2015.
Kia Ora Gaza donated three ambulances in 2010.
VIDEO: The manager of the Doctors World Wide Turkey services in Gaza, Mohammed Alkhatib, thanks Viva Palestina Malaysia (VPM) and Kia Ora Gaza donors for jointly sponsoring two new ambulances at their Khan Younis rehabilitation clinic. The video also shows the recently delivered ambulances in service. (Video by DWWT 21 October 2015.) CLICK HERE
Roger Fowler teaching Kiwi-English at Al Aqsa University, Gaza City.
COMING EVENTS
Kia Ora Gaza is planning future speaking tours & other events, in cooperation with NZ Palestine Solidarity Network and PHRC. Watch this space.
Please note that the planned 2020 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza has been postponed until further notice due to the current Covid-19 global pandemic.
In June 2012, Kia Ora Gaza sent a four-person team to Gaza as part of an international aid convoy. Our Kiwi convoyers were (from left) Roger Fowler, Tali Williams, Gibran Janif and Hone Fowler. This land convoy, which left from Cairo, delivered ten tonnes of urgently needed medical supplies to health authorities in Gaza. In November 2012 Kia Ora Gaza sent Roger Fowler on a fact-finding mission to Gaza (see his reports posted Nov-Dec 2012 on this website). UK documentary-maker Harry Fear joined Roger on a speaking tour of NZ on his return.
In November 2010, six volunteers from Kia Ora Gaza joined an international land convoy which delivered NZ$7 million in medical aid to Gaza. The convoy, which left from London and was joined by other columns from North Africa and the Middle East, arrived at night in Gaza City to a rapturous welcome from Palestinian throngs.
Books and T-shirts available
Enquires: email office@kiaoragaza.net.
OR send a cheque and details to Kia Ora Gaza, PO Box 86022, Mangere East, Auckland 2158.
Miko Peled's book 'The General's Son' can be purchased for $25 (+$4 postage). Limited copies of the new second edition are now available - includes an updated epilogue. Each copy is signed by the author.
"The Prisoners' Diaries', co-translated by Yousef Aljamal, is available for $15 (+$4 postage).
Tee shirts are also available for $30 each plus postage.
Our fallen heros
We remember the ten humanitarians on board the Gaza aid vessel Mavi Marmara killed by Israeli commandos on 31 May 2010:
Ibrahim Bilgen
Ali Haydar Bengi
Cevdet Kiliçlar
Çetin Topçuoglu
Necdet Yildirim
Fahri Yaldiz
Cengiz Songür
Cengiz Akyüz
Furkan Dogan
Ugur Suleyman Soylemez
by Grant Morgan retiring chair of Kia Ora Gaza 18 February 2013 After two-and-a-half years as Kia Ora Gaza’s chair and website editor, I retired from those roles at our leadership forum last weekend. The reason? Over the past half-dozen years I have researched, written and spoken about how global capitalism is in overshoot […]
by Roger Fowler new chair of Kia Ora Gaza 18 February 2013 Last Saturday, at a leadership forum of Kia Ora Gaza, Grant Morgan stood down as chair of our solidarity network and editor of our website kiaoragaza.net. His departure had been well flagged over the past 12 months. Grant has been busy with […]
Al Jazeera, 29 November 2012. Nicole Johnston reports from Ramallah. Euro News, 29 November 2012. by Ewen MacAskill at the UN & Chris McGreal in Ramallah The Guardian 29 November 2012 The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to recognise Palestine as a state, in the face of opposition from Israel and the […]
by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Le Monde Diplomatique 28 November 2012 It is clear that without an overall military operation to uproot Hamas control of Gaza, no drilling work can take place without the consent of the radical Islamic movement. Moshe Ya’alon, Israeli deputy prime minister and minister of strategic affairs, 2007. Over the […]
![After more than 500 days without a stable government and three inconclusive elections, lawmakers approved a Netanyahu-Gantz coalition [Adina Valman/Knesset via AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2020/5/17/4992690ae6da42ba9cbc34b85663bda5_18.jpg "Israel swears in new gov't as Netanyahu pledges annexation push")
Dr Medhat Abbas – Director General of Primary Health Services in Gaza. One of the speakers for our online rally with Gaza for Nakba Day.
