But we cannot do this alone. For us to succeed, the international community needs to end its silence and stand with us.
![Palestinian children, like all children, have a right to be safe in their homes and schools, writes Janna Jihad, 15-year-old Palestinian activist and journalist. [Samar Hazboun/ActionAid]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/R257554.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
Not many people across the world know what life is like for Palestinian children, how unsafe we feel in our homes and what we go through every single day because of the Israeli occupation.
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By ANDREA GERMANOS, Common Dreams, 14 September 2021
Israel unveiled a new remote-controlled killer robot on Monday at a major weapons fair in the U.K. that human rights advocates are criticizing as an event to sell “death machines” and tools of abuse.
Developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the Rex MK II is a four-wheeled vehicle mounted with two machine guns to carry out remote attacks. According to a press statement from the state-owned company announcing the release, the robot has already been sold to global customers.
The weapon was unveiled Monday at Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) in London, an event that occurs every two years and is one of the world’s biggest arms fairs. The weapons expo has faced sustained condemnation from anti-war campaigners who say it’s a venue “where those who profit from war, repression, and injustice do business.”
Multi-purpose military robot
IAI describes the robot as an unmanned land vehicle that can carry a load of 1.3 tons and execute operations including intelligence gathering using “electro-optical sensors and radar.” It can also be used to launch attacks with “remotely controlled weapons systems including a 7.62mm machine gun” and “a cal 0.50 heavy machine gun,” the company says, and serve “as a multi-mission multi-purpose platform to support additional missions based on troops needs.”
The weapon represents “the most advanced of more than half a dozen unmanned vehicles developed by Aerospace Industries’ subsidiary, ELTA Systems, over the past 15 years,” and would join a similar unmanned robot weapon, the Jaguar, that Israel deploys along the Gaza border, the Associated Press reported.
International outcry
Israel has faced international outcry and demands for war crimes investigations over its repeated military attacks on Gaza. Arms sales to Israel from countries including the U.S. and U.K. have also faced ongoing criticism from human rights advocates.
“IAI’s unmanned land platforms are in use operating along Israel’s borders and in different fighting units as well as in other locations around the world,” Zvika Yarom of IAI’s land division said in a statement in which he cited “a rise in demand from clients for unmanned land platforms.”
Such demand has fueled concerns about so-called “killer robots” and spurred a global campaign to ban such weapons.
Continue readingTake action now:
• The fifth International Day of Action to Boycott Puma is being held around the world this Saturday September 18th. Post this image from BDS Australia on your social media pages.
• Sign the Justice for Palestine (formerly Wellington Palestine) petition to the Silver Ferns calling on them to drop their Puma sponsorship.
Please sign and SHARE widely.
https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/tell-the-silver-ferns-to-drop-puma
PUMA claims it doesn’t support teams in illegal Israeli settlements forcing Palestinians off their land.
Ooops! Isn’t that @Puma’s logo under a map of them?
Palestine Chronicle, 15 September 2021
Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday attacked Palestinian primary school students with teargas canisters in Tubas, in the occupied West Bank.
The Red Cross said that over 30 Palestinian students in an elementary school in the Tayasir village suffocated as Israeli forces fired teargas canisters fired towards them during a raid of the village.
Local sources said that Israeli forces fired teargas canisters directly and heavily towards the students, resulting in dozens of suffocation cases.
Video footage shows the young students crying and screaming as the teargas fired towards them caused burning and pain in their eyes, throat, lungs and skin.
(QNN, PC, Social Media. Video by Quds News Network)
IDF soldiers shot a 39-year-old Palestinian gardener, but they didn’t bother to check their handiwork. For an hour and a half he lay dying or dead on the road – until his teenage son found him.
By Gideon Levy & Alex Levac, Haaretz (Israeli daily newspaper) 11 September 2021
Youssef Jidallah walks along the trail of bloodstains and with his phone, photographs his father’s last drops of blood. Next, the 15-year-old aims the device at the edges of the road, the heap of garbage, the stones and the pair of blue rubber gloves lying there. This is where Youssef found his father last week, dead or dying, lying on the roadside. That’s how the boy found his father. Picture it.
Continue readingThe dramatic escape of six Palestinian prisoners from Gilboa prison is now in its fourth day, and the story is resonating around the world. Palestinians and their supporters celebrate the escape, while Israeli authorities and media express humiliation and rage.
PALESTINIANS TAKE PART IN A PROTEST TO SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH PRISONERS HELD IN ISRAELI JAILS, IN KHAN YOUNIS IN THE SOUTHERN OF GAZA STRIP, ON SEPTEMBER 8, 2021. IN A STEP SEEN AS VENGEANCE FOLLOWING THE ESCAPE YESTERDAY OF SIX PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE FIGHTERS FROM GILBOA JAIL, THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION AUTHORITIES BEGAN TO IMPOSE COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT AGAINST ALL PALESTINIANS INCARCERATED IN ISRAEL, TODAY SAID THE PALESTINIAN PRISONER SOCIETY (PPS). PHOTO BY ASHRAF AMRA (C) APA IMAGES.
BY MONDOWEISS EDITORS SEPTEMBER 10 2021
The dramatic escape of six prisoners from Gilboa prison in Israel is now in its fourth day with none of the prisoners captured, and the story is resonating around the world. Palestinians and their supporters celebrate an escape to rival those in Hollywood pictures. While Israeli authorities and media express humiliation and rage.
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Thousands protest in Ramallah in support of Palestinian prisoners. (Photo: via Social Media)
Palestine Chronicle, 10 September 2021
Clashes today erupted between Palestinian youths and Israeli occupation forces in several locations of the occupied West Bank as Palestinians continued for the second day in a row to demonstrate n support of the prisoners, according to WAFA.
Demonstrations and clashes were reported in Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron (Al-Khalil), in the town of Dura, south of Hebron, and in al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, local sources said.
Israeli soldiers fired live bullets, tear gas canisters and concussion bombs at the protestors, who pelted the soldiers, their military jeeps and watchtowers with stones. Several people suffered suffocation from tear gas inhalation.
The protests erupted over the last two days after the Israel Prison Services (IPS) took revenge against the more than 4,000 Palestinian freedom fighters held in its prisons following the escape on Monday of six prisoners from the heavily fortified Gilboa prison in the north of Israel.
The IPS harsh measures drew strong protests from the prisoners as well as Palestinians throughout the occupied territories.
(Sources: WAFA, PC, Social Media)
Link to original post: https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israeli-forces-attack-west-bank-protests-in-support-of-prisoners/
Police officers search as they investigate an area where six Palestinian prisoners managed to escape from Gilboa prison overnight on 6 September 2021 [Amir Levy/Getty Images]
Middle East Monitor, 7 September 2021
Israeli occupation forces set up flying checkpoints around the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday fearing that the six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from a high-security prison overnight may try to cross into the coastal territory, Sama news agency has reported.
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By RAMZY BAROUD, Arab News, 7 September 2021
A large Israeli army campaign is taking social media by storm. The unstated aim of what is known as the “#Untie_Our_Hands” initiative is the desire to kill, with no accountability, more Palestinian protesters at the Gaza perimeter fence. The campaign was motivated by the killing of an Israeli sniper, Barel Hadaria Shmueli, who was reportedly shot from the Palestinian side of the barrier on 21 August.
An immediate question comes to mind: What do Israeli soldiers want, considering that they have already killed over 300 unarmed Palestinian protesters, and wounded and maimed thousands more at the Gaza fence during what Palestinians referred to as the “Great March of Return” between 2018 and 2020?
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VIDEO: Palestinian-US comedian, writer and activist Amer Zahr asks: What Do Settlers Sound Like? Settlers in #Palestine sound like they’re from somewhere else because they’re from somewhere else. #FreePalestine
Silver Ferns, Netball NZ, and Carole Maddix NNZ President – Please don’t renew your partnership with PUMA, until PUMA end their sponsorship of the Israel Football Association.
We’re signing this petition as fans of the Silver Ferns, but not fans of your partnership with PUMA. We love your commitment to sport, to fair play, diversity and inclusion. But that’s not true of your partner.
PUMA is the only international sponsor of the Israel Football Association (IFA) which includes teams in Israel’s illegal settlements built against international law on occupied Palestinian land.
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Middle East Monitor, 3 September 2021
Israel’s Ofer Military Court today agreed to release nine-month pregnant Anjhar Al-Deek, issuing 40,000 shekel ($12,500) bail and releasing her on house arrest, the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority said today.
Twenty-five-year-old Al-Deek is from the Kafr Ni’ma town west of Ramallah and has been imprisoned for five months on charges of attempting to carry out a stabbing attack near an illegal settlement outpost, however no verdict has yet been issued against her yet.
As her due date nears, an online campaign calling for her release has picked up pace, with a letter she sent her family adding to pleas for her release.
Anjhar heads home after her release [Salahdeed Aziz]
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VIDEO: Episode Two – Palestinian kids talk. 3 September 2021.
Come with Nadine as she visits sick children and a doctor in Gaza, to learn about the impact of the medical crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Nadine – the youngest journalist in the 16th October Media Group, presents an up-close look at real life in Gaza from the eyes of a child.
To view the first episode of this monthly series, go to: https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2021/08/02/palestinian-kids-talk/
For more 16 October Media reports from Gaza, follow their YouTube channel: #PalestineKidsTalk#16thOctoberGroup
While dozens of truckloads of construction materials were allowed into the besieged enclave, rights group says ‘more expansive opening’ is needed.
![The May offensive on Gaza was marked by its intensity and the targeting of a wide range of civilian structures [File: Fatima Shbair/Getty Images]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1233090594.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
AlJazeera report, 2 September 2021
Dozens of truckloads of construction materials were allowed into the ravaged Gaza Strip, slightly easing a crippling 14-year-old blockade on the beleaguered enclave that was further tightened since an 11-day deadly assault ended last May.
The imports came days after hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza protested along the border fence with Israel to pressure it into lifting its siege and allow the reconstruction of Gaza following its relentless offensive. It also came as Palestinians launched incendiary balloons that sparked multiple fires in Israel’s south.
Two Palestinians – including a 12-year-old boy – died of their wounds last week after being shot by Israeli gunfire, while at least 41 others were wounded. An Israeli soldier also died days after being shot at the fence by a Palestinian.
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Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report, Israel-Palestinian Territory, 2 September 2021
Geneva – The Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip in May 2021 had catastrophic economic effects, especially on the productive sector, and caused direct and indirect losses exceeding half a billion dollars in various sectors, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a report released today.
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Middle East Monitor, 1 September 2021.
13-year-old Omar Abu Al-Neil was shot by Israeli occupation forces a week ago while taking part in unarmed protests at the Gaza fence.
Video reports including interviews with his grieving mother…
Video by Middle East Monitor: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210831-gaza-boy-shot-by-israel-dies-of-his-wounds/
Video report by Middle East Eye, Rakan Abed El Rahman 26 August 2021. https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/deliberate-palestinian-boy-shot-during-gaza-rallies-israeli-army-dies-wounds
Mondoweiss, 31 August 2021
Another Palestinian child was killed in Gaza over the weekend, after he succumbed to wounds he sustained in protests along the Gaza-Israel border a week prior.
The child was identified by Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) as 13-year-old Omar Abu al-Nil, though some reports said he was 12-years-old. Abu al-Nil died on Saturday after he succumbed to gunshot wounds he sustained from Israeli fire on August 21st.
Abu al-Nil, along with hundreds of other Palestinians, protested along the border as part of demonstrations organized by Hamas authorities in Gaza to mark the 52nd anniversary of the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.
Palestinian media reported that dozens of Palestinians were injured with live ammunition during the protests, among them Abu al-Nil, who was shot in the neck. According to DCIP documentation, at least 20 children were injured that day with live ammunition, rubber bullets, and tear gas.
“Omar was standing 70-100 meters (229-328 feet) away from the perimeter fence observing the demonstrations when Israeli forces shot him around 5:30 p.m,” a report from DCIP said.
“He lost consciousness instantly, an eyewitness told DCIP. The bullet entered the front side of Omar’s neck and exited the back side, damaging his windpipe and carotid artery and stopping his heart,” the report continued, adding that he was in the ICU for a week until he succumbed to his wounds.
Omar was the 73rd Palestinian child to be killed by Israel since the start of 2021
Link to original post: https://mondoweiss.net/2021/08/palestinian-teen-dies-during-home-demolition-in-jerusalem-another-killed-during-gaza-protests/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-email-mailpoet
Stories of Palestinian resilience
By Hamza Abu EltarabeshThe Electronic Intifada, 1 September 2021
Everyone was exhausted during the summer of 2014.
I was working for the al-Resala newspaper as Israel bombarded Gaza. We documented one massacre after another.
Many of my colleagues felt they could not continue with their work. Many asked to end their contracts.
We had no desire to eat. When we slept, it seemed that our main goal was to escape reality.
But there was no escape.
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Middle East Monitor, 28 August 2021
Palestinian Anhar Al-Deek, who is nine months pregnant, has appealed for international intervention to release her from Israeli jail so she can have her baby at home.
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[Ed: Some good news from Egypt – the Rafah border crossing will be briefly opened for three days to allow people and goods to enter besieged Gaza. (See Reuters report below)
Unfortunately this sudden announcement today will not allow enough time for the organisers of the Miles of Smiles aid convoy to complete the fit-out of the 25 ambulances in Alexandria and organise transportation and an escort through the volatile Sinai desert by Sunday. The issue of authorisation for a delegation of aid workers to join the convoy also remains unresolved.
But convoy leaders are optimistic that these issues can be sorted, and another opportunity will soon follow to finally allow this important international aid convoy to deliver their urgently needed medical aid to war-ravaged Gaza.
The Gaza Post and the New Arab both report today that Egypt “will resume normal operations in both directions for all travelers starting Sunday.”]
Reuters, Ismailia, Egypt, 25 August 2021
Egypt will open the Rafah crossing on its border with the Gaza Strip in one direction for three days on Thursday to allow stranded Palestinians to return back to the tiny coastal enclave, two security sources said on Wednesday.
Egyptian goods and aid will be allowed into the Gaza Strip too, the sources added.
The Ministry of the Interior of the Hamas government in Gaza said that Egyptian authorities notified it of the opening of the crossing in one direction on Thursday.
Egypt closed the crossing on Monday until further notice, security sources said, saying the closure was for security reasons following an escalation of hostilities on Saturday between Israel and Hamas.
Reporting by Yousry Mohamed in Ismailia and Nidal al-Mughrabi; writing by Mahmoud Mourad; editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler
Link to original: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/egypt-open-rafah-crossing-with-gaza-one-direction-3-days-sources-2021-08-25/
VIDEO REPORT from PressTV 27 August 2021:
Set to close indefinitely starting on Monday (23 August 2021), the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza is the enclave’s only point of entry or exit not controlled by Israel.
[Ed: The international ‘Miles of Smiles’ aid convoy of 25 ambulances is currently in Alexandria, Egypt. The fit-out of these ambulances is nearly complete. Egyptian authorities had previously given permission for the ambulances to enter Gaza, but approval for the MoS deputation to accompany the delivery of the ambulances had not been achieved.
Generously supported by thousands of donors globally, including from New Zealand, the MoS humanitarian convoy appears to be put in limbo by the latest tensions. Miles of Smiles hopes the closure will not last long.]
A member of the Palestinian security forces stands in front of an Egyptian aid truck arriving at the Rafah border crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip to Egypt, on 23 May (AFP/File photo)
By MIDDLE EAST EYE and agencies, 23 August 2021.
Egypt is planning to close the Rafah border crossing with the besieged Gaza Strip indefinitely starting on Monday, a spokesman for the Hamas movement has said.
Iyad al-Bozom, a spokesman for the Gaza interior ministry, announced the move on Sunday without elaborating on what might have prompted the closure.
“We were informed by the Egyptian authorities that the Rafah crossing will be closed tomorrow, Monday, in both directions,” al-Bozom said in a statement.
Security sources in Egypt confirmed the move, saying the crossing would be closed until further notice, AFP reported. The Egyptian sources also failed to offer details regarding why the decision was made.
Egypt had ordered the Rafah crossing – the enclave’s only point of entry or exit not controlled by Israel – to open in May to allow wounded Gazans to be treated in Egyptian hospitals and to deliver aid.
The opening came in the aftermath of Israel’s 11-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which left at least 250 Palestinians, including 63 children, dead. The devastation pushed Egypt to pledge $500m towards Gaza’s reconstruction.
Egypt had brokered the ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas movement, which ended the May hostilities. But nearly three months later, the two million people living in Gaza continue to face tight Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods into the war-torn territory, causing a major economic recession while making reconstruction impossible.
Report: Egypt seeking to avoid renewed escalation between Israel and HamasRead More »
On Saturday, Israel hit the Gaza Strip several times with air strikes after an Israeli soldier was critically injured along the fence between Israel and the enclave. Israeli forces injured more than 40 Palestinians, mostly with live bullets, during Saturday’s events in Gaza.
The recent escalation began earlier in the week, as Hamas fired rockets from Gaza towards Israel on Monday in an apparent response to Israel’s killing of four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank hours earlier.
The next day it was reported that Egyptian authorities had been in contact with Israel and leaders of the Hamas movement in an attempt to prevent renewed attacks.
According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a London-based newspaper, Egypt had invited Israeli officials for “an urgent meeting” in Cairo. Meanwhile, the same authorities urged factions in Gaza to keep calm, pledging to pressure the Israeli side to keep their promises.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is organising another international peace flotilla to challenge Israel's illegal 13 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.
Roger Fowler teaching Kiwi-English at Al Aqsa University, Gaza City.
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.
