Please join us on Saturday for a free film webinar and screening of Gaza Fights for Freedom, a film by US journalist Abby Martin.
Gaza Fights for Freedom – is an inspiring and thought-provoking documentary about Gaza and the Great March of Return.
We will screen the film (1.5hrs long) followed by a short panel discussion with director, Abby Martin, and our partners in Gaza, We Are Not Numbers and David Heap from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
The screening starts at 12:30pm (NZ time) on this Saturday 25 April.
Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to view the film, interact with the film-maker and more! After you register via the link above, you will receive confirmation of your registration and your webinar ID and password. NOTE the NZ start time for the screening is 12:30pm on this Saturday 25 April.
This special international on-line event is co-hosted by Kia Ora Gaza, in cooperation with Palestine solidarity groups overseas, and in support of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition who are due to sail once again (after travel restrictions are lifted) to challenge Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, Palestine.
Film-maker Abby Martin will join us after the screening to discuss the making of her documentary, including a questions and answers period. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it features riveting exclusive footage of demonstrations. The documentary tells the story of Gaza past and present, showing rare archival footage that explains the history never acknowledged by mass media. You hear from victims of the ongoing massacre, including journalists, medics and the family of internationally acclaimed paramedic, Razan al-Najjar.
‘Gaza Fights for Freedom’ – trailer
At its core, ‘Gaza Fights For Freedom’ is a thorough indictment of the Israeli military for war crimes, and a stunning cinematic portrayal of Palestinians’ heroic resistance.
We will also be joined for part of the discussion by a Palestinian participant from one our partner organizations in Gaza We Are Not Numbers, a group of inspiring young Palestinian journalists telling their stories of daily life in the Gaza Strip.
Kia Ora Gaza raises awareness and support for the Freedom Flotilla’s sailing against the blockade of Gaza, with a focus on the children and youth of Gaza. The Freedom Flotilla’s next sailing, called For the Children of Gaza, will once again challenge the blockade, while focusing attention on young people in Gaza, who form more than half of the population in that tiny besieged area. Kia Ora Gaza is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which contributed for a decade to initiatives including the Women’s Boat to Gaza (2016), Solidarity with Gaza Fishers (2017), and Right to a Just Future for Palestine (2018). We welcome all support and endorsements that contribute towards the goals and principles of our campaign to end the blockade and colonial occupation.
We will record the discussion and will post it online, and if you want to watch the film at another time then please rent or buy it.
By Mahmoud Alnaouq, Gaza, We Are Not Numbers, 19 April 2020
In a March 23 appeal, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres (above) urged warring parties across the world “to lay down their weapons in support of the bigger battle against COVID-19: the common enemy that is now threatening all of humankind.” About 70 U.N. member states have signed on to the call to date. However, one country that bills itself as a progressive democracy is blatantly ignoring the U.N. call: Israel.
But is it surprising when a country that is allowed to practice apartheid during “normal” times—and operates one of the world’s few remaining colonialist enterprises—takes advantage of the pandemic to further entrench its occupation?
As of this writing, the number of COVID-19 in infections have reached 2.3 million worldwide, with 159,747 deaths. Israel is struggling as well: Nearly 13,300 of its residents have tested positive and 164 have died—particularly afflicting nursing homes and the ultra-Orthodox, who often refuse to abide by quarantines so they can observe their religious rituals.
Yet despite the health emergency, including 405 COVID-19 cases next door in the West Bank, Israel is continuing unabated in its assaults against Palestinians. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, this is what has occurred since March 5, when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of medical emergency: Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, injured 33, arrested 238 (including 21 minors), uprooted around 700 olive trees, terrorized farmers by firing into Gaza’s agricultural lands 38 times and threatened the lives of fishermen by shooting at them 18 times (while injuring three).
In the West Bank, demolition of homes and other structures also has continued. Between February 21, when Israel confirmed its first case of COVID-19, and April 15, the U.N. reported that the Israeli Civil Administration demolished 69 structures, including 28 homes and seven water and sanitation facilities. Meanwhile, 63 people were forcibly displaced and otherwise affected 417 others.
Consider just one, six-day period:
April 9 (Thursday): Israeli gunboats chased and opened fire at fishing boats sailing within the allowed fishing area (3 nautical miles) off the WGaza coast. Fishermen Obai Adel Mohammed Jarbou’a, 21, and Ahmed Abdul Fattah Ahmed al-Shurafi, 23, were shot with several rubber bullets. They were transferred to the Indonesian Hospital. The same day, Israeli forces stationed along the border fence fired tear gas cannisters at a group of Palestinian farmers.
In the West Bank, south of occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli soldiers raided a number of shops and imposed a fine on the owners, claiming they had violated Israeli government orders related to the coronavirus. When searching the shop owned by Mahmoud Wa’el Abu Tayeh, the soldiers quarreled with and beat him. Dozens of Palestinian youths attempted to protect Abu Tayeh, but the soldiers fired live bullets and sound bombs in the air. They also arrested four of the young men.
April 10: Israeli forces opened fire at Gaza farmland.
April 11: Israeli forces moved into Nahalin village, west of Bethlehem. They raided and searched the home of Mohammed Taha Fannoun, 23, then arrested him. The mayor, Subhi Zaidan, said troops spit on the ground and walls during the raid. Israeli forces also moved into Issaweya, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, raiding and searching the home of Deya’ Ayman Obaid’s, 24. He too was arrested. Around the same time, soldiers stationed at a military checkpoint by the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron’s Old City arrested Mahdi Mohammed Abu Snaina, 19, claiming he disobeyed their orders. He was released after an hour and a half. Later, Israeli forces raided Aqabat Jabr refugee camp, south of Jericho.
April 12: Israeli forces accelerated to live bullets, shooting at Gaza’s agricultural lands sporadically throughout the day, panicking shepherds and farmers. Meanwhile, Israeli gunboats chased and opened fire at fishing boats sailing within the allowed fishing area. The fishermen were forced to flee, fearing for their lives.
April 13: Israeli gunboats chased and opened fire at fishing boats sailing within the allowed fishing area. They also pumped water at the boats, forcing them to flee for their lives. Later, Israeli forces shot live bullets at agricultural land along the border fence.
April 14: Israeli gunboats chased and opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats sailing within the allowed fishing area of the coast of Gaza. Later, in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers raided Qalqilya, searching the homes of Mo’aweya Abdul Latif Ridwan, 25, and Mahmoud Nidal Salim, 24, then arresting them. Then the soldiers and several military vehicles drove into Beit Ummer, north of Hebron. They raided the home of Baha’ Ra’ed Ekhlaiel, 17, and arrested him as well. Their next target was Wajdi Tawfiq al-Jayyousi, 29, who they arrested at a temporary military checkpoint. By the time the day was done, the soldiers had arrested five more: Ameer Azzam Aziz Mar’i, 22, and his brother Abdulah, 24, who werecharged with working land belonging to the state of Israel; and Karam Hashem Zain al-Deen and Mohammed Ayman Taher, both 22.
“The international community must act to ensure Israel abides by international law and joins the global call to end political conflicts to fight the pandemic, rather than escalate the vulnerability of Palestinians under occupation,” says Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Exploiting medical needs for political gain
Nickolay Mladenov, U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, blithely ignored this growing pattern when he praised late last month the coordination between the Israeli and Palestine authorities in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Just a few days later, Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett hinted that needed medical equipment for Gaza might be conditioned on the return of two soldiers who disappeared when they invaded the Strip during the 2014 war.
“I think that we need to enter a broad dialogue about Gaza’s and our humanitarian needs. It would not be right to disconnect these things,” he said.
Indeed, Israel has only allowed minimal medical supplies to reach the Occupied Palestinian Territories, forcing the Gaza government to demand that more ventilators—crucial for caring for people with COVID-19—be included in any deal to release prisoners.
Mladenov also points to Israel’s agreement to allow thousands of Palestinians working in Israel to remain. Yet reports indicate that these workers have been deprived of proper protective equipment. In addition, Israeli authorities dumped Palestinian workers suspected of having the virus at checkpoints. (Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh ordered all workers home March 25.)
In his call, the U.N.’s Guterres said, “End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world. It starts by stopping the fighting everywhere. Now. That is what our human family needs, now more than ever.” It’s time for Israel to stop acting and being treated like it is an exception to any demand for universal human rights and peace.
End the Blockade of Gaza – Join the on-line protest – 7pm tomorrow (Sunday) Join New Zealand’s first on-line protest – complete with speakers, placards and even some chants – this Sunday 19 April at 7pm. The protest will call on the government to speak out demanding Israeli authorities end the blockade of Gaza so Palestinians can bring in the medical supplies, equipment and personnel they need to deal with the looming human catastrophe of Covid 19 spreading in this densely populated area with run down medical services. Three things to do – firstly log-on to the meeting here https://zoom.us/j/98046635207, secondly mute your microphone as outside noise will detract from the speakers and make a small placard to wave in front of your camera. We have several speakers from Gaza including Dr Medhat Abbas, Ministry of Health Gaza, Director General of Primary Health Services.
John Minto National Chair PSNA johnminto@orcon.net.nz
As today marks the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, we would like to remind the world that there are almost 5,000 prisoners in the Israeli jails, including 43 women and 183 children.
COVID-19 – FREE PALESTINIAN PRISONERS, END THE CRIMINAL ISRAEL SEIGE ON GAZA NOW! END THE OCCUPATION
As the threat of a widespread coronavirus outbreak looms large, workers in Gaza’s debilitated health sector fear the besieged enclave won’t have the resources to cope, with hospitals short on ICUs, medical staff and testing kits.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please support the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa’s combined appeal to the NZ Government to call for Israel to end its blockade of Gaza and military occupation of the Palestinian territories and allow Palestinians to access the medical supplies and equipment they need to deal with this [Covid-19 pandemic] crisis. https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2020/03/22/palestine-solida…e-prime-minister/
Ministry of Health video press release about Covid 19 in Gaza Strip, with Dr Medhat Abbas, the General Director of primary care in Gaza. 17 April 2020
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW: Please support the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa’s combined appeal to the NZ Government to call for Israel to end its blockade of Gaza and military occupation of the Palestinian territories and allow Palestinians to access the medical supplies and equipment they need to deal with this [Covid-19 pandemic] crisis. https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2020/03/22/palestine-solida…e-prime-minister/
COVID-19 testing has resumed in the Gaza Strip with kits from the World Health Organization, but testing supplies will soon run out again in the impoverished enclave.
A Palestinian doctor checks a blood sample during a test for the novel coronavirus in Gaza City, Gaza, [Mohammed Talatene/Getty Images]
The Gaza Strip has resumed testing for the coronavirus, a Health Ministry spokesperson said Monday after Israel allowed the delivery of five World Health Organization-purchased testing kits into the impoverished enclave.
“We need to carry out these tests all the time and therefore, we are in need of thousands of testing kits,” said spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra.
Last week, health authorities in the Hamas-run coastal strip said because they had run out of testing kits, hundreds of people waiting on results would have to remain in quarantine. Abdullatif Alhaj, an official in Gaza’s Health Ministry, told Al-Monitor the five new kits were enough to conduct 480 tests, the results of which will take about a week.
Thirteen cases of the novel coronavirus have been diagnosed in Gaza so far. The Health Ministry has converted more than a dozen schools into quarantine centers for those returning to the Gaza Strip.
The Rafah border crossing into Egypt, the main entry and exit point for Gaza, opened Monday to allow the entry of Palestinians stranded abroad for the next four days. Hamas had closed the crossing in mid-March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
An aerial view of the construction site of a field hospital for coronavirus patients in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. [Credit.Suliman Heji/Agence France-Presse-Getty Images]
Experts have warned that an outbreak of COVID-19 in the tiny territory of some 2 million people, many of whom live in crowded refugee camps, would present a massive challenge for Gaza’s health care system. Military conflict with Israel, internal political instability and a 13-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade have left hospitals overburdened and understaffed.
Disinfecting a market in Gaza City, where officials worry about the potential for an explosive outbreak of coronavirus. [Mohammed Saber/EPA, via Shutterstock]
According to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Gaza’s hospitals are equipped with just 70 intensive care unit beds and face a shortage of ventilators and protective equipment
In Israel, where more than 11,000 have tested positive for the virus, material shortages have led to a reduction in testing, Haaretz reports. Amid the testing rate decline, the Health Ministry said on Sunday it would begin locally producing the chemicals needed to conduct the tests.
On Sunday COGAT, the Israeli agency that coordinates Palestinian civil affairs, announced plans to deliver an advanced medical device used for coronavirus detection, known as a PCR machine, to Gaza’s Shifa Hospital.
Palestinian workers load food supplies distributed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) at the Sheikh Redwan neighborhood of Gaza City, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. The United Nations has resumed food deliveries to thousands of impoverished families in the Gaza Strip after a three-week delay caused by fears of the coronavirus. UNRWA, provides staples like flour, rice, oil and canned foods to roughly half of Gaza’s 2 million people. [AP Photo/Adel Hana]
Spitting at someone is a universal insult. In Israel, however, spitting at Palestinians is an entirely different story.
Now that we know that the deadly coronavirus can be transmitted through saliva droplets, Israeli soldiers and illegal Jewish settlers are working extra hard to spit at as many Palestinians, their cars, doorknobs, and so on, as possible.
If this sounds to you too surreal and repugnant, then you might not be as familiar with the particular breed of Israeli colonialism as you may think you are.
In all fairness, Israelis have been spitting at Palestinians well before the World Health Organization (WHO) lecturedus on the elusive nature of the COVID-19 disease and on the critical need to apply ‘social distancing’.
Interestingly, most of this coverage throughout the years has been carried out by Israel’s own media, while receiving little attention in Western mainstream media.
One could easily classify such degrading acts as yet another example of the Israelis’ false sense of superiority over Palestinians. But the deliberate attempt at infecting occupied Palestinians with the coronavirus is beneath contempt, even for a settler-colonial regime.
Two particular elements in this story require a pause:
A third grade photo of Palestine Chronicle editor Ramzy Baroud in the UN refugee school in Gaza. (Photo: Supplied)
By Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle, 6 April 2020
Call it a ‘quarantine’, a ‘shelter-in-place’, a ‘lockdown’ or a ‘curfew’, we Palestinians have experienced them all, though not at all voluntarily.
Personally, the first 23 years of my life were lived in virtual ‘lockdown’. My father’s ‘quarantine’ was experienced much earlier, as did his father’s ‘shelter-in-place’ before him. They both died and were buried in Gaza’s cemeteries without ever experiencing true freedom outside of their refugee camp in Gaza.
Currently in Gaza, the quarantine has a different name. We call it ‘siege’, also known as ‘blockade’.
In fact, all of Palestine has been in a state of ‘lockdown’ since the late 1940s when Israel became a state and the Palestinian homeland was erased by Zionist colonialists with the support of their Western benefactors.
That lockdown intensified in 1967 when Israel, now a powerful state with a large army and strong allies, occupied the remaining parts of Palestine – East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Under this lockdown, the Palestinian freedom of movement was curtailed.
to the extent that Palestinians required permits from the Israeli military to leave the Occupied Territories or to return home, to move about from one town to the other, and, at times, to cross a single Israeli military checkpoint or a fortified wall.
In Palestine, we don’t call our imprisonment a lockdown, but a ‘military occupation’ and ‘apartheid’.
By Issam Adwan, Gaza, We Are Not Numbers, 10 April 2020
Life is often stranger than fiction: The Gaza Strip, which Israel has blockaded for the last 14 years and attacked in four brutal wars, is providing its occupier with protective masks and other life-saving equipment.
Closed for many years, the Unipal clothing factory reopened in 2015, but was able to keep about 100 workers busy for five to seven days a month. Now, the Unipal factory in central Gaza City is all “hustle and bustle” once again. Sounds of sewing machines fill the building for 12 hours every day, with about 700 employees laboring to protect lives—ironically, mostly in Israel.
Crisis for some, business opportunity for others
At the time of this writing, Israel had identified 9,404 infections and 73 deaths from COVID-19, while the Palestinian Authority confirmed 263 persons who tested positive for the virus, including 12 in Gaza, and one death. Globally, the numbers are 1.5 million and 88,500, respectively.
Photo credit: Ahmad Hasaballah/IMAGESLIVE
Protective face masks and clothing are in shortage everywhere, with the Strip one of the few areas of the world not yet heavily impacted. Thus, Israel is allowing raw material to enter Gaza for production of masks and isolation suits.
Gaza factory Unipal now is producing thousands of masks and other medical clothing items daily and is exporting them through Erez Crossing. To date, says Unipal owner Bashir Al-Bawab, about 20,000 masks and 2,000 isolation suits have been sold to Israel. The factory produces two types of masks: simple, disposable masks that cover the face and chin that can be used for a few hours, and higher-quality masks (similar to the N95 respirator masks needed by healthcare workers).
Al-Bawab told Al Jazeera, “For now, Israel has not placed restrictions on the import of raw materials for this or the exports.” He says the company can make 10,000 masks a day and has so far produced a total of 150,000 masks and 5,000 gowns/isolation suits. Unipal currently has contracts to make 1 million masks and 50,000 suits by the end of April.
However, there are challenges. Al-Bawab says, “We get only 8 to 12 hours of electricity per day, and sometimes the blackout happens during our work hours.” As a result, Unipal is forced to pay for private generators. However, that comes at great cost. Government-supplied electricity costs 0.6 shekels per kilowatt, compared to as high as 4 shekels per kw when a private generator is used.
“We have no other option but to pay a large percent of our earnings to cover the costs of electricity,” he says. “If we stopped doing that, our work would collapse and hundreds of people would lose their jobs. And that’s the only income they have to feed their families.”
Gaza’s clothing legacy
The manufacture of clothing used to be a major industry in Gaza. However, the General Union of Sewing, Spinning and Weaving Workers in Gaza reports that more than 100 sewing, spinning and weaving factories have closed since Israel imposed its blockade in 2007—depriving more than 20,000 employees of jobs. The closures were primarily due to the shortage and high costs of fuel and electricity and the low quality of fabrics allowed into the Strip.
Union president Mohamed Hamdan says that between 2009 and 2014, quality fabrics were smuggled into Gaza via tunnels from Egypt, allowing some of the sewing factories to reopen. However, then Abdal Fattah el-Sisi, a former army chief, took power in Egypt and the tunnels were largely destroyed.
Dependence on China
Meanwhile imports from China—on which Gaza depended—stopped almost completely after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. These primarily included fabrics, phones and accessories, personal computers, games, clothes and cosmetics.
Rajaei Al-Kahlout, director of a transport and customs clearance company in the Gaza Strip, estimates that imports from China stopped completely at the beginning of February. Al-Kahlout told Al-Jazeera Arabic Network that more than 90% of the goods in the Gaza Strip are imported from China.
According to Hamdan, clothing factories in Gaza were reduced to operating at about 20% of their capacity as a result. However, Gaza’s large, “captive” pool of low-wage workers who are not yet heavily affected by the disease attracted Israeli companies, who began to pressure the government to allow large quantities of fabrics to enter Gaza so the factories there can make the medical supplies needed by the deteriorating health sector in Israel.
“Without the high demand of the Israeli market, Israel would have never allowed us to continue working,” notes one of the Gaza workers.
Using humble means, a refugee worker sterilizes the streets in Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza. (Photo: Fawzi Mahmoud, The Palestine Chronicle)
By Palestine Chronicle Staff, 10 April 2020
‘Gaza is out of Coronavirus test kits’ was the ominous, but expected announcement made by Palestinian Health Officials in the impoverished Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
This means that the besieged Palestinian enclave has zero capacity to detect, let alone cure COVID-19 patients.
“Testing at our central laboratory has stopped, after coronavirus test kits completely ran out,” Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.
According to Qidra, who communicated the news to reporters in Gaza, the dozens of samples that have already been isolated for future testing will no longer be examined by the Strip’s medical experts.
Worse, this effectively means that hundreds of Gazans who are already under quarantine in the various makeshift facilities throughout the region will have to remain in permanent isolation.
Qidra echoed earlier calls made by Gaza’s health authorities to “provide Gaza with testing kits as well as 100 ventilators and 140 beds for intensive care units,” Reuters news agency reported.
“We have repeatedly warned that this terrifying scenario was going to happen,” said Palestinian journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud. “Without immediate and sustainable intervention from the international community, impoverished Gaza could become a hotbed for COVID-19 for years to come.”
“What is needed is a fundamental and structural change that would emancipate the Palestinian healthcare system from the horrific impact of the Israeli occupation and the Israeli government’s policies of perpetual siege and politically-imposed ‘quarantines’ – also known as apartheid,” Baroud added.
Gaza, with a population of 2 million, has been under a hermetic Israeli siege since 2006, when the Palestinian group Hamas won the democratic legislative elections in occupied Palestine.
Since then, Israel has carried out numerous bombing campaigns and several major wars, which resulted in the death of thousands of people.
Ed: The latest news received from Gaza is that there are currently 13 people with coronavirus under strict quarantine.
In Gaza, people are bracing for a coronavirus outbreak as 12 cases of infection (in quarantine) have been confirmed in the small enclave.
Everything is shut, including vital food aid centres, and people are being asked to stay at home.
Institute for Middle East Understanding(IMEU) also reports today: Israel is refusing to end or ease its blockade on occupied Gaza, even as Palestinians struggle to prepare for a pandemic with scarce supplies and a crumbling, severely underfunded healthcare system.
RIMPAC: The world’s largest international maritime exercise is scheduled to take place in the Pacific in June. These hugely extravagant war preparations impact on the Palestinian struggle, as RIMPAC 2020 is due to go ahead in the face of a impassioned call for an immediate global ceasefire by the United Nations General Secretary and the Pope, as well as the leaders of 53 countries, and for state forces to instead seriously focus on uniting to combat the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. Besieged Gaza, one of the most densely populated, under-resourced and impoverished areas in the world, would be one of the hardest hit if Covid-19 gets transmitted there, due to Israel’s illegal 13-year blockade and constant military attacks. Israel is a participant in RIMPAC and continues to conduct military attacks on Gaza, and refuses to lift it’s blockade, even since Covid-19 cases have recently appeared in the tiny enclave. The signatories to this letter (below) say that New Zealand should withdraw from RIMPAC and set a positive example for world peace and for combined efforts to eradicate Covid-19.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Parliament Wellington
8 April 2020
Tēnā koe Prime Minister,
We are writing to urge New Zealand’s withdrawal of participation and support of RIMPAC, the world’s largest, US-led military exercise due to begin in June.
RIMPAC includes over 26,000 troops from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Republic of Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. Prior to the global spread of Covid-19, New Zealand had planned to send in excess of 300 troops.
Given the global Covid-19 pandemic, it is irresponsible to send New Zealand soldiers to interact with local communities in Hawai’i and to interact with soldiers from dozens of other nations. There is every probability that soldiers will transmit the virus, exacerbating the spread and imposing heavy tolls on vulnerable communities.
At present the nuclear-powered US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is evacuating 2700 troops, due to Covid-19 infections, onto the island of Guam, where soldiers will be housed in hotels or other private facilities putting further strain on the community where there have already been three deaths from Covid-19. On Thursday, two sailors assigned to separate San Diego-based military vessels tested positive for the disease. This is just a prelude to the spread of Covid-19 within armed forces across the globe.
As important as the Covid-19 issue is to RIMPAC this year, it is not the only reason why New Zealand should not be there. RIMPAC is primarily intended to cement US military domination of the Pacific. As a participant, New Zealand is contributing to this military showcase of imperial violence and ecological destruction in places such as Hawai’i and Guam.
We know the threats brought by militarisation are many, one being the increase in sex trafficking of indigenous children in Hawai’i. It is just one of the aspects of RIMPAC that repeats the reckless spread of disease used to erase indigenous communities by military voyages in the Pacific over generations.
The New Zealand public never agreed to be a part of the US-led alliance, and our values stand at odds with the abuse of our Pacific neighbours caused by RIMPAC. In 2018, RIMPAC used humanitarian aid and disaster relief to cloak these exercises in a veil of legitimacy. This language seeks to obscure the very real death and destruction caused by these same militaries across the globe.
In light of the appeal from the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, endorsed by the Pope, for a global ceasefire and to instead focus on combating Covid-19, it is especially inappropriate for the NZDF to participate in such extravagant war preparations as RIMPAC 2020.
New Zealand has the chance now to be a global partner and a model for other countries by choosing not to participate. New Zealand should completely withdraw from RIMPAC, this year and every year.
We look forward to your confirmation that New Zealand will not be participating in RIMPAC 2020.
Thank you.
Ngā mihi mahana,
Signatories:
Roger Fowler QSM Chair, Mangere East Community Centre Auckland
Dr. Emalani Case Lecturer in Pacific Studies Victoria University of Wellington
Helena Cook Programme Director Pasifika Pathways Victoria University of Wellington
Anevili Te Ara Whatu
Dr Lorena Gibson Senior Lecturer in Cultural Anthropology Victoria University of Wellington
Palestinian employees at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, transport food rations to refugee families in Deir al-Balah, the central Gaza Strip, on 31 March. [Ashraf Amra APA]
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, media release, 7 April 2020
The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa has renewed its urgent appeal to the government to act in the face of a distress call issued from Gaza’s Ministry of Health to the world to provide laboratory testing materials for Coronaviruus which will run out this evening (today NZ time) at Gaza’s central laboratory.
More than two weeks ago a wide range of New Zealand organisations and prominent individuals wrote to the Prime Minister urging New Zealand to speak out and call on Israel to abandon its brutal blockade of Gaza to allow Palestinians to fight coronavirus.
The letter and key signatories are here: https://www.psna.nz/petition and include New Zealander of the year and President of Equity New Zealand Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Catholic Cardinal John Dew, Islamic Women’s Council Spokesperson Anjum Rahman and Anglican Bishop of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia Philip Richardson.
In part the letter says – The more than two million people living in the blockaded Gaza strip in Palestine are being left to face the Coronavirus with hopelessly inadequate medical facilities and extreme overcrowding – conditions in which the virus will spread rapidly and devastatingly unless action is taken now. We urge you to put the welfare of Palestinians alongside concern for New Zealanders and speak out calling for Israel to end its blockade of Gaza and military occupation of the Palestinian territories and allow Palestinians to access the medical supplies and equipment they need to deal with this crisis.
Meanwhile US senators have spoken out calling on the Trump administration to pressure Israel and 31 members of the US congress have done the same in an unprecedented show of support for Palestinians
But not New Zealand, so far.
To date the government (both the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs) has been silent when silence is complicity with a looming human catastrophe.
Gaza has been blockaded for 12 years by Israel and Palestinians are unable to get the critical medical supplies they need. The United Nations is warning of frightening consequences of coronavirus taking hold in Gaza.
Under International law Israel is responsible for health services in GAZA but the Israeli government will not act without intense international pressure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Palestinians are “an existential threat” to Israel and is on record as saying “the only way to treat Palestinians is to beat them up, not once but repeatedly, beat them up until it’s unbearable”.
New Zealand speaking out is the right thing to do – both from a humanitarian point of view and because what happens in Gaza with coronavirus affects all of us. The health of humanity is now a collective responsibility.
Some of the key voices New Zealand should listen to are:
Dr Medhat Abbas Ministry of Health Gaza Director General of Primary Health Services 0097259-940-3547
Ashraf Al Qudrah Spokesman for Ministry of Health in Gaza Mobile +972 59-791-8440 Dr. Abdullatif Al-Hajj Director-General of International Cooperation and a spokesman for Ministry of Health Gaza. Mobile +972599604002
Julie Webb-Pullman (Julie has lived and worked in Gaza since 2008 – she is currently visiting New Zealand) jwebbp@gmail.com
Marilyn Garson Member of Sh’ma Koleinu – Alternative Jewish Voices (Marilyn worked in Gaza from 2011 to 2015) margarson@gmail.com (Call John Minto for Marilyn’s phone number)
Na, John Minto National Chair Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa johnminto@orcon.net.nz
UPDATE from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, 5 April 2020
Kia ora koutou. This morning I sent this update to the organisational signatories of our letter to the Prime Minister.
To the signatories of the letter to the Prime Minister calling for New Zealand to speak out against the Israeli blockade of Gaza in the face of the looming humanitarian catastrophe of Covid 19.
Kia ora koutou, UPDATE at 5 April 2020
It is two weeks since we sent the letter to the Prime Minister but we have had no formal response. We have been told the letter was forwarded to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Winston Peters, to reply but we have heard nothing despite writing to his office to ask when we will receive a response.
Meanwhile Gaza is poised on the edge of a human catastrophe. While nine cases of Covid 19 are contained for the moment in quarantine, two cases have shown up which appear to be community transmission. If so, then a human catastrophe will unfold. Gaza has 40 ICU beds and 60 ventilators for two million people crammed in one of the most densely populated places on earth.
Meanwhile US senators have spoken out calling on the Trump administration to pressure Israel
“Given the spread of the coronavirus in the West Bank and Gaza, the extreme vulnerability of the health system in Gaza, and the continued withholding of U.S. aid to the Palestinian people, we are concerned that the Administration is failing to take every reasonable step to help combat this public health emergency in the Palestinian Territories,” the senators said in their letter.
Also 31 members of the US congress have done the same in an unprecedented show of support for Palestinians
Despite this, New Zealand has so far failed to speak out.
We will be trying to raise this issue once more with the mainstream media in the next few days to help build pressure on the government to speak out. It is possible media may contact signatories to the letter for comment.
Lastly here is an excellent summary of the situation in Gaza. Danya Qato, an epidemiologist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, interviewed Salam Khashan, a physician at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Palestine on March 28, 2020, about the decimated Palestinian health care system and what this means for Gaza as COVID-19 looms.
“Of course, I’d like to paint a positive, hopeful picture full of life, but for Gaza—with the blockade and with the general global sentiment that is indifferent to the suffering due to the blockade—I think the situation is going to stay the same and likely get worse with the increase in population and the deterioration of our health care system over time. We don’t have the capacity to rehabilitate and rebuild our infrastructure. If we want to advance and improve the health care system we need the border crossings to open to allow entry of essential medical equipment and supplies, allow us to build new hospitals and new centers. The subject of our health is woven into the reality of the blockade. At the same time that the population size is increasing, the health system is fatigued and getting worse. We hope the situation at least stays the same and doesn’t get worse.”
John Minto National Chair Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
Israeli forces entered the Palestinian village of Khirbet Ibziq to confiscate materials designated to build a clinic to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak. (Photo: File)
Palestine Chronicle, 29 March 2020
Israeli forces on Thursday entered a Palestinian village in the northern Jordan Valley to confiscate materials designated to build a clinic to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Officials from the Israeli Civil Administration came to the village of Khirbet Ibziq with a military escort, bulldozer and two trucks equipped with cranes on Thursday morning to demolish community clinic and emergency housing, according to Israeli human rights monitor Btselem.
The group reported that Israeli officials seized poles and sheeting designated to form eight tents, two for a field clinic, two for a mosque, and four for emergency housing for people evacuated from their homes.
A power generator, as well as supplies of sand, cement and cinder blocks to be used for the floor of the tents, were also confiscated.
Btselem said the villagers were building a first-aid community initiative to deal with the Covid-19 crisis which has paralyzed large parts of the southern West Bank. There are 91 confirmed cases so far in the Palestinian territories, with one death reported on Wednesday
The Jordan Valley covers an area of about 1.6 million dunams (1,600 km2) and constitutes around 30 percent of the total occupied West Bank. According to a previous government report, the Valley includes about 280,000 dunams of arable land, 50,000 of which are still used by Palestinians and 27,000 by illegal Jewish settlers
The majority of the Jordan Valley is under full Israeli military control, despite being within the West Bank. Meanwhile, at least 44 percent of the total land in the Jordan Valley has been reappropriated by Israeli forces for military purposes and training exercises.
(Palestine Chronicle, Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, Social Media)
Despite coronavirus pandemic, the Israeli occupation forces continue its crimes against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.
Days Of Palestine reporter said that the Israeli warplanes attacked a Palestinian resistance post in the north of the besieged Gaza Strip [earlier today].
The Ministry of Health reported no injures. While the whole world is busy trying fight the coronavirus pandemic, Israeli occupation continues its crimes against Palestinians as today a Palestinian was injured by Israeli occupation forces during the weekly protest against Israeli settlement construction, which takes place every week in the village of Kafr Qaddum in the occupied West Bank.
In light of global health restrictions on travel and public gatherings, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has decided to delay our planned departure towards Gaza.
We had initially planned to visit several southern European ports in April and May of this year, and head for Gaza at the end of May, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara and other Freedom Flotilla vessels in 2010, that killed 10 peace activists. We will of course stand with our IHH partners as they commemorate those deaths and press for justice at the International Criminal Court.
With the help of supporters like you, we recently purchased a boat for this year’s voyage. We will still need more donations to help equip this boat with vital safety, communications and other materials, as well as to buy fuel and other supplies for our next challenge to the inhuman and illegal blockade of Gaza.
Visit our updated website for updates about this boat and our preparations over the coming months. We will decide when our next voyage will begin based on ongoing reviews of public health conditions worldwide and in the ports we are planning to visit.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created new challenges for our Coalition members in each of our countries, especially as our grassroots civil society organizations depend on public support. We also know that conditions in Gaza are immeasurably more difficult, and that Palestinians there are particularly vulnerable now that the first Covid-19 cases have arrived there. The crowded conditions in Gaza, with a healthcare system which is already stretched, and extremely limited access to outside medical aid, all mean that we must keep the Palestinian people of Gaza in mind as we adapt to new realities worldwide.
We join organizations like the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza in calling on the international community and the World Health Organization to pressure Israeli authorities to allow entry of medical supplies and equipment necessary for Corona virus medical examination. While access to international medical aid will be vital to surviving the current crisis, we know that the only lasting peaceful solution for Gaza will be a permanent end to the 13 year blockade, with full freedom of movement for all Palestinians.
Ultimately, we must hold our governments responsible: their political complicity allows Israel to maintain the blockade of Gaza and prevent Palestinian refugees from exercising their right of return to their homeland. Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated: please do what you can to stay healthy and engaged with solidarity campaigns. Together we can help end the blockade.
In solidarity,
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition
[Kia Ora Gaza is a member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition]
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 […]
