Auckland solidarity rally for free Palestine

Hamilton solidarity rally also on this Saturday from 1:30pm at the end of Wairere Drive and Cambridge Road Hillcrest ( same place as previous Rallies )

Palestine Human Rights Campaign Waikato. https://fb.me/e/1rZgKYdIP

Sheikh Jarrah: A Third Palestinian Intifada Is Now a Stone’s Throw Away

Israeli police officers take a Palestinian into custody during a demonstration at Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood after Israeli government’s plan to force some Palestinian families out of their homes in East Jerusalem on May 04, 2021. [Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf, Anadolu Images]

By YOUSEF ALJAMAL Politics Today, 11 May 2021

Israel might have the power now to suppress the Palestinians, shoot them in the eye, fabricate false claims about Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood but its intellectuals, unlike its politicians, know well that Israel can’t sustain the system of apartheid for long.

Save Sheikh Jarrah: Wellington action

Wellington Palestine On Saturday the 15th of May – Nakba Day – Wellington Palestine will be rallying on Cuba Street from 11.00am till 12.00 noon to protest the illegal eviction of Palestinian families from the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem, and the violent suppression of Palestinian protesters by Israeli police.

You can help by joining us on Cuba Street, writing to your MPcondemning these illegal acts and protesting on social media with the hashtag #SaveSheikhJarra.

Wellington Palestine have sent the following letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. Please feel free to use it as a template to write to your own MP.

NZ Gov’t urged to speak out against Israel’s ethnic cleansing & brutality towards protesting Palestinians

Israeli police confront Palestinians in the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid protests over the threatened eviction of several Palestinian families from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in the nearby Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, in Jerusalem’s Old City, May 7, 2021. [REUTERS/Ammar Awad]

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa statement, 8 May 2021

The Palestine Solidarity Movement Aotearoa has written to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta tonight urging the government to speak out against the imminent ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the Occupied East Jerusalem area of Sheikh Jarrah and the Israeli state violence being used against Palestinians protesting against these racist, apartheid policies.

Israeli warplanes bomb two locations in Gaza

Israeli airstrike on Gaza. (Photo: Supplied)

Palestine Chronicle, 10 May 2021

Israeli warplanes last night carried out two strikes that hit targets in the centre of the Gaza Strip, resulting in damages to property but no casualties, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Solidarity stand from NZ Greens

Green Party MP and spokesperson on Human Rights, Golriz Ghahraman addressed a Free Palestine rally in Auckland in 2018 [photo: Peter Mathewson/Kia Ora Gaza]

Golriz Ghahraman, NZ Green Party MP and spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, Twitter statement, 10 May 2021

The @NZGreens stand in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of #SheikhJarrah.

Aotearoa can no longer stand by as the illegal, violent, forced displacement of Palestinians by Israeli forces and settlers continues.

Alternative Jewish Voices (NZ) calls for an end to Israel’s impunity

Israeli police fire tear gas at worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on 7 May 2021 in East Jerusalem [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency]

Sh’ma Koleinu – Alternative Jewish Voices (NZ) statement 10 May 2021

When a person holding a stone confronts soldiers who are armed with rifles, ask yourself why they are willing to do that.

On May 8, 80,000 Palestinians came to stand in front of rifles and pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque.  They overwhelmed the rifles with their numbers and spirit.  We stand with them.

We deplore Israel’s violation of sacred space during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. We are horrified by the mob violence and the paramilitary police who enable it. This is not a ‘clash’ between two opinions, this is occupation and apartheid at work. 

We reject Israel’s campaign to dispossess the Palestinians, including current efforts to evict families from Sheikh Jarrah. The New York Timesnotes, “A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said Friday that the evictions ‘would violate Israel’s obligations under international law’ prohibiting the forced transfer of residents from occupied territory…. [Aryeh] King, the deputy mayor, said ‘of course’ [the evictions] are part of a wider strategy of installing ‘layers of Jews’ throughout East Jerusalem.”

We say, stop the evictions, and get the Israeli settlers out of occupied East Jerusalem.  This is ethnic cleansing.

Israel’s refusal to vaccinate the Palestinians whose land it occupies in Gaza and the West Bank has been condemned by UN Rapporteurs as “discriminatory and unlawful.” Covid is rampant and we plead with our governments to provide the lifesaving assistance that Israel is withholding. 

We call for an end to Israel’s impunity.  These are crimes.  We must begin to respond to them as crimes. 

We hold the Palestinian protestors in our thoughts.

 — International Jewish Collective for Justice in Palestine

Alternative Jewish Voices makes this statement as a member of the IJCJP. 

To our fellow NZ Jews we ask, is this the Israel you had in mind? 

If not, where is your protest? Why are you silent??

Palestinians resist eviction attempts at Sheikh Jarrah

Latest video reports:

Methodists divest from Caterpillar citing Palestinian evictions

Israeli bulldozers expand the West Bank Jewish-only settlement of Nofei Nehemia in the Salfit District on private Palestinian land, which was expropriated by Israel and declared “state” (public) land, according to the owners. [ActiveStills/Ahmad Al-Bazz 13 Aug 2020]

By Sabeel-Kairos News and Investing for Peace: Morally Responsible Investment 6 May 2021

The Methodist Church has sold its shares in the US-based company Caterpillar, citing the continued use of its equipment to destroy peoples’ homes as part of the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, and its poor record in Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance.

Israeli forces shoot, kill 16-year-old Palestinian boy

16-year-old Said Yousef Mohammad Odeh was shot dead by Israeli forces with live ammunition on May 5, 2021. (Photo courtesy of the Odeh family)

Defence for Children: Palestine, Ramallah, 6 May, 2021

Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy Wednesday night, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.

Said Yousef Mohammad Odeh, 16, from Odala, a village located south of Nablus, was shot dead by Israeli forces with live ammunition around 9 p.m. near the entrance to the village. Israeli forces reportedly confronted Palestinian youth at the village entrance prior to the shooting. Said was not involved in the confrontations at the time he was shot, according to information collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine.

Besieged Gaza faces May Day with massive unemployment (Photo gallery)

The Palestine Chronicle toured Gaza on May 1 to provide a glimpse of work conditions in the besieged Strip. (Photo: Fawzi Mahmoud, The Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff, 2 May 2021

Palestine, like many countries around the world, commemorated International Workers’ Day on Saturday, May 1. But for a country that is overwhelmed with a persisting military occupation, thus exploitation and unemployment of large sectors of its workforce, the occasion was bittersweet.

While many statements were issued in appreciation of the contribution of Palestinian workers, hundreds of thousands of these workers are unemployed at the moment, due, in part, to the Israeli occupation, and also to the COVID-19 lockdown. 

No other place, in Palestine, however, was hit as hard as the besieged Gaza Strip. The small enclave has been under the draconian economic blockade, imposed largely by the Israeli army but also by Egypt.

The Turkish Anadolu news agency, citing Palestinian sources, reported Friday that more than 300,000 workers living in the Gaza Strip are unemployed because of the ongoing Israeli blockade and coronavirus measures.

“The international community ignores the humanitarian situation of more than 2 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip,” the head of the Popular Committee to End Gaza’s Siege, Jamal al-Hudari, said in a statement issued on the occasion of the International Workers’ Day.

Al-Hudari called for international assistance through trade unions for workers in Palestine, especially the Gaza Strip.

Australian military scraps Israeli technology

VIDEO REPORT: by TRT World, 7 May 2021

The Australian military as decided to stop using Israeli defence technology giant Elbit. An officer has cited “concerns that the Israelis are backdooring the system for information.”

The Palestinian solidarity movements in Australia and New Zealand have long been pushing for the dumping of Elbit as part of the international BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) campaign opposing Apartheid Israel.

BDS Australia describes the move as ‘a huge development’

The Australian Army is now moving to scrap its Battle Management System (BMS) produced by Elbit Systems Australia (https://www.abc.net.au/…/tension-israeli…/100105866).

This is a huge development given the years of investment by the defense department (under Christopher Pyne) – the Battle Management Systems contract was worth $1.4b (https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/…/minister-defence…)

[BDS Australia says] The Victorian government must reassess it’s partnership with Elbit in the creation of a weapons research centre in Melbourne which will ‘research, develop and commercialise defence technologies.’ https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/global-innovator-elbit…

Australian army ending relationship with Israeli security company Elbit (ABC News)

What is the stance of the NZ government?

Palestinians celebrate the removal of Israeli barriers at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate

Middle East Eye, 27 April 2021

VIDEO: Palestinians celebrated the removal of Israeli barriers from Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate in the occupied Old City, after days of unrest caused by Israeli restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa Mosque

Israel’s closure of Gaza sea to Palestinian fishermen decried as ‘collective punishment’

This is not the first time Israel restricts Gaza’s fishing zone [AFP/Getty]

By The NewArab, 27 April 2021

Israel, said on Monday it is blocking Gaza waters to fishermen after rocket fire from the blockaded Palestinian enclave, an action that has been condemned as “collective punishment” on the local population.

Jerusalem Uprising Rages after Israeli Far-Right March (LIVE BLOG)

Palestinians in Gaza take to the streets in solidarity with the Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem. (Photo: Fawzi Mahmoud, The Palestine Chronicle)

By Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle, 25 April 2021

The Jerusalem uprising, as it has been dubbed (in Arabic intifada al-Quds), raged last night in occupied Jerusalem for the 11th night in a row in protest against Israeli police and settlers’ provocations and assaults on the city’s Palestinian residents, and expanded to reach the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Fri, April 23, 7 p.m. (GMT+3)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for “calm on all sides” after several nights of unrest in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

The prime minister also warned that Israel remains “prepared for all scenarios”.

‘Death to Arabs’: Chaos erupts in Jerusalem after far-right march

Israeli forces tear gas Palestinian counter-protesters gathered at Damascus Gate after a week of anti-Palestinian attacks

Members of Israeli security forces deploy amid clashes with protesters in Jerusalem on 22 April (AFP)

By MEE staff, Middle East Eye, 23 April 2021

Hundreds of far-right and anti-Palestinian activists took to the streets in Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday chanting “Death to Arabs” as they protested through the city centre.

The march, led by Lehava, a far-right Israeli group, was organised as a call to “restore Jewish dignity” in Jerusalem.  

It came after a week of increased violent assaults against Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Old City.

Palestinian Political Prisoners: untold stories

Palestinian people gather to mark the Palestinian Prisoners Day, to draw attention to circumstances Palestinian prisoners face in Israeli jails, in Nablus, West Bank on April 17, 2019. [Photo by Nedal Eshtayah. Anadolu Agency.]

BY YOUSEF ALJAMAL, Politics Today, 17 April 2021

Mahmoud Hijazi was the first Palestinian political prisoner to be freed from an Israeli jail on April 17, 1971. On March 22, 2021, he passed away in the West Bank city of Ramallah aged 85. Since his release and deportation to Lebanon at the time, April 17 has been marked as the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. Despite its immense importance to Palestinians and the fact that more than a million Palestinians have been arrested by Israel since 1967, the issue of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails has not won enough global publicity, and is not adequately reflected in Palestinian politics.

Israel’s shadow war with Iran is an obstacle to peace

APCentrifuge machines in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.

OPINION by Donna Miles-Mojab, Dominion Post & The Press, 19 April 2021

The murky world of sabotage, assassinations and espionage might appear exciting in James Bond movies but, in real life, they are a source of escalating violence and perpetual shadow wars.

Take the recent attack at Natanz nuclear facility in Iran, where an Israeli sabotage caused a complete blackout and extensive damage to key facilities.

Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, vowed Iran would “take revenge” for what he said was “nuclear terrorism”.

Report: Israeli army prepares bank of targets in Gaza

Israeli artillery strike sites in the besieged Gaza Strip. (Photo: via Twitter)

Palestine Chronicle, 18 April 2021

The Israeli army has revealed a plan including simultaneous attacks on hundreds of targets in Gaza based on a prepared bank of targets, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Friday.

Palestine’s stolen water resources

An alarming video documentary on the violation of the right of clean water for Palestinians under Israeli colonial occupation. Video presented by Osama Nazzel for Palestinian Broadcast International, 15 April 2021.