4 yr old boy dies from wounds sustained in Gaza protests

4 year old Ahmad Abu Abed, critically injured by Israeli sniper-fire, rushed to hospital by medics last Friday [Photo: Khaled Omar, Xinhua]

Xinhua News, Gaza, 12 December, 2018

A four-year-old Palestinian boy on Tuesday died from the wounds sustained during last Friday’s anti-Israel protests in southern Gaza Strip, medics said.

Ashraf al Qedra, spokesman for the Health Ministry in Gaza, said in a press statement that Ahmad Abu Abed died in a hospital in Gaza.

Abed was critically wounded last Friday by Israeli soldiers’ gunfire during the protests and clashes in eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel.

So far, the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israel since the beginning of the Great March of Return launched on March 30 has reached 240, while 25,000 others were wounded, Qedra said.

Leaders of the march, including the Islamic Hamas movement that controls the coastal Palestinian enclave, have vowed that the protests will last until achieving the goal of ending an Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007.

Ahmad Abed, 4 years and 8 months old, died on Tuesday from injuries sustained the previous Friday during protests near Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Palestinian child fatalities due to Israeli fire have spiked in 2018, with more than 50 killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – one death per week on average.

Right of Return is central to Palestinian struggle

VIDEO by War on Want: The Palestinian Right of Return

Palestinians in Gaza are gathering to demand their collective rights, including their Right of Return.  It is crucial that we learn about, talk about, and campaign for the right of return for refugees, as a key element of the struggle for justice and human rights for Palestinians and for all.

VIDEO: A special appeal from Dr Ramzy Baroud

VIDEO APPEAL: Dr Ramzy Baroud on the Palestine Chronicle: Our Mission is Unique

Dear Friends and Readers, If civil society can possibly have its own media, the Palestine Chronicle is that media.

We are entirely, and we mean ENTIRELY funded by our readers. Thus, only accountable to common sense, intellectual integrity and the principles that unite all of our readers, regardless of their religious affiliation, political leanings or geographic boundaries. (Video edit by Emanuele Nuccilli)

Please stand with Palestine by supporting independent Palestinian media. Kia Ora Gaza looks to the Palestine Chronicle and other credible sources for consistently reliable news and views on Palestine, and to relay the voices of the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

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Over 100 celebrate picnic in the park for Palestine

Wellington Palestine, 11 December, 2018

On Sunday afternoon of the 9 December, Wellington Palestine organised a Family Fun Day Out in Waitangi Park. It was a bright blue summer’s day and I felt truly privileged to attend with over 100 other Wellingtonians: young and old, friends and family. Dabke music flooded the park, Palestinian flags fluttered in the breeze and several stalls offered delicious Egyptian and Palestinian food, arts and crafts, as well as henna and face painting.

BDS news: Pink Floyd tribute band pulls out of Israel shows

Waters said he was ‘aghast’ that a Pink Floyd cover band had scheduled gigs in Israel [Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo/]

AlJazeera, 10 December 2018

A British Pink Floyd cover band has scrapped three of its concerts in Israel after Roger Waters, co-founder of the legendary rock band, called for their cancellation.

2018 Human Rights Award to Freedom Flotilla Coalition

The Al Awda was the lead boat in the 2018 international flotilla to break Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza

Freedom Flotilla Coalition, 11 December 2018

This evening, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition will receive the 2018 International Human Rights Award from the municipality of Siero (Asturias, Spain), marking Human Rights Day and the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights #UDHR70.

Rumbo a Gaza (Página Oficial) has invited representatives from our international partners Ship to Gaza-Sweden and İHH İnsani Yardım Vakfı to accept the award.

The prize is awarded annually by the municipality of Siero to the association which has worked most over the year to defend Human Rights in the world. A jury composed of representatives of the political caucuses on council and two member of the Local Solidarity Council decided to award the prize this year to the Flotilla, nominated by the Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe.
There were three other nominations: el Movimiento Popular Hirak del Rif (Marrocco), the Gdeim Izik (Dignity) camp, in the outskirts of El Aaiún, the migrant support collective Caminando Fronteras, Walking borders, and Helena Maleno Garzón, human rights defender.

The words of António Gutérres, General Secretary of the United Nations underlining that Gaza “will be uninhabitable by 2020”, unless measures are taken to end the blockade and improve infrastructure, were among the reasons considered by the jury in giving the honour to the Flotilla, which has been sailing since 2010 to break the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Poster of the municipality of #Siero @AytoSiero in Spain which awards their annual #HumanRights prize to the #FreedomFlotilla coalition, marking Human Rights Day & the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights #UDHR70 #StandUp4HumanRights https://www.facebook.com/FreedomFlotillaCoalition/photos/a.452937554737922/2275267425838250/ 

Wellington forum on the Israeli Apartheid State

Public social justice forum hosted by Wellington Workers Educational Association and Wellington Palestine

Tomorrow evening Tuesday 11 December from 6pm – 7:30pm

VENUE: St John’s In The City Wellington

Corner of Willis and Dixon Streets, Wellington.

Free entry.

TOPIC: The Israeli Apartheid State

The last of Wellington WEA social justice forums for 2018 is given to activists from Wellington Palestine. They will argue that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people means that they can be considered to be an apartheid state.

The forum will be led by Nadia Abu-Shanab and Neil Ballantyne from Wellington Palestine. The forum will include an activity to help plan a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activity in Wellington City.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1105178742991627/

Another weekend in Gaza… 33 injured in protests

Medics evacuate a wounded Palestinian during Gaza’s March of Return. (Photo: Abdallah Aljamal, PC)

Palestine Chronicle, 8 December, 2018

At least 33 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces’ live fire during the 37th Friday of “The Great March of Return” protests alongside the eastern fence separating Israel from the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces fired live, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear-gas bombs against Palestinian protesters.

“The Great March of Return” protests were launched on March 30 by thousands of Palestinian civilians in besieged Gaza, which has suffered from a decade-long Israeli blockade.

..Israeli forces open fire at Gazan fishermen, shepherds

Ma’an News Agency, 9 December 2018

Israeli naval forces opened fire towards Palestinian fishermen, west of Rafah City and Khan Younis City, in the southern besieged Gaza Strip, on Sunday.

‘My Name is Rachel Corrie’ – at Pumphouse, Takapuna

“A stunning performance – not to be missed.”

Dates and times

Fri 7th Dec, 7:30pm
Sat 8th Dec, 2:00pm (followed by discussion)
Sat 8th Dec, 7:30pm
Sun 9th Dec, 6:00pm

Venue: The Coal Bunker Studio, The Pumphouse, 2a Manurere Ave, off Killarney St, Takapuna.

Get your tickets here:
bit.ly/RachelCorriePumpHouse

VIDEO: Embers Collective, 6 November 2018.

Director Alexandra Whitham & actor Phoebe Borwick talk about My Name is Rachel Corrie.

See review: https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2018/12/04/my-name-is-rachel-corrie-review/

Court rules against Gaza father of 3 girls killed by IDF

VIDEO: Gaza father on phone with Israeli TV as tank shells kill his 3 daughters: Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish’s heart-wrenching reaction in the aftermath of Israeli shelling which killed his 3 daughters during Operation Cast Lead was broadcast live on Israeli TV through Channel 10 reporter Shlomi Eldar’s phone.

Palestine Chronicle, 5 December 2018

An Israeli court yesterday ruled against a Palestinian from Gaza whose three daughters were killed by the Israeli army during its 2008 war on the Strip, denying Israel’s responsibility for their deaths.

Izzeldin Abuelaish, a 63-year-old doctor from Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip, lost three daughters and a niece during Israel’s 2008-2009 war on the besieged enclave. His story was made famous after he discovered his children had been killed while speaking to an Israeli TV channel, with his suffering broadcast live across the country and later shared widely around the world. [See above video]

New Palestinian flotilla protests Israeli blockade

PressTV video report by Ashraf Shannon, Gaza, 4 December 2018

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have launched a new freedom flotilla in a symbolic move to call attention to their suffering under the Israeli siege. This is the 18th week in a row the flotilla of boats is launched.

My Name is Rachel Corrie – REVIEW

[Benny Joy Photography]

‘Timeout London described the London season of My Name is Rachel Corrie as a thing of “extraordinary power… funny, passionate, bristling with idealism and luminously intelligent.” This production does justice and more to all of these claims. Phoebe Borwick’s performance is one of the best I’ve seen, and she does a truly impeccable job of bringing Rachel to life.’

My Name is Rachel Corrie plays 1st – 5th Dec at Garnet Station Tiny Theatre, Westmere; 7th- 9th Dec at The Pumphouse Coalbunker Theatre, Takapuna, Auckland.

Review by Camilla Walker, TheatreScenes, 3 December 2018

Looking Inward for Outward Action

“My name is Rachel Corrie”, states the energetic, impassioned, idealistic, empathetic, effervescent and blisteringly awake woman on Garnet Station’s Tiny Theatre stage. Character and actor alike are bright stars who collide to ensure we will not forget Rachel. Phoebe Borwick is a tour de force as the solo performer in the title role of Shape Shift and Embers Collective’s electric presentation of My Name Is Rachel Corrie.

Rachel Corrie was a determined young woman who in 2003 travelled to Israel and Palestine to serve as a peace activist with the International Solidarity Movement. Her bright light was tragically extinguished in conflict there the very same year, but a vivid portrait of her work and indelible spirit remains in the writings she left behind. This show is a compilation of Rachel’s original writings, and it conjures her grit, empathy and acute sense of the sanctity of life – with searing beauty and unabashed honesty – as it delivers her intimate perspective on one of the world’s most violent and protracted conflicts.

Edited by Katherine Viner and the late great Alan Rickman, the show unleashes the raw and dauntless passion for compassion that Rachel embodied in her work towards peace and human rights. This passion has been tangibly carried forward in the production, with 10% of ticket sales going towards Amnesty International NZ. At the forefront of this sensitive and thoughtful production are the questions that burned in Rachel’s heart: how do we find our path in life? What impact do our actions have on others? What do we owe to our fellow humans?

Timeout London described the London season of My Name is Rachel Corrie as a thing of “extraordinary power… funny, passionate, bristling with idealism and luminously intelligent.” This production does justice and more to all of these claims. Phoebe Borwick’s performance is one of the best I’ve seen, and she does a truly impeccable job of bringing Rachel to life. The challenges presented by working in a very small space are fully embraced, and the intimacy of the venue innovatively exploited. Production designer Poppy Serano, costume designer Joan James, and sound and lighting designer Anna Bennington have collaborated to create a deeply evocative close-up on Rachel’s life – the design sees Borwick literally (and metaphorically) wrestle her way out of the clutter of an American adolescence as her political priorities emerge, learn to be inventive with limited resources and navigate her inner and outer realities with striking authenticity. Clearly inspired directly by Rachel’s spirit, this show creates a very real incarnation of its heroine. Rachel talks to her audience and to her own family as though they were the whole world, and to the world as though it was sharing her bedroom.

‘My Name Is Rachel Corrie’ – play opens tomorrow

“Extraordinary power…Funny, passionate, bristling with idealism and luminously intelligent.” Time Out London

Shape Shift and Embers Collective proudly present My Name Is Rachel Corrie, an award-winning one-woman play constructed from the diary entries and letters of American activist, Rachel Corrie.

This production is being staged at two Auckland venues!

Garnet Station Tiny Theatre, 85 Garnet Rd, Westmere, Auckland 1022. From 1st – 5th December

The Pumphouse Theatre – Coal Bunker, 2a Manurere Ave, off Killarney St, Takapuna. From 7th – 9th December

Tickets ($15 – $25) here:
Garnet Station: http://bit.ly/RachelCorrieGarnetStation
The PumpHouse: http://bit.ly/RachelCorriePumpHouse

Link to Facebook events page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1861009580678431/?active_tab=about

Rachel was born in Olympia, Washington, in 1979. She had a wicked sense of humour and an unquenchable social conscience.

In January 2003, she travelled to the Gaza Strip as a member of the International Solidarity Movement. In March that year she was killed by an Israeli military bulldozer whilst peacefully protesting the demolition of a Palestinian home.

She was just 23 years old.

What made a young woman leave her comfortable existence to fight for the rights of strangers in a war zone?

Poetic, entertaining, and timely; this intimate coming-of-age story chronicles the journey of a complex, real-life heroine. Through Rachel’s words we are invited to confront the universal questions: How do we find our path in life? What impact do our actions have on others? and How can one individual change the world for the better?

Written by Rachel Corrie
Co-edited by actor/ director Alan Rickman, and journalist Katharine Viner
Directed by Alexandra Whitham
Performed by Phoebe Borwick

10% of proceeds donated to Amnesty International NZ

[Image from Kia Ora Gaza’s facebook group page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/KiaOraGaza/?ref=bookmarks ]

Israel’s era of easy wars is over

Retaliatory attack: Hamas hits Israeli military bus with a guided-missile [PressTV 12 Nov 2018]. ‘As Israel pounded Gaza with a massive bombing campaign, Gazan fighters filmed a rare attack using anti-tank missiles that targeted an Israeli military bus on the Israeli side of the fence. Hours later, a truce — facilitated by Egypt — was announced, to the relief of Netanyahu and the jubilation of Palestinians, who marched in their thousands celebrating the end of fighting. Considering the disproportionate military power and desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, it makes perfect sense that Palestinians perceived the outcome as a “victory.”’

By Ramzy Baroud, Arab News, 28 November 2018

When the Israeli army carried out a limited operation in the besieged Gaza Strip on November 12, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu certainly did not anticipate that this military adventure would destabilize his government and threaten the very survival of his right-wing coalition.

But it did; and far more than the multiple police investigations into various corruption cases involving Netanyahu, his family and his closest aides. Thanks to the botched operation in Gaza, which led to the killing of seven Palestinians and an Israeli army commander, Netanyahu’s coalition has begun to disintegrate, merely needing a final push for it to collapse completely.

Meet Nadia and Justine…

VIDEO: Re: News, Published 22 November 2018

Who would have thought penning an open letter to singing superstar Lorde would end in a $19,000 court case?

Meet Nadia and Justine, who stirred up global news and Lorde’s tour dates using only their words.

Also see earlier post: https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2018/11/16/special-christchurch-event/

Who’s next?

Thousands of Palestinians face eviction after Khan al-Ahmar demolition

A Palestinian man argues with Israeli troops during protest against Israel’s plan to demolish the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank.[Reuters]. More than 8,000 Palestinian residents in the West Bank could see their homes destroyed by Israeli authorities, according to the UN.

By Zena Tahhan, Ramallah, Middle East Eye, 22 November 2018

The Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar appears as little more than a collection of makeshift tin shacks and tents, nestled on a West Bank hill to the east of Jerusalem.

But during the past year its Palestinian residents have battled the Israeli authorities both through the courts and on the ground to prevent it from being demolished.

At time of writing, the security cabinet has decided to postpone demolition of the entire village – and forcible eviction of its some 200 residents – until further notice, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed it will go ahead.

On Monday, Netanyahu, who is facing political pressure at home, told a Likud meeting: “Khan al Ahmar will be evicted very soon, I shall not tell you when. We are preparing for it.”

The village has been under threat since 2009, although the government only renewed its commitment to demolish it a little more than a year ago.

But the plans for Khan al-Ahmar are not arbitrary: at least 46 other Palestinian farming and shepherding communities, housing more than 8,000 people, are at high-risk of demolition and forcible transfer, according to the United Nations.

Hope against history for Gaza ceasefire

Palestinians celebrate the resignation of Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, outside the home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. [Ashraf AmraAPA images]

By Omar Karmi, The Electronic Intifada, 22 November 2018

Last week’s violence in and around Gaza came at a seemingly odd moment.

Negotiations for a longer term indirect ceasefire agreement between Palestinian factions in Gaza led by Hamas and Israel, mediated by Egypt, the UN and (to some degree) Qatar, seemed to be bearing fruit.

Qatari cash was delivered to Gaza to pay government employees. A leaked draft agreement indicated that Israel would eventually ease the blockade of Gaza by as much as 70 percent to allow crucial infrastructure projects to start and ease movement. And Egyptian officials began monitoring demonstrations held weekly as part of the Great March of Return protests.

And then Israel decided to send a special operations team into Gaza, blowing all this promise into smithereens. A cessation of hostilities has been agreed – sulkingly, apparently, in Israel, where many politicians clearly believe that more bloodshed is the popular option – but it remains to be seen what it will mean for chances to lift or ease the blockade on Gaza, without which there will be no enduring ceasefire.

Video report from the Palestine Media Forum

VIDEO: TRT World Now, 21 November 2018

Istanbul hosted the Palestine International Forum for media and communication earlier this week, where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi had been scheduled to speak. Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.

Some 800 international journalists and students from over 60 countries around the globe, took part in the Forum to create awareness of the Palestinian cause in the news.

TRT World‘s Ahmet Alioglu spoke with Ramzy Baroud, US/Palestinian journalist and media consultant.

Gaza: AP reporter shot and wounded while on duty 

Injured AP photographer, Rashed Rashid [Photo: Walid Mahmoud]

Democracy Now, 20 November 2018

In the Gaza Strip, an Associated Press camera operator was shot in the leg and wounded Monday while covering a protest near Israel’s heavily militarized separation barrier. Witnesses report 47-year-old Rashed Rashid was nearly 2,000 feet away from the fence when he was shot by an Israeli soldier. Rashid suffered multiple bone fractures above the ankle and will need surgery. Rashid was filming from an elevated area, looking down on the protest and wearing a blue helmet and a vest with the word ”PRESS” clearly written on it.

Ed: Meanwhile several Palestinian and international journalists suffered severe tear-gas suffocation as Israeli forces suppressed a peaceful march organized by Palestinian journalists at the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem in the central occupied West Bank, on Saturday afternoon. [Ma’an News Agency]

Two Palestinian journalists in the besieged Gaza Strip, Ahmad Abu Hussein and Yasser Murtaja were killed by Israeli forces earlier this year, as they were covering protests wearing their internationally-recognized journalists’ uniform. Many others have been injured.

The tide is turning: Israel is losing on two war fronts

A young Palestinian girl takes part in the March of Return. (Photo: ActiveStills.org)

By Ramzy Baroud, Middle East Monitor, 19 November, 2018

The botched Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip on 12 November is delineating Tel Aviv’s failure to utilise its army as a tool to achieve Palestinian political concessions.

Now that Palestinian popular resistance has gone global through the exponential rise and growing success of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement, the Israeli government is fighting two desperate wars.

Following the Gaza attack, Palestinians responded by showering the southern Israeli border with rockets and carried out a precise operation targeting an Israeli army bus. As Palestinians marched in celebration of pushing the Israeli army out of their besieged enclave, the fragile political order in Israel – long-managed by right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – was quickly unravelling.

Two days after the Israeli attack on Gaza, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman quit in protest of Netanyahu’s ‘surrender’ to the Palestinian resistance. Israeli leaders are in a precarious situation. Untamed violence comes at a price of international condemnation and a Palestinian response that is bolder and more strategic every time. However, failing to teach Gaza its proverbial ‘lesson’ is viewed as an act of surrender by opportunistic Israeli politicians.

READ: Spanish city cancels Israeli women’s waterpolo match

While Israel is experiencing such limitations on the traditional battlefield, which it once completely dominated, its war against the global BDS movement is surely a lost battle. Israel has a poor track record in confronting civil society-based mobilisation.