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In another few days, I will sail on one of the Free Gaza movement boats from Cyprus to Gaza. The mission is to break the Israeli siege, an absolutely illegal siege which has plunged a million and a half Palestinians into wretched conditions: imprisoned in their own homes, exposed to extreme military violence, deprived of the basic necessities of life, stripped of their most fundamental human rights and dignity. The siege violates the most fundamental principle of international law: the inadmissibility of harming civilian populations. Our voyage also exposes Israel’s attempt to absolve itself of responsibility for what is happening in Gaza. Israel’s claim that there is no Occupation, or that the Occupation ended with “disengagement,” is patently false. Occupation is defined in international law as having effective control over a territory. If Israel intercepts our boats, it is clear that it is the Occupying Power exercising effective control over Gaza. Nor has the siege anything to do with “security.” Like other elements of the Occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where Israel has also besieged cities, towns, villages and whole regions, the siege on Gaza is fundamentally political. It is intended to isolate the democratically-elected government of Palestine and break its power to resist Israeli attempts to impose an apartheid regime over the entire country. (more…)

On June 11, eight year old Hadeel Al-Sumairi was killed when her home in south eastern Gaza was shelled by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Less than a week earlier, eight year old Aya Hamdan Al-Najjar was killed by a rocket fired from an IOF helicopter. These two young girls had been living just a few kilometers apart, in villages in south eastern Gaza, near the border with Israel. Their violent deaths highlight both the continual dangers facing families who live anywhere near the Israeli border – and the grim and rising child death toll in the Gaza Strip. Sixty two children have been killed by IOF in the Gaza Strip this year - almost double the number of children who were killed by the IOF in Gaza during the whole of last year.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is still investigating the circumstances of Hadeel Al-Sumairi’s death. Her uncle, Amin Suleiman Ahmad Al-Sumairi, has given PCHR an eye-witness account of the IOF invasion of Al-Qarara village near Khan Yunis, where Hadeel was killed. “I was at home when I heard a huge explosion. I ran from my house and saw fire coming from the home of my brother, Abdul Karim” he told PCHR. “As I ran towards the house I could smell burning flesh.” The IOF had just fired two tank shells into Al-Qarara village, and both shells struck the house where Abdul Karim Al-Sumairi and his family lived. His daughter, Hadeel, was killed instantly, her small body dismembered. (more…)

In the Gaza Strip, there are a vast number of inspiring individuals prepared to put their personal reputation (and even their own physical well-being) on the line for matters of conviction. Dr. Eyad Sarraj is one of the more prominent of these figures and I was fortunate enough to speak with him on several occasions during my time in the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Sarraj, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, is the founder of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme—a groundbreaking NGO in Gaza catering to the masses of Palestinians suffering from emotional trauma, especially victims of torture. Sarraj is well known for his outspoken criticism of the Israeli occupation and of corruption in the Palestinian Authority.

In the excerpts that follow, I discuss the state of Palestinian democracy with Dr. Sarraj. (more…)

When I reflect upon the upcoming U.S. Presidential election, I tend not to place so much faith in the rhetoric of change. Despite prevailing, popular attitudes here in Europe, I find it difficult to imagine anything but the most marginal change in domestic policy should Obama become President (and virtually zero change elsewhere).

We may count ourselves lucky, however, that whether it is McCain or Obama that takes the reins in November, our eight-year affair with Bush is almost at an end. No matter which “wing” from the corporatist cesspool of American government becomes President, at least we will be spared the inane remarks, the cheesy laughter, the genuine stupidity and brass arrogance of the Bush years. Perhaps I am alone, but I always felt the crimes prosecuted by the Bush junta were always compounded by the profound ignorance expressed by some of its more senior members. (more…)

AMY GOODMAN: [Five years ago] on March 19th, 2003, the US began bombing Baghdad. The invasion was on. Six weeks later, President Bush stood under a banner reading “Mission Accomplished” and declared an end to major military combat operations in Iraq. Now, half a decade later, the war continues with no end in sight.

In a speech today to mark the fifth anniversary, the President, who leaves office in less than eleven months, will again give an upbeat assessment of the war. According to released excerpts of his address, Bush will insist the so-called troop surge in Iraq has opened the door to a “major strategic victory in the broader war on terror.”

But by most accounts, the war has been an unmitigated disaster. Up to one million Iraqis have been killed, with no estimates on the number of those wounded. Up to 2.5 million people are estimated to be displaced inside Iraq, and more than two million have fled to neighboring countries. Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 US soldiers have been killed and tens of thousands more wounded. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates the overall cost of this war will be $3 trillion. (more…)

AMY GOODMAN: [Tonight] the US invasion and occupation of Iraq will enter its sixth year. On Monday, at least seventy-two Iraqis were killed in violence around Iraq, including forty-two Shiite worshippers in a suicide bombing in Karbala. Two US troops were also killed, bringing the US death toll to 3,990, ten deaths away from the 4,000 mark.

If the Bush administration’s drive to invade Iraq was aided by corporate media cheerleading, the five-year mark today is being met with near-silence by the corporate media. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the US occupation of Iraq has accounted for just three percent of news stories in television, print and online media so far this year. On cable news networks, it’s accounted for just one percent.

That silence was on display this past weekend when the corporate media largely ignored a monumental gathering just outside the nation’s capital. For four days, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and active-duty soldiers convened at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland for Winter Soldier, an eyewitness indictment of atrocities committed by US troops during the ongoing occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, the event was modeled after the historic 1971 Winter Soldier hearings that took place in Detroit held during the Vietnam War. (more…)

AMY GOODMAN: Iraq and Afghanistan veterans gathered in Maryland this past weekend to testify at Winter Soldier, an eyewitness indictment of atrocities committed by US troops during the ongoing occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, the event was modeled after the historic 1971 Winter Soldier hearings held during the Vietnam War.

Over the weekend, war veterans spoke of free-fire zones, the shootings and beatings of innocent civilians, racism at the highest levels of the military, sexual harassment and assault within the military, and the torturing of prisoners.

Although Winter Soldier was held just outside the nation’s capital, it was almost entirely ignored by the American corporate media. A search on the Lexis database found that no major television network or cable news network even mentioned Winter Soldier over the weekend, neither did the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times or most other major newspapers in the country. The editors of the Washington Post chose to cover Winter Soldier but placed the article in the local section. (more…)

The U.S. Congress sent President Bush a bill that would have banned the CIA from using ‘harsh interrogation methods,’ which most of the world sees as torture and which even the military is forbidden to use. Said Mr. Bush: “The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror.”

It is not surprising that the irony of that statement is lost on Mr. Bush. Terrorist tools that he allows the Central Intelligence Agency to use are a ‘valuable tool’ in the war against terror.

The spineless Democratic Congressional leadership duly weighed in with meaningless rhetoric, proving once again that talk is cheap, and it can’t get much cheaper than the pronouncements of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In vowing to override the presidential veto, a near impossibility considering the numbers and therefore an easy target for taking the moral high ground, Ms. Pelosi said: “In the final analysis, our ability to lead the world will depend not only on our military might, but on our moral authority.” (more…)

The image of the 21st century woman is confident, prosperous, glowing with health and beauty.

But for many of the 3.3 billion female occupants of our planet, the perks of the cyber age never arrived. As International Women’s Day is celebrated today, they continue to feel the age-old lash of violence, repression, isolation, enforced ignorance and discrimination.

“These things are universal,” says Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of New York-based Equality Now. “There is not one single country where women can feel absolutely safe.”

In spite of real progress in women’s rights around the globe – better laws, political participation, education and income – the bedrock problems that have dogged women for centuries remain. Even in wealthy countries, there are pockets of private pain where women are unprotected and under attack. (more…)

Reflecting on the massive Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip this past week, which left over 120 dead and scores wounded, I can only sit back in frustration at Israel’s sheer blindness and cruelty. Even as the U.S. House of Representatives arrogantly passes a resolution “strongly defending how Israel has repelled rocket attacks” and even as both Democratic contenders for the Presidential candidacy openly approve of Israel’s aggression by blaming Hamas, Human Rights groups including Amnesty International, Oxfam and Save the Children have issued a report highlighting the dire situation in Gaza—the “worst humanitarian crisis since the 1967 war”. (more…)

IOF Launches Fifth Day of Open War on the Gaza Strip
Death Toll Rises to 101, with Hundreds of Injuries

[The Palestinian Center for Human Rights] condemns in the strongest possible terms the continuing IOF open war on the civilians of the Gaza Strip. Air and land bombardments have killed 101 Palestinians since 27 February, and injured hundreds of others. The Centre also denounces continuing international silence over the carnage which has effectively encouraged the IOF to commit additional war crimes against Palestinian civilians and their property. The Centre warns that deaths and injuries will undoubtedly rise if the IOF operation continues, and reiterates its demand that the international community act immediately and effectively to put an end to these crimes, and to protect the lives of Palestinian civilians.

During the last 24 hours, another 39 Palestinians were killed throughout the Gaza Strip. Twenty-two of them were unarmed civilians, including 9 children. Six of the victims were from one family, including 3 women and 3 men who were killed in an air strike in Gaza City. The death toll since 27 February currently stands at 101 victims, including 49 unarmed civilians. The civilians who have been killed include 25 children and 5 women. In addition, more than 250 other people have been injured, mostly unarmed civilians. IOF have also destroyed houses and property across the Gaza Strip. (more…)

Israel issued a warning to Hamas on Sunday that the organization would be responsible for any injuries or deaths resulting from a mass demonstration against the blockade of Gaza held yesterday.

If necessary, IDF artillery will fire warning shots at open areas, and should the protestors continue their advance, troops will employ riot dispersal methods.

As a last resort, snipers will open fire at protestors legs. The orders were approved by senior General Staff officers as well as Defense Minister Ehud Barak. <<< more

Of course, it is ridiculous to claim that Hamas would be responsible for the killing of innocent civilians authorized by the Israeli military, but the logic of the blockade encourages these inanities. We are also meant to accept that Hamas is actually responsible for the international economic boycott on Gaza as well as for the severe shortage of food products and power resources. (more…)

Tightened Siege on Gaza Reaches Unprecedented Levels and Endangers the Lives of 1.5 Million Civilians
 
Israel has imposed a severe siege on the Gaza Strip since Hamas’ winning of the parliamentary elections in January, 2006. Furthermore, Israel has tightened this siege following Hamas military domination over the Gaza Strip in June, 2007 when Israel declared that the Gaza Strip is an enemy entity.
 
Two weeks ago, Israel has tightened the siege and embargo imposed on the Gaza Strip reaching unprecedented levels. This action included various sanctions such as: cut-off fuel and electricity provisions to Gaza as well as all other energy resources. Israel has also imposed strict closure on all Gaza Strip border crossings, preventing movement of civilians including patients’ for medical services. Such procedures led to entire shut-down of the sole energy producing station in the Gaza Strip, two days ago. As a consequence, Gaza is drowning in darkness whereas electricity from all homes, industrial, and health facilities in the Gaza Strip was cut-off entirely. (more…)

Of all the possible methods of dealing with Hamas, Israel’s slow and calculated suffocation of Gaza is perhaps the most sickening. Ostensibly aimed at weakening the Islamist government’s power in Gaza, the current fuel cuts constitute a bold-faced form of collective punishment—a way of destroying Gaza without having to pull a trigger.

Gaza’s fuel supplies come entirely from Israel… Naturally, Israel does not allow Gaza to seek such supplies elsewhere, which is why the recent pontificatons from Israeli politicians about ’supplying energy to the enemy’ are so disingenuous. Nevertheless, the closure of Gaza’s borders has blocked vital fuel supplies and has pushed Gaza’s only power-plant to the brink of closure, threatening the functionality of everything from the (already) limited medical capabilities, to the distribution of food by aid-workers. (more…)

Writing about the serious flaws in American justice a la the “war on terror” is not especially easy. Where does one begin? From Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib to the secret CIA detention facilities scattered across Eastern Europe - there is surely an abundance of outraging cases of Orwellian malfeasance.

One case in particular has been on my mind recently… In Iraq, an Associated Press (AP) photographer name Bilal Hussein has been in U.S. custody for the last 19 months. During this time, no charges were issued and only now has the United States even raised the issue of his possible prosecution for alleged links to terrorism. The evidence for these links, of course, is secret… and even the possible charges have yet to be clearly defined. (more…)

The inanity of authoritarian movements can never be underestimated. The horrific shooting by Hamas of unarmed demonstrators is only the latest example of the Islamist group’s unwillingness or inability to control its forces in the Gaza Strip.

Squandering the general support they enjoyed here by forcibly seizing control of the Strip last June, many Gazans now regard Hamas as an unhinged group of fanatics more concerned with rooting out political opposition than in combating the Israeli occupation. (more…)

The Palestine Chronicle published an essay I wrote upon arrival in Gaza. It was syndicated by the International Middle East Media Center here.
*   *   *
Khalil laughs and shakes head as we dine along the seaside terrace of Gaza’s luxurious al-Deira Hotel.

“This is not Gaza,” he says, dismissively gesturing towards the hotel’s maroon exterior and the tables of dining European journalists. “The real Gaza is just down the street, where 1,000 people are living on a single street block.” He chuckles ironically and slaps me on the back.

“And here, we can’t even drink a whiskey to drown our sorrows!”

I had only been in Gaza for two days, yet I immediately appreciated the locals’ uniquely fatalistic humor. Perhaps it’s almost a reflection on Gaza’s manifest resilience and remarkable ability to shrug off the tragedy of an environment in perpetual crisis. (more…)

Another rejected op-ed. I sent it last week—before Israel cut power.

*   *   * 
In the tragically habitual nature of relations between Israel and the Gaza Strip, tensions have heightened once more, overshadowing U.S. plans for the Annapolis peace summit slated for next month. Several weeks ago, Israel labeled Gaza an “enemy entity”, causing businesses to cease operations in Gaza and (some believe) preparing the political climate for an all-out invasion of the Strip.

Everyone in Gaza is jittery, convinced that Israel is planning something bigger than the air strikes and shallow incursions, which already occur here on a daily basis. Restaurants have been closing early, teenagers stay at home instead of meeting friends—even the usually chaotic jumble of activity on Gaza’s Omar al-Mukhtar St. has calmed, the incessant honks of car horns diminished to a fraction of their former intensity. Indeed, severe retaliation for the fire of rockets by Palestinian militant groups seems imminent; the only question is what kind of retaliation does Israel have in store for the 1.4 million residents here? (more…)

It was shocking for me to discover that there are over 54,000 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank even more trapped and isolated than most Palestinians. They are the citizens lacking a hawiyye (national identification card), which were issued by Israel under the provisions of the Oslo Accords. When the second Intifada broke out, the cards stopped coming and many people who had come to Gaza visiting friends and family have been trapped here ever since. Most disturbing of all, they do not technically exist.

For the past 15 weeks some of these people in Gaza have been staging sit-ins in front of the Palestinian Legislative Council in an attempt to raise awareness about their plight and demand political action. To their credit, I have noticed an increase in the media coverage of this issue, which is an important step. Here is an article by Laila El-Haddad about the situation and another on Yahoo News. Some of the stories are terribly tragic… I spoke with many of these people people today at the sit-in. Here is just one of the short interviews I took… (more…)

I wrote this last month and submitted it to the New York Times, LA Times and San Francisco Chronicle among others—all without a positive reply.

* * *

Easing into his new position as Special Envoy to the Middle-East, Tony Blair has wasted no time in pursuing a break in the ever-moribund peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has assured Blair that Israel will provide “all necessary assistance” to facilitate his mission and Blair himself is already busily at work—holding daily meetings with various community leaders in hopes of establishing a foundation for dialog. There is only one problem: Israel is consciously blocking Mr. Blair’s efforts by preventing a senior human rights lawyer in the Gaza Strip from traveling to Jerusalem.

Raji Sourani, the director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), a well-respected independent NGO based in Gaza City, was blocked from attending a meeting with Mr. Blair last week. Why? Well no specific reason was actually provided. Such restrictions have become a matter of routine in Gaza, but the political undertones in this case are especially reprehensible. (more…)