PSC Election Statement - Israel Must Recognise Palestine’s Right to Exist
heather on March 29th, 2006Israel Must Recognise Palestine’s Right to Exist
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign notes that a government has been elected in Israel which:
Refuses to acknowledge Palestine’s right to exist
Proclaims its intention to unilaterally declare borders based on land theft and ethnic cleansing
Proclaims its intention to maintain an illegal occupation
Promotes the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine
Disclaims all responsibility for the historic injustice perpetrated on the Palestinian people when the State of Israel was established
Steals and annexes large tracts of Palestinian land
Promotes targeted assassinations
Destroys Palestinian homes and livelihoods
Consistently violates international law and ignores UN resolutions
We demand that sanctions be applied by the international community including freezing of all Israel?s assets and a total arms and trade embargo until Israel recognises the right of Palestine to exist and begins to abide by international human rights law including the Geneva Convention and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Only the implementation of all or any of the above sanctions would end Israel?s impunity and demonstrate that the attitude and actions of the Israeli government are deplored by our own government and the international community.
As Gideon Levy pointed out in Haaretz (March 26):
‘An absolute majority of MKs in the next Knesset do not believe in peace, nor do they even want it - just like their voters - and worse than that, don’t regard Palestinians as equal human beings. Racism has never had so many open supporters. It’s the real hit of this election campaign.
The new government of Israel has been elected on exactly the same platform as its 17 predecessors since 1948, as exemplified by David Ben Gurion’s statement:
‘We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.’
– David Ben-Gurion, May 1948, to the General Staff. From Ben-Gurion, A Biography, by Michael Ben-Zohar, Delacorte, New York 1978.
Web: www.palestinecampaign.org
Exclusive Download (MP3): The Lonesome Death of Rachel Corrie
heather on March 28th, 2006Rachel Corrie went to Gaza to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinians, whose voice is seldom heard in her country, the US. That she herself should be silenced - first by an Israeli bulldozer, next by a New York theatre cancelling a play created from her words - is a testimony to the power of her message. This song was written on a plane on March 20 and recorded at Big Sky Recordings, Ann Arbor, Michigan on March 22. The tune is borrowed from Bob Dylan.
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1741197,00.html
WFP Warns Food Running Out in Blockaded Gaza Strip
heather on March 23rd, 2006Warning that food is running out in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations World Food Programme today appealed to the Israeli authorities to allow consignments to reach the tens of thousands of people there who depend on outside assistance to survive.
At the same time, WFP called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to take all necessary steps to ensure the security of WFP staff and other humanitarian aid workers inside the occupied Palestinian territory so they can work unimpeded.
The agency said the extended closures of the Karni commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza have had a devastating effect on food availability in the Palestinian enclave. Stocks of wheat flour are already critically low and some fear there will soon be no basic commodities in Gaza.
“Our food supplies have almost run out and the bakeries are also empty. People are now having to rely on their own stocks, which will last only a few days at best,” said William Hart, WFP Deputy Country Director in the area. “The situation is critical, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable, who are dependent on our food aid.”
WFP provides food aid to some 430,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including 160,000 in the Gaza Strip. Even before Hamas won parliamentary elections in January, WFP’s operations were 65 per cent under-funded. Since then, the Israeli blockade, combined with deteriorating security in the occupied Palestinian territory, have reduced food supplies to a trickle.
Mr. Hart called on all sides to allow humanitarian operations to continue unimpeded. “This means lifting the blockade on aid convoys and commercial food deliveries, as well as ensuring safe conditions in the West Bank and Gaza for our international and national staff to work normally.”
As a result of the blockade, flour mills have been unable to provide 8,000 metric tons of wheat contracted earlier by WFP. Wheat flour makes up 80 per cent of the basic diet in Gaza. Other commodities, including sugar, baby formula and dairy products, are also in short supply, causing food prices to soar more than 30 per cent since January.
WFP has so far received only 37 per cent of the $81 million required for its two-year operation to provide food aid for non-refugee Palestinians up to 31 August 2007.
Link to article here
Hamas Leader Accuses West of Hypocrisy over Threat to Withhold Cash
heather on March 8th, 2006· Palestinians talk of double standards on Israeli plans
· Leaders complain that peace process is a trap
Chris McGreal in Gaza City
The Guardian
The new Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, has accused the US and Europe of hypocrisy in threatening to slash aid to the occupied territories unless Hamas meets western demands, while failing to hold Israel to a similar standard.
Hamas leaders describe pressure to recognise Israel, respect accords and renounce violence as “cheap blackmail” aimed at corralling them into a “peace process” they describe as a trap. Mr Haniyeh said that Israel had been allowed to repudiate peace accords and to lay the ground to unilaterally redraw its borders, without sanction from foreign powers.
“They are not asking anything of Israel, that they recognise the 1967 borders or even the choice of the Palestinian people [in January's election]. They should be making the same demands of them that they make of us. There is a double standard,” Mr Haniyeh told the Guardian.
To read the rest of this article click here
Palestinian Restaurant - Al-Zaytouna
heather on March 4th, 2006A new Palestinian restaurant has opened in London.
Al-Zaytouna
330 Harrow Road (off Maida Vale), W9 2HP.
