i am not one to blame the victims in any situation. this is, of course, what israeli terrorists’ propaganda does. the story that has been playing over and over and over again in my head all day long is that of ahmed samouni. i cannot get this boy’s face, his words, his story out of my head, nor do i want to. i have seen him interviewed by sherene tadros on al jazeera in an excellent report (posted below), but here is the story in its textual version as well:
The horror that the 16-year-old has seen is hard for him to put into words, but the effects are written all over his face.
“It was the third missile I remember. The other ones had killed my elder brother and injured people, they kept bleeding. But the third missile, that killed them all,” he said.
“My brother was bleeding so much and right in front of my eyes he died. My other brother Ismail, he also bled to death,” he narrated in between sobs.
“My mum and my youngest brother, they are gone. Four brothers and my mother, dead. May God give them peace.”
On January 7, paramedics brought back the dead and injured from the Samouni and other houses nearby, after they had spent four days trapped in their home.
According to the survivors’ accounts, partly corroborated by the International Red Cross and the United Nations, Israeli soldiers raided their homes and then huddled the extended family together into one house.
The following day they shelled and dropped missiles around the house.
Witnesses say at least 30 members of the Samouni family were killed.
“We were put in an ambulance, but there were still people inside the house, dead and injured,” Ahmed told Al Jazeera. “For days we all bled. We were so hungry; I remember giving my brother Isaac a tomato to eat before he died.”
Al Jazeera tracked down the ambulance driver who rescued Ahmed. The Red Cross were denied access by the Israeli army to the area for four days after the house was shelled.
“On the day we got permission, the army told us to leave the ambulances around two kilometres from the house,” said Mohamed el-Halby, a paramedic. “So we walked and all around us we could see they had bulldozered the area. The houses we passed had Israeli soldiers standing on the roofs.”
“We went inside and heard screams coming from one room. There were about 15 people inside, two were dead, the rest sitting around them. That was just one room.”
Six year-old Abdullah was trapped inside the same house as Ahmed, surrounded by his dead cousins and uncles. Terrified and distraught he struggled to speak.
He said they only had tomatoes to eat, and when asked what happened to his family, he said they were there, in front of him, dead. All he could do was just look at them.
Wael, Abdullah’s father, escaped on the first day of the Israeli raid. For four days he thought his son was dead.
“I didn’t know what to do, I still don’t…look at him he is so ill, they are all terrified,” Wael said.
“He cries all the time. His shoulder is hurt and it has infection but he cant stand the smell, he cries when he looks and smells his wounds. And his leg, look. I want to take him out of Gaza for treatment and I want to be able to go back to the house and get the rest of my family so that I can bury them.”
Al Jazeera tried to get to the family’s house, in an area called Zeitoun, but it wasn’t safe.
The closest one could get was about one kilometre away, and journalists, paramedics and aid workers need Israeli army permission to get to the area.
what is the israeli terrorist response to this massacre? it is to blame the victim:
Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, said: “Israel wants to see no harm to the children of Gaza. On the contrary, we would like to see their children and our children grow up without the fear of violence. Until now, Hamas has deliberately prevented that from becoming reality.”
the problem with israeli terrorist mark regev is that he lies; he is incapable of telling the truth. mind you he is not in gaza and has not seen the truth and will not allow human rights workers and journalists inside to see the truth, but nevertheless claims to have an answer that he promotes as “the truth.” the reality is not only precisely the opposite–it is 100% the fault of israeli terrorists–but also his fabrication of the truth blames the victims–not just hamas but families like the samouni family who are suffering beyond our imagination as a result of israeli terrorism.
of course this is something i have been thinking a lot about because israeli terrorists ALWAYS blame the victim. every f^%$#(&* day. but i started wondering today about this practice of blaming the victim. because it really seems to me like israeli terrorists have another fringe benefit from their massacre of palestinians in gaza: it enables them to play the role of victim yet again. you see, zionism is dependent upon jews being the only victims, the ur-victims, the victims who have suffered in a way that no one else can compare–not rwandans, not sudanese, not bosnians, not the congolese, and certainly not palestinians. this is how they articulate their colonial project in palestine. they are victims who have nowhere else to go (meanwhile 70% of israeli colonist terrorists hold 2 passports, a clear sign that they have plenty of other places to go). but of course jews would say that they are not safe elsewhere and they would cite examples like this one:
“We have received with great concern and revulsion many reports of physical, moral, verbal and other manifestations of anti-Semitic attacks towards Jews and Israeli citizens in many parts of the world,” Livni said in a written statement.
there have been a few stories here and there, mostly in europe from what i have seen, of some anti-semitic attacks on jewish spaces or jewish people. while, of course, i do not support such attacks on jews, i feel that livni and her cohorts in the terrorist zionist entity enjoy such attacks. i’m quite serious about this. i think that they want this system to keep working for them. in other words, israeli terrorists–and jewish terrorists before they stole palestine from palestinians–fled anti-semitism in europe and made arabs pay the price for that. the world has been forced to watch movies, read books, study in school world war ii from the vantage point of jewish suffering as the most important suffering in the world (even in the u.s. when the genocide of native americans and the trans-atlantic slave trade should be given far more prominence). americans find themselves subjected to israeli terrorist propaganda through agents of the israel lobby like the anti-defamation league, which serves to brainwash and silence. this further serves to keep any information that is the slightest bit truthful about palestine in the deep recesses of the closet. but these stories of anti-semitism, big and small, are constantly paraded about in the media and they are used to garner support for the terrorist state of israel. because this is always out of context, because palestine is never mentioned, the cycle works. so now people in europe are angry–as they are all around the world–and they some are mistakenly targeting jews rather than zionism and israeli terrorists. but this works to israeli terrorists advantage. i think they enjoy seeing these stories in the news because it continues to obscure palestine’s history and present and it perpetuates the myth that anti-semitism is the biggest threat. when israeli terrorism and colonialism is a far greater threat not only in palestine, but regionally and perhaps globally.
when people around the world don’t regurgitate israeli terrorist propaganda, israeli terrorists whine about it:
yet if you want to see what it is that olmert is trying to hide by such statements all you need to do is watch ayman mohyeldin’s reporting on what has been happening in rafah:
such statements by olmert are also emerging, no doubt, because such statements about palestinians and about anti-semitism always come out when the united nations seeks to highlight israeli terrorist atrocities:
“Many states praised the Palestinian delegation for the flexibility they had shown in the negotiations, but they could not quite reach a consensus.”
Speaking in the Gaza Strip, John Ging, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) operations in Gaza, repeated his call for an immediate end to the fighting.
“I say now, to all politicians, here in Israel and internationally, you have an obligation to the ordinary people in the name of humanity and all that is civilised, we need to stop this now. Those who help will never be forgotten.
“Israel is responsible for its own actions and it is very clear to us that there are a lot of actions in this conflict that will need to be fully investigated independently and internationally.
“Those who have been killed and injured, those who are innocent, deserve accountability.”
Peter Splinter, Amnesty International’s representative at the United Nations in Geneva, backed the call for an investigation, saying “there must be a full accountability for war crimes”.
“Evidence of war crimes is presenting itself each day,” he told Al Jazeera.
war crimes. will we ever see a nuremberg for palestinians? 18 days of a murderous rampage against palestinians in gaza:
919 martyrs. 4,500 injured. 80,000 internally displaced palestinians in gaza. who have nowhere to flee to.
as a point of comparison consider what such figures would mean in the united states:
al mezan has its new martyrs names and its toll of the events on electronic intifada. here is the latest, though the figures are not as current as those i quoted above from al jazeera a few moments ago:
At approximately 2pm Saturday, 10 January Israeli aircrafts fired a missile at a group of young men in the al-Salatin area, west of Beit Lahia, killing Ahmad Ibrahim Juma, 25, and Umar Juma, 19.
At approximately 2:30pm also Saturday, IOF troops stationed in the town of Beit Hanoun opened fire at the al-Bora neighborhood, killing an 18-year-old girl, Nariman Abdul-Karim Abu Odeh from a live bullet to her chest.
At approximately 4:20pm Saturday, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a small crowd near Barrawi gas station in Beit Lahia, injuring a 40-year-old pregnant women; Wafa al-Masri, and another 24-year-old woman, Ghada al-Masri. The pregnant woman had to abort her fetus and had her leg amputated. The other woman had both her legs amputated.
At approximately 4:45pm Saturday, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the al-Sultan apartment compound in Jabaliya town. The compound’s residents started to evacuate it. However, IOF fired artillery shells at the entrance of the compound as people were evacuating, killing three of them, two of whom were children. They were identified as:
* Ali Kamal al-Nuthor, 12;
* Amer Kamal al-Nuthor, 15; and
* Shadi Fatho Ijneed, 27.Another 11 people were injured, including one child.
At approximately 5:25pm Saturday, IOF troops stationed in Jabaliya fired eight artillery shells towards the eastern parts of the town. Al Mezan’s field worker reported that the shells were used for the first time. After hitting the ground, a light bounced from each shell, not very high from the ground. As they landed, they caused fires around it.
About 30 minutes later, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile into a crowd in Beit Lahia. One man was critically injured as a result. At 6:45pm, an aircraft fired a missile at the house of Nafiz al-Helu in northern Beit Lahia, killing two of its residents and injuring three, including a woman and a child. Those who were killed were identified as:
* Mohammed Nafiz al-Helu, 22; and (his sister)
* Amina Nafiz al-Helu, 18.Two minutes after, aircraft fired missile at the Beit Lahia Park, destroying it.
At approximately 7:20pm Saturday, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile into a crowd of people who were sitting in front of a house in their neighborhood, killing three and injuring six, including a 2-month-old baby. Those who were killed were:
* Rami Jamal Salman, 21;
* Abdul-Muti Ratib Sulaiman, 20; and
* Sami Umar, 35.At approximately 8:25pm Saturday, Israeli aircraft raided a house owned by the Rayyan family in Jabaliya, destroying it and damaging three neighboring houses. No casualties or injuries were reported in this raid.
At approximately 10:10pm Saturday, Israeli aircrafts raided the house of Waheed Ahmad in Jabaliya refugee camp. The house was destroyed and three neighboring houses damaged, however, no casualties or injuries were reported in this raid.
At approximately 2am on Sunday, 11 January 2009, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile into a crowd of residents of the al-Karama apartment complex, killing Ibrahim Ayish Salman, 25. When neighbors tried to help the victim, a second missile was fired at them, killing Ala Fathi Bashir, 40, and his 18-year-old son, Suhaib. Yet, when neighbors tried to help them, aircrafts fired a third missile, killing a 40-year-old woman, Lamias Hasan Bashir, and 75-year-old woman, Jamila Hassan Zyadeh. Four other people were injured in this attack.At approximately 3:35am on Sunday, Israeli troops fired an artillery shell at the al-Karama area. The shell hit the house of Mohammed Khalaf and killed his cousins, Ibrahim Mohammed Khalaf, 35, and Bilal Yihia Khalaf. Twenty-five minutes later, an Israeli aircraft raided the house of Tawfiq Saqir, which is located near the Beit Lahia market. The house was destroyed completely and five neighboring houses were damaged.
At approximately 9:30 am on Sunday, 11 January 2009, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile into a crowd of children who were near the Olo al-Azm Mosque in the north of Beit Lahia, killing the four of them, three girls and a boy. They were identified as:
* Haitham Yasser Marouf, 12;
* Fatima Mohammed Marouf, 16;
* Khawla Ramadan Ghabin, 16; and (her sister)
* Samar Ramadan Ghabin, 14.On the next day, the body 14-year-old Abdul-Rahma Ghabin was found, raising the casualties of this attack to five children. According to Al Mezan Center’s investigations, these children belong to families who had evacuated their homes and took shelter in the al-Fakhoura School, which was shelled by the IOF. They went back home with their parents to pick some clothing and other necessities and return to the shelter.
At 10am on the same day, medical sources at al-Shifa Hospital announced the death of 51-year-old Abdul-Hakim al-Sultan, who was injured inside his house in the al-Salatin areas western Beit Lahia.
At approximately 11:45am on Sunday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells at the al-Jurun neighborhood in Jabaliya. One shell hit the house of Khalid Abid, killing his 25-year-old son Khalid, and injuring 20-year-old daughter Shahira.
Later, at approximately 1:10pm Sunday, IOF troops fired artillery shells that hit houses in eastern Jabaliya, killing Hueesin Nazmi Abu Sultan, 40, inside his house.
At approximately 3:05pm on Sunday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells at the al-Bora neighborhood in Beit Hanoun, injuring a child inside her house. She was identified as Dalia Fareed Abu Odeh, 12. Another woman, Iman Sami Nusair, was injured.
At approximately 3:35pm on Sunday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells at eastern Jabaliya, killing a 12-year-old boy, Musab Abdul-Muhsin Khadir, and a 15-year-old girl, Amal Najeeb Alloush. Another five people were also injured.
At 4pm on the same day, the Emergency Administration at Kamal Udwan Hospital announced that four of its ambulances stopped as a result of the shortage in fuel.
At approximately 7:00pm on Sunday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells at the Masoud Street in Jabaliya town, killing a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, Tasnim Yasser al-Rafat, inside her house. Another young man, 19-year-old Mohammed Khadir, was also killed inside his house in the area.
Between 7:50pm Sunday and 4pm Monday, Israeli aircrafts raided three houses in Jabaliya and Beit Lahia, destroying them completely and damaging 12 houses. The targeted houses were owned by Ibrahim Lubad and Zyad al-Masri, from Beit Lahia, and Yousef Ghbeet from Jabalia.
At approximately 5am today, Monday 12 January 2009, medical sources announced the death of 33-year-old Said Mahmoud al-Amawi, who was injured in the IOF shelling of the al-Fakhora School [on 6 January].
At approximately 5:30am Monday, Israeli aircrafts raided the house of Ali al-Dhai in Jabaliya, destroying it completely. Six minutes later, aircrafts raided the house of Mahmoud Abu Matar in Beit Lahia, destroying it and damaging five houses near it. One hour later, they raided Sheikh Zayid town park, damaging it and many houses in its vicinity.
At approximately 7:35am Monday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells at houses in eastern Jabaliya and Beit Lahia, killing a 34-year-old woman, Afaf Hasan Juma, inside her house.
At approximately 7:40am Monday, Israeli aircrafts raided a farm in the al-Nuzha Street in Jabaliya town, injuring three girl children.
At approximately 7:35am Monday, Israeli aircrafts raided the house of Sadi al-Jamal in Jabaliya, destroying the house and damaging three houses and a kindergarten near it. At 8am, medical sources announced the death of a woman, 22-year-old Amal al-Madhoun, who was injured on 9 January 2009 by IOF snipers.
At approximately 12:05pm Monday, Israeli aircraft raided a vegetable stand owned by Yasser Shbair in Sheikh Zayid town, injuring him critically. Later, the corpse of Khalid al-Abid, 21, was found in the al-Salatin neighborhood in western Beit Lahia.
2. Gaza City District:
At approximately 12:30am Sunday 11 January 2009, about 20 Israel tanks and armored vehicles invaded the southern suburbs of Gaza City. The force, covered by helicopter gunships and aircraft, reached the southern Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa. Tanks and aircrafts opened heavy fire at the area.
At approximately 2am, an artillery shell hit the house of Talat Hamudeh in Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, killing his two children and injuring him and his wife. The children were identified as:
* Faris Talat Hamudeh, one year; and
* Muhammad Talat Hamudeh, two years.Three hours after its invasion, the force evacuated, leaving 13 casualties. It should be noted that the IOF had thrown leaflets on this neighborhood ordering its residents to evacuate their homes. Most of them left to UN shelters or relatives’ homes. Some stayed.
At 1:40am Sunday, Israeli aircraft raided the house of Ahmad al-Jabari, who is a leader in Hamas. The four-story house, which is located in the eastern Gaza City neighborhood of al-Shejaiya, was completely destroyed. Many homes around it were damaged.
At approximately 2am also Sunday, Israeli aircraft raided a mobile phone and stock exchange shop near the Pediatrics and Optics Hospitals in Nasser neighborhood in Gaza City. The shop was destroyed and the two hospitals and many houses in the area were damaged, especially in the neighboring al-Dana apartment Block.
At approximately 5:15am Sunday, Israeli aircrafts raided a four-story house owned by Mohammed Awadallah, 76, in the Nasser neighborhood in Gaza City. The house was completely destroyed.
At approximately 7pm Sunday, Israeli aircrafts raided the house of Fatah Palestinian Legislative Council member, Mohammed Dahlan in the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza, destroying it completely. At the same time, IOF troops fired artillery towards the house of Ahmad Mushtaha, 55, in al-Shejaiya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, killing him and his 24-year-old son, Wajeeh. As neighbors arrived at the house to help the victims, an IOF drone fired a missile at the house, killing two: Muhammad al-Jundi, 20, and his brother Monthir.
At approximately 11pm Sunday, IOF fired an artillery shell at the house Hisham al-Katati in the al-Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, killing his wife, 42-year-old Dalal al-Katati.
At approximately 2am Monday, 12 January 2009, Israeli aircraft fired a missile at two men, Muhammad Nassar, 22, and Ayman Shaldan, 35, in the east of the al-Shejaiya neighborhood east of Gaza City. They were both killed. As Jaber Hussein Habib, 52, and Mohammed Jamal Yasan, 17, tried to help them; a second missile targeted them and killed them.
3. Central Gaza District:
At approximately 12pm, on 10 January 2009, an IOF aircraft fired a missile at al-Sika Street in eastern al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza district, killing 26-year-old Mohammed Hasan Harb.
At approximately 12:55pm on the same day, IOF fired artillery shells at al-Safaa Mosque, which is located in Block One in al-Bureij refugee camp. One of the shells landed directly on the mosque, destroying it partially. Another shell hit an adjacent house owned by 28-year-old Mousa al-Askari, destroying it partially and injuring Mousa’s wife and his two sons, who were identified as:
* Six-year-old Ayman al-Askari;
* Seven-year-old Mosab.The latter was reported to have sustained critical injuries.
At approximately 1:30pm, the IOF fired artillery shells, which was followed by aerial raid on the apartment of 39-year-old Ramzi Hasan Suliman Abu al-Deeb in al-Nouri Tower in al-Nuseirat refugee camp of the central Gaza district. The attack caused damage to the apartment, and injured 12-year-old Mojahed Ali al-Burs, and his 17-year-old brother, who later died of his wounds.
At approximately 7:45pm on the same day, IOF aircraft raided an agricultural field west of al-Nuseirat camp. The attack injured a 88-year-old woman, Fatma Muhammad Ahmed Tbeil, with shrapnel while she was in her house. Fatma later died of her wounds.
At approximately 11:30pm, on the same day, IOF aircraft raided the two-story house of 55-year-old Abdul-Rahim Shaker in al-Nuseirat camp. The house, which was inhabited by five persons, was totally destroyed as well as three nearby houses.
At approximately 12:05am, on 11 January 2009, IOF aircraft hit the two-story house of Farhoud Younis Abu Khabeeza in al-Nuseirat camp. The house was inhabited by five families, a total of 25 persons. The attack destroyed the house totally and caused damage to five neighboring houses.
At approximately 12:20am that same day, IOF aircraft bombarded the two-story house of 49-year-old Muhammad Hasan Shahin, which was inhabited by nine persons. Shahin’s house and another nearby house were destroyed as a result.
4. Khan Younis District:
At approximately 10pm, on 10 January 2009, the IOF launched tens of artillery and aerial attacks at areas along the borderline, east of Khzaa village, east of Khan Younis city. Shells hit many houses in the village. According to eyewitnesses, some of these shells released white smoke causing residents to suffer from suffocation, spasm and syncope. Tens of houses also were burnt.
At approximately 10:30pm on the same day, the IOF shelled with artillery a house owned by the Qdeih family, also in Khzaa village, killing 35-year-old Hanan Fathi Qdeih and injuring all of her kids and other family members.
At approximately 10:30pm on the same day, IOF aircraft raided the house of Ibrahim Baraka in Bani Suhaila town, east to Khan Younis. The house was damaged as a result.
Earlier, at approximately 8am that same day, IOF aircraft shelled a group of people who were close to the area of the IOF’s incursion into Khzaa village, killing 22-year-old Nour Mohammed Ameish. Other people, including a woman, were killed in another attack in the village.
At approximately 10:30am that same day, IOF aircraft fired a missile at a group of people close to al-Awda school, which is located on the main street connecting Abasan town and Khzaa village east to Khan Younis. The shelling killed 19-year-old Khaled Abu Ryiala, and injured another person.
5. Rafah District:
At approximately 2:38pm on Sunday 11 January 2009, Israeli aircrafts raided the al-Falah Charity’s building in the al-Shabora refugee camp in Rafah. No casualties or injuries were reported.
Earlier, at 1:55pm also Sunday, Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a civilian car on the Awni Dheer Street in Rafah, injuring four people; including a doctor, and destroying the car.
Between 3:10pm and 7:10pm on Sunday, Israeli aircrafts launched a series of air raids at the borderline between Rafah and Egypt. Later, at 2am Monday, they launched another series of air raids. In all, they fired 42 heavy missiles, according to Al Mezan’s field worker in Rafah.
At approximately 4:15am on Sunday, Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a motorcycle, killing Mohammed Al-Shair, 23, and critically injuring Mahmoud Abu Luli, 24.
These attacks have continued in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with approximately 200,000 people having already left their homes. Most of the population does not have access to water. Moreover, the health sector is still suffering from an enormous load of injured and killed people under severe shortages in medical supplies and personnel, and restrictions on the movement of ambulances and medical consignments.
add these names to the list of martyrs. they will not be blamed and their deaths will not be in vain. we will never forget them. and we will fight to support the resistance that is continuing to defend palestinians in gaza.
i’m sitting here at 3:48 am typing this. watching ramattan television via al jazeera arabic. they are saying that this is the most intense night of fire on them yet. it is hard to imagine. i feel like i hear this every day. and yet every day israeli terrorists terrorize more. not only by increasing the bombardment, but also by the way that israeli terrorists use palestinians as guinea pigs to test out new weapons they develop in the universities that we should all be boycotting:
“There’s a very strong suspicion I think that Gaza is now being used as a test laboratory for new weapons,” Mads Gilbert told reporters at Oslo’s Gardermoen airport, commenting on the kinds of injuries he and his colleague Erik Fosse had seen while working at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
The two medics, who were sent into the war zone by the pro-Palestinian aid organisation NORWAC on December 31, said they had seen clear signs that Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME), an experimental kind of explosive, were being used in Gaza.
“This is a new generation of very powerful small explosives that detonates with an extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 metres (16-98 feet),” said Gilbert, 61.
“We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations… without shrapnel injuries which we strongly suspect must have been caused by the DIME weapons,” he added.
The weapon “causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very different (from a shrapnel injury). I have seen and treated a lot of different injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and this looks completely different,” said Fosse, 58.
“If you are in the immediate (vicinity of) a DIME weapon, it’s like your legs get torn off. It’s an enormous pressure wave and there is no shrapnel,” he explained.
Gilbert also accused Israel of having used the weapon in the 2006 Lebanon war and previously in Gaza, and referred to studies showing wounds from the explosive could cause lethal forms of cancer within just four to six months.
“Israel should disclose what weapons they use and the international community should make an investigation,” he said, stressing the amount of damage apparently caused by the new form of explosive.
“We are not soft-skinned when it comes to war injuries, but these amputations are really extremely nasty and for many of the patients not survivable,” he said.
to get a sense of where these massacres, war crimes are taking place here are some maps that lovely rania gave me:
so much devastation, so difficult to keep up with it all. here is some good news for the day, however, with respect to more world-wide solidarity with palestinian steadfastness and resistance in gaza. first is the london protest against ahava, the dead sea salts made on israeli terrorist colonies in the west bank. here is a photograph from their action:
second is the news about the boycott campaign turkey:
Consumers Association of Turkey calls on Turkish citizens to boycott Israeli, US and British products by saying “We will not provide ammunition for siyonist Israel`s attacks”.
Consumers Association members protested Israel in front of Israeli Embassy and announced the list of products that they wanted consumers not to buy.Honorary President of Consumer Association Lawyer Bülent Deniz said Israel killed hundreds of Palestanians since December the 27, and injured thousands.
“The ones who can survive are under the threat of dying any minute because of medicine and food scarcity”, he said.
Deniz stated, ” we will use our power as consumers and boycott Israel, US and British products”.
Turkish Consumers Association said, “on the boycott list is specific firms that openly declare their support and cooperation to Israel, as well as the ones that transfer funds to Israeli army.”
Some of them include Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Hayat Su, Danone, Activa, Elite Cafe, Becel, Lipton, Calve, Knorr, Algida, Magnum, Carte D’or, Axe, Rexona, Signal, Dove, Omo, Domestos, Marlboro, Parliament, Lark, Muratti, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Starbucks Coffee chain, Mc Donald’s and Burger King.
third, in mauritania the boycott movement is growing:
Meanwhile, hundreds of Mauritians on Saturday marched from the Port Louis race course to the municipality of Port Louis to denounce the massacre and genocide of the Israeli army in Gaza.
Addressing the assembly, Alain Ah-Vee of the political party Lalit declared that the decision of the Mauritian government to suspend the activities of the consulate of Israel is a step in the right direction.
He added that the former prime minister, Seewoosagur Ramgoolam had also taken the same decision in 1976 and that it is now the right time to sever all relations with the Jewish state.
Ah-Vee further made an appeal to the Mauritian government to press member countries of the Southern African Development Community to take similar steps and also show their solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Imran Dhannoo, a social worker, has asked that all Israeli products such as Carmel, Jaffaden juices, Israeli foodstuffs of Yarden France, generic medicines of the firms Teva and Ivax, should be taken out of sale and boycotted.
Also at the initiative of the organisation Mauritians against War, another march took place from Square Khadafi in the capital on Saturday in which politicians from practically all parties took part.
Vice Prime Minister Rashid Beebeejaun called for the closure of the Israeli consulate in Mauritius and declared that the military incursion by Israel is aimed at destroying the Palestinian state.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice Rama Valayden cited Cardinal Renato Martino of the Vatican who had declared that the conditions of living in Gaza had become those of a concentration camp.
& what you can do–for academics–is sign a new petition for scientists opposing the siege of gaza:
(voir plus bas la meme petition en francais)
We, the undersigned, as scientists and members of universities, express our utmost concern and condemnation of the current Israeli attacks in Gaza strip. This is a clear violation of international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention “relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War” (1949).
We cannot remain silent as we receive mails from our colleagues in Gaza, such as
– Suleiman Baraka, astrophysicist in Gaza, who got his PhD in IAP (Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris) and also spent one month in the institute in September 2008. He completed a postdoc in USA, National Institute of Aerospace, and was planning to go back to Gaza to open a research centre in physics. He wrote to us that, after a F16 strike, his house has blown up and swept away, his mother is injured and his 10 years old son is in coma;
– Ziad Medoukh, chief of the French department in Gaza Al-Aqsa university and coordinator of the university peace centre. While he obtained a grant from the French government to study in Paris 8 university, he was not allowed by the Israeli army to leave Gaza. His two cousins and three neighbours are dead in the bombing. After their funeral, he witnessed: “The Israeli army is on its way to destroy Gaza, it bombards everything: schools, mosques, universities, houses, shops, hospitals, police stations and ministries”;
– Students and members of the Islamic university, located on the centre of Gaza, and bombed throughout the night of December 28th.
We are convinced that our individual and official collaborations with researchers and universities in Palestine, and in Gaza, contribute to the peace and communication between people.
In the light of the above, we call on our governments
*to condemn the attack,
* to make pressure on the UN to take actions to « restore international peace and security », on behalf of the Chapter VII of its charter.Furthermore, we ask for
* the end of the siege on Gaza,
* the free movement of Palestinians, including students and researchers
finally, perhaps most importantly, is the solidarity that the zapatista army of national liberation (ezln) through subcomandante marcos offers as he knows what it means when the victim is blamed, when the victim feels defeated so this offering of solidarity and support becomes all the more crucial:
I don’t know how to explain it, but it turns out that yes, words from afar might not stop a bomb, but it’s as if a crack were opened in the black room of death and a tiny ray of light slips in.
As for everything else, what will happen will happen. The Israeli government will declare that it dealt a severe blow to terrorism, it will hide the magnitude of the massacre from its people, the large weapons manufacturers will have obtained economic support to face the crisis, and “the global public opinion,” that malleable entity that is always in fashion, will turn away.
But that’s not all. The Palestinian people will also resist and survive and continue struggling and will continue to have sympathy from below for their cause.
And perhaps a boy or girl from Gaza will survive, too. Perhaps they’ll grow, and with them, their nerve, indignation, and rage. Perhaps they’ll become soldiers or militiamen for one of the groups that struggle in Palestine. Perhaps they’ll find themselves in combat with Israel. Perhaps they’ll do it firing a gun. Perhaps sacrificing themselves with a belt of dynamite around their waists.
And then, from up there above, they will write about the Palestinians’ violent nature and they’ll make declarations condemning that violence and they’ll get back to discussing if it’s Zionism or anti-Semitism.
And no one will ask who planted that which is being harvested.
body on the line 