40 Years of Occupation - International Day of Action

by MichaelY - iawm/ipsc - per cap Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:58

The WSM website posted today an excellent article by Jose Antonio Guiterrez Danton reviewing recent events in Palestine, the possibilities of the liberation struggle ahead and the responsibility of the international solidarity movement.

"Saturday 9 of June: the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign organised a march to mark the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day war. An enthusiastic crowd of around 1,000 people marched through the streets of Dublin chanting loud and clear “Free, Free Palestine”. .....After the march, we gathered in O’Connell street to listen to the impassionate speeches of Raymond Deane, Himat Ajjuri, Dr. Bassam Al-Nasr, Margaretta D’Arcy and Saed Abu Hijleh, whose final speech touched like fire everyone’s heart.

But as we went marching a different story was being told in Gaza - for the rest of the article pls go to the link
http://www.wsm.ie/story/2624

Such a breath of sanity and wisdom coming from an important section of the Left.
Well done and solidarity comrades.

by Charles B. Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:33

"In June 2001 the United Nations General Assembly met in special session to discuss Aids. Cuba, with an HIV infection rate of 0.09% compared with 0.6% in the US, made an offer of “doctors, teachers, psychologists, and other specialists needed to assess and collaborate with the campaigns to prevent Aids and other illnesses; diagnostic equipment and kits necessary for the basic prevention programmes and retrovirus treatment for 30,000 patients”.

If this offer had been accepted, “all it would take is for the international community to provide the raw materials for the medicines, the equipment and material resources for these products and services. Cuba will not charge and will pay the salaries in its national currency”.

And that s from a country who are on the opposite side of the coin as far as the good old USA are concerned.

Between 1963 and 2005 more than 100,000 doctors and health workers intervened in 97 countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America. By March 2006, 25,000 Cuban professionals were working in 68 nations. This is more than even the World Health Organisation can deploy, while Médecins Sans Frontières sent only 2,040 doctors and nurses abroad in 2003, and 2,290 in 2004.

"According to reports given to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, at least one ambulance was hit by IDF gunfire during the night. According to a doctor that was in the ambulance, “at 3:00 am, we received a call that a person was injured in the Tel a-Sultan area. We went into the camp with lights flashing and our siren. We wore Red Crescent vests and did not see any soldiers as we went in. The army started shooting at us suddenly and wildly. The car was hit and we couldn't continue. We left the ambulance and went into one of the houses.”

http://www.btselem.org/English/Email_Update/20040518.html

"Throughout the period 4-15 April, the IDF denied access to Jenin refugee camp to all, including medical doctors and nurses, ambulances, humanitarian relief services, human rights organizations, and journalists. Amnesty International and other organizations tried to get information by the only means that seemed possible: constantly telephoning residents under curfew. By 12 April residents said that the continuous curfew had led to an acute food and water shortage. In some cases children were drinking waste water and became sick as a result. One resident from the edge of the camp said that: "the camp smells of death due to the scattered bodies, some bodies are buried under the rubble, others crushed by tanks, and the rest are left lying in the streets."

http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGMDE151432002

Perhaps the Israelis should think about helping their Palestinian neighbours first, before they give a few Ethiopian doctors a two week course in how to deal with AIDS sufferers. They could start by not killing and maiming so many, and then perhaps stop targeting their water and sewerage infrastructure while carrying out routine operations.

by Nodin Tue Jul 31, 2007 17:54

And how, JohnM, does that wash away the kind of thing in the article I've linked below?

by JohnHM Thu Jul 26, 2007 22:34

Dr. Mas'ad Barhoom, the ARAB director of the Italian Hospital in Nazareth ISRAEL for the last eight years, has been named the first Arab director of an ISRAELI state-owned hospital - Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya. He will head one of only eight state-owned general hospitals in the country.

The Health Ministry announced the appointment of the 47-year-old Haifa native this week. Barhoom grew up in Shfaram and specialized in family medicine and health-system management. The Health Minister congratulated the doctor on winning the public tender and said he was certain Barhoom had been chosen "on his own merit and not as a representative of a sector. Nevertheless, I am sure that Dr. Barhoom's choice will only strengthen the connection between Jews and Arabs in the North, and I am sure he will advance the hospital in Nahariya as he brought forward the Italian Hospital in Nazareth."

Barry Shaw in Netanya wrote about a hospital experience that beats the Boycott. He writes:-

“It's never a pleasant experience to go into hospital. It's one of my least favourite things to do. But, when you've got to go, you've got to go.

The operation wasn't too bad. The Israeli medical service is excellent and the care is wonderful. As I was wheeled from the recovery room to my ward I was still in that euphoric state that only a trained anesthetist can induce. I was wheeled into a room where I was to be parked until my release the following day.

In the next bed to me was an Arab boy, attended to by his mother dressed in traditional Arab dress of what could be described as moderate Muslim attire.

We were gracious and pleasant with each other, and they offered me orange juice, figs, and nuts. When I was sufficiently out of la-la land and back into the land of the living I began to hear their story.

Sarim Shahub is twenty one years old, and from Gaza. In May, he was shot in the face and arm and had been in intensive care at Ichilov Hospital. He was now sufficiently well to move around in the Trauma Ward while receiving treatment for his face wound. One bullet had entered through his left cheek and exited through the side of his mouth. The Israeli surgeons had put a breathing tube in his throat, and he was temporarily unable to speak.

His mother told me that he had been caught up in the fighting between Hamas and Fatah. This may be true. It could also be true that he had been fighting for one of the factions.

The following day, when I felt strong enough to crawl around the ward, I noticed that other rooms were taken up by Palestinians. I was told that all had gunshot or shrapnel wounds inflicted in the Palestinian in-fighting in Gaza. One room was out of bounds. Either the patients were in intensive care, or they were people of significance, and therefore kept isolated.

As I lay in bed next to Sarim I read an article about the intended IRISH and British boycott of Israeli academic institutions. I looked across at Sarim as he lay in his hi-tech Evolution hospital bed. Here was a Palestinian from Gaza receiving the finest medical care and attention from Israeli doctors and nurses, all trained in Israeli academic institutions. These are the very institutions that IRISH and British academics wish to boycott. His treatment will consider for some time until he is healthy enough to return home to Gaza.

I do not know what his fate will be. I only know that his immediate past was damaged by corrupt and violent Palestinian leadership who continue to reject creating a state of their own alongside the Jewish state of Israel, and by the lawlessness and violence that is today's Palestinian society.

I do know that Sarim has been given another chance of life by the dedication and professionalism of the Israeli medical profession.Will somebody please tell me how an IRISH and British boycott of Israeli academics and learning institutions will have helped Sarim, and others like him, in his moment of crisis?”

Continuing the medical theme this week, ten Ethiopian doctors and nurses are taking part in an intensive course in Jerusalem on the treatment of AIDS patients. More than half of all HIV/AIDS patients in Israel are of Ethiopian descent, which has given doctors in the Jewish state a wealth of experience in treating that demographic.

About four years ago the Israelis decided to start sharing that experience and knowledge with Ethiopian medical professionals who simply lacked the resources to make the same gains on their own. To date more than 50 Ethiopian doctors and nurses have participated in the two-week training course, and have returned to their own nation equipped to provide far better treatment to those suffering from the world's most feared disease.

And the world is talking about boycotts, rights to exist, racism, apartheid etc., etc

by Eamon Fri Jun 08, 2007 09:06

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the Sabra and Chatila massacres.

Defend the Boycott.

by Red Melon Fri Jun 08, 2007 00:17

End 40 Years Of Occupation

Free Palestine!

Demonstrate:
Saturday, 2pm, assemble at Central Bank on Dame Street

A large turnout is needed so come along and bring all your mates + family to show your support for the oppressed Palestinian people!

Solidarity.

by Feyadeen Fri May 18, 2007 12:02

"OK let's say it's 60 years. Why did Arafat refuse to implement the Oslo accords in the 1990s? That would have made it less than 30 years."

WOW that really is special! Arafat didn't implement the Oslo accords? WOW! I honestly can't believe there's anyone on the surface of the Earth so utterly shameless that they would make such a laughable claim. Arafat bent over backwards to acccomodate Israeli demands in the 90s, he did everything he was required to do by the accords and then some. Israel broke all the deadlines for troop withdrawals, it continued building army bases and settlements (more settlements were built between 1993 and 2000 than in all the years from 1967 to 1993). Israel never had the slightest intention of granting the Palestinians genuine independence.

Arafat didn't reject a deal because there was never any deal on offer. Oslo proved to be a scam, hence Arafat had to turn down an equally dishonest and unacceptable offer of a final settlement in 2000 that would have seen the Palestinians granted a few bantustans in the West Bank hemmed in by soldiers and settlement on all sides, with Israel controlling the borders and the resources. If Arafat had accepted the deal, he would have been signing his own death warrant - his people would have risen up against him in a few weeks.

by ajanib Fri May 18, 2007 11:58

"Labor and Likud leaders alike made no secret of the fact that Oslo was designed to segregate the Palestinians in noncontiguous, economically unviable enclaves, surrounded by Israeli-controlled borders, with settlements and settlement roads punctuating and essentially violating the territories' integrity. Expropriations and house demolitions proceeded inexorably through the Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu and Barak administrations, along with the expansion and multiplication of settlements (200,000 Israeli Jews added to Jerusalem, 200,000 more in Gaza and the West Bank), military occupation continuing and every tiny step taken toward Palestinian sovereignty--including agreements to withdraw in minuscule, agreed-upon phases--stymied, delayed, canceled at Israel's will."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20001030/said

by Lickspittle Fri May 18, 2007 11:21

OK let's say it's 60 years. Why did Arafat refuse to implement the Oslo accords in the 1990s? That would have made it less than 30 years.

And when is Fatah going to spend its billions on deposit in nice, safe Europe on its people?

by Mr Fox Wed May 09, 2007 17:42

This year is the 40th anniversary of the 1967 occupation so I guess the demo's about that..

Next year will be the 60th anniversary of Nakba tho.

Which date is the true date of the occupation of the Palestinian depends on your own personal politics I guess.

by Pal Wed May 09, 2007 16:38

This sould not be titled as "40 Years of Occupation in Palestine"

Because the Occupation of Palestine has happing waayyyyyyyy before 1967

it may be called

40 years of Israeli invasion of Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza Strip

by J.J Sun May 06, 2007 16:27

Is still a prick sometimes.

The death of a civilian is completely unjustifiable, be it an imperialist or fundamentalist who takes it. Just because the demo is opposed to the occupation, does not mean it supports reactionary terrorists. There are Israelis against the wall, there are Israelis who will willingly bomb Palestinian communities. Likewise, there are many working class Palestinians suffering at the hands of Israels war, and also there are Palestinians willing to kill just as indiscriminately as their Israeli counterparts. Not all issues are black and white.

I'll be there, to oppose imperialism. It does not mean I do not feel for Innocent Israeli victims. Terrorism knows many forms sadly.

by Mike Murphy Sun May 06, 2007 15:33

Tell me Michael, where do you see an expression of support for attacks on Israeli civilians? Try hard now, look very closely and tell me where you find it. And then try answering this one - who is occupying who? Are the Palestinians occupying Israel, preventing the Israelis from having their own independent state? Maybe you could look up the newspapers if you're having trouble with that

by Michael Martin Sun May 06, 2007 09:03

And how about the Israeli civilians, among them many women and children, who lost their lives in cowardly attacks carried out by those islamic "freedom fighters"????? How about their rights and human dignity?????