A film by GFMer Sarah Mahmoud in Toronto, Canada.

Includes her own footage as well as footage from the wider GFM community. Screened in Toronto in March 2010.

Watch Part 1 below:

Click here to watch all 7 parts: Playlist

The footage is also available for download at:
http://tinyurl.com/flotilla-footage/

Despite the Israeli government’s efforts to confiscate all of the footage taken during the attack, CULTURES OF RESISTANCE filmmaker Iara Lee was able to have one hour of footage smuggled back to the United States and is releasing it raw to the public today.

Yesterday at the United Nations, Ms. Lee presented the footage for the first time to the international press corps after the following statement:

“I want first to thank the United Nations Correspondents Association for organizing this event on such short notice.

“My name is Iara Lee. I am a dual U.S.-Brazilian citizen of Korean descent. I am a filmmaker and a human rights activist.

“I decided to join the Freedom Flotilla after going to Gaza a few months ago and seeing first hand the devastation there. After hearing the pleas of the people living in Gaza to have the blockade lifted, I felt I must do something.

“The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was on a humanitarian mission. We expected to be deterred from delivering our aid to Gazans, but we did not expect to be attacked.

“We started filming from the moment we boarded the Mavi Marmara right through the Israeli assault on the ship. Although all of our equipment was confiscated, we managed to smuggle this footage out.

“Mine is high-definition footage of the Flotilla attack and also the only sustained footage of the ship and its passengers preceding the deadly Israeli commando raid. Watching this raw, unedited footage, you will get a sense of the mood on the ship and of the passengers on it.

“Undoubtedly, many of you will be scrutinizing it for clues to resolve the mysteries that still surround what happened that fateful night.

“During this past week the Israeli government has repeatedly alleged that these passengers — or some of them — laid a trap for Israel, duped the Israeli military, and plotted a lynching. Israel has repeatedly alleged that we were anti-Semitic Muslim fanatics connected to terrorist organizations.

“In fact, the passengers on our mission came from many countries and religious and ethnic backgrounds. Our one common denominator was that we wanted to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by highlighting the injustice of Israel’s blockade.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “This wasn’t the ‘love boat,’ this was a flotilla of terror supporters.” Our footage will help you decide whether we were a love boat or a hate boat. You will see secular and devout passengers. You will see people at prayer and people working at their laptops.

“Was this a lynch-mob moved by hatred of Israelis or was it a cross-section of humanity moved by the plight of Gaza? Did we lay a trap for the Israeli commandos or did they unnecessarily attack us? Did we take them by surprise or did they take us by surprise?

“Do you see a premeditated ambush, or do you see some passengers using items at hand to protect themselves from an unprovoked assault by heavily armed commandos?

“You decide.”

CONTACT:

info@culturesofresistance.org

www.culturesofresistance.org

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000928581236

SOURCE:
http://www.culturesofresistance.org/press-release-flotilla-footage

Later this month, ships from all over the world will converge in the Mediterranean and set sail for the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip. This international coalition is called the Freedom Flotilla.

The Free Gaza Movement has sailed eight missions to Gaza in the past three years, five of them successful. The last three were violently stopped by the Israeli Navy; the boat Dignity was rammed three times and the Spirit of Humanity turned back in January 2009, then seized and all aboard arrested.

This time the Freedom Flotilla is upping the ante and instead of one- and two-vessel challenges, will be breaking Israel’s siege with an eight-boat front.

In the past, the Israel Navy could pick us off as individual boats. Now, including Free Gaza’s four ships, 700 passengers and some 5,000 tons of reconstruction materials and medical equipment. This includes Free Gaza’s MV Rachel Corrie, which was purchased through generous donations from Malaysia’s Perdana Global Peace Foundation.

The Israeli government has responded to the “sea intifada” coming its way with saber rattling and accusations of serving Hamas. Israel has proscribed the Turkish human rights and relief group Insani Vardim Vakafi (IHH). IHH is responsible for sending a cargo ship and passenger ship in the Freedom Flotilla. Israel has accused it and Free Gaza of “supporting terrorism.” Half the Israeli navy is set to challenge the mission, with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the helm commanding the operation in person. The air force is on standby and “diplomatic pressure” is being applied behind the scenes. The message is clear from Israel: “We will stop you and we will use force to stop you.”

At no point does the Freedom Flotilla enter Israeli territorial waters. The journey starts in local European or Turkish waters, courses through international waters and ends in Gaza’s territorial waters. No checkpoints interrupt us. No walls daunt our sight. We’ve proven that it’s possible to sail a clear line with no borders, as we want the world to be, until we get to Gaza.

Free Gaza is best described as a tactic but in practice, a tactic within a score of tactics active in the global solidarity movement. But it is an expensive one — and many have criticized the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been spent on the missions for boats and finding boats, flagging, registration, legal costs, management costs, port fees, crew pay, mooring fees, repairs, renovation, GPS, warehouses for cargo, crane and forklift hire. Collectively the cost of the Flotilla runs literally into the millions of euros. Some ask: “Isn’t that money better spent on ‘aid’?”

Every Palestinian family we met in Gaza, particularly after Israel’s invasion last winter kept saying to us: “We don’t want aid, we need a political solution; we need our rights. Our issue cannot be reduced or swapped into bags of flour or food parcels. Palestine is not a humanitarian issue — it is a political one.” This reality, of the need for justice, tests the aid industry in Palestine, and the false “objectivity” and lack of political will in the face of human suffering with the claim: “We don’t take sides. We want to continue to keep giving our humanitarian aid.”

Well, we do take sides — that of direct democracy over occupation and apartheid.

This flotilla is an interruption to a discourse of power that says — governments know best, leave it to us to negotiate new “freedoms” and realities; a continuation of not even top-down but top-to-top processes of keeping power out of the hands of ordinary people. Leaders fly from continent to continent, round table discussions go round and round, elephants in the room stamp their feet and roar ignored. This flotilla puts that power back into our hands — to interrupt this ongoing Nakba.

We will not stop. From 1948 until now, history keeps repeating itself, colonies keep expanding, corporations keep reaping the rewards of reproducing repression; daily dispossession and casual killing is normalized, and alienation from the consequences of our work and actions keeps us compartmentalized. The occupation is reproduced on a daily basis in factories, classrooms, courtrooms, cinemas, art galleries, supermarkets and holiday resorts. Radical refusal, radical transgressions can make change happen. Refusing to be alienated from our brothers and sisters and recognizing our community is the essence of solidarity.

This flotilla represents radical solidarity and a force that can be realized when people from all over the world act on their conscience. It’s a force made real through stepping out onto the streets or into occupation-supporting businesses, through speaking out, through fundraising in mosques, churches, synagogues, schools; through writing, singing, sharing, relaying and promoting, and packing and driving boxes of materials and cement, and cheering on and praying for and protesting any attack.

Israel may well succeed in stopping us — but this is an unknown and here is power in that. We can affect that which hasn’t happened yet.

When Rachel Corrie stood in front of the bulldozer driver that killed her, she acted on radical trust — that the soldier would see her humanity. She lost, because the soldier had lost his humanity. Yet Rachel’s faith abides in each of us. Because if our oppressors are losing their humanity then we must never stop showing them that we have it. We are undertaking this mission in the spirit of those who have fought and sacrificed their lives for our collective humanity, and to remind everyone who can see of the need to act on it.

Ewa Jasiewicz is a coordinator with the Free Gaza Movement (http://www.freegaza.org/).

For updates on the Freedom Flotilla, including the Emergency Response Plan (in the event that Israel launches a military attack or naval blockade), please visit Gaza Freedom March’s Freedom Flotilla Support page.

Source: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11266.shtml

Name: Sleepless in Gaza…and Jerusalem
Year: 2010
Duration: Appx. 30 mins. per episode

If you haven’t heard of this show, please do yourself a favor and watch at least one episode. Sleepless in Gaza…and Jerusalem is a reality-style show shot exclusively in Occupied Palestine and broadcast exclusively on the show’s YouTube Channel. They began shooting on March 1st, 2010 and plan to do 90 shows in 90 days (currently, they are on episode 73). Every episode is shot, edited, translated (when necessary), and uploaded onto YouTube on the same day!

From their channel:

Sleepless in Gaza…and Jerusalem is a video diary about young Palestinian women, Muslim and Christian, living in Gaza, Jerusalem and the rest of The West Bank. We will make 90 films in 90 days, non-stop, no scripts and no intervention! The idea here is to show you the real life of Palestinians through the daily activities of the Sleepless Girls!…..The intention of this series is neither rant nor rhetoric. It is rather an opportunity for those who do not live in Palestine to grasp how real people live out their daily lives, precisely because their lives are stories that journalists are too often told by their editors to think of almost dismissively as human interest and almost necessarily conflict driven.

You can watch the series at the following link:

Sleepless in Gaza….and Jerusalem

The Gaza Freedom March may have passed, but Palestinians in Gaza continue to march for their freedom on a daily basis. They are protesting the illegal, Israeli buffer zone, pretty much every day now. This buffer zone stretches across approximately 300 metres and annexes Palestinians’ land used for agriculture, work, and most importantly, homes. The IDF illegally imposes this buffer zone along the Israeli border in Gaza and claims to reserve the right to shoot at anyone who breaches this arbitrarily annexed land.

For the past months, Palestinians in Gaza, joined by many international activists, have been peacefully and non-violently resisting the buffer zone in what has become almost daily protests at the border. The protests are modeled after the long-standing weekly protests in Ni’lin and Bil’in in the West Bank.

Today, a young man, Ahmed Deeb, 21-years-old, was shot by IDF soldiers with what is called a “dum-dum” bullet, which basically explodes inside your body, on impact. Ahmed was hit in the leg and the bullet severed his femoral artery. He lost a lot of blood and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Ahmed is the latest of too many martyrs who have been killed by the occupation forces. For more information, please visit: http://palsolidarity.org/2010/04/12163

[youtube w1gY4dxqifA]

This incident marks the latest in the cruel and extreme response the IDF exhibits when faced with peaceful, non-violent protesters fighting for the right to live, work, and play on their own land. In the past month alone, 19 Palestinian and international activists and demonstrators have been injured by live ammunition. Three were shot just in the past 5 days. This is more than just some tear gas, which demonstrators have grown accustomed to. These are live bullets, shot at demonstrators, with the intention of injuring them! Why? Because they were throwing rocks, according to soldiers. Rocks vs. Bullets…guess who wins?

Bianca Zimmit, an international activist from Malta, was also shot just days ago, while demonstrating at the buffer zone. she sums up the situation best when she says, “We were holding Palestinian flags on Palestinian land.” Here is her own footage of her getting shot. For more on her story, you can visit Max Ajl’s blog: http://www.maxajl.com/?p=3489

[youtube b__rZ3yjlW8]

These incidences have been escalating over the past months and it’s becoming very clear that non-violent, peaceful resistance is the “Achilles heel” of the Israeli occupation. Palestinians and internationals alike, neither have let this violent response stop them from what continuing the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Most, if not all, of them plan to return to the next demo, as soon as they are back on their feet. They are not afraid of bullets, they are not afraid of the IDF, they are not even afraid of death, because they know that whatever happens, they’re on the right side of history. Whatever happens, they’re fighting for freedom, justice, and the liberation of an occupied people. And nothing can shake that determination…not even the possibility of death.

We pray for the God’s love and mercy to shower the martyrs and their families, both in this life and in the hereafter. And we pray for Palestine to live and breathe the freedom she has only dreamed of. Ameen.

Also, if you have not yet done so, please consider joining the GFM mailing list for email updates and action alerts.

REEL Thursdays aims to share a weekly dose of movies, documentaries, and independent films which deal with a variety of important issues including, but not limited to, human rights, political activism, social justice, non-violent peace movements, and stories of struggle, resistance, and triumph in an otherwise oppressive world.

And now for our first REEL Thursdays feature…

Title: In the Spider’s Web
Year: 2004
Duration: 47 mins.

In the Spider’s Web is a documentary produced by Al-Haq and is part of Al-Haq’s campaign to stop collective punishment practiced by Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

In the Spider’s Web provides an overview of these punitive measures against the Palestinian civilians. While the film mainly addresses the accounts of two women, it also highlights the impact that collective punishment has on the whole civilian population. The film also takes the audience to a girls’ school in Hebron, where it shows a typical day in the lives of these students. The documentary also seeks to capture and relay some of the disastrous implications of the continuing construction of the Annexation Wall and the further expropriation of land for its construction.

The film is in Arabic with English subtitles and can be viewed on YouTube at the following link. (Just click on Part 1 and it will automatically play the consecutive parts in the playlist.)

In the Spider’s Web

Today is March 16th, 2010 and although this day may not carry a sentimental value for some, it carries the lasting memory of a true hero for many others. Today is considered Rachel Corrie Day in many peoples’ minds across the world.

Rachel Corrie was a non-violent peace activist fighting for Palestinian human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Exactly 7 years ago, she was killed by an Caterpillar bulldozer operated by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) while trying to prevent the IDF from demolishing the home of a local Palestinian pharmacist, Samir Nasrallah. She was 23 years old at the time.

Rachel had taken a year off from school to travel to the Gaza Strip during the Second Intifada to help the helpless in the Palestine. She used her body (and her life) as a shield against the unjustified oppression carried out by the state of Israel, on the Palestinian people. Since her death, many solidarity actions take place around the world on this, the Rachel Corrie Day of Conscience.

Just last week, her family, after waiting 7 years, has finally received its day in an Israeli court to hear the testimonies of those present at her killing, and hopefully receive the justice they deserve by placing accountability on those responsible. They also understand that this is an opportunity that hundreds and thousands of Palestinians never receive, every day. We wish them all the best in their quest for peace and justice for their daughter, for the Palestinian people, as well as all oppressed peoples around the world.

On this day of conscience, I’m thinking about the bravery and courage of the young Rachel Corrie, and how her story should inspire us all to always do what is right in the face of oppression, regardless of our fears and uncertainties about the future. On this day, we keep the memory of Rachel alive.

In honor of her memory, I’d like to share a video of a speech Rachel gave when she was in the 5th grade. It is truly heartwarming, inspiring, and a clear predictor of her heroic nature as an adult.

[youtube UK8Z3i3aTq4 Rachel Corrie - I'm Here Because I Care]

To learn more about Rachel Corrie and her family’s ongoing law suit, please visit the Rachel Corrie Foundation.

To find out about solidarity actions taking place in your area, or to register your action, please visit the GFM Rachel Corrie page.

To learn more about what you can do to stop Caterpillar from selling bulldozers to Israel, to be used as military weapons, please visit the GFM Caterpillar page.

May Rachel always be remembered in the hearts and minds of all people around the world. May she be a constant reminder of the courage and bravery needed to fight for freedom and justice and against evil and oppression. And may she be granted the infinite love and mercy of the Almighty.

This is a brief somewhat lengthy synopsis of how Barack Obama handled the issue of Palestine during two speeches he gave last week: The State of the Union address on Jan. 27 and a town-hall meeting in Tampa on Jan. 28.

The State of the Union address

The energy was in the air once again on Wednesday night, as America’s first black president gave yet another historic speech: the State of the Union address, his first one ever (honestly, last year’s doesn’t count; he was barely president for less than a month!). Tensions were high as many Americans were reminded once again of where exactly the country stands in regards to the issues that affect them and their families the most: the economy, health care, one two three full-fledged wars in the middle-east. So I sat down to watch the State of the Union, for the first time on the other side of the border, in Canada.  I caught it on the White House’s website, which had a convenient little Facebook app right on the page so users could send out instant updates about their reactions to the speech…I don’t have to tell you that I used that thing to it’s full capacity

So what was in this oh-so-historic, can’t-be-missed address? Well, aside from the redundant references to the mess that he inherited when getting into office, the wonderful job he’s done in killing more “terrorists” than Bush did in 2008 (his words, not mine), and the fact that he’s not really interested in punishing the banks but more interested in “protecting the economy” (whatever that means), Obama and his two wingmen, Biden and Pelosi, made it very clear that this entire sham of a speech was just one big performance for the masses. If you watched the 70-minute speech, it was very hard to ignore the obviously staged laughter, applause, laughter, applause, applause, applause, laughter…it was like clock-work. Honestly, it felt like everything was one big inside joke for all those in attendance; well, except for the supreme court justices seated right up at the front. They didn’t laugh at or clap for anything; probably because they’re under a lot of heat for their recent decision to overturn a ban on direct corporate spending on campaigns….yep, as of now, corporations officially have the same freedoms afforded to individual persons in that sense. So say hello to the new sponsor of Candidate A’s 2012 election campaign: Lockheed Martin and Candidate B’s election campaign: The Rand Coporation!

All I got from the speech was more wars, America has to be #1 (at what, we don’t really know), and a cruel reminder of all the broken campaign promises made by Obama in the run-up to his election:

1. Repeal the Patriot Act? Nope
2. Close Guantanamo? Nope
3. Post all new legislation online for 5 days before its acted upon? Nope
4. Pull all soldiers out of Iraq? Note even close.

There’s many more, but I don’t want to bore anger you even more. Now let’s get to the good stuff: Palestine! What did Mr. Commander-in-Chief have to say about the most blatantly neglected issue over this past year? First, let me explain why exactly I’m interested in hearing his input on this issue. Last year when Israel was bombing the hell out of Gaza for over three weeks straight, newly elected president, Barack Obama, surprisingly had NOTHING to say on the matter! Surprising because if any one is going to say something about anything, it’s his eloquent majesty himself. So this was infuriating as is. In his own defence, he claimed that since technically he hadn’t taken office yet, he didn’t feel it was appropriate to make an official statement on the issue so as not to “confuse” the country…uhh yeah, ok?!?!

So Wednesday night was like a movie premier for me, with popcorn and all! He ran through the usual (or expected) suspects: Iran? – check… Haiti? – check… “Terrorists”? – check… even “Don’t ask, don’t tell” – check…. Palestine? ***silence***. Absolutely nothing! Not even a single breath about Palestine, Gaza, or any of the atrocities being committed in the region for not just the past year, but decades and decades. He didn’t even talk about Afghanistan! or even Pakistan! That can only mean one of two things: 1) either he’s afraid to talk about them because of how obviously wrong his policies are in regards to those issues, or 2) he’s failing so badly in all three areas, he deemed it better not to even mention them, hoping the American people would just magically think they don’t exist anymore. And I don’t doubt that a major chunk of the public actually did fall into that group.

So there you have it, Obama’s first and historic State of the Union was just a large farce meant to satiate the appetite of the public by telling them what they wanted to hear, while at the same time sparing them the details of the not-so-honorable actions committed in their name around the world. Cindy Sheehan’s synopsis of the night explains it perfectly:

It’s not the real state of the union–it’s another 75 MINUTE INFO-MERCIAL FOR THE EMPIRE–APPLAUSE–APPLAUSE–APPLAUSE—Nancy wear your lavender–Joe you wear a blue-striped tie and Barry, you wear a red striped tie—pretend that we’re one with the Robbed Class.

The Town-Hall meeting in Tampa, FL

The very next day at the University of Tampa in Florida, Obama and VP Biden hosted a town-hall meeting in which they announced a new recovery act for the building of a nationwide high-speed rail system, meant to “create jobs and transform travel in America.” So you can understand why it was so shocking and unexpected when University of South Florida student, Laila Abdelaziz (who actually volunteered for Obama during his campaign) stood up and asked him a question on the US’ stance on human rights. Obama was most likely expecting questions about job creation or even the health-care bill, but instead what he got was:

Last night you spoke in your State of the Union address you spoke of America’s support for human rights. Then, why have we not condemned Israel and Egypt’s human rights violations against the occupied Palestinian people? And yet we continue supporting them financially with billions of dollars from our tax dollars?

Wow! Excellent question, Laila! I couldn’t even imagine what B.O. would have to say to this. He surely must have had a perfectly pre-planned answer to this that he keeps in his mind’s back pocket for when the need arises, right? Check for yourself:

[youtube DJ3rqAoahAw Obama town hall human rights question]

Let me allow you to digest that a little before getting into this…First of all, did you see how long it took him to finally begin to answer the question? He’s here talking about being courteous and pointing out someone’s Mardi Gras beads??? Are you kidding me? That’s the oldest trick in the book, invented by 6 year olds…Just stall the questioner by diverting his attention away from the issue, so you can collect your thoughts and formulate the perfect lie. I’ve never ever seen him stumble like that before; so much so that I thought it was impossible to catch Barry off his game for even a second. Laila clearly proved me wrong!

Then when he actually starts to answer the question, he comes up with an absurd statement like this:

The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries…

What?!? The Middle East is an issue that has plagued the Middle East (the region)? Does this even make sense? And for centuries?!? Does this man even hear what he’s saying? This absolute nonsense is what you get when Barry is kept away from his teleprompter for too long.

He then goes on to provide the same, polished, formulated statement on the US’ unwavering support for “Israel’s security, and helping them secure themselves in what is a really hostile region.”

But the best part is when he “acknowledges” the plight of the Palestinians in his answer. Apparently, the reason that it is important for us to pay attention to the plight of the Palestinians is “…because it is not good for our security, and it is not good for Israel’s security if you’ve got millions of individuals who feel hopeless, who don’t have an opportunity to get an education, or get a job…” That’s why it’s important to pay attention to Palestine! Man, why didn’t I think of that? Here I am thinking we should pay attention to their plight because they are an oppressed, occupied people with no home, no land, no shelter, or a single iota of basic human rights for the past 61 years, at least (not centuries, Mr. President).

Of course he then had to make a half-hearted mention of the  ”two-state solution” and how he’s working tirelessly on that. FYI: this so-called “solution” is a complete mockery of Palestinians’ rights and freedoms…but that’s a whole other issue.

Now, onto the “compromises” that both sides have to make in order to make this “solution” work:

• Palestine: renounce violence AND recognize Israel
• Israel: acknowledge…legitimate…grievances…and interests of the Palestinians

Ok sure, I see now. So basically Palestinians (who apparently live in “territories” by the way…see the effective use of language?) have “grievances” which should be filed with their occupier. You know, like when you have an issue at your job, you file a complaint or a grievance! That’s what he has reduced their plight, their human rights concerns, their very existence to: just mere grievances!

How unbelievably grotesque and undermining of an answer! Wait, was that even an answer? Let’s look at Laila’s question one more time: “Then, why have we not condemned Israel and Egypt’s human rights violations against the occupied Palestinian people?”

Oh I get it. It’s because they haven’t filed a “grievance”…

January 14, 2009

Dear Mr. President Barak H. Obama,

We, citizens of 43 countries, gathered in Cairo in December 2009, to travel to the occupied Gaza Strip to show solidarity with Palestinians who endured a massive and inhuman Israeli assault one year ago. We wanted to show them that we, citizens of the world, remember what our governments want us to forget: we remember that human beings live in the Gaza Strip. Men, women and children: mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, grandmothers and grandfathers: people like you and I.

We, citizens of democratic countries from 6 continents, who were forcibly stopped by the puppet Egyptian state from travelling to the Gaza Strip want to tell you that we remember the horror that was unleashed on the Gaza Strip a year ago. This week marks one year since US-ally Israel ended its lethal attack on the Gaza Strip: a year since phosphorus bombs, DIME bombs and other weapons of death and destruction deliberately targeted the defenseless civilian population of Gaza.

In your much quoted Cairo speech, you said,

“Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society. And just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel’s security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.”

And yet, Palestinians have seen nothing but more death and destruction since then. Your fine words in Cairo did not even result in Palestinians getting cement to rebuild their homes, mosques and schools.

The siege of occupied Gaza is collective punishment of the entire population, in violation of the 4^th Geneva Convention. As a lawyer, you must know this Convention is binding on all its signatories, including the United States, who are required to ensure the Convention is upheld. Yet, over the last few weeks, the infamy of the Israeli siege has been compounded by the construction of a new wall which will inevitably tighten still further the siege of Gaza and the humanitarian crisis which the siege was always designed to inflict. This new wall is being constructed by the Egyptian government with technical assistance from the US Army Corps of Engineers. Last month, the US authorised $1,040,000,000 in Foreign Military Assistance to Egypt including “border security programs and activities in the Sinai”.

Mr. President,

The collective punishment of occupied Gaza in the name of “border security” – in direct violation of the 4^th Geneva Convention – is the policy of your government.

You must also be aware that in Israel’s war of aggression on the occupied Gaza Strip, many civilians were massacred by Israel’s indiscriminate bombing – an act condemned by UN experts, including the respected South African, Judge Richard Goldstone – and leading human rights organizations, as war crimes and crimes against humanity. And yet you, a lawyer, ignore this incontrovertible evidence and continue to prop up the apartheid Israeli state. The assault in December 2008-January 2009 left over 1,440 Palestinians dead, predominantly civilians, of whom 431 were children. Another 5380 Palestinians were injured. These are not facts that we will forget, as we have not forgotten Deir Yassin, Sabra and Shatila, Jenin, Nablus, Beit Hanoun and over 60 years of Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people.

In your Cairo speech, you acknowledge the Palestinians’ right to nonviolent resistance. You even gave them advice to pursue it like African Americans, Indians, and South Africans:

For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America’s founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia.

And that is precisely what we wanted to do in the Gaza Strip, Mr. President: We wanted to walk together with the people of Gaza to register our abhorrence of the collective punishment that has been imposed on them; We wanted to demand an end to the hermetic siege that has been imposed on them since the democratic elections of 2006. And yes, we were also citizens from South Asia, from Eastern Europe and from South Africa, all gathered together in Cairo, so we do know both the humiliation of segregation and the power of collective action. And we intend to use that power to support our Palestinian brothers and sisters as they fight to regain their stolen homeland.

We, the undersigned, call upon you to end the siege, Mr. President. It is an ethical and moral responsibility that you cannot avoid. We, 1400 international activists from 43 countries planned to be in Gaza on December 31 to march with the Palestinians of Gaza and demand that Israel lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip immediately and permanently. We could not do so because the Government of Egypt, an ally of the US, refused to allow us to cross into the Gaza Strip even as they began construction of a new wall to tighten the siege. We were denied the right to show Palestinians that we support their right to their homeland as guaranteed under international law. We were denied the right to show Palestinians that we remember their pain and suffering.

We were denied our right to show Israel and the United States that we will not watch what it does to the Palestinians and remain silent. But we refused to be denied the right to walk in solidarity with the oppressed, even if from afar: and we did. We chose to walk and protest in solidarity with the people of Gaza in Cairo.

You, President Barak Obama, choose to walk in solidarity with the oppressor. You choose to ignore the pain and dispossession of the Palestinian people. Like your predecessors, Reagan and Thatcher, who said in 1987 that Nelson Mandela would never be the President of a democratic South Africa, you too, choose to ignore the will of the people.

You are on the wrong side of history, President Obama, because we, citizens of the world, will not accept a Palestine that is occupied.

You are on the wrong side of history, President Obama, because our collective action, together with the action of Palestinians inside and outside Palestine and millions of people who recognise their just cause, will ensure a free Palestine in our lifetime. Of this we are certain.

Signed

1,361 international citizens from 43 countries

On Wednesday, SPHR-Ryerson hosted Dr. Mads Gilbert, MD, PhD for his presentation, “Eye in Gaza”.  Dr. Mads Gilbert is an internationally-acclaimed doctor, professor, local politician, and Head of the Dept. of Emergency at the University of North Norway. During the 3-week brutal assault on Gaza last year, Dr. Mads Gilbert and his colleague Dr. Erik Fosse were the only two foreign doctors allowed into the region. They spent their entire time there embedded in the overcrowded and understaffed Al-Shifaa hospital. Dr. Mads Gilbert became the world’s window into the prison known as Gaza, providing regular updates on the atrocities taking place there. He has been seen on Al-Jazeera, BBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and more.

Dr. Mads Gilbert has described his time in the region as the most horrific and terrible thing he had ever witnessed. He co-authored the book “Eyes in Gaza” with his colleague, Dr. Erik Fosse, and embarked on a 16-campus North American tour in January and February of 2010.  Here in Toronto, he spoke at Ryerson University to a packed room of eagerly attentive eyes and ears.

He began by introducing himself and giving us some background on his history, qualifications, and professional life. He’s a very interesting man; having spent over 30 years doing solidarity work with Palestinians, he has served as a doctor during numerous periods in Occupied Palestine and Lebanon. He is also quite a controversial figure in the medical profession due to his strong position on merging medical and political issues. On being a doctor as well as a politician, Gilbert has said the two roles are indistinguishable, and that “there is little in medicine that isn’t politics”.

Gilbert’s presentation was unlike any I’ve ever seen either on the Gaza assault in particular, or on Palestine in general. He warned us beforehand of the graphic images he would be displaying; but unlike other presentations where graphic images are used purely for shock value, Dr. Gilbert uses them to tell a story, making sure to provide us with background on the victims’ lives, “introducing” us to them, giving them a name and human value. This took away the shock value; all eyes were glued on the screen, no matter how horrific or appalling the scenes. These were people, young and old, with lives, families, futures, aspirations…All taken away in an instant, most times at the simple press of a button.

However, this presentation was not just another “horrible scenes of war” lecture. Gilbert’s political activism was clearly woven into his entire talk; never dismissing an opportunity to clarify his stance on the Palestine/Israel issue. At times, his words were shocking; not because of what he said, but because I’ve never heard a medical professional speak his mind so freely about anything political, let alone a topic as controversial (and for some, career-ending) as that of Palestine. It was quite refreshing to say the least.

He ended his presentation with a message to all of us to get involved with Palestine, and particularly to drive the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement to the forefront of the struggle for Palestinian liberation. This was exciting to hear because that is exactly the direction we are moving with regards to the newly-drafted Cairo Declaration which came out of our time in Cairo with the Gaza Freedom March. We will be contacting him with information on this, and asking for his endorsement in the near future.

Of course, no discussion on Palestine or Gaza is complete without some good old-fashioned debate (if you can call it that) in the audience. During the Q&A session, which was still surprisingly civil, an Israeli IDF medical professional who was deployed to the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead stood up and voiced his dissatisfaction and frustration with many of the statements Dr. Gilbert expressed during his lecture, especially in regards to Israeli doctors during the assault. Gilbert was shedding light on the discrimination that takes place in Israeli hospitals when doctors give preference to Israeli patients over Palestinians, but the IDF doctor took it personally and insisted that he always did his duty on the ground and treated all casualties as is morally required of any medical professional.

When someone brought up the fact that those “casualties” need not exist in the first place and raised the issue of the blatantly disproportionate figures, including civilian casualties, this IDF doctor’s response was that, “there’s always a large difference between Israeli and Palestinian deaths” during wars and the numbers are usually at least 100 to 1. I don’t need to tell you what happened after that, but let’s just say that after the talk was over, our little IDF friend was bombarded with questions, arguments, and debates for probably another 30-40 minutes. I didn’t stay and watch…

All in all, it was the best lecture/presentation I’ve seen in a very long time and I can’t stop telling people to go see it if he’s coming to a city near you. Most locations are across Canada, but Chicago, New York, and New Jersey are also hosting him in the coming weeks. For more information on dates and locations, visit: SPHR’s Event Page.