24 Hours in Gaza – Viva Palestina Convoy
Thursday started by watching a press conference featuring Gazan Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh with members of the Neturei Karta, an organization of anti-Zionist Rabbis from Munsey, New York, who traveled with the caravan. Haniyeh emphasized that the government and the people of Gaza take no issue with Jews, but rather with Zionism and the ongoing oppression and blockade by Israel. Rabbi Dovid Weissman concurred that Jews, Christians and Muslims had coexisted peacefully in Muslim countries for centuries prior to the birth of Zionism, and asked for the people of Gaza to join him in praying for the peaceful dismantlement of the state of Israel.
The group then drove around the Gaza Strip in buses to see the aftermath of the bombing onslaught 6 months ago before attending another press conference at the Legislative Assembly and traveling to Shafa Hospital in Gaza City to deliver the medical aid which was brought from the United States and gathered in Cairo. Finally, delegates met with families of some of the 11,000 prisoners being held in Israel at the Ministry of Prisoners in Tel Alhwa, where children of parents killed in December and January also addressed the group.
Neturei Karta, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish movement within the anti-Zionist bloc, visit to Gaza
« click for more info
Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh presents Neturei Karta supporters with a map of `Palestine' (photo: Wissam Nassar/Flash90)
« click for more info
President Carter cries for PalestineIsrael Destroys American School in Gaza, Kills Guard by Juan Cole
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports of Israel’s heavy artillery bombardment of densely populated Gaza on Saturday that “The American School north of Gaza was directly hit and almost completely destroyed, with one school guard killed. In addition, at least three to five schools were damaged by Israeli shelling of nearby targets.” I presume that this is the school working to promote US good relations with Palestinians that now no longer exists. Of course, the rest of the humanitarian situation is pretty bad, too-“Distribution of food assistance to the most vulnerable is erratic due to the security situation.”
The OCHA [pdf] issued the following report regarding the Gaza humanitarian situation, about 4 hours before Israel invaded.
Info from my diary of July 2009 – News on Settlement Building West Bank, the previous Gaza War, a lesson for the new Obama administration. On January 16, 2009 – Bloody Tuesday in Gaza. [Yes, 4 days before Obama’s eclatant Inauguration Day in Washington DC]
“Don’t stop me,” signed Bibi. Later Obama schmoozed with Sarkozy: “He is a liar.” No firm stand by Barack Obama, you can push him to the limits and he lacks courage to move on the world stage. It’s getting murkier and murkier.
Recent diary – Founding Fathers and God Given Rights of Palestinians.
