Palestinians begin sit-in at Rafah crossing calling for end to Israeli-imposed blockade

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Date: 21 / 01 / 2008 Time: 14:30


Children demonstrate at UN offices
in Gaza City on Sunday
Gaza – Ma'an – Crowds of Palestinians joined lawmakers, clerics, scholars and even medical patients in ambulances to being an open-ended sit-in at the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Monday, calling for the border to be opened.

Hamas lawmaker Yahya Mousa appealed to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other Arab leaders to intervene immediately help lift the embargo on the Gaza Strip has resulted in the deaths of more than 70 patients since June.

After months of sanctions, Israel imposed a total closure on the Gaza Strip's border crossings since Friday. Apparently under pressure from Israel, Egypt has also kept the Rafah crossing closed since June. With Monday's demonstration, the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip is seeking to put pressure on Egypt and the Arab world generally to aid Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

More than half the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million residents went without electricity on Sunday night after the Gaza Strip's power plant ran out of fuel.

Hamas lawmaker Salah Bardawil said that the Palestinian people have the right to lift the siege "by any means." He also called upon the Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah crossing.

Bardawil said that the sit-in will continue until the crossing is opened and the siege is over.

Furthermore, Bardawil called on the Arab donor countries to offer direct financial assistance to the Gaza Strip, without transferring it through the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority because, "that government deprives thousands of Gaza Strip families of that aid."

http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=27347

[Ilsa]

1. UN says Gaza facing food shortage

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7200037.stm

UN food aid to about 860,000 people in the Gaza Strip will have to be suspended within days if Israel's blockade continues, the UN has warned.

Spokesman Christopher Gunness said the UN relief agency UNWRA was running short of nylon for plastic bags and fuel for vehicles and generators.

Egypt has urged Israel to lift its border closure and the crisis is being discussed by the Arab League.

~~~~~~~~

Yeah, if I thought my family would go hungry or die from lack of energy to provide medical care, etc, I'd probably participate as well. I'm hoping this can be resolved without bloodshed.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

2. I would participate even if my family weren't at death's door.

Three cheers for nonviolent resistance!

[skooooo]

3. Personally, I think non-violent resistance...

....is the Palestinians' best hope of changing things.

[pelsar]

4. i'm with you all the way here....

bring in the food, electricity, etc..fuk them israelis!

[ProgressiveMuslim]

5. Note: Resistantce is aimed primarily at Israel's criminal siege.

Perhaps you could organize a non-violent sit-on on the Israel side of the Erez checkpoint?

[pelsar]

6. dont want to...am not so dumb

the only thing that would be is a "target rich" environment for the kassams and the mortars which reach erez.

the protestors sit in on the rafah border has but a single aim....egypt (otherwise if would be at erez or other israeli crossing points)


the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip is seeking to put pressure on Egypt and the Arab world generally to aid Palestinians in the Gaza Strip

GO HAMAS!!....pressure on Egypt! (about time)

[Tom Joad]

8. see below, its happening Saturday.

[pelsar]

11. i thought about what you wrote above...

and i think that is the primary reason for the Palestenians miserable society today...The primary goal is not improving the lives of citizen Palestine, as your wrote, its the resistance......"punishing, pressuring israel" as opposed to figuring out the best way to get in supplies.

in my opinion, thats a pretty screwed up set of values....

btw you might want to listen to Saeb Erkat.....as how he sees the "resistance"....and how its been so destructive to Palestenian society

[Tom Joad]

7. On the Israeli side, protests are planned for Saturday.

Saturday, January 26th, relief convoys will depart from Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beer Sheva, bearing signs "GAZA: LIFT THE BLOCKADE!" Converging at Yad Mordechai at 12 noon, the rally will be at Erez Checkpoint at 13.00. On the other side will be hundreds of Gazans, organised by The Palestinian International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (www.end-gaza-siege.ps <http://www.end-gaza-siege.ps/> ), including psychiatrist and human rights activist, Dr. Eyad Sarraj.

The convoy will carry vital supplies, with an especial focus on water filters, since the water of Gaza is an undrinkable cocktail of brine, sewage, pesticides and oil, with levels of nitrates ten times higher than those set by the WHO, and coliform eight times higher: denial of filters to Gazans is an unacceptable violation of basic humanitarian standards. We will insist that the military authorities allow the goods entry into Gaza, are prepared for prolonged stay near Erez, and a public/judicial campaign.

January 26, 2008 is an International Day of Action, when worldwide peace groups will hold protest actions against the danger of war in the Middle East.

Participating: Gush Shalom, Coalition of Women for Peace, New Profile, Combatants for Peace, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Physicians for Human Rights (Israel), Hadash, Balad, Adalah, Tarabut-Hithabrut, Bat Shalom, Bat Tzafon, Anarchists Against the Wall, Follow-up Committee of the Arab Population in Israel, Alternative Information Center, Psychoactive, ActiveStills and Student Coalition – Tel Aviv Univ.

In the US, there will be some support actions. Including in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

9. There ya go, Pelsar!

[pelsar]

10. and will hamas attack them?

other times when israel opened up its borders to bring in supplies those areas were attacked...but far more important, is the "beggar mentality"....That the Palestenians cant do anything on their own...somebody else MUST come to help them.

thats the defeatest attitude.....thats not what we instill in our kids and dont want in our own society.....The protest at rafah is far more important. A Palestenian initiative based on pressuring an outside group to do what they want them to do, even though they dont want to... (in an acceptable method that doesnt involve violence)

__

bringing supplies is nice..but its not going to solve the problem....

[Scurrilous]

18. Left-wing activists protest Gaza blockade at Erez border crossing

Dozens of buses carrying a thousand leftists arrive at Erez crossing to bring food, humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza Strip and to protest blockade on enclave. MKs from Balad and Hadash, youth from Sderot take part

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3498945,00.html

<snip>

"More than a thousand left-wing activists made their way to the Erez border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Saturday in order to bring food and medical equipment to the costal enclave.

The activists held a demonstration against the Israeli-imposed blockade on the Strip. Palestinians on the opposite side of the crossing also organized a rally of their own.

Twenty-five buses and around 100 cars arrived at Erez from all over Israel. The activists collected three tons of food and medical supplies during the demonstration. The items will be brought to the Kerem Shalom crossing where, according to the protesters, they will be transferred to Palestinians in Gaza on Monday.

MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) attended the event and called for an end to the blockade and the reopening of border crossings to the Hamas-held enclave.

"The Israeli government holds the responsibility for the humanitarian disaster in Gaza," Zahalka said during the protest. According to the MK, Israel is employing "fascist methods" by preventing food and fuel from reaching the area."


Good on them! :thumbsup:

[Scurrilous]

12. Report: Dozens hurt in Rafah Crossing clashes

Egyptian troops fight off Palestinian protestors gathered at crossing, calling for its immediate opening as means to ease Israeli siege on Gaza. Egyptians use dogs, water hoses to scatter protestors; several Palestinians arrested

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3497427,00.html

<snip>

"Thousands of Palestinian protestors clashed with Egyptian security forces at Rafah Crossing Tuesday, after demanding the crossing be opened in order to ease the Gaza siege.

Palestinians reported of 50 female protestors injured, 15 of them suffering gunshot wounds while the rest lost consciousness.

The Egyptian security forces fought off the protestors, beating them and using dogs and water hoses to push them back. Several Palestinians were arrested by the Egyptian forces."

<snip>

"Some of the protestors were able to ram through the crossing onto its Egyptian side, where hundreds of Egyptian troops awaited them, and dispersed then using clubs.

The Egyptians forces apparently deployed ahead of time, expecting such an incident.

Palestinian organizations have threatened such a move several times over the past few days, saying that should the Egyptians keep Rafah Crossing closed, they would force their way through it, in order to ease the blockade on Gaza.

Some of the protestors hurled rocks at security personnel, reproaching them for what they called "the Egyptian and Arab nations' participation in the Gaza siege conspiracy."

[bemildred]

13. Damn, why can't these people starve quietly?

:sarcasm:

[Vegasaurus]

14. If the Israelis had "dispersed using clubs"

or beat them or used dogs or water hoses, imagine the outcry!

[Scurrilous]

15. I think the Palestinians would consider...

...dogs and water hoses a pleasant change from the usual rubber bullets or live fire.

[Vegasaurus]

16. well 15 suffered gunshot wounds

so I guess there was live fire.

Oops.

[Scurrilous]

17. I thought we were discussing the Israelis...

...and what the reaction would be if they used water hoses and dogs to disperse protesters.

I'd imagine such tactics would be preferable to the what they've employed in the past.