Peace and Safety - American Embassy what's going on?

NewsTeam: Trails of Tragedies (E33)

Susan Robens Photography

This is a great newscast, real journalism in getting the stories in real time.  Part is in Gaza and the other part is in the Ukraine covering the MH17 plane Crash of Malaysia Airlines.

I must mention if you pay attention around 17:15 where they show the site of the crash, you will notice a book that is not burned, a stuffed animal that is not burned and other objects.  The black box was found.  Compare that to the crash sites on 9/11.  I am not talking about the one at the WTC where we should have found the real black box, but the other crash sites.  At both sites, you do not see any plane or personal debris.  There are no bodies anywhere in the videos.  Strange huh?  Come on, reality check.  Reality folks, obvious reality.

Obama Letter: Aid to Israel should comply with the Law

reposted:  Jewish Voice for Peace

“My family in Israel has bomb shelters. They are, actually, safe. In Gaza, there is no such thing as “safe.” Please, ask your friends to join me in asking President Obama to make aid to Israel contingent on not using it to target civilians.”


I wear many hats. I’m a dad, a videographer, a Jewish Israeli, a veteran. But I’m telling you my story, and asking you to forward this email and ask your friends to sign this letter to President Obama about US military aid to Israel, as a human being, as a citizen of the world, and as someone who deeply cares about the people in Israel and Gaza.
My wife, kids and I live just on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, where life during the past weeks for the most part carried on as normal. 
There were four sirens in the eight days of the Israeli operation, which means we had to move into a room in the house that has reinforced concrete walls. In our case, we went down to our apartment building’s bomb shelter for 10 minutes—as far as I know every apartment building in Israel has one. Fortunately, the kids took it well and were not scared.
In the south close to the border with Gaza where I’ve been working, life is much, much different.  People who could do so temporarily moved northward and stayed with family and friends out of rocket and mortar range.
Being outdoors when the siren goes off in the south is quite scary. Most rockets are relatively small, up to 12 pounds of explosives, and cannot bring down a building. But in the open space they splatter lots of metal fragments.
The bigger long distance rockets that were fired at lower intervals were the "Fajar" Rockets that carry 90 lbs of explosives. They cannot bring down a building but can destroy an apartment and killed 3 people in an apartment building. People in bomb shelters are considered to be safe.

And of course, the Iron Dome defense system reportedly destroyed 85% of rockets headed towards Israeli populated areas.
Still, in the south, the sirens went off many times a day and there was no school and no work because parents naturally wanted to be near their kids.
In contrast, in Gaza, the bombs dropped by the Israeli military ranged from 500 to 1,000 pounds, and in the past, also 2,000 pounds.  Ten or 20 times more powerful than those which they have sent our way.
When I’d go to our bomb shelter with my family, I would think of families like mine in Gaza. They had no sirens, no Iron Dome defense, no shelters, and because they are essentially trapped, nowhere to go.
But mostly, I thought about how terrified I'd be during the bombings.
There is no safe place to go in Gaza.
It wouldn’t matter if buildings had shelters since the Israeli bombs often flatten the building they hit. There's literally nothing left.  
I want you to ask your friends to sign this letter to President Obama asking him to make aid to Israel contingent on not using it to target civilians because there is no military solution. Not for Palestinians. Not for us Israelis.
To reach a true peace for all of us, Israeli and Palestinian, our governments must choose diplomacy over more bombing. The Israeli government must end its terrible siege of the Palestinians.
And the US must stop sending my government weapons they know will be used to violate the law and harm civilians.
I am happy we've reached a cease-fire and I hope this will lead to negotiations with the Hamas government. I remind myself that the British in pre-state Israel also considered the Israeli political groups terrorist entities.
With hopes for a fair and lasting peace for both of our peoples,

Dear President Obama,

We are Americans from small towns and big cities, and we are Palestinians and Israelis a world away. We are the women, men, and children who are suffering every single day in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, and we are the people from across the world who seek to end that suffering. We are mothers of soldiers and children of refuseniks. We are Jews and Muslims, Christians and atheists, and people of the many other traditions of the world.

And we are all united by our determination to see a truly just peace take root in Israel and Palestine. That goal became even more elusive during your first term, but the American voters have just given you a second chance to make history.

Our request is simple.

Fifteen church leaders have bravely spoken out in a letter to Congress--stating a principle that should be obvious: Israel, the biggest long-term recipient of US aid, should not be above the law. Mr. President, please condition US aid to Israel on compliance with US and international law. It must not be used to violate the rights of Palestinians.

Anything less is a danger to Palestinians, to Israelis, to Americans and to the entire world.

Pakistani view on Palestine

Editor: Sir Zafrulla Khan on Palestine

reposted

Now that Israeli slaughter is underway yet again, it is an appropriate moment for Pakistanis to show solidarity with Palestinians by recalling what Sir Zafrulla Khan – the author of thePakistan Resolution – had to say about the “partition” of Palestine in the year of the Nakbah. Lamentably, due to the predicament of our own country under the second amendment, Sir Zafrulla Khan (KCSI, 1893 – 1985, our first foreign minister, representative at the UN, judge at the ICJ and of course the Pakistan Resolution’s draftsman), an adherent of the reformist Ahmadi Muslim community, would be considered a “non-Muslim”.

Yet the perversion of the meaning of the word “Muslim” to appease the mullahstreet is incapable of denting Sir Zafrulla’s arguments in support of Palestinians. It remains very much the case that Sir Zafrulla wrote Palestine in the U.N.O. as aMusalman. Of that there is no doubt. Equally, he wrote to expose the truth about what happened in the UN.  But in the context of our own country, no doubt much to his torment, Sir Zafrulla also lived to see his (and Mr Jinnah’s) dream of asecular Pakistan being destroyed.

Our focus today, however, is not the vile state of the law in Pakistan. (But we nonetheless urge our politicians to repeal all non-secular enactments immediately.) Rather, we seek to show solidarity with the people of Palestine who are again being slaughtered by the Israelis: the latest attacks in Gaza have already claimed 67 lives (including pregnant women and more than a dozen children) and no doubt many more innocents will perish under Israel’s merciless and random attacks.

Sir Zafrulla’s seminal 1948 account of how things went in the UN in respect of the problem of Palestine is strikingly similar to later analyses by western journalists and Palestinian activists (see for example David Hirst, The Gun and the Olive Branch, 1977; Sari Nusseibeh, Once Upon A Country, 2003). Land grabbing was the issue at the heart of the problem. And it was facilitated by Jewish immigration. The Palestinians were not the “problem” and the Jews were the “terrorists”: Lord Moyne’s  assassination by Lehi in 1944, the bombing of the King David Hotel by Irgun in 1946 and Count Bernadotte’s murder by Lehi in 1948 (headed by none other than Yitzhak Shamir, who went on to become Israel’s prime minister) confirm this fact.  So not much has changed. And although the British, who bear the responsibility of creating the conflict, would no longer call the Israelis “terrorists”, had he still been alive Sir Zafrulla would continue to call them just that. What else can a professional army intentionally bombing a civilian population be called?

Clearly, the approach is not working and the people firing the rockets remain unaffected by “Operation Pillar of Defence.” We have heard so much from the White House about the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime. But why, even in the face of repeated slaughter of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli military, is the Palestine issue always on the backburner?

Perhaps we can find some answers by returning to Sir Zafrulla’s monograph. His point of departure was the British pledge regarding Arab independence after the First World War: in exchange, of course, for Arab support against OttomanTurkey. Observing the betrayal of this promise through the Balfour Declaration  – set out in a 2^nd November 1917 letter from Arthur Balfour, the then British foreign secretary, to Walter Rothschild – Sir Zafrulla remarked that “thereafter the Jewish immigration into Palestine started and the struggle between the Jews and the Arabs began.”

Equally, Sir Zafrulla also thought that His Majesty’s Government’s commitment to establishing in Palestine a national home for the Jewish people was a bad idea because the civil and religious rights of the Palestinian people (reduced by the stroke of Balfour’s pen to the “existing non-Jewish communities”!) would never be upheld. When the British finally promised to limit Jewish immigration to 75,000 people (between 1939 – 1949), president Roosevelt wrecked the settlement (achieved by Ernest Bevin) by demanding a mandatory entry of 100,000 Jews into Palestine.

So “an agreed settlement” to the problem was “prevented” by the Americans. “In the meantime”, explains Sir Zafrulla, “Great Britain was getting sick of the whole business.” Special sessions of the UN General Assembly followed and two reports were produced by 11 members of the UN which visited Palestine. The two reports – the “majority” and the “minority” report(s) – put forward solutions on the grounds of a partition of Palestine or a federal state with two units, one Arab and the other Jewish. While the Arabs refused to accept either report, “the Jews declared that they were prepared to accept the majority scheme.”

Subsequently, Sir Zafrulla observed two trends in the General Assembly. One in favour of the majority report which would mean that the Arabs would be in-charge because they outnumbered the Jews: in those days, the population of Palestine was 2,000,000; composed of 1,300,000 Arabs and 700,000 Jews. The two “solutions” were a unitary state with safeguards for minorities (minority report) or a partition with economic union (majority report).

The two proposals were committed to the two sub-committees of the Committee on Palestine. Sir Zafrulla, was elected as the chairman of sub-committee two and the Polish delegate headed sub-committee one. Sir Zafrulla’s sub-committee concluded that the UN “had no legal or juristic authority to partition Palestine.” Most delegates agreed that this was the true position in law and everyone agreeed that the problem could have been resolved “very easily” by Britain. But, as the mandatory member, she conveniently maintained:

Whatever solution the Assembly adopts, we ourselves will not support either partition or any other solution that may be suggested unless it is a solution which the Arabs and Jews are both willing to accept.

When the question “are you willing to help in what this scheme visualises?” was asked, Britain’s reply was “no; we won’t. Whatever you suggest will have to be done by the U.N.O.” Moreover, “the ultimate British attitude was”:

Upto the date on which we terminate the mandate – and we shall decide that date – we shall not share authority for the administration of Palestine with anybody else. We shall be the sole authority as the responsibility is ours and it is our troops that have to keep and maintain law and order. From the date of the termination of the mandate upto the date of the evacuation of our troops from Palestine, we shall be responsible for law and order only in our military camps to which we shall have withdrawn our troops. With regard to the rest of our country, we shall not be responsible and we shall withdraw our troops from Palestine at the latest by the 1^st of August 1948. (They have since announced that they will terminate the mandate in May 1948.)

The proposals of the special committee sent to Palestine by the General Assembly desperately tried to mitigate the humanitarian dilemmas posed by the hasty British departure. Despite some attempts to stay partition (to search for a better solution) by the French and the rejection of it altogether by the Columbians, Sir Zafarulla recorded that the Americans were able to coerce a majority in favour of partition. The Haitian delegate – “there were actually tears in his eyes and he said: I have announced that we shall vote against partition and I have now received instructions to vote for partition” – was made to change his country’s vote because “pressure was being put on some delegations to vote in favour of partition against their will.”

As a Musalman, Sir Zafrulla knew that partition – “a very sad decision” – was the worst option and that the Nakbah was its inevitable consequence. He ended his monograph by noting that “most delegations, even some those that had voted in favour of it, were very unhappy.”

With the above in mind it is obvious that in addition to the Israelis, the Americans and British have a lot of blood on their hands. Maybe, to make amends, they can wash some of it off now by restraining Israel from attacking civilian populations and killing innocent women, children and non-combatants/journalists. It is high time the west, which is responsible for creating an absolutely horrific predicament for the Palestinians, held Israel accountable for its crimes rather than hiding behind Hamas’s skirt and, following Sir Zafrulla, we urge America’s president Obama to stop supporting the wholesale slaughter of innocent Palestinians by backing Israel’s murderous ways.

500 Egyptians protest in support of Gaza يديو

19 November 2012

At the break of dawn over 500 Egyptians stood in support of Gaza it is not clear exactly where this occurred, in Gaza or at the border.

Bomb explodes near Anderson Cooper while reporting

Yesterday the Israelis bombed a building that housed international media reporters and a bomb exploded while Anderson Cooper was reporting.

RanaGaza Audio 19 November 2012

Gaza Sounds on 19 November at 3:50 am
Ambulance sirens, drones

listen to ‘#Gaza this moment. Nov. 19th 3:35 am’ on Audioboo

Gaza Sounds on 19 November at 3:35am
You can hear the drones flying around.  This is in the middle of the night.  Now imagine trying to sleep with this wondering if the bombs will fall on your home while you try to sleep.

listen to ‘#Gaza this moment. Nov. 19th 3:35 am’ on Audioboo

rana Gaza 18 November 2012

listen to ‘Nov. 18 Report. #Gaza ’ on Audioboo

Climbing the Ladder in Bethlehem

Susan Brannon

17 November 2012

Reading and posting on the situation in Gaza has brought back some of my photojournalist memory.

Because this started as a blog in search for an identity, I decided to add this bit to it.  I rarely get personal about anything in my blog.  Maybe that is not such a good thing, how is anyone going to understand life after reporting war?

I have continued to "search for my identity" as the time flickers by.  I have seen some women find their new "nitch" after a divorce feeling left stranded in the middle of a blowing desert staring at the wind blowing the dust around them. 

I left "my war" the Palestinian/Israeli...conflict...war and the desert wind still blows.  Although I really try to find that new "nitch", I just can't seem to find.  In the end, life just passes by and I look back after leaving the war trying this thing or that and writing in this blog, but it just is not the same.  I don't feel a "purpose" or I have not been working in my place of calling.  There is a sure emptiness and a void without the cause of advocacy, generating voice, telling the stories that are very important for mankind and human beings to know about and trying to get them to "care".  Leaving the war, was like a divorce.  A divorce from the people the place, the food and the land.  A divorce from the cause and leaving in the middle.  It was a divorce from a way of life that I knew it, that I learned after my own real life divorce.  It was and to me is the same.

I ask myself every day how do the women who have to start over do it?  I have been in the same boat.  Divorced, older and starting over.  

This is what I have observed:

1. The women remain strong.  It seems that they plow through whatever obstacle that is before while their eyes continue to glare forward.  Never to look left or right at the past or the future.
2. They possess determination to plow through the new road, up and down the hills and valleys.  
3. They put all of their energy into one thing, that thing of focus and the goal.
4. They seem to never give up.

I remember when I was covering a story in Bethlehem after a 40 day incursion of the Israeli's Defense Force (IDF).  This was a time in history where the IDF surrounded almost all of the West Bank towns and imposed curfews, turned off water, shut down the electricity and buzzed the streets with bulldozers, tanks, jeeps and guns.  They also would take over peoples homes on the high ground to create lookout posts as places to shoot from if they saw any movement in the streets.

The time was horrible and it was dangerous for journalists as well.  So, I waited until they were pulling out and I went in to see the damage.  I interviewed a woman who was what I would call "held hostage" for 40 days.  Her home was right across from the Nativity Church, where they say that Jesus was born.  She lived on the top floor.  I spoke with her and she was lucky that the soldiers that were in her home were decent...or shall I say more decent than others had experienced.

One soldier gave her a cake before they left as a good-bye.  She had not realized the reality of her situation by the time I spoke with her it is called hostage syndrome.  It was only a few hours after the IDF left.  She was more concerned about giving me some cake, some tea and showing me her panoramic view of Bethlehem from the roof.

In politeness, I had some cake and tea then went to see the panoramic view.  We walked outside onto her veranda and she pointed to a frail ladder and then looked up.  I quickly realized that she wanted me to climb that ladder to see the view.  I became nervous for my own safety, not of bullets but from falling down that ladder.

She looked at me and shook her head and started climbing.  This woman was about 70 years old remind you.  I watched her step right onto the first rung and climb up that ladder, she had no frets, no fear and no second thought.  What she had was determination.  I said to myself , "If she can do it, then I can do it, I mean she is twice as old as I am!"

At that moment, I saw her strength that seemed boundless and fearless solid like a deeply planted stone bound into the earth.  It was then that I had deep respect for the women who had to suffer in wars under horrible conditions and remained very strong.  

It was that moment that I decided that I too needed to be strong and then remain strong.  There are other stories of the "women of war" who emulate both strength and gentleness. These woman of war taught me something very valuable; that we too can be like the woman who climbed the ladder.  

As outsiders of war zones and conflict, we should remember those who are living in conflict, like those in Gaza and not give up the fight to change the mind of the political leaders and citizens who do not understand.  We should keep going until the end.

Death in Gaza: Documentary Part 6/6

Here are smaller portions of the documentary film Death in Gaza by James Miller, who was killed in Rafah, Gaza while shooting (no pun intended) this film. For background on this film view this post (and/or the full documentary!) I included this for those who do not have fast internet, like myself!


Full Documentary and explanation
Death In Gaza Pt.1/6
Death In Gaza Pt. 2/6 
Death in Gaza Pt. 3/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 4/6  
Death in Gaza Pt. 5/6

Death in Gaza: Part 5/6 Documentary

Here are smaller portions of the documentary film Death in Gaza by James Miller, who was killed in Rafah, Gaza while shooting (no pun intended) this film. For background on this film view this post (and/or the full documentary!) I included this for those who do not have fast internet, like myself!



Death in Gaza Full Documentary and explanation
Death In Gaza Pt.1/6
Death In Gaza Pt. 2/6 
Death in Gaza Pt. 3/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 4/6  
Death in Gaza Pt. 5/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 6/6

Jewish Voice For Peace Protest Request

16 November 2012

Jewish Voice for Peace requests protests to be organized around the world.  You can start your own in your area, or find others to join.  It is time to stop this mess and take action.

To find locations click here

To Start Your Own

Search the Stop the Bombs, Stop the Siege, Stop Payment events already scheduled to take place around the country in the coming days as Israel continues its military assault on Gaza. If you don't see a protest listed in your area, consider organizing your own by clicking the link! We'll provide you with resources for your demonstration that you can easily download and print, as well as connecting you with any others in your area who are also interested in attending and organizing a demonstration. Together we will say: Stop the Bombs. Stop the Siege. Stop Payment on the Israeli Military’s Blank Check!

Behind the Scenes: Operation Cloud Pillar: 16 nov 2012

16 November 2012

News Excerpts:

Blog Smithsonian

The Israelis began their raids of Gaza on Thursday. Gaza responded with strikes of their own, and today Israel called up 16,000 army reservists to fight. In Gaza, a man suspected of collaborating with Israel was executed:

The brazen nature of the execution suggested that Hamas, which governs Gaza, intended it as a blunt message to other possible collaborators with Israel, which is believed to have an extensive network of informants here as part of its underlying battle with the group. But the shooting evoked mixed feelings.

“There were kids and children on the street,” said the witness, Mr. Mohammed. “They should have executed him in a far place.”

Air raid sirens are going off in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem – and the people on both sides are trying to keep from becoming casualties of the conflict.

Online, the IDF has been keeping the world appraised of their thoughts and tactics via social media in a way no one has ever done before. Motherboard writes:

Lifestyle journos live-blogging an awards ceremony, sure. Politicos pushing a social media campaign to during a debate, yeah. But a major military live-tweeting its war effort? Is that where we are now?Apparently:

“The verified social media accounts of the Israeli Defense Forces are providing live updates on a concerted military effort against Hamas. Using the hashtag #PillarOfDefense, the verified Twitter account @IDFSpokesperson is posting ominous messages, headline-style updates, and YouTube videos of strikes.”

 “brilliant, in its way.” Yes, it’s “brilliant” in the way that the most effective war propaganda tends to be—colorful, uber-patriotic, Manichean, assertive—just more powerful, since they’re controlling the wartime PR channels and shaping public perception with a series of live updates.

And it was working extraordinarily well. The ten second clip of the IDF taking out Ahmed Jabri has been viewed over 2 million times. Of course, Gaza retaliated online as well. Slate writes:

But then @IDFspokesperson and @AlqassamBrigade began trading insults over Twitter, while deploying missiles at each other. The chest-thumping reminded me of the competitive e-sports. This is real life, though, with real people dying. In fact, as the BBC noted, making threats of violence is actuallyagainst Twitter’s terms of service, meaning it is within Twitter’s right to shut down both accounts if it feels so inclined.

While @IDFspokesperson’s Twitter followers may have grown exponentially, it hasn’t had the same success in hashtags. Israel’s hashtag, #Pillarofdefense, received 808 mentions by Wednesday evening, while #GazaUnderAttack—used by Hamas, Palestinian supporters, and civilians—was tweeted 120,000 times, reported the Washington Post.

The Guardian

If you click here, you can listen to the Israeli attacks on Gaza. You can hear explosions, drones and ambulances. This is the soundtrack of the lives of Palestinians there now. They're recording it and transmitting it, and their friends all over the world – particularly the Arab world – are listening to it live.

We are also reading the tweets and blogs the young Gazans are putting out, and taking a good look at the images they're posting – like the one of Ranan Arafat, before and after. Before, she's a pretty little girl with green eyes, a green halter-neck top and green ribbons in her hair. After the Israeli bomb, she's a charred and shrunken figure. Her mouth is open. A medic lifts – for just a moment – her blue hospital shroud.

In that hospital, Shifa in Gaza City, we watched the Egyptian prime minister, Hisham Kandil, this morning. For the first time in 42 years an Egyptian prime minister was where we Egyptians wanted him to be. For the first time a government official was telling the truth when he said he spoke for the Egyptian people. And he was spot on when he referred to the Egyptian people first, before the Egyptian president.

Since he won the presidency, Mohamed Morsi has tried to be a pragmatic politician. He pressed on with "security co-ordination" with Israel in Sinai; he started sealing up the tunnels that provide a lifeline to the besieged Gazans; he rejected the proposal of a free trade area on the borders between Egypt and Gaza; and he sent an ambassador to Tel Aviv with a fulsome letter to Shimon Peres. And so he found himself uncomfortably cosied up with remnants of the Mubarak regime and aficionados of the military government.

From Gaza

Update of the Biblical war of Israel against occupied Gaza Strip Photo from the Web... London, (Pal Telegraph) – An Israeli full-scale war was launched yesterday against Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The war was announced by Israel to be as a military operation that took a biblical name “Pillar of the Clouds”. So far, 15 Palestinians killed whom of which 8 civilians including 5 children, three women and an old man. Israeli army launched a number of 160 air raids from Air, Ground and Naval forces. Palestinian armed factions retaliated to heavy Israeli attacks which also left 100 Palestinians physically wounded. A status of fear and panic spread across Gaza where children are caught in Trauma. Dozens of Palestinian children were brought to hospitals in north and south Gaza. Palestine Telegraph reporter in Gaza confirmed that food supplies became scarce in Gaza. People are in fear that a ground invasion is due. Rania, 22, said "We are in fear of Israeli bombing. My cousin was killed as he tried to go out to buy bread. Gaza seems like ghost town." 

Operation Cloud Pillar: Israel attack Gaza 16 Nov 2012

16 November 2012 The name chosen for the new war in Gaza is "operation Cloud Pillar". A far more appropriate name would have been "Operation Short Memory" Said former Knesset member Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom activist. "Prime Minister Netanyahu is counting on the public's short memory. Netanyahu counts upon people forgetting that dozens and even hundreds of "liquidations" had been carried out and they did not solve any problem - always there was somebody replacing those who were killed, and more than once the new one was more capable and more radical. Netanyahu counts on people not remembering that four years ago Israel went to war in Gaza, killing 1300 civilians in three weeks – which otherwise did not make any significant change in the situation. Netanyahu counts on people failing to remember that just yesterday morning the media reported on people in the communities of the South heaving a sigh of relief at the complete cessation of missiles from Gaza. . "Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak have taken the decision - for the second time in a row the State of Israel will conduct general elections under the shadow of war in the Gaza Strip. The cease-fire which already started to stabilize had been broken and shattered to pieces. The inhabitants of te communities of southern Israel, who just started to breathe freely, are sent right back to air raid alarms and the running to shelters. At the price of great suffering on both sides of the border, the government's aim had been accomplished: the social issues, which threatened to assume prominence in these elections, have been pushed aside and removed from the agenda of the elections campaign. Forgotten, too, is the brave attempt of Mahmud Abbas to address the Israeli public opinion. In the coming weeks, the headlines will be filled with constant war and death, destruction and bloodshed. When it ends at last, it will be revealed that no goal has been achieved and that the problems remain the same, or perhaps exacerbated. Adam Keller: Gush Shalom

Spontaneous Protest in Tel Aviv against War

This is in Hebrew, but you get the idea. You can tell that many Israelis are tired of the bombardments in Gaza:

Bombs Rain Down on Gazan Palestinians-Petition

16 November 2012

Amici and friends, Please sign the petitions listed here and below copy and paste the message to put into European Ministers Facebook Pages to help save lives and keep pushing the world to make Israel put a stop to their slaughter.  Please read and follow the steps

Si prega di firmare le petizioni elencate qui di seguito e di copiare e incollare il messaggio di mettere in Ministri europei pagine di Facebook per contribuire a salvare vite umane e continuare a spingere il mondo a fare di Israele di porre fine alla loro macellazione. Si prega di leggere e seguire le istruzioni

1)  Firma La Petizione: Avaaz 
      Sign This Petition:  Avaaz    (In Italian, but it is translated below in English for you!)

(Italiani sotto l'inglese)
While bombs rain down on Gaza Palestinians and Israelis are sul'orlo of another cycle of violence and revenge. But, right now, the Palestinian Authority is to seek recognition at the UN, and this could be an incredible opportunity for peace. Let us help you make it a reality.


While in the south of Israel's population lives in fear of rockets in Gaza Palestinians living under siege, trapped in a narrow strip of land. And in the West Bank people are dispossessed of the land occupied by illegal settlements, sufferers are stuck for hours on the way to hospitals by Israeli checkpoints and families separated by vast walls that cut in both their fields. But if the Palestinians win their bet at the UN for a state immediately, we could see the beginning of the end of 40 years of occupation and make way for two states, Palestine and Israel, that they can live side by side in peace and total security .

The U.S. and Israel are trying to blow up the UN vote and the attack on Gaza may be an attempt to shift the focus to appear unreliable and the Palestinians. But Europe has not yet made a decision and EU foreign ministers will meet in just 4 days. If we will hear now we can persuade Europe to vote "Yes" for peace and freedom. Click to flood those who try to sabotage this decision with our requests hopeful gathered in a huge petition and delivered through a five-story flag exposed out of the meeting of Ministers.


2)  Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have yet to decide. Use the topics above to write a message on the facebook pages of their leaders. copy the message below and click on the link below to paste them on their Facebook pages. (You have to put them in a reply to posts...you cannot write on their wall)

Mariano- Rajoy-Brey 
William J Hague 
 Westerwelle 

3)  and copy and paste this: As a concerned citizen, I ask you urgently to put you on the right side of history despite pressure from Israel and the U.S., and to support the Palestinian resolution to the General Assembly of the United Nations. This is the best path to peace and freedom that the public wants. Now is the time for Palestine.


Mentre a Gaza piovono bombe Palestinesi e Israeliani sono sul'orlo di un'altra spirale di violenza e vendette. Ma, proprio ora, l'Autorità palestinese sta per chiedere il riconoscimento all'ONU e questa potrebbe essere un'opportunità incredibile per la pace. Aiutiamoli a farla diventare realtà.

Italiani
Mentre nel sud di Israele la popolazione vive nella paura dei razzi, a Gaza i palestinesi vivono sotto assedio, imprigionati in una striscia di terreno strettissima. E in Cisgiordania la gente viene espropriata della terra occupata da insediamenti illegali, i malati sono bloccati per ore nel percorso verso gli ospedali dai posti di blocco israeliani e le famiglie sono divise da enormi muri che tagliano in due i loro campi. Ma se i Palestinesi vinceranno la loro scommessa all'ONU per uno stato subito, potremmo assistere all'inizio della fine di 40 anni di occupazione e fare strada a due stati, Palestina e Israele, che possano vivere fianco a fianco in pace e totale sicurezza.

Gli USA e Israele stanno cercando di far saltare il voto all'ONU e l'attacco contro Gaza potrebbe essere un tentativo di spostare l'attenzione e di far apparire inaffidabili i palestinesi. Ma l'Europa non ha ancora preso una decisione e i ministri degli esteri europei si incontreranno tra soli 4 giorni. Se ci faremo sentire ora potremo convincere l'Europa a votare "Sì" per la pace e la libertà. Clicca per inondare chi cerca di sabotare questa decisione con le nostre richieste piene di speranza riunite in un'enorme petizione e consegnate attraverso una bandiera alta cinque piani esposta fuori dall'incontro dei ministri.


2)  Spagna, Francia, Germania e il Regno Unito devono ancora decidere. Usa gli argomenti qui sopra per scrivere un messaggio sulle pagine facebook dei loro leader. O copia il messaggio sotto e clicca sui link qui sotto per incollarli sulle loro pagine:
Mariano-Rajoy-Bray  
William J Hague 
 Westerwelle 

3)  In quanto cittadino preoccupato, vi chiedo urgentemente di mettervi dal lato giusto della storia nonostante la pressione di Israele e degli USA, e di sostenere la risoluzione palestinese all'Assemblea generale delle Nazioni Unite. Si tratta del miglior percorso verso la pace e la libertà che il pubblico vuole. Ora è il momento per la Palestina. 

The Gaza Strip - Documentary Film

Forward by Susan Brannon Film by James Longley James Longley went to the Gaza Strip for three months and made a documentary film in 2001. This was before the settler's were forced to leave and gives a true prospective on life for the Gazans just as things started to get worse. James Longley decided to release his film for free online only a few months ago so more people will have access to view the Gazan realities. He first released his film in 2002 at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival and the place was packed. Longley also produced "Iraq in Fragments" and was awarded three jury awards at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature. His short film Sari's Mother premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short. In 2009, Longley was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship "Genius Grant. This film begins with an introductory to the live in the Gaza Strip and the tension increases in the film while the tension is increasing in the Strip. Parts of this film clearly shows crimes against humanity...when the Israelis dropped chemical canisters onto Khan Younis, Gaza of an unknown substance. At the time, the population was going about their business, along with shooting nearby. The children were coming home from school and the men were working and the then the canisters of some sort of smell-less gas that tasted like sugar or mint was released onto the general population. The film focuses on the lives of the children and you can clearly see the effects of the trauma in their lives. You can follow along through some of the lives of these Gazan children and understand that the children had to grow up quickly with the sounds of bullets, rockets, tanks and loosing their homes. They lost friends, parents, uncles and brothers. One of the children decides that it is better to die than live like the way that his life has led and reflects what life means to him. There are scenes that describe the aftermath at the hospital explaining that some boys picked up some boxing gloves that the Israeli tank dropped off to play with it. Inside was some metal, they thought they could sell it. One boy took the metal ball out of the glove and tried to break it. It exploded and was killed instantly. Two other boys were injured and taken to the hospital.t This film is an eyewitness to The aftermath of the destroyed homes in Khan Younis, the shooting when the families attempt to clean up the mess. You can hear the shooting while the families live in small tents near their destroyed homes. In the end there is utter devastation, inside of the Gaza Strip, in the neighborhoods inside of the Gazan border. It is my hopes that the world does not forget the Gazans and continue to ignore the plight that their lives have taken. After the shooting of this film, life has become much worse for those that live in the Gaza Strip.

Death in Gaza Pt 1/6

Here are smaller portions of the documentary film Death in Gaza by James Miller, who was killed in Rafah, Gaza while shooting (no pun intended) this film. For background on this film view this post (and/or the full documentary!) I included this for those who do not have fast internet, like myself!  
Death In Gaza Part 1/6

 
Death in Gaza Full Documentary and explanation
Death In Gaza Pt.1/6
Death In Gaza Pt. 2/6 
Death in Gaza Pt. 3/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 4/6  
Death in Gaza Pt. 5/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 6/6

Death in Gaza Full Documentary

This is a documentary by James Miller:
While filming, producer/director James Miller was killed by an Israeli soldier. He was considered a martyr to the Palestinians and they waved his picture in the streets. Miller's death came about after he and fellow crew members were attempting to approach an Israeli APC at night time, audibly and visibly suggesting their neutrality as journalists by wearing helmets and flak vests marked "TV", waving a white flag and walking slowly in the open. A first warning shot was fired by an Israeli soldier, and a crew member reaffirmed their neutrality by yelling "We are British journalists". Seconds later, another shot was fired and hit Miller in the neck, killing him instantly. This occurred while the crew was filming military activity from one of the children's homes in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
James Miller and crew had intended on illustrating this struggle from the Israeli children's point of view also, but James was killed before even the completion of the Palestinian segment of this film. His death was incorporated as a major part of the film, with an explanation by the narrator, Saira Shah, at the beginning of the film, and the full story and reactions at the end. It is mentioned that Palestinian militants made posters declaring that Miller was a martyr against the film crew's wishes. (Note:  The links that these docs were linked to were removed.  Instead I inserted the full documentary here and on my Part 2 link, I inserted the doc in smaller portions for slow Internets)...You know not everyone in the world has fast Internet, like myself!  Remember that!



Smaller Portions of the documentary:
Death In Gaza Pt.1/6
Death In Gaza Pt. 2/6 
Death in Gaza Pt. 3/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 4/6  
Death in Gaza Pt. 5/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 6/6