this is not about
Politics and supporting Fatah, or Hamas,
it's about The people of Gaza
and palestine. It's about humanity as a whole,
and Israel needs to be stopped
once and for all.
By Sabina Zaccaro
Several Italian civil society groups will mark the
World Social Forum's global day of action Saturday
by pledging support for Palestinians and end
the siege in Gaza
"This decentralised World Social Forum (WSF) offers to
Palestinian democratic movements the chance of asking
Europe to intervene and stop what Nelson Mandela has
defined 'the new apartheid of our century'," said Mustafa
Barghouthi, a pro-democracy activist who was candidate
for presidency of the Palestinian National Authority in
2005. He spoke from Ramallah during a WSF press
conference in Rome Tuesday.
The Palestinian international campaign to end the Israeli siege
on Gaza has proclaimed Jan. 26 the international day of action
against the Gaza siege. In support, pacifist groups from
Israel and occupied Palestine, and their supporters all
over the world, will organise solidarity initiatives for
people of Gaza.
Gaza, one of the three main Palestinian areas (besides
Jerusalem and the West Bank), is choked these days
by the Israeli siege, and by restrictions on supply of
food and electricity. Gaza elected Hamas, the Palestinian
party that does not recognise Israel, and Israeli
reprisals have followed.
In desperation, militants set off bombs Wednesday to clear
away border guards on the crossing into Egypt around
Rafah town. According to United Nations estimates,
700,000 crossed through to stock up on goods in
short supply.
"In these last months the (Israeli) attacks have
disastrously increased," Barghouthi said. "Gaza
is experiencing a heavy humanitarian crisis; water,
food, fuel and medicines are running out due to the
embargo ordered by Israel."
More than 60 percent of the population is unemployed,
he said. Incubators for the newborn are without energy,
what could be life-saving surgery cannot be carried
out any more.
"An entire country is plunging into the Middle Ages,"
Barghouthi said. "This is not revenge against Hamas
but against 1.5 million Palestinians."
Israeli and Palestinian organisations mean to use the
WSF day of action to raise international awareness of
the Gaza situation. On Saturday, the national committee
for the commemoration of the Nakba (the Palestinian
way of marking the creation of Israel May 15, 1948)
and the Palestinian campaign against the Israeli building
of a separation wall from Palestinian territories have
prepared symbolic protests along the wall.
On the other side, an Israeli alternative information
centre will also campaign against the occupation.
Israeli, Palestinian and international peace groups, in
coordination with the non-partisan End the Siege
campaign, will converge on both sides of the Erez
crossing in Gaza. The Israelis will attempt to send
over a relief convoy to Gaza, carrying goods gathered
by Israelis.
People will gather simultaneously in Italy to demand
an end to the siege. Action for Peace, an organisation
including women's groups, other non-governmental
organisations and trade unions will hold a support
public meeting titled 'The will to resist and the
courage to refuse'.
Attention to the Gaza crisis is still low. "
Apart from condemnation for the worsening humanitarian
crisis and requests to allow medicine and fuel, nobody
has so far firmly demanded reopening of the Strip's
crossings to people and goods, and the end of the embargo
that is strangling Gaza," Luisa Morgantini, vice-president
of the European Parliament, wrote in the Italian daily
Liberazione Tuesday.
"Ending the siege also represents the only way to stop the
Qassam rocket launchings on Israeli civilians by Palestinians
-- condemnable, counterproductive, and a sign of
powerlessness and anger, not of resistance."
Morgantini is among the promoters of the
pro-Palestine initiatives in Italy. "We need to break the
silence and act: Italy and Europe should respond to the
appeal of Salam Fayyad (Prime Minister of the Palestinian
National Authority) to 'save Gaza from pain', and support
the many Israelis and the majority of Palestinians who
want peace and equal rights, and who still find the
ourage to refuse, and the tenacity to resist in the
popular and non-violent fight."
Lama Hourani from the Gaza based International
Women Commission, is spending this week mobilising
people for the WSF global action day. On Saturday,
she will join a demonstration in Rome.
"I'm here thanks to the commitment of some very active
Italian solidarity groups like Women in Black, and Action
for Peace, and other volunteers and human rights groups
who come to Palestine very often to support Palestinians
even in the hardest conditions," Hourani told IPS.
"Mobilising people, also outside Palestine, is key for our cause,
" she said. What her group aims for, she said, is to inform
European people of the real situation in Gaza, why Palestinians
are suffering, and what could be done for them. A rising
awareness in Europe, she said, "could help pressure
governments."
Gaza is in a very difficult situation, she said, while "
Americans (are) refusing any U.N. Security Council
resolution regarding the situation." She said she had
failed to reach her friends and family in Gaza these last
days. "I've sent them emails, but nobody replies, I guess
because they have no electricity."
Hourani said the breach of the border is a normal reaction
by desperate people denied basic human rights. "What do
we expect from people submitted to such actions for such
a long time. Desperation, anger, and hate cannot give any
positive results, to anybody. So, it was absolutely predictable.
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