Voice of Revolution

Break the Siege on the Palestinian People

Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition

Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, condemns in the strongest possible terms the Israeli war crimes committed against the Palestinian people, including the comprehensive siege imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We call upon the international community to take up their responsibility in protecting the Palestinian people from this aggression, and terminating the continuing Israeli policy of collective punishment.

Since Tuesday, June 27, 2006, Israel destroyed vital bridges, water and electricity stations. As a consequence more than two-thirds of the people have been denied access to water and electricity. Children, the sick and elderly are the first to be affected.

Israel also arrested more than 64 elected Palestinian Legislative Council members, city mayors, cabinet ministers and lawmakers. Israel, the U.S. and European Union governments have put the Palestinian people under siege for the past few months as collective punishment because they did not approve of the results of the democratic elections Palestinians held. Palestinians understood that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip that took place this past year was meant to turn it into the largest prison with the largest population of prisoners in the world. The acquiescence of world governments to this indicates complicity in these war crimes.

Nothing justifies the Israeli savagery, including the elimination of water and electricity access to hundreds of thousands of people. Racist media coverage in North America has been trying to block the recognition of these acts as war crimes.

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, calls upon all people who support the Palestinian struggle for self determination and return, to demand of their representatives, the media and their governments to ensure that the genocidal Zionist State of Israel ends its siege and fully compensates for the destruction of life and infrastructure that it has visited upon the Palestinian people. The potential future cost to human life which the destruction of the water and power supply may cause cannot yet be determined.

Al-Awda calls upon the international community, Palestine solidarity activists and groups, Arab community organizations including community centers, mosques and churches, to demand:

. Ending the siege imposed on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

. The protection of civilian lives and property, as stipulated in International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.

. The immediate release of all political prisoners, including all elected representatives of the Palestinian people.

. Provide Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip and West Bank with financial and material support, and to demand the implementation of their inalienable right to return to their homes and lands from which they have been dispossessed since the imposition of the Zionist state in 1948 and thereafter.

. An end to all Zionist occupation, apartheid and all other war crimes

. An end to all U.S. aid to Israel which supports the continuing occupation

. Immediate reparations and compensation for all destruction carried out by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere.

To find out about a demonstration in your area to protest the siege, visit the messages posted at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-News/messages.

[TOP]

Stop Israel's Attacks on Gaza

- U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation -

Israel is using weapons supplied by the United States to target Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip in violation of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act and the Geneva Conventions.

. On June 9, Israel shelled a beach in Beit Lahiya killing 8 civilians and injuring 32. At the site of the killing, Human Rights Watch found evidence of a 155mm artillery shell consistent with those fired from an Israeli M-109 Self-Propelled Artillery. Between 2000-2005, the United States licensed to Israel $69,163 worth of M-109 spare parts and 155mm artillery shells.

. On June 13, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a van in an extrajudicial assassination of two Palestinians in Gaza City. A second barrage of missiles fired shortly afterward killed nine Palestinian bystanders.

. On June 20, Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile at a car in an extrajudicial assassination attempt on a road between Jabalya and Gaza City. The missile missed its intended target and killed three Palestinian children and wounded 15.

. On June 27, Israel launched a massive invasion of the Gaza Strip. Israeli aircraft fired missiles targeting civilian infrastructure. In illegal acts of collective punishment, Israel demolished three key bridges, the Gaza Strip's only electricity generation plant, and part of a university, thereby endangering Palestinian human rights to food, water, health, electricity, education, and freedom of movement. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted that the purpose of these measures is to "apply pressure" to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli air force fighter squadrons are composed of Lockheed Martin F-16I Fighting Falcons and Boeing F-15Is, which fire U.S.-manufactured AMRAAM, Sidewinder, and Sparrow missiles. Between 2004-2005, the United States licensed to Israel at least $1.062 billion in spare parts, engines, and missiles for its F-15 and F-16 fighter planes.

Israel's month of killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip is a clear reminder that Israel remains the occupying power of the Gaza Strip despite last year's "unilateral disengagement." Living under military occupation, the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip are "protected persons" under the terms of the Geneva Conventions. Israel's targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip is a violation of the Geneva Conventions and constitutes war crimes.

In addition, by using U.S.-supplied weapons to commit these atrocities, Israel is violating the terms of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act. The Arms Export Control Act restricts the use of U.S. weapons to legitimate self-defense and internal policing; U.S. weapons cannot be used to attack civilians in offensive operations. The Foreign Assistance Act prohibits U.S. aid of any kind to a country with a pattern of gross human rights violations.

End All U.S. Aid to Israel

[TOP]

End Collective Punishment of the Palestinian People

London: We the undersigned non-governmental and civil society organizations strongly condemn Israel's illegal attacks and siege of the Gaza Strip. These ongoing military operations are nothing less than the collective punishment of an entire civilian population. As such they blatantly contravene Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits "collective penalties" and all likewise measures of intimidation.

During the period May 20-June 21, 2006 Israel's Occupation Forces killed 30 Palestinians, including 7 children, in the Gaza Strip. Among them were 7 members of the Ghalia family who were decimated in an Israeli gunboat attack on a Gaza beach. All the others were killed by helicopter missile and artillery fire.

We view the frantic international efforts to secure the release of a single Israeli soldier captured in combat in the Occupied Territories as utter hypocrisy and disgraceful double standards. There are at least 9,800 Palestinians currently being held by the Occupation Forces in Israeli prisons. Of that number, Israel is holding 126 Palestinian women and 450 minors. The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has confirmed that 85 percent of Palestinian detainees have been tortured during interrogation.

We the undersigned call for an immediate end to the degrading and inhuman treatment of Palestinian prisoners. We demand their immediate release and an end to the extrajudicial killings of civilians.

We urge the British government to honor its treaty obligation to respect and "ensure respect" for the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

Signed:

The Palestinian Return Center
The Muslim Association of Britain
Friends of Al-Aqsa
Palestinian Forum in Britain
British Muslim Initiative
Islamic Human Rights Commission
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Arab Media Watch
National Black Students' Alliance

June 28, 2006, Palestine Return Center www.prc.org.uk

[TOP]

Apartheid Israel Worse than Apartheid South Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa, July 10 2006 - The "apartheid Israel state" is worse than the apartheid that was conducted in South Africa, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Willie Madisha said on Monday. He said Palestinians were being attacked with heavy machinery and tanks used in war, which had never happened in South Africa.

Cosatu and other organizations supporting Palestine have called on governments to end diplomatic relations with Israel and establish boycotts and sanctions such as those against apartheid South Africa.

Israel has launched several attacks on Gaza, bombing its main university and firing missiles that have killed Palestinian bystanders. This follows the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinians.

"We see no justification for this attack," said Palestinian ambassador to South Africa Ali Hamileh. He said while the whole world was talking about one Israeli soldier, more than 10,000 Palestinians were being kept in Israeli jails. "My leadership made it clear ... the soldier can be released immediately if Israel responds to mediation. The demand for exchange of prisoners is justified by international law. We are not demanding something unacceptable," he said.

Professor of political science Virginia Tilley said South Africa was one of the only places where a vision had been brought forward to address collective punishment of perceived inferiority. "I can't imagine a better beacon in that struggle than this country and it has stood back. If there is any moral authority in South Africa, it must come into play now," she said.

Madisha said Israel should be seen as an apartheid state and the same sanctions must be applied that were established against South Africa.

[TOP]

Saeb Erekat, PLO Negotiator:

"Israeli War Crimes Destroying Prospects for Peace"

Israeli military attacks on the occupied Gaza Strip are targeting civil infrastructure, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis and demolishing hopes of ending the conflict, stated Dr. Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator, this afternoon. Referring to the recent breakthrough in internal Palestinian negotiations on the Palestinian Prisoner's Agreement, Dr. Erekat asked, "Why is Israel choosing to commit such war crimes at a time when Palestinians are united in offering a resolution of the conflict on the basis of the two-state solution? It only serves to strengthen the impression that Israel is committed to destroying the prospect of a peace agreement emerging, no matter what the human cost."

The statement follows the launch of a wide scale Israeli military assault on the occupied Gaza Strip that has included the destruction of the substation of the only power station in Gaza City, responsible for supplying approximately 50 percent of the Gaza Strip's electricity. Three bridges have also been demolished in the attacks. Dr. Erekat poured scorn on Israeli spokespersons' claims that Israel's military invasion is intended to target "terrorist infrastructure."

"It is, in fact, the Palestinian people's infrastructure that has been targeted by Israeli occupying forces," he said. "This latest Israeli military escalation - an illegal act of collective punishment reinforces the logic of violence and rejects the logic of dialogue." Israel's destruction of the Gaza substation is a violation of a signed agreement reached between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority in October 2003 to ensure that energy supplies were not affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The substation provides power to all of Gaza City and the center of the Gaza Strip. Repairing the substation would cost between $12 and $15 million, and would likely last several months, leaving thousands of Palestinians without electricity in the winter months. This morning's military invasion follows a slew of Israeli military operations earlier this month. Of the 48 Palestinians Israel has killed this month, at least 27 were civilians, including nine children and a pregnant woman. According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, a further 174 Palestinians have been wounded. While Israel removed its settlers and permanent military presence from the occupied Gaza Strip in September 2005, it continues to exercise effective control over Gaza's air space, sea space and borders, thereby ensuring it retains the status of an Occupying Power in the territory.

RESS RELEASE, June 28, 2006, PLO Negotiations Affairs Department Ramallah, Occupied Palestinian Territory

[TOP]

Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Cuba Condemns Israeli Military Aggression in the Gaza Strip

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, has learned with great concern of Israel's large scale military operation that began in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of June 28, 2006 with the mobilization of around 5,000 soldiers, hundreds of tanks and other military hardware, during which it attacked the principal electricity station in the area, leaving half of the territory without electricity, indiscriminately bombarded several bridges connecting different parts of the Strip, reoccupied important southern portions of Palestinian territory, and detained many high-ranking figures from the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Legislative Council. Palestinian children, once again, are the victims of Israeli aggression.

Israel has used the capture of an Israeli soldier by the Palestinian occupation resistance as an excuse to launch its barbaric aggression, ignoring the fact that the Israeli army has killed 52 Palestinians just in the current month of June, according to recognized international organizations.

This inhumane and criminal aggression took place just when an agreement had been reached among the Palestinian political forces, which is contributing to the renewal of peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, in line with the relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba rejects the violation of the Arab Republic of Syria's airspace by Israeli military aircraft which, together with the barbaric actions in the Gaza Strip, once again exposes the Middle East to a dangerous escalation of violence that is putting international peace and security at risk.

As in the past, Israel is acting with the arrogance and impunity afforded it both by U.S. economic and military support and its permanent veto on the UN Security Council.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba wishes to express its most vigorous condemnation of the barbaric Israeli military aggression against the Gaza Strip and calls on the international community and peace-loving forces to mobilize in demand of the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip; a cession of Israeli state terrorism; and respect for the inalienable human rights of the Palestinian people, including the establishment of an independent, sovereign state with its capital in East Jerusalem, the return of refugees, and the unconditional return of all Arab territories occupied in June 1967, as the only way of reaching a just and lasting peace for all the people of that convulsive region.

Havana, June 29, 2006

[TOP]

Lebanese Stand Their Ground Under Duress

"It is Israel which is scared. Not us. We are Lebanese..."

- Interview with Women in Southern Lebanon, TML Daily -

TML interviewed two women in a village in southern Lebanon. One is a middle-aged geography teacher at the local high school who lived through the previous invasions and wars. The other is a young schoolteacher who was born during the previous war. Their names are being withheld for their security.

TML: What is the strategy of Israeli aerial bombing?

Speaker A: They want to cut off the roads from one place to another, so every place is isolated. They want to cut off the movement of supplies and people. It is a military siege of the people.

TML: Is the siege complete, have they been successful?

Speaker A: All the general roads are closed. They have cut off every bridge. Yet we are challenging the siege in every way we can. For example, every time they bomb a bridge, the men right away clear the river and build an ad hoc way with debris either on the bridge frame or underneath the bridge on the river.

TML: Can anyone from the south leave, reach Beirut (the first point outside the south)?

Speaker A: We have to go through secondary roads since all the main roads and bridges are closed. Every day the roads are shifting, and it is a constant challenge to know how we can travel. For example, when it would take us half an hour to reach somewhere, it now takes 3, 5, 10 hours. We travel through small alleyways, up mountains. But there is no fear for the Lebanese, they can always find a creative way.

Speaker B: There are other tricks as well. For example, if we are traveling and reach a bombed bridge that cannot be negotiated, we call our relative on the other side and they meet us on the opposite banks. Then we leave our car and cut through the actual river and travel in their car. At the next impassable bridge, we do the same so that it is like a chain helping at each point. Our cars many times are traveling not on roads but on dirt and across fields.

TML: What is the state of electricity?

Speaker A: They have bombed every electrical plant in the south. The electricity is completely down which is effecting our water supply, which depends on electricity. The water is down, and we have only what is left in our containers.

Speaker B: They are also bombing all the petroleum and gas stations, so we run out of fuel. They are also bombing the supply warehouses. In our village right now, there is enough flour to last two days. Once it is done, we will have no more bread and none will be able to reach us.

TML: What is the morale of people?

Speaker A: Everyone is with the resistance, no matter what the name of the party so long as they are resisting. Israel is bombing, and people are standing. We have no alternative anyway. Neither the international community, nor the countries of the world, nor our own government are standing with us, only the resistance. We are all sammidoun (standing our ground under duress) because if we do not do so, then no one will be able on this generous land and there will be no way to move us.

Speaker B: Israel will not have forgotten that we, the people of the south, have been the only ones to defeat them in their history, when in 1982 they also invaded our beloved country. This continues to strike terror into their hearts. They are very nervous, and there are internal problems in Israel, much desperation and fighting. This new aggression is due to this, their own confusion as to what to do.

Speaker A: They are terrified to have their ground troops enter Lebanon, for they haven't forgotten the defeat we have rendered them in history. So it seems that at times their bombs strike at random, almost as if their fear makes them forget to strategize.

TML: Are there a lot of refugees?

Speaker A: Schools are opening to give shelter to refugees from bombed areas. It is only a trickle, since it is so hard to travel. A lot of people whose homes are destroyed cannot even travel to get to a shelter. They stay where they are, living in the open air.

Speaker B: They bombed the road from Lebanon to Syria, and they have bombed the airport. This means that there is no way whatsoever to leave the country at this time. And we cannot leave through the sea, since the Israeli ships have the coast under siege and are bombing the whole coastline. So neither by land, sea nor air can we leave while every village and town is isolated from one another by the bombing of the roads. We must stand our ground, and we will fight back. It is Israel that is scared, not us, we are Lebanese.

TML: What do you ask of the international community, and Canada?

Speaker A: To wake up, to see with their bare eyes what is going on! Why does Israel have the right to self-defense but not us? Why does Israel have the right to occupy us? Why do we not have the right to defend our land? We have these rights, though the ignorant and malicious may choose to forget, we do not forget. Believe me, we have never forgotten these things, they are like our blood, they give us life.

TML: Is there anything you would like to add?

Speaker B: Let the United Nations see with its eyes and not to be intimidated. The balance of justice shows that they must stand with the Lebanese people and not Israel.

[TOP]