Voice of Revolution

Oppose U.S. Annapolis Conference

Salute Resistance in Palestine and New Orleans

Broad resistance continues to be organized in Palestine and New Orleans in the face of every effort by the U.S. government to crush it. In Palestine, the U.S. refuses to accept the decision of the Palestinian people to vote for resistance and elect Hamas to office. Since the election in January 2006, the government has organized every crime imaginable against the Palestinians, unleashing the Israeli Zionists to bomb, massacre, starve and imprison them. The crime of collective punishment, including the blocking of water and fuel supplies to Gaza and its 1.5 million people, continues to be imposed. And yet the world is witness to the undaunted determination of Palestinians defending their rights. It is U.S.-Israeli failure that stands out, as resistance goes forward.

The U.S. has not crushed Hamas, the Palestinian people are refusing to be occupied. The crimes against Gaza are being denounced by the peoples, in the U.S., Israel, and worldwide. End the Occupation Now! Uphold Right of Return! are demands that the Annapolis conference cannot hide and will not provide.

Similarly, in New Orleans, the government is attempting to demolish the public housing in the city, as yet another means to prevent families from returning. The basic necessities of life are not being re-established, funding for rebuilding is not being provided, the military remains. Refusing to uphold their social responsibility to guarantee the right of return for all those displaced, the government has instead guaranteed that the public hospital remains closed, most of the public schools remain closed, day care does not exist. Even so, resistance in New Orleans is growing stronger and more organized. Broad opposition continues against plans to demolish the public housing, including united civil disobedience to block bulldozers. As in Palestine, the government crimes of collective punishment and brutal racism have not crushed the people of New Orleans.

Both New Orleans and Palestine are vital testing grounds for the U.S. government. Both are places where it is desperate to crush the resistance while giving the appearance that it can solve problems, or at least make progress on them. A new school superintendent is brought in, giving the appearance of dealing with the right to education in New Orleans. Instead, his role is to further wreck public education and force more youth into the military. Public housing is being demolished in the name of providing better, “mixed income” housing. But the reality that large numbers of people were driven out of their homes, forced to leave the city and have their land stolen by the government cannot be hidden. Housing is a Right! Education is a Right! and the government has the social responsibility to guarantee them. These are the fighting demands in New Orleans.

The right to return is a key demand that both the peoples of New Orleans and Palestine are fighting for. The people of New Orleans, the majority African American, share in common with the Palestinians the effort to drive them out as a means to crush resistance. They share in common the collective punishment imposed and their organized resistance to affirm their rights. The resistance in Palestine and New Orleans stand as the heartbeat of resistance in the U.S. and worldwide. The government recognizes this reality, recognizes that to establish its world empire, it must succeed on these two battlegrounds.

It is attempting to use the Annapolis conference, in part, to give itself the space to do so. It is striving to split the Arab peoples so as to weaken the Palestinians. It is bringing the Europeans and others together to win their backing not only for imposing occupation and apartheid on Palestine, but for an attack against Iran. With its imperialist chauvinism, it has claimed it will “not turn off the microphone” for those who express their views, so long as they are within what the U.S. deems “responsible,” — that is pro-U.S views. What kind of conference is organized where the host talks about turning off microphones before it has even started?! The U.S. is letting it be known that while it may allow others to speak, it has no intention of listening. The Annapolis conference hopes to give the appearance of diplomacy, while the U.S. plans for more aggression and continued occupation, in Palestine and Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a conference of imperialist dictate, while appearing to be open to the “views” of others.

The Palestinians have made clear that the immediate solution to the problem is to end the occupation, including of Jerusalem, and uphold the right of return. Both can readily be done peacefully. The U.S. could certainly guarantee both, simply by stopping all its military, economic and political support for Israel and organizing to get a resolution passed in the U.N. Security Council requiring Israel to abide by all UN resolutions. Solutions exist. The U.S. is not interested in supporting them. It is interested in furthering its drive for empire, with broader control in the Middle East needed for dominating Asia.

The battles in New Orleans and Palestine are also vital battlegrounds for the resistance movements of the people. The undaunted and resilient spirit of resistance that characterizes both stands as a block to U.S. reaction. The effort of the U.S. to see just how far it can go in its efforts at genocide and broad crimes is being met with determination. The struggles going forward in the face of great difficulties and on the basis of defending rights are also a call to all to do the same, a call to join in taking social responsibility for the outcome. Stand up, resist, march forward, knowing that our security lies in our fight!

[TOP]

Actions Defend Bil’in, Palestine
Nothing Less Than Our Freedom
Mohammed Khatib, Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall

For the people of our small village of Bil’in, which lies west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the planned negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Annapolis, Maryland evoke mixed feelings. Like all Palestinians, we pray that our children will not spend their lives as we did, under Israeli military occupation.

But our experience has been that Israel, the stronger party, exploits peace talks as a smokescreen to obscure facts that it is establishing on the ground. During the Oslo “peace” process Israel built settlements in the occupied territories at an unprecedented rate. Israel’s system of settler-only roads, which is now strangling our cities and villages, was created during the Oslo process. This makes us wary of the Annapolis negotiations.

Israel built settlements throughout the West Bank even though international law prohibits an occupying power from settling its population in occupied territory. Now Israel intends to annex most West Bank settlement blocs either through negotiated agreement with the Palestinians, or unilaterally.

Bil’in, like tens of West Bank villages, is losing vital land and resources to Israel’s settlement blocs. In 1991, Israel confiscated 200 acres of our village’s land and declared them state land. In 2001 private Israeli developers began building a new Jewish settlement there, as part of the Modi’in Illit settlement bloc.

In 2005 Israel’s apartheid wall separated Bil’in from 50 percent of our agricultural land. In response, we held over 100 nonviolent protests together with Israeli and international supporters. Hundreds of us were injured and arrested. After our protests and a legal appeal, Israel’s high court ruled last month that the wall’s route in Bil’in must be changed to return about half of our land that was taken.

Though we celebrated this success, Israel, with US backing, still plans to annex the Modi’in Illit settlement bloc that includes more of our land. Unlike the settlements initiated by the settler movements, the settlement blocs were built in strategic areas by the Israeli government under the Likud, Labor, and Kadima parties. The settlement blocs are designed to ensure Israeli control of our movement, borders, access to water and of Jerusalem, even following the creation of a “sovereign” Palestinian state.

Some Israeli politicians claim that the settlement blocs that Israel intends to annex comprise five percent of the West Bank. However, these politicians do not include the settlements in occupied East Jerusalem in their calculations because occupied East Jerusalem was unilaterally and illegally annexed by Israel in 1967.

But in reality, Israel has already de facto annexed the strategic 10.2 percent of the West Bank that lies between the Green Line and the apartheid wall, including the settlement blocs. About 80 percent of all Israeli settlers now reside west of the apartheid wall and inside the West Bank.

As Palestinians, we have expressed our willingness to live together on this land with the Jewish people, and to live in one democratic state with Jewish Israelis as equal citizens. However, most Jewish Israelis and their politicians have clearly stated that they must live in a Jewish state, not in a state for all of its citizens. For this reason, we agreed to live in two states — Palestine side by side with Israel.

For Palestinians, agreeing to live in a state on 22 percent of our historic homeland was a great compromise. But Yasser Arafat was besieged in his office by Israel because he didn’t accept Israel’s so-called “generous offer” at Camp David. He was punished because he would not surrender yet more land, and accept a state composed of isolated cantons carved up by Israel’s settlement blocs.

We take strength from our faith that no situation of injustice can continue forever. In the end we will all have to live on this land as equals. When that time finally comes we will discover that we are more similar than different. Until then, we will not accept shiny trinkets made of words like “state” and “sovereignty” when we know that within our “state” we will not be able to access our water, exit and enter freely, or move from one place to another without Israeli permission. I will not be free so long as Israel’s settlement blocs and wall steal and carve up my land and surround my capital, Jerusalem.

We have suffered too much for too long. We will not accept apartheid masked as peace. We will settle for no less than our freedom.

Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and the secretary of Bil’in’s Village Council. For more information see www.apartheidmasked.org

[TOP]

The Blockade on Gaza is a War Crime!

Gush Shalom, Israel, September 27, 2007

A few hours after it was announced that 12 Palestinians had been killed in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army, Gush Shalom called for a protest demonstration in Tel-Aviv. In spite of the holiday and the short notice, 120 protesters gathered near the Ministry of Defense, including activists from various organizations. They hoisted posters and flags and shouted slogans that demanded an end to the Israeli government’s blockade of strangulation and starvation against the 1.5 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. Protesters also called for the opening of a dialogue with Hamas on a mutual ceasefire, a proposal made by Hamas. Among the signs were: “The Blockade on Gaza is a War Crime!” - “End the Economic Strangulation of Gaza!” - “Hamas Is A Partner For A Ceasefire!” - “I Am Gaza, Too!”

Gush Shalom is an anti-war organization in Israel, calling for an end to the occupation of Palestine now.

[TOP]

Join the 5th Annual International

Week Against the Apartheid Wall
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

November 9 marks the beginning of the 5th Annual International Week against the Apartheid Wall, organized by the Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation urges its member organizations and individual supporters to take action to protest U.S. support for Israel’s illegal Apartheid Wall.

In July 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion ruling that Israel’s Apartheid Wall is illegal, must be dismantled, and compensation paid to those adversely affected by it. The ICJ also ruled that all signatories to the 4th Geneva Convention (which includes the U.S.) must not “recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall” nor “render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction.”

Despite this ICJ ruling, in May 2005, President Bush signed into law a supplemental spending bill for the war in Iraq, which included $50 million “for assistance for Israel to help ease the movement of Palestinian people and goods in and out of Israel.” Israel then used this money to build high-tech “terminals” into the Apartheid Wall, thereby placing the United States in direct violation of the ICJ ruling.

In addition, in August 2007, the United States and Israel signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase U.S. military aid to Israel to $30 billion over the next decade. This military aid enables Israel to maintain its illegal Apartheid Wall and military occupation, again in violation of the ICJ ruling.

Take Action

1. Start a campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS).
2. Organize a teach-in or protest. To view a list of global events for the 5th Annual International Week against the Apartheid Wall or get resources and ideas on how to start a BDS campaign see stopthewall.org
3. Download and distribute information. To download a US Campaign fact-sheet on the Apartheid Wall go to endtheoccupation.org.
4. Write a letter to the editor.
5. send a letter to your Members of Congress protesting the $30 billion MOU

[TOP]

Resistance Prevails
“Los Angeles Eight” Win Case Against Government

On October 30, 2007, the Los Angels Eight won their case against the government. For 20 years the federal government attempted to silence and jail these activists fighting for Palestinian rights and the rights of all. With perseverance and determination, it is the resistance that prevailed. The government was forced to drop the charges and deportation orders against the last two members of the “LA 8,” Michel Shehadeh and Khader Hamide.

Los Angeles immigration Judge Bruce J. Einhorn had ordered an end to the long-standing deportation proceedings against Hamide and Shehadeh last January. He did this after the government failed to comply with his order to disclose evidence that supported the innocence of the “LA 8,” and Hamide and Shehadeh in particular. The judge called the government’s behavior “an embarrassment to the rule of law.” Attorney Marc Van Der Hout on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild stated, “Judge Einhorn’s decision is important not only for Hamide and Shehadeh but for all immigrants in this country who want to be able to express their political views. The decision makes clear that the government cannot blatantly refuse to comply with an immigration judge’s orders and that the government cannot continue to try to deport these permanent residents who did nothing but try to advocate for Palestinians’ right to a homeland.” In February of this year, two others — Mohammed Salah and Abdelhaleem Ashqar — were found not guilty of terrorism charges. The charges were fabricated in part on “evidence” provided by Israel and obtained through the use of torture. In this manner, the case is also a defeat for government efforts to make torture “legal,” by introducing “evidence” based on use of torture in criminal cases.

The other members of the “LA 8” are Julie Mungai, the Kenyan wife of Khader Hamide; Bashar Amer; Aiad Barakat; Amjad Obeid; Ayman Obeid; and Naim Sharif. Despite the 20-year long harassment by the government, all have continued to organize humanitarian aid to Palestinians and to inform people about the brutal U.S.-Israeli military occupation and genocide against Palestine. Their political activity includes fundraising, public speeches, distributing newspapers, attending demonstrations, and more.

The case of the “LA 8” began January 26, 1987, when agents of the FBI and the immigration service took into custody the activists, all Southern California residents, charging them with affiliation with a group that advocates “the doctrines of world communism.” At that time, under the McCarthy-era McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, this was a deportable offense. They were accused of supporting the Popular Liberation Front for Palestine (PFLP), a group within the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In the 1980s the U.S. government classified both as “terrorist organizations.” From the beginning the government “evidence” against the eight did not stand up. Three weeks after their arrest, on February 17, 1987, all eight were released after an immigration judge refused to consider secret evidence that the government offered in support of its request to hold them without bail. (While the McCarran Act was repealed in 1990, other laws, such as the USA PATRIOT Act, are also an effort to criminalize dissent and resistance, now under the banner of “terrorism.”)

As a testament to their resistance, over the years the Palestinian-rights activists won a number of key court decisions. In 1995, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the government’s contention that immigrants were not entitled to the same 1st Amendment protections as U.S. citizens. That decision also held that the use of secret evidence violated fundamental principles of due process. Three years later, the 9th Circuit ruled that the Constitution does not permit “guilt by association.”

Even though they were never charged with an act of terrorism or with any other crime — facts that are true in many of the government’s “terror cases” — for 20 years the eight were continually accused of “aiding terrorism” and called “terrorists” as a means to discredit and criminalize their efforts and resistance. They were attacked by the government, not because of violent acts, but because of their political opinions, beliefs, and actions. Before, during, and after their various legal victories, and with the continued support of the community, friends, relatives, lawyers, activists, and others, the “Los Angeles Eight” have continue their efforts to expose and oppose the crimes being committed against the Palestinians by the U.S.-Israeli occupation and to continue to organize humanitarian aid for Palestinians.

[TOP]

“Los Angeles Eight”
Determined to Continue Defending Rights
Michel Shehadeh, November 15, 2007

For the last 20 years, the U.S. government has accused me of being a terrorist. Along with six other Palestinians and a Kenyan, we were dubbed the “Los Angeles Eight” by the media. Our case even made it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Oct. 30 — 20 grueling years after the early morning raid in which armed federal agents barged into my apartment, brutally arrested me before my 3-year-old son’s eyes, incarcerated me in maximum security cells in San Pedro State Prison for 23 days without bond, and attempted to deport me — the government dropped all charges fabricated against me. The charges involved accusations of aiding a member group of the Palestine Liberation Organization that the government alleged aided terrorism. But Los Angeles immigration Judge Bruce J. Einhorn had ordered an end to the deportation proceedings against us last January because the government failed to comply with his order to disclose evidence that supported our innocence. He called their behavior “an embarrassment to the rule of law.”

Why did the U.S. government spend 20 years trying to ban us from this country? Because we tried to educate Americans about the situation facing millions of Palestinians living in apartheid-like conditions under Israeli military occupation. Because we organized fundraisers to provide Palestinians with humanitarian support. And because we attended demonstrations to urge a shift in U.S. policy away from unconditional financial and diplomatic support of Israel.

The government robbed us and our families of the best and most productive years of our lives. For more than 20 years, they vilified us in public without recourse. We will never be able to entirely erase the negative words and images they manufactured about us. Our case is a stark example, and is different only in degree, from what routinely befalls those who call for equal rights for Palestinians and press for a fair Middle East U.S. policy consistent with international law. In February of this year, two others who advocated equal rights for Palestinians — Mohammed Salah and Abdelhaleem Ashqar — were found not guilty of terrorism charges, charges that were based in part on evidence provided by Israel and obtained through the use of torture.

President Carter, university professors John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt and Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu face charges of anti-Semitism and shoddy scholarship meant to intimidate, discredit and silence them.

And it may be surprising, but I do not hold a grudge. Throughout this 20-year plus ordeal, we never lost faith that we would win against this political and legal oppression. Not only because of our innocence, but because of the tremendous, unfaltering support that we enjoyed all these years across religious, ethnic and civic communities, and a legal team that did not waver once in its commitment to justice. This incredible support has taught us more about America than we could have learned in two lifetimes. The support of such people who are a living example and a role model for immigrants — to positively engage with the issues facing the country on a daily basis. Struggling to make the place a bit better than when we arrived is what made America home to us. We made that choice, and we are the better for it.

My two American-born sons learned though this experience the meaning of establishing a strong grassroots connection and of getting involved with their community. The words justice, freedom, equality and civil liberties are not words they learned in school that will become empty clichés as they grow older. They are concepts that have real meaning to them, that affect their family and community. They know that they must be vigilantly protected, especially when the issues they advocate are not popular, or at times of war, and conflict, when the first causalities are our basic freedoms — free speech, the right to dissent and to disagree with the government, the very basis of democracy.

From the beginning, we said that our case was a political one and that the government made us victims of a political witch-hunt. We persevered all these years and defeated the attempt to uproot us from our communities, break our families apart, and deport us, because we were innocent. Free at last, we are finally exonerated and it tastes sweet. We will savor the sweetness. And we will use it to fuel our determination to defend the same issues that our supporters defended through us: justice, civil liberties, freedom and immigrant rights. We believe that this is the America for which we continually aspire, the America that is just, here at home and in faraway places — with policies based on fairness, equality, and a shared humanity.

[TOP]

London Conference to Advance One-state Solution
Abunimah News - Nov 12, 2007

Palestinian and Israeli scholars and activists will be among the speakers at an unprecedented conference to explore a one-state solution, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London on 17-18 November. Organized by the London One State Group and the SOAS Palestine Society, the conference, “Challenging the Boundaries: A Single State in Israel/Palestine,” will explore new models for a just peace including bi-nationalism, secular democracy, a ‘state of all its citizens’ and federalism.

The London conference comes as prominent politicians including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Milliband have recently warned that the window for implementing a two-state solution is fast closing. Israel has continued to block the establishment of a Palestinian state by accelerating its colonization of the occupied West Bank and tightening its starvation siege of the occupied Gaza Strip, even as Rice makes last ditch efforts to implement a partition.

“Unquestioned support for the two-state vision” among international elites “remains firm despite the disastrous failure of the peace process,” a statement from the London One State Group notes, thus necessitating efforts “to broaden the discourse regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict towards consideration of a One State vision as a desirable and achievable alternative.” The statement adds that the “birth of the non-racial democracy in South Africa and the implementation of the power sharing arrangement in Northern Ireland have strengthened the belief that partition is not the inevitable, nor necessarily the most desirable resolution to the conflict.”

Over the past several years the failure of the two-state approach has led to a resurgence of interest in a one-state solution and the London conference brings together many who have written or spoken in favor of it. The two-day conference includes sessions on aspects of a one-state solution including its rationale and historical context, geography, geopolitics, citizenship and identity, and rethinking the nation-state. Speakers will provide a comparative perspective on conflicts in Ireland, India-Pakistan, South Africa and Lebanon. Sessions on grassroots activism will bring together one-state advocates from all over Palestine and the Diaspora including the One State Group based in Gaza, according to the published program. Conference organizers cite as one of their inspirations the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said, who wrote in 1999, “The beginning is to develop something entirely missing from both Israeli and Palestinian realities today: the idea and practice of citizenship, not of ethnic or racial community, as the main vehicle of coexistence.”

The full conference program and details can be found at onestate.net.

[TOP]

Gaza Closure Attacks Education Rights
Palestinian Center for Human Rights, November 23, 2007

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights condemns the Israeli ban on the travel of Gaza Strip students to pursue studies in universities and schools abroad. The Center calls upon the international community and international organizations, especially UNESCO and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to pressure Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to allow the more than 2,700 students to travel so as to avert the negative consequences on their educational future.

The IOF cut off the Gaza Strip from the outside world on June 10 2007 by enforcing a complete closure on all the strip’s border crossings, especially Rafah International Crossing on the Egyptian border. As a result, Gaza students studying abroad are deprived of the right to pursue their education at Universities outside of Gaza.

The Center’s preliminary investigation and information from the Ministry of Civil Affairs indicate that approximately 7,500 Gazans are waiting for the opportunity to travel abroad for various purposes such as work, education, and medical treatment. Approximately 2,700 students from various educational levels that are studying abroad are among them. The students include 722 students in the graduate and post-graduate levels studying at Arab and international universities. In addition, approximately 2,000 students studying at the basic educational level who spent their summer vacation in Gaza with their families are waiting to travel outside the strip to return to their schools.

In the period from August 28 through September 18, 2007, some students were allowed to travel outside the Strip through the Erez-al-Ojeh-Egypt route. During this period, IOF allowed 450 civilians to travel outside the strip in four groups. A fifth group of 186 civilians previously approved for travel were returned to Gaza. Since then, IOF refuses to allow any civilians to travel outside of Gaza.

The Center’s fieldworkers met several students or their families, who talked about their apprehension over their educational future.

Hammad Abu Sitta from Khan Yunis informed the Center’s fieldworker that he is an engineering student at Holwan University in Egypt. He returned to the Gaza Strip on August 8, 2007 to spend his summer vacation with his family for the first time in four years. Abu Sitta was nominated for a training course in Germany starting on September 1. He went to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and registered for travel to Egypt through Erez-al-Ojeh. He was accepted and slated to travel on September 18. However, the IOF arbitrarily returned the whole group of approved travelers back to Gaza. Since then, he has been attempting to rejoin his university classes, which started on September 16, but to no avail.

Elham Akram Rajab (29) from Gaza City lives in the Saudi city of Jeddah with her husband and children. She informed the Center’s fieldworker that she returned to Gaza on June 6, 2007 to spend the summer with her family for the first time in four years. She brought her three children (aged four, seven, and nine) with her. The children missed the start of their school year on September 8, 2007. In addition, her exit visa from Saudi Arabia expires in November, placing her under threat of losing her residency in Saudi Arabia and being cut off from her husband. She went to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, who coordinated her travel with a group of civilians on September 11, 2007. However, the IOF returned her group to Gaza and she and her children remain in the strip.

Mohammad Safi (24) is a post-graduate student in Sweden. He informed PCHR that he received a master’s degree scholarship from KTH College in Stockholm to study engineering. He received his residency permit in Sweden in July 2007, and has been trying to travel since then. The Swedish Embassy attempted to assist in his travel; however, the Israeli side refused to allow him to leave the strip. He went to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to register for travel through al-Ojeh. However, he has been informed that the Israelis have closed the border and do not allow travel.

PCHR condemns IOF for banning Gaza students from traveling to pursue their education abroad. The Center calls upon High Contracting Parties (signers, including the U.S.) of the Fourth Geneva Convention to:

• Seriously pressure IOF to open the Gaza Strip border crossings and to lift the siege and all forms of collective punishment imposed on the Strip’s civilian population.
• Work immediately to ensure travel for Gaza students studying abroad to enable them to rejoin their schools before this academic year is lost entirely.
• Demand the IOF respect the right to education as guaranteed by the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

[TOP]

Water And Sanitation Services Deteriorate From Lack of Fuel
Gaza Siege Puts Public Health At Risk
Oxfam International

Humanitarian agency Oxfam International recently reported that there is an increasing risk to public health in Gaza as water and sanitation services begin to buckle under the strain of Israel’s restrictions on fuel, vital maintenance goods and spare parts into Gaza.

According to Oxfam International’s partner the Coastal Municipalities Water Utilities (CMWU), 15 percent of Gaza’s population — 225,000 people — is not receiving an adequate amount of drinking water due to the lack of diesel fuel. Oxfam International is also worried at the latest reports of Israel’s Attorney General’s Office giving approval to Israel’s Defense Ministry’s plan to reduce the quantity of electricity delivered to the Gaza Strip. This decision comes on top of Israel’s fuel reductions since October 28, 2007, which are having an immediate impact on the water and wastewater systems in the Gaza Strip.

According to Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs: “There has to be an immediate resumption of fuel supplies to Gaza if we are to avoid a public health crisis. Access to clean water is a fundamental human right and must not be used as a tool to collectively punish the population of Gaza. As international efforts increase to breathe new life into progress towards peace, the international community is ignoring Gaza’s plight, allowing it to slip further into a crisis. Ordinary civilians in Gaza are being punished for crimes they have not committed, in clear violation of international humanitarian law. This illegal policy of collective punishment must stop at once.”

For the first two weeks of November CMWU had on average 7 water wells in Gaza City that worked either partially or not at all due to the lack of diesel. As a result 50,000 people were directly affected and received 75 percent less water. According to partners and staff the situation throughout the Gaza Strip is deteriorating as the availability of water is dropping further. Electricity reductions would only exacerbate Gaza’s sufferings.

CMWU warns that more people are now buying water from various sources many of which do not implement proper quality control. Drinking non-treated water can lead to severe health problems. The water and sewage system is already very vulnerable because of severe restrictions on the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip. CMWU is experiencing severe shortages of spare parts, and other materials necessary for repairs and preventive maintenance, which have been repeatedly denied access by the Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) since June 2007. When the rainy season begins more diesel and electricity will be needed to operate the sewage system.

Since the diesel fuel cuts started in late October 2007, CMWU has faced growing problems in operating the water and wastewater system throughout the Gaza Strip. As the sole water supplier for Gaza’s 1.5 million people, CMWU is highly dependant on diesel to run generators for its 135 water wells, 33 pumping stations and 3 treatment plants because throughout the Gaza Strip there is already an electricity deficit.

Oxfam International calls for the immediate resumption of unimpeded fuel deliveries to the territory. Oxfam also urges the government of Israel to immediately cease acts of collective punishment on the impoverished civilians of the Gaza Strip. It calls on the international community to speak out against the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and to hold responsible actors accountable for protection of civilians.

Facts on the water and wastewater system:

The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) in Gaza needs a monthly supply of 150,000-250,000 liters (39,626-66,043 gallons) of diesel per month to power the generators for the water and wastewater systems (135 water wells, 33 pumping stations and 3 wastewater treatment plants).

For the month of October, CMWU recorded a deficit of 40,000 liters (10, 566 gallons) of diesel.

CMWU re-directed fuel used for the water system into the sewage system as diesel is needed to operate the sewage pumping stations 24h hours/day to prevent sewage floods.

The Gaza Strip needs 210 megawatts (MW) of electricity on a daily basis. It currently receives around 187 megawatts. This results in frequent power outages and low voltage in a situation where generators play a vital role in running Gaza’s water and wastewater system. CMWU consumes 20-25 MW on a daily basis, making it the biggest electricity consumer. The lower the electricity supply, the more CMWU relies on fuel for back up and to supplement low voltage.

[TOP]

Israel Denying Medical Treatment for People in Gaza
“A matter of revenge”
Rami Almeghari writing from the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestine

We had been waiting for an urgent referral to an outside hospital for the past six days, until he died today,” said Dr. Ismail Yassin, in response to the death of one more patient at the Gaza Children’s Hospital. Tamer al-Yazji, a 12-year-old chicken pox patient, died on Monday on his hospital bed after his referral to an Israeli hospital had been delayed by Israeli officials.

Dr. Yassin explained that Tamer’s condition had gotten worse over the past few weeks, showing symptoms of blood problems in his brain, so the ill-equipped hospital requested his urgent referral for an MRI scan and follow-up, which meant accessing medical care facilities in Israel or Egypt.

Working in less than ideal conditions with fuel supplies cut and Israel blocking medicine and hospital supplies, Gaza Children’s Hospital is currently treating many infants and 10 cases of cardiac disease patients. Director of the hospital’s infant intensive care unit, Dr. Shirin Abed, said that her unit provides care to a number of infants who are badly in need of medication.

According to hospital officials, Gaza hospitals in general lack basic equipment such as MRI scanners or dialysis machines; therefore, many cases are referred to hospitals outside Gaza every month. In addition to the delay of access of Gaza patients to outside hospitals, mainly Israeli ones, the internal Israeli intelligence agency, the Shabak (Shin Bat) is reportedly pressuring applicants to give information in exchange for permission.

“Upon arrival at the Erez crossing in northern Gaza, the Shabak officers start interrogating patients, demanding that they give the Shabak information about friends and neighbors. When a patient refuses to give such information, the Shabak sends the person back to Gaza,” explained Miri Weingarten of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR), based in Tel Aviv.

Weingarten said that PHR had filed a petition to the Israeli high court requesting three demands: allowing treatment for 11 patients listed in the petition, allowing all those in need of referral outside of Gaza to travel and stopping the Israeli Shabak’s interrogation of Gaza patients who cross the Erez checkpoint. “Among the eleven patients that we requested entry for, was Na’el al-Kordi, 21, who died early this week after having been denied access, while four others got the permission, with only two of them managing to get past the Erez checkpoint,” Weingarten added.

Neither the Israeli government, nor the Israeli high court, has yet responded to PHR’s petition or to any other appeals by various local and international bodies to allow smooth access of Gaza patients to treatment outside Gaza. According to PHR, Israel delays the access of 40 patients every month, thus causing death or deterioration of health condition in many cases.

According to the health care workers at the hospital, usually the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza determines where a patient will be referred: either to the Israeli Hadasah hospital or to the Palestinian-run al-Maqased hospital in East Jerusalem. Since June, when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, the processing of medical care referrals by Israel is taking longer than ever. Earlier in November, a breast cancer patient died as her entry to Israel for treatment was blocked.

In September, Israel declared Gaza a “hostile entity,” stepping up attacks on the coastal strip and cutting large quantities of fuel supplies to the 1.4-million-strong population which is dependant on Israel for many basic needs, from water to medication. Israel cites security reasons for all its actions against the Gaza Strip. However, in the words of Weingarten, “It is not a matter of security, it is rather a matter of revenge.”

Rami Almeghari is currently contributor to several media outlets including the Palestine Chronicle, aljazeerah.info, IMEMC, The Electronic Intifada and Free Speech Radio News. He can be contacted at rami_almeghari at hotmail.com.

[TOP]

U.S. Announcement of Annapolis Conference
State Department, November 21, 2007

On November 27, the United States will host Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, Palestinian Authority President Abbas, along with the Members of the Quartet (Russia, U.S., United Nations and European Union), the Members of the Arab League Follow-on Committee, the G-8, the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and other key international actors for a conference at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Secretary Rice will host a dinner the preceding evening here in Washington, where President Bush will deliver remarks. President Bush and the Israeli and Palestinian leaders will deliver speeches to open the formal conference in Annapolis.

The Annapolis Conference will signal broad international support for the Israeli and Palestinian leaders’ courageous efforts, and will be a launching point for negotiations leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state and the realization of Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Those invited to attend the conference are:
United States, Israel, Palestinian Authority
Algeria, Arab League Secretary General, Bahrain, Brazil
Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt
European Union (EU) Commission, EU High Representative,
EU President, Portugal, France, Germany, Greece,
India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy
Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco
Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Russia
Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Syria
Quartet Special Envoy Tony Blair
Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom
United Nations Secretary General
Yemen

Observers:
IMF, World Bank

***

According to the State Department, the conference will take place over three days, from November 26-28. The 27 will be the main day for the conference in Annapolis. President George W. Bush will open the conference and remain for the day, delivering a speech in the morning. A series of plenary sessions will take place in the afternoon, where all participants who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch said, “We’re the United States, we’re affording a platform here for responsible opinion and [invitees] are entitled to express their views and their national interests as they see them. We won’t turn off the microphone.”

The afternoon will begin with speeches from “key leaders,” as decided by the U.S. Then there will be four main sessions about 90 minutes each. The topics are: Demonstrating International Support for the Bilateral Process; Looking at Economic Development; Institutional Reform and Capacity Building; and Comprehensive Peace. On Monday and Wednesday Bush will hold bilateral meetings with Israel and the Palestine Authority. Bush is also organizing a meeting of the Quartet (the U.S., Russia, European Union and United Nations). The Quartet is expected to discuss “the Annapolis events and other things.” The State Department says numerous other meetings will also occur over the three days.

[TOP]

Israel Holds Massive Military Exercise Simulating Conquering Of West Bank Town
The Jerusalem Post, Israel

In the biggest Israel Defense Forces drill for the West Bank since 1999 and only six days before the top of the Israeli government is scheduled to arrive in Annapolis, OC Central Command infantry forces engaged in a drill to conquer a West Bank city.

The exercise was in preparation for the possibility that Hamas might take over a major West Bank town at some point following the Annapolis conference. According to the drill’s scenario, conquering a West Bank town and returning it to Israeli control would cost dozens of Israeli casualties and hundreds of -Palestinian casualties.

[TOP]

Hamas Leader Haneya
Broad Opposition to Annapolis Meeting
Xinhua

Former Prime Minister Ismail Haneya, of Hamas, said in Gaza November 22 that the Annapolis conference slated for November 27 is being widely opposed. “There is broad opposition to Annapolis in the Palestinian territories and abroad. Our people oppose it politically and are doing so publicly at all levels,” Haneya told a news conference in Gaza.

“Our message to Arab leaders who are moving to join Annapolis is reconsider your participation because it just serves to complement the United States,” Haneya said. He added that such a meeting “is held at the expense of the legitimate rights of Palestinians, and aims to offer the Israeli occupation legitimacy, an opportunity to normalize it.”

Also on Thursday, leaders of different national and Islamic organizations announced that a convention will be held in Gaza on November 26, a day before the Annapolis meeting. Speaking at the joint press conference, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a prominent Hamas leader, said Hamas would not join the U.S.-proposed peace gathering even if it was invited, calling on others not to join the meeting.

During the Thursday press conference, Islamic Jihad (Holy War) leader Mohamed al-Hindi also told reporters that the Annapolis meeting “was not devoted to resolving the Palestinian question, it was organized to serve Zionist and American interests.”

[TOP]

Hamas Rejects Annapolis Talks
Al Jazeera, November 22

Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity in the run-up to the U.S.- hosted Middle East talks next week, the Palestinian resistance organization Hamas said that nothing positive would come from the Annapolis talks. Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas political chief exiled in Damascus, said the Annapolis conference was called by George W. Bush, the U.S. president, to mask plans of aggression in the region. “President Bush launched the road map five years ago in preparation for the Iraq invasion,” Meshaal said in an interview with the BBC, referring to an international peace blueprint launched in 2003 but that has been largely dormant. “And today he wants to make peace in Palestine in preparation for an attack against Iran,” Meshaal said. “This is an American game. The Palestinians and the Arab peoples are aware of it and know that it is not serious.” He added that holding a conference devoid of meaning “will explode the region by provoking popular anger.”

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, said that with the U.S. involved in Iraq, Afghanistan and the so-called war on terror, there was a political dimension to the talking up of the Annapolis conference. “The so-called processing of peace in the Middle East has become almost necessary language, that the Bush administration uses constantly today, in order to show that there is another face for the Bush war in the Middle East,” he said. “A face involving diplomacy.” He added, “The Annapolis conference will only reinforce the Israeli’s hold on the unrelenting effort to legitimize the occupation of Arab Lands.”

Hamas’s dismissal of the talks comes as the U.S. secretary of state said Washington would try to secure a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before George Bush’s term as president ends in January 2009. Condoleezza Rice said that the two sides had pledged to work together for a two-state solution, but she warned that there was no guarantee of success. Egypt is hosting Arab leaders on November 23 to devise a policy for Annapolis [The Arab League members decided to attend, although Syria may not and Saudi Arabia has said it will not speak directly with Israel as long as the occupation continues. Only Jordan, Egypt and Yemen currently have relations with the U.S.] “Syria has told many foreign ministers... that they will not go if the Golan Heights issue is not on the agenda of the conference,” Ziad Haider, a Syrian journalist, told Al Jazeera. The Golan Heights is Syrian territory occupied by Israel. [The U.S. has so far refused to include it on the agenda.] Hamas, which overwhelmingly won democratic parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories in January 2006, was not invited to the conference.

Hamas’s al-Zahar, said the Annapolis meeting “does not scare us” and the Palestinian people will not accept results that are “contrary to the national interests.”

[TOP]

Statement Against Annapolis Conference
Palestinians Unite to Defend Principles
Palestinian Grassroots Anti Apartheid Wall Campaign, November 24th, 2007

The Palestinian Grassroots anti Apartheid Wall Campaign has issued a joint declaration with representatives of civil society, refugees and Islamic and national forces, calling on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to boycott the Annapolis Conference. The declaration will be presented in a press conference in Ramallah on Sunday November 25. A mass demonstration will take in place Ramallah on November 27 to urge the Palestinian delegation not to make any concessions on principles during the negotiations. The declaration warns Palestinian leaders against bargaining away the national struggle. “The inalienable rights of our people must be the central principle for any Palestinian political action. These fundamental rights should never be a subject for negotiation and must not be compromised” Below is the full text of the Declaration.

Declaration of Principles and National Rights

Out of our serious concern for our national cause and legitimate rights, which have been under direct and systematic attack from the Israeli Occupation and the United States, who wish to liquidate the Palestinian struggle by taking advantage of the split that has weakened us in the face of the huge pressure that they and their allies have brought to bear;

We the undersigned, political and mass movements, civil society federations and networks, private sector institutions and national figures, inside and outside Palestine, assert the following:

First: that the inalienable rights of our people must be the central principle for any Palestinian political action. These fundamental rights should never be a subject for negotiation and must not be compromised:

1. The right of refugees to return to their homeland and properties, from which they were expelled, in accordance with United Nations Resolution 194. This right is a basic human right that is not negotiable and therefore cannot be based on an ‘agreed upon solution;’

2. The right to self-determination, an end to the military occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state enjoying full sovereignty;

3. Occupied Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, free it from colonialization and colonial settlers;

4. The departure of all Israeli settlers from our land, which was occupied in an act of aggression in 1967, and the removal of the apartheid wall and all the colonies, which are illegal and stand in defiance of international law and international agreements.

Second: that any political step or negotiations at a local, regional or international level should be under international supervision, based on principles of justice and international law, and aimed at the implementation of the inalienable and historical rights of our people, and the establishment of a timeline for such implementation, not negotiation on the rights themselves.

1. Because the Annapolis meeting is not based on these principles, and because it does not aim for the implementation of international law, we call on the PLO and the Palestinian Authority not to participate in this meeting; we further call upon Arab countries to boycott Annapolis and not to facilitate the United States’ desire to expand its aggression in the region and its attempt to crush all the forces opposed to its domination in the region.

2. In the event that the PLO and PA decide to attend the Annapolis conference, they must not bow to the American and Israeli demands for concessions on these fundamental rights under any circumstances, under any justification.

3. We warn all individuals and organizations that attempt to meddle with the inalienable rights of our people and to promote normalization with the occupation and it institutions under slogans of “peace” and “dialogue.” These “normalization” efforts and initiatives must be widely boycotted by Palestinian society, and all “normalizers” must be exposed and shamed.

4. We call for a boycott of all bilateral, regional and international conferences or meetings not based on the principles stated above.

5. We stress the unity of the Palestinian people in all parts of our homeland and in the diaspora, and the unity of our national rights and cause.

Third: We categorically reject any attempt to recognize Israel as a “Jewish state,” as this would necessarily mean:

1. Exempting Israel from the crimes of ethnic cleansing perpetrated against our people over the past sixty years;

2. Waiving the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland and their properties, from which they were expelled in 1948 and in the years after;

3. Justifying and reinforcing the Israeli system of racial discrimination and apartheid against Palestinian citizens of Israel, as a prelude to expel them from their homeland on the pretext of preserving the Jewish State;

4. Reinforcing the Zionist ideology that is based on racism, ethnic cleansing and colonialism.

Therefore, we consider that any recognition of this kind is equivalent to conceding the right of return, which would entrench the exile and dispossession of our people and put an end to our cause. Anyone contemplating taking this path will bear the resulting historical responsibility.

Fourth: We assert the need to embark on serious and immediate action to find a solution to the recourse to armed internecine conflict in Gaza, through national dialogue, in order to end the division in Palestinian society in order to:

1. Reunite the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in one entity, and to agree to start preparations for early legislative and presidential elections based on the National Accord document;

2. In parallel with the above, start implementing the Cairo Agreement regarding the reform of the PLO through activation of the Preparatory Committee for the election of the Palestinian National Council with the participation of all Palestinian national and Islamic forces.

[TOP]

Pledge of Resistance in Defense of the Right to Housing in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast

PeoplesHurricane.org

A major human rights crisis exists in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. It is a crisis that denies the basic rights to life, equality under the law, and social equity to Black, Indigenous, migrant, and working class communities in the region. While this crisis was in existence long before Hurricane Katrina, the policies and actions of the U.S. government and finance capital (i.e. banking, credit, insurance, and development industries) following the Hurricane have seriously exacerbated the crisis.

One of the clearest examples of this crisis is the denial of the right to housing in New Orleans, particularly in the public housing sector. Since the Hurricane, the U.S. government through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has denied the vast majority of the residents of public housing the right to return to their homes. Unlike the vast majority of the housing stock in New Orleans, the majority of the public housing units received little to no flood or wind damage from the Hurricane. Yet, as of October 2007 only one-fourth of the public housing units have been reopened and reoccupied. The Bush government refuses to reopen the public housing units in New Orleans because it appears intent on destroying the public housing system, demolishing the existing structures, and turning over the properties to private real-estate developers to make profits.

Based on the discriminatory Federal Court ruling issued on Monday, September 10th, all of the major public housing units in New Orleans are now subject to immediate demolition (the latest report from Monday, November 5 is that HUD will attempt to start the demolition on Monday, November 19. However, this is being challenged by various legal advocates and will be delayed until at least Wednesday, November 28 pending a Federal court hearing). The first site on the schedule for demolition is the Lafitte housing project. Lafitte therefore, is the line in the sand that must be drawn by all peoples in support of the human right to housing.

Pledge of Resistance:

I believe in the fundamental human right to housing.

I will not be a witness to the denial of this right to the peoples of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

I therefore pledge myself to resist the denial of this right by all civil and humanitarian means available including civil disobedience.

I pledge to stand ready to take action against this imminent threat and to put myself on the line, either directly in New Orleans or in strategic locales throughout the U.S., in support of the demands and leadership of the peoples of New Orleans and their organizations in the struggle for housing and human rights.

We ask all those interested in coming to New Orleans when the action is called to contact us before making the journey. We want to welcome everyone coming and ensure they are properly orientated and trained. Please contact us via email at action@peopleshurricane.org

[TOP]

New Orleans Rally to Re-Open Public Housing
Evan Casper-Futterman, New Orleans Indymedia

Against the backdrop of impending demolitions and redevelopment of public housing, on November 13 dozens of public housing residents, activists, organizers, and supporters held a rally in front of the Federal courthouse in New Orleans — demanding the re-opening of public housing. They denounced housing officials, both locally and nationally. These “poverty pimps,” as they were addressed, are being called out for either profiteering from the demolition of public housing in New Orleans, or for their obstruction of any attempt to re-open the developments that currently exist. With the consistent refrains of “What do we want? Housing! When do we want it? Now!” and “Housing is a Human Right!” speakers addressed civil rights as well as internationally recognized human rights, declaring to the assembled crowd: “We are human beings!” “Housing is a Right!”

Local and national officials were targeted for their roles in the ongoing attempt to demolish and redevelop the vast majority of the public housing stock in New Orleans under the “mixed income” model. This plan will eliminate more than 80 percent of available public housing units in New Orleans, and cost more than $700 million to carry out from demolition through redevelopment and re-occupation.

This drastic downsizing of the affordable housing stock will aggravate the already dire economic situation of the poor and working class who have been displaced from public housing. Within the city of New Orleans, speakers called out Federal District Court Judge Ivan Lemelle for his dismissal of large portions of a class action suit filed on behalf of the residents of public housing, and Una Anderson, a former school board official who has partnered with development firms to take over redevelopment rights for the C.J. Peete Housing Development.

Nationally, the Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development administration (HUD), Alphonso Jackson, was called to task for his ongoing financial ties to Columbia Residential, one of the firms that have been contracted to redevelop another housing development in New Orleans. Protesters also denounced a publicized plan to convert the St. Bernard Development into a golf course.

Organizations represented in New Orleans included Survivor’s Village, Homeless Pride, and C3/Hands off Iberville, among others. Solidarity rallies were also announced for Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York.

[TOP]

Human Rights Organizations Demand:
Halt Demolition of 3,000 Units of
New Orleans Public Housing
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

More than 40 human rights organizations decried the scheduled demolition of 3,000 public housing units in New Orleans. The groups have issued a letter to U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, urging her continued leadership on behalf of public housing residents by finalizing dates for nationwide congressional hearings. The letter, part of a national campaign for passage of the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act, was also sent to Louisiana Senator David Vitter and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson.

“To demolish affordable housing without sufficient remaining low-income housing stock is not only irresponsible, but a violation of international human rights standards,” said Jared Feuer, southern regional director of Amnesty International USA.

In their letter, the organizations note the bleak situation facing public housing across the nation, most prominently represented by the imminent demolition of 3,000 public housing units in New Orleans despite expert findings that the units are sound. In preparation for demolition, contractors have begun emptying apartments and discarding the personal property of residents without their knowledge or consent, including photographs, letters and social security cards.

“Every moment we fail to act is another unit demolished, another grandmother evicted, or another child who finds him or herself doing homework in a shelter. Our nation and human rights principles have long recognized the right to housing, and we call on our public leaders to take on this potent issue,” said Catherine Albisa, executive director of the National Economic & Social Rights Initiative (NESRI).

According to international human rights standards, governments must provide specific safeguards with respect to housing for those who have been internally displaced by disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement mandate that host governments facilitate the voluntary return of the displaced to their homes or places of habitual residence in safety and with dignity.

[TOP]

Letter to Representative Maxine Waters

Rights Organizations Demand Right to Housing

November 16, 2007
Honorable Maxine Waters
Member of Congress
35th District, California
2344 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative Maxine Waters,

As human rights and housing rights organizations working around the world, we applaud the efforts you have taken to address the brutal situation facing residents of public and low income housing in the United States. Your initiatives, including your statements regarding the right to return for those displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the congressional bills you have sponsored, demonstrate your commitment to this important issue. Yet, we remain deeply concerned over the state of housing for low and moderate income Americans, and are particularly disturbed over the pending demolition of over 3,000 units of public housing in New Orleans. Specifically, we are concerned about reports that:

(i) The demolition of public housing units in New Orleans is imminent. Yet, the independent survey to assess the number of displaced residents of New Orleans who wish to return to the city is not complete. Additionally, there are residents currently living in these units and it is unclear, at best, whether they will be able to access adequate replacement housing. This loss of housing represents a severe undermining of the already weak right to housing protections in New Orleans.

(ii) The demolitions may be unnecessary. While housing officials have argued that due to damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the units are uninhabitable, expert testimony has contradicted these statements and attests that the units are structurally sound, and can become habitable. Pending resolution of such conflicting evidence, the demolitions should not occur.

(iii) Finally, the dignity and personal possessions of the former residents are not being respected in this process. In preparation for demolition, contractors have begun emptying apartments and discarding the personal property of residents, including articles of great sentimental and emotional value such as photographs and letters and significant personal identification materials such as social security cards, without their knowledge or consent.

We urge you to assist efforts in stopping the proposed demolition of these units, at least until the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007 has been voted on in the Senate. Additionally, we urge you to finalize the dates for the national congressional hearings on preserving public and subsidized housing that you recently proposed during your meeting with Concerned Citizens of Greater Harlem. We hope that these hearings will be national in scope, taking place in several locations including New York City, as discussed during your meeting, and New Orleans.

Public housing residents in New Orleans find themselves caught between two unyielding governmental authorities: the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Even prior to the upcoming demolitions, mixed and confusing messages from both entities, along with little to no assistance, has denied tenants of public housing the right to return to and participate in the rebuilding of their communities. Additionally, actions taken by both organizations have made it difficult for survivors to move past the tragedy of the storms and rebuild their lives. Because measures taken by HANO and HUD primarily impact Black and poor residents, they inevitably appear to have an undercurrent of racial and economic discrimination and exclusion.

The public housing crisis is unfolding within a broader human right to housing crisis. For example, the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center has documented widespread discrimination in the city’s rental markets, and nearby White suburban communities have reportedly passed anti-subsidized housing legislation to ensure that Black and poor families do not settle in their neighborhoods. When added to this mix is HUD’s inexplicable shortening of the normally 100-day demolition review process to one day, in order to expedite the destruction of the few existing public housing units, poor people literally have no where to turn. This violent push to demolish the public housing units represents an extreme manifestation of the policies and approaches to rebuilding New Orleans that appear to purge Black and poor communities from New Orleans almost by design.

Under human rights standards, governments must provide those who have been internally displaced by events such as natural disasters specific safeguards with respect to housing. Article 21(1) of the UN’s Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which USAID recognizes when carrying out international development policy, states: “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of property and possessions.” Moreover, Article 28 (1) states: “Competent authorities have the primary duty and responsibility to establish conditions, as well as provide the means, which allow internally displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes or places of habitual residence …”

The hardships facing public housing residents are not only felt in New Orleans. In New York City, the Housing Authority of New York City is in financial disarray and remains vulnerable to private control. Under the HOPE VI program, HUD successfully demolished more public housing units in Chicago than they have thus far replaced. The more than 13,000 demolished units in Chicago have forced approximately 20,000 residents from their homes and has left tens of thousands more on an indefinite waiting list. Throughout the United States housing is becoming acutely unaffordable with the resulting housing crisis increasing homelessness. Every moment we fail to act is another unit demolished, another grandmother evicted, or another child who finds him or herself doing homework in a shelter.

International human rights instruments speak to the human right to housing. Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was unanimously adopted by all the member countries of the United Nations, states: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including … housing ...” Article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate … housing … and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.”

Additionally, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a treaty to which the United States became a party in 1994, states: “States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, … to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of … the right to housing.”1 Moreover, the U.S. government passed the Housing Act of 1949, in which the government pledged to realize: “as soon as feasible . . . the goal of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family, thus contributing to the development and redevelopment of communities and to the advancement of the growth, wealth, and security of the nation.”

Our nation and human rights principles have long recognized the importance of guaranteeing to every citizen the right to housing. Therefore, we call on your leadership in taking on such an overlooked, yet potent issue.

Sincerely,

1010 Development Corporation
ACLU of Mississippi, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, Amnesty International, U.S.A.
Black Leadership Forum, C3/Hands Off Iberville, Center for Constitutional Rights
Center on Housing Rights and Evictions, Center for Social Inclusion, CHAM Deliverance Ministry
City-Wide Task Force on Housing Court, Claretian Associates, Inc.,
The Common Ground Relief Wetlands Restoration Project, Concerned Citizens of Greater Harlem
Eviction Defense Network, Global Rights, Good Ole Lower Eastside, Harlem Tenants Council
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, Housing Action Illinois,
Housing Coalition Educators, Housing and Land Rights Network, Giza, Egypt,
Interfaith Center of New York, International Action Center, Land Center for Human Rights, Cairo, Egypt,
Louisiana NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty
New York Solidarity for Katrina/Rita Survivors, Pax Christi New Orleans,
Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund, People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning,
Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, Poverty Matters
Public Housing Residents of the Lower Eastside, Student Hurricane Network, Survivors Village,
Urban Poor Consortium, Jakarta, Indonesia, U.S. Human Rights Network,
Philip L. Bereano, Professor, University of Washington
Shulamith Koenig, Recipient of UN Human Rights Award
*Dr. Zonke Majodina, Commissioner Human Rights, South Africa
*The Very Reverend James Parks Morton, founder of the Interfaith Center of New York
*Cindy Soohoo, Human Rights Institute, Columbia Law School
(*Organizational affiliations are for identification purposes only)

cc: Honorable Senators David Vitter, Mary L. Landrieu, Joseph Biden, Christopher J. Dodd, Diane Feinstein, Patrick J. Leahy, Edward Kennedy, Charles Schumer, Richard C. Shelby, Arlen Specter; Honorable Representatives John Conyers, Keith Ellison, Barney Frank, William J. Jefferson, John Olver, Charles Rangel, Nydia M. Velázquez and Governor-Elect Bobby Jindal, Mayor Clarence Ray Nagin, Jr., HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson

[TOP]