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Posted on Monday, 4 January, 2010 By yours truly | TOOLS: Talk or Share
To Shoot an elephant is a new documentary by Mohammed Rujailah and my pal Alberto Arce, and they’re holding a January 18 worldwide screening which you can take part in by downloading the entire film and showing it on the day. The film covers emergency workers, human rights activist and other internationals who were in Gaza during last year’s December-January attack by the Israeli military. The footage is a mashup of edits culled from footage for another film, Erased: Wiped off the Map, which is about the attacks on Gaza. Visit www.toshootanelephant.com, where you can also see the English trailer. Download the film and hold your own screening in your living room or share it with others for screenings elsewhere.
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Posted on Wednesday, 30 December, 2009 By yours truly | TOOLS: Talk or Share
I was recently reminded about the Russell Tribunal on Palestine when a friend of mine invited me to join its group on Facebook. I had started a post on it some time ago, one of many along the lines of “look at this, isn’t this neat” type of thing. But the Tribunal, though still new, is kicking into high gear in March of 2010 with a its first session in Barcelona. Before that takes place I decided to look around its already published statements and whose who lists to see if it was something worth following or another in a long series of well-meaning organizations basically telling us all what we really already know without offering a tangible way forward.
The InterWeb loves a list, so that’s how we’ll format this one.
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Posted on Saturday, 7 November, 2009 By yours truly | TOOLS: Talk or Share
Richard J. Goldstone sets the record straight on his UN Fact Finding Report on war crimes in Gaza. The United States House of Representatives passed Resolution 867 in spite of several obvious pieces of misinformation, ranging from sweeping generalizations, factual inaccuracies and misleading statements. Not a surprise coming from the political body responsible for the war in Iraq.
One sample:
HR 867: “Whereas the mandate of the `fact-finding mission’ makes no mention of the relentless rocket and mortar attacks, which numbered in the thousands and spanned a period of eight years, by Hamas and other violent militant groups in Gaza against civilian targets in Israel, that necessitated Israel’s defensive measures;”
Justice Goldstone: “This whereas clause is factually incorrect. As noted above, the expanded mandate clearly included the rocket and mortar attacks. Moreover, Chapter XXIV of the Report considers in detail the relentless rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel and the terror they caused to the people living within their range. The resulting finding made in the report is that these attacks constituted serious war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.”
Read: Israel-Palestine: The Missing Headlines
And…
Also, be sure to check out Washington State Congressman Brian Baird’s remarks on Hr 867. He was one of 36 in the House of Representatives to not lie (via voting in favor of it) to voters about the true nature of the Gaza siege. If your congress creature was on that very short list, do send them a letter of thanks.
Snip:
“What will it say about this Congress and our country if we so readily seek to block “any further consideration” of a human rights investigation produced by one of the most respected jurists in the world today, a man who led the investigations of abuses in South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Kosovo and worked to identify and prosecute Nazi war criminals as a member of the Panel of the Commission of Enquiry into the Activities of Nazism in Argentina?” — Brian Baird
Posted on Wednesday, 4 November, 2009 By yours truly | TOOLS: Talk or Share
H. Res. 867, calls on the President and the Secretary of State to pretend Israel never attacked Gaza last year with all the weapons the U.S. sold to it and to blame Palestinians for being killed in the attack in order to drum up anti-Israel sentiments.
Thanks to the 36 representatives who voted against it. From Washington State, Brian Baird and Jim McDermott voted against it. Many of the people voting against the UN report also voted for the Iraq war. I’m sure their reasons for rejecting this report had something to do with being confronted by the actual existance of accurate facts about the situation, which must have been very scary for them.
This all centers around Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, otherwise known as the Goldstone Report, or in some circles rightwing circles in Israel, “that self-hating, traitor basterd’s scribblings.” For short, please just refer to it as “the facts.” Word has it that the U.S. was most upset that it’s suggested edits, which blacked out every sentence not starting with the word “Hamas” was rejected. Will President OBama actually sign up and voluntarily blind himself remainst to be seen. It would be a forgone conclusion under Bush, but as the current president can read, his endorsement or rejection of this slop will offer some insight whether the White House wants to continue bombing Palestinians via the Israeli military or not.
via GovTrack.us
“The United States won Israel a reprieve on the Goldstone report, so now it must ensure that Israel genuinely investigates allegations of abuse. If this doesn’t happen by March, then the US should endorse the Goldstone report’s call for international mechanisms of accountability.” — Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch
Posted on Thursday, 16 July, 2009 By yours truly | TOOLS: Talk or Share
Shovrimshtika.org has compiled 54 testimonies by Israeli combat soldiers who participated in Operation Cast Lead, which “reveal gaps between the reports given by the army following January’s events; the needless destruction of houses; firing phosphorous in populated areas and an atmosphere that encouraged shooting anywhere.”
Among the 54 testimonies are stories revealing the use of “accepted practices,” the destruction of hundreds of houses and mosques for no military purpose, the firing of phosphorous gas in the direction of populated areas, the killing of innocent victims with small arms, the destruction of private property, and most of all, a permissive atmosphere in the command structure that enabled soldiers to act without moral restrictions.
via Breaking The Silence – Israeli soldiers talk about the occupied territories
Also See:
Posted on Wednesday, 8 July, 2009 By yours truly | TOOLS: Talk or Share
A while back I ran this graphic, found at Norman Finkelstein’s website, at the top of this blog. Since then, more details on it have emerged on Norman’s site and on a Facebook group that’s sprung up.
Norman Finkelstein and other prominent activists are asking that people converge on Gaza on Jan. 1st, 2010 to break the siege of Gaza. Go with them, or support someone else who’s willing to go. Events to raise money to send people to Gaza are planned throughout the Fall.
I still have a number of questions about it, but like the concept. A first public meeting about it is set for New York a week from today, so imagine more should be coming out following that. the details are here:
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