Usually Indymedia Ireland allows people to publish their news and reflections instantaneously online. It's an amazing service and one that I have used extensively over the years as has my friend Mairead Maguire. Mairead is a Nobel Peace Laureate who has done more for peace and justice since she won the Prize than she did before. Unlike many of her fellow Laureates she has not turned her back on the cause.
Recently I helped Mairead who lives in Belfast to post an opinion piece on Indymedia Ireland in the Opinion and Analysis section. Her thoughts were a reflection of her trip on the MV Rachel Corrie to break the siege of Gaza and bring humanitarian aid to the people the stricken area. Shortly after its publication the article was taken down by an editor of Indymedia Ireland. The reason given was that it contained nothing new and had been posted on other places on the Internet. Usually, if this happens an editor will move the piece to the section of Indymedia Ireland called "Other Press". But when I .searched "Other Press", alas I could find no trace.
Disappointed, I decided to ask the editors of Indymedia Ireland to re-publish the article in their "Other Press" section. Meanwhile, I am publishing it on this blog, "three little dogs" (not as widely read of course)
Hopefully, it will follow this blog as Mairead's article in its own right, under her own heading "CHOOSE PEACE_ End the Siege of Gaza"
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Israeli Patriot Uri Avnery (86) attacked by Mob at Tel Aviv protest
At a demonstration in Tel Aviv, the veteran Israeli peace activist, Uri Avnery (84) was attacked last night and had to be rescued by police.
The demonstration, held in Rabin Square, to protest against the occupation and government policy also protested against the take-over by the IDF of the Gaza Aid boats. Right wingers threw a grenade at protesters.
An e-mail from Israel states:
"The demo last night was attacked by right-wing thugs who even assaulted people sitting in coffee shops for being "complacent" and unpatriotic. The police saved Uri Avneri, who is over 80 years old, from being lynched, by bundling him into a taxi, but no arrests were reported."
The demonstration, held in Rabin Square, to protest against the occupation and government policy also protested against the take-over by the IDF of the Gaza Aid boats. Right wingers threw a grenade at protesters.
An e-mail from Israel states:
"The demo last night was attacked by right-wing thugs who even assaulted people sitting in coffee shops for being "complacent" and unpatriotic. The police saved Uri Avneri, who is over 80 years old, from being lynched, by bundling him into a taxi, but no arrests were reported."
Saturday, 5 June 2010
Israeli forces Board the Rachel Corrie
Israeli forces have boarded the Rachel Corrie.
Of course no-one on board resisted violently.
All on board had already announced this to the whole world.
But the boarding was nevertheless a brazen arrogant and unlawful break and entry into a lawful dwelling.
It was like breaking into someone's home, taking it over, using it as they wished (like robbers do in the night), kidnapping the inhabitants, unlawfully imprisoning them, forcing them to go into a hostile place and preventing them from carrying out their lawful tasks.
Israel is no stranger to this kind of action. The State of Israel does this on a regular basis to the Palestinians whose country they continue to occupy illegally.
The Flotilla to Gaza and Israel's bloody reaction to it over the past days has highlighted the ongoing siege of Gaza and the atrocities of Israel in a way that was hardly expected by that rogue State.
Of course no-one on board resisted violently.
All on board had already announced this to the whole world.
But the boarding was nevertheless a brazen arrogant and unlawful break and entry into a lawful dwelling.
It was like breaking into someone's home, taking it over, using it as they wished (like robbers do in the night), kidnapping the inhabitants, unlawfully imprisoning them, forcing them to go into a hostile place and preventing them from carrying out their lawful tasks.
Israel is no stranger to this kind of action. The State of Israel does this on a regular basis to the Palestinians whose country they continue to occupy illegally.
The Flotilla to Gaza and Israel's bloody reaction to it over the past days has highlighted the ongoing siege of Gaza and the atrocities of Israel in a way that was hardly expected by that rogue State.
I salute the boarded Rachel Corrie and its passengers
I feel very proud of the MV Rachel Corrie and her brave crew. Just now the reports are in that the ship has been boarded and is being towed to Ashdod. That there was no violence on the part of the passengers.
There were 4 calls to the ship, according to the Israeli Defence Forces, ordering them not to proceed to Gaza.
But nearly everyone in Israel knows the calibre of those brave people on board.
They started their journey in order to deliver aid to Gaza and to break the illegal siege
No-one was going to persaude them to divert from those 2 aims. They sped onwards to Gaza, even after the murders on Mavi Marmara, the numerous woundings, the assaults and violent arrests on all of the ships, the assaults on their prisoners after arrest and in detention. They said these horrible events only strengthened their resolve.
Everyone said the siege was wrong but no-one could break it. Not the UN,nor the EU,nor the USA, the "international community".
Concerning the siege, these entities DID nothing. Just as they did nothing, concerning Israel's overweening and incomprehensible arrogance in flaunting the international community re their occupation of Palestine. Only words were spoken. Never was the term "weasel words" more appropriate to the mutterings of those parties. The UN achieved nil and has become a laughing stock. The USA continued to pour billions of dollars into Israel, no strings attached, and now looks like a lapdog of Israel. The EU even made pacts with Israel on trade matters giving Israel special privileges.
Israel laughs at weasel words. They are a violently Machiavellian State. They devastated Gaza eighteen months ago, murdering 1400 including hundreds of children, then prevented its rebuilding. They treat Palestinians as if they were dirt. They scoffed at Obama when he went to Egypt. They scoffed at George Mitchell and at Hillary Clinton when they went to Israel. They scoffed at the International Atomic Energy Agency when they went to inspect Dimona Nuclear Plant - and Dimona has never been inspected. Mitchell and Clinton have not been allowed to visit Gaza. The State of Israel has driven Palestinians from their lands and homes and settled extremist American Zionists on the robbed land, even while pretending to talk about "wanting peace". Decent Israelis and Jewish people from many countries are just as angry and even angrier about these crimes than I am.
But now Israel cannot afford to laugh at the Rachel Corrie and her non-violent passengers. The Rachel Corrie went straight into the face of danger saying: "What you are doing is wrong and we oppose it with our bodies and souls and lives." Just like the American girl Rachel Corrie did when she stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer that was demolishing one of the aforementioned Palestinian homes - and they mowed her down.
Now, as the brave prisoners are beng escorted to an Israeli port, Ashdod, as they face imprisonment and hate in the country that imprisons them, as they face deportation from the country that has forced them to enter it, I salute each and every one of them.
The Irish participant on this brave expedition are: Nobel Peace laureate Maireád Corrigan-Maguire, former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday, film maker Fiona Thompson, and husband and wife Derek and Jenny Graham.
I salute all the other members equally though not by name. The reason is that I don't yet know them
There were 4 calls to the ship, according to the Israeli Defence Forces, ordering them not to proceed to Gaza.
But nearly everyone in Israel knows the calibre of those brave people on board.
They started their journey in order to deliver aid to Gaza and to break the illegal siege
No-one was going to persaude them to divert from those 2 aims. They sped onwards to Gaza, even after the murders on Mavi Marmara, the numerous woundings, the assaults and violent arrests on all of the ships, the assaults on their prisoners after arrest and in detention. They said these horrible events only strengthened their resolve.
Everyone said the siege was wrong but no-one could break it. Not the UN,nor the EU,nor the USA, the "international community".
Concerning the siege, these entities DID nothing. Just as they did nothing, concerning Israel's overweening and incomprehensible arrogance in flaunting the international community re their occupation of Palestine. Only words were spoken. Never was the term "weasel words" more appropriate to the mutterings of those parties. The UN achieved nil and has become a laughing stock. The USA continued to pour billions of dollars into Israel, no strings attached, and now looks like a lapdog of Israel. The EU even made pacts with Israel on trade matters giving Israel special privileges.
Israel laughs at weasel words. They are a violently Machiavellian State. They devastated Gaza eighteen months ago, murdering 1400 including hundreds of children, then prevented its rebuilding. They treat Palestinians as if they were dirt. They scoffed at Obama when he went to Egypt. They scoffed at George Mitchell and at Hillary Clinton when they went to Israel. They scoffed at the International Atomic Energy Agency when they went to inspect Dimona Nuclear Plant - and Dimona has never been inspected. Mitchell and Clinton have not been allowed to visit Gaza. The State of Israel has driven Palestinians from their lands and homes and settled extremist American Zionists on the robbed land, even while pretending to talk about "wanting peace". Decent Israelis and Jewish people from many countries are just as angry and even angrier about these crimes than I am.
But now Israel cannot afford to laugh at the Rachel Corrie and her non-violent passengers. The Rachel Corrie went straight into the face of danger saying: "What you are doing is wrong and we oppose it with our bodies and souls and lives." Just like the American girl Rachel Corrie did when she stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer that was demolishing one of the aforementioned Palestinian homes - and they mowed her down.
Now, as the brave prisoners are beng escorted to an Israeli port, Ashdod, as they face imprisonment and hate in the country that imprisons them, as they face deportation from the country that has forced them to enter it, I salute each and every one of them.
The Irish participant on this brave expedition are: Nobel Peace laureate Maireád Corrigan-Maguire, former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday, film maker Fiona Thompson, and husband and wife Derek and Jenny Graham.
I salute all the other members equally though not by name. The reason is that I don't yet know them
Monday, 31 May 2010
This night a crime was perpetrated by Israel
Press Release 05/31/2010
Uri Avnery: This night a crime was perpetrated in the middle of the sea, by order of the government of Israel and the IDF Command
A warlike attack against aid ships and deadly shooting at peace and humanitarian aid activists
It is a crazy thing that only a government that crossed all red lines can do
"Only a crazy government that has lost all restraint and all connection to reality could something like that - consider ships carrying humanitarian aid and peace activists from around the world as an enemy and send massive military force to international waters to attack them, shoot and kill.
"Noone in the world will believe the lies and excuses which the government and army spokesmen come up with," said former Knesset member Uri Avnery of the Gush Shalom movement. Gush Shalom activists together with activists of other organizations are to depart at 11:00 from Tel Aviv to protest in front of the prepared detention facility where the international peace activists will be brought.
Greta Berlin, the spokeswoman for the flotilla organizers located in Cyprus, told Gush Shalom activists that the Israeli commandos landed by helicopter on the boats and immediately opened fire.
This is a day of disgrace to the State of Israel, a day of anxiety in which we discover that our future was entrusted to a bunch of trigger-happy people without any responsibility. This day is a day of disgrace and madness and stupidity without limit, the day the Israeli government took care to blacken the name of the country in the world, adding convincing evidence of aggressiveness and brutality to Israel's already bad international image, discouraging and distancing the few remaining friends.
Indeed, today a provocation took place off the coast of Gaza - but the provocateurs were not the peace activists invited by the Palestinians and seeking to reach Gaza. The provocation was carried out by Navy ships commandos at the bidding of the Israeli government, blocking the way of the aid boats and using deadly force.
It is time to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip, which causes severe suffering to its residents. Today the Israeli government ripped the mask of its face with its own hands and exposed the fact that Israel did not "disengage" from Gaza. Real disengagement from the area does not go together with blocking the access to it or sending soldiers to shoot and kill and wound those who try to get there.
The State of Israel promised in the Oslo Accords 17 years ago to enable and encourage the establishment of a deep water port in Gaza, through which Palestinians could import and export freely to develop their economy. It's time to realize this commitment and open the Port of Gaza. Only after the Gaza port will be open to free and undisturbed movement, just like the Ashdod and Haifa ports, will Israel really have disengaged from the Gaza Strip. Until then, the world will continue - and rightly so - to consider the Gaza Strip under Israeli occupation and the State of Israel as responsible for the fate of the people living there.
Uri Avnery: This night a crime was perpetrated in the middle of the sea, by order of the government of Israel and the IDF Command
A warlike attack against aid ships and deadly shooting at peace and humanitarian aid activists
It is a crazy thing that only a government that crossed all red lines can do
"Only a crazy government that has lost all restraint and all connection to reality could something like that - consider ships carrying humanitarian aid and peace activists from around the world as an enemy and send massive military force to international waters to attack them, shoot and kill.
"Noone in the world will believe the lies and excuses which the government and army spokesmen come up with," said former Knesset member Uri Avnery of the Gush Shalom movement. Gush Shalom activists together with activists of other organizations are to depart at 11:00 from Tel Aviv to protest in front of the prepared detention facility where the international peace activists will be brought.
Greta Berlin, the spokeswoman for the flotilla organizers located in Cyprus, told Gush Shalom activists that the Israeli commandos landed by helicopter on the boats and immediately opened fire.
This is a day of disgrace to the State of Israel, a day of anxiety in which we discover that our future was entrusted to a bunch of trigger-happy people without any responsibility. This day is a day of disgrace and madness and stupidity without limit, the day the Israeli government took care to blacken the name of the country in the world, adding convincing evidence of aggressiveness and brutality to Israel's already bad international image, discouraging and distancing the few remaining friends.
Indeed, today a provocation took place off the coast of Gaza - but the provocateurs were not the peace activists invited by the Palestinians and seeking to reach Gaza. The provocation was carried out by Navy ships commandos at the bidding of the Israeli government, blocking the way of the aid boats and using deadly force.
It is time to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip, which causes severe suffering to its residents. Today the Israeli government ripped the mask of its face with its own hands and exposed the fact that Israel did not "disengage" from Gaza. Real disengagement from the area does not go together with blocking the access to it or sending soldiers to shoot and kill and wound those who try to get there.
The State of Israel promised in the Oslo Accords 17 years ago to enable and encourage the establishment of a deep water port in Gaza, through which Palestinians could import and export freely to develop their economy. It's time to realize this commitment and open the Port of Gaza. Only after the Gaza port will be open to free and undisturbed movement, just like the Ashdod and Haifa ports, will Israel really have disengaged from the Gaza Strip. Until then, the world will continue - and rightly so - to consider the Gaza Strip under Israeli occupation and the State of Israel as responsible for the fate of the people living there.
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