one year anniversary

Today- December 27th is the anniversary of the attack by israel on the gaza strip.
The following is a statement from Gisha (legal centre for freedom of movement)

Despite the fact that a year has passed since the start of the Gaza military operation, the damage caused by three weeks of war and the near total closure preceding it has yet to be repaired. The reason: Israel's ongoing policy blocking goods from entering the Gaza Strip, including a near total ban on reconstruction materials.

As an example, part of the report issued today by Gisha:

Funds for Reconstruction:

• Reconstruction funds pledged at the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit: Some $4.5 billion.
• Number of months international community negotiated with Israeli government over mechanism for transferring reconstruction funds and materials: 9 months.
• Implementation of mechanism for transferring reconstruction funds and materials: None.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has also released a report:

23 Days of way 928 Days of Closure: Life One Year after Israel’s Latest Offensive on the Gaza Strip, 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009

Within this report it is reiterated that no action has been taken again Israel since the Goldstone Report has been issued. For over 42 years Israel has acted with impunity to international law. And by our governments remaining impassive, they are intrinsically complicit to the actions of Israel.

PCHR stress the urgent need for accountability. All those who violate international law must be investigated, tried and prosecuted in accordance with international standards. Victims’ rights to the equal protection of the law and an effective judicial remedy must be upheld.

Act now:

sign this petition to Gordon Brown

COMET Project

The comet project is support by the villages, the inspirational group set up in the Hebron region of the west bank by both Israeli's and Palestinian's.


The project has been entered into the BBC world's competition 'world challenge' which quite ironically is sponsored by shell. The idea of the competition is to champion new innovative projects which have been implemented at a grass roots level.

Two Israeli physicists, Elad Orian and Noam Dotan, are hoping to bring power to the desert by installing wind and solar technologies to help run lights and fridges for these impoverished people.

Further details about the project can be found here

more photos

Thank you to Matthias for setting us up with a group photo stream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45114946@N07/

picture above:
the Burin group with Bilal and Ghassan at Bilal's uncles house. This house was built years ago fro Bilal's family, but due to its location on a small hill between the settlements of Itzhar and Baracha each time the family moved in they were evicted by the Israeli Army.
The family still hope to live there at some point in the future.
inshallah.

letter to the Telegraph

Peter has put his pen to paper on behalf of the group once again and submitted the following article to the Telegraph.

Lets hope it gets the same page space as his previous excellent efforts.

Fairness in the Land?


I have recently returned from taking part in the olive harvest on the West Bank. In my encounter with the Israeli army, I was told that it was “protecting farmers from settlers.” In reality, this amounted to preventing farmers from picking olives on their own land (by declaring it a “closed military zone”) and failing to prevent settlers from leaving their illegally occupied hill-top to harass the farmers.

The group I was with met the local headmaster, who told us that his greatest concern was the pollution of the water-table by untreated sewage flowing from the settlement.

I have now heard, two weeks after our departure, that settlers have cut down 95 olive trees (Haaretz Nov. 21) and invaded the neighbouring village, where they were escorted by the army, who fired tear gas and live bullets (Palestinian Centre for Human Rights).

Settlers receive inducements from the Israeli government: loans for the purchase of property, price reductions on the leasing of land, financial incentives for teachers, grants for investors and free school transport.

One of the farmers I met showed me his documentation for the land he thought he owned. This included the large part of his grove which he was no longer allowed to access and the hilltop itself, where 20 years ago he and his family used to picnic, and which is now occupied by the same settlement which pours its sewage on to the village water supply.

In view of the unparalleled level of support given to one favoured group of inhabitants of the West Bank, will the State of Israeli be providing compensation to their victims, the Palestinian farmer who has now lost his livelihood, the other who cannot access his own grove and the villagers who habitually suffer amoebic dysentery caused by the polluted water supply?

Yours sincerely,

(Rev. Canon Dr.) Peter G. Liddell

machsom watch

machsom watch are an Israeli organisation run by women.

They call for a stop to the oppression that is destroying both the prospect of a Palestinian state and the future of Israel.

Machsom Watch monitor the human rights abuses at checkpoints, often present with a clipboard, camera and video camera to document what may occur at such points of exchange.

This video shows what one man must go through almost every time he passes a checkpoint, due ot his ID card being 'similar' to a suspected criminal.

A friend of mine from Burin told me that a week ago he had been held Huwara check point- the very same one in this video and the very same one that we passed through on our journeys to and from Nablus. He was detained for many hours until his father was brought to argue for his release.

More videos by machsom watch can be found here.

They include checkpoints, testimonials, tours, demonstrations and an act of arson in the frield of Burin.

bbc

Yesterday there was an article featured on the bbc website.

It told of the problems that the people living in Burin have been encountering with settlers cutting down the trees in the groves closestn to the settlements.

The article describes the loss of trees from a Palestinian farmer in Burin and a Jewish settler in the south of the West Bank.

It is interesting that the bbc is seeming to strive for impartiality in this article as it consistently reassures the everyday news reader.

Yet I find myself wondering if the lives of these two men, considering the stark difference of a west bank settlement and a Palestinian village can really be comparable.

the article can be read here :
Middle east conflict played out in the olive groves

And I will leave you to decide for yourselves.