Solidarity for Gaza

January 3, 2009 by admin  
Filed under Protest

While U.S. President George Bush continues to point blame for the current violence solely on Hamas (apparently charging them for their own deaths) the cult of ‘accusing the victims’ appears to be the only message coming from Western leaders. In contrast, activists across Europe are taking matters into their own hands, as today has seen impressive numbers massing in Paris, Berlin, Athens and Rome.

In London, at least 50,000 protesters (a number likley to rise in coming hours) set to the streets of Whitehall and finally Trafalgar Square where singer Annie Lennox, writer Alexei Sayle and several Parliamentary Members and Senior Activists continue to address the ever expanding crowds braving freezing temperatures and long commutes to have their voices heard.

bruised earth was on the scene, and a few early photos can be viewed in the photoset below:

A protester bows in prayer during Saturdays march through London organized by

A protester bows in prayer during Saturday's march through London organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Organizers have insisted today's march is 'only the beginning'.

With fresh demonstrations occurring all over London (most notably an ongoing vigil outside the U.S. Consulate in London), and the increasing likelihood of an Israeli ground campaign happening within hours, protests should only expand - both in location and intensity.

As Lyndsey German, spokesperson of the Stop the War Coalition, stated earlier today: “If there is an invasion of Gaza, as looks likely, by the Israeli army, if the blockade continues with people suffering from shortages of food and medicine, then I think this will grow.”

Stay tuned to bruised earth for further updates.

Gaza Activists in Trouble

August 23, 2008 by admin  
Filed under Gaza, Protest, U.S. Policy

This will fly under the radar of most news reporting this weekend (as Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as his Vice-Presidential running mate will doubtless scoop up all media attention), but this is a very important story to note for those concerned about Gaza, and more importantly free protest and demonstration.

According to Al Jazeera, Israel’s Foreign Minister Aviv Shiron has issued threats to two vessels from the ‘Free Gaza’ Protest Group, who are attempting to land in Gaza to deliver balloons and hearing aids. Let me repeat that threatening cargo - balloons (for children) and hearing aids (for the hard of hearing).

There are rumours the Israeli Navy may even fire upon the ships as they enter the Gaza coast in the next few hours. Lauren Booth (Tony Blair’s Sister-in-Law) is actually aboard one of the vessels steaming toward Gaza under Greek flags, and has been quoted as saying:

I’ve been nervous, but today I’m excited. It’s not about our fear, it’s about the people waiting in Gaza, you can’t think about anything else.

Forget about this VP-selection news vortex you are about to enter, and keep your eyes on the Gaza coast - it’s important.

Ongoing Land Demolition (Read This)

June 12, 2008 by admin  
Filed under Israeli Politics, Protest, Video Clips, West Bank

As this post is being written, Palestinian homes are being flattened in many parts of the West Bank. The ongoing demolition policy in the occupied territories is a strange a complicated Web of policy, politics, and Zionist vision - one which is intentionally obtuse for casual observers from the West to fully comprehend.

Among other figures - one that jumps out is the fact that 85% of the water in the West Bank is used by Israeli settlements - a staggering figure if one remembers that water in this area of the world is the absolute key to life and community. With this kind of control, Israelis and settlers are free to expand, and to take the best and most fertile pieces of land for themselves. The result - evacuation of the native Palestinians from their land, and in it’s most visible and perverse sense - the annihilation of homes, crops, and livelihoods.

Jeff Halper, Coordinator for the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) states that:

Tens of thousands of Palestinian families live with demolition orders on their homes, some 22,000 in East Jerusalem alone, where fully a third of Palestinian homes face demolition at any time…With 18,000 homes demolished in the Occupied Territories since 1967 and thousands more targeted, we will do our best to resist those demolitions we can reach.

The tangled political process involved with ‘legally keeping’ one’s home in the West Bank is a mesh of red tape that is almost unimaginable by Western standards. In many cases, families must petition the Israeli government (a process that can last 6 months to 6 years) to claim rightful ownership and thus protect their homes. Given the long process, the government has full legal right to destroy homes that have ‘not complied’ with these legalisation measures (simply because the applications and process have been caught in adminstration during this time!).

It is truly shocking this is allowed to continue unabated - and under the noses of the West, whose light condemnation will never reign in Israel’s clear long-term goals in the region. It is thanks to groups like ICAHD that Israelis themselves are standing against this ongoing terror; standing up for the Palestinians and at the same time, their own humanity.

An excellent short video by ICAHD discusses the realities on the ground:

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Breaking the Silence

June 11, 2008 by admin  
Filed under Protest, Video Clips

The past few months has seen a vast number of current and former Isreaeli soldiers speaking out about their experiences in the occupied territories - experiences that have had a profound effect on both sides of the green line. In particular, one recent and extremely influential organization, Breaking the Silence has made a huge impact collaborating testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifadah.

As their site states:

These soldiers who serve in the Territories are witness to, and participate in military actions which change them immensely. Cases of abuse towards Palestinians, looting, and destruction of property have been the norm for years, but are still excused as military necessities, or explained as extreme and unique cases. Our testimonies portray a different and grim picture of questionable orders in many areas regarding Palestinian civilians. These demonstrate the depth of corruption which is spreading in the Israeli military.

Interviewing hundreds of soldiers who have served in the territories, Breaking the Silence is helping to shatter some of the myths of the Israeli soldier, and expose (perhaps for the first time) the toll occupation takes on both Israelis and Palestinians - occupiers and the occupied.

Some of these moving interviews can be viewed below, and for more information we encourage you to visit Breaking the Silence on the Web:

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Freedom for Palestine Rally: London

May 27, 2008 by admin  
Filed under Protest, Video Clips

In keeping with bruised earth’s ongoing offering of original content - the following video ‘collage’ of sights and sounds shot during the recent Freedom for Palestine Rally in Central London on Saturday May 10, 2008 - hopefully provides a bit of background on this impressive day in the capital - seeing over 20,000 protestors commemorating the 60 years since the Nakba (The Catastrophe of the Palestinian People) and corresponding founding of Israel.

Featuring sections of speeches by British MP George Galloway and Professor Manuel Hassassian (UK Ambassador for Palestine), the following video attempts to capture (through photos, videos, and music) the spirit of the demonstration. Other speakers on the day included Dr Mustafa Barghouti (elected Palestinian Legislative Council member), Richard Burden MP (chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Palestine) and former MP, Tony Benn.

http://www.vimeo.com/vimeo.com/1069210

Anti-Zionist Jews: Not In Their Name

May 24, 2008 by admin  
Filed under Culture, Protest, Video Clips

I have received a lot of comments recently about bruised earth being either anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli, or both. Like many Palestinians and many Israelis I have met and discussed the occupation with, there is a fundamental and urgent point everyone should understand - there exists a profound difference between speaking out against the political tenets of Zionism and voicing racist, blatant antisemitism. There is also a profound difference between being anti-Israel Policy and anti-Israeli. The difference is governments and people.

It is crucial the difference is understood. We should all be intelligent enough to debate these issues - separating policies from population. If not, we will - like many of our politicians - quietly debate the issue of the occupation in our heads rather than with our voices - frozen in fear of being labeled antisemitic.

People must also wake to the reality that there is a large and vibrant community of Israeli Jews - both in Israel and across the world - who refuse to allow Zionism and the subsequent actions of the State of Israel to be performed in their name. In many ways, they are the bravest and most powerful of voices, refusing to remain silent and speaking out in the face of great opposition from their families and communities.

To that end, I would like to offer a few examples of two exceptional and brave men. Both Jewish - one Israeli, one American. The first is Professor Ilan Pappe, one of Israel’s acclaimed New Historians who debunked the idealized Zionist version of the Jewish State’s history and exposed that massacre, rape and dispossession of the native Palestinians that attended its birth.

Professor Pappe is an advocate for a single secular democratic state in historic Palestine with equal rights for Jews and Arabs. His outspoken views put him out of favour with the Israeli mainstream and recently, he has decided to leave Israel to teach at Exeter University. His most recent work, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine is a striking and urgent review of Israel’s actions in 1948, and its ongoing policy of racially segregating Palestinians and Jews today.

An excellent portion of a lecture by Professor Pappe (I encourage everyone to spare the time) can be viewed here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2378048083114640496

The second Jewish profile is American-born Mike Marqusee, an exceptional writer, speaker and intellectual I have had the profound pleasure to meet and work with on a book event some years ago. His latest offering, If I Am Not for Myself: Confessions of an Anti-Zionist Jew is a “thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be Jewish in the twenty-first century”. It traces Marqusee’s upbringing in the 60’s in an Jewish-American family, his subsequent pro-Palestinian activism, and experiences as a Jew living among Muslims in Pakistan, Morocco, and Britain.

Like Professor Pappe, Marqusee has faced and experienced the effects of living as an anti-Zionist Jew, and has chosen to work toward breaking the mold of blindly accepting the actions of the State of Israel simply because of his Jewish heritage.

This post is therefore dedicated to Marqusee, Pappe, and the brave scores of Jewish men and women around the world who against substantial odds, are speaking out and forcing their communities to re-think and discern the crucial difference between Judaism and Zionism; anti-Israel and anti-Israeli; people and policies.

Bravo.

The Nakba Continues: 60 Years On

May 15, 2008 by admin  
Filed under Gaza, Israeli Politics, Protest, West Bank

Looking around the Ha’aretz and Jerusalem Post Web sites this morning - and realizing we will formally ‘celebrate’ the 60th Anniversary of Israel and simultaneously commemorate the 60 years since the ongoing Nakba (Catastrophe) of the Palestinian people today - I frankly found too few signs of hope and progress.

Bush is about - and reinforcing his commitment to Israel, the Israeli Housing Minister has promised to build 600 new homes in West Bank Settlements, and there’s even a plan announced yesterday to put a new synagogue smack in the middle of Palestinian East Jerusalem.

As we heard from Bush this week, there is still a flickering hope of a Palestinian State by the end of the year. Or at least, he believes that. An astute piece by Daniel Levy entitled ‘Roadmap to Nowhere‘ in yesterday’s International Herald Tribune succinctly sums this up as a ‘make believe’ peace process. None of the players involved with the debacle that was Annapolis feel there is any prospect of a ‘Roadmap’ solution in the near future - much less the next 6 months.

So why the false hope, the deception, the blind optimism in something that is simply no longer possible given the current facts on the ground. I struggle with that today more than ever as on a day that commemorates an event as pivotal as the dispossession of an entire people from their native land, all many of us on the sidelines can do is hope. Hope that more people learn the truth. The truth of the real situation beyond the media - beyond the 90-second sound bites of Bush pledging a 2-State solution or chipper photographs of Abbas and Olmert shaking hands. The truth is not pleasant. It does not fit well within politics or media or our collective view of the way the modern world should work.

Here are a few of those truths:

Before 1948 there were 475 Palestinian towns and villages in the area known as British Mandate Palestine. Since 1948, the year of the founding of Israel, 385 of those towns and villages have completely disappeared from the map (in most cases having been bulldozed out of existence).

Since 1967, Israel has detained and imprisoned over 700,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom as political prisoners (PLO NAD, Palestinian Prisoners, June 2007).

It is estimated that over 50% of the total area of the West Bank is currently restricted area and that Palestinians are restricted from some 41 sections of roads in the West Bank (approx. 700 km).

Since 1987, Israeli forces have “administratively” demolished (i.e., for lacking building permits) over 3,300 Palestinian houses in the West Bank (incl. East Jerusalem), and hundreds of other structures, rendering thousands of Palestinians homeless. In addition, as ‘punishment’ 1,061 homes were completely and 64 partially destroyed as well as 299 completely and 118 partially sealed (B’Tselem).

It really goes on and on.

So on this day of of the Nakba, the catastrophe, all this site can ask and ‘hope’ to encourage is the ongoing search for the truth. Hope more people can wade through the politics and media that filter what we all need to know; what we all must confront. Everyone must find that for themselves.

Read other Web sites - beyond Fox, CNN, BBC, and Reuters. Forget about the 30 minute news updates - and instead piece together 30 minutes of real news from other sources every day.

Read the facts. Find more facts. Find more truth.

Palestine in London

May 12, 2008 by admin  
Filed under Protest

An estimated 20,000 people hit the streets of London this past Saturday as part of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s ‘National Demonstration for Palestine’. The lengthy march through Embankment, Westminster, and finally, Trafalgar Square included speakers Tony Benn and Respect MP, George Galloway.

Leading up to the 60th Anniversary of the Nakba, it was encouraging to see such a significant turnout in the UK (in active contrast to current UK/EU Policy) and as with all demonstrations - some very positive and very negative responses.

For a glimpse into the rally, check out the following photoset.

Also, please check out the following video of sights, sounds, and images from the rally - exclusive to bruised earth :

http://www.vimeo.com/vimeo.com/1069210

Blog About Palestine Day

May 5, 2008 by admin  
Filed under Protest

With May 15th fast approaching - and with it the 60th Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba - a wonderful initiative dubbed ‘Blog About Palestine Day’ will take place encouraging sites and bloggers to write something, anything having to do with Palestine and the Occupation. This is a great chance to get behind an online movement - and bruisedearth.org will of course be proud to take part.

For more info, and for banners for you site, click here.