Madison-Rafah Journal

The Madison production of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie, featuring Brittany Jordt in the title role, will be performed in Door County from July 25 to 27:

Friday, July 25 and Saturday, July 26 at 8 pm
Ephraim Village Hall
9996 Water Street

Sunday, July 27 at 2 pm
Baileys Harbor Town Hall
2392 County Hwy F

$7 general admission, $3 students

For ticket and general information call 608-278-0483 or e-mail rafahsistercity (at) yahoo.com. Tickets will be available at the door, or you can reserve tickets by leaving your name and phone number, the performance you wish to attend, and the number of tickets desired. Your reservation will be confirmed by return call. Tickets must be picked up and paid for at least one-half hour before play time.

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Dear Members and Friends of MRSCP,

The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has forwarded this call from the United for Peace and Justice group for an urgent national effort to speak out against a military attack on Iran by the U.S., Israel or both.

They suggest five actions below…but in particular, we want to ask you to please participate in the FIRST one: phone calls to Congress and Senators Feingold and Kohl. On Monday, peace groups in Milwaukee will be raising this issue with a march on the offices of Feingold and Kohl (as well as Rep. Gwen Moore) so this is a GREAT time to reinforce the message!

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Bush is ratcheting up the rhetoric on Iran. He says "All options are on the table." Congress is considering a resolution to blockade Iran – an act of war.

What can we do to stop it?

Join us as we hear from a panel of experts:

• History of US policy – Joe Elder
• US covert operations – Allen Ruff
• Middle East context – Tsela Barr
• The nuclear issue – Jeff Patterson
• Why we shouldn’t go to war – Majid Sarmadi

Discussion and brainstorming on working for a peaceful world will follow. Bonnie Block will moderate.

Tuesday July 15, 2008
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Lowell Hall, Room B1-A/D
610 Langdon St., Madison

Co-sponsored by: Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Madison Pledge of Resistance, United Nations Association-Dane County Chapter, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Health Writers, Madison-Rafah Sister City Project and more.

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ACTION ALERT
July 2, 2008

Washington Report Correspondent Mohammed Omer Hospitalized Following Detention by Israeli Soldiers at Allenby Bridge Crossing

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer, Gaza correspondent for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and co-recipient of the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, was hospitalized with cracked ribs and other injuries inflicted by Israeli soldiers at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan into the occupied West Bank.

Omer was returning home to Gaza after a European speaking tour and the June 16 London ceremony at which he accepted the prestigious Gellhorn Prize.

Journalist John Pilger (c), a member of the Martha Gellhorn Prize judges panel, congratulates co-recipients Dahr Jamail (l) and Mohammed Omer. Photo Paul de Rooij.

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Reference: 63/2008
Date: 01 Jul 2008

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continues to violate freedom of expression and freedom of the press in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). This includes restricting journalists and media institutions from working freely, as well as killing, miming and torturing journalists. On Thursday, 26 June 2008, the IOF severely beat and humiliated Mohammed Omar Al Mghayar, a young prize-winning journalist who lives in and reports from the Gaza Strip.

According to the 24-year-old journalist's sworn testimony, officers from the Israeli security services (Shin Bet) assaulted him when he was returning from a trip to Europe. Al Mghayar began his visit in London, where he was awarded the 2008 Martha Gelhorn Prize for Journalistic Excellence. He continued his trip to Sweden, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands where he spoke before parliaments. It is noteworthy that a delegation from the Dutch embassy facilitated his travel from Gaza and accompanied Al Mghayar on his outbound journey from the Gaza Strip to Jordan.

On Thursday, 26 June 2008, at approximately 9:40am, the journalist arrived at the Allenby Bridge that joins Jordan and the OPT, but is controlled by Israel. The IOF arrested him, forced him to take off his clothes, beat him severely, and insulted him in front of other travelers. During the two-hour interrogation, he was threatened at gunpoint to his face. A Dutch delegation was waiting for him at the Bridge; however, while he was under interrogation, the IOF told the delegation that he had not arrived at the crossing yet.

The beating, accompanied by mental and physical exhaustion, caused Al Mghayar to lose consciousness and he was transferred to a hospital in Jericho, West Bank. After medical treatment, he was moved to the Erez Crossing that connects Israel with the Gaza Strip. There, the IOF confiscated his camera charger.

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US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, July 2nd, 2008

It’s bad enough that Congress passed the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 two weeks ago, spending $165 billion more on our country’s illegal war on and occupation of Iraq well into 2009.

To add insult to injury, after closely reading the bill, we discovered that Congress snuck in a last-minute earmark for $170 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel!

The culprit: Representative David Obey (WI-7), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who has received nearly $225,000 from “pro-Israel” PAC’s and more than $200,000 from the military-industrial complex since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Yes, the same David Obey who can be seen in this video berating peace activists for wanting to cut off funding for the war in Iraq.

Yesterday, the US Campaign sent Rep. Obey a sharply-worded letter protesting his decision to slip this earmark for Israel into an unrelated bill at the last minute, thereby preventing any public scrutiny or debate. To view a copy of the letter, please click here.

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Israel's treatment of an award-winning young Palestinian journalist is part of a terrible pattern

John Pilger, The Guardian, July 2, 2008

Two weeks ago, I presented a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, with the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Awarded in memory of the great US war correspondent, the prize goes to journalists who expose establishment propaganda, or "official drivel", as Gellhorn called it. Mohammed shares the prize of £5,000 with Dahr Jamail. At 24, he is the youngest winner. His citation reads: "Every day, he reports from a war zone, where he is also a prisoner. His homeland, Gaza, is surrounded, starved, attacked, forgotten. He is a profoundly humane witness to one of the great injustices of our time. He is the voice of the voiceless." The eldest of eight, Mohammed has seen most of his siblings killed or wounded or maimed. An Israeli bulldozer crushed his home while the family were inside, seriously injuring his mother. And yet, says a former Dutch ambassador, Jan Wijenberg, "he is a moderating voice, urging Palestinian youth not to court hatred but seek peace with Israel".

Getting Mohammed to London to receive his prize was a major diplomatic operation. Israel has perfidious control over Gaza's borders, and only with a Dutch embassy escort was he allowed out. Last Thursday, on his return journey, he was met at the Allenby Bridge crossing (to Jordan) by a Dutch official, who waited outside the Israeli building, unaware Mohammed had been seized by Shin Bet, Israel's infamous security organisation. Mohammed was told to turn off his mobile and remove the battery. He asked if he could call his embassy escort and was told forcefully he could not. A man stood over his luggage, picking through his documents. "Where's the money?" he demanded. Mohammed produced some US dollars. "Where is the English pound you have?"

"I realised," said Mohammed, "he was after the award stipend for the Martha Gellhorn prize. I told him I didn't have it with me. 'You are lying', he said. I was now surrounded by eight Shin Bet officers, all armed. The man called Avi ordered me to take off my clothes. I had already been through an x-ray machine. I stripped down to my underwear and was told to take off everything. When I refused, Avi put his hand on his gun. I began to cry: 'Why are you treating me this way? I am a human being.' He said, 'This is nothing compared with what you will see now.' He took his gun out, pressing it to my head and with his full body weight pinning me on my side, he forcibly removed my underwear. He then made me do a concocted sort of dance. Another man, who was laughing, said, 'Why are you bringing perfumes?' I replied, 'They are gifts for the people I love'. He said, 'Oh, do you have love in your culture?'

"As they ridiculed me, they took delight most in mocking letters I had received from readers in England. I had now been without food and water and the toilet for 12 hours, and having been made to stand, my legs buckled. I vomited and passed out. All I remember is one of them gouging, scraping and clawing with his nails at the tender flesh beneath my eyes. He scooped my head and dug his fingers in near the auditory nerves between my head and eardrum. The pain became sharper as he dug in two fingers at a time. Another man had his combat boot on my neck, pressing into the hard floor. I lay there for over an hour. The room became a menagerie of pain, sound and terror."

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w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
01 Jul 2008

Reuters — Israel denied on Tuesday allegations by a Palestinian journalist that he was abused and injured by Israeli security personnel while on his way home to the Gaza Strip after receiving a journalism award in Britain.

Mohammed Omer said from his hospital bed on Monday that he was detained for nearly four hours at the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge when he crossed from Jordan into the occupied West Bank, en route to the Gaza Strip, on June 26.

Omer said he was forced to strip to his underwear by an Israeli officer who then "snatched it down off me". He said two officers dragged him by his legs, his head sweeping the floor, in front of other passengers, and that he vomited and fainted.

An Israeli security official said a body search and an examination of Omer's belongings were carried out "because of the suspicion that he had been in contact with hostile elements and had been asked by them to smuggle something in".

The official said Omer received "fair treatment and no irregular action was taken towards him" during the search.

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