Madison Rafah Journal

Parents want case to highlight events that led to American activist's death under Israeli army bulldozer

Rory McCarthy, guardian.co.uk, 23 February 2010

Peace activist Rachel Corrie died while protesting in front of a bulldozer trying to destroy a Palestinian home in Rafah in March 2003. Photograph: Denny Sternstein/AP

Jerusalem — The family of the American activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza seven years ago, is to bring a civil suit over her death against the Israeli defence ministry.

The case, which begins on 10 March in Haifa, northern Israel, is seen by her parents as an opportunity to put on public record the events that led to their daughter's death in March 2003. Four key witnesses – three Britons and an American – who were at the scene in Rafah when Corrie was killed will give evidence, according the family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein.

The four were all with the International Solidarity Movement, the activist group to which Corrie belonged. They have since been denied entry to Israel, and the group's offices in Ramallah have been raided several times in recent weeks by the Israeli military.

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Bulldozes Agricultural Lands, Destroys Palestinian Houses

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, 21 February 2010

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has increased its attacks on Palestinians near the Gaza Strip's eastern and northern borders with Israel; an area inside Gaza that the IOF has declared as a security 'buffer zone'. Al Mezan's investigations indicate that the IOF always fires at any Palestinians near the eastern and northern borders. The IOF's attacks do not follow a specific pattern. The IOF claims that its soldiers fire at Palestinians only when they are 300 meters from border fence. However, while some attacks have occurred close to the border fence, many other attacks occurred when civilians were more than a kilometer from the borderline.

According to Al Mezan's continuous monitoring, at approximately 6am on Thursday 18 February 2010, Israeli tanks and four armored bulldozers moved under the cover of reconnaissance drones nearly 650 meters inside the Al Msadar village in the Al Maghazi refugee camp. The IOF stationed itself there while the bulldozers leveled about 18 dunums of agricultural lands and destroyed three rural houses. At approximately 4:30pm on the same day the IOF withdrew from the area.

According to field investigations conducted by Al Mezan, the IOF destroyed the house of Moaen Ali Salman Abu Said, 28. The IOF used loud speakers and ordered the residents of that house to leave the house before destroying it. The Abu Said family did not manage to collect their furniture from the house. The house was 175 square metres and five persons lived there. The IOF also destroyed the house of Salim Salman Awad Ibn Said, 67, two-storey and 120 square meters. Eight persons lived there, four of them children. The IOF also leveled 10 dunums planted with fruitful olive trees. An irrigation network and water well were destroyed as a result. In addition, the IOF destroyed an 80 square meter rural house. The IOF also fired indiscriminately in that area. Several houses were partially damaged.

Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns the continued, systematic attacks by the IOF against the Palestinian civilians, particularly farmers who work in their fields near the borders. Al Mezan warns of the human rights implications for Palestinian civilians which emanate from Israel's attempts to enforce the security 'buffer zone' inside the Gaza Strip. Al Mezan's monitoring indicates that the IOF attacks linked to the 'buffer zone' occur within an area that extends well beyond one kilometer from Gaza's eastern and northern borders.

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Jewish Voice for Peace, 11 February 2010

Midnight arrests. Defamation of human rights organizations. Expulsion of journalists. Human rights demonstrations broken up with violence. Censored films. Confiscated laptops.

That's just a fraction of the reality on the ground in Israel/Palestine that stands in contrast to the official story about 'the only democracy in the Middle East.'

That's the story we hear when AIPAC tries to justify the billions of dollars in military aid Israel receives. That's the story many of us grew up with.

But something is happening in Israel. The success of the Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement has led to a crackdown on Palestinians and those who support them that is unlike anything we've seen before.

In fact, on a recent trip to Israel/Palestine, activists on the ground who we work with said they needed our help. They said: "Please help us get the word out. The crackdown is growing worse by the day, yet most of what happens is invisible to the media, policymakers, and individuals. We need you to make these stories visible so we can work together to stop what's happening."

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On January 21, 2010 54 members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama calling for an end to the Gaza blockade by Israel and Egypt. You can thank Tammy Baldwin for signing this letter and supporting an end to the suffering in Gaza here.

Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss, February 4, 2010

Israel lobbyists are calling the 54 brave congresspeople who signed the letter to Obama against the Gaza blockade "the gang of 54," and trying to light a fire under em. One of them has cold feet. From Arutz Sheva wire:

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Lecture: 'Observation & Analysis on the Gaza Strip and the United Nations Goldstone Report' by Jennifer Loewenstein
The Middle East Studies Program
1101 Humanities Building
University of Wisconsin-Madison
February 11, 2010 at 7:00 PM

The Middle East Interest Group and Center for Middle East Studies present a lecture by UW Lecturer Jennifer Loewenstein.

The 2009 U.N. investigation on war crimes committed by both Israeli and the Palestinian Hamas forces during the 2008-09 Israeli Operation Cast Lead has sparked controversy across the globe. Richard Goldstone, the leader of the commission, defends the position that both sides must commit to conduct internal investigations and uphold international law. Over a year after the Operation, the fate of justice remains in the question.

In September 2009, UW Lecturer Jennifer Loewenstein traveled to the Gaza Strip to survey the conditions created by Operation Cast Lead, the prolonged Israeli siege of Gaza and the Hamas authority. Loewenstein has previously spoken on issues pertaining to the Palestinian territories at the European Parliament and the United Nations Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Mr. Bill Corcoran, President
American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA)
Tuesday, 9 February 2010, 12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
The Palestine Center
Washington, DC

RSVP here, or watch the webcast live at 1 PM.

A year after the bombs stopped falling on Gaza, full recovery remains elusive. Survival is a daily challenge. ANERA president Bill Corcoran has traveled to Gaza regularly during the past year to assess the damage and the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance. He will talk about current conditions and challenges for helping Gazans rebuild their lives.

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