Join human rights activists from across the country in Washington, DC and lobby your Member of Congress to get on board for the closing of the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC).
With 35 Representatives who voted to continue funding the SOA/WHINSEC losing their seats in Congress on November 4th, we are in a great position to pressure the new Congress to permanently shut down the school in 2009. The last vote to defund the SOA/WHINSEC, in 2007, lost by a margin of only six votes.
Make Your Voice Heard: Ensure True Change in Latin America Policy
Grassroots activists and organizers will converge on Washington, DC calling for a new Latin America policy and opposing militarization.
SOA Watch is working with other Latin America Solidarity and social justice groups on a series of events from February 15-17, 2009 to push the U.S. Congress and the White House to close the School of the Americas and to bring real change to U.S. Latin America policy.
Schedule of Events
Saturday, February 14
7pm Meet and Greet at the SOA Watch office
Sunday, February 15
9am - 4:30pm SOA Watch Encuentro / Strategy Meeting
dinner break 4:30pm - 6:00pm
6:00pm - 9:00pm Anti-Militarization Program
organized in cooperation with the Latin America Solidarity Coalition (LASC) and the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Monday, February 16
9:00am - 11:00am Grassroots Lobby Training
1:00pm - 4:00pm Arts and Action Workshop
Lobby Visits and Street Theater on Capitol Hill
Tuesday, February 17
Lobbying on Capitol Hill
Click Here to Register
for the February 15-17 Events
Educate and mobilize your community!
# Order the SOA Watch DVD Compilation and organize a film screening for your friends, neighbors and co-workers.
# Order Outreach Palm Cards: Spread the word about the SOA/ WHINSEC in your church, school, union local or meeting with the new SOA Watch Palm Card. The cards have basic information about the School of the Americas on one side and information about the Obama Petition and the February events in DC on the other.
SOA Watch Palm Cards:
Order the palm cards in packs of 120 for $6 including shipping and handling.
Click here to order online or send a $6 check or cash to SOA Watch, PO Box 4566, Washington, DC 20017
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Official: UN May Prosecute Bush Administration, Regardless Of US Action
By David Edwards
The UN's special torture rapporteur called on the US Tuesday to pursue former president George W. Bush and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture and bad treatment of Guantanamo prisoners.
here
===
Following are items related to the theme above...
Sunset on GTMO...
here
Well, to respond to the following, Obama's tone toward torture & the rule of law is a huge start in the right direction..." but of course a lot more is UP to us!
Connie, blogger here..still this info & opinion is surely important part of the mix?
Obama's Orders Leave Framework of Torture, Indefinite Detention Intact
By Tom Eley
While the media is portraying these orders as a repudiation of the detention and interrogation policies of the Bush administration, they actually change little. They essentially represent a public relations effort to refurbish the image of the United States abroad after years of torture and extralegal detentions and shield high-ranking American officials from potential criminal prosecution.
here
Also, keep watching for more on this from the US National Lawyer's Guild President, Dr. Marjorie Cohn:
here
The UN's special torture rapporteur called on the US Tuesday to pursue former president George W. Bush and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture and bad treatment of Guantanamo prisoners.
here
===
Following are items related to the theme above...
Sunset on GTMO...
here
Well, to respond to the following, Obama's tone toward torture & the rule of law is a huge start in the right direction..." but of course a lot more is UP to us!
Connie, blogger here..still this info & opinion is surely important part of the mix?
Obama's Orders Leave Framework of Torture, Indefinite Detention Intact
By Tom Eley
While the media is portraying these orders as a repudiation of the detention and interrogation policies of the Bush administration, they actually change little. They essentially represent a public relations effort to refurbish the image of the United States abroad after years of torture and extralegal detentions and shield high-ranking American officials from potential criminal prosecution.
here
Also, keep watching for more on this from the US National Lawyer's Guild President, Dr. Marjorie Cohn:
here
More Than Charisma by Bob Herbert NYTimes
January 24, 2009 Op-Ed Columnist
Boston
On a rainy October night in 2006, I took a cab to the John F. Kennedy library here to conduct a very public interview. As we pulled up, the driver asked, “Who’s on the program?”
“Barack Obama,” I said.
“Oh,” he replied, “our next president.”
I mentioned this to then-Senator Obama during the program and he got a good laugh out of it. He hadn’t yet announced that he was running. The capacity crowd in the auditorium was clear about what it wanted. It cheered every mention of a possible run. Obama-mania was already well under way, and it would only grow.
I was back at the library this week to interview Gwen Ifill about her new book, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” and I wondered aloud about this continuing love affair with all things Obama — the feverish excitement, the widespread joy and pride, and the remarkable surge of hope in an otherwise downbeat, if not depressing, period.
Where was all this coming from? What was it about?
Yes, as everyone agrees, Mr. Obama is handsome, fit, smart, and a great speaker. As Ms. Ifill noted in her book, “Voters are attracted to youth, vitality and change.”
And Americans tend to get giddy over winners, especially underdogs who take the measure of a foe thought to be impregnable — in this case, the mighty forces carefully assembled over several years by the Clintons.
And it’s not just the president himself who looks good. Even the shameless purveyors of fantasy at central casting would blush at the thought of crafting a family as picture perfect as the Obamas. So, yes, there is an awful lot to like about the Obama phenomenon.
But I’ve seen charismatic politicians and pretty families come and go like sunrises and sunsets over the years. There was something more that was making people go ga-ga over Obama. Something deeper.
We’ve been watching that something this week, and it’s called leadership. Mr. Obama has been feeding the almost desperate hunger in this country for mature leadership, for someone who is not reckless and clownish, shortsighted and self-absorbed.
However you feel about his policies, and there are people grumbling on the right and on the left, Mr. Obama has signaled loudly and clearly that the era of irresponsible behavior in public office is over.
No more crazy wars. No more torture, and no more throwing people in prison without even the semblance of due process. No more napping while critical problems like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, global warming, and economic inequality in the United States grow steadily worse.
“We remain a young nation,” Mr. Obama said in his Inaugural Address, “but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.”
On Wednesday, his first full day in office, the president took steps to make the federal government more transparent, signaling immediately that the country would move away from the toxic levels of secrecy that marked the Bush years.
“Transparency and rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency,” he said. It was a commitment to responsible behavior, and a challenge to the public to hold the Obama administration accountable. It reminded me of the wonderful line written into a federal appeals court ruling in 2002 by Judge Damon Keith:
“Democracies die behind closed doors.”
This has been the Obama way, to set a responsible example and then to call on others to follow his mature lead. In Iowa, after his victory in the Democratic caucuses a year ago, he promised to be “a president who will be honest about the choices and challenges we face, who will listen to you and learn from you, even when we disagree, who won’t just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know.”
In a cynical age, the inclination is to dismiss this stuff as so much political rhetoric. But Mr. Obama carries himself in a way that suggests he means what he says, which gives him great credibility when he urges Americans to work hard and make sacrifices, not just for themselves and their families but for the common good — and when he tells black audiences that young men need to hitch up their trousers and behave themselves, and that families need to turn off the TV so the kids can do their homework.
Or when he says of the many serious challenges facing the nation, as he did in his Inaugural Address: “They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.”
The bond is growing between the nation and its new young leader. Let’s hope it’s a mature romance that weathers the long haul.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Boston
On a rainy October night in 2006, I took a cab to the John F. Kennedy library here to conduct a very public interview. As we pulled up, the driver asked, “Who’s on the program?”
“Barack Obama,” I said.
“Oh,” he replied, “our next president.”
I mentioned this to then-Senator Obama during the program and he got a good laugh out of it. He hadn’t yet announced that he was running. The capacity crowd in the auditorium was clear about what it wanted. It cheered every mention of a possible run. Obama-mania was already well under way, and it would only grow.
I was back at the library this week to interview Gwen Ifill about her new book, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” and I wondered aloud about this continuing love affair with all things Obama — the feverish excitement, the widespread joy and pride, and the remarkable surge of hope in an otherwise downbeat, if not depressing, period.
Where was all this coming from? What was it about?
Yes, as everyone agrees, Mr. Obama is handsome, fit, smart, and a great speaker. As Ms. Ifill noted in her book, “Voters are attracted to youth, vitality and change.”
And Americans tend to get giddy over winners, especially underdogs who take the measure of a foe thought to be impregnable — in this case, the mighty forces carefully assembled over several years by the Clintons.
And it’s not just the president himself who looks good. Even the shameless purveyors of fantasy at central casting would blush at the thought of crafting a family as picture perfect as the Obamas. So, yes, there is an awful lot to like about the Obama phenomenon.
But I’ve seen charismatic politicians and pretty families come and go like sunrises and sunsets over the years. There was something more that was making people go ga-ga over Obama. Something deeper.
We’ve been watching that something this week, and it’s called leadership. Mr. Obama has been feeding the almost desperate hunger in this country for mature leadership, for someone who is not reckless and clownish, shortsighted and self-absorbed.
However you feel about his policies, and there are people grumbling on the right and on the left, Mr. Obama has signaled loudly and clearly that the era of irresponsible behavior in public office is over.
No more crazy wars. No more torture, and no more throwing people in prison without even the semblance of due process. No more napping while critical problems like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, global warming, and economic inequality in the United States grow steadily worse.
“We remain a young nation,” Mr. Obama said in his Inaugural Address, “but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.”
On Wednesday, his first full day in office, the president took steps to make the federal government more transparent, signaling immediately that the country would move away from the toxic levels of secrecy that marked the Bush years.
“Transparency and rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency,” he said. It was a commitment to responsible behavior, and a challenge to the public to hold the Obama administration accountable. It reminded me of the wonderful line written into a federal appeals court ruling in 2002 by Judge Damon Keith:
“Democracies die behind closed doors.”
This has been the Obama way, to set a responsible example and then to call on others to follow his mature lead. In Iowa, after his victory in the Democratic caucuses a year ago, he promised to be “a president who will be honest about the choices and challenges we face, who will listen to you and learn from you, even when we disagree, who won’t just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know.”
In a cynical age, the inclination is to dismiss this stuff as so much political rhetoric. But Mr. Obama carries himself in a way that suggests he means what he says, which gives him great credibility when he urges Americans to work hard and make sacrifices, not just for themselves and their families but for the common good — and when he tells black audiences that young men need to hitch up their trousers and behave themselves, and that families need to turn off the TV so the kids can do their homework.
Or when he says of the many serious challenges facing the nation, as he did in his Inaugural Address: “They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.”
The bond is growing between the nation and its new young leader. Let’s hope it’s a mature romance that weathers the long haul.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
ISRAEL'S SHAME: GAZA: VIDEO & More
Trying to establish normalacy and who's in charge...
Gaza children back to school in beginning of fragile truce...
here
VIDEO posted recently on BBC surprisingly!
From the blogsite: Organized Rage: ISRAEL'S SHAME
After watching the above video it is clear Israel's War on Gaza became less ... IDF generals must have told PM Olmert and Tzipi Livni that like the PLO before ...
here
ORGANIZED RAGE
The View from the Tower Block
Friday, 23 January 2009
Video: Israel's Shame.
Here is the copy from Organized Rage -- however, the BBC gets the surprising credit!
After watching the above video it is clear Israel’s War on Gaza became less about destroying Hamas than punishing the Palestinian people for supporting them. (AND MANY MANY DIDN'T & DON'T CONSIDER THEMSELVES A PART OF HAMAS METHODS, interjected by blogger, Connie of oneheartforpeace blog) IDF generals must have told PM Olmert and Tzipi Livni that like the PLO before it, Hamas has become deeply embedded at all levels within Palestinian society and its destruction was an impossibility without the IDF taking untold dead and wounded.
One only has to see in the video the massive scale of the destruction that the IDF has inflicted on the ordinary people of Gaza to understand that Israel has committed war crimes in its ‘war on the Gazan Palestinians’. Some people have condemned those of us who have compared Israel’s recent behavior with the Hitlerite nazis, claiming we are being insensitive and plain wrong to make such accusations. In reply I would say watch this video, true the killing is not on an industrial scale that the Nazis inflicted on the Jewish people, but it is comparable to the reprisals the nazis carried out against all who opposed them within occupied Europe. As with the Nazis the IDF MASSACRED WHOLE FAMILIES IN THEIR OWN HOMES,destroyed villages, farmland and crops and fired heavy ordinance into built up areas WITHOUT A SHRED OF MERCY.
The scale of the destruction, much of which apparently took place just prior to Israel’s ‘ceasefire’ and withdrawal, tells me much of it was done in rage, unable to defeat or even weaken Hamas determination to resist, the IDF turned with a Nazi like ferocity on unarmed civilians and their property and punished them for their solidarity with the combined Palestinian resistance forces.
"A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning and violence breaks the chains – let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!"
Blog Archive from above site, Organized Rage...has the following...for Jan-Feb
Obituary:Lasantha Wickrematunge; Journalist, Edito...
Institutional racism is still inherent within the ...
G.W.Bush: Fiddled in. Drummed out.
A pro Israel stitch up is the last thing the Middl...
The Palestinian's prove to the world they will not...
It takes all sorts to build a movement: Stop the S...
The Upper echelons of the British Armed Forces are...
AN EYE FOR AN EYELASH: THE GAZA MASSACRE.
Israel has squandered the worlds support by the br...
Obituary: Tony Gregory; A true servant of the Work...
Solidarity with migrant workers.
Israel will never 'voluntarily' allow an independe...
Israel implements a campaign of mass murder in Gaz...
BBC has little real interest in the death of a Pal...
THIS VIDEO HAS NOW BEEN CENSORED BY YOU TUBE.
Here are some of the links you will find on this sits:
jews sans frontiers
John McDonagh: Irish American Broadcaster, activist and New York cabbie
Israel-Palestine/Occupation Magazine
Israel/Haaretz
Palestine-Israel/Bitter Lemons
Palestine/Electronic intifada
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Conflict and politics in the north of Ireland
Gush shalom
Palestine chronicle
Gaza children back to school in beginning of fragile truce...
here
VIDEO posted recently on BBC surprisingly!
From the blogsite: Organized Rage: ISRAEL'S SHAME
After watching the above video it is clear Israel's War on Gaza became less ... IDF generals must have told PM Olmert and Tzipi Livni that like the PLO before ...
here
ORGANIZED RAGE
The View from the Tower Block
Friday, 23 January 2009
Video: Israel's Shame.
Here is the copy from Organized Rage -- however, the BBC gets the surprising credit!
After watching the above video it is clear Israel’s War on Gaza became less about destroying Hamas than punishing the Palestinian people for supporting them. (AND MANY MANY DIDN'T & DON'T CONSIDER THEMSELVES A PART OF HAMAS METHODS, interjected by blogger, Connie of oneheartforpeace blog) IDF generals must have told PM Olmert and Tzipi Livni that like the PLO before it, Hamas has become deeply embedded at all levels within Palestinian society and its destruction was an impossibility without the IDF taking untold dead and wounded.
One only has to see in the video the massive scale of the destruction that the IDF has inflicted on the ordinary people of Gaza to understand that Israel has committed war crimes in its ‘war on the Gazan Palestinians’. Some people have condemned those of us who have compared Israel’s recent behavior with the Hitlerite nazis, claiming we are being insensitive and plain wrong to make such accusations. In reply I would say watch this video, true the killing is not on an industrial scale that the Nazis inflicted on the Jewish people, but it is comparable to the reprisals the nazis carried out against all who opposed them within occupied Europe. As with the Nazis the IDF MASSACRED WHOLE FAMILIES IN THEIR OWN HOMES,destroyed villages, farmland and crops and fired heavy ordinance into built up areas WITHOUT A SHRED OF MERCY.
The scale of the destruction, much of which apparently took place just prior to Israel’s ‘ceasefire’ and withdrawal, tells me much of it was done in rage, unable to defeat or even weaken Hamas determination to resist, the IDF turned with a Nazi like ferocity on unarmed civilians and their property and punished them for their solidarity with the combined Palestinian resistance forces.
"A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning and violence breaks the chains – let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!"
Blog Archive from above site, Organized Rage...has the following...for Jan-Feb
Obituary:Lasantha Wickrematunge; Journalist, Edito...
Institutional racism is still inherent within the ...
G.W.Bush: Fiddled in. Drummed out.
A pro Israel stitch up is the last thing the Middl...
The Palestinian's prove to the world they will not...
It takes all sorts to build a movement: Stop the S...
The Upper echelons of the British Armed Forces are...
AN EYE FOR AN EYELASH: THE GAZA MASSACRE.
Israel has squandered the worlds support by the br...
Obituary: Tony Gregory; A true servant of the Work...
Solidarity with migrant workers.
Israel will never 'voluntarily' allow an independe...
Israel implements a campaign of mass murder in Gaz...
BBC has little real interest in the death of a Pal...
THIS VIDEO HAS NOW BEEN CENSORED BY YOU TUBE.
Here are some of the links you will find on this sits:
jews sans frontiers
John McDonagh: Irish American Broadcaster, activist and New York cabbie
Israel-Palestine/Occupation Magazine
Israel/Haaretz
Palestine-Israel/Bitter Lemons
Palestine/Electronic intifada
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Conflict and politics in the north of Ireland
Gush shalom
Palestine chronicle
Thursday, January 22, 2009
INSPIRATION for the day!
GO here to find out more about Edward's work . Read his AMAZING story. See heart-warming and soul-ripping photos of children. I have to pinch myself to realise that Edward, once a prisoner who heard the cries of men facing execution from the next wall-- has emerged healed and forgiven enough to do so much for others. He was also a part of the last TEXAS Journey of Hope (I was honored to be with him during much of this very special series of events!). He also was a part of a team who spoke to the UN via Amnesty I's campaign to abolish the death penalty and much more...
He is, believe it or not, a man who was so long on death row in Uganda for a crime he didn't commit. A most unique story to say the least...Now he is now supervising such a project as this!
Bless you, Edward -- hope to say more about you and this project very soon...
Thank you for your vision to help prevent crimes which come out of poverty and anger and children who may otherwise one day end up on death row...
Connie
Bill Moyers Reflects & INSIDE GAZA: A child full of light will never see again
Bill Moyers reflects on Middle East Violence (graphic video - be aware)
here
-------------------------------------------------------------------
published Wednesday, January 21, 2009
As a Gazan journalist who is devastated by the holocaust the Israel army is perpetrating against us, I find myself at loss. The list of horrendous crimes committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians is endless and the crimes are countless.
Should I write about the 45 evacuees who were massacred in their refuge at the United Nations-administered al-Fakhoura school? Should I write about the most horrifying crime when Red Cross personnel found four starving children who had spent four days with the dead bodies of their mothers and other relatives in the ruins of a house in the al-Zeitoun neighborhood?
Should I talk about the mass killing of the al-Dayaa family when 15 family members were killed when a "smart" bomb gently hit their five-story building?
What about the sadistic crime when the father of the al-Samuni family was executed before his wife and children? Or the carnage committed against the extended al-Samuni family when 29 members of the clan were concentrated in one house which was bombed and collapsed on top of them, killing them all?
These and so many other crimes have already been documented by Amnesty International and other human rights institutions. Many more are still untold stories. I can tell one story with my own words and my own camera -- that of eight-year-old Louay Sobeh. Little Louay could not know what this war had in store for him or his family.
About a week ago Louay and his family fled their house in Beit Lahiya town in northern Gaza. They were under heavy Israeli artillery fire as the Israeli army invaded the area at the outset of Israeli ground military operation. Sorrowfully, Louay started to narrate what he witnessed:
"Israeli shells started to rain down beside my house in northern Gaza. Rockets started to get closer to my house and many people were killed. My house got some shrapnel and part of rockets. Then, my grandmother and my family fled to Jabaliya where we sheltered in one of the [Untied Nations] schools. We stayed for three days where it was very very cold. When we fled our house in the night we didn't bring any luggage or clothes or food. My father, brother and other family members decided to go back to our house in the north to bring some clothes and food. We went early in the morning by car then all of a sudden people beside our car started to run left and right. I heard explosions and I felt as if I were flying in the sky. And I found myself in the hospital."
The Israeli bombing of Louay's father's car killed one of his brothers and injured others. The shocking fact is that Louay still doesn't know is that he lost his eyesight completely. He will never be able to see the light again! His grandmother was beside him trying to make him feel better. He still doesn't know that his brother was killed.
Before I left his room Louay told me, "I hope you visit me again and you will go with me to take footage and photos of the place where the car was hit. I will also make a scene for you about how I flew. But I need you to help me recover quickly so I can go to school again and play with some of my friends. I don't know if they are alive or not."
I was shocked by his talent and affected by his words. It's very brutal when a child like Louay becomes a victim for no reason. There must be a way for Louay and all the children of Palestine to have peace and rest, instead of the fire and hell they have witnessed.
Louay is one of the lucky ones: he is expected to be taken to Saudi Arabia to receive medical treatment sponsored by the Saudi king. For too many children such aid is too late and it still won't bring the light back to Louay's eyes.
Sameh A. Habeeb is a photojournalist, humanitarian and peace
activist based in Gaza, Palestine. He writes for several news websites on a freelance basis.
Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 3:26 PM
Monday, January 19, 2009
International journalists to arrive in Gaza Tuesday for fact-finding mission; will share findings with UN
Ramallah – Ma’an – Eight international journalists will arrive in Gaza Tuesday, traveling via Egypt, with the mission to fact-find and record first-hand Israeli violations against the people of the Gaza Strip.
Secretary General of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate Na’eem At-Tubasi confirmed Sunday that delegation, including Arab, French, Norwegian and Italian reporters, is en route to Gaza. The delegation will be followed by an investigating committee from the International Journalist Federation, which will arrive next week.
The outcomes of both investigations will presented to the UN and Human Rights Committee, said At-Tubasi. He indicated that the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate will work to assist the reporters, including providing them with flack-jackets.
At-Tubasi condemned the Israeli attacks on journalists that occurred during the onslaught, which killed five, including Jalal Nashwan, Ala’ Murtaja, Al’a As-Silawi , Basem Farej, Ihab Al- Wehidi, and injured dozens of others, “despite of all of the International conventions to protect the journalists”
He also condemned the Israeli decision to prohibit international journalists access to Gaza, saying it was an act aimed at hiding the nature of their crimes. For those who were manipulated y the Israeli “PR machine,” At-Tubasi said he hoped the true story would cancel out their attempts to hide the massacres in Gaza.
Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 1:19 PM 7 comments
Gaza hospital appeals for nursing reinforcements
Gaza hospital appeals for nursing reinforcements
Nasser Medical Compound in Khan Younis issued an urgent appeal for nurses in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement.
The hospital said it is calling on Arab nursing unions and international organizations working in healthcare to “urgently send nursing staff” to the Gaza Strip to fill a large void there.
A number of nurses, specifically in surgery, intensive care and emergency services, are particularly in need due to fatigue brought on by three weeks of intense violence in Gaza.
The appeal came as a Jordanian delegation of medical staff arrived to treat the injured in Israel’s war on Gaza.
According to Bassam Musalaman, the head of the compound, the delegation was sent from a Jordanian nursing union after coordinating with counterparts in Khan Younis.
Musalaman noted that the Jordanian delegation is composed of four nurses now working “around the clock” to aid Palestinian staff.
From: Maan
Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 1:10 PM
here
-------------------------------------------------------------------
published Wednesday, January 21, 2009
As a Gazan journalist who is devastated by the holocaust the Israel army is perpetrating against us, I find myself at loss. The list of horrendous crimes committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians is endless and the crimes are countless.
Should I write about the 45 evacuees who were massacred in their refuge at the United Nations-administered al-Fakhoura school? Should I write about the most horrifying crime when Red Cross personnel found four starving children who had spent four days with the dead bodies of their mothers and other relatives in the ruins of a house in the al-Zeitoun neighborhood?
Should I talk about the mass killing of the al-Dayaa family when 15 family members were killed when a "smart" bomb gently hit their five-story building?
What about the sadistic crime when the father of the al-Samuni family was executed before his wife and children? Or the carnage committed against the extended al-Samuni family when 29 members of the clan were concentrated in one house which was bombed and collapsed on top of them, killing them all?
These and so many other crimes have already been documented by Amnesty International and other human rights institutions. Many more are still untold stories. I can tell one story with my own words and my own camera -- that of eight-year-old Louay Sobeh. Little Louay could not know what this war had in store for him or his family.
About a week ago Louay and his family fled their house in Beit Lahiya town in northern Gaza. They were under heavy Israeli artillery fire as the Israeli army invaded the area at the outset of Israeli ground military operation. Sorrowfully, Louay started to narrate what he witnessed:
"Israeli shells started to rain down beside my house in northern Gaza. Rockets started to get closer to my house and many people were killed. My house got some shrapnel and part of rockets. Then, my grandmother and my family fled to Jabaliya where we sheltered in one of the [Untied Nations] schools. We stayed for three days where it was very very cold. When we fled our house in the night we didn't bring any luggage or clothes or food. My father, brother and other family members decided to go back to our house in the north to bring some clothes and food. We went early in the morning by car then all of a sudden people beside our car started to run left and right. I heard explosions and I felt as if I were flying in the sky. And I found myself in the hospital."
The Israeli bombing of Louay's father's car killed one of his brothers and injured others. The shocking fact is that Louay still doesn't know is that he lost his eyesight completely. He will never be able to see the light again! His grandmother was beside him trying to make him feel better. He still doesn't know that his brother was killed.
Before I left his room Louay told me, "I hope you visit me again and you will go with me to take footage and photos of the place where the car was hit. I will also make a scene for you about how I flew. But I need you to help me recover quickly so I can go to school again and play with some of my friends. I don't know if they are alive or not."
I was shocked by his talent and affected by his words. It's very brutal when a child like Louay becomes a victim for no reason. There must be a way for Louay and all the children of Palestine to have peace and rest, instead of the fire and hell they have witnessed.
Louay is one of the lucky ones: he is expected to be taken to Saudi Arabia to receive medical treatment sponsored by the Saudi king. For too many children such aid is too late and it still won't bring the light back to Louay's eyes.
Sameh A. Habeeb is a photojournalist, humanitarian and peace
activist based in Gaza, Palestine. He writes for several news websites on a freelance basis.
Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 3:26 PM
Monday, January 19, 2009
International journalists to arrive in Gaza Tuesday for fact-finding mission; will share findings with UN
Ramallah – Ma’an – Eight international journalists will arrive in Gaza Tuesday, traveling via Egypt, with the mission to fact-find and record first-hand Israeli violations against the people of the Gaza Strip.
Secretary General of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate Na’eem At-Tubasi confirmed Sunday that delegation, including Arab, French, Norwegian and Italian reporters, is en route to Gaza. The delegation will be followed by an investigating committee from the International Journalist Federation, which will arrive next week.
The outcomes of both investigations will presented to the UN and Human Rights Committee, said At-Tubasi. He indicated that the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate will work to assist the reporters, including providing them with flack-jackets.
At-Tubasi condemned the Israeli attacks on journalists that occurred during the onslaught, which killed five, including Jalal Nashwan, Ala’ Murtaja, Al’a As-Silawi , Basem Farej, Ihab Al- Wehidi, and injured dozens of others, “despite of all of the International conventions to protect the journalists”
He also condemned the Israeli decision to prohibit international journalists access to Gaza, saying it was an act aimed at hiding the nature of their crimes. For those who were manipulated y the Israeli “PR machine,” At-Tubasi said he hoped the true story would cancel out their attempts to hide the massacres in Gaza.
Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 1:19 PM 7 comments
Gaza hospital appeals for nursing reinforcements
Gaza hospital appeals for nursing reinforcements
Nasser Medical Compound in Khan Younis issued an urgent appeal for nurses in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement.
The hospital said it is calling on Arab nursing unions and international organizations working in healthcare to “urgently send nursing staff” to the Gaza Strip to fill a large void there.
A number of nurses, specifically in surgery, intensive care and emergency services, are particularly in need due to fatigue brought on by three weeks of intense violence in Gaza.
The appeal came as a Jordanian delegation of medical staff arrived to treat the injured in Israel’s war on Gaza.
According to Bassam Musalaman, the head of the compound, the delegation was sent from a Jordanian nursing union after coordinating with counterparts in Khan Younis.
Musalaman noted that the Jordanian delegation is composed of four nurses now working “around the clock” to aid Palestinian staff.
From: Maan
Posted by Sameh A. Palestine at 1:10 PM
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