December 27th-January 18th 2009-2010 marks the one-year anniversary of Israel's brutal 'Operation Cast Lead' against the people of besieged Gaza.
The 22-day attack left more than 1,400 dead, the vast majority of them civilians, including nearly 400 children, over 5000 injured, displaced 50,000 and made 20,000 homeless (until today). [1]
Some 3,600 homes were completely destroyed and 11,000 partially destroyed. Over 258 people died because Israeli forces prevented rescue services from reaching them. [2] Most people were bombed to death, in or close to their homes, with over a third (519) cut down by Israeli Drones and a further 473 by jet planes. [3]
Israel used white phosphorous, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, F16s, Apache and Cobra Helicopter gun ships, Naval Vessels, Tanks, APCs, Caterpillar Military Bulldozers and soldiers armed with M16s to systematically kill people and destroy Gaza's infrastructure, businesses and agricultural land and property.
To mark the anniversary of an attack which intensified and escalatied an existent policy of ethnic cleansing, deliberate destruction and a re-infliction of a new Nakba on the Palestinian people, Free Gaza is asking groups around the world to show Spanish Film-Maker Alberto Arce and Mohammad Rujailah's 'To Shoot an Elephant' (2009) - an award-winning documentary shot during the attack, detailing war crimes and the impact on ordinary people, journalists and paramedics.
We also re-iterate the call from Palestinian Civil Society, issued in 2005, for a comprehensive Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment campaign (BDS) against Israel as the primary means to promote human rights and an enforcement of international law.
We also ask activists to take direct action in solidarity with Palestinians throughout the Middle East, in refugee camps outside of Palestine, struggling against apartheid inside '48, as well as those resisting the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem and steady bantustanisation of the West Bank.
Arms companies such as Rafael, Elbit Systems, Lockheed Martin, EDO-ITT, Caterpillar, and companies cementing occupation such as Ireland's CRT (Cement Roadstone Holdings) (Apartheid Wall) Veolia and Alstom (Jerusalem Light Railway), Carmel-Agrexco (Illegal colonies and agriculture) and Edelman PR as well as Israeli Embassies and the institutions that collude with the occupation such as the European Union.
The deadly closure of Gaza continues, the colonisation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank continues, and the inalienable right of refugees to return to their homes still remains out of reach for millions. Grassroots resistance to Israel's ongoing attacks has never been as urgent as it is today.
REMEMBER GAZA - STAND UP FOR PALESTINE -- TAKE ACTION!
ACTIONS
- SHOW: The award-winning Gaza Attack 2009 Film - 'To Shoot an Elephant' by Alberto Arce and Mohammad Rujailah www.toshootanelephant.com
- INVITE AN EYEWITNESS SPEAKER: Witnesses who were present on the ground and accompanying ambulances during the attacks are available to speak including: Fida Qeshta, Gaza ISM Co-Ordinator and film maker (Palestine), Caoimhe Butterly (Ireland), Ewa Jasiewicz (Poland/UK) - also featured in 'To Shoot an Elephant', Jenny Linnell (UK), Fida Qshta (Gaza Palestine), Natalie Abu Shakra (Lebanon/UK) and Sharyn Lock (Australia/UK) - Sharyn has also just completed a book 'Gaza Beneath the Bombs' which will be out on January 1st (http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745330242&),
PLUS many speakers with experience of Gaza from Free Gaza - check out Free Gaza's Speaker's Bureau www.freegaza.org/join-in/speaker-bureau - TAKE DIRECT ACTION: Find your local occupation and apartheid profiteer http://whoprofits.org/Involvements.php?id=grp_inv_exploit
- JOIN THE BDS CAMPAIGN: Find out more and get involved www.bdsmovement.net
- DONATE: to Free Gaza -t for our next siege-breaking mission in early 2010 http://www.freegaza.org/en/donate
- CHECK OUT AND JOIN:
- THE GAZA FREEDOM MARCH http://www.gazafreedommarch.org
- VIVA PALESTINA http://www.vivapalestina.org
- IRISH PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN http://www.ipsc.ie
- RUSSELL TRIBUNAL http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.net/
- THE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT www.palsolidarity.org
- http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.net/
Sources
[1] UNHCR and UNDP June 2009
[2] Al Mezan, Cast Lead Offensive in Numbers, June 2009, http://www.mezan.org/upload/8941.pdf
[3] Al Haq Palestinian Human Rights Organisation, Operation Cast Lead - A Statistical Analysis, August 2009 http://www.alhaq.org/pdfs/gaza-operation-cast-Lead-statistical-analysis%20.pdf