From the International Solidarity Movement - Call your representatives and the foreign offices of the UK, Sweden, and the USA to inform them that citizens of these countries are travelling to Rafah to deliver aid. Demand that Israel cease targeting medical personnel rescue teams and civilians, and immediately provides an evacuation route to transfer humanitarian aid to Rafah and to evacuate patients to other hospitals in Gaza for treatment. Some contact information is provided below. Palestinian human rights defenders, joined by international volunteers, are now travelling to western Rafah with a Red Crescent truck to deliver food, mattresses, and water. “The situation in Rafah cannot continue, people are left with nothing. There is a small window of time, that will dissolve in two hours, and then no one knows what will happen to all the civilians- the families- who need support. That’s why we’re going with mattresses, water, and food, these supplies are desperately needed right no...

From the International Solidarity Movement - At 19:00 Beit Hanoun Hospital was hit by an Israeli tank shell. Inside the hospital are 61 medical staff, three patients, civilians, and ISM volunteers who are all trapped inside. Israeli soldiers are in the area, approximately 150 meters behind the hospital. Gunfire can be heard in the area. This afternoon Israeli forces targeted an ambulance with two paramedics inside in Beit Hanoun, North Gaza. One paramedic was killed and another was critically injured. This is the third Israeli attack on Gazan medical facilities and personnel in the last 24 hours. The first resulted in the destruction of Al Durrah Children’s Hospital in Gaza City last night. A two year-old child in the Intensive Care Unit was killed, and 30 others injured. Since Israel began its attack on Gaza, 13 ambulances have been completely destroyed and two paramedics have been killed. Throughout the massacre, medical staff and facilities have been repeatedly targeted. “Is...

On the 21st July at 2:17 PM, the IDF spokesperson released an image on twitter showing an aerial picture of a building marked as ‘Al-Wafa’ hospital. In the image there is a red circle, which they designated as the location from which a M75 rocket was launched. The building in the picture marked ‘Al-Wafa’ hospital is in fact not the el-Wafa hospital but the Right to Life Society.​ ​“Israel has targeted our hospital based on false and misleading claims. They are targeting medical facilities, the wounded, the sick, and our children, all over the Gaza Strip. They want us to know that nowhere is safe.” Said executive director of el-Wafa hospital, Dr. Basman Alashi.​ ​According to the Gazan Ministry of Health, seven out of 13 hospitals, including el-Wafa, have been severely damaged. Al Atatra Medical Clinic and 12 ambulances have been completely destroyed, seven other clinics have been damaged, 12 medical staff members have been injured, and three have been killed. El-Wafa hospital wa...

From the International Solidarity Movement - Yesterday evening (July 15th) at approximately 23:05 el-Wafa Rehabilitation hospital in Gaza, near Gaza City, received a call from someone claiming to be from the “Defense department of the Israeli forces”. The caller informed the hospital to evacuate everyone by this morning, and then hung up. At 23:10, a recorded message was left on the hospital’s answer phone stating that the downtown area of the Shajaia neighbourhood should also be evacuated by tomorrow morning. The Shajaia area is two kilometers from the hospital and has a population of approximately 100,000 people. At 23:55, a third call was placed to the hospital from the Israeli military. This caller repeated the evacuation message, stating that it should be carried out by 08:00, “because we don’t want innocent people to get hurt, we care about innocent people, and ask you to leave because we are doing a mass operation in your area.” This message was also written on leaflets dropp...

In other parts of the world bringing in the harvest won't get you killed, but if you are a farmer in Gaza it is a different story. International activists have volunteered to help Palestinians bring in the harvest against the background of Israel having fired at and killed several people over the past month for venturing to close to it's self-declared buffer zone along the border. GAZA CITY ( Ma'an ) -- Just a kilometer from the 'security fence' separating Israel and Gaza, international solidarity activists and Palestinian volunteers on Monday began a wheat and barley harvest on behalf of landowners who fear Israeli artillery and gunfire in the no-go zone. Several Palestinian farmers have been killed and injured in the area as they tended their land or collected crops. The Israeli army imposes a no-go zone inside the Gaza Strip border areas, citing security concerns. more

The death of activist Vittorio Arrigoni is a crime against the Palestinian people and all those who support their struggle in any way they can. Vittorio chose to be with the people of Gaza and was welcomed by them. Far from letting Israel profit from this tragedy, the international movement to boycott Israel and actively support the Palestinian liberation struggle should be galvanised, a living tribute to the memory of Vittorio and the 35 other people in Gaza who have died these past two weeks, of course all at the hands of the Israelis except in the latest death. To kill a person who is actively showing solidarity is so incredibly counterproductive as to be almost beyond comprehension. The 'salafists' that beat and hung Arrigoni are now retracting earlier claims of responsibility - a testament to the bankruptcy of both their theory and practice. The body of Vittorio Arrigoni, a pro-Palestinian activist from Italy, is found just hours after a small Islamist group, the Tawhid an...

Excellent write up on the Los Angeles Times site today by AP staffer Diaa Hadid, focusing on the International Solidarity Movement's success in highlighting Israel's crimes. The Free Gaza Movement that has been organising boats to Gaza for over two years is an offshoot of the movement (see Washington Post article also). It's just a shame it takes westerners to die before any of the western democracies take notice of the ongoing crimes of Israel. Abdallah Abu Rahmah from Bil'in village on the West Bank is in prison serving a two-month sentence for organising demonstrations in his village and walking its streets in defiance of an Israeli curfew aimed at preventing such demonstrations. More on his case at the ISM . Clip from LA Times below: High on success, pro-Palestinian group that organized Gaza flotilla attracts more volunteers BEIT JALA, West Bank (AP) — The stream of ships heading to Gaza in defiance of Israel's blockade reflects the success of a pro-Palestini...

Israel has been targeting internationals in the pro-Palestine movement for some time. In addition to killing them they are also harassing and arresting activists on the streets. A Swedish peace activist was arrested in Hebron last night and stood trial today in Jerusalem. Nursing student Marcus Rednanver was accused of assaulting a soldier at a peaceful demonstration in Hebron 10 days ago. Witnesses say the charge is baseless and that he has been targeted by police arbitrarily. The judge ordered that he be detained and questioned for a further two days. At approximately 11PM last night (20 July 2010) Rednanver and another Swedish man were passing a checkpoint near Tel Rumeida when soldiers forcefully detained him, confiscated his passport and called police. Rednanver was not told where he had been taken but believed it was a police station near Hebron. Officials at the Court of Peace in the Russian Compound, Jerusalem, heard his case at 12.30 this afternoon. Following the judge’s rulin...

$370,000 needs to be raised to help send a boat from the US to Gaza for the next flotilla. Donate online at http://www.ustogaza.org U.S. Boat to Gaza This is an important moment in history. In the aftermath of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla massacre and increased world-wide scrutiny of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, the Israeli government has mounted a huge public relations campaign spreading the lie that by letting a few more items into Gaza the blockade has been lifted. This is not the reality. Gaza is still under siege, vital building materials and other supplies are banned, exports of goods from Gaza are denied and neither ships nor people can travel without permission from Israel, permission which Israel will not give. Gaza is essentially an open-air prison under a U.S.-backed Israeli blockade. We are planning to launch a U.S. boat to Gaza, joining a flotilla of ships from Europe, Canada, India, South Africa and parts of the Middle East due to set sail in September/October of this year. In...

From ISM In a press conference at the port of Gaza city yesterday government officials, fishing associations, non-governmental organisations and civil society groups reiterated their support for the attempts by international activists to break the Israeli siege of Gaza by sea. Yesterday (July 14th 2010) many people amassed at the Gazan port to urge on the latest attempt by activists to enter the strip, this time by a Libyan chartered aid ship. It was the first serious attempt to enter Gaza by sea since the horrifying attack by the Israeli navy on the Free Gaza Flotilla and the Mavi Marmara which saw 9 Turkish activists killed. Mahfouz Kabariti, President of Palestine Sailing Federation and Palestinian Association for Fishing and Maritime Sports, was communicating with the Amalthea as it neared Gazan waters: “The last contact we had with them was at midnight and since then communication was cut by the Israeli navy. They told us the boat was surrounded by Israeli gunships, but that they ...

Thanks to Intifada-Palestine.com Greta Berlin (France/US, English) has been an advocate for justice for the Palestinians since the early 60s. She is the mother of two Palestinian/American children whose father was born and raised in Safad, Palestine and is a 1948 refugee. She has an MFA in Theatre and a bachelor’s in English and, when she’s not working with the Palestinians, has spent the past 32 years teaching engineers and scientists how to design and deliver presentations. In 2003, she volunteered with the ISM , working in several villages in the occupied West bank as well as manning their media office, then returned to work again in 2003, 05 and 07. Elias Harb interviews Greta Berlin Co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement Elias Harb: Can you tell us what motivated you to the Palestinian Cause and the Free Gaza Movement and when was the movement founded? Greta Berlin: I married a 1948 Palestinian refugee from Safad and have two Palestinian/American children. I’ve been part of justice ...

In a major escalation against the non-violent movement to smash the apartheid wall, Israel has sent Bil'in villager Adeeb Abu Rahma to prison for two years. Israeli courts criminalize protest: Adeeb Abu Rahma sentenced to two years Israeli repression of Palestinian non-violent resistance against the Wall and the Occupation takes a distubring turn: Adeeb Abu Rahma, from Bil’in Village, sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. On 30 June 2010, grassroots activist Adeeb Abu Rahma, member of the Bil’in Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements, was sentenced by Israeli military court to two years’ imprisonment, after being arrested on 10 July 2009 during a weekly demonstration in Bil’in, and after spending 11 months of detention in the Ofer military complex in the Occupied Territories. Adeeb Abu Rahma is a taxi-driver and he has 11 children, he’s well known for his generosity and constant presence at village of Bil’in’s weekly demonstrations against Israel’s wall and for his comm...

The Rachel Corrie trial opens today with the Israeli defence ministry in the dock. A 23-year-old American activist stands in front of an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza. The bulldozer drives over her, crushing her to death. These are the facts. Rachel Corrie, along with colleagues from the International Solidarity Movement, was trying to prevent Israel from bulldozing homes in Rafah, close to the Egyptian border. Her activism cost her her life in March 2003. A colleague said at the time, "Many times the bulldozer came up to us and buried us with dirt, but they always stopped." Corrie's parents want to know the truth about their daughter's death, whether the killing was intentional and who is accountable. more

The police officers who shot US Gaza rights activist, Tristan Anderson, in the face at the West Bank village of Na'alin during one of the regular anti-apartheid wall protests, will not be charged. So it's not just Palestinian lives that are cheap in occupied Palestine. Tristan, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, is now severely brain damaged. Charges will not be brought against the police officers who shot an American pro-Palestinian activist in the face, Israel's justice ministry has said. Tristan Anderson suffered severe brain damage when he was shot at a rally in the West Bank town of Na'alin last year. more

At least 100 Americans arrived in Egypt Sunday and made their way up to the Egypt-Gaza border at Rafah with a rumored 1 million US dollars in medical supplies for the besieged Strip. Less than a week after Israeli occupation naval boats seized and boarded the Free Gaza ship, the Spirit of Humanity, and as activists from half a dozen countries remain in Israeli prison from the first group of activists, the Americans, with the “Viva Palestina” movement, will try to enter the Strip via Rafah. Following the first British “Viva Palestina” convoy which was allowed into the Strip in early October 2008, the American group - also lead by British MP George Galloway - will attempt to deliver supplies and show solidarity with the closed-off coastal area. From the Palestine Media Center Meanwhile, International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists Jenny Lindell and Natalie Abou Chakra have been prevented from leaving the Strip by the Egyptian regime because of their work with the Free Gaza boats. ...

Not content with stealing Palestinian land, the Israeli state is determined to drive the people off what land they still have. ISM Gaza Strip video. Interview in Abou Yousef An Najar Hospital in Rafah with Randa Shalouf, a palestinian woman from the village of Shawka, east of Rafah, injured on the 7th of May by Israeli gunfire in her hand and chest. In the video you can aso see the x-ray photos with the bullet. (with English translation). farmingunderfire.blogspot.com

Pirating for Palestine! A benefit gig for International Solidarity Movement will take place next Saturday 4th April 2009 from 9pm at the Wagon and Horses, Adderley Street, Digbeth. Live funk, ska, dubstep, reggae, jungle, and breaks across two dancefloors, and films about the occupation of Palestine.

Three protesters including two US activists were wounded when IOF troops shot rubber-coated bullets at them and many others suffered suffocation as a result of inhaling tear gas during the weekly anti-wall Bil'in demonstration. The peaceful protest, which is organized by Palestinian citizens from Bil'in village and foreign activists, started as usual after the Friday prayer, where the protesters carried Palestinian flags and banners calling for resisting the occupation, the apartheid wall and settlement expansion. In Al-Masara village, close to Bethlehem in the West Bank, two Palestinian women and a nine-year-old child were wounded when IOF troops attacked and battered them with rifle butts and batons during a non-violent anti-wall protest organized at noon Friday. The demonstration was dedicated to Palestinian mothers on the international mothers' day. West of Salfit city in the West Bank, a bunch of Israeli settlers escorted by IOF troops assaulted Palestinian farmers fro...