Free Gaza Report: Refusing to live the quiet life
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- Written by Stefanos Evripidou, Nicosia, Cyprus Stefanos Evripidou, Nicosia, Cyprus
- Published: 04 August 2008 04 August 2008
- Hits: 3678 3678
[The Free Gaza Movement is organizing a boat lift of aid that will leave Cyprus for Gaza sometime this week, AUPHR co-founder Tom Nelson is part of the expedition and is sending us reports of interest . . .]
EIGHTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein would be forgiven for adopting the quiet life of most octogenarians. But the softly-spoken activist doesn’t seem to know what quiet means.
In her 79th year, she says she was shot at, sprayed with water, tear gassed, strip searched and internally searched. Since then, she’s been called an anti-Semite and self-hating Jew. More recently, proving that it really is never too late, ever, Hedy learnt to swim. Not for fun mind, but to ensure a place on the boat to Gaza, which aims to sail from Cyprus this week.
Born in Germany, Hedy was eight-years-old when Hitler came to power. Her parents soon realised that Germany was no longer a safe place to raise a family and thought about leaving the business that her paternal forebears had begun in 1858.
“Anywhere but not Palestine, they said. My parents were anti-Zionists,” Hedy explained.
After Crystal Night in November 1938 and the month-long detention of her father at Dachau, the family knew they had to get out.
Read more: Free Gaza Report: Refusing to live the quiet life
Israel's secret police pressuring sick Gazans to spy for them, says report
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- Written by Toni O'Loughlin in Gaza Toni O'Loughlin in Gaza
- Published: 03 August 2008 03 August 2008
- Hits: 3617 3617
· Treatment only offered to would-be informants
· Patients allowed to cross the border drops sharply
Israel's secret police are pressuring Palestinians in Gaza to spy on their community in exchange for urgent medical treatment, according to a report released today by an Israeli human rights organisation.
Physicians for Human Rights says the Shin Bet began interrogating Palestinian patients seeking permission to travel from Gaza to Israel for crucial medical help after Israel blockaded and then declared the tiny territory an enemy entity more than a year ago.
Typically, patients are taken to a small, windowless room, underground, beneath the security terminal at Erez, the only passenger crossing that remains open between Gaza and Israel, where they are questioned by Shin Bet agents for hours, the report says.
Refusal to cooperate often results in the denial of medical treatment. Based on the testimonies of more than 30 Palestinians - 11 of which are published - the report says the Shin Bet is using coercion and extortion to force patients to collaborate.
Read more: Israel's secret police pressuring sick Gazans to spy for them, says report
Truth and Consequences Under the Israeli Occupation
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- Written by Mohammed Omer writing in the Nation Mohammed Omer writing in the Nation
- Published: 03 August 2008 03 August 2008
- Hits: 3755 3755
From One Bereaved Palestinian Father to Another
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- Written by Bassam Aramin, co-founder of Combatants for Peace Bassam Aramin, co-founder of Combatants for Peace
- Published: 03 August 2008 03 August 2008
- Hits: 2660 2660
From One Bereaved Palestinian Father to Another
An open letter by Bassam Aramin, co-founder of Combatants for Peace
Translated from the Arabic by Miriam Asnes
Dear Hisam, father of Ahmed, may he rest in peace,
I learned of the death of your son, Ahmed Musa, through a one-sentence newsflash on the Palestinian news station Ma’an last Tuesday: “Ahmed Musa, a young boy, was killed by a bullet of the occupying forces in Nil’in.” I was immediately overcome with shock and grief and bitter tears. And above all, that relentless feeling of powerlessness that I know too well. We Palestinians cannot protect our children from being killed. Not because they are soldiers on the battlefield, but because we cannot imprison them in our homes. They must live their lives, play outside the house, go to school. We tell ourselves that there must be in our land a safe place to protect our little ones. Should not our villages be safe? Should not the courtyards of our homes be safe? And the safest place of all—should this not be the schoolyard?
But our children are still murdered in cold blood in front of our homes, in the heart of our villages and in our schools. For on another black Tuesday a year and a half ago, soldiers of the occupation killed my own beloved ten-year-old daughter. Abir Aramin was shot in the head in front of her school in the village of Anata on January 16th, 2007. Ahmed and Abir passed on the same day of the week, at the same age; both were shot in the head by the same kind of killer: one of the Israeli border patrol guards.
Gush Shalom Ad: Admitting and shooting
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- Written by Gush Shalom Gush Shalom
- Published: 03 August 2008 03 August 2008
- Hits: 4077 4077
Admitting and shooting
The Chief of Staff,
Gabi Ashkenazi,
Admitted that the path
Of the "Separation Fence"
Was devised to expropriate
Palestinian land
For the settlers and
Real estate sharks,
Not for security.
On the morrow,
His soldiers killed
10 year old Ahmad Moussa
In a protest against this fence.
Ad published in Haaretz, August 1, 2008