Majida Abu Rahmah, Huffington Post January 4, 2010

Photo: Valerian Mazataud Palestinians in Bil’in raise Palestinian flag at weekly protest.

On International Human Rights Day in 2008, my husband Abdallah Abu Rahmah was in Berlin receiving a medal from the World Association for Human Rights. Last year on the same day, December 10th, Abdallah was taken away at 2am by Israeli soldiers who broke into our West Bank home. Abdallah was arrested for the same reasons he received the prize – his nonviolent struggle for justice, equality and peace in Israel/Palestine.

My husband is a school teacher and farmer from the Palestinian village of Bil’in. When Israel built its apartheid wall here, it separated Bil’in from more than half of its land, in order to facilitate the expansion of the illegal settlement Mattityahu East. In response, Abdallah and fellow villagers began a campaign of nonviolent resistance. Every Friday for the past five years, we’ve marched, with Israeli and international supporters, to protest the theft of our land and livelihoods.

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Lhasa de Sela

Photo: Valerian Mazataud Lhasa de Sela performs at Artists Against Apartheid.

Music lovers around the world are mourning the passing of singer Lhasa de Sela, who died on January 1st, 2010 at home in Montreal. A beautiful voice, a beautiful spirit who’s music moved many and also actively maintained strong connections to grassroots movements for social justice.

Above is a photo taken last June at the Suoni per il Popolo festival where Lhasa de Sela performed with Esmerine at an Artists Against Apartheid concert for Palestine. Soon a recording of Artists Against Apartheid VIII featuring Lhasa de Sela will broadcast on CKUT community radio in Montreal, stay tuned for details.

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Cairo Declaration, January 1, 2010.

Photo: Gaza Freedom Marchers in Cairo, Egypt.

(Cairo) Gaza Freedom Marchers approved today a declaration aimed at accelerating the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli Apartheid.

Roughly 1400 activists from 43 countries converged in Cairo on their way to Gaza to join with Palestinians marching to break Israel’s illegal siege. They were prevented from entering Gaza by the Egyptian authorities.

As a result, the Freedom Marchers remained in Cairo. They staged a series of nonviolent actions aimed at pressuring the international community to end the siege as one step in the larger struggle to secure justice for Palestinians throughout historic Palestine.

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venez nous rejoindre à la journée mondiale d’action!

Mardi 30 mars 2010
16h-18h Carré Phillips
en face de La Baie
Sainte-Catherine et Union
Métro McGill

ecoutez CKUT radio annonce ici
calendrier international des événements: ici

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29 December 2009 UN News Center

Photo: Building destroyed by Israeli military bombings in the Gaza Strip.

29 December 2009 – The United Nations independent expert on Palestinian rights has again called for a threat of economic sanctions against Israel to force it to lift its blockade of Gaza, which is preventing the return to a normal life for 1.5 million residents after the devastating Israeli offensive a year ago.

“Obviously Israel does not respond to language of diplomacy, which has encouraged the lifting of the blockade and so what I am suggesting is that it has to be reinforced by a threat of adverse economic consequences for Israel,” Richard Falk, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, told UN Radio.

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Foreign Policy Magazine by Stephen M. Walt, December 29, 2009

Photo: Palestinian amongst destruction in the Gaza Strip.

Did you know that the Gaza Freedom March — a group of over 1300 peace activists from 43 countries — is protesting the continued siege of Gaza, on the anniversary of the brutal Israeli assault that killed over a thousand people last year? (There is also a separate effort to bring a convoy of relief aid to the Gazans, under the auspices of the group Viva Palestina).

Did you know that the Freedom March is now stuck in Cairo, because the Egyptian government has denied them permission to travel to Gaza? The Mubarak regime has its own issues with Hamas, and it is also dependent on U.S. economic and military aid. Israel and the United States don’t want the adverse publicity that the Freedom March might generate and are perfectly content to let the Gazans suffer, so needless to say Washington isn’t putting any pressure on Egypt to let the convoy through.

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lettre ouverte de la Marche pour la liberté de Gaza, samedi 26 décembre 2009

Photo: Soldats égyptiens au Caire.

Cher Président Moubarak – Nous, représentants de 1362 personnes venues de 43 pays au Caire pour participer à la Marche pour la liberté de Gaza, nous faisons appel aux Egyptiens et à votre réputation d’hospitalité.

Nous sommes des artisans de la paix. Nous ne sommes pas venus en Egypte pour créer des troubles ou susciter des conflits. Au contraire. Nous sommes venus parce que nous croyons que tous les peuples – y compris les Palestiniens de Gaza – devraient avoir accès aux ressources dont ils ont besoin pour vivre dans la dignité. Nous nous sommes rassemblés en Egypte parce que nous croyions que vous accueilleriez et soutiendriez notre objectif noble et que vous nous aideriez à atteindre Gaza en traversant votre pays.

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Huffington Post Robert Naiman, Policy Director of Just Foreign Policy

Photo: Egyptian military watch tower on border with Gaza Strip, Palestine.

Cairo – Twelve hours before this writing, it appeared that 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza planning to march to the Erez border crossing with Israel on Thursday in protest of the continuing blockade on Gaza might not be accompanied by any of the 1400 internationals who had come to Egypt planning to join the Gaza Freedom March.

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report by Cindy Sheehan December 29th 2009

Photo: Angela Sevin Egyptian police cover camera at Gaza Freedom March in Cairo.

One of my friends, Joshua Smith, just texted me from Cairo and said that some U.S. citizens of the Gaza Freedom March went to the U.S. Embassy today there to try and implore the staff there to intercede on behalf of the March to help get them into Gaza–they were not so warmly welcomed.

Recently, almost 1400 people from around the globe met in Cairo to march into Gaza to join Gazans in solidarity and to help expose their plight after years of blockade and exactly a year after the violent attack in what Israel called “Operation Cast Lead” that killed hundreds of innocent Gazan civilians. So far the Marchers have been denied access (Egypt closed the Rafah crossing) and their gatherings have become increasingly and more violently suppressed.

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rassemblement pour commémorer les morts de l’offensive israélienne contre Gaza.

Dimanche 3 janvier 2010
13h00 Carré Phillips
metro McGill
coin Ste-Catherine et Union
Montreal, Quebec

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