São Francisco – Um grupo de nove ativistas – palestinos, judeus anti-sionistas e ativistas dos direitos dos imigrantes – bloquearam a entrada do consulado israelense às 8:30 do dia 15 de janeiro de 2009, em um protesto não-violento ao apartheid israelense e seus atuais ataques em Gaza.
“Pelos últimos sessenta anos Israel tentou elimintar o povo palestino forçando-o a sair de suas casas e de suas terras, fazendo-os passar fome e matando-os,” disse Maria Poblet, uma ativista de direitos dos imigrantes. “Os cercos e ataques recentes em Gaza não são uma exceção, mas um lembrete brutal de que a matança de civis é uma parte regular da estratégia israelense.”
Organizadores afirmam que a atual situação em Gaza não é um conflito entre dois povos de capacidades equivalentes, nem o motivo de Israel é a autodefesa. “Por um ano e meio Israel impôs sanções sufocantes sob a desculpa de atingir o Hamas, subjugando a população inteira pela falta de comida, água, medicamentos e outros recursos vitais,” afirmou Monadel Herzallah da Rede de Comunidades Palestina dos Estados Unidos. "Os recentes ataques por terra e ar são outro golpe brutal para a população de Gaza que já está preso em um campo de concentração de desespero e pobreza crescente.”
A organizadora Sara Kershnar, da Rede Judaica Anti-sionista Internacional, resumiu o sentimento: “Hoje, como palestinos, judeus e nossos aliados unidos, deixamos clara a nossa posição: estamos de um lado, o lado da justiça; Israel, um estado de apartheid, está no outro.”
Fotos disponíveis em http://www.flickr.com/photos/34399309@N02/
*Contato:* Harris Kornstein, (510) 343-6065, harris.kornstein@gmail.com
*Vídeo, áudio, e fotos disponíveis.*
*
Disponível para entrevistas:*
Monadel Herzallah, (408) 849-7977
Nadeen Elshorafa, (310) 951-5465
Maria Poblet, (510) 725-9646
Sara Kershnar, (510) 685-5347
NOTA: Versão editada. A mensagem original, em inglês, pode ser lida abaixo na íntegra:
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*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
January 15, 2009
*Contact:* Harris Kornstein, (510) 343-6065, harris.kornstein@gmail.com
*Raw video, audio, and photos available.*
*
Available for Interviews:*
Monadel Herzallah, (408) 849-7977
Nadeen Elshorafa, (310) 951-5465
Maria Poblet, (510) 725-9646
Sara Kershnar, (510) 685-5347
* Palestinian, Jewish, and Other Local Activists Shut Down Israeli Consulate*
SAN FRANCISCO – A group of nine activists – Palestinian, anti-Zionist
Jewish, and immigrant rights activists – blocked the entrance of the Israeli
Consulate beginning at 8:30am today, in nonviolent protest of Israeli
apartheid and its current attacks on Gaza. The activists chained themselves
together using handcuffs and locks, locked the doors to the building, and
were joined by a diverse rally of over 40 supporters. The action was
organized jointly by local Palestinians and Jews in support of: an immediate
ceasefire; the opening of land, sea, and air borders to allow in emergency
supplies; and an end to US financial and political support for Israel.
"For the past sixty years, Israel has tried to eliminate the Palestinian
people by forcing them out of their homes and off their lands, starving
them, and killing them," said Maria Poblet, an immigrants' rights
organizer. "The recent blockades and attacks in Gaza are not an exception,
but a brutal reminder that killing civilians is a regular part of Israeli
strategy."
Linked arm in arm, Bay Area Jews, Palestinians and social-justice activists
aim to increase pressure on Israel and its supporters in the face of the
21-day siege on Gaza and the growing humanitarian crisis. All nine
activists were arrested after about two hours, charged with trespassing, and
allowed to leave. This action is one in a series that has moved from
Toronto, to New York, to Los Angeles.
Organizers assert that the current situation in Gaza is not a conflict
between two peoples of equivalent capacities, nor is Israel's motive
self-defense. "For the past year and a half, Israel has enacted strangling
sanctions under the guise of targeting Hamas, collectively starving the
entire population of food, water, medicine, and other vital resources,"
stated Monadel Herzallah of the United States Palestinian Community Network.
"The recent air and ground strikes are another brutal blow to Gazans who are
already trapped in a concentration camp of despair and growing poverty."
Activists also spoke out against the US pledge of more than $3 billion each
year in unrestricted aid to Israel. "Israel's use of US aid and military
equipment violates our own laws. We can choose to uphold US and
international laws, or ignore them as we are now doing at the peril of our
conscience and our place among all of humanity," said Nadeen Elshorafa of
the General Union of Palestinian Students.
Organizer Sara Kershnar of the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network
summed up the sentiment: "Today, as Palestinians, Jews, and our united
allies, we make our position clear: we are on one side, the side of justice;
Israel, an apartheid state, is on the other."
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[image: L-R: Nadeen Elshorafa, Monadel Herzallah, Sara
Kershnar]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/34399309@N02/>
more photos available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34399309@N02/
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*Profiles of Demonstrators*
* Monadel Herzallah *(Fairfield, CA) is a labor activist with family in
Gaza. Early this week, Monadel lost his 21-year old cousin Mohammad to
Israeli violence. Monadel is the national coordinator of the US Palestinian
Community Network. Contact: (408) 849-7977
* Nadeen Elshorafa* (San Francisco) is a Palestinian activist whose family
is from Gaza. Nadeen grew up in Egypt and is now getting a masters in
international studies at San Francisco State University. Contact: (310)
951-5465
* Andrea Salinas *(San Francisco) is a California native of Mexican descent.
She works toward ending societies' reliance on the prison industrial complex
and toward creating real community safety.
Contact: (415) 203-4948
* Maria Poblet* (Berkeley) is a Latina immigrant rights organizer and poet
who grew up in Argentina.
Contact: (510) 725-9646
* Heba Nimr* (Oakland) is a Palestinian-Egyptian lawyer and mediator.
* Marisol Arriola *(Berkeley) is a Mexican-American from a family of
farmworkers. Marisol has been in the bay area for 15 years where she has
worked as a union organizer, youth organizer, and advocate/caseworker for
survivors of domestic violence and their families. She has served as a human
rights monitor in the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas of Palestine. She is a
member of SUSTAIN, Stop U.S. Tax Aid To Israel, and is currently a graduate
student in the department of Social Work. Contact: (510) 485-4136
* Greg Hom *(San Francisco) is Jewish and Chinese, works in libraries, and
is currently focusing his political work on ending Israeli apartheid. Greg
is a member of the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network.
* Mich Levy *(Oakland) is a teacher whose Jewish family immigrated to the US
in the face of pogroms of Eastern Europe. Mich is a founder and organizer
with the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network. Contact: (415) 430-8043
* Sara Kershnar *(Berkeley) is an anti-violence organizer. Her Jewish family
emigrated to New York City in flight from the pogroms of Eastern Europe and
after generations of flight starting with the Spanish inquisition. Sara is a
founder and organizer with the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network.
Contact: (510) 685-5347
------------------------------
*Fact Sheet on Gaza and Israeli Apartheid*
* THE PEOPLE OF GAZA: *Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians live in Gaza, many of
them concentrated in one-half of the territory. In this area, the population
density is nearly 20,000 people per square mile, one of the highest in the
world. More than three quarters of Gaza's residents are refugees who were
driven from their homes during past wars with Israel (in 1948 and 1967), and
their descendants. Israel has permanently barred their return. Over half of
these refugees still reside in Gaza's eight refugee camps. (BBC,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5122404.stm)
*
THE OCCUPATION OF GAZA: *The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation
since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an
occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the
strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and
exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over
Gaza's air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As
the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva
Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza
Strip. ("What You Don't Know About Gaza", Rashidi Khalidi, New York Times,
January 7, 2009).
* THE BLOCKADE of GAZA:* Israel's blockade of the strip, with the support of
the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent
since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January
2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and
out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening
problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation. This
amounts to the collective punishment — with the tacit support of the United
States — of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights.
(Khalidi, New York Times).
*
THE CEASE-FIRE: *Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket
fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and
Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from
hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four
months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down
when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November;
six Hamas operatives were reported killed. (Khalidi, New York Times).
* WAR CRIMES: *Israel's current assault on the Gaza Strip cannot be
justified by self-defense. Rather, it involves serious violations of
international law, including war crimes. Senior Israeli political and
military leaders may bear personal liability for their offenses, and they
could be prosecuted by an international tribunal, or by nations practicing
universal jurisdiction over grave international crimes. ("Israel is
committing war crimes." George Bisharat, Wall Street Journal, January 10,
2009.)
* ISRAELI APARTHEID: *Former South African President Hendrick Verwoerd
observed as far back as 1961 that "Israel, like South Africa, is an
apartheid state." In Palestine, the Zionist goal of controlling as much land
as possible without Palestinians led to the large-scale expulsions of
1947-48 and 1967. Today, 92 percent of Israel's land is defined as the
"inalienable property of the Jewish people." Jews anywhere in the world have
a "right to return" and claim citizenship, while Palestinians who were
expelled from their homes are denied the "right to return" guaranteed by
international law. Former President Jimmy Carter defines apartheid as the
"forced separation of two peoples in the same territory with one of the
groups dominating or controlling the other." This accurately describes the
situation in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, where
Israeli settlers and soldiers totally dominate the indigenous Palestinian
population. The policies Israel has implemented to carry out its 40-year-old
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and expropriate Palestinian land
closely mirror the "inhuman acts" that make up the UN Convention on the
"Crime of Apartheid." (US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, "Why
Apartheid Applies to Israel",
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/AAFWhyApartheid.pdf)
