Democracy Now : Exclusive interview with Iara Lee
source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlkj7gUl0wc
source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuODT3cPSGU&feature=related
or http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/10/exclusive_journalist_smuggles_out_video_of
Press Released: Unedited Footage from Mavi Marmara of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla
June 11, 2010
MEDIA ALERT:
JUST RELEASED: ONE HOUR OF FOOTAGE FROM MAVI MARMARA Footage taken aboard largest ship in Gaza Freedom Flotilla in hour before and during raid by Israeli military
New York, NY
A full hour of raw footage taken aboard the Mavi Marmara in the hour leading up to and during the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla has just been made available to view at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwsMJmvS0AY
The footage is also available for download at: http://tinyurl.com/flotilla-footage/
Despite the Israeli government’s efforts to confiscate all of the footage taken during the attack, CULTURES OF RESISTANCE filmmaker Iara Lee was able to smuggle one hour of footage back to the United States and is releasing it raw to the public today.
Yesterday at the United Nations, Ms. Lee presented the footage for the first time to the international press corps after the following statement:
“I want first to thank the United Nations Correspondents Association for organizing this event on such short notice.
“My name is Iara Lee. I am a dual U.S.-Brazilian citizen of Korean descent. I am a filmmaker and a human rights activist.
“I decided to join the Freedom Flotilla after going to Gaza a few months ago and seeing first hand the devastation there. After hearing the pleas of the people living in Gaza to have the blockade lifted, I felt I must do something.
“The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was on a humanitarian mission. We expected to be deterred from delivering our aid to Gazans, but we did not expect to be attacked.
“We started filming from the moment we boarded the Mavi Marmara right through the Israeli assault on the ship. Although all of our equipment was confiscated, we managed to smuggle this footage out.
“Mine is high-definition footage of the Flotilla attack and also the only sustained footage of the ship and its passengers preceding the deadly Israeli commando raid. Watching this raw, unedited footage, you will get a sense of the mood on the ship and of the passengers on it.
“Undoubtedly, many of you will be scrutinizing it for clues to resolve the mysteries that still surround what happened that fateful night.
“During this past week the Israeli government has repeatedly alleged that these passengers — or some of them — laid a trap for Israel, duped the Israeli military, and plotted a lynching. Israel has repeatedly alleged that we were anti-Semitic Muslim fanatics connected to terrorist organizations.
“In fact, the passengers on our mission came from many countries and religious and ethnic backgrounds. Our one common denominator was that we wanted to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by highlighting the injustice of Israel’s blockade.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “This wasn’t the ‘love boat,’ this was a flotilla of terror supporters.” Our footage will help you decide whether we were a love boat or a hate boat. You will see secular and devout passengers. You will see people at prayer and people working at their laptops.
“Was this a lynch-mob moved by hatred of Israelis or was it a cross-section of humanity moved by the plight of Gaza? Did we lay a trap for the Israeli commandos or did they unnecessarily attack us? Did we take them by surprise or did they take us by surprise?
“Do you see a premeditated ambush, or do you see some passengers using items at hand to protect themselves from an unprovoked assault by heavily armed commandos?
“You decide.”
CONTACT:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000928581236
source : http://www.culturesofresistance.org/press-release-flotilla-footage
Israeli Attack on the Mavi Marmara // Raw Footage
source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwsMJmvS0AY&feature=player_embedded
more at http://www.culturesofresistance.org/gaza-freedom-flotilla
Deadly shooting at peace and humanitarian aid activists
Press Release 05/31/2010
Uri Avnery: this night (May 31) a crime was perpetrated in the middle of the sea, by order of the government of Israel and the IDF Command
A warlike attack against aid ships and deadly shooting at peace and humanitarian aid activists
It is a crazy thing that only a government that crossed all red lines can do
“Only a crazy government that has lost all restraint and all connection to reality could something like that – consider ships carrying humanitarian aid and peace activists from around the world as an enemy and send massive military force to international waters to attack them, shoot and kill.
A warlike attack against aid ships and deadly shooting at peace and humanitarian aid activists
It is a crazy thing that only a government that crossed all red lines can do
“Only a crazy government that has lost all restraint and all connection to reality could something like that – consider ships carrying humanitarian aid and peace activists from around the world as an enemy and send massive military force to international waters to attack them, shoot and kill.
“Noone in the world will believe the lies and excuses which the government and army spokesmen come up with,” said former Knesset member Uri Avnery of the Gush Shalom movement. Gush Shalom activists together with activists of other organizations are to depart at 11:00 from Tel Aviv to protest in front of the prepared detention facility where the international peace activists will be brought.
Greta Berlin, the spokeswoman for the flotilla organizers located in Cyprus, told Gush Shalom activists that the Israeli commandos landed by helicopter on the boats and immediately opened fire.
This is a day of disgrace to the State of Israel, a day of anxiety in which we discover that our future was entrusted to a bunch of trigger-happy people without any responsibility. This day is a day of disgrace and madness and stupidity without limit, the day the Israeli government took care to blacken the name of the country in the world, adding convincing evidence of aggressiveness and brutality to Israel’s already bad international image, discouraging and distancing the few remaining friends.
Indeed, today a provocation took place off the coast of Gaza – but the provocateurs were not the peace activists invited by the Palestinians and seeking to reach Gaza. The provocation was carried out by Navy ships commandos at the bidding of the Israeli government, blocking the way of the aid boats and using deadly force.
It is time to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip, which causes severe suffering to its residents. Today the Israeli government ripped the mask of its face with its own hands and exposed the fact that Israel did not “disengage” from Gaza. Real disengagement from the area does not go together with blocking the access to it or sending soldiers to shoot and kill and wound those who try to get there.
The State of Israel promised in the Oslo Accords 17 years ago to enable and encourage the establishment of a deep water port in Gaza, through which Palestinians could import and export freely to develop their economy. It’s time to realize this commitment and open the Port of Gaza. Only after the Gaza port will be open to free and undisturbed movement, just like the Ashdod and Haifa ports, will Israel really have disengaged from the Gaza Strip. Until then, the world will continue – and rightly so – to consider the Gaza Strip under Israeli occupation and the State of Israel as responsible for the fate of the people living there.
Contact: Uri Avnery 0505-306449
Adam Keller, Gush Shalom spokesman 03-5565804 or 054-2340749 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 054-2340749 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Coalition Against the Siege Yacov – 050-5733276, 09-7670801, Sebastian -050-6846056
Greta Berlin spokeswoman for flotilla organizers
35799187275
הודעה לעיתונות 31.5.2010
אורי אבנרי: בלב ים בוצע הלילה מעשה פשע בפקודת ממשלת ישראל ופיקוד צה”ל
התקפה מלחמתית על ספינות סיוע וירי קטלני על פעילי שלום וסיוע הומניטארי
היא מעשה מטורף שרק ממשלה שעברה כל גבול מסוגלת לעשותו
“רק ממשלה מטורפת שאיבדה כל רסן וכל קשר למציאות הייתה מסוגלת למעשה כזה – להתייחס לספינות הנושאות סיוע הומניטארי ופעילי שלום מכל רחבי העולם כאל אויב ולשלוח כוח צבאי אדיר כדי לתקוף אותן במים בינלאומיים, לירות ולהרוג. התירוצים השקרניים שמביאים דוברי הממשלה והצבא למעשה הזה לא ישכנעו איש בעולם” אומר חבר הכנסת לשעבר אורי אבנרי מתנועת גוש שלום. פעילים מגוש שלום ותנועות אחרות עומדים לצאת בשעה 11.00 מתל אביב לקיים הפגנת מחאה לפני מתקן המעצר אליו הובאו פעילי השלום הבינלאומיים.
גרטה ברלין, דוברת מארגני המשט הנמצאת בקפריסין, מסרה לפעילי גוש שלום כי חיילי הקומנדו הישראלים נחתו בהליקופטר על הספינות ופתחו מיד באש לעבר נוסעיהן.
זהו יום של חרפה למדינת ישראל, יום של חרדה בו אנו מגלים כי עתידנו הופקד בידי חבורה של אנשים חסרי כל אחריות שידם קלה על ההדק. זהו יום הוא יום של בושה וחרפה וגם שיגעון וטפשות ללא גבול, יום בו דאגה ממשלת ישראל להשחיר את שמה של המדינה בעולם כולו, לספק הוכחות חדשות ומוחצות לתדמית הכוחנית והברוטאלית שכבר יצאה לישראל בזירה הבינלאומית, לייאש ולהרחיק את מעט הידידים שעוד נותרו לה.
אכן, היום התבצעה פרובוקציה מול חופי עזה – אך הפרובוקטורים לא היו פעילי השלום שביקשו להגיע לעזה על פי הזמנתם ובקשתם המפורשת של התושבים הפלסטינים. את הפרובוקציה ביצעו ספינות חיל הים וחיילי הקומנדו, במצוותה של ממשלת ישראל, כאשר חסמו את דרכן של הספינות והפעילו כוח קטלני.
הגיע הזמן להסיר את המצור על רצועת עזה, הגורם סבל קשה לתושביה. היום קרעה ממשלת ישראל במו ידיה את המסכה מעל פניה וחשפה את העובדה כי מדינת ישראל לא “התנתקה” מעזה. מי שהתנתק באמת משטח אינו חוסם את הדרכים לשטח הזה ואינו שולח חיילים להרוג ולפצוע את כי מי משנסה הלגיע אליו.
מדינת ישראל התחייבה בהסכמי אוסלו לפני 17 שנה לאפשר וגם לעודד הקמת נמל עמוק מים בעזה, דרכו יוכלו הפלסטינים לייבא ולייצא באופן חופשי ולפתח את כלכלתם. הגיע הזמן לממש את ההתחייבות הזאת ולפתוח לרווחה את נמל עזה. רק ברגע שיפתח נמל עזה לתנועה חופשית ובלתי מופרעת, בדיוק כמו בנמל אשדוד ובנמל חיפה, תסתיים באמת התנתקותה של ישראל מרצועת עזה. עד אז, ימשיך העולם – ובצדק – לראות את רצועת עזה כנתונה לכיבוש ישראלי ואת מדינת ישראל כאחראית לגורל התושבים בה.
לפרטים: אורי אבנרי 0505-306449 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0505-306449 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
אדם קלר, דובר גוש שלום 03-5565804 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 03-5565804 end_of_the_skype_highlighting או 054-2340749 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 054-2340749 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
קואליציה נגד המצור יעקב- 050-5733276, 09-7670801, סבסטיאן-050-6846056
גרטה ברלין דוברת מארגני המשט מדברת אנגלית
+357 99187275 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +357 99187275
Locked in: Life in Gaza – 19 Oct 09 – Part 2
source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUM9PlXzqC4&feature=channel
Locked in: Life in Gaza – 19 Oct 09 – Part 1
source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNPgo1z1VGc&feature=player_embedded#
“한국교회 ‘친이스라엘’은 신앙적 식민지화 산물”
김진호 목사 ‘종교인 토론회’ 발제
유럽서 ‘발명’된 이스라엘 역사와
미국 근본주의 교파 영향 받아
팔레스타인 등 약자 감싸야
한국 주류 기독교의 ‘이스라엘 사랑’은 유난스럽다. “북핵 해결을 위해 이스라엘의 강경노선을 본받아야 한다”는 주장을 이름난 교계 지도자들이 스스럼없이 펼칠 정도니, 가자 침공을 ‘정당방위’라 두둔하는 것은 차라리 점잖은 축에 속한다. 이 골수에 사무친 친이스라엘 정서는 대체 어디서 발원하는가.
많은 이들이 이 땅에 개신교를 전파한 미국 복음주의 교단의 보수성을 탓하지만, 제3시대그리스도교연구소의 김진호 목사(사진)는 한 걸음 더 나간다. “팔레스타인 사람들에 대한 혐오와 결합된 친이스라엘 정서는 미국의 근본주의 교파뿐 아니라 비교적 온건하고 성찰적인 유럽 기독교조차 안고 있는 일반적 문제”라는 것이다.
김 목사는 이스라엘의 가자지구 침공과 관련해 종교인 네트워크가 5일 개최하는 긴급토론회의 발제문에서 “(한국 기독교의) 친이스라엘 성향은 서구의 ‘성공주의’ 신학에 예속된 식민화된 의식의 결과물”이라며 “이것을 성찰할 지적·신앙적 의지가 없다면 한국 기독교의 미래는 없다”고 단언했다.
김 목사가 볼 때, 현대 기독교가 이스라엘과 팔레스타인을 보는 관점은 근대 유럽 세계의 산물이다. 자기 문명의 종교적 뿌리 찾기에 나선 유럽인들이 다윗-솔로몬 제국(기원전 10세기)과 이스라엘인의 팔레스타인 정착(기원전 13~11세기)과 같은 고대 이스라엘 역사를 ‘발명’하는 과정에서 ‘신의 축복을 받은 문명국 이스라엘’과 ‘미개한 피정복민 팔레스타인’에 대한 피아 이분법의 관념이 형성됐다는 얘기다.
그가 다윗-솔로몬 제국과 팔레스타인 정착사를 ‘발명된’ 것으로 보는 이유는, 여기에 관한 기술 자체가 매우 빈약한 사실에 기초해 있기 때문이다. 김 목사는 “최근의 고고학·문헌학적 연구들은 다윗-솔로몬 왕조의 번영을 기술한 구약성서의 내용이 역사적으로 실증되기 어려울 뿐 아니라, 가나안 정착 역시 이스라엘인들이 외부(이집트)로부터 들어와 토착세력을 대체한 게 아니라 토착민 일부가 산간지역으로 이탈한 뒤 부족동맹을 형성하고 성읍국가와 대결하다 평야지대에 재정착하는 과정이었을 가능성이 높다는 사실을 설득력 있게 보여준다”고 설명한다. 요컨대 고대 팔레스타인 지역에서는 이스라엘인과 비이스라엘인의 혈통적 이분법은 작동하지 않았다는 것이다.
그러나 이스라엘 고대사가 ‘발명됐다’는 사실보다 중요한 것은 이 발명된 역사가 근대 유럽 세계에서 수행한 정치적 기능이다. 김 목사가 볼 때, 다윗-솔로몬 제국 설화는 세속적 번영을 신이 내린 축복의 징표로 해석하는 서구식 성공주의를 신학적으로 뒷받침했다. 마찬가지로 가나안 정착 설화는 정복을 통해 야만 민족을 문명화하는 것이 신이 부여한 사명이라는 서구의 제국주의 논리에 정당화 근거를 제공했다. 이 과정에서 세속적 역사의 실패자인 팔레스타인 부족은 이스라엘에 지배당해도 마땅한 ‘아무것도 아닌 존재’로 간주될 수밖에 없었다는 게 김 목사의 설명이다.
이런 서구 기독교계에 홀로코스트(유대인 대학살)는 경천동지할 사건이었다. 20세기 기독교 문명국가에서 벌어진 ‘인종 절멸’이란 야만 행위는 ‘문명=성공=축복’이라는 근대 신학의 성공주의 신념체계를 송두리째 흔들어놓았다. 이 과정에서 홀로코스트를 초래한 유럽 사회의 뿌리 깊은 반유대주의를 일소하려는 움직임이 현대 신학 안에서도 뚜렷한 조류를 형성했다. 문제는 이런 움직임이 유대인 학살에 대한 뼈아픈 기억에 압도된 나머지 성공주의 신학 전반에 대한 성찰로 이어지지 않고, 기독교의 전통적 ‘반유대주의’를 무비판적 ‘친유대주의’로 뒤집어놓는데 머물렀다는 점이다. 팔레스타인은 여전히 “기독교의 상생 대상인 유대교를 이해하기 위한 배경적 역사”로만 조명될 뿐, 그들의 고통은 “회수되고 유기됐다.”
이런 연유로 2차 대전 이후의 서구 신학은 유대교 엘리트나 이스라엘 정부가 자행하는 타자에 대한 횡포에 문제제기를 하지 않았다. 유대인을 비난하는 것 자체가 신학의 금기가 됐기 때문이다. 김 목사는 이처럼 유대인과 이스라엘 정부의 모든 행위에 면죄부를 주는 서구 신학을 ‘홀로코스트 신학’이라 명명한다. 홀로코스트 신학은 과거의 희생자가 힘없는 이웃에 강요하는 또다른 희생에 침묵한다는 점에서 사실상의 ‘제국 신학’이다. 따라서 “과거의 이스라엘이 아닌 지금의 팔레스타인, 나아가 전지구적인 약자의 고난에 참여하고 싸우는 ‘홀로코스트 너머의 신학’이 필요한 때”라고 김 목사는 말한다.
토론회에서 김 목사와 함께 발표자로 나서는 임지현 한양대 교수는 ‘홀로코스트와 희생자의식 민족주의’라는 글을 통해 유대인들의 희생자의식이 혈통주의에 의해 지탱되는 이스라엘의 공격적 민족주의를 어떻게 지지하고 강화하는지를 규명할 계획이다. 행사는 5일 오후 3시 서울 서대문 돈의빌딩 안병무홀에서 열린다. (02)363-9190.
이세영 기자 monad@hani.co.kr
source : http://hani.co.kr/arti/culture/religion/336871.html
[박노자칼럼] 화석화된 군국들, 이스라엘과 한국
늘 좌우로 갈라져 있는 노르웨이 여론은, 이스라엘의 가자 학살로 드물게 거의 통일됐다. 아랍인들을 차별하려 하는 극우를 제외하면 노르웨이가 이스라엘의 만행을 규탄하는 데 ‘하나’가 된 것이다. 우파 일간지마저도 그 허울 좋은 양비론을 벗어나 아랍인들의 무장 저항의 정당성을 인정하는 분위기다.
그렇게 만든 것은 일차적으로 이스라엘 만행에 대한 충격이지만, 더 근본적으로는 특히 신세대가 이스라엘이라는 나라의 근본 틀 자체를 이질시하는 것이 크게 작용한 것으로 보인다. 징집 연령 남성의 10∼20%가 주로 국가 폭력에 대한 혐오라는 세계관적 이유로 대체복무를 선택하는 노르웨이에서 보면, 종교가 아닌 정치적 의견, 곧 서안지구와 가자에 대한 작전에 참여하고 싶지 않다는 이유로 병역을 거부하는 이들을 가차 없이 감옥에 보내는 이스라엘은, 유럽 군사주의 절정기인 1910∼40년대의 국가처럼 보인다. 이스라엘의 변명은 “우리 존재에 대한 위협 때문”이지만, 밖에서 보면 이스라엘이 오히려 그 ‘위협’을 열심히 키우는 것으로 보인다. 이스라엘에 유리했던 1993년 이스라엘과 팔레스타인 사이의 오슬로 협정 이후에도 그것도 모자라 불법 정착촌을 늘리고 팔레스타인 피난민들의 귀환 내지 보상 문제에 침묵하고, 팔레스타인 사람들에게 각종 도발을 해온 것은 바로 이스라엘이 아니었던가?
이스라엘 지배층이 평화가 아닌 긴장의 지속을 원하는 이유들은 여럿이다. 긴장 속에서 중동지역의 미국 첨병으로 군림하여 연간 50억∼60억달러에 이르는 미국 원조를 받을 수도 있지만, 무엇보다 최근에 극심해진 격차들에 불만이 높아져 가는 이스라엘 국민 집단을 통제하기가 쉽다. 군에서 거의 모든 남성은 3년, 여성은 2년씩 보내고, 43∼45살 되기 전까지 1년에 약 1개월 동안 예비군 훈련을 받아야 하는 점은, 이스라엘 인구의 다수가 일상적으로 군사 규율의 적용을 받고 있다는 것을 의미한다. 일체 국민을 군사 자원으로 파악하고 국가 운영을 총동원 체제로 하는 제1, 2차 세계대전 시절의 병영국가는, 이스라엘에서 그대로 화석화돼 버린 것이다. 배타적 민족주의 이데올로기로 무장한 이 군국이야말로 세계인에 대한 커다란 위협으로 보일 뿐이다.
물론, 이스라엘과 달리 대한민국이 남의 땅을 점령하는 것은 아니지만, 한반도에서의 평화 정착을 위한 노력을 포기하다시피 하여 지속하는 군사적 대결 속에서 세계관적, 정치적 ‘이단자’들에 대한 마녀사냥의 분위기를 조작하는 이번 정권의 행각은 꼭 이스라엘 지배층을 떠올리게 한다. 김대중·노무현 정권 때 막대한 노력과 비용을 들여 추진해 온 햇볕정책의 대부분을 사실상 거의 포기하여 북-미 관계의 발전을 목전에 두면서도 남북관계를 악화 일로로 이끄는 이유는 무엇인가? 극우들이 ‘자유민주주의적 신념’을 들먹이지만 ‘미네르바’에 대한 ‘입막기 작전’만 놓고 봐도 지금 국내 자유민주주의 지수는 당장에 알 만하다. 이스라엘과 마찬가지로 대중적 불만의 수준을 인식하여 어용적 ‘국민통합’을 도모하고자 대외적·군사적 대결 분위기를 의도적으로 조성한다는 혐의를 떨쳐 버리기 어렵다. 사실, 그나마 종교적 병역거부라도 인정하는 이스라엘과 비교해도, 종교적 거부자마저도 감옥에 보내는 대한민국은 화석화된 병영 사회의 전형으로 보일 뿐이다. 북한 인권의 개선을 진정으로 원한다면 남한 사회부터 먼저 군사주의의 구각을 벗어나 ‘다름’을 충분히 인정하는 성숙한 사회의 본보기가 돼야 하지 않겠는가? 지금 정부 정책은, 이와 정반대 방향으로 가고 있다.
박노자 노르웨이 오슬로국립대 교수·한국학
Foreign press urges boycott of Israeli army footage after attack
JERUSALEM (AFP) — The Foreign Press Association on Thursday urged its members to boycott Israeli army photos and video footage to protest at the shelling of a media building in Gaza City that wounded two cameramen.
The move was also prompted by the Israeli army’s (IDF) refusal to allow reporters to enter the territory to cover the conflict in which some 1,100 people have been killed in the largest Israeli offensive ever launched on the Hamas-run enclave.
“The FPA rejects and condemns the IDF policy of controlling the news coverage of the events in Gaza,” said the group — which represents foreign media outlets in Israel and the Palestinian territories, including AFP.
“By preventing the entry of foreign journalists into Gaza and bombing buildings housing offices of international media — contrary to IDF assurances that these media buildings would be safe — the IDF is severely violating basic principles of respect for press freedom,” it said.
The group asked media outlets not to use any photos or video footage provided by the Israeli military until it issues a formal apology for the attacks and “offers assurances that no such event will occur in the future.”
The two cameramen, who worked for Abu Dhabi television, were wounded when an Israeli strike hit a building in Gaza City housing several international and Arab media outlets, witnesses and officials said.
Media outlets housed in the Al-Shuruq tower, located in the Rimal neighbourhood in the centre of Gaza City, include the Reuters news agency and television stations Fox, Sky and Al-Arabiya.
On January 2 Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the state to allow foreign reporters into the Gaza Strip, but no journalists have gone in amid disagreements between the FPA and the authorities.
Israel’s defence ministry sealed off Gaza when it launched an air offensive last Saturday. In recent days some journalists have been embedded with Israeli troops but none have been permitted to operate independently.
source : AFP via http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gVdIrWVpZJwhf6XCWn5ET9CP741Q
현장에 가지 않아도
이스라엘의 대 가자지구 전쟁이 열 나흘을 꼬박 채워간다. 이스라엘 당국이 외국기자들의 출입을 봉쇄한 탓에 현장발 기사라는 건, 가자지구에 사는 팔레스타인 기자들이나 가자지구에 베이스를 두고 활동 해 온 극 소수 외신 기자들에게 의존할 수 밖에 없는 상황이다. 후자의 경우 정확히 몇 명쯤 되는 지 알 수 없지만 중동문제를 취재하는 기자들 다수가 이스라엘, 이집트의 카이로, 혹은 레바논 베이루트에 베이스를 두고 있기에 “가자 베이스 기자”란 아주 드문 존재들이다. (2007년 가자지구의 한 무장 세력에게 114일간 납치되었던 BBC 특피원 알란 존슨은 “가자지구에 베이스를 둔 유일한 서양 기자” –혹은 외국 기자-로 묘사되곤 했다)
알자지라 영어방송 특파원 에이먼 모헤딘(Ayman Mohyedin, 전 CNN 프로듀서), 쉐린 타드로스(Sherine Tadros)는 바로 그 극소수의 가자 베이스 언론인으로서 지금 유일한 외신 방송의 ‘가자 입’이 되고 있다. 잠은 언제 자나 싶을 만큼 부지런하게 뛰는 그들을 보자니 ‘부러움’ 한편으로, 몸과 마음이 쉽지 않을 그들에게 진심어린 격려를 보내고 싶다.
한국언론으로 눈을 돌려보자. 현장 접근성으로 따지면 ‘아무도’ ‘근처도’ 안(못?) 갔으니 별다를 게 없는 조건이지만 보도의 질에는 분명 차이가 난다. 오늘 (1/14) 한겨레 온라인 판에 오른 <”폭격 멈추면 빵집으로 … 집 무너질까 두려워”> 라는 제하의 기사와 연합뉴스에 오른 <“우린 외톨이”…가자 시민의 전한 참상> 가 그 좋은 예다.
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/international/arabafrica/333169.html
http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/issues/2009/01/14/1268010000AKR20090114039500009.HTML
한겨레는 직접 현지 언론인에게 전화를 걸어 ‘언론인’이라는 말을 무색케 하는 가자지구의 참상을 조금이나마 엿보게 했다. 현장을 접근 않고도 독자적인 ‘현장 기사’를 만들어내는 한겨레의 ‘근성’을 보여주었다. 반면, 연합뉴스의 기사는 미국 MSNBC 방송이 가자 현지와 인터뷰한 내용을 재 인용한 것이다. 연합뉴스가 이집트 카이로에 특파원까지 두고 있다는 사실을 고려한다면 근접성 면에서 좀더 수월한 조건인데도 말이다. 덧붙여 연합뉴스에서 ‘(많은 언론인들이 발 동동 구르며 취재하는) 국경 발’ 기사 하나 나오지 않는 건, 저간의 사정이 있겠지만서도, 좀 섭섭한 일이다.
연합도, 한겨레도 아닌 조선일보는 어떨까? 조섯닷컴 기준으로 보면 연합의 기사를 받아 실은 기사들이 상당량을 차지하는 가운데 <이스라엘 “작전 목표 달성 입박했다”> 같은 자사 작성 기사도 눈에 들어온다.
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/01/12/2009011200102.html
원래 전쟁을 시작한 자들은 ‘우리가 이기고 있다’, ‘끝나간다 (좀만 기다려라)’ ‘진군 중이다’ 등과 같은 선전을 끝없이 해대기 마련인데, 조선일보의 보도방향이 그렇게 잡힌 건 아닌가 싶다. 반전 시위 몇 줄 넣는다고 조선일보가 그 목소리에 귀 기울였다고 생각하면 오산이다. 건강권을 요구하는 자국 국민들의 민주적이고 평화적인 시위는 ‘괴담에 휘말린’ 얼간이 데모 쯤으로 치부하는 조선일보도, 유신 시절5공 시절 군부 독재의 ‘빨대’노릇을 하던 조선일보도 버마 발 기사에서는 (군부독재가 아닌) 국민 편에서 쓴다. 그러니까 이따금 조선일보에 오르내리는, 특히 국제면에 오르내리는 평화, 반전 혹은 약자를 위로하는 듯한 문장들은 원칙에서 나왔다기 보다는 그냥 ‘멋’ 인 것 같다.
그리고 이 기사,
<가자 사태 해결에 각국 영부인 팔 걷었다>.
1월 8일 연합에서 쓰고 조선일보가 받았다. (솔직히 처음엔 ‘조선일보 순수 기사’인 줄 알았다!) 가자사태를 보다 못한 각국의 퍼스트레이디들이 팔레스타인을 돕기 위한 방안을 공조하기 위해 터키에 모인다는 건데…이런 게 기사거리가 되다니 좀 민망스럽다. 유엔 안보리 결의안에도 콧 방귀 안뀌는 이스라엘이 영부인들의 만남에 눈 하나 깜짝할까. 자기 땅에서, 그리고 쫓겨온 타국에서 기본 의식주조차 해결하지 못한 채 잊을 만하면 전쟁을 만나는 팔레스타인 난민 캠프를 한 번 이라도 다녀간 영부인들이 단 한 명이라도 있었나?
생필품 봉쇄, 언론인 봉쇄. 육해공이 닫힌 채 이스라엘의 폭격만이 봉쇄로부터 자유로운 땅. 가자지구. 사망자가 천 명에 육박했다는 뉴스가 흘러나온다. 절망이다.
Allow the news media into the Gaza Strip!
We, the news media of the entire world, join the international press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders in urging the Israeli authorities to allow our reporters back into the Gaza Strip.
Appeal by the world’s media and
Reporters Without Borders
to the Israeli authorities
In view of the scale of the military operations and the repercussion they are having throughout the world, we believe the Israeli government’s decision to exclude the press from the Gaza Strip is untenable and dangerous.
It is incomprehensible that Israel is preventing the press from providing independent coverage of events that concern us all.
There is only one solution to this situation: while taking the necessary security measures, the Israeli authorities must grant immediate access to the Gaza Strip to the media personnel who have been sent to cover this conflict.
You, international medias want to sign the appeal, please contact us at:
gaza@rsf.org
|
The following medias have already signed the appeal: Afghanistan Algeria Argentina Austria Azerbaijan Bangladesh Belgium Brazil Canada France Germany Greece Guatemala Hong Kong Italy Mauritania Mexico Morocco Peru The Philippines Qatar Romania Spain Switzerland Tunisia United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States of America Uzbekistan |
Some Israeli soldiers choosing jail over Gaza operation
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Israel Is Committing War Crimes
Hamas’s violations are no justification for Israel’s actions.
(from Wall Street Journal ‘Opinion’ page)
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. Hamas fighters have also violated the laws of warfare, but their misdeeds do not justify Israel’s acts.
The United Nations charter preserved the customary right of a state to retaliate against an “armed attack” from another state. The right has evolved to cover nonstate actors operating beyond the borders of the state claiming self-defense, and arguably would apply to Hamas. However, an armed attack involves serious violations of the peace. Minor border skirmishes are common, and if all were considered armed attacks, states could easily exploit them — as surrounding facts are often murky and unverifiable — to launch wars of aggression. That is exactly what Israel seems to be currently attempting.
Israel had not suffered an “armed attack” immediately prior to its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Since firing the first Kassam rocket into Israel in 2002, Hamas and other Palestinian groups have loosed thousands of rockets and mortar shells into Israel, causing about two dozen Israeli deaths and widespread fear. As indiscriminate attacks on civilians, these were war crimes. During roughly the same period, Israeli forces killed about 2,700 Palestinians in Gaza by targeted killings, aerial bombings, in raids, etc., according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
But on June 19, 2008, Hamas and Israel commenced a six-month truce. Neither side complied perfectly. Israel refused to substantially ease the suffocating siege of Gaza imposed in June 2007. Hamas permitted sporadic rocket fire — typically after Israel killed or seized Hamas members in the West Bank, where the truce did not apply. Either one or no Israelis were killed (reports differ) by rockets in the half year leading up to the current attack.
Israel then broke the truce on Nov. 4, raiding the Gaza Strip and killing a Palestinian. Hamas retaliated with rocket fire; Israel then killed five more Palestinians. In the following days, Hamas continued rocket fire — yet still no Israelis died. Israel cannot claim self-defense against this escalation, because it was provoked by Israel’s own violation.
An armed attack that is not justified by self-defense is a war of aggression. Under the Nuremberg Principles affirmed by U.N. Resolution 95, aggression is a crime against peace.
Israel has also failed to adequately discriminate between military and nonmilitary targets. Israel’s American-made F-16s and Apache helicopters have destroyed mosques, the education and justice ministries, a university, prisons, courts and police stations. These institutions were part of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure. And when nonmilitary institutions are targeted, civilians die. Many killed in the last week were young police recruits with no military roles. Civilian employees in the Hamas-led government deserve the protections of international law like all others. Hamas’s ideology — which employees may or may not share — is abhorrent, but civilized nations do not kill people merely for what they think.
Deliberate attacks on civilians that lack strict military necessity are war crimes. Israel’s current violations of international law extend a long pattern of abuse of the rights of Gaza Palestinians. Eighty percent of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents are Palestinian refugees who were forced from their homes or fled in fear of Jewish terrorist attacks in 1948. For 60 years, Israel has denied the internationally recognized rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes — because they are not Jews.
Although Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005, it continues to tightly regulate Gaza’s coast, airspace and borders. Thus, Israel remains an occupying power with a legal duty to protect Gaza’s civilian population. But Israel’s 18-month siege of the Gaza Strip preceding the current crisis violated this obligation egregiously. It brought economic activity to a near standstill, left children hungry and malnourished, and denied Palestinian students opportunities to study abroad.
Israel should be held accountable for its crimes, and the U.S. should stop abetting it with unconditional military and diplomatic support.
Mr. Bisharat is a professor at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
source : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154826952369919.html
“Not in my name not for my security”
We shouldn’t forget the other side of victims of what most of media call ‘War in Gaza’. Indeed, the current battle between Israel and Hamas (and certainly other Palestinian factions, who have been hostile against Hamas or each other on and off) has been taking place ‘in Gaza’. The casualties of the two sides are not equivalent at all. Given the situations, I personally see this is war against helpless civilians in Gaza, where there’s no regular Army, let alone Air forces or Navy, except Hamas fighters and Palestinian factions. It is another ‘massacre’ or ‘war crime’ committed by Israeli forces.
However, Israeli citizens who’ve been also trapped of the war should be addressed. They have been chronically victimized by the conflict. Yet, their voices were hardly transmitted.
The following story is from one woman in Sderot, the Israeli town that has been the target of the Qassam rockets from Gaza. It is one of numerous ‘another voices’ of Jewish community, saying “Not in my name not for my security”. Thanks to my Jewish friend, I could be kept informed such voices, while media have reported the depressing news that majority of Israeli people are behind of the current war.
Penseur21
A Sderot Woman Speaks Out against Gaza War
Kol Aher (another voice) is a group similar in spirit to ours. Its members are Israelis living near the Gaza Strip, and attempting to build a human bridge of understanding and solidarity with Gaza residents. And they have found partners on the other side.
Of course, the terrible violence of the past two weeks places an especially heavy strain upon Kol Aher members, as they and their friends across the border are under personal risk, from a war in which they do not believe. Nomika Zion, a Kol Aher founder, decided to speak out. Below is her text. Please distribute widely. Please do something to stop this war – contact the nearest Israel embassy or consulate, Israel’s ministries directly, or your own government. Thank you.
Sderot War Diary
Nomika Zion, Sderot, 8.1.09
“I talk with Sderot people and everyone’s cheeks are rosy again”, boasted Fuad on the war’s second day [Fuad is Benjamin Ben Eliezer, a long-time centrist Labor minister - Assaf]. “The heavier the blow we deliver – the more our hearts widen”.
Hey Fuad, not everyone. Even if I was the only one around Sderot feeling differently – and I am not – my voice should be heard.
Not in my name and not for me you went to war. The current bloodbath in Gaza is not in my name and not for my security. Destroyed homes, bombed schools, thousands of new refugees – are not in my name and not for my security
In Gaza there is no time for burial ceremonies now, the dead are put in refrigerators in twos, because there is no room. Here their bodies lay, policemen, children, and our nimble reporters play acrobatically with Hasbara strategies in view of “the images that speak for themselves”. Pray tell me, what is there to “explain”? [Hasbara literally means "explanation" - Assaf] What is there to explain?
I got myself neither security nor quiet from this war. After such an essential calm, that helped all of us heal emotionally and mentally and experience some sanity again [Nomika is referring here to the first 5 months of cease-fire, which were observed by both sides - Assaf] – our leaders have brought us back to the same wounded, anxiety-ridden place. To the same humiliating, terrified sprinting to shelter.
Don’t mistake me. Hamas is an evil, terrible terror organization. Not just for us. First and foremost to its own citizens. But beyond that wretched leadership there are human beings. With hard labor, ordinary people on both sides build small bridges of human gestures. This is what the Kol Aher, a group of people from Sderot and elsewhere on the Gaza border of which I am a member, has been doing. We have tried to lay down a human route to the hearts of our neighbors. While we have won a five-month calm, they continued to suffer under the siege. A young man told us he does not wish to marry and have kids, because in Gaza there is no future for children. A single airplane bomb drowns these human gestures in depths of blood and despair.
Qassams scare me. Since the war started, I almost didn’t dare cross the street. But even more frightening is the monolithic tone in our public sphere and our media, the unbreachable wall of jingoism. It scares me when my Kol Aher colleague is assaulted by other Sderotis, as he is interviewed and criticizes the war – and later receives anonymous phone threats and is afraid to return to his car. It scares me how little room there is for another voice, and how difficult it is to express it here. I am willing to pay the price of social isolation, but not the price of fear.
It scares me to see my city light up, celebrate and put up flags, and cheerleader squads hand out flowers on the streets, and people honk in glee at every one-ton bomb dropped on our neighbors. It scares me to hear the resident who happily admits that he has never been to a concert, but IDF’s bombing of Gaza is the best music he has ever heard. I am scared by the smug reporter interviewing him, who doesn’t challenge him even one bit.
It scares me that under the screen of Orwellian words, and the children’s corpses blurred on TV as a public service to us, we are losing the human ability to see the other side, to feel, to be shocked, to feel empathy. Under the codename ‘Hamas’, the media has created for us a huge dark demon with no face, no body and no voice. A million and a half people with no name.
A deep, dark stream of violence flows into the veins of Israeli society like a deadly disease, and it gets stronger from war to war. It has no smell and no shape, but we feel it very clearly here. It is a type of euphoria and trigger-happiness and joy of revenge and power-drunkenness and love of Mars, and the burial of the noble Jewish commandment: “when your enemy falls – do not celebrate”. Our morality is so polluted, so soiled now that it seems no washing will be able to remove the stains. Our democracy is so fragile, that you have to weigh every word in order to safeguard yourself.
The first time I felt the state is really protecting me, was when they got the ceasefire. I am not responsible for Hamas, and therefore I ask our own leaders: have you turned every stone in order to continue the calm? To extend the ceasefire? To use it to get a long-term agreement? To resolve the border-crossing and siege issues before they blow the whole thing up? Have you gone to the ends of the world looking for the right mediators? And why did you wave away, unblinkingly, the French ceasefire initiative after the war started? And why do you keep rejecting, to this very moment, every possible offer of negotiations? Do you think we have not reached our maximum Qassam quota here, that we can stand some more? That we have not yet reached the quota of killed Palestinian children that the world can stomach?
And who guarantees that Hamas can be toppled? Haven’t we tried this trick elsewhere? And who will come in its place? Global fundamentalist organizations? Al Qaeda? And how, from the heaps of rubble and hunger and cold and dead bodies, will moderate voices of peace grow? Where are you leading us? What future are you promising us here in Sderot?
And how much longer will you hang on our backs the tired old “backpack of lies” [cultural reference to a well-known book of 1948 war anecdotes - Assaf]: “there’s no one to talk with”, “it is a no-choice war”, “let the IDF finish the ‘job’”, “one good blow and we finish them”, “let’s topple the Hamas” and “who doesn’t want peace?”. The lies of brute force and the idiocy of even more brute force – your only guide for resolving the region’s problems.
And how come every hasty interview with a Kol Aher member, always begins and ends with the disdainful punch line by the reporter: “Don’t you think you are being naive?” How come the option of dialogue and negotiation and agreements and understandings, even with the worst of our enemies, has become a synonym for naivete, while the option of brute-force and war is always a wise, rational, ultimate one? Eight year of senseless cycle of bloodshed haven’t taught us anything about the futility of brute force? The IDF has slammed and shot and assassinated and razed and hit and missed and bombed – and what have we gotten in return? A rhetorical question, ain’t it.
It is extremely hard to live in Sderot nowadays. At night, the IDF pounds infrastructure and human beings, and our home walls shudder. By morning, we get Qassams – more sophisticated ones each time. A person going to work in the morning, does not know whether their home will be found standing by evening. At midday, we bury the best of our sons, who have paid with their lives for yet another “just” war. In the evening, after many difficulties, we manage to make contact with our desperate friends in Gaza. They have no electricity, no water, no gas, no food, nowhere to hide. And only the words of N., the 14-year-old whose school was bombed and whose classmate was killed, don’t leave my head. She writes us in perfect English, an email that her mom somehow managed to send:
“Help us, we are human beings after all”
No, Fuad, my cheeks are not rosy, they are not. A ton of Cast Lead is weighing on my heart, and my heart cannot contain it.
(translated from Hebrew by Assaf Oron)
Source :
http://villagesgroup.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/a-sderot-woman-speaks-out-against-gaza-war/
A Call from Within – signed by Israeli citizens
Thursday, 08 January 2009 20:10 Last Updated on Thursday, 08 January 2009 20:15
In support of the Palestinian Human Rights Community Call for International Action
As if the occupation was not enough, the brutal ongoing repression of the Palestinian population, the construction of settlements and the siege of Gaza – now comes the bombardment of the civilian population: men, women, old folks and children. Hundreds of dead, hundreds of injured, overwhelmed hospitals, and the central medicine depot of Gaza bombed. The ship Dignity of the Free Gaza movement which brought emergency medical supplies and a number of physicians was also attacked. Israel has returned to openly committing war crimes, worse than what we have seen in a long time.
Israeli media do not expose their viewers to the horrors and to the voices of severe criticism of these crimes. The story told is uniform. Israeli dissidents are denounced as traitors. Public opinion including that of the Zionist left supports the Israeli policy uncritically and without reservation.
Israel’s destructive criminal policy will not cease without a massive intervention by the international community. However, except for some rather weak official condemnation, the international community is reluctant to intervene,. The United States openly supports the Israeli violence and Europe, although voicing some condemnation, is unwilling to seriously consider withdrawing the “gift” it handed Israel by upgrading its relations with the European Union.
In the past the world knew how to fight criminal policies. The boycott on South Africa was effective, but Israel is handled with kid gloves: its trade relations are flourishing, academic and cultural cooperation continue and intensify with diplomatic support.
This international backing must stop. That is the only way to stop the insatiable Israeli violence.
We are calling on the world to stop Israeli violence and not allow the continuation of the brutal occupation. We call on the world to Condemn and not become an accomplice in Israel’s crimes.
In light of the above, we call on the world to implement the call by Palestinian human rights organizations which urges:
• “The UN Security Council to call an emergency session and adopt concrete measures, including the imposition of sanctions, in order to ensure Israel’s fulfillment of its obligations under international humanitarian law.
• The High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfil their obligation under common Article 1 to ensure respect for the provisions of the Conventions, taking appropriate measures to compel Israel to abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular placing pivotal importance on the respect and protection of civilians from the effects of the hostilities.
• The High Contracting Parties to fulfil their legal obligation under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to prosecute those responsible for grave breaches of the Convention.
• EU institutions and member states to make effective use of the European Union Guidelines on promoting compliance with international humanitarian law (2005/C 327/04) to ensure Israel complies with international humanitarian law under paragraph 16 (b), (c) and (d) of these guidelines, including the adoption of immediate restrictive measures and sanctions, as well as cessation of all upgrade dialogue with Israel. “
Signed by 540 Israeli citizens (first list):
Avital Aboody, Sami Abu Shehadeh, Moshe Adler, Haim Adri, Gali Agnon, Bilha Aharoni, Hagit Aharoni, Saida Ahmed, Danny Aisner, Orna Akad, Aviv Aldema, Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Joseph Algazy, Omer Allon, Dan Almagor, Orly Almi, Tali Almi, Tamar Almog, Udi Aloni, Yuli Aloni-Primor, Colman Altman, Janina Altman, Ahmad Amara, Eitan Amiel, Nitza Aminov, Gish Amit, Yossi Amitay, Naama Arbel, Tal Arbel, Rana Asali, Maisoon Assadi, Keren Assaf, Zohar Atai, Najla Atamnah, Rutie Atsmon, Michal Aviad, Hanna Aviram, Jasmin Avissar, Amira Bahat, Noam Bahat, Daniela Bak, Abeer Baker, Saleh Bakri, Rim Banna, Oshra Bar, Yoav Barak, Daphna Baram, Michal Bareket, Hila Bargiel, Ronny Bar-Gil, Yoram Bar-Haim, Ronnie Barkan, Osnat Bar-Or, Racheli Bar-or, Yossi Bartal, Raji Bathish, Dalit Baum, Shlomit Bauman, Esther Ben Chur, Hagit Ben Yaacov, Tal Ben Zvi, Yael Ben-Zvi, Avner Ben-Amos, Ronnen Ben-Arie, Ur Ben-Ari-Tishler, Ofra Ben-Artzi, Yotam Ben-David, Smadar Ben-Natan, Shmuel Ben Yitzchak, Avi Berg, Daniel Berger, Tamar Berger, Anat Biletzki, Itai Biran, Rotem Biran, Shany Birenboim, Rozeen Bisharat, Yafit Gamilah Biso, Liran Bitton, Simone Bitton, Yahaacov Bitton, Rani Bleier, Yempa Boleslavsky, Hagit Borer, Ido Bornstein, Irith Bouman, Haim Bresheeth, Aya Breuer, Shlomit Breuer, Dror Burstein, Smadar Bustan, Shai Carmeli-Pollak, Smadar Carmon, Zohar Chamberlain-Regev, Sami Shalom Chetrit, Chassia Chomsky-Porat, Arie Chupak, Isadora Cohen, Kfir Cohen, Matan Cohen, Nahoum Cohen, Raya Cohen, Ron Cohen, Stan Cohen, Yifat Cohen, Alex Cohn, Scandar Copti, Adi Dagan, Yael Dagan, Yasmeen Daher, Silan Dallal, Tamari Dallal, Leena Dallasheh, Eyal Danon, Uri Davis, Hilla Dayan, Relli De Vries, Maoz Degani, Ruti Divon, Diana Dolev, Yfat Doron, Ettie Dotan, Keren Dotan, Ronit Dovrat, Daniel Dukarevich, Arnon Dunetz, Maya Dunietz, Udi Edelman, Shai Efrati, Neta Efrony, Rani Einav, Asa Eitan, Danae Elon, Ruth El-Raz, Noam Enbar, Amalia Escriva, Anat Even, Gilad Evron, Ovadia Ezra, Basma Fahoum, Avner Faingulernt, Ghazi-Walid Falah, Naama Farjoun, Yvonne Fattal, Dror Feiler, Pnina Feiler, Micky Fischer, Sara Fischman, Nadav Franckovich, Ofer Frant, Ilil Friedman, Maya Galai, Dafna Ganani, Gefen Ganani, Yael Gazit, Yoram Gelman, Yakov Gilad, Amit Gilboa, Michal Ginach, Rachel Giora, Michal Givoni, Ednna Glukman, Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, Bilha Golan, Neta Golan, Shayi Golan, Tsilli Goldenberg, Vardit Goldner, Tamar Goldschmidt, Lymor Goldstein, Dina Goor, Shelley Goral, Joel Gordon, Ester Gould, Inbal Gozes, Inbal Gozes-Sharvit, Erella Grassiani, Adar Grayevsky, Gill Green, David Greenberg, Ela Greenberg, Dani Grimblat, Lev Grinberg, Yosef Grodzinsky, Hilik Gurfinkel, Galia Gur-Zeev, Anat Guthmann, Amos Gvirtz, Maya Gzn-Zvi, Yoav Haas, Iman Habibi, Connie Hackbarth, Uri Hadar, Mirjam Hadar Meerschwam, Rayya Haddad, Osnat Hadid, Dalia Hager, Tami Hager, Hava Halevi, Yasmine Halevi, Jeff Halper, Yuval Halperin, Rula Hamdan-Atamneh, Rania Hamed, Rola Hamed, Anat Hammermann Schuldiner, Doron Hammermann-Schuldiner, Ben Handler, Tal Haran, Elad Harel, Nir Harel, Shuli Hartman, Lihi Hasson, Amir Havkin, Shira Havkin, Amani Hawari, Areen Hawari, Iris Hefets, Ada Heilbronn, Ayelet Heller, Sara Helman, Ben Hendler, Aref Herbawi, Tamara Herman, Avi Hershkovitz, Yael Hersonski, Galit Hess, Hannan Hever, Ala Hlehel, Gil Hochberg, Tikva Honig-Parnass, Tikva Honig-Parnass, Inbar Horesh, Veronique Inbar, Rachel Leah Jones, Noga Kadaman, Ari Kahana, Dafna Kaminer, Aya Kaniuk, Ruti Kantor, Liad Kantorowicz, Dalia Karpel, Rabia Kassim, Amira Katz, Shai Katz, Uri Katz, Giora Katzin, Dror Kaufman, Adam Keller, Yehudit Keshet, Lana Khaskia, Efraim Kidron, Alisa Klein, Sylvia Klingberg, Yana Knopova, Ofra Koffman, Yael Korin, Alina Korn, Rinat Kotler, Meira Kowalsky, Noa Kram, Miki Kratsman, Rotem Kuehnberg, Assia Ladizhinskaya, Michal Lahav, Roni Lahav, Idan Landau, Yitzhak Laor, Orna Lavi, Ruti Lavi, Shaheen Lavie-Rouse, Yigal Laviv, Tamar Lehahn, Ronen Leibman, Miki Lentin, Ronit Lentin, Yael Lerer, Chava Lerman, Noa Lerner, Yair Lev, Yudith Levin, Abigail Levine, Eyal Levinson, Dana Levy, Inbal Lily-Koliner, Moran Livnat, Omri Livne, Amir Locker-Biletzki, Yael Locker-Biletzki, Yossi Loss, Yael Lotan, Guy Lougashi, Irit Lourie, Orly Lubin, Joseph Lubovsky, Aim Deuelle Luski, Naomi Lyth, Moshe Machover, Aryeh Magal, Liz Magnes, Noa Man, Ya’acov Manor, Arabiya Mansour, Roi Maor, Adi Maoz, Eilat Maoz, Yossi Marchaim, Alon Marcus, Esti Marpet, Ruchama Marton, Nur Masalha, Anat Matar, Doron Matar, Haggai Matar, Oren Matar, Samy Matar, Rela Mazali, Naama Meishar, Rachel Meketon, Yitzhak Y. Melamed, Remy Mendelzweig, Racheli Merhav, Yael Meron, Juliano Merr-Khamis, Esti Micenmacher, Maya Michaeli, Avraham Milgrom, Jeremy Milgrom, Elisheva Milikowski, Erez Miller, Katya Miller, Limor Mintz-Manor, Ariel Mioduser, Dror Mishani, Eedo Mizrahi, Avi Mograbi, Liron Mor, Magi Mor, Susan Mordechay, Susanne Moses, Haidi Motola, Ahuva Mu’alem, Ben Tzion Munitz, Norma Musih, Dorit Naaman, Michal Naaman, Gil Naamati, Haneen Naamnih, Naama Nagar, Dorothy Naor, Regev Nathansohn, Shelly Nativ, Salman Natour, Judd Ne’eman, Dana Negev, Smadar Nehab, Shlomit Lola Nehama, Ofer Neiman, David Nir, Eyal Nir, Tali Nir, Alex Nissen, Tal Nitzan, Joshua Nouriel, Yasmine Novak, Nira Nuriely, David Ofek, Tal Omer, Adi Ophir, Anat Or, Yael Oren Kahn, Norah Orlow, Gal Oron, Akiva Orr, Dorit Ortal, Noam Paiola, Il’il Paz-el, Michal Peer, Miko Peled, Nirit Peled, Nurit Peled-elhanan, Leiser Peles, Orna Pelleg, Tamar Pelleg-Sryck, Sigal Perelman, Amit Perelson, Nadav Pertzelan, Erez Pery, Tom Pessah, Dani Peter, Shira Pinhas, Yossi Pollak, Gil Porat, Dror Post, Eyal Pundik, Yisrael Puterman, Ilya Ram, Nery Ramati, Amit Ramon, Avi Raz, Ayala Raz, Hili Razinsky, Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, David Reeb, Hadas Refaeli, Shlomo Regev, Dimi Reider, Noa Reshef, Amit Ron, Roee Rosen, Illit Rosenblum, Maya Rosenfeld, Danny Rosin, Yehoshua Rosin, Ilana Rossoff, Ilani Rotem, Natalie Rothman, Areej Sabbagh, Ahmad Sa’di, Sidki Sadik, Walid Sadik, Hannah Safran, Hiba Salah, Sana Salame-Daqa, Galit Saporta, Sima Sason, Sagi Schaefer, Tali Schaefer, Oded Schechter, Agur Schiff, Nava Schreiber, Idit Schwartz, Michal Schwartz, Noa Schwartz, Eran Segal, Keren Segal, Irit Segoli, Irit Sela, Dan Seltzer, Yael Serry, Shaul Setter, Meir Shabat, Aharon Shabtai, Michal Shabtay, Itamar Shachar, Erella Shadmi, Ilan Shalif, Hanna Shammas, Ayala Shani, Uri Shani, Arik Shapira, Bat-Sheva Shapira, Yonatan Shapira, Omer Sharir, Yael Shavit, Noa Shay, Fadi Shbita, Adi Shechter, Oz Shelach, Adi Shelesnyak, Mati Shemoelof, Ehud Shem-Tov, Yehouda Shenhav, Nufar Shimony, Khen Shish, Hagith Shlonsky, Tom Shoval, Sivan Shtang, Tal Shuval, Ivy Sichel, Ayman Sikseck, Shelly Silver, Inbal Sinai, Eyal Sivan, Ora Slonim, Kobi Snitz, Maja Solomon, Gideon Spiro, Neta Stahl, Talila Stan, Michal Stoler, Ali Suliman, Dored Suliman, Marcelo Svirsky, Yousef Sweid, Ula Tabari, Yael Tal, Lana Tatour, Doron Tavory, Ruth Tenne, Idan Toledano, Eran Torbiner, Osnat Trabelsi, Lily Traubmann, Naama Tsal, Lea Tsemel, Ruth Tsoffar, Ehud Uziel, Ivan Vanney, Sahar Vardi, Roman Vater, Ruth Victor, Yaeli Vishnizki-Levi, Roey Vollman, Roy Wagner, Michael Warschawski, Michal Warshavsky, Ruthy Weil, Sharon Weill, Shirly Weill, Elian Weizman, Eyal Weizman, Einat Weizman Diamond, Elana Wesley, Etty Wieseltier, Yossi Wolfson, Oded Wolkstein, Ayelet Yaari, Smadar Yaaron, Roni Yaddor, Sarah Yafai, Galia Yahav, Sergio Yahni, Niza Yanay, Amnon Yaron, Tamar Yaron, Mahmoud Yazbak, Oren Yiftachel, Sarit Yitzhak, Sharon Zack, Uri Zackhem, Jamal Zahalka, Sawsan Zaher, Adva Zakai, Edna Zaretsky, Beate Zilversmidt, Amal Zoabi, Haneen Zoubi, Himmat Zu’bi, Mati Zuckerman
Contact:gazabfw@gmail.com
source : http://www.freegaza.org/en/home/658-a-call-from-within-signed-by-israeli-citizens
Israel : Boycott, Divest, Sanction
By Naomi Klein
This article appeared in the January 26, 2009 edition of The Nation.
January 7, 2009
It’s time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.
In July 2005 a huge coalition of Palestinian groups laid out plans to do just that. They called on “people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era.” The campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions–BDS for short–was born.
Every day that Israel pounds Gaza brings more converts to the BDS cause, and talk of cease-fires is doing little to slow the momentum. Support is even emerging among Israeli Jews. In the midst of the assault roughly 500 Israelis, dozens of them well-known artists and scholars, sent a letter to foreign ambassadors stationed in Israel. It calls for “the adoption of immediate restrictive measures and sanctions” and draws a clear parallel with the antiapartheid struggle. “The boycott on South Africa was effective, but Israel is handled with kid gloves…. This international backing must stop.”
Yet many still can’t go there. The reasons are complex, emotional and understandable. And they simply aren’t good enough. Economic sanctions are the most effective tools in the nonviolent arsenal. Surrendering them verges on active complicity. Here are the top four objections to the BDS strategy, followed by counterarguments.
1. Punitive measures will alienate rather than persuade Israelis. The world has tried what used to be called “constructive engagement.” It has failed utterly. Since 2006 Israel has been steadily escalating its criminality: expanding settlements, launching an outrageous war against Lebanon and imposing collective punishment on Gaza through the brutal blockade. Despite this escalation, Israel has not faced punitive measures–quite the opposite. The weapons and $3 billion in annual aid that the US sends to Israel is only the beginning. Throughout this key period, Israel has enjoyed a dramatic improvement in its diplomatic, cultural and trade relations with a variety of other allies. For instance, in 2007 Israel became the first non-Latin American country to sign a free-trade deal with Mercosur. In the first nine months of 2008, Israeli exports to Canada went up 45 percent. A new trade deal with the European Union is set to double Israel’s exports of processed food. And on December 8, European ministers “upgraded” the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a reward long sought by Jerusalem.
It is in this context that Israeli leaders started their latest war: confident they would face no meaningful costs. It is remarkable that over seven days of wartime trading, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s flagship index actually went up 10.7 percent. When carrots don’t work, sticks are needed.
2. Israel is not South Africa. Of course it isn’t. The relevance of the South African model is that it proves that BDS tactics can be effective when weaker measures (protests, petitions, back-room lobbying) have failed. And there are indeed deeply distressing echoes: the color-coded IDs and travel permits, the bulldozed homes and forced displacement, the settler-only roads. Ronnie Kasrils, a prominent South African politician, said that the architecture of segregation that he saw in the West Bank and Gaza in 2007 was “infinitely worse than apartheid.”
3. Why single out Israel when the United States, Britain and other Western countries do the same things in Iraq and Afghanistan? Boycott is not a dogma; it is a tactic. The reason the BDS strategy should be tried against Israel is practical: in a country so small and trade-dependent, it could actually work.
4. Boycotts sever communication; we need more dialogue, not less. This one I’ll answer with a personal story. For eight years, my books have been published in Israel by a commercial house called Babel. But when I published The Shock Doctrine, I wanted to respect the boycott. On the advice of BDS activists, I contacted a small publisher called Andalus. Andalus is an activist press, deeply involved in the anti-occupation movement and the only Israeli publisher devoted exclusively to translating Arabic writing into Hebrew. We drafted a contract that guarantees that all proceeds go to Andalus’s work, and none to me. In other words, I am boycotting the Israeli economy but not Israelis.
Coming up with this plan required dozens of phone calls, e-mails and instant messages, stretching from Tel Aviv to Ramallah to Paris to Toronto to Gaza City. My point is this: as soon as you start implementing a boycott strategy, dialogue increases dramatically. And why wouldn’t it? Building a movement requires endless communicating, as many in the antiapartheid struggle well recall. The argument that supporting boycotts will cut us off from one another is particularly specious given the array of cheap information technologies at our fingertips. We are drowning in ways to rant at one another across national boundaries. No boycott can stop us.
Just about now, many a proud Zionist is gearing up for major point-scoring: don’t I know that many of those very high-tech toys come from Israeli research parks, world leaders in infotech? True enough, but not all of them. Several days into Israel’s Gaza assault, Richard Ramsey, the managing director of a British telecom company, sent an e-mail to the Israeli tech firm MobileMax. “As a result of the Israeli government action in the last few days we will no longer be in a position to consider doing business with yourself or any other Israeli company.”
When contacted by The Nation, Ramsey said his decision wasn’t political. “We can’t afford to lose any of our clients, so it was purely commercially defensive.”
It was this kind of cold business calculation that led many companies to pull out of South Africa two decades ago. And it’s precisely the kind of calculation that is our most realistic hope of bringing justice, so long denied, to Palestine.
Further Reading: Disengagement and the Frontiers of Zionism
‘민간인 방패’에 대하여
내가 사는 방콕의 작은 아파트 5층 창문을 열면, ‘판자촌’을 연상시키는 가난한 풍경 사이로 무슬림 남정네들, 재잘대는 아이들의 소리가 눈에 들어온다. 이어 나의 낮은 눈 높이쯤으로 고개를 살짝 올리면 작은 모스크 하나가 우뚝 서 있다.
‘알라 후 아크바르’ (신은 위대하시다)
기도시간을 알리는 ‘아잔’노래가 요즘 부쩍 굵어지는 건 이스라엘의 가자 공격에 분노를 담은 게 아닐까 싶다. 방콕에서도 무슬림들의 항의 시위가 요 며칠 계속되었다. (시민단체들? 방콕의 소위 시민사회는 ‘방콕. 중산층. 우익 혁명대’ PAD로 대거 흡수된 후 운명을 다했다고 본다. 그러나 정신차리고 다시 부활하시길!)
약 2년 반 전 머물던 ‘스리나가르 시절’이 교차된다. 인도 점령 카슈미르의 주도 스리나가르 시내 한 빵집 아들이 인도 군의 영문없는 총격으로 사망한 사건이 발생했던 때다. 나는 길고 굵게 떨리는 아잔노래에 이른 새벽 잠을 깨곤 했다. 종교를 이념삼아, ‘신자’를 밑천 삼아 저항하는 방식에는 결코 동의하지 않지만, 어찌보면 그들은 그들이 할 수 있는 가능한 방법으로 점령군의 만행에 소리를 높이고 있었던 것이다.
2008 년 신년 계획대로라면 나는 이맘 때쯤 가자지구나 적어도 서안지구 혹은 예루살렘에 있어야 한다. 우려(반 예상 반)했던대로 상황이 여의치 않아 계획을 또 다시 미루고 말았지만, 지금 땅을 치고 있다! 이런 식으로 팔레스타인 상륙작전을 열번도 더 미룬 것 같다. 연초가 되면 팔레스타인은 예외없이 내 계획표에 들어가고, 해 중반 스케줄 점검 때도 팔레스타인은 다음 타자 혹은 다다음 타자다. 그렇게 세월은 잘도 흘러 팔레스타인은 내게 드림랜드가 되고 말았다. 그리고 2009년 신년 해가 차 오르는 날, 나는 생 지옥이 되어 있을 드림랜드를 ‘올해의 현장’에 또 다시 집어넣었다. 가자 지구 공습 소식에 머리를 쥐어 뜯으며. 아찔한 분노로 벌렁거리는 가슴을 진정시키기 위해 상습적으로 맴도는 욕을 힘껏 뱉어봤다. 별 소용이 없다.
“민간인 피해를 줄이기 위해 최선을 다하고 있다”
외국 방송사 중 가자 현지에서 유일하게 취재 중인 알자지라를 타고 하루에도 수어번 흘러나오는 이 목소리는 한 사람의 것이 아니다. 이스라엘 정부 대변인 마크 레게브(Mark Regev), 외무부 장관 치피 리브니(Tzipi Livni), 이스라엘 군 대변인 아비탈 리보비츠(Avital Leibovich) 그리고 급기야 지상공격에 나선 한 사병까지. 마치 ‘인터뷰이 집단교육’이라도 받은 양 그들은 ‘앵무새 거짓말’ 을 반복하고 있다.
“하마스가 민간인을 방패로 삼고 있기 때문에…”
스리랑카 정부 군도 동북부 타밀지역에 학교를 쑥대밭으로 만들어놓고는 꼭 그런 말을 해댔다. 그러고 보면, 팔레스타인 가자지구와 스리랑카 동북부 지역은 취재진에게 철저히 봉쇄된 분쟁지역이라는 공통점이 있다. 바로 어제 (1/8일), 스리랑카에서는 정부 비판적 일간지 ‘선데이 리더’ (Sunday Leader)의 편집장 라산따 위크라마퉁가 (Lasantha Wikramatunga) 가 암살당했다는 소식이 전해지기도 했다. 뿐만 아니라 구호단체 요원, 심지어 유엔 건물 까지도 공격, 사살하는 대범함도 엇 비슷하다. 2006년 8월 스리랑카 동부 무뚜르(Muttur)에서는 프랑스 구호단체인 ‘기아퇴치행동’(ACF)의 타밀 일꾼 17명이 고립 무원 속에서 스리랑카 정부군에 의해 학살 당했고, 2008년 1월 8일 가자지구에서는 유엔마크가 달린 차량 운전자가 이스라엘군의 공격으로 사망했다. 팔레스타인들의 ‘마지막’ 피난처였던 유엔 학교가 공격 받아 46명의 무고한 목숨이 학살 당한 지 이틀 만에 발생한 일이다. 몰랐을 리 없는 유엔학교를 공격한 후 이스라엘 정부 대변인 마크 레게브는 방귀 낀 놈이 성내듯 그 어느때 보다도 더 언성을 높였다.
“하마스가 자기 인민들을 의도적으로, 얼마나 잔인하게 다루는 지를 보여준 또 하나의 사례다. 하마스는 유엔교육기관을 전투구역으로 만들었다”
이 사건 후 약 75만 명 가량의 팔레스타인들 먹거리와 구호물자를 책임져온 유엔은 안전을 이유로 활동을 ‘일시’ 중단했다. 가자지구 유엔 디렉터 죤 깅(John Ging)은 “가슴 찢어지는” 결정이라고 표현했다.
따지고 보면 사실 민간인을 방패삼는 건 반군이나 저항군보다는, 오히려 그 반대 편이다. 화력면에서 열세인 마이너들이 게릴라 전을 펼치는 건 상식이고, 게릴라 전은 민간인을 물리적으로, 정신적으로 파고 드는 전쟁이다. 더욱이 가자지구의 사례를 보자면 하마스는 – 그들이 옳고 그름을 떠나 – 팔레스타인 민중들에 의해 민주적으로 선출된 ‘여당’이며 가자지구 팔레스타인들과 ‘섞여 있는 건’ 지극히 자연스런 상황이다. 그런 상황을 악용하여 무차별 폭격으로 민간인을 살상하는 건 바로 이스라엘이다. ‘놈들은 민간인 속에!’ 언제까지 이 앵무새 거짓말을 반복하며 민간인 살상을 정당화할 것인가. 이스라엘이야 말로 민간인을 방패 삼아 전쟁을 벌이고 있는 것 아닌가.
– 2009년 1월 9일 방콕에서-
Israeli Women, “End bombing”
Statement by Israeli Women’s Organizations
We women’s organizations from a broad spectrum of political views demand an end to the bombing and other tools of death, and call for the immediate start of deliberations to talk peace and not make war.
The dance of death and destruction must come to an end. We demand that war no longer be an option, nor violence a strategy, nor killing an alternative. The society we want is one in which every individual can lead a life of security – personal, economic, and social.
It is clear that the highest price is paid by women and others from the periphery – geographic, economic, ethnic, social, and cultural – who now, as always, are excluded from the public eye and dominant discourse.
The time for women is now. We demand that words and actions be conducted in another language.
Ahoti- For Women in Israel
Anuar- Jewish and Arab Women Leadership
Artemis- Economic Society for Women
Aswat- Palestinian Gay Women
Bat Shalom
Coalition of Women for Peace
Economic Empowerment for Women
Feminancy: College for Women’s Empowerment
Feminist Activist Group – Jerusalem
Feminist Activist Group – Tel Aviv
International Women’s Commission: Israeli Branch
Isha L’Isha- Haifa Feminist Center
Itach: Women Lawyers for Social Justice
Kol Ha-Isha- Jerusalem Women’s Center
Mahut Center- Information, Training, and Employment for Women
Shin Movement- Equal Representation for Women
Supportive Community- Women’s Business Development Center
TANDI – Movement of Democratic Women for Israel
Tmura: The Israeli Antidiscrimination Legal Center
University against Harassment – Tel Aviv
Women and their Bodies
Women’s Parliament
Women’s Spirit- Financial Independence for Women Victims of Violence
Appalling ‘imagination’ hardly stopped
Lee Yu Kyung penseur21@hotmail.com
I’ve traveled to Laos last November for 3 weeks to do a story about Cluster Bombs. It was my second coverage on the issue, but the first FIELD story, as the first coverage was compiled relying on phone calls, materials and informations that were excellently provided by one of the crucial sources of mine. It was him who has made me alert on the subject for the first time, but it was “Korea’s involvement” in the Bombs, which made me more agressive on the subject. Regardless my detemination to live as a cosmopolitan beyond border, I’ve got a duty to file on wrong doings of my home country particularly when the country involves in a war or trade of such munitions, which have been banned by the International Treaty, to which about 100 countries are signatories.
Two companies (HanWha Corp. & PoongSan) in South Korea has transmitted certain types of cluster munitions to Pakistan last March. This kind of transmission is believed to be under control by the Ministry of Defense . The two companies responded to me respectively as follows ;
“There’s been ongoing threat by North Korea, we need to keep DEFENSE in strong..” (Han Wha Corp.)
“Korean-made cluster munitions have SELF-DESTRUCTED ability if not exploded, so dud rate is low..” (Poong San Corp)
No answer to “‘how much dud rate?” and ”What experimentation has your company conducted to estimate dud rate?”
In terms of dud rate, the Israeli-produced M85 submunitions are the only self-destruct submunitions known to have been used in combat: in 2003 by the United Kingdom in Iraq, and in 2006 by Israel in Lebanon, where they were fired in artillery shells according to the cluster bombs experts. The M85 is a DPICM-type submunitions, similar to Poongsan’s ’155mm artillery shells’, which were transmitted to Pakistan Ordnance Factories. My source accounted on this ;
“The manufacturers of the M85 claim that only 0.06% of the bomblets fail to go off or self-destruct; the UK government claims a similarly low failure rate of 0.74%. Yet in both Iraq and Lebanon, researchers found dozens of unexploded M85 bomblets littering the landscape: unexploded munitions that, according to the UK government
and the manufacturers, shouldn’t exist”
On top of that, Why Pakistan? which has allegedly transmitted Nuclear Technology to a couple of countires including, North Korea? which is deemed as one of the most dangerous counties in the world, which has been on the brinks of war with India at times, which has conducted air strikes on ’their own people’ in the lawless Tribal Areas at times (in repeat with cease-fire). Humble excuse, No justifiable by imputing to ‘North Korea’.
I’ve been truly appalled in Laos as learning the facts that people in Laos (notably in Xieng Khong Province in North and Savanakhet in South) have been ‘living together’ with UXOs(Unexploded Ordnance), particularly cluster munitions (or ‘bombies’ as locals call) for decades. During my stay in the country, I hardly got out of the appalling ‘imagination’ (but it was ’factually’ happening decades ago), in which air bombs be dropped every 8 minutes for 9 years in this tranquil country. People had taken refugees in caves, which were also targetted by the USA airplane often, or died in helpless. And Nowadays, similar imagination has haunted me again as watching and reading what’s happening in GAZA.
One terribly disturbing news (out of many) hit us two days ago, indicating that Israeli forces alledgedly used some sort of cluster bombs as well as experimental weapons. This news should be verified soonish, if not right now.
http://msiampa.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-uses-cluster-bombs-phosphorus.html
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80443§ionid=351020202
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=61914506128&h=BeLbw&u=9PSFs
Nevertheless, given the fact that Israel has used cluster bombs during the ‘war against Hezbollah’ in 2006. there are high risks of using cluter bombs or likes. Ironically, it was actually Israel that has ‘contributed’ to break silence as to how dangerous the cluster bombs are, to generate outright opposition against using cluser bombs all over the world.
Yet, Israel hasn’t behaved accordingly to its ‘contribution’, along with the US, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and the both North and South Korea.
For my coverage on Cluster Bombs, you can click the below ones. or find out from the “cluster bombs(laos)” category of this blog. Variety of this story would be published by a few more outlets in german and english soon.
http://mygreennews.com/topics/politics/pol_Laos_secret_war_with_cluster_bombs_1.htm
http://h21.hani.co.kr/arti/world/world_general/23945.html
http://h21.hani.co.kr/section-021019000/2008/06/021019000200806120714030.html
Venezuela expels Israel envoy (Reuters)
Venezuela expels Israel
envoy over Gaza attacks
CARACAS, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Venezuela expelled the ambassador to Israel on Tuesday in protest over the offensive in Gaza only hours after leftist President Hugo Chavez called the attacks a Palestinian “holocaust.”
The socialist Chavez, a harsh critic of Israel and the United States, in recent years has frequently withdrawn Venezuela’s diplomatic envoys amid bilateral disputes and last year kicked out the U.S. ambassador over a conflict involving allied Bolivia.
The OPEC nation’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Israel’s campaign constituted “flagrant violations of International Law” and the use of “state terrorism.”
“For the reasons mentioned above, the government of Venezuela has decided to expel the Ambassador of Israel and part of the personnel of the Embassy of Israel,” the statement said.
The Israeli embassy did not respond to phone calls requesting comment.
Chavez in 2006 threatened to break ties with Israel over its military campaign in Lebanon in a war of words that led both nations to withdraw their envoys.
On Monday he accused Washington of poisoning the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to destabilize the Middle East and justify U.S.-backed Israeli incursions into Arab countries.
Israel is under international pressure to reach a ceasefire with Hamas militants and halt an offensive that has killed nearly 600 Palestinians, including more than 40 in a U.N. school sheltering civilians.
“The Holocaust, that is what is happening right now in Gaza,” Chavez said in televised comments earlier on Tuesday.
“The president of Israel at this moment should be taken to the International Criminal Court together with the President of the United States.”
The United States, which Chavez describes as a decadent empire, firmly backs Israel — its principal ally in the region.
(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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(Recasts with ambassador expulsion, adds Chavez, quote, background)
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