NPK-info 19-06-2006


______________________________________________________________________ NPK-info 19-06-2006 - Nederlands Palestina Komitee / www.palestina-komitee.nl Today in Palestine! http://www.theheadlines.org ______________________________________________________________________ Picket-actie Den Haag dinsdagmiddag 20 juni voor de Tweede Kamer (Plein) Vanaf 12.30 uur tot plm. 15 uur vanwege de Europese Top (ook over Palestina). Met spandoek "Freedom for Palestine" en flyers over sancties tegen Israel gelet op het ICJ-advies (Internationaal Gerechtshof juli 2004 over Israel's apartheidsmuur). Actueel - Interview with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya - "We Want Peace and Stability" June 17, 2006, Der Spiegel http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=10561&CategoryId=5 - The war on children, John Pilger, 06/15/06 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13627.htm Quote: "... The struggle in Palestine is an American war, waged from America's most heavily armed foreign military base, Israel..." - PNI on Israeli killings http://www.almubadara.org/new/english.php Zie ook PNI-berichten hierna en daarna de volgende EU-berichten. - EU-Raad op 12 juni 2006 [1] http://www.minbuza.nl/default.asp?CMS_TCP=tcpAsset&id=E331A74E511D4F70BCCA05097737E547X1X58948X44 Zie de EU-ministers over "de Israëlische aanval op het strand in Noord-Gaza". Zou kunnen leiden tot meer militant Hamas; zo'n overdosis medeleven ...... - Counsel of the European Union 15/16-6 / Draft Declaration on the Middle East Peace Process http://www.minbuza.nl/default.asp?CMS_TCP=tcpAsset&id=699B1F1FD40D45FF803D6BA466967E5DX1X57066X48 - Op 14-6 sprak de Kamer [EU-Cie] ook even over Palestina. Farah Karimi deed een klemmend beroep op de regering gelet op (Volkskrant 14-6) de inmiddels grote kindersterfte a.g.v. de EU-boycot. Tsja, had de Palestijnse bevolking maar niet Hamas moeten stemmen, aldus minister Bot. - NSF: verslag op NPK-site. Must read - Book review: "The One-State Solution", Iqbal Jassat, 16 July 2005 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3996.shtml - The One-State Solution, Virginia Tilley http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n21/till01_.html - The secular solution, Virginia Tilley http://www.newleftreview.net/NLR27203.shtml - Terrorism Is a Tactic, Charley Reese, June 10, 2006 http://www.antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=9116 - How to lose the 'war on terror', Mark Perry and Alastair Crooke http://www.atimes.com/atimes/others/howtolose.html - How Israel’s Jewish terrorist became a victim, Jonathan Cook, 14 June 2006 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4805.shtml NPK/WL, 19-6-2006 ______________________________________________________________________ From: Kirsten Sutherland <kirsten@almubadara.org Subject: The Price to Pay? Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 19:06:48 +0300 The Price to Pay? Palestinian National Initiative Ramallah, 11-06-06: For a few hours at least, the heart rending images of 12-year-old Huda Ghalia sobbing uncontrollably over the limp body of her father drew the world’s eyes towards the daily tragedy of life in Gaza under continued Israeli occupation. Huda’s entire family, including her father, mother, and five siblings - Ali (25), Ilham (15), Sabreen (4), Hanadi (1), and Haythem (6 months) – were killed when an Israeli gunboat fired seven successive shells at families picnicking on the beach. Huda herself was saved only because she had been swimming in the sea when the shells hit. TV images broadcast around the world showed the aftermath of the devastation, which destroyed a tent and sent bloody picnic rugs and children’s toys flying into the air, and of Huda screaming ‘father, father’ over a man’s lifeless body. This is not the first time tragedy has struck the Ghalia family. Less than two years ago, four members of the family were killed when an Israeli military shell hit their farm in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. Huda’s plight is perhaps the most tragic of the events depicting the reality of everyday life in Gaza. In this impoverished, overpopulated prison, daily life is characterised by continuous shellings and sonic booms wrought on the Gazan population by the Israeli military; where prolonged Israeli border closures and the decision by some members of the international community to halt funding to the Palestinian Authority, which formerly paid the salaries of 37 percent of the entire Gazan workforce, have resulted in crippling levels of poverty and unemployment. Yet once the more newsworthy story of Hamas ending its 16-month ceasefire in response to the Ghalia killings had broken, Huda’s personal catastrophe became invisible. It would appear that even the decimation of an innocent family is not enough to galvanise the apathetic international community into action in calling on Israel to put an immediate end to such daily atrocities, and to ending its 38-year-old occupation of Palestine. In such a context, we, the Palestinian people, dare not even think of the disaster we must undergo before the world finally wakes up to our plight. The Palestinian National Initiative calls on all its friends and supporters around the world to take immediate action to bring the situation of Huda Ghalia, and of all Palestinians, to the attention of their respective governments. Only through decisive and concerted action on the part of the international community can the 39 years of suffering which the Palestinians have endured under Israeli occupation, ever come to an end. www.almubadara.org -- Kirsten Sutherland (Miss) Media & Advocacy Officer Al Mubadara (The Palestinian National Initiative) Ramallah Palestine (972) 2 2985372 ext. 217 (Tel) (972) 2 2985917 (Fax) (972) 546-513128 (Mob) www.almubadara.org ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Palestinian National Initiative www.almubadara.org ---------- PNI Condemns Killing of Palestinian Civilians in Israeli Gunboat Attack Ramallah, 10-06-06: The Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) today condemned in the strongest possible terms the killing of seven Palestinian civilians on Friday, when an Israeli gunboat fired seven successive artillery shells at families picnicking on the beach. The seven killed were all members of same family, and included the father, mother, and five of their six children, aged between one and 10 years. Their deaths bring the number of those killed in Gaza over the last 24 hours to a total of 14. A further seven Palestinians, including three civilians, were killed in a series of extrajudicial executions launched by Israeli war planes. Up to 36 people were injured during these attacks, including 32 civilians an 13 children. Two of the injured are said to be in serious condition. The PNI urgently calls on the international community to condemn these attacks, and to pressure Israel into bringing an immediate end to such aggressive actions and abide by international and humanitarian law. Such violence serves only to destabilise the already fragile political and humanitarian situation in Gaza, and jeopardises the possibility of seeking a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Background The ongoing occupation of Gaza by the Israeli military continues to have devastating implications for the Palestinian civilian population. Since January, there have been a total of 146 deaths and 662 injuries [1], and in just six weeks, 5100 artillery shells were fired into the Northern Gaza Strip. [2] In addition, the prolonged closure of the Karni and Erez crossings has led to food shortages, [3] and has brought the Gaza import and export market to a dead halt. As a result, unemployment levels have risen to 35 percent, and 64 percent of the population is living below the official poverty line of US $2.10 per day. [4] [1] P.R.C.S. Table of Figures. http://www.palestinercs.org/crisistables/table_of_figures.htm [2] Amos Harel. IDF has fired more than 5,100 shells at Gaza in six weeks. Haaretz, 16 May 2006. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/715432.html. [3] OCHA. Humanitarian Update, March 2006, page 3. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0306_En-Final2.pdf. [4] OCHA Humanitarian Update, January 2006. Special Focus: Emerging Humanitarian Risks. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/ochaHU0106_En.pdf. -- Kirsten Sutherland (Miss) Media & Advocacy Officer Al Mubadara (The Palestinian National Initiative) Ramallah Palestine (972) 2 2985372 ext. 217 (Tel) (972) 2 2985917 (Fax) (972) 546-513128 (Mob) www.almubadara.org ______________________________________________________________________ [1] - MOVP (Midden-Oosten Vredesproces) Ministers bespraken de recente ontwikkelingen waaronder de Israëlische aanval op het strand in Noord-Gaza waarbij vrijwel een geheel gezin was omgekomen. Zorg werd uitgesproken dat deze actie Hamas een argument in handen zou kunnen geven voor meer militant optreden. Ook werd gesproken over de aanstaande ontmoeting tussen de Israëlische premier Olmert en de Palestijnse president Abbas en mede in dit kader over het door president Abbas uitgeschreven referendum en de convergentieplannen van premier Olmert. De Raad trok geen conclusies maar zal in het kader van de Europese Raad een Verklaring voorzien waarin op deze punten wordt ingegaan, alsmede over het “Transitional International Mechanism”. De Commissie presenteerde aan de Raad de grondslag van dit TIM, door middel waarvan o.a. gezondheidszorg, onderwijs en de meest behoeftige groepen zouden moeten kunnen worden ondersteund, zonder hierbij gebruik te maken van de structuren van en via Hamas. Per maand zouden de kosten ongeveer 25 tot 30 miljoen euro bedragen. Nederland benadrukte het belang van transparantie en financiële verantwoording aangezien het klip en klaar zal moeten zijn waar het geld precies terecht komt. Als tweede punt noemde Nederland de participatie in het TIM, welke niet alleen uit de EU zou moeten bestaan, maar zeker ook Israël en de Arabische landen. Ten slotte wees Nederland op voortgaande druk op Hamas om verantwoordelijk te nemen voor de dreigende situatie; de EU moest bereid zijn om in basisbehoeften te voorzien via het TIM, maar het kon niet als doel hebben i.p.v. de Palestijnse Autoriteit in de behoeften te voorzien van vrijwel de gehele Palestijnse bevolking. ______________________________________________________________________