27.12.2008 - Krieg + Mord in Gaza
-
"Cast Lead"
- "Gegossenes Blei“
Die
Freegaza-Bewegung, die seit August internationale
Beobachter und Menschenrechtsaktivisten in fünf
Schiffspassagen nach Gaza brachte (und die im Januar
wieder zwei Schiffe nach Gaza senden wird) hat Eindrücke
des heutigen Tages gesammelt und bittet um
Bekanntmachung.
(Besieged
Gaza, Palestine - 27th December 2008) - Human Rights
Defenders from Lebanon, the UK, Poland, Canada, Spain,
Italy and Australia are present in Gaza and are
witnessing and documenting the current Israeli attacks
on Gaza.
Due to Israel's policy
of denying access to international media, human rights
defenders and aid agencies to the Occupied Gaza Strip,
many of these Human Rights Defenders arrived in Gaza
with the Free Gaza Movement's boats. FREE GAZA boats
have broken Israel's siege of Gaza five times in the
past four months.
"At the time of the
attacks I was on Omar Mukhtar street and witnessed a
last rocket hit the street 150 meters away where crowds
had already gathered to try to extract the dead bodies.
Ambulances, trucks, cars - anything that can move is
bringing injured to the hospitals. Hospitals have had to
evacuate sick patients to make room for the injured. I
have been told that there is not enough room in the
morgues for the bodies and that there is a great lack of
blood in the blood banks. I have just learned that among
the civilians killed today was the mother of my good
friends in Jabalya camp." - Eva Bartlett (Canada)
International Solidarity Movement
"Israeli missles tore
through a children's playground and busy market in Diere
Balah, we saw the aftermath - many were injured and some
reportedly killed. Every Hospital in the Gaza strip is
already overwhelmed with injured people and does not
have the medicine or the capacity to treat them. Israel
is committing crimes against humanity, it is violating
international and human rights law, ignoring the United
Nations and planning even bigger attacks. The world must
act now and intensify the calls for Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions against Israel; governments need to move
beyond words of condemnation into an active and
immediate restraint of Israel and a lifting of the siege
of Gaza" - Ewa Jasiewicz (Polish and British) Free Gaza
Movement
"The morgue at the
Shifa hospital has no more room for dead bodies, so
bodies and body parts are strewn all over the hospital."
- Dr. Haidar Eid, (Palestinian, South African) Professor
of Social and Cultural Studies, Al Aqsa University Gaza
"The bombs began to
fall just as the children were on the streets walking
back from school. I went out onto the stairs and a
terrified 5 year old girl ran sobbing into my arms." -
Sharon Lock (Australian) International Solidarity
Movement
"This is incredibly
sad. This massacre is not going to bring security for
the State of Israel or allow it to be part of the Middle
East. Now calls of revenge are everywhere." Dr Eyad
Sarraj - President of the Gaza Community Mental Health
Centre
"As I speak they have
just hit a building 200 metres away. There is smoke
everywhere. This morning I went to the building close to
where I live in Rafah that had been hit. Two bulldozers
were immediately attempting to clear the rubble. They
thought they had found all the bodies. As we arrived one
more was found." Jenny Linnel (British) International
Solidarity Movement
"The home I am staying
in is across from the preventive security compound. All
the glass of the house shattered. The home has been
severely damaged. Due to the siege there is no glass or
building materials to repair this damage. One little boy
in our house fainted. An eight year little boy was
trembling on the ground for an hour. In front of our
house we found the bodies of two little girls under a
car, completely burnt. They were coming home from
school. This is more than just collective punishment. We
are being treated like laboratory animals. I have lived
through the Israeli bombardment of Beirut and the
Israel's message is the same in Gaza as it was in
Beirut- The killing of civilians. There was just another
explosion outside!" Natalie Abu Eid (Lebanon)
International Solidarity Movement
-----
Human Rights Defenders
in Gaza (available for interviews):
Dr.
Eyad Sarraj (Arabic and English) +972 599400424
Ewa
Jasiewicz, Free Gaza Co-Coordinator in Gaza (Polish,
Arabic, and English) - +972 59 8700497
Dr. Haider Eid (English
and Arabic) + 972 59 9441766
Sharon Lock (English)
+972 59 8826513
Vittorio Arrigoni (Italian) +972 59 8378945
Fida
Qishta (English and Arabic) +972 599681669
Jenny
Linnel (English) +972 59 87653777
Natalie Abu Shakra (Arabic and English) 0598336 328
For
more information on the Free Gaza Movement (FREE GAZA)
or the International
Solidarity Movement (ISM) contact in the West Bank:
Adam
Taylor (ISM) - 972 59 8503948
Lubna
Masarwa (FREE GAZA) - 972 50 5633044
###########
The
Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats
to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first
international boats to land in the port in 41 years.
Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking
Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other
dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel's draconian
policies on the civilians of Gaza.