‘We Are Peacemakers’
A year ago this week, Israel and Palestinians attacked each other. About 1,400 Palestinians (mostly civilians) were killed and 20,000 of their homes destroyed in Gaza. On the other side during the 22-day conflict, 13 Israelis were killed, 10 of whom were soldiers and three civilians. This week six Texans will attempt a peaceful journey along with 1,362 other internationals representing 43 countries to enter the Palestinian land from Egypt from Wednesday, Dec. 30, to Thursday, Dec. 31.
Texas, World Recalls Gaza War
DALLAS, Texas — A year ago this week, Israel and Palestinians attacked each other. About 1,400 Palestinians (mostly civilians) were killed and 20,000 of their homes destroyed in Gaza. On the other side during the 22-day conflict, 13 Israelis were killed, 10 of whom were soldiers and three civilians.
This week six Texans will attempt a peaceful journey along with 1,362 other internationals representing 43 countries to enter the Palestinian land from Egypt from Wednesday, Dec. 30, to Thursday, Dec. 31.
The march organized by CodePink and endorsed by filmmaker Oliver Stone, author Naomi Klein, historian Howard Zinn, musician Roger Waters, among thousands of other activists, is aimed to break the ongoing Israeli seige on the 1.5 million people of Gaza.
The group requested that supporters call their local Egyptian embassies in order to allow the Gaza Freedom March uninhibited entry across the Egyptian/Gaza border.
Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel and lead organizer for the march, said that up until now, the Egyptian government had not prevented groups from crossing this year.
“No delegation, large or small, that has entered Gaza over the past 12 months has received a final OK before arriving at the Rafah border,” she wrote in a statement on the Gaza Freedom March website (www.gazafreedommarch.org).
Wright continued, “Most delegations were discouraged from even heading out of Cairo to Rafah. Some had their buses stopped on the way. Some have been told outright that they could not go into Gaza. But after public and political pressure, the Egyptian government changed its position and let them pass.”
The organizers say that the march was conceived in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi of India and Nelson Mandela of South Africa.
“We are peacemakers,” wrote the march organizers in an open letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “We are doctors, lawyers, students, academics, poets, and musicians. We are young and old. We are Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and secular. We represent civil society groups in many countries who came together and coordinated this large project with the civil society in Gaza.”
Dallasite Roger Kallenberg told The Dallas Observer that he intended to record the march for educational purposes for his fellow Texans.
“My goal is to have the world and particularly the Israeli government see the impact of last year’s war. We need to know what’s happening and how the arms makers of North Texas are contributing to that,” the retired teacher and Dallas Peace Center board member said.
Kallenberg, the sole Jewish delegate from Dallas contingent, also questioned the Israeli bombing in relation to the amount of Palestinian rocket fire through the course of the 42-year illegal Israeli-occupation of Palestine.
“How does dropping bombs and bulldozing houses reflect Jewish values?” he asked.
On the day Kallenberg was to arrive in Cairo, Egypt, Egyptian security forces showed signs that its regime was cracking down on the marchers before they had a chance to march.
To prevent them from leaving for Gaza on Sunday, Egyptian police temporarily held 30 internationals under house arrest in their hotel in el-Arish, which kept them from exiting the town. Police were still holding another group of eight marchers at a bus station, according to the website Rabble.ca. The police also broke up a commemoration of the Israeli invasion at a bridge in Cairo.
But the delegates were undaunted. For example, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor staged a hunger strike along with other grandmothers in Cairo.
“I’ve never done this before, I don’t know how my body will react, but I’ll do whatever it takes,” American activist Hedy Epstein told AFP in solidarity with the Gaza solidarity march outside the United Nations building there.
Also hundreds of French delegates still camped outside the French Embassy in Cairo, chanting “Palestine Freedom!” despite the police’s indimidation of the group.
“The French Ambassador and his wife are outside negotiating with the delegates and the police and Egyptian authorities. It is a powerful action and the French invite solidarity and support – come wherever you can!” said a march spokesperson in an email.
Solidarity actions are also occurring across the globe this week to highlight the blood on each nation’s hands for participating in the siege in their own way.
Sixteen rights groups from Amnesty International to Oxfam jointly criticized world governments had “betrayed” civilians in the Gaza Strip by failing to stop the Israeli siege of the Palestinian area.
“My question is why does Europe and other donor countries not send ships with materials for construction. They can have Nato investigating these ships to make sure there is no security risk,” Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian politician and former minister of information, told Al Jazeera.
The Dallas Peace Center organized a peaceful demonstration outside the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Richardson, Texas, on Monday.
“We call on the members of the Texas Israel Chamber of Commerce like Alon Energy to ensure Gaza receives adequate fuel for generating electricity and use their considerable influence over the Israeli government to end the siege of Gaza,” said Leslie Harris of Code Pink-Ft Worth.
Other organizations participating in the demonstration were Code Pink of Greater Dallas, Code Pink-Fort Worth, North Texas Veterans for Peace, Peace Action Denton, and the UNT Campus Antiwar Network.
Last month the U.S. House condemned the Goldstone Report, an attempted by South African judge Richard Goldstone to keep Israel accountable for human rights abuses and war crimes up until and after “Operation Cast Lead” last year.
Israel never cooperated with the Goldstone who was in charge of the report by mandate of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Human Rights Watch placed blame on both Israel and Hamas (the ruling party of Palestine) for refusing to bringing to justice their military personnel accused of rights violations during the war.
